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You are here: Home / Archives for diet scams

Captain Obvious Goes on a Diet

May 6, 2015 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

I wonder if my dog Willie gets bored walking the same route every day.

dog-formerly-known-as-willie

My inclination is that he doesn’t, but what do I know? Maybe he gets as tired of peeing on the same bushes as I do as walking the same sidewalks. Anyway, bottom line is I take him out on a long walk every morning and, to be honest, can sometimes find it dulling. The solution? I plug in my always-falling-out-of-my-ear-buds and listen to radio.

That backstory in itself is a long walk to explain how I came about hearing an ad for yet another “miracle weight loss product.”

I’ve been writing this column for more than a decade and if you’ve followed it more than, oh, about three weeks, you know that “miracle weight loss products” are one of my prime bugaboos, causing me to become very curmudgeonly and my head to explode. This was no exception; especially because the first words in the advert — even before I knew what was being promoted — were,

“A healthy diet and exercise plan should be part of any weight reduction routine.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Diet, Newspaper Column, Rant, Weight Loss Tagged With: ad campaign, annoying advertisements, diet scams, healthy weight loss, scams

Dieter beware; it’s the Season

January 28, 2015 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

I was prompted to write this because I heard an advertisement proclaiming easy weight loss by simply putting drops on one’s tongue.

Snake-Oil-Diet

This always irks me because I hate it that so many people lie about weight loss; taking advantage of the desperate (and unthinking). The only drops one can put in one’s mouth to cause rapid weight loss would be super glue (and I’m not saying to do that of course). Yet, ‘tis the silly season; that yearly ritual where anyone with a megaphone can make false claims about how one can lose weight overnight, without adjusting any behaviors.

Why do so many buy into this time and time again?

Well, let’s start with some facts: According to surveys, the top New Year’s resolutions are: Number One, “spend more time with family and friends;” and number two is “get fit.” “Losing weight” rounds out the top three.

So, it’s obvious that it’s important to many people.

Paradoxically 80 percent of resolutions find their way into the trash heap by January 20, and 92 percent collapse before year’s end. Bottom line? Only eight percent of resolutions survive the year. Why the low success rate? The reality is that so many people are so desperate to shed that weight — and to do it quickly — that they put their brains into neutral, falling for schemes that they’d never accept if they slowed down long enough to think.

Putting on my consumer advocate hat, I therefore did some research to find out what to avoid, should you wish to be one of the successful eight percent instead of the sad 92. Webmd.com listed several diet types to avoid if you wish to successfully lose weight. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Diet, Exercise, goals, Health, Newspaper Column, Rant, resolutions, Weight Loss Tagged With: crash diet, diet fads, diet health, diet products, diet scams, fitness scams, grapefruit diet, healthy diet, low calorie diet

The Common Sense Diet: It’s About Calories – Nothing Else

March 2, 2011 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

“Lose 20 pounds in one week! No dieting! No exercise! No lifestyle change!”

I will admit that I’ve been sucked in by such snake oil pitches and pie-in-the-sky promises ever since I was first embarrassed by having to shop in the “husky” section of the boys’ clothing department.

Yet, decades later, such 127-point screaming headline proclamations remain as common fare across the back pages of tabloids; or enthusiastically, breathlessly broadcast on slick, highly produced infomercials featuring questionable “experts” interviewing “real people” experiencing “actual results.”

When we can turn down the magical thinking long enough to strap on our adult brain thinking caps, we know that losing weight is not rocket science; it’s a simple premise; keep your mouth shut longer and your feet moving further and you’ll end up at your correct weight. The bottom line is quite simply “calories in versus calories out.” Period; end of story; mystery over. Spend more than you take in and — voila! — a new skinny you.

Should you need validation of this fact, the New England Journal of Medicine published a report a while ago, that proved that as long as a diet reduced one’s caloric intake, the result was weight loss — regardless of the diet’s make up of fat, protein, or carbohydrate. They asked 811 overweight and obese adults to try one of four different low-fat, high fiber diets. Activity was encouraged, and participants could receive group and individual support to keep them motivated. What they discovered was that craving, fullness, hunger, and diet satisfaction were similar across all four diets; and that all participants lost weight and reduced their waistlines — irrespective of the type of diet they followed. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Current Events, Diet, Health, Newspaper Column, Overcoming Obstacles, Rant, Weight Loss, willpower Tagged With: adult brain, caloric intake, correct weight, diet fads, diet scams, high fiber diets, journal of medicine, lifestyle change, low fat high fiber diets, magical thinking, new england journal of medicine, obese adults, pie in the sky, snake oil

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