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

It looks like researchers in Mexico are saying that the agave plant can reduce cholesterol and prevent the absorption of fat in the intestines. Agave is the plant from which tequila is distilled, but the benefits from the plant are supposedly destroyed during the distillation process.

• CNN.com – Distilling a possible weight-loss secret

I always look at articles like this with a crinkled brow and folded arms. I want to see the double blind testing for proof. Even then, I want the testing to be replicated by an independent research team. It doesn’t look like they are that far along in the process yet. The most disturbing quote from this article:

“This will benefit the agave farmers more than anyone,” he said. “Prices have collapsed in recent years.”

It looks like they are promoting agave as a weight loss aid in order to boost agave sales. Even if Dr Jorge Segura finds a link between the two, I’m waiting for the repeated results before I believe it. Remember, there are people working day and night to take your money and feed off your insecurities. You don’t need agave or any other type of unproven treatment to lose weight. You have everything you need to lose weight right now.

In the fiction book, Thinner Than Thou, there are television shows and secret fat porn shops where the starving masses can look at fat people. Jumbo Jigglers is like a strip club where fat people undress for the dieting and exercising minions. I always am shocked when I realize that reality has gotten one step closer to the horrible fiction that was portrayed in Thinner Than Thou.

I have just read a synopsis of an episode of The Biggest Loser (TVgasm – Biggest Loser: The Bigger They Are…). In this episode, the victims (excuse me, contestants) are tortured with a choice. They are left in a room with their favorite treats and a letter from their estranged family members. If they eat the treats, they get to read the letter. None of the contestants eat the food. None of them are allowed to read their letters. This is supposed to teach them to deal with treats in the “real world.”

Balderdash!

This show is about torture. This show tortures the victims without teaching them any valuable lessons. I can see the symbolism of the letters and the food. Sometimes we all are in situations where we need to politely tell loved ones that we love them, even though we’re not going to eat the rugula today. Instead of giving these people lessons to be assertive with their loved ones, they torture them and make them choose between health and family. Real life isn’t like that. Never once have I been locked in a room with my favorite food and a letter that is withheld unless I eat.

Watch out! Do you know who the primary sponsor of this television show is? 24 Hour Fitness. I’m ashamed to have a membership if these are the methods that they approve. Remember, there are companies everywhere that are trying to profit from your insecurities. Adopting a healthy lifestyle doesn’t require magic powders, expensive books or health club memberships.

They lured customers by promising weight loss with no drugs. They promised drug-free help with hypnotism, but the sessions were really a clever ruse to sell weight loss supplements like TrimSpa and LipoSpa. Enough customers complained that New Jersey sued them.

• NJ Office of the Attorney General – News Release – “TrimSpa” Maker and State Settle Lawsuit

In the settlement, TrimSpa refuses to accept any liability or admit to doing anything wrong. They promise to inform their customers better next time. They shelled out the customer retribution plus and additional $750,000 in exchange for not having their name sullied by a loss in the courts.

Remember, no matter what they promise you, there are companies out there trying to take your money. Don’t let them. You can lose weight on your own without drugs or patches or formulas or supplements.

Via: Consumer Health Digest, September 13, 2005

Because of the lawsuits pertaining to ephedra, Metabolife is filing for bankruptcy:

• Metabolife Bankruptcy Files

Don’t let yourself get taken. Best case scenario, they steal your money. Worst case scenario, they damage your health and go out of business before you can sue them. The bad news is: there is no magic food, pill, patch or excercise machine. The good new is: all you need to lose weight is within you. You can do it on your own without them.

Via: Consumer Health Digest, September 13, 2005

The FTC is working diligently to protect you from fraudulent weight-loss claims, but these companies are breeding faster than they can cut them down.

• FTC – FTC Stops Weight-loss Claims about Seaweed-based Patches

• FTC – Canadian Marketers of Fraudulent Weight-Loss Products Pay Redress to Settle FTC Charges

Companies, individuals and products mentioned in these articles:

• Hydro-Gel Slim Patch
• Slenderstrip
• Kingstown Associates, Ltd.
• BVW Associates, Inc.
• Gary Bush; David Varley
• Laurence White
• The Fulfillment Solutions Advantage, Inc.
• The FSA Group
• International Access
• Beauty Visions Worldwide
• Slimshop
• Robert Van Velzen

There is no magic pill, food, patch, or exercise machine that can make you thin unless you make changes to your diet and exercise levels. If you are going to make changes to your diet and exercise, do it by yourself and don’t waste your money on products that haven’t been proven. At best, they steal your money and leave you fat. At worst, they injure your health or kill you.

Via: Consumer Health Digest, September 20, 2005

This secret from PostSecret isn’t the first time I’ve seen this phenomenon. I’ve had it said to me with a straight face in hushed tones. I’m part of the converted now, so the voice looked at the fat women across the room and whispered to me, “Don’t you find it harder to tolerate fat people now?” I clenched my jaw, crinkled my brow and shook my head at her. After suffering the torment of children and teens during my formative years, I have a hard time understanding what skinny people find they have to “tolerate.”

I truly believe that those thin people who resent fat people are the ones that got to their goal weight and maintain it using brute force. They never solved the issues that made them turn to food, so it is always a temptation to them. They never learned how to eat moderately with joy, so food is constantly a source of stress for them.

They imagine that fat people can just eat whatever they want whenever they want. They imagine that fat people never have to stress out about their clothes fitting. They imagine that fat people never have to break a sweat. In essence, they have completely forgotten what being fat is like.

