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

There are a few nutrition scales on the market. Do you have any idea if they are useful and which ones are worth looking into. Every website about weight loss speaks about food diary and self monitoring, this appears to be an accurate method.

What are your thoughts

Valarie

Valarie,

My first thought was: What the heck is a nutrition scale?

When I did a Google search for the words “nutrition scale” there were SO many entries for companies selling food scales. They are compact little scales that can tell you how much food you are eating. So if the nutrition facts on the back of the package say 1 ounce, you can weigh out 1 ounce.

I have one. I use it to weigh the Walking DVDs and Yearly Journals that I send out every month.

Okay, every once and a while, I use it to weigh food to make sure that I’m still eyeballing things right. Mine is made by Escali and it looks very much like this Escali Primo Digital Multifunctional Scale. My sister gave it to me when she cleaned out her kitchen. It runs on batteries and I have never had to change them.

The thing that worried me is the price of these gadgets. They range from $20 to nearly $300. My scale was the cheap twenty dollar version and works wonderfully. Why would anyone need a food scale that is almost three hundred bucks?

They don’t.

I can understand the cost of a scale like that if you worked in a research laboratory, but for weighing your food at home, an inaccuracy of a tenth of an ounce isn’t going to make or break your diet. In fact, the whole idea of meticulously weighing your food just seems wrong to me. Eat enough to stop being hungry and not too full. If that means leaving a bite or two left over, fine. Give it to the dog, throw it away or save it for later.

Seeing all those listings for companies that are selling “nutrition scales” just seems like they are trying to profit off the diet industry. If you do desperately need to weigh your food, a twenty dollar scale should be perfect. Don’t waste your money on anything more elaborate than that.

Best Wishes,
Laura Moncur

Note:

The email reply that I sent to “Valarie” bounced. I suspect that the email I received was a pathetic attempt by some misguided company to create a viral marketing desire for “nutrition scales” and to profit from the diet industry.

Good luck with that.

If you took two packages of Hanes Underwear and compared them like Julia did, then you would notice a distinct difference between the pictures. The authors of Photoshop Disasters hit it right on the head:

If you’re trying to guess which one is the real leg, the smart money is on neither.

I know that using photo editing software like Photoshop is common, but I forget HOW common it is. Not even this perfectly beautiful girl on the package of Hanes underwear was good enough. Her already lovely leg had to be trimmed and molded like clay on the computer.

Personally, I LOVE Hanes underwear, but I don’t think I’ll ever look at their packaging the same way again.

There are many times that companies brag about their own advertisements with such phrases as, “As Advertised On TV” or “Advertised In These High Quality Magazines.” Most people just shrug and move on, but what if a vitamin is listed in the PDR? Isn’t that an honor?

Envia would like you to think so, but MLM Watch knows the truth:

• Advertising Hype for Eniva’s VIBE

When used by itself, the name “PDR” usually refers to the book that lists prescription drugs. There are, however, at least 15 other PDRs. Eniva’s listing is in the PDR for Nonprescription Drugs, Dietary Supplements, and Herbs, pictured above, which is not widely used. Listing in this book is not an “honor” or endorsement. The book’s foreword states that “by making this material available, the publisher [Thomson PDR] is not advocating the use of any products described herein.” All product information is supplied by the manufacturer. Thomson does not select what products are listed by choosing those it thinks are best. The only requirement for listing is payment of a fee.

Next time you see a nutritional supplement or weight loss aid advertisement, remember that everything they are saying is trying to convince you to buy their product. If their product was really that good, people would be breaking down their door to get it and they wouldn’t have to convince anyone.

Something about this DVD bothers me: Women’s Health: The Wedding Workout (2006). Wedding workout? Really? Is it any different than a general workout? What could be physically grueling about your wedding that would make you need a wedding workout to prepare for it? It all smacks of profiteering to me.

I’ve been disgusted with the wedding industry lately. I talked about it over on my personal blog back in November of last year:

• Pick Me! » Your Day, Your Way

I thought it was just Utah, you know? I thought that all those billboards all over the city telling people to spend a boatload of money on their wedding was a Utah thing.

Apparently not.

According to One Perfect Day by Rebecca Mead, the wedding industry has grown to be a 161 Billion dollar industry.

It looks like Women’s Health is trying to profit from that 161 Billion dollar industry. Wasn’t the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry enough for you? Is this a trend that I haven’t noticed or one that is just starting? Whatever it is, don’t get sucked into the hype.

A wedding is just ONE day and a perfect wedding is no indicator of a happy life. Instead of starving yourself to fit into that expensive dress, you’re better off saving the money for a down payment on a house. Don’t let them tell you any different.

I’ve talked about Kimkins before. It was a very low carb, low fat and low calorie diet that imploded in controversy last year.

