Ask The Doctor

Women and the agony of weighing scales!

2010-11-25T17:01:00.001-08:00

All women want to feel like they have lost weight before they step on a scale. Weighing scales often lead to disappointments, frustration and depression for many women. This had led many women to come up with innovative ideas before they weigh themselves. At least 25 percent of women stand on one leg when they climb on to the scales, hoping that they will weigh less- and not all these women are blondes!

Another not very surprising behavior is that more than 50% of women take of all their clothes before they hop on to the scales. Yes, both the bra and thongs come off and that eliminates at most -2 ounces.

Many women also tend to weigh themselves on a hungry stomach with the belief that is they did not eat anything, the weigh will be less. Some even skip breakfast and lunch on the day that they are going to weigh themselves and undergo severe hunger pangs- all to feel like they have lost weight.

Almost forty percent of women visit the bathroom before they weigh themselves. Many women empty both their bowel and bladder in the hope that all the waste will significantly reduce their weight.

Moreover, more shocking is that thousands of women weigh themselves only on a full moon. Their belief is that this is the lightest and brightest time of the month and hopefully this will translate into weight loss for them.

Finally, thousands of women use not one but two or three scales to weight themselves. They always use the machine that shows the least weight. On average, 20 percent of women buy a new scale every year.

And the result; more than 70% of these women unfortunately, find out the truth- they actually weigh more than they believe!!!

I just can’t quit eating. I’m supposed to be on this diet (you eat a lot of cabbage with every meal, and it’s supposed to keep you full…), but I’m craving more sweets than I was before I was on the diet. Please help!!!! (Male, 43)

2010-10-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

Curbing the urge to eat is a universal problem and there is no one clear cut answer. In general, low sugar levels increase the urge to eat. When you eat a lot of sugary foods it increases secretion of insulin, which then drops the levels of sugar which again stimulates food cravings. One of the ways to stop food cravings is to keep yourself from getting very hungry all the time. Skipping meals is not an ideal solution, because it ends up increasing your food cravings because of the drop in blood sugar.

One approach to increasing satiety during meals is to ensure that you eat an abundance of high-volume low-calorie foods that fill up your stomach. These foods include fruits, vegetables, whole grains and a variety of low calorie brothy soups.

Another approach is to eat slowly, being aware of what you are eating and enjoying the foods. Some individuals find that slow eating helps curb the urge to eat more food later.

One may also want to eat several small meals a day rather than three big meals. This ensures that the sugar levels are constant and the cravings are diminished. If one feels hungry in between the meals, snack on a piece of fruit or vegetable. Make sure you drink plenty of water all day.

Often a person can find healthier alternative snack foods. For example, if a person is craving sweets, he or she could try eating sugar-free chocolate products (like the ones made by Weight Watchers), which contain less than 50-75 calories per snack. In addition, people can avoid sugary snacks by keeping them out of their homes. Fruit often makes a great substitute for snacks full of processed sugar.

Finally, there are times when none of these approaches work. In such cases one may want to seek help from a dietician or a weight management professional. The urge to eat is difficult to stop but if you do overeat, combine it with regular exercise. Finally, there are some medications that may suppress your appetite if you really have weight problems.

Low carb diet- not that great for cholesterol!

2010-02-24T17:08:00.000-08:00

While a low carbohydrate diet may help you lose weight, it may not be good for your blood cholesterol. A recent study showed that individuals who ate a diet low in carbs but relatively high in fat had the same amount of weight loss over 6 weeks as individuals who consumed a high carb diet.

What was shocking was that the level of bad cholesterol (LDL) also significantly increased in individuals who ate the low carb diet. The bad cholesterol is a risk factor for heart attacks, stroke and can clog up blood vessels in many other parts of the body.

Low carb diets are quite popular because there are reports that it may help lower blood sugars and help reduce weight.

However, this is the first study to show that low carb diets may not be as good as the high carb diets. Other finding of the study was that in the low carb diet group there was a greater release of free fatty acids into the blood stream. It is well known that high levels of free fatty acids make it very difficult for the liver to process and store glucose, which then raises blood sugar.

These data show that low carb diets with high fat may not be ideal for people who want to lose weight and those who are diabetic.

With so many diets being proposed on a weekly basis, the consumer is best advised to use a common sense approach- walk every day, do not smoke and eat healthy.

Can one lose weight with hypnosis?

2010-01-22T10:26:00.001-08:00

A lot of readers have asked this question. So I repeat.

Hypnosis is an alternative therapy still looking for a medical condition it can treat. People who practice hypnosis claim that this method can cure or prevent almost everything underneath the sun. Many nonsensical claims have been made about hypnosis and most have never been proven to be clinically true.

