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WW, formerly known as WeightWatchers, launched a diet and nutrition app marketed at children and adolescents this week and have faced immense backlash since.

Kurbo by WW is a free programme that claims to help eight-year-olds to 17-year-olds "build healthy habits", and lose weight through personalised coaching and food tracking.

The app's "traffic light" diet approach categorises foods as red, yellow and green (red being the most process, sugar-filled, yellow being lean protein and pasta and green being fruit and veg).

Kurbo by WW was developed at Stanford University, and WW have defended their programme by stating the app is backed by safe scientific studies. 

CEO of WW, Mindy Grossman, said; "To change the health trajectory of the world, we have a tremendous opportunity, but also a responsibility, to help kids, teens and families adopt healthy habits."

Many critics of the app insist that encouraging kids and teenagers to diet can perpetuate an unhealthy and dangerous mindset.

Fatphobic cultural messaging around dieting has led to a massive issue surrounding eating disorders and mental health among youth.

In an article published in Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics in 2015, researchers found that because adolescence is such an important time for body image development, 12-to-18-year-olds with a negative perception of their body or weight are more likely to develop eating disorders or dysfunctional exercise habits.

Of course, obesity can be linked to numerous health concerns but disordered eating and mental health conditions among adolescent is reportedly more likely to pose a dangerous risk than paediatric obesity.

35-to-37 percent of adolescent girls in the US alone report using unhealthy weight loss measures, according to the National Eating Disorder Association. These methods include fasting, smoking, taking laxatives and 'skinny teas', skipping meals and even vomiting.

One-in-three adolescents in the UK alone reported experiencing mental health issues, according to a troubling survey by the charity Action for Children. 

More than 12 percent of adolescents in the US are affected by depression every year. 

Many people on social media were furious about the Kurbo by WW app. Jameela Jamil, an activist and actress who runs the iWeigh campaign for body positivity, tweeted her disgust at the news.

“Are we kidding? Breeding obsession with weight and calories and food at the age of…8?" she wrote. "I was 11 when my obsession started, due to being put on a diet for being the heaviest girl in the class. I became afraid of food. It ruined my teens and twenties.”

Petitions have already been created against the app, with the hashtag #LoveNotDiets trending to urge parents to use love rather than diets to help their nutritional habits.

Childhood obesity is still an incredibly serious public health challenge of the 21st century, and the app attempts to reduce a child's sugar intake. There is nothing wrong with promoting healthy foods and exercising for physical and mental health benefits. 

However, many parents feel that instilling a diet-centered mindset among young people who are already vulnerable could be a dangerous mistake. Targeting the mental health crisis could be a more productive way forward.

Feature image: Instagram/@coachdavidflowers

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Former Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger, has opened up about her battle with an eating disorder, admitting the pressure of being in a girl band only added fuel to the fire.

The 39-year-old spoke candidly about her struggle with bulimia in a revealing interview with Cosmopolitan, saying: “It stole all of my happiness, confidence and memories.”

The X Factor judge told the magazine that she was just 14-years-old when her issues around food and body-image first emerged.

 

Let's see if blondes really do have more fun..  @cosmopolitanuk

A post shared by Nicole Scherzinger (@nicolescherzy) on

“I was always very critical of myself from a young age, and when I was 14, I started running,” she said.

“I would go outside in the middle of the night and run, because I thought I had to be thinner and that my thighs should look a certain way.”

Things only got worse for Nicole when her career in the entertainment industry began to take off.

“When I got The Pussycat Dolls, it really amplified that because it had so much to do with showing your body off.”

Nicole first poke about her struggle with bulimia back in 2014, and though she has fully recovered, she admits she was ashamed of her past.

“I have a lot of fans and I never wanted to come out about it, because I was ashamed. But once I finally did come out about it, I realised how many people it had helped.”

But, just like everyone else, she has her goood and bad day. Speaking about her X Factor co-star, Nicole joked: “Mrs O and I were joking the other day that sometimes we wake up in a puddle of cookies and crisps! But what really helps me is working out. Even if it’s not for very long, (I love) to get a sweat on to keep me focused and positive.”

The singer finished off by encouraging women to not be so hard on themselves and to make an effort to embrace their figures. 

Hear, hear, Scherzy!

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Nicole Scherzinger has opened up about her battle with bulimia, and how it was incredibly difficult for her to talk about it in public.

“It was hard for me to speak about, it still is hard, and thinking about it I try not to well up.”

The gorgeous singer first revealed her struggle with the disease back in 2012 during an episode of Behind the Music on VH1, saying that she hated herself at the height of her fame with The Pussycat Dolls: “I really was so disgusted with myself and so embarrassed. I felt so alone. I was in a group, and I never felt so alone in my life.”

Nicole has now spoken out about how the disease nearly robbed her of everything: “I had started losing my voice, I couldn’t sing at shows, and then I remember my manager finding me passed out on the floor in Malta or in the south of France.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to lose everything I love if I don’t love myself.’ One day when you feel like you’ve reached the end, you just say, ‘I’m not doing this anymore.’ It’s sad to see how I wasted my life. I had such a great life on the outside, the Dolls were on top of the world but I was miserable on the inside. I’m never letting that happen again; you only get one life—I was 27 only once.”

The singer says that the reason she empathises so much with people who are going through tough times, is because of what she went through herself, and she offered some words of encouragement to anyone who is feeling defeated:

“It is such a horrible paralyzing disease and it was such a dark time for me. That’s why I can empathize so much with people who have demons and voices in their heads, who aren’t nice to themselves. It robs you of living your life. But you can recover and you can get rid of it forever. I did it and that’s why it’s so important for me to share my story. I felt so alone…but I made myself so alone. You hide it from the world, you isolate yourself. But you can beat it—do not give up because you’re so special and you’re meant for such great things.”

 

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Ex Spice Girls singer Mel C, said she has finally overcome her battle with bulimia thanks to the ‘80/20’ diet.

In the past, the 40-year-old suffered from depression and now admits that she ate next to nothing and exercised excessively in the bid to lose weight

Fortunately, the star is no longer afraid of food and has learned to adapt a healthier lifestyle:

“I have my 80/20 rule where through the week I’ll try to be healthy – and then at weekends, I’m a lot more relaxed, especially in front of Scarlet”

We’re not surprised  she brought up her five-year-old girl, because her pregnancy with Scarlet also played a part in her battle with weight loss:

“After having a child, it makes you realise how incredible your body is and it’s made me a lot kinder to myself. Becoming a mum gave me the freedom to finally love myself physically.”

The mother-of-one now cut her workouts from six-per-week to four and seems to be doing well – we’re happy to hear she’s picked herself up!

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Adam Rickitt, who played Gail Platt’s son Nick on the soap between 1997 and 2004 has spoken out about his battle with bulimia.

Adam opens up about his battle with the eating disorder in the newest episode of The Big Reunion, saying: “For two years I made myself sick from one time a day, to fifteen, twenty times a day.”

Adam also starred in Australian soap, Shortland Street, until 2010.

gail

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