More dieting myths and rip-offs

The Internet is a fabulous source of information, trouble is 80% of it is biased, unregulated, poorly researched, deceitful crap or porn. That of course means 20% of it is pretty useful, if your interested in truth of course, and not porn.

How many of us have seen these web sites that claim you can lose 20lbs in 2 weeks, or 14lbs in 7 days etc. There are loads out there. Of course when you look at the sites linked to these claims there is nothing concrete, you have to pay to get the "secret" of weight loss. There will be some before and after pictures of some dick-head relaxing on his yacht, resplendent with defined abs, and an ancient picture of the same guy as a lard arse. Gosh, it must work then...?

I did some research, but did not part with any cash of course, into some of these lose weight quick plans. One was bleating on about Cortisol and how this is the cause of YOUR lack of weight control and why some people are naturally thin and others are well, naturally fat and bless them they cannot help it... Shit, all these dietitians and doctors were wrong all along. Anyway, the site advertises a dubious sounding chemical/drug which apparently, magically, lowers you Cortisol when you take it and voila you'll lose weight at the same rate GM is shedding jobs. The site claims many of us (especially the porkers out there) have too much Cortisol, otherwise known as the "stress hormone", and this is a result of the stress of modern life. Basically Cortisol, as a by product, increases the amount of body fat you have, ergo stress=fat. This isn't the only site to mention the Cortisol and body fat thing, this is quite a widespread myth.

As usual this is complete tosh and comes from selective use of findings from proper medical research at least some of which was done in Holland. As with 90% of spurious diet claims there is some element of scientific fact, however they always omit the important points of the original studies or research, which most of the time completely contradict the claims... Anyway, the proper research here was done via the National Institute on Aging and numerous other Dutch health organisations. The study I found was originally undertaken to prove a link between depression and being overweight. It was already established that people suffering from clinical depression had elevated stress levels (and Cortisol of course but this is a Red Herring). Statistically people suffering from depression were overweight then. Now you can see how someone would make the leap to think it was the Cortisol from being depressed that made someone overweight, right? Except the research never mentioned this at all. It merely found a link between obesity and depression. No shit. It doesn't say the person was depressed before being fat, or that the depression was as a result of being fat, just there is a link. Well morbidly obese people are bound to be depressed, I would be. Okay, I'm making light of this serious subject but this is a widely published thing on the net (Cortisol makes you fat) yet this claim doesn't seem to have any real scientific support. Maybe I've not looked hard enough in the medical dictionaries and encyclopedias I've scoured- I should have gone to UKTV's excellent site (haha).

The scientific "truth" seems to be there is a reaction in the blood to elevated Cortisol levels that causes an increase in blood sugar and blood pressure. Cortisol actually increases Lypolisis whereby the body's fat cells are broken down and used for energy- the opposite of what is being claimed... the using up of body fat, Hmmm. But it also decreases muscle takeup of amino acids, (reducing Protein takeup), booo. It can also act as a diuretic causing the body to off-load water and has an anti-inflammatory effect, great. So a bit of a double edged sworded really.

Cortisol is a natural hormone and levels fluctuate in everybody, it is not the definitive cause of being overweight and taking drugs to reduce its levels may have other side effects, far more serious than putting on a few pounds. If someone has too much the last thing they should do is buy some dodgy drug from the Internet and should seek a Physician's advice.

Truth 1. People are mainly fat because they eat too much FOOD. Cutting down on the high calorie foods, or heck, just reducing the overall intake will help them not be so fat.

Truth 2. Nobody is magically thin, they just eat less calories or quantities than fat people.

Truth 3. You cannot safely lose 14lbs of body fat in 7 days without liposuction and as that may involve a general anaesthetic it isn't safe. Unless of course you are a highly dedicated athelete or professional boxer, but it still would not be entirely safe.

Truth 4. There are no quick wins. Losing weight is tough, which is why so many people fail at it. Putting weight on is very easy, which is why increasing numbers of people are now obese in Western Society.