I have written about the nonsensical HCG Diet. It’s barbaric and won’t work. Now the federal government has stepped in to prevent supplement hucksters from selling HCG weight loss supplements.

This dreck is sold in various forms and the FDA has issued warning letters to seven companies that sell these products as drops, pellets or sprays. HCG is a legit substance, and is used to treat infertility. However, there is zero evidence that HCG offers any weight loss benefits. It is sad how gullible and/or desperate some people are that they would attempt to follow the HCG “diet” and spend money on these supplements that have no purpose.

The HCG diet forces people to subsist on 500-calories per day, which isn’t a diet but managed starvation. It takes a lot of chutzpah to make the claim that a supplement is responsible for weight loss on a 500-calorie per day diet.

The HCG diet and supplement scam is a great illustration of why you must be suspicious of all diets and supplements, especially at this time of year. The scammers are out there waiting for the opportunity to separate you from your hard earned money, as they offer the latest panaceas. With the new year right around the corner, the Diet and Supplement Industrial Complex is gearing up to take advantage of the New Year’s Resolution types out there.

I have long been on the anti-supplement band wagon for a couple of reasons. 1) I don’t like to be scammed and 2) There isn’t any science-based evidence to support the use of the vast, vast majority of supplements.

Over at the web site www.ScienceBasedMedicine.org there is a whole lot of debunking going on, and nobody does it better than the SMB Crew. In the past week SBM has posted stories debunking the claims that Collagen can be taken for joint pain and that Hoodia is an effective weight-loss supplement.

If you want to just skip over my “layman’s” review and click on over to SBM be my guest, as the authors of those posts provide exhaustive research to back up their conclusions. Also, they are much smarter than I am.

For those of you who don’t want to do a lot of reading and sift through facts and research papers, I will give you a clear and concise summary of the SBM posts.

Collagen has been a popular supplement used in the effort to ease joint pain for those who suffer with arthritis. Genacol is an over-the-counter supplement that claims to be, “Scientifically proven to reduce joint pain.” According to SBM author Scott Gavura, since no other product has been able to deliver this kind of result, he looked into the science used by the Genacol people to support this claim.

In an unsurprising nutshell, he found no science. Like I said, if you want to read for yourself, be my guest. But Gavura does a great job of giving us a review of the role of collagen in the human system. In case you didn’t know, collagen accounts for about 25% of our body mass and is a major ingredient of what makes up our connective tissue, and is found in skin, muscles and tendons. Having a lack of collagen is bad, but for those people who have this problem, eating collagen – which is a protein – doesn’t help.

When we ingest collagen, it gets broken down into amino acids so the body can absorb them. The bottom line is that your body doesn’t know or care if you ate collagen or any of the other sources of collagen. So there’s no reason to believe the claims that a collagen supplement will do anything for you. The research is lackluster. Read Gavura’s piece to get a real meaty analysis of the data.

The “hoodia-doesn’t-do-anything” article was written by Harriet Hall, an MD who writes about Complimentary and Alternative Medicine and all-things quackery. A while back I wrote about hoodia, and that we shouldn’t believe the hype based on the science and the nonsensical anecdotal stories of this substance’s effectiveness. I also wrote of the problem of determining just how much – if any – hoodia is contained in a given supplement.

Hoodia seemed like a dead issue years ago, so I was surprised to see an article crop up re-reviewing the problems with this supposed weight loss supplement. Hall does a great job of dispelling the myths associated with hoodia and cuts through the nonsense used by the hoodia-hucksters. Hall’s piece is recommended reading for those of you who are unfamiliar with the problems associated with this product.

The good news about the new season of NBC’s hit television show “The Biggest Loser” is that there is no more Jillian Michaels. The bad news is that everybody else is still there.

I have heard all of the defenses of the show; it’s popular, people lose weight, it’s inspirational. These rationalizations reveal just how low we have set the bar, how little we’ve come to expect and how “un-critical” our thinking is.

The show is exploitative and anything but inspirational. A handful of people are hand-picked from a figurative sea of troubled contestants. So-called fitness professionals engage in various forms of physical and emotional abuse, employ the worst kind of pop psychology and get into areas that are beyond the appropriate scope of practice. In short, the trainers behave towards clients in a manner that would get them fired in the real world.

