This morning (29 August 2006) on Stephen Nolan's BBC Radio 5 phone-in

This morning (29 August 2006) on BBC Radio 5 there was a phone-in about obesity. A listener rang in and described himself as 5' 4" tall and weighing 15 stone (ie 210 pounds). He asked for help/advice about how to lose weight, saying that he had porridge made with Buxton Water for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch and that he took a LOT of exercise, even though he is 65 years old. He stressed the exercise and that he does not overeat, yet he is clearly obese and is puzzled why he is obese.

The presenter of the programme, Stephen Nolan, immediately assumed that the caller was lying about the amount of food he eats, and accused the caller of eating too much or drinking a lot, and simply refused to accept that the man was telling the truth. The nutrition expert who was in the studio congratulated the caller on his healthy lifestyle and seemed a little non-plussed when the caller pressed him as to why he is so overweight, then suggested that the caller would lose a little weight if he swapped his main meal of the day from the evening to the midday lunchtime.

None of this can have been much help to the caller, whose problem is clearly sodium and water retention!

I rang the programme's number, 0500 909693, and explained that some people gain weight because of sensitivity to salt. I asked the young man who answered the phone to bring up my website on his screen so that he knew that what I said was genuine and not motivated by commercial considerations, and he did so, and agreed. He said that if the producer of the programme decided to include me in the phone-in I would be rung back. (I had given my phone number.) - I knew that I would not be rung back. - This scenario has been played out so many times before. I've rung this sort of phone-in on Radio 5 many times over a period of 6 or 7 years now but I've never been able to get on to explain the true cause of obesity (salt sensitivity) and to suggest that people like the caller should abandon the calorie restriction and excess of exercise they are vainly using to try to lose weight, and instead lose weight rapidly, safely and easily simply by cutting down on salt.

I wasn't called back though there was ample time for me to be on the programme. - What a shame! - That caller's life could have been transformed, and so could the lives of many others of the listeners to the programme. - As it was, most of the contributions from listeners seemed to be on the predictable lines of insulting fat people and explaining how simple it would be for them to lose weight if they would only stop eating such a lot and get off their fat backsides and do some exercise...)o: - Therapy by insult, you might say... - But it is 'therapy' that does not work and that adds to the difficulties and suffering of obese people.

My help is free, effective and safe, but I don't seem to be able to get onto radio programmes to give it. - If you know that guy who rang in with his problem, tell him about my blog and my website, or if you know anyone else who is desperate to lose weight and has been unsuccessful with the usual 'slimming' advice, tell them. - PLEASE!

Aggressive ovarian cancer linked to obesity

Aggressive ovarian cancer linked to obesity

You can read the article here: Aggressive ovarian cancer linked to obesity

As you know, I have no doubt at all that obesity is caused by salt sensitivity, so I reckon now that we can link aggressive ovarian cancer with salt sensitivity. So that's yet another reason for reducing salt intake if you are in one of the groups vulnerable to salt sensitivity. The vulnerable groups are children (their parents need to protect them from salt as far as is reasonably feasible), pregnant women and women who have already gained weight as a result of childbirth, people taking prescribed steroids, HRT, amitriptyline or certain other drugs, women who suffer from PMT and people who have unwittingly made themselves extra vulnerable to salt by repeated attempts to lose weight by 'slimming'/dieting.

For some interesting facts and reasoning visit http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/lose_weight.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html

Bureaucracy is killing the NHS - and sometimes the patients

Bureaucracy is killing the NHS - and sometimes the patients - complains Sir Alistair Horne in an article in the Daily Telegraph of August 8th, 2006, and here is an extract from the article:

It didn't help that a report by Health Commission inspectors last month disclosed appalling lapses in basic hygiene at Wycombe's sister hospital, the once blue- chip Stoke Mandeville. They found filth on a Third World scale, including faeces on bedrails, and utility rooms cluttered with bags of waste. The report concluded that basic hygiene could have prevented hundreds of patients from being infected with Clostridium difficile - a bacterium so virulent that it had caused or contributed to 65 deaths.