In the last 2 decades, hypnotists have been claiming that the therapy can help one lose weight. These deceiving scoundrels say that regular sessions of hypnosis can help one lose weight within a few weeks. But to date there is zero evidence that hypnosis can do anything for weight loss. Altering the state of mind usually puts people to sleep and does nothing for appetite.

Asides from the people who make money from hypnosis, there are not many people who have come forward and claimed to have lost weight with this therapy. In fact thousands of isolated reports exist by consumers that hypnosis does diddly squat. Inducing a calm and sedate mind has never been proven to help on reduce weight.

While a few studies do exist claiming that people have lost weight with hypnosis; the majority of these studies have been questioned about their authenticity and factual reporting. In the last decade not a single double blind study has ever been undertaken about hypnosis and weight loss.
As of today, the only thing hypnosis can cure is your pocket.

Hypnosis is a sham technique which scams people of their hard earned money.

if you want to lose weight, start eating less, walk regulalry and stay away from bogus therapies.

Blame ghrelin for obesity! Part 2

2010-01-21T12:05:00.001-08:00

Even if was only pleasure were seeking, then why did the mice not seek SEX?

Surely, sex is more pleasurable than food!

And does this imply that pleasurable things like sex cause obesity?

As a final point, one should not get too excited about these studies because ghrelin is not the only factor involved in controlling the appetite center. Previous work has shown that the gene GAD2 has been linked to obesity and it can stimulate certain chemicals in the brain which lead to over eating. Others have shown that the neurotransmitter dopamine is also linked to over eating.

Asides from genetics, our eating habits and supersizing are other factors. Our life style has become to sedentary and we all love to eat great tasting food.

All this hormone stuff is too complex- to lose weight one should walk more and eat less.

Blame ghrelin for obesity! Part 1

2010-01-21T12:04:00.001-08:00

Finally now there is a study which explains why we overeat and the blame goes to the hormone ghrelin.

In a recent study published last month, researchers discovered that the hormone ghrelin caused mice to seek out food even when they had just been fed.

Said lead researcher Dr Jeffrey Zigman, assistant professor at university of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, "We've shown that ghrelin affects behaviors related to eating and that it may consequently lead to overeating."

Dr Zigman says that the results most likely to also apply to humans because previous studies have shown that ghrelin also exists in humans and works in the same region of the brain.

In their work they showed that mice which were administered ghrelin seeked out food despite being fed.

"The mice's behavior had nothing to do with eating." Zigman said. "Their behavior was linked to obtaining the more pleasurable thing." ……..

Shangri la diet- Diet plan which makes no sense: Part 3

2010-01-14T14:08:00.001-08:00

The nutritionist and food experts claim that this Shangri la diet is misleading, not practical and full of s…t. No one has ever shown that eating sugar water causes weight loss. Just look at what Coca Cola does- it packs calories. In addition, with Coca Cola, people eat more hamburgers, pizzas, French fries, and processed foods. In fact, one study showed that if you fed rats with sugar water or olive oil; it did absolutely nothing- diddlysquat. Damn, the rats just ate more and got fat.

When Dr. Roberts was told that the problem is that people eat pizza and burgers. He says to make the pizza taste like crap, add some cinnamon (wonder where he got his PhD from!). The nutritionists say, more crap. Eating cinnamon has never been shown to decrease weight- please stop your nonsense, Dr Roberts.

So what about the Shangri la diet? Well, Shangri La is meant to be a place of beauty, serenity, paradise and something like heaven. The Shangri La diet is a bunch of nonsense or as we say in America- B.S.

Shangri la diet- Diet plan which makes no sense: Part 2

2010-01-14T14:07:00.001-08:00

There is a little more to this diet theory. If you eat sweet and delicious foods, the brain somehow likes it and creates the urge to eat more. So rather than stimulating the brain with nice sweet food, eat absolute crap and that will turn off the appetite center. Therefore, Dr Roberts says drinking spoonfuls of olive oil or a spoonful of sugar is crap and this will turn of the appetite center. I am sure there are more crappy foods than sugar and olive oil- Hey Dr. Roberts, how about drinking urine or car engine oil? Will that not turn off the appetite center?

So how does this Shangri la diet work?

At breakfast, you drink some sugar water and olive oil with every meal. Two spoonfuls of olive oil straight from the bottle. You do get some calories from the oil and sugar but it does not count since it has no good taste. During the diet, eat veggies, fruits, and whole grains. But do not eat processed foods and great stuff like chocolates. Dr Roberts also adds that there is no need for exercise (told you he is not a real physician). Nope, no need to walk, lift, jog or swim. Hell, you do not even need to go to the bathroom- just poop in your bed.

