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GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

DIET
OBSESSION
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1 Warm up

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Have you ever tried to change your diet? Why? What happened?
2. What foods do you find it difficult to avoid eating even though you know they’re not good for
you?
3. If you wanted to start losing or gaining weight today, what do you think you would have to do to
be successful?

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DIET OBSESSION

2 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match the vocabulary to the definitions.

distraction (n) evolutionary (adv.) indulgence (n) intuitive (adj.)

metabolism (n) misleading (adj.) moderation (n) starvation (n)

1. being untrue in part or entirely and causing you to believe something that is
false
2. the body’s chemical process that transforms food into energy and materials
needed for healthy growth
3. related to the development of living things during the lifespan of the earth

4. the state where not having enough food causes a living being to die

5. listening to feelings rather than taking a scientific approach

6. related to enjoying something that you don’t need but gives a lot of pleasure

7. the quality of controlling how much of something is used or consumed

8. anything which stops you from giving your attention to what you want to
focus on

Part B: Complete the following sentences with a different part of speech from the same word family
as the Part A word in brackets. You may need to change the form of the word to fit the sentence.

1. Food advertising regularly us into thinking that the experience of eating the food
is going to be different from reality. (misleading)

2. I generally avoid drinking alcohol as I find it quite hard to and it usually leads to
speedy weight gain. (metabolism)

3. It’s very interesting to look back over history and see the of society’s approach
to fashion and what has been acceptable to wear. (evolutionary)

4. Charities are working hard following the severe weather to bring food and supplies to the
people in the region. (starvation)

5. Almost as soon as I met him, I knew that he was going to cause problems before
the trouble even began. (intuitive)

6. I generally eat salads and low calories during most of the week, but I really like to
in a caramel custard doughnut on Friday as a treat. (indulgence)

7. Now, the majority of people at the presentation will not be speaking English as a first language, so
you’re going to have to your language so that you don’t confuse them. (moderation)

8. You need to concentrate during the test and make sure that there is nothing to
you. (distraction)

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DIET OBSESSION

3 Understanding the video

Read the following extracts from the beginning of a talk about diets and put them in the correct order
1 - 9. The first one is done for you. Watch the video (00:00 - 03:35) to check.

regulates body weight, there are more than a dozen chemical signals in the brain that tell your
body to gain weight, more than another dozen that tell your body to lose it, and the system
works like a thermostat, responding to signals from the body by adjusting hunger, activity and
metabolism, to keep your weight stable as conditions change. That’s what a thermostat does,
right? It keeps
weigh, no matter what you consciously believe. This is called your set point, but that’s a
misleading term, because it’s actually a range of about 10 or 15 pounds. You can use lifestyle
choices to move your weight up and down within that range, but it’s much, much harder to stay
outside of it. The hypothalamus, the part of the brain that
is that hunger and energy use are controlled by the brain, mostly without your awareness. Your
brain does a lot of its work behind the scenes, and that is a good thing, because your conscious
mind – how do we put this politely? – it’s easily
the temperature in your house the same as the weather changes outside. Now you can try to
change the temperature in your house by opening a window in the winter, but that’s not going
to change the setting on the thermostat, which will respond by kicking on the furnace to warm
the place back up. Your brain works exactly the same way, responding to weight loss by using
at age 13, when I started my first diet. I look at that picture now, and I think, you did not need
a diet, you needed a fashion consult. But I thought I needed to lose weight, and when I gained
it back, of course I blamed myself. And for the next three decades, I was on
powerful tools to push your body back to what it considers normal. If you lose a lot of weight,
your brain reacts as if you were starving, and whether you started out fat or thin, your brain’s
response is exactly the same. We would love to think that your brain could tell whether you
need to lose weight or not, but it can’t. If you do lose a lot of weight, you become hungry, and
your muscles burn less energy.
distracted. It’s good that you don’t have to remember to breathe when you get caught up in
a movie. You don’t forget how to walk because you’re thinking about what to have for dinner.
Your brain also has its own sense of what you should
and off various diets. No matter what I tried, the weight I’d lost always came back. I’m sure
many of you know the feeling. As a neuroscientist, I wondered, why is this so hard? Obviously,
how much you weigh depends on how much you eat and how much energy you burn. What
most people don’t realise
1 Three and a half years ago, I made one of the best decisions of my life. As my New Year’s
resolution, I gave up dieting, stopped worrying about my weight, and learned to eat mindfully.
Now I eat whenever I’m hungry, and I’ve lost 10 pounds. This was me

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4 Understanding the video 2

Watch the second part of the video (03:35 - 12:25). Choose the correct answer for each of the
following questions.

