A ground-breaking pan-European research project to identify the key psychological and behavioural predictors of weight gain is making excellent progress thanks to the support of Slimming World.

So far more than 1400 Slimming World members have contributed to the five-year ‘Diet, Obesity and Genes’ project – otherwise known as ‘Diogenes’ – and final results are expected in 2010.

The programme involves a consortium of 34 partners across 14 countries in Europe, including world-class centres in diet and health studies, epidemiology, dietary genomics and food technology. 

Leading obesity researcher and Slimming World research specialist, Dr James Stubbs, who is co-ordinating the company’s involvement in the study, says: “The main objective of the Diogenes study is to assess the lifestyle and psycho-social aspects of food intake to develop software that will improve individual lifestyle solutions to weight management. This will ultimately make it easier to navigate to, and remain at, a healthy weight. 

“Participation in this project further strengthens Slimming World’s position at the cutting edge of weight management. The research will integrate studies of dietary, genetic, physiological and behavioural factors in weight management and aims to advance understanding into how obesity can be prevented and treated.”

For more information about Diogenes, visit their website at: www.diogenes-eu.org

Our Woman of the Year superstar, Penny Melly, who lost a fabulous 10st 7.5lbs to scoop the title, appeared on GMTV on Wednesday morning and looked amazing!  She then went to the Ritz in London for a photo call which resulted in her featuring in yesterday's The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Express and Daily Star! 

You can read all about her and watch a video online on the Daily Mail website, The Sun, Daily Mirror, The Scotsman, Channel 4 News, AOL, Virgin Media, Teletext, MSN, Pruhealth and Fenland Today! Penny’s also appeared on BBC Essex Breakfast radio and Essex FM. And you can watch our super slideshow - celebrating competition winners from all over the country - right here.

Saturday 8th November saw the gorgeous and the glamorous gather at the ICC in Birmingham for the highlight of our Slimming World calendar, our annual awards ceremony.  This year’s host, alongside Margaret, was the delicious John Barrowman, who wowed the crowds with his charm and his singing ability, giving an impromptu performance of his new single.  The event celebrated the amazing achievements of our title winners throughout the year and introduced the 10 national finalists for Slimming World’s Woman of the Year competition 2008.

This year we were thrilled to have Women of the Year from all 4 corners of the UK:

• Woman of the Year for England: Penny Melly from the Westcliff on Sea group, who lost a fantastic 10st 7½lb with the support of her Consultant Pat Blake

• Woman of the Year for Ireland: Sinead Carlin who is a super 5st 9lb lighter thanks to the help from the Derry group and Consultant Clare McDaid 

• Woman of the Year for Scotland: Nancy Allan from the Bo’ness group, with an amazing weight loss of 10st 13½lb, helped by Consultant Joan Paterson

• Woman of the Year for Wales: Eileen McConnell from the Colwyn Bay group, who's celebrating a fabulous 9st 7lb weight loss with Consultant Debbie Vaughan

However there can only be one overall winner and the title of Slimming World’s Woman of the Year and after a nail-biting wait, the £5000 prize went to...

Penny Melly!
You can read Penny's story right here.

Congratulations to all our Woman of the Year superstars, and we'll bring you more news about Penny's success over the next few days.

Lucy Elkins writes in today’s Daily Mail: “Avoid oily fish, cut out all dairy foods, use more supplements”: it's the kind of advice that flies in the face of conventional thinking on healthy eating. Yet, amazingly, this is what I was told to do to improve my health by so-called 'dietary experts' on the internet. 

Having typed 'dietary advice' into a popular search engine, Lucy received over 100,000 listings and writes about the concern she has – and we share – about the unqualified advice (what she describes as ‘often wrong and sometimes dangerous’) that is given on many nutrition websites.

The Daily Telegraph are today reporting that an ‘Obesity gene’ boosts appetite (see pg8).  It reports that scientists have discovered a gene linked to obesity works by increasing the appetite. A study of more than 3,000 children, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism shows that those who had the gene – called FTO – were less likely to feel ‘full’ after eating than their classmates. People with two copies of the gene are on average 7lb heavier, and those with one gene are 3lb heavier than those without the gene.

Our research specialist, Dr James Stubbs, comments: “While your genes determine your biological makeup, it’s the environment that you live in and your lifestyle habits which determine the weight you gain. Only in a very minute number of cases can a genetic reason be found as the cause for weight gain. If you were found to have the gene variation, the advice would be to change your behaviour by eating healthily and doing regular exercise.

“As always Slimming World’s message is that the key to successful and long-term weight loss and maintenance is to make healthy habits a part of your everyday lifestyle. Research has also shown that the support that you receive at a Slimming World group plays a key role in boosting your confidence to make the changes”.

Shared eating and lifestyle habits which are passed down from parents to children have a much bigger effect on weight gain than biological make-up. There are the lucky few who don’t gain weight as easily, but the good news for those of us who do gain weight is that through Food Optimising, Image Therapy and Body Magic Slimming World offers all the support and techniques we need to help us to change our behaviour and lead a healthier lifestyle – whatever our genetic makeup!  And, of course, with Free Food - healthy, filling everyday foods - even the largest appetites can be satisfied without the worry of weight gain.

