Yesterday I posted a movie and some commentary on the ethics of manipulating photos. Now there is a viral video from diet.com talking about the same thing, but with a diet and body image slant.
I haven’t actually listened to the whole thing, as I am supposed to be working. Some of the tricks remind me of some things that I saw on the ‘Watch Us Lose’ table on the front page of Kimkins over the last year or so. Of course some of Heidi’s pictures needed nothing more complicated than a slight vertical stretch to help recreate past weight loss success.
Observant readers of my blog probably noticed that I was riding the PayPerPost bubble for the last year. It seems that the gravy boat has sailed as far as paid reviews go. I am still checking out the marketplace and on rare occasions making posts for truly compelling websites, but not nearly as often.
Today I am biting the hand that feeds me a little bit by panning a weight loss procedure that an advertiser is promoting on SocialSpark.
My gut reaction to online sales of Lipotropic Injections was very negative. When I went to check it out on Google, I saw that the Internet is littered with people selling this stuff. That is why the advertiser is looking for outside the box SEO strategies, he wants to be on top of the heap.
I had to dig pretty deep to find any non-shilling info. All that needs to be said is that there is no conclusive data suggesting that these injections are effective and that self injection without prior in person instruction from a healthcare professional is a very BAD idea.
I should mention that, as of now, no bloggers who are part of SocialSpark have written a paid review for the Lipotropic Injections selling site.
The seven figure sales at Kimkins.com were due in no small part to the favorable coverage in Woman’s World Magazine. This publication has huge circulation, and the print versions will often sit in waiting rooms and salons enjoying months or years of repeated perusal. People seeking to expose the Kimkins fraud did not get very far in trying to convince Woman’s World to make any kind of reversal or apology. We personally received no answers to our questions last year and instead got a cease and desist order. In response to the letter, I made changes to the cover image that I was using to make it arguably transformative. There was no follow up from the magazine. I didn’t send any further correspondence to them. Many, many interested people did.
After a long wait, the magazine has finally apologized in detail, on their website. A print apology is also forthcoming. I thank them for it.
January is traditionally a time when there is a huge increase in the number of people searching for online weight loss strategies. If you are looking for a good place to start your search for a diet, you might consider looking at www.weight-loss-diet-help.com. This site features reviews and coupons for Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet, Jillian Michaels, eDiets.com, Medifast and Diet To Go.
If you want to have any hope of living up to your weight loss resolution, you need to find a diet that fits well with your lifestyle. If you are already big on convenience foods, you might prefer a diet like Nutrisystem that allows you to order a bunch of portion controlled calorie reduced meals online. Weight Watchers also sells convenient meals. I don’t know which ones taste better. I do know that there is a 25% off Weight Watchers Online coupon offer that expires at the end of this month. There are some freebies related to Nutrisystem that you can get through Weight Loss Diet Help.
I have never dieted with weight loss in mind. I was almost sort of eating Atkins when Catherine was following it. The occasional muffin eaten at work kinda disqualifies me (ok, I ate lots of carbs outside the house). She is a great cook and enjoys putting together a great meal, so a diet like Atkins that doesn’t restrict you to specially packaged diet meals was a much better fit. The doctor’s book was the only purchase made from Atkins.
This post is about a free Holiday Survival Guide that can help people avoid weight gains over the holiday season. I am already seeing the evidence of people getting stressed out over the approaching Christmas season. For many people stress plus Christmas equals unhealthy binges. It’s especially hard to eat right when there is a social obligation to have all those sweets in the house.
ShrinkYourself.com appears to have a very focused stress management tool that has the tandem goal of helping you avoid emotional eating. It has a question and answer format really helps you find the root sources of your stress. The man behind this process is Dr. Roger Gould. He is a leading authority on emotional eating and adult development. He is a board-certified psychiatrist and an accomplished author.
My wife and I haven’t gotten presents for each other since Christmas of 2003. We found that the stress of trying to express ourselves through gifts was unnecessary. We rock.
Sugar Land, Texas is a nice place to live, according to Forbes and CNN. It is the headquarters for Imperial Sugar. This company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2001. It has since managed to turn itself around partly through smart business decision, downsizing and effective implementation of new technologies. Having a Texas politician in the White House may have been beneficial as well.