1. Studies have shown that should you lose 10 percent of your body weight

a. you will need to eat between 250 to 400 fewer calories each day to maintain your weight
loss.
b. you will burn between 250 and 400 extra calories each day due to greater energy levels.

c. you will have eaten 250 to 400 fewer calories each day over an extended period of time.

2. The body’s reaction to weight loss can be explained by

a. the foods that we eat now being harder to metabolise than the foods our ancestors typically
ate.
b. our ancestors not needing the same amount of energy to survive as we do in the modern age.

c. our ancestors experiencing irregular food supply and needing to conserve energy.

3. According to the speaker, the key to preventing obesity is

a. only eating foods that are available locally.

b. limiting the types of high-calorie foods that are available.

c. increasing education around diet and food in school.

4. Researchers divide people’s eating habits into two groups:

a. those who eat what they want and those who focus on low-calorie foods.

b. those who limit what they eat and those who eat when they need food.

c. those who eat natural foods and those who eat highly processed foods.

5. For one group, treating yourself to a higher-calorie food is likely to result in

a. overeating.

b. weight gain.

c. no change.

6. According to studies, young teenage girls who diet

a. are more effective at staying slim than those who start later.

b. usually give up within five years of starting.

c. have a greater chance of becoming overweight later.

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7. When it comes to a healthy diet, the speaker recommends

a. making sure that 90% of what we eat is naturally grown.

b. eating as much as we need to feel good.

c. limiting the times when we allow ourselves to eat.

8. The speaker makes the point that using willpower with diets

a. is ineffective as it’s a limited resource.

b. can create eating disorders for many people.

c. is really the only resource you have for losing weight.

5 Skimming for gist

Match the noun phrases in the box to gaps 1 - 6 in the article on page six. You will not need to use all
of them.

• lower blood pressure

• dairy products
• underweight people
• long-term weight loss
• normal eating patterns
• high fat diet
• lifestyle choice
• highly processed foods

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Finding a healthier you

Three of the most successful ways of lowering your weight and finding a healthier lifestyle

A. Mediterranean diet

The diet of the people living in this region is typically high in vegetables, fruit, nuts and healthy oils which is
where the name comes from. High-fat products such as cheese, cream and red meats are limited, as well as
1
which is another way of saying anything that has a lot of changes made to
it during production. Studies have shown that people following this diet typically enjoy cognitive benefits such as
a lower risk of depression and the decline that comes with age. Diseases such as cancer and those affecting the
2
heart were also found to be comparatively less prevalent. With that said,
provide a much needed supply of calcium and vitamin D and anyone considering this diet should source these
vital elements in alternative foods.

B. Plant-based and flexitarian

Concern for animal welfare, as well as the negative environmental effects of the industry surrounding
their consumption, tends to be the key driver for people switching to this diet which is more of a
3
. Meat is swapped for proteins from plants with vegans eschewing any products involving
living creatures, including honey and milk. However, how strictly the diet is followed is down to the individual with
vegetarian (which allows dairy products), flexitarian (which allows limited intake of meat) and pescatarian (which
allows fish, but not meat) versions extremely common. Examinations of followers of these diets have shown them
4
to have a lower risk of diabetes, and an increased chance of weight loss. The
influx of plant-based products into the market can make the switch easier for those used to eating meat, however,
some can be highly processed which brings health issues.

C. Intermittent fasting

This approach focuses on limiting the time during which adherents can eat rather than limiting specific foods.
Typically, a period of between 12 to 20 hours each day is reserved for going without food, although water and hot
drinks without milk can be consumed without breaking the fast. Other versions include fasting for a full 24 hours
5
once or twice a week while maintaining the rest of the time. The benefits of
this approach are derived from allowing the digestive system to rest. It has been shown to reduce inflammation,
6
decrease the effects of ageing and is often associated with successful . A study
showed that following this diet from 2 weeks to a year generally led to a weight reduction of between 0.8% to
13% which is markedly higher than other diets. The danger lies in overeating during periods when it’s allowed, as
overconsumption of calories increases weight regardless of how frequently they are eaten.

source: healthline.com

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6 Reading comprehension

Complete the table by putting a tick in the correct box for each of the questions.

7 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What was your opinion of the talk in the video?

2. What difficulties do you think someone following the advice of the speaker in the video could
have?
3. Which of the three diets in the article is most interesting to you? Why?
4. How do you think diet advice changes as you get older?
5. What advice would you give to someone wanting to change their diet?

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DIET OBSESSION

8 Extended activity / homework

Read the following question.

Anyone who has difficulties with eating too much really has difficulties with self-control.
Being overweight is an outward sign of inner weakness.

To what extent do you agree with the above statement?

You should:

• Write at least 250 words.

• Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation.

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