When I was overweight, I constantly monitored my food. I was always on a diet or bingeing after one. It is actually easier for me to eat now than it was when I was fat. When I was overweight, I couldn’t find cute clothes to fit me, much less worrying whether my $300 jeans would still fit. Those designers never even considered that I might want to buy a pair of $300 jeans. Buying clothes and fitting into them is much easier now. When I was overweight, I exercised more than I do now. I would run HARD and be in pain for days afterward. Even climbing the stairs was a major feat for me. Exercise was just getting my body out of bed and showered, sometimes. I broke a sweat all the time. Now, I’m cold all the time and my exercise is much more moderate. Climbing the stairs doesn’t work me out anymore and when I go to the gym, I’m ignored instead of stared at.

If you find that you are intolerant of the obese, you better watch out. It’s the first step going back to the way you were. You imagine that fat people have a life that is easier. You think that they don’t need to work as hard as you did to get thin and forget how hard it was just to survive in this prejudiced world.

Of course, my reaction to fat people is just as bad. I want to take them aside and give them advice. I want to help them find the path just like I did. I kind of feel like I have found THE WAY, and I want to show them the small path I cut with a machete. I want to show them my before pictures. I want to tell them where to find me. My instincts are just as harmful as the people who detest the obese and I do my best to keep them in check.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

According to The Scotsman, a company is researching the abilities of the plant, Lathyrus Linifolius, to aid in weight loss. It is said that monks used the roots of this plant to fight hunger.

• The Scotsman – Forgotten plant with power to quell hunger pangs

The only problem with this is the plant is poisonous. There is a company that is trying to find a way to create a weight loss medication with a poisonous plant. Here is the full information on the plant from Dave’s Garden.

• PlantFiles – Detailed information on Bitter Vetch (Lathyrus linifolius)

Hunger isn’t entirely physiological. It has a psychological element to it. Every time I have run into a problem with “hunger pangs” it has always turned out to be an emotional hunger rather than a physical one. Don’t look to poisonous plants and companies that are trying to bilk you out of your money. Get real with yourself and work through the issues that spawn your eating.

Via: Slashfood – Archaeologists discover herbal diet pill

This product makes a lot of promises. Just by smelling yummy smells, you can lose weight. You get your choice of banana, green apple or peppermint. Here are links to the home page and their research study.

• SLIMist Home Page

• Research Study

Their website includes a diet plan (simplistic, but workable) and an exercise program (a good starting point). If you follow the diet and exercise plan, then you will lose weight. You don’t need the smelly stuff. The reason why people have lost weight is because of the eating restrictions and exercise regimen, not the smelly stuff.

Plus, if you want to smell bananas, green apples or peppermint, go ahead and smell them. If they really make you lose weight, the real thing should work much better than the fake stuff they sell.

Via: Diet Blog – SLIMist: Lose Weight By Inhaling a Spray

Calorie Restriction sounds like such a normal thing in the dieting world. Weight Watchers is a calorie restrictive diet that has its eye on other macro-nutrients like fat and fiber. So, when I read this Wired article about The Calorie Restriction Society, which promotes a restrictive calorie diet in order to extend your life, I thought they might be pretty interesting.

On the surface, this website seems to promote healthy eating. They suggest moving your diet to calorie-spare, nutrient-dense foods, like green, leafy vegetables and fruits. They recommend that you choose your proteins wisely. They avoid unhealthy fats in exchange for Omega-3 fats.

• Calorie Restriction Society – Fewer Calories, More Life

If you look at it any closer, however, the program falls apart. They promote restricting your caloric consumption to 75% of what your body needs. This is not just to lose weight, this is for the rest of your life, even after you’ve reached a low BMI. If there are any doubts about whether this diet is healthy, the list of Cautions and Hazards is enough to tell me that this diet isn’t something that is a feasible lifestyle change.

• Cautions and Hazards of Calorie Restriction

The lists of potential problems are as follows:

• Anemia
• Negative Appearance Changes
• Decreased Bone Mass
• Risk of Choking
• Cold Sensitivity
• Children should not follow this plan
• Loss of Cushioning
• Depression
• Reduced Energy Reserves
• Hunger, Cravings or Food Obsession
• Concerns about Infections
• Decreased Libido
• Menstrual Irregularity
• High Pregnancy Risk Factor
• Loss of Strength
• Decreased Testosterone
• Rapid Weight Loss
• Slower Wound Healing

They continue to say that this is not a comprehensive list of the side-effects of this diet regimen. Do yourself a favor and just pass this one by. There never has been a long-term human study of these theories, so it is an unproven premise. There is no proof that severe caloric restriction will extend your life. There is ample proof that it will make your life miserable, however.

Weight loss is about changing your lifestyle to a more healthy plan, not a less healthy one.

Via: Wired News: Dieters Eat Less to Live Longer

A study says that milk and dairy products help people lose weight and the dairy industry touts it like it’s the truth. Another study says that HCA helps people lose weight and the supplement industry fills shelves and food products with HCA. Another study says that partially hydrogenated oil causes stupidity and I throw away all the Oreos in the house.

What can we believe when there are so many studies out there that are sometimes contradictory? This article explains why over half of all research findings are false.

• PLoS Medicine: Why Most Published Research Findings Are False

If half of all research findings are false what can we believe? Right now, the best bet is to eat fresh foods and save processed foods for treats. It takes years of repeated studies for the scientists to come to a consensus. Until then, we’ll have to trust our instincts just like the cavemen did, except we have much tastier treats to tempt us.

Via: Boing Boing: Journal article: 50%+ of science journal articles have false conclusions