• Starling Fitness » How Did Kimkins Fly Under My Radar?

It looks like a local Fox News affiliate did a story about it and you can see it here:

Click through to see parts two, three and four: (more…)

Something about this article doesn’t sit right for me.

• UMHS Press Release: U-M poll: Kids’ obesity not weighing on their parents’ minds

I think it’s this line of reasoning.

While most parents agree childhood obesity is a major health issue, many underestimate their own children’s weight and fail to take corrective steps to manage weight gain. Without intervention, childhood obesity can take a hefty toll on a person’s life-long health.

“It is critical to address obesity in the childhood years – at home, and in schools and other community settings,” says Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the National Poll on Children’s Health. “But in order to address childhood obesity at home, parents must first recognize that a child is not at a healthy weight for their height. Parents also must be concerned enough to want to do something about their children’s obesity.”

I don’t believe parents should restrict their children’s diet. Every summer from the age of nine until seventeen, my grandmother placed me on a restrictive diet. I’ve written before about how misperceived my grandmother was about my obesity (or lack of it). The honest truth is that I don’t think parents should try to help their child lose weight. They should lead by doing. If the parents eat healthy, the children will follow along. I’ve written about this before as well:

• Starling Fitness » Childhood Obesity

In the end, it bothers me that doctors are wasting money on these kind of studies and not working on figuring out what is making us fat in the first place.

Via: Teens and Their Parents May Underestimate a Weight Problem

I have seen a lot of advertising for Medifast lately. Their current celebrity darling is Genie Francis, the woman who played Laura in General Hospital. Oprah lost her weight with Medifast back in the late Eighties, but she immediately started gaining the minute she went off the program. A public failure of their program is something that I’m surprised Medifast was ever able to recover from.

I don’t mind celebrity endorsements, but misleading advertising is another story. This Medifast ad in particular bothers me:

It was an animated ad that showed the girl fat, then thin. The thing that bothers me is that she isn’t a success story. They don’t claim that she is. They don’t claim that the girl pictured lost any weight with Medifast, but having her there is misleading.

I KNOW that this isn’t a before and after picture. How do I know? Shoddy Photoshop technique. When they used the photo editing software to make her “fat” they forgot to airbrush out her ribs. Can you see in the “fat” version? The shadow of her ribs are still there. I don’t know about you, but I have never had the shadow of ribs show up in a photo, even when I am thin. You have to get EXTRA skinny to see your ribs.

This is the opposite of what Redbook did to Faith Hill. Instead of taking a perfectly beautiful woman and making her too thin, the advertising agency for Medifast took a strikingly thin girl and made her look fat for her “before” picture.

It makes me wonder. If Medifast REALLY can make you lose weight two times faster, then why don’t they have some REAL people who lost weight in their ads? Why do they have to Photoshop themselves a good before and after picture?

When you go to their site, they have a handful of real people (in addition to Genie Francis) who have lost weight on their program, but why didn’t they use them? Real people get a little sick of starving. That’s what fasting is, starving. When their real customers go back to eating real food, they might have an embarrassing relapse just like Oprah Winfrey. So, it’s better that they find a thin model for the after picture, fatten her up using Photoshop for the before picture and never mention her name. She’s “just” a model afterall.

Sounds like the best thing to do is stay away from companies that are willing to bend the truth a little bit in order to get you to buy their product. Sure, they didn’t lie. They never said that the beautiful blonde pictured in their ad lost weight with Medifast, but having her on their advertisement is manipulative and shady. Don’t trust your health to a company who’s willing to cross those lines.

Here are some other articles about altered images and what they do to our view of ourselves:

• Starling Fitness » Photoshopped Christina Milian

• Starling Fitness » Photoshopped Thin

• Starling Fitness » Beautiful Faith Hill Not Good Enough For Redbook

The photo on the cover of The National Enquirer was enough to cause confusion. After losing an incredible 75 pounds with Jenny Craig, the tabloid suggested that Kirstie Alley had gained it all back and lost her job because of it.

What if there was a different motive? According to People Magazine, Kirstie Alley is planning on launching her own weight loss plan.

“I had not intended to make this announcement at this time, but after an online People magazine article ran last Friday, announcing that I had stepped down as Jenny’s spokesperson, I found myself bombarded with inquiries from the media and fans. So I guess it’s as good of a time as any to announce that I intend to develop and pilot my own weight-loss brand that I hope to launch in 2009.”