So does this work?

Yes, says Dr Roberts. He lost 35 pounds in 3 months. Unfortunately, neither Dr. Phil nor Oprah ever invited him over because in the whole wide world, this is the only testimonial to the diet.

And what do the food experts say about this? Associating flavor and taste to the appetite center is nothing new but no one has ever shown that eating crap makes you lose weight. If you were to go to the Orient, people eat all sorts of things that we would call crap- snakes, grasshoppers, beetles, rats, cats, dogs, insects, drink urine- and how come they do not have appetite suppression?

Shangri la diet- Diet plan which makes no sense: Part 1

2010-01-14T14:06:00.001-08:00

One of the exotic diets created by a Dr Roberts (not an MD) is the Shangri la diet. The diet is claimed to diminish the urge to eat by resetting the appetite center in the brain. Dr Roberts claims that this can very simply be done by drinking a little bit of sugar water or a tiny bit of extra olive oil during mealtime. Once you do this, the appetite center in the brain will immediately sense that you are full and your appetite will decrease.

Dr Roberts does acknowledge that losing weight is tough and no method really works but now he has the magic formula -just some olive oil or sugar water. Dr Roberts says that over time, the appetite center is reset and you become thin.

Well, there are a few unanswered questions for Dr Roberts. Do you have any evidence for this? Nope. Is there anything published anywhere that supports your theory? Nope. Does it work? Nope. Do you know where the appetite center is? Nope. Do you know what triggers the appetite center? Nope. Do you know where the brain is? Nope. Do you know what the brain is? Nope. Therefore, all we have so far is some theory without any proof and Dr Roberts own testimony that he lost weight with this approach.

Should I try hypnosis for weight loss?

2010-01-07T05:37:00.001-08:00

There is little argument that conventional medicine has no magic bullet for weight loss. The few drugs that are available do work but they are also associated with disturbing side effects.

Surgery for weight loss is full of hazards both from the technical aspects and the post operative recovery period. For this reason, people have been turning to hypnosis.

Hypnosis has been around for centuries and if there ever was a sham profession, this has to be it. The people who practice this profession claim that it can cure everything underneath the sun. Every single day, new claims are made about hypnosis but there is no solid evidence that it can do anything. Now people who are too lazy to walk are turning to hypnosis for weight loss. There are thousands of anecdotal reports about weight loss after hypnosis- mind you all those reports are only from people who sell this therapy. Blogs from people who have had hypnosis claim that it is a scam and the only thing they lost is the money in their pockets.

The basis of hypnosis is that you sit in a room, focus your attention and this will help change your behaviour to foods. Other hypnotists recommend cognitive behavior therapy to help combat weight loss. So far most studies that have analyzed hypnosis and weight loss reveal that the majority of individuals do not lose an ounce. Moreover there is no way to predict in whom it will work and when it will work. Finally hypnosis does not come cheap. The therapy is expensive and needs to be done for many sessions. In simple words, hypnosis is BS.

If you want to lose weight, then start by walking and eating less. This way you will not only save your hard earned money, but it will work. Hypnosis is for people who have money to waste and are too lazy to get off the couch.

Weight loss pills & Scams

2009-04-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

In the last few months, the FDA has finally gotten tough on health food supplement industry and those who promote weight loss. There are many vendors of health food supplements who flood cyberspace with false ads about weight loss. The majority (>99%) of pills , herbs, nutrients, minerals, and foods sold in health food stores for weight loss have one common theme- fake. The majority of these so called weight loss pills are made by one manufacturer and then sold under different brand names to unsuspecting consumers.

The entire health food supplement industry is unregulated. People are selling more crap than ever before. You can buy the same weight loss pill in 4 different formulations and each will have a different concentration of the supplement. There is zero quality and to avoid FDA regulations, many of these unscrupulous vendors sell active drugs as food supplements. The problem gets worse because recently, a number of Chinese weight loss herbs were found to contain actual pharmaceutical drugs. Sibutramine has been often been found in more than one of these weight loss products.

The FDA has been randomly checking these weight loss pills and herbs and found them to be fakes or counterfeit in the majority of cases

The following products sold as dietary supplements have been known to contain active pharmaceutical drugs. The supplements include the following:

Fatloss slimming
2 day diet
3 x slimming power
24 hour diet
7 day herbal slim
8 factor diet
Extrim plus
GMP
Medal Perfect slim
Lid Daidaihua
Perfect slim
Phyto shape
Proslim Plus
Zhen de Shou
Venom Hyperdrive