James joined Slimming World after 13 years at the Rowett Research Institute where he was Principle Scientific Officer. While there he conducted large-scale human trials into weight control and obesity.  Read James’ biography here.

Sunday 13th July saw our biggest ever Man of the Year semi-finals! 86 amazing men, representing our 5,500 groups and 300,000 members, joined together in a massive celebration of their success.

On top of their fabulous weight losses, our 86 men have added years to their lives, some have probably saved their lives, and all of them are looking forward to a healthier, more active future with their friends and families.

You may have already seen our fabulous winner on yesterday’s Channel 5 news and in today’s Daily Star and Daily Mail.  He’s lost a sensational 15st 2lbs in two and a half years and reduced his 60” waist to a trim 34”!  Slimming World’s Man of the Year 2008 is Brian Semple who attended Linda Booker's group in Rochester, Kent!

Brian described his journey as ‘a 15st success story that saved my life’. He explained: ‘My weight loss has been down to the food that I eat and the people I’ve met. My GP thinks I’m a new man. In fact every aspect of my life has improved. I even enjoy the Can-Can – I can enjoy food, I can exercise every day, I can live life to the full. I can do anything!’

You’ll be able to find out just how Brian did it from Monday in our Real Success section

On last night’s F Word, Janet Street-Porter was on a mission – to turn the British public from a nation of smoothie-slurpers to fresh-fruit munchers! As Janet pointed out, we drink literally tons of the stuff in the belief that we’re being ‘healthy’, whereas in fact, these tempting little drinks can add a lot of extra calories - and sugar - to your diet (more than a can of fizzy pop in many cases!) without filling you up.

It’s something Slimming World members have known for years. With Food Optimising, Slimming World's healthy eating plan, whole fruit (including bananas, oranges and grapes) can be eaten in unlimited quantities, while juiced, cooked, pureed/mashed, stewed or blended fruit can be eaten in measured amounts as Syns. That’s because we know that altering the composition of fruit makes it very easy to over-consume in a short space of time.  It’s an all too easy way of adding a lot of extra energy, without adding the filling, bulky fibre needed to fill your stomach and satisfy your appetite. 

Think about the time it takes to eat an apple and compare it to the time it takes to drink an apple-worth of juice.  That’s why Food Optimisers reach for the fruit bowl first!

For more information about the fabulous freedom of Food Optimising visit our healthy eating section.

The August/September issue of Slimming World magazine is on sale now!  Don’t miss your complete summer slimming survival guide, neatly packaged into 120 inspiration-packed pages:

Runaway success. Discover how keen runner Lyndsay Zemeiksas lost 5st 12lbs to put her life back on track.  Plus how cover girl Kirsty Wilcox has stayed at her size 10 target for six years!

7-day ‘beach countdown’ eating plan. Follow our super-filling menus for just one week and slip into your swimming cossie with confidence.

A-Z of holiday slimming. Don’t let the annual sunshine break sabotage your weight-loss success. Stay in control on your summer hols with our guide to sun, sea and Syns.

A taste of Italy. Tuck into seven classic Mediterranean dishes – high on colour and flavour, low in Syns. Plus the perfect Slimming World summer pudding, and portable picnic recipes for a delicious day out.

Exercise and the busy mum. Get fit and have fun with your little ones – at the same time! Our easy, family-friendly exercises from top fitness expert and mum, Peta Bee, are perfect when you’re pushed for time.

Visit http://www.slimmingworldmagazine.co.uk/ for more!

Many of today’s papers claim that the Australians are unexpectedly leading the way as the heavyweight champions of the world – with arguably a greater proportion of obese citizens than even the notoriously supersized Americans. A study released yesterday shows that Australia’s obesity epidemic has been considerably underestimated, with nine million adults – almost 60 per cent of the adult population – overweight.

And, although Slimming World groups haven’t made the journey to Oz yet, our international online membership – bodyOPTIMISE – has!  So if you have friends or family in Australia, or if you live in Australia and would love to eat big portions of delicious food, experience unique weekly slimming support and have unlimited online access to recipes, features and a huge array of motivational tools, join bodyOPTIMISE today and start your journey to weight loss success!

According to researchers in Venezuela a study of 100 obese women has shown that starting the day with a hearty breakfast helps to boost weight loss long-term.

The Daily Mail reported: At the end of the study researchers from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas found those eating big breakfasts had lost more than 21% of their body weight (compared with just 4.5% for the women eating a small breakfast) and reported feeling less hungry, especially before lunch, and having fewer cravings for carbohydrates.

And, if you fancy a big breakfast each morning, at Slimming World we say go for it!  Our generous healthy eating plan means that your breakfast can always be big!

Pile your plate with lean, grilled bacon, mountains of scrambled eggs, loads of grilled tomatoes, unlimited poached mushrooms and a couple of slices of wholemeal toast.  Add a squirt of tomato sauce on the side if you fancy, and finish off with a bowl of fresh fruit salad smothered in Müllerlight yogurt. 

Don’t believe you’ll lose weight eating all this?  Try our 7-day menu and see the results for yourself!