Elderly patients in Britain's NHS hospitals are starving.

Vulnerable, elderly patients are starving in hospital because nurses do not have time to help them to eat, a charity says today. Here is one of the newspaper reports about this: Busy nurses 'leave elderly to starve'

The Department of Health has a Draft Paper: Losing Weight – Feeling Great! (I believe the advice it gives is WRONG!! - What do you think?)

The Department of Health has a Draft Paper online entitled
Losing Weight – Feeling Great!
and dated 29 November 2005. This is the link: here

Here is some of its content, in italics:

In the U.K. almost two thirds of adults are now overweight. One child in every three has an unhealthy weight too.

WHY HAVE I GAINED WEIGHT?

It’s all about calories. Calories (you will see kcals on packets) are a measure of energy. (You may sometimes see the metric measure on packs – joules or kilojoules.)....
Your weight remains the same if you take in roughly the same amount of energy (calories) through food and drink, as the amount of energy (calories) your body burns up through physical activity.

Your weight will go up if you take in consistently more energy (calories) from food and drink, than your body burns up through physical activity.
Your weight will go down if you take in consistently less energy (calories) from food and drink, than your body burns up through physical activity.

But it is not true that gaining weight is all about calories. There is absolutely no evidence to support this statement. We all know slim people who eat huge amounts of calories and do not take much exercise and do not gain weight at all. - They eat far more calories than their bodies burn up through physical activity. - But they do not gain weight. - The Calorie Myth is unsupported by evidence and is not the true explanation for obesity.

Here is some more of the document's content:

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT

To lose weight you need to take in less energy from food and drink than the amount of energy your body uses up. Although this may sound simple, actually doing it day in, day out, over a period of weeks or months, requires real determination and commitment...
...to lose weight, healthy eating is rarely enough. As a guideline an average man requires 2500kcals and average woman requires 2000kcals.You will need to make sure you really are reducing your total energy (calorie) intake. Eating 500 to 600 calories less each day, than your body needs, is realistic. That way you eat enough to be properly nourished and you won’t feel too hungry. It gives you a steady and safe weight loss of about 1lb a week.

This also is untrue. Following the calorie reduction advice given will cause hunger and tiredness and it will be difficult to keep to the advice. And it is very, very unlikely to result in weight loss. - The advice is not supported by evidence. The 1lb a week weight loss claimed for the advice is a calculation based on arithmetic, calculating so many calories to the pound weight; it is not based on actually trying out the advice on real people. - If you want the FACTS about the causes of obesity and the safest way to reduce excess weight: (Eat less salt/sodium) , see http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ - It is easy for most obese people to lose weight safely and rapidly - up to a stone (14 pounds) in the first month alone - by seriously and strictly eating less salt/sodium and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. One woman following my advice lost 5 stones (70 pounds) in a year without hunger and without restricting calories at all!

Here is an extract from http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html

"Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7423/1085 for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.

It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1515455,00.html for a report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.

Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of steroids and HRT and other drugs which cause weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.

Another possible factor is the increase in the amount of oestrogen in the water table."

The Department of Health's Draft paper makes no mention of salt or sodium! And yet salt sensitivity is overwhelmingly the main cause of obesity, and reducing salt intake is overwhelmingly the easiest, safest, speediest and most reliable way to lose excess weight. Nor does the Draft paper make any mention of the huge role of prescribed medications in causing salt sensitivity! And there is no mention at all in the Draft paper of fluid retention, yet fluid retention is a major component of obesity!

And how can the Department of Health be so completely unaware that calorie reduction such as they recommend for reducing weight is actually well recognised as being a major cause of weight gain? And how can they be suggesting that surgery, with all its attendant risks and costs, may be appropriate as a means of losing weight? I consider this highly irresponsible.