Another large sugar company is Flo-Sun, Inc. Its owners, the Fanjul brothers, make huge donations to politicians both Red and Blue. Their reward, in the form of their share of protective tariffs and price floors, equals approximately $65 million annually.
NAFTA may mean that Mexico will be able to step up sugar exports. I can only assume that lobbyists for the US sugar industry have the ear of government and that they are looking for ways to prevent that from happening.
This post is an example of me starting out with an assumption and then not finding any really interesting facts to support it. I find it interesting that the Fanjul brothers belong to two groups of people that are pointed to as being special interest groups that buy politicians. They are owners of a huge agribusiness and they are also Cuban Americans. They get to have two interests served for the price of one. It’s no wonder they are so generous.
I decided to make a brief post on this specific topic because there is still a lot of information on the Internet that is based on 1994 regulations. The FDA made some ‘final rulings’ related to dietary supplements in July of 2007.
I don’t see any fundamental changes from the 1994 law. The additions include current good manufacturing practice requirements and a requirement for companies to report adverse effects. These changes should increase consumers confidence in dietary supplements. The FDA website has lots of valuable information and advice related to dietary supplements.
I have researched some new products online and found that the web marketing of supplements is sometimes very secretive about the ingredients. I am suspicious that some companies hide behind the screen of claiming a proprietary blend of ingredients. Many products are aimed at making money from some positive buzz that a botanical ingredient is receiving without actually going to the expense of adding an effective dose of the ingredient. I have even heard of products that use botanical ingredients that are similar to a truly beneficial ingredient but are not, in fact, the exact species and varietal that has proven health benefits. I don’t think the FDA can prevent this. Buyer Beware is still a good slogan to keep in mind.
If you want to try a supplement that is getting good press, I would advise you to find the original science. Even if you can’t understand most of what is written in a medical journal, just copy down the full scientific name of the ingredient that is being touted and be sure that is what is in any supplement that you consider buying. Also, be sure to discuss any and all dietary supplements that you are taking with your doctor. Some supplements interact adversely with prescription and OTC drugs.
Eating disorders are generally not something that a patient willingly reports to their health care professionals. Avalon is a New York City anorexia nervosa treatment center. They recognize that an important goal for their website is to function as an informational site for a broad range of people who have reason to suspect that someone may have a serious eating disorder. The site offers guidance on recognizing the signs of an eating disorder. It also guides people step by step through the process of referring someone who needs help.
Here are Some Warning Signs of Eating Disorders
A weight loss of 25% or more in the absence of any medical illness to account for the loss.
Reduced food intake, denial of hunger and lowered consumption of high carb and fat-containing foods.
Exercising without regard to fatigue and weakness.
A fear of gaining weight.
Abnormal food handling habits.
Amenorrhea (the absence of a menstrual period) in women.
Bulimic episodes of binge eating followed by vomiting and/or laxative and diuretic abuse.
If you are aware of someone who exhibits any or all of these symptoms, please do something about it. Avalon Centers conducts a New York State Office of Mental Health licensed partial hospitalization program serving anyone over 14. There are also outpatient options.
Results of a large study of the dietary habits of identical twins suggest that many dietary preferences have a genetic component. As reported in Twin Research and Human Genetics, 41%-48% of an individual’s leaning towards one of the food groups was influenced by genetics.
I am the father of identical twins. I can attest to them having almost identical food preferences. One child does not drink liquid milk unless she is eating a chocolate cupcake, while the other kids will drink milk occasionally by itself. One child prefers to avoid the olives on pizza while the other eats them. Those are the only differences that I can recall.
Why isn’t this woman a celebrity? She has such a great personality. Her rant covers a number of topics to which overweight woman can relate.
Joy Nash makes one argument that really fits well with my business and marketing focus. She thinks that woman that are ‘plus-sized’ should boycott boutiques that do not carry good looking clothes in their size. I like her attitude about living an active, healthy lifestyle in which your weight is not being used as an excuse for not living. Her YouTube video has over 11,000 comments. I have not looked at them carefully, but I suspect that there are some mean ones, some cheerleading ones and probably a few that make reasonable arguments against some of what she says. Obesity is a condition that puts people at a greater risk for several adverse health conditions.
