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

I found this ad for SlimQuick Cleanse in a magazine a few weeks ago.

It caught my eye because of the fine print. It reads:

Dramatization. The cartoon shown used SlimQuick clease for 7 days to jump start her weight-loss program, then continued to lose weight by adding other SlimQuick products to her diet and exercise routine. Result not typical. Cartoons lose weight easily. Real people require regular exercise and a reduced-calorie diet to lose weight.

It kind of made me laugh, so I decided to look at their ingredients to see if there was anything worthwhile in the product.

SlimQuick Cleanse Ingredients: Selenium, Chronium, Glucomannan, Green Tea Extract, Senna Extract, Ginserg Extract, Lactospore, Chastee Tree Extract, Milk Thistle Extract, Artichoke, Turmeric Extract, Dandelion, Cranberry, Fennel, Peppermint Extract, Caraway, Ginger, Slippery Elm, Bromelain, and Cinnamon.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, many of these ingredients are useless for weight loss and even worse, some are discouraged from use.

• Common Dietary Supplements for Weight Loss – November 1, 2004 – American Family Physician

Here is the list of common ingredients in weight loss pills from AAFP:

The column that you want to look at is Product Efficacy. After looking at all the research, does the product actually help you lose weight? There is only one that has been proven to cause weight loss, ephedra, but it has been pulled from the market because it will kill you. You can find many of the ingredients from SlimQuick Cleanse on that list, but none of them have been proven to help you lose weight.

The truth about SlimQuick Cleanse isn’t hidden. It’s right on the advertisement in small print:

Real people require regular exercise and a reduced-calorie diet to lose weight.

Real people do not need expensive pills that haven’t been proven to do anything for weight loss.

We’ve finally reached the final episode of Super Slim Me, where healthy Dawn Porter finishes her 500 calorie a day diet in an effort to get to the elusive size zero. Will Dawn be able to fit into her glamorous size zero dress at the end of all of this?

Dawn’s experience with laxative tea shows the disadvantages of so-called cures.

In the end, she lost about four inches around her waist. Her starting weight of 147 pounds (66.6 kilos) drops to 130 pounds (59.4 kilos) and she still feels like a failure. After eight weeks of hell, she lost 17 pounds and dropped two dress sizes.

“I thought I was just going to be hungry for two months. I thought I would get really pissed off because I couldn’t eat. I had no idea I was going to feel crushed down depressed. I had no idea that I was going to completely lose my social life. I had no idea that I was going to have a headache, not sleep for two months, and I had no idea that every word that anybody said would make me want to literally lynch them. I had no idea that I was going to be so weak and pathetic. I thought, it’s just two months being hungry, I can do that.”

Her BMI dropped from 22 down to 19, on the edge of underweight, and she STILL couldn’t fit into her size zero dress. She ate her own slice of the cake of culpability for buying into the skinny model and threw out all her photos of stick thin celebrities.

On another note, here is a transformation that they did with her just like the models in magazines:

Here is a great article about how to bribe yourself on a budget from Iportion:

• Iportion: Bribing Yourself on a Budget

You can use bribery to achieve your fitness goals, no matter what your income level.

I found this in an advertisement for Aleve.

I thought it was a great motivational photo to paste in a collage with all my pictures of how I want my body to look when I get to goal, so I tore it out of the magazine.

The underlying message of the advertisement is take Aleve and you’ll be able to keep exercising through the pain. THAT message isn’t quite as positive as the initial euphoria of “Never Stop Moving.” Aleve is a non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drug called naproxen sodium. It’s like aspirin or ibuprofen, but totally different than acetaminophen.

For a long time, Advil ran advertising calling their product “Vitamin I.” I’ve even heard runners refer to ibuprofen as Vitamin I. The idea of just popping a pill instead of giving your body the rest it deserves after hard exercise isn’t the healthiest mindset to subscribe to. It looks like Aleve is jumping on that bandwagon.

There are risks to every medication. I’ve written an article here about the problems with over the counter pain relief:

• Starling Fitness » Drugstore Pain Relief

I love the idea of Never Stop Moving. I love the idea of working out every day, no matter what. I HATE the idea of choosing to take an Aleve rather than giving my muscles a rest. In the end, I choose to take the image as inspirational and forget all about what they were trying to advertise.

This postcard from PostSecret shows the power of vision.

It reads:

I’ve always been the person who lectured my friends about anorexia.

So I guess it’s karma that I’m on the verge of an eating disorder, myself.

Your mind automatically tries to move you toward whatever you focus your attention. If you focus on what you DON’T want, then you will get closer to what you don’t want. That’s why it’s so important to envision a future that you DO want.

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.

Laura,

Why do we have to eat 2 t of oil a day? I’m new with this weight watchers thing.

Nancy

Nancy,

I checked my Weight Watchers week one book to see why they said that we should eat healthy oil. Here is their explanation:

Healthy oil: 2 teaspoons per day

What counts? Olive, canola, safflower, or flaxseed oil. Avoid saturated and trans fats.

Why? Contains vitamin E and essential fatty acids. May help lower risk for heart disease and stroke.

