Comments on: Beware: Oprah’s Health Advice http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/beware-oprahs-health-advice/ The inside skinny on celebrity diets and celebrity weight loss Sat, 20 Mar 2010 05:21:06 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jacqueline http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/beware-oprahs-health-advice/comment-page-1/#comment-5563 Jacqueline Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:19:53 +0000 http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/?p=2942#comment-5563 Well, all this hub bub about Oprah and non-coventional medicine might be a very U.S. centric type of thing. I receive a newsletter from the Women to Women clinic in Maine and lead practitioner Marcelle Pick had this to say: “The thing that is most upsetting to me about the recent attempt to undermine Oprah’s approach,” says Pick, “is that it doesn’t present a balanced perspective on alternative therapies and the role they play in our wellness. There is a substantial body of scientific literature supporting alternative approaches, which is why more and more Americans are choosing to include an alternative perspective when considering their health. Much of what is considered as alternative in our country is part of the conventional standard of care in Europe and Asia, where alternative therapies have been helping people for centuries.” I get this in my email and can't find a direct link on the site, but check out womentowomen.com for lots of well-researcher, non-hype articles on alternative women's health! Well, all this hub bub about Oprah and non-coventional medicine might be a very U.S. centric type of thing. I receive a newsletter from the Women to Women clinic in Maine and lead practitioner Marcelle Pick had this to say: “The thing that is most upsetting to me about the recent attempt to undermine Oprah’s approach,” says Pick, “is that it doesn’t present a balanced perspective on alternative therapies and the role they play in our wellness. There is a substantial body of scientific literature supporting alternative approaches, which is why more and more Americans are choosing to include an alternative perspective when considering their health. Much of what is considered as alternative in our country is part of the conventional standard of care in Europe and Asia, where alternative therapies have been helping people for centuries.”

I get this in my email and can’t find a direct link on the site, but check out womentowomen.com for lots of well-researcher, non-hype articles on alternative women’s health!

]]> By: JC http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/beware-oprahs-health-advice/comment-page-1/#comment-5428 JC Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:41:42 +0000 http://www.celebritydietdoctor.com/?p=2942#comment-5428 Not in defense of Oprah, but I'm afraid that experts are not always right either. A few good examples: 1) How many dietitians believe that one needs to exercise 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat? One pound = 454 g 1 g of fat = 9 calories 454 x 9 = 4086 calories, not 3500 calories! According to NYU Nutrition Professor Marion Nestle, the discrepancy is mainly due to "fudge" factors - incomplete digestion, metabolism, etc. The actual calories per g of fat is closer to 9.5 calories! More details can be found in "What Einstein Told His Cook" by Dr. Robert Wolfe. 2) How many athletes still believe that the maximum heart rate is 220 minus age? Polar Heart Rate Monitors actually uses this formula, and at one point even doctors believed in this formula. In fact, doctors believed in this formula FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS! It was not until the originators of the formula - Drs. Sam Fox (a heart specialist) Bill Haskell (an exercise specialist) confessed that the formula was not based on age but more on the strength of the individual. The harder one exercised, the faster the heart had to pump, thus increasing the rate of the heart. See NY Times article, "Maximum Heart Rate Theory is Challenged". 3) How many dieticians/nutritionists still believe that cheese is a good source of calcium? Yes, there is calcium in milk, but when the milk coagulates and curdles into cheese, the fat and the whey (the watery part) separates. Most of calcium is in the whey, not in the fat, so when the whey gets drained out, so does most of the calcium. Unless the calcium is fortified in the cheese, I can't see cheese being a good source of calcium. This is just my personal observation after touring one of French Laundry's cheese suppliers. Not in defense of Oprah, but I’m afraid that experts are not always right either. A few good examples:

1) How many dietitians believe that one needs to exercise 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat?

One pound = 454 g
1 g of fat = 9 calories
454 x 9 = 4086 calories, not 3500 calories!

According to NYU Nutrition Professor Marion Nestle, the discrepancy is mainly due to “fudge” factors – incomplete digestion, metabolism, etc. The actual calories per g of fat is closer to 9.5 calories! More details can be found in “What Einstein Told His Cook” by Dr. Robert Wolfe.

2) How many athletes still believe that the maximum heart rate is 220 minus age?

Polar Heart Rate Monitors actually uses this formula, and at one point even doctors believed in this formula.

In fact, doctors believed in this formula FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS! It was not until the originators of the formula – Drs. Sam Fox (a heart specialist) Bill Haskell (an exercise specialist) confessed that the formula was not based on age but more on the strength of the individual. The harder one exercised, the faster the heart had to pump, thus increasing the rate of the heart. See NY Times article, “Maximum Heart Rate Theory is Challenged”.

3) How many dieticians/nutritionists still believe that cheese is a good source of calcium?

Yes, there is calcium in milk, but when the milk coagulates and curdles into cheese, the fat and the whey (the watery part) separates. Most of calcium is in the whey, not in the fat, so when the whey gets drained out, so does most of the calcium. Unless the calcium is fortified in the cheese, I can’t see cheese being a good source of calcium. This is just my personal observation after touring one of French Laundry’s cheese suppliers.

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