The Body Image Make-Over Program

Once again the old adage "you can't judge a video by its cover" is borne out with this handsomely packaged (in oversize plastic casing with a lovely shot of a swan on the cover) "non-diet approach to weight management" which relies on imaging techniques. Created and presented by Bernie Day, the video itself is an often washed-out looking amateurish production which switches back and forth between stills, primitive graphics, and shakily edited interview footage with women who have embarked on the program. Included with the video are a set of, once again, nice-looking color-coded information cards with subject information on one side and a list of "re-imaging" statements (for viewers to say or write) on the other. The two techniques are basically "re-imaging" (which involves writing things like "I feel compassion for myself and others" umpty-ump times), and "negative body pattern releasing." In a nutshell, "negative body pattern releasing" uses a "neuro linguistic programming" technique called "anchoring," in which you kind of play "Battleship" with yourself by putting your thumbs on your thighs and firing a positive message (press one thigh) against a negative situation in your mind (fire the other thigh). Not all of the suggestions included on the tape involve these techniques, some are more concrete: such as zapping oneself with a rubber band when you eat a Twinkie or leaving food out until it becomes rancid and then staring at it (presumably until you blow chunks). Throughout the program, Day continually refers viewers to cards that don't exist (i.e. "refer to the blue card labeled "food craving" or the purple card lableled "non-food items," neither of which can be found in the 26 cards). While imaging techniques can indeed constitute a valid part of a serious weight-control program, The Body Image Make-Over Program is simply not a good guide to those techniques. Although sincerely presented, it's a low-budget program that is poorly arranged (and, with respect to the cards, poorly indexed). Not a necessary purchase. (Available from: Health Education Video Productions, Inc., 22525 SE 64th Pl., Suite 220, Issaquah, WA 98027; (206) 557-3662.)