The show worships at the alter of weight-loss and exudes negativity, from the title of the show to the attitudes of the trainers. There have been news stories detailing the methods the show’s producers use to keep past contestants from talking in public about their experiences on the show. If the show, and the contestant experience, is so fantastic and life-changing why not allow unfettered access to those who have been lucky enough to be a part of it?

I would love to hear from the people who went through the entire process and got on the show, only to be voted off the first week because they lost only 15-pounds instead of 20. How uplifting and inspirational do you think the first week’s loser’s story is? How do you think they are doing now.

This year the contestants will have the privilege of working with under-achieving tennis player and pin-up girl Anna Kournikova. The producers of the show have lowered the bar to the point where they aren’t even aspiring to get a “celebrity personal trainer” on staff; being famous and looking good in a tennis skirt is the new criteria. Super.

Actually, since “The Biggest Loser” is an appearance-based show at least the producers upgraded their training staff. I can’t imagine anyone pining for the days of Jillian.

So let the dysfunctional, weight-loss games begin.

Over the past month the issue of the National Debt Ceiling has dominated the headlines, as our government has tried to come to grips with its profligate spending, the damage that’s been done to our economy and the country’s credit rating. As with pretty much everything it touches, the government has really screwed things up. So it’s scary that the powers-that-be have been making noises about the country’s obesity situation and are dropping not-to-subtle hints that the government is willing to play a major role in telling people what they can and cannot eat.

Is the establishment of a “National Fat Ceiling” in our future? I think this is a reasonable concern. We don’t want the government in our kitchens and pantries. It can’t figure out how to deliver mail, it can’t balance our national check book, it can’t figure out how to improve our educational system, it created more confusion with the ill-fated “Food Pyramid,” and the beat goes on.

There are few things that would be as invasive in our everyday lives as a National Fat Ceiling, where the government sets body-weight/body fat goals for us, dictates the amount and type of calories we can eat, and makes rules about how food must be prepared. Government bureaucrats surely have the same likelihood of being over-weight and under-exercised as members of the private sector.  Do these government busy-bodies have perfect diet and exercise habits? Doubtful.

Let’s do whatever we can to keep the government out of our kitchens. Even if there is a “crisis,” why would anyone think that the government could help make things better.  Seriously. It’s not like you’re being menaced on a dark street and a cop comes along to save the day. That’s different story.  We don’t need a (probably fat) government agents walking into our houses and slapping chocolate chip cookies out of our hands.

An ominous sign; the Harvard genius who says parents of obese kids should lose custody of their children. This is a scary dude. This is stuff that could have come from the eugenics sickos in Nazi Germany.

I don’t know what would be worse to have a government half-wit tell us how to eat or an Ivy League elite determine if parents can keep custody of their kids.

Over the past decade or so there has been an attempt to stop people from being judgmental. However, this courtesy doesn’t seem to be extended to those who are considered to be over-weight. The First Lady has embarked on a program that is stigmatizing young kids who are overweight, but it’s for their own good, right?

This is just a phony emergency that’s being used as an opportunity to increase the government’s overreach into our lives.

Can we stop this runaway train?

Like clockwork, every holiday, every year we get inundated with these “healthy eating tips,” from nosey, buttinsky do-gooders who want to ruin our fun. There are 365 days in a year and less than 10 real opportunities to enjoy holiday foods/parties, yet these no-fun allowed types can’t leave us alone.

These pieces all start out with some variation of this line, “Don’t let the upcoming holiday weekend derail your diet, blah, blah, blah…” and the writer provides us with a variety of ways to ruin the enjoyment we get from, in the case of the Fourth of July, going to a holiday barbecue.

The most odious of these “advice” pieces profess to help you “survive” the holiday cook-out, as if you are on patrol in Afghanistan. The nonsense is priceless. We’re given pearls of wisdom like, “use smaller plates,” “pace yourself and eat slowly,” “skip crackers, chips and bread,” and “be careful what you drink.” Then there is the always helpful reminder to eat the healthy foods available.

Really? At a barbecue? To these writers of this pap I say, “Kiss my a$$.”

Those of you who don’t have an issue with food will go to your parties and enjoy yourselves. For those of you who are on a perpetual diet and who have been made to feel badly about yourself, do not pick a holiday or party occasion to start your diet. Don’t view the Fourth of July barbecue as the time and place to try to make changes to your eating habits.

If you feel compelled to diet and embark on a routine of weight loss via food avoidance, start the day after the party, and use the next party as the reward for making changes. Don’t fall for the load of BS that a moment on the lips results in a lifetime on the hips.

