Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

There is an email running around that warns women to avoid eating chicken wings to prevent ovarian cysts. Is this email true?

• Urban Legends Reference Pages: Horrors (Wing Ding)

Snopes explains the underlying fear of this email:

“Hormones are linked in our minds (as they should be) with the growth process, which in humans is strongly tied to changes related to sexual maturation. Ergo, that fear finds voice in stories about women exposed to such hormones developing cysts in their reproductive systems and in stories about men developing the physical characteristics of women (that is, growing breasts).”

But they assure us that our fears are not true:

“The FDA has ruled that ‘No steroid hormones are approved for use in poultry,’ so chickens intended for human consumption in the U.S. cannot legally be fed or injected with steroids.”

There are so many legitimate things to be scared of, don’t let these email chain letters fill you with fears that aren’t a problem yet.

I wondered what was going through the heads at Visa’s advertising firm when I saw this commercial. When I linked to this site, there was a great ad about what life takes.

When I clicked on Life Takes Determination, however, I was shocked by what I saw.

• Visa Life Takes Determination

I saw a 15 second commercial devoted to gluttony. If Visa thinks that THIS is determination, they have NEVER fought with weight loss. What were they thinking?

When I think of the last four years and how hard I have worked to lose and maintain a healthy weight, I want to scream at the fool who thought wolfing down a huge hamburger takes determination. Determination is eating healthy, even when people are shoving food in your face. Determination has NOTHING to do with inhaling a four-pound hamburger.

Mars Candy Company is trying to sell you a chocolate bar and tell you it’s healthy and will even “promote a healthy heart.”

• Happy News – Candy makers cater to the health-conscious – by Elliott Minor with Associated Press

They say that they “believe” it will increase blood flow, but they have no proof:

”We believe … there can be a significant benefit around blood pressure, but we have not conclusively proven that,” said Mars’ chief scientist Harold Schmitz.

Make them prove it with peer reviewed, double-blind tests before you shell out one penny for their over-priced candy bars. Until they are able to prove it, they are still just selling junk food.

I have just finished watching the first season of Penn & Teller’s television show, Bullsh*t. Penn & Teller have made a living debunking magicians and other tricksters, but they have turned their discerning eyes on society and have found just as many charlatans in the world as they did on the stage. They attack many questionable things in our society, but on disc 3, they tackle diet products.

In Episode 11 (Eat This!) Penn & Teller have a man try the Hollywood 48-Hour Miracle Diet, which is basically a 48 hour fast. It promises a dramatic weight loss of ten or more pounds. Is the diet really a “miracle”? You get to see first hand how “pleasant” the diet is and how much weight the average guy lost.

They also attack the organic food, anti-genetic manipulation and raw food movements. I tend to choose organic produce because I’ve convinced myself that it tastes better. I don’t know if that’s true, but I would never suggest that every country should enforce organic farming. Unfortunately, there are those who believe they have the right to tell starving people what they can and cannot eat. I don’t blame Penn & Teller for being angry.

If you think I’m hard on the diet industry, just watch Episode 11 of Penn & Teller’s Bullsh*t. You’ll find that I go pretty easy on them.

If you read this article, it is written in such a way that the fact that study participants quit the study is because “Dieters Don’t Have Staying Power” not because of the side effects of the medication.

• Investigational Diet Drug Has Staying Power, but Dieters Don’t – MedPage Today

I am boiling mad right now because of this article. How many times are the patients going to be blamed when a medication makes them so nauseated that they want to quit the study? The media wants you to think that people who are overweight are too lazy to even finish a two-year study. Don’t believe them.

Orlistat, the generic name for Xenical, is closer to being approved for over-the-counter status. It might be that you would be able to walk into any drug store and buy Xenical without a prescription.

• CNN.com – Diet pill gets closer to store shelves – Jan 24, 2006

I’m not the kind of person who is attracted by weight loss pills. I always feared that once I stopped taking the pills, I would end up gaining the weight back. It looks like that is the case for most people taking Xenical.

“The pill’s effect ends once its use is stopped,” said Dr. Julie Golden, a medical officer in the FDA’s division of metabolism and endocrinology products. “A previous study showed a progressive weight gain in patients after they stopped using orlistat.”

Orlistat is only recommended for a six month time frame. If this product goes OTC, then there is no doctor involved to limit the dosage to six months. This drug is supposed to teach the patient new ways of eating during that six month time frame. It’s a very expensive training tool.

