Academic Writing - Model Answer (Task 2)

Dieting can change a person’s life for the better or ruin one’s health completely. What is your opinion?

Nowadays there is great pressure to lose weight. Society, the media and the health industry all view slim people positively. This results in thousands of books, medication and TV programs that promise ‘miracle’ diets that can help you lose weight fast and effectively.

If a person is overweight, dieting can alter their life to a great extent. They will lose the excess kilos, increase their confidence and improve their general health. As long as a person has consulted a professional nutritionist who has suggested a particular diet for their body and problem and the excess weight has been lost gradually then this is likely to be a success story.

Unfortunately many people spend their lives following a yo-yo dieting pattern. They go to extremes and deprive their bodies of valuable vitamins and nutrients in search of a quick solution to their current problem, for example to fit into a wedding dress before a certain date. This kind of dieting may be harmful for your body in the long run and will actually result in a person gaining more weight in the end. This is because what was actually lost was not body fat. Excessive dieting exhausts and weakens the body and can therefore impact a person negatively.

To conclude, a person who maintains a healthy, balanced lifestyle continuously is likely to be energetic, confident, strong and less likely to get ill. Being obsessed with dieting however can lead to illnesses like anorexia and bulimia which are difficult to overcome.

Question taken from Target Band 7 p.62

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