Dr. Oz - a rant
I don’t blog stuff like this much anymore (or blog much at all anymore, come to mention it), but I’ve vented to so many friends about it in person that I’m hoping this will help me shut up and get over it.
First, I don’t go out of my way to watch this show. I try to catch Seinfeld reruns every night at 7.30 and 9, and this show is on in between, so I keep it on in the background. I kind of like the guy’s attitude; he’d be fun for a conversation. I am mildly irritated by his donning scrubs for his show, and the fact that a cardiac surgeon is masquerading as an expert in all things medical and health-related. (Dr. Scott advised me only to take advice about cardiac surgery, nothing else, from a cardiac surgeon.)
I’m much more annoyed by the fact that ALL of the promos for his show are fearmongering and alarmist. Every one is something like “The diseases your doctor doesn’t know about that COULD BE KILLING YOU RIGHT NOW!!!” or “The SILENT KILLER lurking in your home!!!” or “The SEVEN DEADLY HABITS you do every day that are TAKING YEARS OFF OF YOUR LIFE…AND YOUR CHILDREN’S!!!” I wish I were exaggerating.
But what really put me over the edge was a show last week about a bus driver who is 100+ pounds overweight. He drives a bus 12 hours a day, and relies upon fast food to keep himself satiated throughout the day; his eating at home is not much better. The guy was very brave, admitting that he doesn’t initiate romantic contact with his wife because he hates how fat he is and doesn’t feel manly. Tears were shed. It took a lot for him to go on the show and open up about such private things that many men feel but don’t vocalize.
So what was Dr. Oz’s brilliant plan to get this guy in shape? A raw food diet. If I’d had a tomato in my hand, I would have thrown it at the screen.
I have friends who are raw food devotees, at least some of the time. When they adhere to it, the results are great - drastic weight loss, beautiful skin, clear eyes, etc. I’ve heard and read very persuasive articles about why it’s a bunch of bunk, but I’m not informed enough to make that call.
What I do know is that, even for friends who work from home and have the income to afford the myriad special foodstuffs often integral to raw diets, it’s very difficult to sustain. It’s not a cheap diet, and requires a significant investment of time. The people I know who do raw food often have to take lengthy breaks from it for just that reason.
This guy has an uphill climb as it is to lose more than 100 pounds. He has a sedentary, low-paying job. He needs an eating plan that closely resembles the one he already has, doesn’t require a lot of time and planning, and that is affordable. (I know from firsthand experience that this is possible.) The raw food diet suggested by Dr. Oz is none of those things.
My point: Dr. Oz is using a struggling man as a guinea pig illustration of how raw food diets work, and I think he’s setting him up to fail. I don’t think it’s pre-meditated, so the alternative is that it’s just a really bad idea and demonstrates a lack of coherent thought and judgment. Either way, Dr. Oz is in Room 101 for me now, and I hope that having bored everyone with this blog post, I can stop boring my friends in real life with this topic. The End.
Filed under: Life
You give better doctor advice than Dr. Oprah himself.
Oh, don’t feed my need to tell people what to do…!
I wish you had a tv show. Lots of hot girls, video games, and awkward silences…FTW!
This makes me extremely angry. As someone that has fought a weight battle her whole life, the last thing someone needs is to be set up for failure.
Yes, a raw food diet can give good results, but I believe it’s because of the things an individual is NOT eating, rather than what they are eating. Fresh vegetables are awesome.
Anyway, your advice is way better than Dr. Oz’s. He semi-lost me though when he advocated a lot of what I think is woo on Oprah.
I agree. It’s ridiculous to propose an obviously inappropriate plan.
If I drove a bus, a thermos of a substantial soup would figure highly in any ideas for a diet, especially in cold weather. By rotating: minestrone, oxtail, split pea, chicken noodle, fish, etc (about 10 varieties and sometimes making spicy should prevent boredom), I think one could reduce bad food intake. That and any exercise would surely produce some beneficial effect.
My skepticism of the raw food diet comes from the little I know of life expectancy in pre-agricultural cultures: cave men’s teeth fell out and they suffered chronic malnutrition diseases before starving (once toothless) at about 30 years old. A high price to avoid IBS.
Seinfeld re-runs twice an evening: like my whole family.
BTW, thanks for the link to Dr Scott.
The article on why Korea should be Corea was very intriguing. http://www.medeasmemoirs.com/corea-with-a-c/
What I know of the timing of the Japanese occupation makes the argument plausible. But the evidence is probably in Japanese archives, if anywhere.