You can lose weight on your own without expensive weight loss medications, whether they are over-the-counter or prescribed by your doctor. Don’t let the marketing of the drug industry tell you any differently.

Somehow, I have let Acomplia slip under my radar. I had never heard about this drug until I read this article.

• Diet Blog – Acomplia Side Effects: The Story You Must Read

After looking at the website for Sanofi-Aventis, the manufacturer of Acomplia, it appears that they are working diligently on marketing this drug as a cardiovascular medicine instead of a weight loss medicine. Even though the drug affects the brain and not the heart, veins or arteries, they are marketing it (and working on testing for proof) as a cardiovascular drug so that health insurance companies will pay for it.

I’ve seen many weight loss medications come and go over the years. From Dexetrim to Phen-Fen, I passed them all by because I knew that even if I was able to lose weight with these drugs, I would end up gaining the weight back after I stopped taking the pills. I didn’t want to be the kind of person who had to take pills her whole life. I knew that I needed to fix the reason why I gained the weight in the first place, which is my head, not my mouth. This philosophy has protected me.

I was so grateful that I had never tried Phen-Fen after the heart-valve problem was revealed. If you are tempted to try Acomplia and line the pockets of Sanofi-Aventis with your money, remember the Phen-Fen scandal. Keep your money and work on your head. You can lose weight on your own without expensive “cardiovascular” drugs.

Remember when I said that health insurance companies want to use obesity as a reason to deny insurance coverage?

• Starling Fitness » That’s Bullocks

I was blasted for this supposition and people conjectured that it’s not so hard for obese people to get insurance and once they get it they won’t be denied coverage after paying their premiums. It hasn’t happened yet, but an undercurrent of that sentiment is growing in Great Britain.

• Doctors: Obese should be refused treatment | the Daily Mail

The health industry is in a crunch in the United Kingdom and the first thing that they look to to cut costs are the obese. Fortunately, government watchdogs have defended their citizens, but for how long?

I’m not paranoid. I can see where this is leading and if you are overweight, start making healthy choices in your life right now before they decide that it’s legal to discriminate against you because they’ve decided that “it’s your own fault.”

Via: Big Fat Blog: UK Docs: Don’t Treat Fat People

I wrote before about Patrick Deuel and his struggle with weight loss:

• Starling Fitness » The Former Half Ton Man

He is still working toward his goal of a healthy weight. Right now, he is scheduled for surgery to remove his pannus, which is a flap of skin that hangs from his belly down to his knees. The pannus is interferring with exercise, walking and all of Patrick’s plans to get closer to his goal.

• Keloland.com – Patrick Deuel’s Skin Surgery – by Jaine Andrews

• Argus Leader – Patrick Deuel will have surgery to shed extra skin – by Ben Shouse

Convincing his doctor that the surgery was necessary was difficult. It’s hard for anyone to understand the difficulty of dealing with that much excess skin. I think about how much harder my daily run would be with a 70-pound pillow stuffed into my jogging pants and I understand that this surgery is necessary.

I wish Patrick the best of luck. I hope he comes through the surgery and finds his life changed by the renewed mobility.

Update 03-09-06: He got the surgery. He’s doing well.

• JournalStar.com – Deuel has surgery to remove fat, skin mass – By Associated Press

This article from UCLA shows, point by point, exactly what I’ve been saying about the “obesity epidemic.” It’s a great read.

• News: ‘Obesity Epidemic’ Overblown, Conclude UCLA Sociologists – UCLA College

The media has been throwing around the word epidemic as if it were a fact, but the true definition of an epidemic is far different that what is actually happening in the United States.

“The term ‘epidemic’ refers to the rapid and episodic onset of infectious diseases and is associated with fear of sudden widespread death,” said UCLA sociologist Abigail C. Saguy. “Deaths attributed to obesity are calculated using odd ratios, which are often only slightly higher for those in the obese categories. This is a much looser use of the term ‘epidemic’ than, say, the flu epidemic.”

In fact, recent research has found no appreciable difference in mortality rates among fat Americans with a BMI less than 35. Only 6 percent of the American population fall into that category, Saguy points out. Many more medical issues pose a greater threat to more Americans, most notably malnutrition and smoking.

If you have been bothered by my entries about Fat Acceptance, here is something to help you get over your fear. The health care industry has been trying to scare you to sell you pills, surgeries and gadgets. Releasing the fear and accepting all people, including yourself, as you are is the first step to getting healthy without their expensive alternatives.

Via: Big Fat Blog: UCLA Soc: Epidemic Overblown