You can read Kirstie Alley’s full statement here:

• Kirstie Alley Launching Her Own ‘Weight-Loss Brand’ – Bodywatch, Kirstie Alley : People.com

Paranoid as I am, my first instinct was that The National Enquirer had just found an old photo of Kirstie before her experience with Jenny Craig and were using it to sell their magazine. When paranoia really set in, however, I imagined that she really HAD gained back all the weight… purposely. After losing it “on her own” the second time, SHE would be able to cash in on the experience this time instead of Jenny Craig.

What do you think? Has my marketing paranoia run overboard? Is she just purposely gaining weight to “shock” you with another before and after picture? Worse still, did she gain the weight to discredit Jenny Craig?

Staying at a healthy weight is difficult enough without complicating it with negotiations, spokespeople and contracts. The tabloids are just trying to sell you papers, not make you healthy. Remember that in 2009 when they print Kirstie Alley’s “amazing” weight loss the second time around.

Via: Kirstie Alley Plans Own Weight Loss Program | TV Crunch

No matter how smart I get, there is still a desperate little girl inside of me that wants to be skinny at any cost. When I saw this postcard from PostSecret, my first thought was, “God, I wish I could be like this.”

Honestly, I am happier when I am eating.

I have tried for years to change this aspect of myself, but even after years of behavior modification, I am the same. I know I say that you should never wish anorexia on yourself, but seeing this postcard makes me long for a different problem. Instead of the bingeing, how about the starving? Can I trade one for the other?

I do know one thing. For years, I tried to give myself anorexia. I starved myself for days. I subsisted on Slim Fast for weeks. No matter what I did, it always ended up in a binge. Even eating healthy for years can end up in a binge. I am constantly fighting or succumbing to the binge monster at all times.

I guess it’s time to give up the idea that I will magically be anorexic and get skinnier than I’ve ever been, but it’s also time to give up the idea that I will magically be free from wanting to binge. I need to accept myself the way I am and work on being healthy from that point of acceptance.

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.

It might sound like a difficult feat if you are watching your calorie intake, but new research from Purdue University shows that consumption of artificial sweeteners creates a physiological reaction that makes you GAIN weight instead of lose it.

Honestly, when I saw this article from Times Online, I didn’t believe it.

• How artificial sweeteners may be making slimmers put on weight – Times Online

I wanted to see the research. I wanted to see the data and that article didn’t provide it. Fortunately, I found the data from Purdue University itself:

• Purdue University Research on Artificial Sweeteners

This research was published in Behavioral Neuroscience 2008, Vol. 122, No. 1, 161–173. I worked in a research lab for a few years, so I can make out what happened in this experiment. The most telling of all is the graph of Cumulative Body Weight Gain, but it was too confusing if you haven’t slogged through the experiment method to find out which group is which. I did the slogging for you.

• Non-Predictive – Rats fed yogurt with artificial sweetener half the time and unsweetened the other half. “Rats in the sweet nonpredictive group received plain, unsweetened yogurt for 3 of the 6 days each week that yogurt was provided and received yogurt sweetened with 0.3% saccharin for the other 3 days that week.”

• Predictive – Rats fed yogurt with sugar half the time and unsweetened the other half. “Rats in the sweet predictive group received plain, unsweetened yogurt (approx. 0.6 kcal/g) for 3 of the 6 days each week that yogurt was provided and received yogurt sweetened with 20% glucose (wt/wt; approx. 1.2 kcal/g) for the other 3 days that week.”

• Predictive Control – Rats fed only sugar sweetened yogurt. “The sweet predictive control group, was included to control for the total number of calories from the yogurt supplement per week (approximately 104 kcal per week). This group received only yogurt sweetened with 20% glucose (wt/wt; approx. 1.2 kcal/g) on the 3 days per week that rats in the sweet nonpredictive group received sweetened yogurt (i.e., this group did not receive any unsweetened yogurt).”

The rats that gained the most weight were the rats in the Non-Predictive group (artificial sweetener). Even though their calorie intake was the same as the same as the Predictive Control group and LESS than the Predictive group, they were significantly fatter.

What they found was that the artificial sweetener makes your body less able to regulate energy. Have you ever wondered how you could be eating so little, exercising so much and STILL gaining weight? This could be the problem.

Unfortunately, they have no data on whether you can reset your body to regulate energy correctly. Since it took about two to five weeks for the effect to take place in the rats, I’m hoping that a month and a half off artificial sweeteners might reset my body.

For years, Atkins recommended that you stay away from artificial sweeteners. He figured that the taste of sweetness caused you to crave sugars. Other nutritionists recommended staying away from artificial sweetened foods as well. Their logic was that you might overeat other foods because you were “good” and drank a diet soda. They had good instincts, if not good reasons.

After seeing this research, I’m cutting artificially sweetened foods out of my diet completely. Medical research may not know if I’m permanently damaged from drinking Diet Coke almost my whole life, but I’m going to do the best I can to fix it from here.