This Alice in Wonderland approach to weight reduction, whereby the advice given to reduce weight is actually highly likely to result in weight gain, should be abandoned forthwith, along with all the research aimed at finding ways to get obese people to limit their calorie intake and thus harm themselves further. - I include here the dangerous intention to prescribe so-called anti-obesity pills to people already damaged enough.

Give people the correct information about obesity and the salt connection and they will lose weight fast - just like magic - rapidly and easily.

If you suffer from excruciating cramp in your feet or lower legs

If you suffer regularly from excruciating cramp in your feet or lower legs when you are in bed at night please do not let anyone persuade you that it is caused by lack of salt! - If you take extra salt to try to remedy the problem, you will in fact make it worse! Cutting down on salt/sodium and salty food reduces night cramps.

Night cramps are usually caused by a shortage of one or more minerals (but not sodium). The minerals you may be short of may be any one or more of magnesium, potassium, calcium and zinc. You may well find that taking a multimineral tablet each day helps with the problem. - In my own case it was magnesium that I was particularly short of, but be aware that magnesium supplements can cause diarrhoea, so don't take a lot! - Also magnesium is best when accompanied by calcium. If you decide to try a supplement containing both these minerals, then best to take it with a meal and a glass of water. - Never overdo things when you are taking supplements - especially if you are taking prescribed medication, because some prescribed medications can change your body chemistry so much!

Another possible reason for your cramp is the prescribed tablets you are taking. - Thiazide diuretics (water tablets) such as Bendrofluazide (aka Bendroflumethiazide or lots of other names) remove sodium and water from the body, usually in order to reduce high blood pressure. Unfortunately they also remove some potassium and magnesium from the body as well. So the resultant shortage of potassium and magnesium may well be what is causing your night cramps. Often all you need to do about the shortage of potassium is to make sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. (Sometimes your doctor will already have prescribed you potassium tablets. If that is the case, then don't take extra! - It is good to have enough potassium; it is not good to have too much!)

Beyonce is reported as having lost a stone in ten days...

Beyonce is reported as having lost a stone in ten days... - But her extremely low food intake over that period has rightly been criticised for not containing sufficient nutrients/nourishment.

If you are obese and would like to lose a stone quickly, cut down very severely on your salt intake and give up drinking diet drinks! Also, very importantly, give up dieting/slimming! Do NOT restrict your calories! Do NOT go hungry! - If you are hungry EAT! - Hunger is your body's way of telling you it needs food! - It is not food that has made you overweight; it is sensitivity to salt.

Please read some of the pages on my website for more explanation, information and suggestions. If you are obese you can EASILY lose a stone in a month if you REALLY GENUINELY cut down significantly on salt/sodium. This is the weight loss typically achieved by obese people making a serious reduction in their salt intake. - BUT you have to give up the calorie restriction and going hungry. - Remember, 'dieting makes you fat'! - Read my article about Obesity and the Salt Connection here.

It was published in December 2004. Four months later the April 2005 issue of the magazine contained a letter from Joyce Barnard, who has given permission for her name to be used here. She wrote that by following the advice I had given her a few years earlier - i.e. that to lower her high blood pressure and lose weight she simply needed to eat less sodium - she had lost 5 stones in weight (70 pounds) in a year!

Go on! - Try it! - It is the safest way to lose weight, and the most reliable.

Have you noticed that Diabetes is becoming more common?

Have you noticed that Diabetes is becoming more common? - Would you like to take steps to reduce your chance of becoming diabetic? - The best method of protection is to reduce your salt intake.

Salt intake, when coupled with salt sensitivity, leads to obesity, and obesity is a very common precursor to diabetes (with its attendant possible complications of blindness and the need for limb amputations), as you probably know. - Lose weight by eating less salt! For further explanation, see http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or ads - just helpful information.)

