Senate Panel Rips Dr. Oz a New One for Lying to Your Fat Face

[Just Crouton]

A couple of the fitness channels I follow have started making videos about this.

 

Source

 

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Dr. Mehmet Oz—of the The Dr. Oz Show fame—was hauled in front of a Senate panel today to answer for all the dubious benefits he claims certain weight loss products will provide. Products that he officially endorses with his name on the label. Products that he shills on his nationally-syndicated daytime television show.

 

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the chairwoman of the Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection, had Oz's number.

 

"I don't get why you say this stuff because you know it's not true," McCaskill said. "So why, when you have this amazing megaphone and this amazing ability to communicate, why would you cheapen your show by saying things like that?"

 

The panel was particularly pissed about Oz's endorsement of coffee beans that claimed incredible weight loss powers. From USA Today's report:

 

Lawmakers at Tuesday's hearing specifically took aim at Oz's promotion of Pure Green Coffee beans, which claims to help users lose 20 pounds in four weeks and 16 percent of body fat in three months. The FTC sued the product's Florida-based makers in May.

Oz attempted to defend himself.

 

"My job, I feel, on the show is to be a cheerleader for the audience when they don't think they have hope and they don't think they can make it happen," he told the panel. "It jump-starts you. It gives you the confidence to keep going.

 

McCaskill, however, was not having any of it.

 

"The scientific community is almost monolithic against you in terms of the efficacy of the three products you call miracles," she told Oz. "When you call a product a miracle, and it's something you can buy and it's something that gives people false hope, I just don't understand why you need to go there."

 

And although he told the panel today that he does actually "believe" in the products he hawks on his show, and that he has even given them to his own family, Michael Specter's profile of him for The New Yorker last year would appear to directly contradict that:

 

Oz doesn't follow any of the miracle cures or fad diets that he trots out so regularly for his audience.

But are that many people duped by products claiming miracle weight loss? Apparently so: the panel today cited a 2011 FTC consumer fraud survey that found "more consumers were victims of bogus weight-loss products than any other frauds covered by the survey."

 

 

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[spoiler=The King's money-saving advice on dieting]

 

There are hundreds of wrong ways to diet, including the ones Dr. Oz sells, but there is no correct way written in stone. This is one of the ways that has worked in my experience.

 

Count your calories and your macros and whatnot (free calorie counter sites like MyFitnessPal allow you to track these easily and even plan for the rest of the week) daily, and the pounds will start to fly off.

 

Be patient, and find out what works for you.

 

If you're miserable, you're dieting wrong. Don't push out the foods you love, or save them for that one cheat day a week. You don't have to restrict yourself to six meals of brown rice, steamed vegetables, and tilipia like all these fitness people recommend. Make that pizza fit into your macros for the day. I'm not saying eat pizza everyday, but if you know you're getting pizza with friends well in advance, find out the macros (again, MyFitnessPal is great for that,) and adjust your eating accordingly for that day to minimize damage to your diet.

 

The six meals a day thing is bull, and eats up time in your day, pun intended. I get all 1200 of my calories in from two, sometimes three meals a day.

 

Eat breakfast, no matter how small. You'll suffer less waiting for lunchtime. On days I know I won't get my usual large breakfast, I'll eat a Met RX protein bar. Far from the healthiest, but it makes waiting for lunch much less tortuous.

 

A diet shouldn't feel like a punishment. It should be a lifestyle that allows you to maintain your weight goal while enjoying life dynamically.

 

But, there are healthier ways to diet.

 

The King of the Яeverse has spoken.

 

Suck it, Dr. Oz.

 

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[goddamnit names are a pain]

"Miracles of weight loss" are just for desparate lazy people. Scums for preaching it and scums for buying it. Everyone involved in this is a scum (you know, not counting the senate and stuff). 

 

I'm actually thinking the businessman to be less scummy because at the end of the day he has the money in his pocket and pathetic chumps who believed him are the ones that seem stupid.

[Cin]

I hate people who claim things like this. Dieting sensibly and exercising are the only ways to lose weight. (Except for gastric band surgery etc).

[Tentacruel]

I hate people who claim things like this. Dieting sensibly and exercising are the only good ways to lose weight. (Except for gastric band surgery etc).

Fixed.  There are other ways to lose weight, but they suck.  I've heard of obese people fasting for literately over a year, but it pretty much ruined their body.