Heavy price of obesity

Photos

Heavy price of obesity

see larger image

uploaded by Barry ORegan

Opinion

Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor

This story confirms what real Health experts, (Health experts with Medical Doctor designations at the ned of their name) have said all along.  Diet Fads, Pills,  Plastic wraps advertised on infomercials DO NOT WORK!!!

The best way to get those rock hard abs and lose weight is at your local supermarket, Health Canada Food Guide and 20 minutes a day of cardio and exercise> This is the only proven method to lose weight, bar none.

Now Public Readers should know just because some "Festering Boil in a Lab Coat" on these Infomercials touts the latest cure for weight loss, doesn't mean they are qualified, if there is MD (Medical Doctor) at the end of their name, they are local yokels like the rest of us, also the claim "Not available in Stores" is another "WARNING SIGN", WHY? Because Stores would have their ASSES Sued if you became ill using their product.  My Last WARNING is their use of  B and D List Celebrities is even a bigger WARNING SIGN!

B and D List Celebrities jump at any chance to get back on TV, even for Scammers.

 What consumers looking to lose weight should know is that "Before and After" photos of people who miraculously lost  a ton of weight are usually professional athletes, fitness trainers, body builders who are paid by these scam companies to Bulk Up in their "Before photo ads" and then paid to lose the weight for the "After photos".  It is widely know these paid shills are in peak physical condition during competition and on their down time, they reduce their physical activities, gorge on Carbs in order to gain weight in order to increase their bulk mass in preparation for the next competition. That is what you see in the Before Shots instead of the After Shots.

Before the upcoming competition these athletes exercise like "Mad Dogs" 8-12 hours a day and can lose the weight in a relatively short time in time for competiton.  Hence the photos are misleading as these athletes were in always in top physical shape.

Now Public Readers should know most of these competing Athletes do not get paid for their down time, when they are not competing, hence these Weight Loss scams can be a pretty lucrative way to pay the bills.

In Ending

Weight loss drugs marketed on Infomercials never carry the Food and Drug Adminsitration (FDA) or Health Canada approval.  This means they have never undergone legitimate clincial trials to see if they actually work.  Just because these Weight Loss scammers state all natural ingredients such as herbs,  you should know  too much of anything can be bad for you, you could call Nightshade and Poison Ivy and Anthrax are all natural, but would you take it? I highly doubt it.   

My Final Thought

To take these uproven weight loss drugs  could mean either two things, one, they are a useless placebo or two, improperly used they could cause certain health problems including death.  Watch for the disclaimer on these information, unless you have Superman vision or a VCR , the print is hard to read and on for only a scant few seconds.

Now Public Readers may ask, why do they allow it on TV if it is a Scam, well the old adage applies "Money Talks, Bullshit Walks.  No ifs ands or butts. 

Be vigilant with your Health, Weight Loss Cures need no advertising, they speak for themselves.  So consult your doctor first, he is much cheaper and usually "Free" in Canada and not available in any Store or TV. 

Some may say, Barry Artiste, could you get sued for saying all this?  I say "Bring it On!"

This man's story below speaks volumes.

They're piled in Charles Cicciarella's past in a heap of broken promises.

A home gym, an ab buster, a thigh trimmer -- each one vowing to help the 33-year-old Toronto man shed the excess pounds he was once so desperate to lose.

The exercise equipment that devoured hundreds of dollars from Cicciarella's bank account gathered more dust than sweat.

"I didn't fit into it," Cicciarella said with a rueful laugh. "A lot of machines have weight restrictions of 200 pounds. When you're 300, 400 pounds "You're stuck with a basement full of equipment you'll never use," he said. "They sell you the magic pill."

At his heaviest, Cicciarella weighed about 380 pounds. His waist measured 56 inches.

His turning point did not come in a bottle or a box that promised rock-hard abs in just 10 minutes a day.

After a night out with friends at an Indian buffet in September, 2003, Cicciarella returned home sweaty, bloated and struggling to breathe.

He took a series of emotional "before" pictures -- he weighed 356 pounds that night -- then marched the next morning to a popular weight loss clinic. Cicciarella left the program a month later, 45 pounds and $350 lighter, after finding the program too rigid.

"It was the kick in the butt I needed," he conceded.

He turned to exercise, logging countless hours on an elliptical machine, and walking up to 15 km a day. Gone were super-sized, fast-food lunches, costing as much as $40 a day. Inspiration also came in Dr. Phil's diet book.

"You need to sweat. By sweat, I mean sweat," he said. "Your feet are the best tool you have to lose weight."

Six months later, he was 130 pounds lighter. He's kept the weight off for the past three years and today, Cicciarella weighs a healthy 230 pounds. His weight recently fluctuated with the stress of both parents falling ill and Cicciarella signed on with a trainer, aiming to knock off the last 30.

GOOD INVESTMENT

The commitment will cost him about $100 a week, but unlike quick fixes of the past, Cicciarella said his continued health is a good investment.

"You can't put a price on it," said Cicciarella, who documented his weight loss on his web site, massivemeltdown.com. "People need to invest in themselves and not what they see on TV. They feed off people who are desperate. They want the quick fix. It's not easy."

Cicciarella is a rarity. When people become morbidly obese, they can seldom lose the dozens, even hundreds of unhealthy pounds through traditional means.

"Obesity is a very complex problem," said Dr. John Hagen, medical director of bariatric surgery at Humber River Regional Hospital. "There are many parts that are poorly understood."

