Tuesday, February 6, 2007

ARGH!

I’m really disappointed in many of the health and fitness blogs out there. I have been looking for advice, new recipes and fun ways to work in exercise. Instead, I feel like I’ve found a lot of advertisements.

It seems like every health and fitness product has its own blog and uses it as just another form of advertising.

Here in Boston we’ve just wrapped up the Adult Swim debacle, where Lite-Brite-looking marketing devices were placed about the city. Unfortunately, the city of Boston thought they might be bombs. I’m sure you’ve all seen it on the news – and heard all the discussions about guerrilla marketing.

I'm tired of being jumped by advertisements in the blogosphere. I search blogs for what might be promising new information, and it turns out to be more advertisements. Some of the information might be good, but how can you trust it when it comes from people pushing an agenda.

Among some of the blogs I’ve been disappointed by:

Healthy Weight Loss Recipes – The ideas might be good, but look at their profile and they’re on Herbalife.

Healthy Living Hub – The profile includes a list of the writer’s other blogs. I’d like to know a little bit about the blogger before I use the blog’s information.

The Bikini Body Diet – Again, no info on who’s behind the information, but it does include advertisements for diet pills.

About Health Tips – No information on who is behind the blog. The profile lists the writer as “Finance ClubInc.” So I have to assume this company will eventually feed me information on their products.

Fresh Talk – This is a healthy eating blog written by the editor of The Packer, a trade magazine for the produce industry!

One blog did stand out: Obesity In The News. This is a blog written by Shefaly Yogendra in the United Kingdom about the issue of obesity. It’s not a weight loss blog. It’s not a fitness blog. It takes a step back and looks at the wider issue of obesity. As Yogendra writes:
I wanted my blog to be different - one to acknowledge the complex nature of obesity; one that looked beyond food into trends in physical activity, genetics, socio-economics, politics and innovation; one that analysed themes of bias, stigma, discrimination and interest groups variously aligned.

It’s a good blog. Check it out.

1 comment:

Shefaly Yogendra said...

Donna, thanks for your kind thoughts on my blog. I started writing the blog because many, even academic, blogs on obesity were narrowly focused. The whole issue of weight loss and obesity is more complex than the one or two factors to which the issue is boiled down by some of the simplistic presentations. Much knowledge also takes a long time to wash through the policy or strategy making processes in industry and government.

So I thought what better way to share it widely and in a more egalitarian way than through a blog! I am just also finishing my multidisciplinary (also rare in obesity) PhD in obesity, so tracking emerging research is just an additional activity.

I am glad you liked my blog and I hope you will get a chance to critique or contribute some time as well. Thanks!