weight

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I remember the pain of being the fat person on an airplane, waiting for the stewardess to finish demonstrating how the seat belt had to be buckled. Was there really someone on the plane who had never buckled an automobile seat belt, who did not know how this apparatus was supposed to work? Sitting dutifully through the safety procedures description was a reason to squint, to ignore while seeming to listen. Then, the stewardess would hand off the seat belt example, which was really an extender.  Suddenly, the fat woman could feel safe, and ignore her extender, as the belt fastened low on the hips, just like everyone else.

The “growing problem” (pardon my attempt at humor) of larger-size people is not a reason for guilt, but it is an obvious factor in the safety of transports. Obesity in America is the function of an over-processed food supply that addicts people to foods.  Of this I am sure, having seen too many examples, including myself. Personal responsibility, detailed descriptions of the determinants of leptin secretion, none of these helped this morose fatty when there were only one or two in sight in any group.

Now there are more – scads more. Every time you walk into a room there are so many heavy-weights that there seems to be nothing else.

If these people are anything like I was nearly 200 lbs. ago, they want mutual support instead of guilt trips. Read more on Don’t Pick On The Heavyweights…

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I usually avoid the gossip pages — and granted, the Kardashians are celebrities who are famous mostly for having no discernable reason to be famous.  But one of the deepest, darkest secrets revealed in their new book is that one of the sisters (no, I am not going to make the slightest effort to notice which) was seriously concerned about the size of her, uh, derriere, until she became friendly with Jennifer Lopez.

Ms. Lopez – nickname “J.Lo” — is a celebrity judge on “American Idol” and actually has some talent and has made numerous movies and hit recordings.  She is also reportedly afflicted with an abundant bottom, about which she and the Kardashian person commiserated.

Not that I care if her gluteus maximus is convex or concave, but the story reminded me of a patient who came to me and lamented, “I have a bubble butt.” Read more on Kardashians, J-Lo and Condoleezza — Baby Got Back…

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Okay, so nobody has done whatever kind of research they need to do to figure out why fatty diets work so well at controlling epilepsy.  But it works, and it seems safe, and it seems to be saving lives by inductive reasoning; watching and gathering data.  So let’s do it when and where we can. People have a hard time believing that food can serve as medication. Maybe they would have an easier time believing it if they believed how much fat there is in a brain. One of my earliest comedy bits, when I was just beginning to read about the brain, was trying to convince people that “fathead” was the world’s greatest compliment.

It is generally estimated that about 2/3 of the average human brain is made of fat. Read more on High Fat Diets To Treat Epilepsy…

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There must be magic in African Mango extract, if you believe all you see on the internet.

Of course, believing all you see on the internet is grounds for commitment to psychiatric treatment in some jurisdictions – or at least, it should be.

This is not the first weight loss “marvel” I have seen for sale on the internet. However, it is the first one that claims to be endorsed by Dr. Mehmet Oz. Read more on Magic Mangos from Oz (Dr. Oz that is)…

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One of the major stories of 2010 was the move toward health care reform — “Obamacare.”

Although the name should be “Obama insurance”, there were several instances where the government made efforts — or made noises that there would be efforts — at controlling what they perceive as an obesity epidemic.

This included removing soda and candy machines from schools, major warnings against high-fructose corn syrup (neither of which I have a problem with) and making it mandatory for calorie counts to be listed on menus in several states (which left me scratching my head).
Read more on Politically Correct Dieting and The Obama Children…

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The FDA has declined to approve the weight-loss drug Qnexa, which I wrote about a couple of months ago.

Generally, diet drugs are more danger than help.  But my opinion on that matter is already on the record.

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She was 29 and I thought she was beautiful, although nobody else did, I am sure.  No normal scales in my clinic could weigh her, but I would put her between four and five hundred pounds.  Except for someone who brought her to see me ( I think, in the back of a pickup truck, but I did not press the issue) she did not leave the house. Others did her shopping, she had some kind of public assistance.

She was on the standard medication for her depression as well as her panic attacks; paroxetine (Paxil) 40 mg, to lower their intensity and frequency, and a little bit of Xanax, which is supposed to stop such attacks in their tracks.  She used it sparingly, hardly at all — no really — she did not use it.  It did not work.  The most addictive medication doctors give for this sort of thing and she didn’t even want it because it didn’t work.   I love this woman, I loved her candor.  She told me the last  psychiatrists had renewed these medications for the last six months,  even though they didn’t work.

What was wrong??? Read more on Panic and Diabetes…

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This is the system we want to run health care.

Civil liberties get lost, people spend a lot of money writing spy reports and then don’t read them.  There is little in government that works.

I know the system that the FDA wants for drugs does not work.

First, you know nobody will use it with diet and exercise as recommended.  They are both dull, not fun, and in the literature I read changes that are increasingly modest seem to be acceptable, and take a team of cheerleaders.  Even “natural” companies, like Metagenics, have gone and credentialed counselors to help with lifestyle changes. Read more on Diet Drugs: The Public Is The Loser…

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This one is a hoot.  The fattest foods in America?  Are we Californians supposed to feel superior because we do not eat these things? I think something else is going on. If I told you that I have a great diet and the only thing you cannot eat is French pastry, I suspect you would immediately start craving French pastry, planning downtown walks so that you could look at French pastry shop windows, and perhaps most dramatic (and in my opinion, uncalled for) you could start disliking the French and switching to “freedom fries.”
KFC Double Down

The Notorious KFC Double Down

“Forbidden fruit” has become forbidden meat. At least, I think, in California.  I remember when my husband and I first came here, I heard some people call it the “Granola State.”

KFC’s “Double Down” is already out there. Sounds like the nutritional pundits are weighing in on this one.  I never would have believed, in my earlier lifetime, that anyone from Yale would have anything to say about KFC. Read more on The Fattest Food…

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I’m working on a book about my weight loss (150 lbs. over the past two years), and have been going over pictures that illustrate how I looked from my peak to where I am now.

Actually, I am still losing, but stabilizing.  Keeping off is not a problem.  Most things people think are problems are not problems, if people would gather knowledge and actually think about it.  They don’t.  They listen to friends  and women’s magazines.

Obama eating

Thinnest President Since Lincoln?

Weight is a tough problem.  It is “multi-factorial.”  There are physiological things, genetic things, environmental things, and lots (I mean lots) of psychological things that are part of this.  I think of them not as tricks or tips but as factors, real factors.  I do not think people should pick and choose what seems “easy;” rather, they should focus on doing what works. Read more on Eating Myself Slim…

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