Hagen -- whose program will increase nearly 500% this year with 273 gastric bypass surgeries, up from 48 with new funding from the province -- said many patients suffer from food addiction, but they can't cut out their dependence, unlike alcoholics or junkies.

"You need to eat to live," Hagen said. "Their chances of losing weight and keeping it off is almost zero. They might be able to lose a few pounds, but they'll regain it. There's no quick fix other than surgery. They can try, but they likely won't be successful."

Obesity is a $4.3-billion burden in Canada -- $2.35 billion in Ontario -- including health care expenditures and indirect costs, such as years lost from premature death.

Ontario pays Humber River hospital $16,500 per stomach-reducing surgery, but those costs are recouped within three years, Hagen said, citing a Montreal study. His patients often leave the hospital after surgery no longer needing pricey drugs or doctor's visits to manage their diabetes and high blood pressure -- all complications from obesity.

This doesn't take into account the kidney transplants, heart interventions and limb amputations these patients will no longer need down the road, he said.

$30-BILLION BUSINESS

"It's a way of helping patients. It doesn't cure the patient. It's certainly easier to lose weight," Hagen said. "It's done for medical reasons. It's not done because people don't like the way they look."

The weight-loss industry is an estimated $30-billion business in North America where 23.1% of Canadians, up from 13.8% less than 20 years ago, and 32% of Americans are obese. Millions more -- 8.6 million in Canada -- are overweight.

Health Canada, in a task force on obesity, found "millions of dollars are spent annually by Canadians on weight reduction schemes of unknown or unproven efficacy."

"Lose 15 pounds this month," one recent online ad promises, touting a new dieting miracle. "Twenty-five pounds in 30 days -- no diet," another vows.

Ron Reinhold, a Calgary-based private investigator, once received 100 e-mails a month about outrageous diet claims. A former Health Canada inspector, Reinhold uncovers diet scams as part of his work with Rainbow Investigations, which also includes divorce and custody probes.

The ads target subscribers to mostly women's magazines, urging dieters to order a product -- largely made up of herbs and diuretics, which may result in some fluid loss -- through a 1-800 number. There's no ongoing program to support the weight loss, just a dose of pills or patches promising to shed pounds.

"They believe what they hear. They haven't got the ability to see it's complete b.s.," Reinhold said, noting the Competition Bureau has cracked down on questionable online claims in recent years. "It's a big industry."

Still, those expenditures pale in comparison to the staggering cost of obesity -- nearly $100 billion in Canada and the U.S.

The price tag doesn't include the so-called intangible costs, such as job discrimination, limited social and educational opportunities and negative self-image.

"With increasing rates of obesity, it's the tip of the iceberg," said Jean-Eric Tarride, professor in the department of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics at Hamilton's McMaster University.

There are no Canadian figures, but obesity adds $180 to every American's tax bill. It costs a 1,000-employee firm in the U.S. $285,000 a year for health care and sick days due to obesity.

Airlines and their passengers are also bearing the cost of obesity. A report this past year by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found airlines spent $275 million in 2000 to burn an additional 350 million gallons of fuel to carry the extra weight of Americans, who put on an average of 10 pounds in the previous decade.

FAST FOOD CHEAPER

Meanwhile, food is faster, fatter and cheaper. The price of food has dropped 14% in the U.S. since 1980. Sweets and fats are now 45% and 35% cheaper at the checkout, while healthier fish, fruit, vegetables and dairy products are now 50% more expensive.

"How many of us can fit into our high-school graduation clothes? It's not because we're dumb and stupid. It's because of the society we live in," said Dr. David Lau, a Calgary epidemiologist and president of Obesity Canada. "We're eating more than we need. Our food has more calories. The foods are sweeter and saltier. We're all contributing to the obesity epidemic."

The causes of obesity are "very complex," Lau said, linked to genetics, high-calorie foods, car-dependency, socio-economic status, even social networks.

Some discount obesity as a cosmetic issue -- doctors in B.C. are not compensated for weight-loss counselling, Lau said. (However, Alberta surgeons recently earned a 25% pay raise for procedures on obese patients due to the complexities involved.)

Yet obesity has some serious health consequences, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, back pain and depression.

Lau often sees patients in his Calgary clinic with body mass indexes of 50 or 60. A BMI of 30, about 275 pounds for a 5-foot-4 man or woman, is considered obese.

Yet Lau's office, until recently, wasn't furbished with CSA-approved chairs for people weighing more than 500 pounds. One morbidly obese patient admitted to a Calgary hospital broke 10 toilets during a stay because the commodes couldn't accommodate his size.

"It became a standing joke," Lau said. "It's no joke to the patient."

Another endured the insult of being weighed on a meat scale.

Humber River hospital, in addition to recruiting extra staff including a fourth surgeon, dietitians and nurses for its expanded bariatric surgery program, needed operating room tables, beds and toilets equipped for patients weighing up to 1,000 pounds.

SPECIAL AMBULANCE

Calgary became the first Canadian city in June to acquire an ambulance specifically designed for patients weighing up to 1,000 pounds. The ambulance, which includes a lift, was refitted for $30,000.

Toronto EMS has no specific vehicle, but the service has two platforms that allow stretchers to better fit morbidly obese patients, said Peter Rotolo, manager of special operations. Regular stretchers are already capable of supporting 500- to 700-pound patients.

"I've got one of my supervisors exploring or searching for (an ambulance with) a ramp," Rotolo said. But even with specially designed ambulances, Rotolo said paramedics must still manually lift large patients onto stretchers, particularly those who have collapsed in emergencies.

"People are starting to understand obesity is here to stay," said Lau. [/q]