Diets don’t work. Avoiding the foods you enjoy will not help you. Listening to the proponents of food avoidance will make you feel worse. There are ways to improve your eating habits, but following the advice found in these “healthy eating lists” is not the way to do it.

It’s the time of year when we start to get all the ridiculous, “Get a Bathing Suit Body For the Summer,” articles. I am constantly amazed that this crap gets re-cycled every year in magazines, newspapers and television shows. The same weight loss based garbage every year. I cannot believe editors keep asking for these stories and writers keep churning them out. And people pay attention to them.

In general, weight loss goals are a bad idea. “Weighing less” is meaningless. Making a short-term effort to lose 15-pounds by Memorial Day, even if you do it, will usually be worse for you in the long run, and doesn’t even mean that you will look better.

Set a goal of improving performance of a given task by the time you have to get into your bathing suit rather than focusing on weight or appearance. If you can’t do a push-up, make a concerted effort to do a push-up. And if you can do 5, work to be able to do 10. The same goes with just about any other exercise, especially the ones you avoid because you can’t do them or because they are “too hard.”

Pursuing these performance-based goals will give you the best chance to appreciably change your look while improving your fitness and capability level. Over a 6-8 week period if you work diligently to improve your performance you WILL look better.

The catch is you have to work hard at things that are hard to do; 60-yard shuttles, squats, jump rope, push-ups, pull-ups. In my experience these are all activities that most people avoid because of their degree of difficulty, but at the same time represent the opportunity give a person the chance to truly improve. Weight loss doesn’t represent improvement, but learning how to do pull-ups or any of these other meaningful tasks – genuinely trying – is the definition of improvement.

And even if you don’t reach your goal, whether it’s doing a pull-up, a push-up, completing five 60-yard shuttles in a given period of time, you will have improved your performance and will NOT have failed. People who set out to lose weight, and don’t, or do and gain it back, always feel like they have failed.

In this third, and final, installment of my Modest Proposal Regarding the Obesity Epidemic, I will focus on how “The Biggest Loser” can save us all from the horrors of obesity and latent obesity, and how that it’s clear that we must be thinner at all costs.

Speaking of, “The Biggest Loser,” it is clear that this authoritarian method of health and fitness should be adopted as the national and global philosophy of dealing with fat people. The fitness profession should accept the fact that this system works; select from thousands a handful of people who fit a specific profile, browbeat them constantly mentally and physically for at least 8 hours a day, force them to make the “weight-loss equals health” connection, and make them feel like failures when they can’t live up to the expectations of the Apparatchiks. And of course, pick only one winner because losing the most weight is the most important thing ever.

The genius of, “The Biggest Loser,” is that it takes advantage of the Stockholm Syndrome to achieve its goals. We must harness this power if we are to coerce people into living the lifestyle that is best for them. And I mean coerce in the most positive way possible.

In a global system of mandatory weight-loss and exercise, these Apparatchiks can match-up fat people with the instructors that would have the best chance to make them lose weight. Fat kids would be separated from their fat parents and the non-fat kids of fat parents would be put in a Fat Foster Home program for obvious reasons. The reward system should be set-up so that until and unless weight loss is achieved these fat families will not be allowed to reunite, and even then these families would be subject to constant monitoring and frequent re-education refresher courses.

Despite the fact that a growing body of legitimate research shows that being underweight carries just as many, if not more, risks than being overweight, reasonable people should agree that it is way better to be thinner, regardless of the existence of these null studies. Just like with Global Warming, we can’t let scientific findings dissuade and discourage us, or get us off message. We know people are too fat and too unhealthy and these people need our help, no matter what science says. The diseases that are associated with being thin clearly must be preferable to the diseases associated with being fat.

Despite the indications that people can be healthy at any weight and that a one-size-fits-all approach to dieting and weight loss is fiction, clearly as a people, we are much better off being virtuous and thin.

Since everyone is either obese, fat, getting fatter or going to be fat I have some suggestions as to how we can stave off and alleviate this catastrophic pandemic. This is Part 1 of my essay entitled, “A Modest Proposal Regarding the Obesity Epidemic. After the complete essay is posted I will continue to make entries using this title, as the obesity epidemic requires us to be flexible in our approach and tactics.

