Jameela Jamil has blasted Weight Watcher’s new US weight loss app, which launched in America yesterday and is targeted at 8 to 17-year-olds.
The British actress, 33, who is an outspoken body confidence activist, slammed the app for ‘breeding food obsession from a young age’, and revealed that her own battle started aged just 11.
Taking to Twitter, she wrote: ‘Are we kidding? Breeding obsession with weight and calories and food at the age of…8?
‘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.’
Jameela Jamil has blasted Weight Watcher’s new US weight loss app, which launched in America yesterday and is targeted at 8 to 17-year-olds
She continued: ‘*If* you are worried about your child’s health/lifestyle, give them plenty of nutritious food and make sure they get plenty of fun exercise that helps their mental health.
‘And don’t weigh them. Don’t burden them with numbers, charts or ‘success/failure.’ It’s a slippery slope.’
The new WW app rolled out the free app named ‘Kurbo’ , on the 13th August, following on from a similar app released last year, which targeted teens aged 13 to 17.
The new WW app rolled out the free app named ‘Kurbo’ , on the 13th August, following on from a similar app released last year, which targeted teens aged 13 to 17
The British actress, 33, who is an outspoken body confidence activist, slammed the app for ‘breeding food obsession from a young age’, and revealed that her own battle started aged just 11. She is seen as a child
The weight loss app features breathing-exercise instructions, a Snapchat-inspired interface and asks users to enter their height, weight, age and health goals, as well as logging what they eat.
It features a weight loss programme which ranks foods according to colour, with green items such as vegetables available to eat freely, yellow foods in moderation, while red foods should be limited.
WW told Femail: ‘WW in the US has collaborated with the Youth Advisory Panel – a team of leading healthcare professionals and academic experts in pediatric health and nutrition from around the globe. They recognised a clear need for an engaging, scalable, family-based program designed specifically for kids and teens.
‘Kurbo is derived from Stanford University’s Pediatric Weight Control Program and 30 years of clinical nutrition and behavioural modification research.
‘The program’s personalised and data-driven mobile platform includes a mobile app and one-on-one health coaching to help children and teenagers, with support from their families, make lifestyle changes while receiving guidance around sustainable healthy eating, physical activity and mindfulness habits.’
Tense: The actress, 33, explained she no longer speaks to her parents, whom have had a difficult marriage and a subsequent divorce (July 2008, London)
Jameela’s tweet comes a few days after she discussed the impact her ‘fat-phobic’ family had during her teen anorexia battle.
Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine, the Vogue cover star explained her ‘fat-phobic’ family were ‘not helpful’ while she was battling an eating disorder as a teenager because ‘jutting hipbones were seen as a sign of brilliance at home’.
She told the publication: ‘My family were not helpful in that they were incredibly fat-phobic.
‘Jutting hip bones were seen as a sign of peak brilliance both at home and at school. It didn’t matter that I did well academically or was a good swimmer.
‘All I thought was important about me was that my jeans hung off my hip bones.’
Jameela has long spoken out in support of body confidence and recently said she is ‘thankful’ for the physique she has.
Pictured: Jameela’s mother Shireen is domestic violence activist, who campaigned for Shireen’s Law which put a stop to the time limit on reporting domestic violence