That is the official story from Weight Watchers, but I’ve heard from WW leaders that the diet was naturally so low in fat, that they needed to add healthy oils. They’ve suggested a wide variety of ways to add healthy oil to your diet:

• Cooking food in the oil
• Using it on toast instead of butter (canola is good for this one)
• Adding it to smoothies (I prefer flaxseed oil in my smoothies because of the interesting taste)
• Choosing oil on your sandwich at Subway (they use olive oil)
• Eating it straight from a spoon like medicine

I have a particularly hard time checking off my healthy oil boxes unless I PLAN for it. Since I rarely do much cooking, I don’t have the option of adding it to my eggs in the morning, so I usually get it in with my smoothies. I have a great smoothie recipe here:

• Starling Fitness » Frozen Grapes: Healthy Diet Staple

Of all the recommendations from WW leaders over the years, I don’t recommend eating it like medicine. Food is not only about nutrition and health. It’s about enjoyment and pleasure. If you HAVE to eat two teaspoons of oil every day, make them enjoyable. Use the oil to cook with. Use it to add flavor to your salad. Use it to make your toast less dry. DON’T muscle past your gag reflex and just swallow it like medicine. That’s just a waste of two points.

In the end, the Healthy Guidelines are just that: GUIDELINES. It’s possible to lose weight on WW eating four Snickers bars every day, but it’s not the best route to go. The guidelines are there to recommend a healthy and varied way to keep from getting bored.

Best,
Laura Moncur

We were making a quick stop at Whole Foods, but Mike was transfixed in the produce section. “Check out this Cthulhu fruit,” he said, holding up the yellow squid-like fruit the size of my head. I smiled, taking it from his hands, “CTHULHU FRUIT!”

I wanted one immediately, but at $4.99 a pound, it seemed like an expensive joke food. Mike looked at the sign, “It’s called Buddha Hand.” I was more interested in the practical. “How do you eat it?” And so started our quest to find out how to eat a Buddha Hand!

Buddha Hand is a citron. Citron fruits are fragrant and citrus, but unlike an orange or lemon, they don’t have the juicy stuff in the middle. They are all rind. To eat it, you just slice the fingers lengthwise.

You’re supposed to eat the fruit, peel and all, because there really is nothing BUT the peel.

There is more information here:

• Buddha’s Hand Citrons

Called a Buddha’s Hand Citron, this odd looking fruit is actually one of the oldest members of the citrus family. Although it smells strongly of lemon, it has no juicy pulp hidden beneath its rind. Instead, the Buddha’s Hand is grown commercially for its powerful zest. The aromatic rind is used to flavor lemon liqueurs and specialty vodkas, and provides aroma to lemon-scented cosmetics. Chinese and Japanese households hang it in their homes as a natural air freshener, and it even has a place in some religious ceremonies.

• Has anyone used the buddha’s hand fruit? – Home Cooking – Chowhound

• Buddha’s hand – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Most of the recipes I found for Buddha Hand used it instead of lemon peel for things like marmalade and liquors, but it is a fruit that you can eat raw just like you would an orange. Considering that it’s incredibly low in calories, it’s a great addition to your diet as long as you can get past the image of eating Cthulhu’s head.

Photo of cut Buddha Hand via: Boston Food & Whine: Candied Buddha’s Hand Peel

Thanks to Found in Mom’s Basement for this scan of a 1943 magazine for Layne Bryant. It reads:

STOUT WOMEN

Thrilling new style book

FREE

Outsmart nature! Look slimmer, lovlier, and smarter! FREE style book shows hundreds of fashions in your size, all designed to slender your figure.

It surprises me that this kind of advertising actually worked well enough for Layne Bryant to still survive to this day.

I know they had to get the attention of the women that were their target audience, but screaming “Stout Women” at the top of their advertisement is a little insulting. It’s kind of like screaming, “Stinky People” at the top of a perfume ad.

In contrast, here is a screenshot of Layne Bryant’s website:

Their current advertising has no derogatory statements, just beautiful women and links to shirts, bras and other clothing.

When I was a teenager, the thought of being seen inside Layne Bryant just mortified me, but as an adult, I’ve come to appreciate their selection. Considering how respectful their advertising is NOW, that’s probably why.

It seems like just yesterday when I was watching The Cosby Show and wishing I was as beautiful as Claire Huxtable. Even now, looking at Phylicia Rashad’s photos, she’s a knockout considering that she’s sixty years old.

When she found that she couldn’t climb three flights of stairs without getting winded, however, she decided to do something about it.

• Phylicia Rashad Will She Lose the Weight? – Diet & Fitness, Phylicia Rashad : People.com

“Honestly, it’s about the way I feel. I thought, ‘Hmmm.’ I just want to be light on my feet.”

Phylicia isn’t the first celebrity to turn to Jenny Craig to lose weight. A lot of people are attracted to the ease of pre-packaged meals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack are all color-coded and easy to choose from. You don’t have to make any decisions. You don’t have to write anything down. You don’t have to do any math. I can certainly understand the appeal.

Of course, for me, I want freedom. I want to be able to eat whatever I want. I don’t mind keeping a detailed food journal in exchange for the freedom to eat whatever I want. Sure, Weight Watchers works better when I check off foods from the Filling Foods List, but if I was on a plan where I wasn’t able to just eat a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, it would send me to Binge City for a week. Putting any food on a “Do Not Eat” list makes me want it all the more.

Fortunately, there are many different programs that work for every different style of person. I’m wishing Phylicia the best of luck. She has lost 16 pounds so far and I hope she achieves that lightness on her feet soon!

This week, Dawn has collected diet information from newspapers, tabloids and magazines. Who is to blame for all of this?

The cake of culpability includes: celebrities, stylists, model agencies, designers, or even the fashion shows themselves. Suddenly, all the of them refuse to even comment with her and none of them are willing to take any responsibility.

Will Dawn be able to fit into her glamorous size zero dress at the end of all of this? Tune in next week for the final episode.