First and foremost, since it is clear that individuals are incapable of feeding themselves, it’s obvious that we need to put the government in charge of food and beverage consumption and exercise enforcement. Since we need a worldwide solution to this epidemic of unprecedented proportions, perhaps the United Nations can oversee and coordinate the efforts of nations around the world.

Can anyone imagine a more potent and effective combination than the joining of the UN with various governments? For example, the efficiency the US government has displayed in running the postal service and social security program – among other well-run and profitable operations such as Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac – will be a fantastic compliment to the proven efficacy of the UN.

And one more thing; let’s stop using the euphemism “Western Diet,” when referring to the reason for this universal fatness when we all know that it’s America’s fault. It isn’t Canada’s fault or Mexico’s misconduct, Great Britain’s food stinks, the French aren’t fat and don’t export fast food culture, nobody has ever seen a fat Spaniard, and the Mediterranean Diet is perfect. So let’s be open and honest and blame America for expanding waist lines and the other fat-related maladies. We cannot be fooled by America’s dominance in many sports and by the fact that America leads the way when it comes to promoting exercise and nutritional causes at almost every level of society through a variety of governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. The Western Diet is America’s Diet, and America’s Diet is making the world fat and killing people.

As a matter of fact, America has even made other countries’ cuisines fattening and unhealthy. Mexican food is a prime example of how America can ruin a country’s food and make people overeat by the simple act of embracing the food of other cultures. Chinese food, as well.

The statistics tell us that obesity has been on the rise since 1980 – the year Ronald Reagan took office – so it’s just as clear that the Reagan/Bush administrations are to blame for America exporting obesity around the world and created a huge mess for others to deal with. Let’s not quibble over the fact that the definition of what constitutes obesity was changed in 1998, which immediately created 30% more obese people, without these people even eating a single Whopper or chugging a Big Gulp. Just as obvious, is that there were 30% more people out there who had a problem and didn’t realize it; it took a change in a calculation to get people to take notice.

And for the good of all citizens of the world, especially the children, let’s avoid the unseemly act of pointing out the serious flaws with the Body Mass Index (BMI). Bangladesh, a country known for its healthy ways, sports a national BMI reading of approximately (and enviably) 20, which is smack dab in the middle of the normal weight category. We shouldn’t dwell on the fact that Bangladesh life expectancy is 66 years (what it was in America almost 100 years ago) versus America’s 78 years. Americans are fat and diseased and living longer because of pharmaceutical intervention, while spreading this disease around the globe. It’s obviously better to weigh less, so let’s stop arguing and work together to make people lose weight and force them to conform to a healthy lifestyle. Plus, Western Cultural Bias is clearly responsible for the negative impression people hold regarding the Bangladeshi lifestyle.

The government has helped us avoid a major economic downturn, high unemployment, eroding home prices and a catastrophic loss of consumer confidence, and will help protect us from ourselves and our inevitable fatness. The various government agencies that developed the Food Pyramid, and it’s various iterations, obviously have it right.

But back to solutions….I’ll get to these solutions in Part 2 of my Modest Proposal Regarding the Obesity Epidemic.

I have a whole stack of fitness stuff that’s been piling up in my in-box that I have been meaning to share.

Study Finds Caloric Info on Menu Doesn’t Alter Ordering Habits. What is amazing is that someone had to actually take the time to conduct a study on this, and not the findings that people won’t change their ordering habits as a result of being told how many calories are in their food. This study and the comments made by the researchers reveal just how little these academics know about the people they study, how little they get about human nature.

This isn’t the first study to reach this conclusion, as other studies have shown putting calorie counts on menus has little, if any affect on people’s ordering habits. This whole endeavor is a huge waste of time and resources and the Food Police should move on to other issues. Surely, they will continue to try to legislate our behavior, for if they cannot incite people to change habits of their own volition, they will eventually use force. As matter of fact conflicting and/or overlapping state and federal legislation is sure to make this a government-led comedy of errors.

Makers of Power Balance Energy Wristbands Admit There’s No Science Behind Their Product. Really? Here’s another story that shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone; there isn’t scientific proof that holographic images, just like the ones found on a credit card, have no powers to improve, “balance, strength and energy.” What’s next, the makers of the Shake Weight admit that holding a huge vibrator isn’t better than doing few repetitions of lifting weights? I know, let’s not get crazy here…

The company that makes this “product” has already been punished and forced to pay a huge fine in Australia, has had to fess up to a lack of real evidence to back-up the claims made for their wristbands, and pled guilty to violations of Australia’s Trade Practices Act. They also had to refund the Australian suckers who fell for the scam. Two and a half million bracelets (at $30 a pop) were sold down under. How long before the advertisements for Power Balance Energy Wristbands contain a disclaimer? Oh, and people will still buy them. Maybe the Power Balance people can strike a deal with the makers of the Shake Weight.

A History of Diet Failures is on Display at the Library of Congress. There is a new exhibit at the Library of Congress that features advertisements for some of the ridiculous diet programs that have been pushed on people over the years. If you read about some of these diets in the USA Today account of this exhibit you might – actually, you should – think to yourself, “Hmm, these diets don’t sound that much worse than the crap us enlightened folks in the 21st Century fall for.”

What’s more ridiculous, a diet that tells you it’s safe, easy and effective to lose weight by eating cookies or smoothies or one that promotes the consumption of a special kind of bean or using an electric device that “shakes” the weight off? Seriously, is the Bile Bean Diet that much worse than the diet nonsense that we are bombarded with these days? Is the claim of weight loss from taking a bath that much more outrageous than the claim that you can lose weight while sleeping?

Rather than using this exhibit as a way to promote the meddling ways of our so-called “public health officials,” this should be an occasion to point out the futility of dieting, and get people to move away from the misguided and unhealthy practice of following diets. However, since the diet industry sucks billions of dollars per year out of our pockets we can look forward to a future exhibit featuring advertisements of failed diets from this era.

Don’t Go Gluten-Free Unless You Have a Gluten Allergy. One of the recent diet fads is to remove gluten from the diet as a way to lose weight and improve health. Well, there’s no indication that going gluten-free will help you lose weight and, more importantly, there’s no indication there are any health benefits from avoiding gluten. However, this won’t stop the gluten-free train from leaving the station. There will be celebrity gluten-free diet books (there already are, but there will no doubt be more) and maybe even a gluten-free workout program. Hey, why not?

The American Dietetic Association says that there is no reason to avoid gluten unless you have a gluten sensitivity. But their voice, and the voice of others who try to get the message out that gluten-free isn’t effective, will be drowned out by those who have something to sell. Have you noticed that people who promote diets always have something to sell? That should tell you something.

If you want to add some real substance to your training regimen, I highly recommend that you read up on Vern Gambetta’s Leg Circuit Workout. This is is a sophisticated training program and NOT one of those one-size fits all, quick and easy way to improve your fitness level. The Leg Circuit Workout is not for dilettantes or the feint of heart. If you are serious about your training, check out Gambetta’s program for yourself on his blog.

There is no reason for me to rehash everything Gambetta himself has written about in great detail. However, what I can add to the conversation are some ways in which you can make this program work for you. Done properly, by the letter of the Vern, the leg circuit workouts are incredibly effective in building a foundation upon which more intense, sophisticated and targeted work can be done. This is not a Men’s Fitness workout that you just jump right in and rip through the first time that you try it, especially if you aren’t fit to begin with. Athletes at the highest levels have made use of these workouts to improve their physical conditioning and, ultimately, their performance. If it works for them it can work for you, if done correctly.

The major prerequisite for the Leg Circuit Workout is that you squat properly. It matters not if you squat with weight on your back, or how much you squat with, if you can’t perform proper body weight squats, you can’t do this workout. And the same goes for lunges; if you can’t/don’t lunge properly, don’t bother. So for the sake of brevity, and so I have something to write about, let’s say everyone agrees that they will promise to squat and lunge the right way.

When attempting the leg circuit for the first time the goal should be to perform half the repetitions called for per set in the original workout and rest for 60-90 seconds between sets and 2-3 minutes in between circuits. There is no reason to rush. I think I remember a company using the saying, “You can’t rush perfection” in an advertising campaign. You can’t rush fitness or weight loss or improving performance. Taking the time in the early stages of this kind of high-skill workout to do the exercises properly pays dividends down the road. Correcting bad habits, bad movements, can take a very long time and will slow down progress.

Also, do not rush to get through the program on a week-to-week basis. Remember that this workout is designed for well-trained, well-tuned athletes. To tell you the truth, this workout is not for everyone. This is a demanding workout – both physically and mentally – and most gym goers won’t be able to handle it. However, if you really want to test yourself and do things the proper way, you should give Vern Gambetta’s Leg Circuit Workout a try.