You may be surprised to learn that reducing salt intake will also lessen your risk of developing cancer! Most cancers have obesity as the biggest contributory factor. (A survey carried out by Cancer Research UK found that most British people do not know there is a strong link between obesity and cancer. Most were aware of a link between obesity and heart disease, but not with cancer. Studies have shown that being overweight increases the risk of cancer of the breast, bowel, womb, kidney and oesophagus. A major study (2003) by the American Cancer Society also associates obesity with stomach cancer and prostate cancer in men, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and cancers of the cervix, ovary, prostate, liver, and pancreas.)

Do yourself a great favour! - Eat less salt! - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html for many other health problems you may prevent or ameliorate by reducing your salt/sodium intake.

Are you longing to put your feet up?

Your feet are swollen and aching and the sides of your shoes are digging in, perhaps? This is because your veins have been swelling up; your blood is accumulating in your feet as you walk/stand/run.

You can lessen this problem a lot, simply by reducing the amount of salt/sodium you eat. (And, additionally, if you have varicose veins or haemorrhoids, these also will become less swollen if you eat less salt.)

Have a look at http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html and see all the other health problems that can also be lessened by eating less salt!

Give your feet a break! - Eat less salt!

Food Retailers are making it more difficult for you to reduce your salt intake to a safer level!

Check out how the Food Industry and certain Food Retailers don't seem to mind damaging the health of their customers! -

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-2296901,00.html

This report begins with

"BRITAIN’S biggest food companies united to convince regulators to reduce tough targets for cutting the level of salt in their products, The Times has learnt.

Household names were prominent in campaigning for a gentler approach by the Food Standards Agency, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Waitrose and Nestlé were some of the powerful players who pushed hard to persuade the FSA to adopt less demanding goals, the papers reveal."

And check out the facts in relation to certain categories of food. - You may be surprised at what you read! - Here is an extract from the following press release:

“This is a broadly disappointing report. It reveals a food industry still defending the use of excess salt in processed foods based upon weak arguments referring to 'technical reasons' and 'food safety' which are very largely irrelevant to contemporary food processing conditions."

Consensus Action on Salt and Health

You may like to consider writing to Marks and Spencer, Tesco and the others to suggest that the health of their customers should have a higher priority. - The harmfully high levels of salt that big business has ladelled into so many of its products over the years have surely done enough damage to consumers already, and the food industry should be seeking to make up for its wrong-doing, not seeking to be allowed to continue it...

And how is it that the FSA cannot stick to its guns? - It is a government agency, after all. - Toothless, is it? - Or what?

Babies suffering because of their mothers' obesity

Another worrying report in today's Sunday Telegraph - see Babies suffering because of their mothers' obesity - is headed:

Babies suffering because of their mothers' obesity
By Michael Day

(Filed: 13/08/2006)

and begins:

"Thousands of newborn babies are dying or suffering birth defects because their obese mothers have developed diabetes.

New figures show that babies born to diabetic mothers are four times more likely to die shortly after birth than children born to women who do not have the condition. Babies delivered by diabetics are also between three and four times more likely to have serious heart, brain or spinal cord defects."

If only women were told the truth about how obesity comes about and the best and safest way to reduce it! - All pregnant mothers, whether diabetic or not, should be strongly advised to reduce their salt intake to a minimum for the duration of the pregnancy. This would prevent or reduce obesity (and reduce ill-effects in the newborn babies).

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html for further information and explanation. (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or ads - just helpful info.)

Labour MP backs drug in report financed by its manufacturer

Here is another example of the workings of drug companies.

In the Sunday Telegraph of August 13, 2006, is the following report:

Labour MP backs drug in report financed by its manufacturer

which is headed

Labour MP backs drug in report financed by its manufacturer
Ben Leapman, Home Affairs Correspondent

(Filed: 13/08/2006)

Extract:

"A Labour MP has been criticised for promoting a prescription-only medicine in a pamphlet funded by the drug's manufacturer.

Medical ethics campaigners questioned the £5,000 deal involving John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire, and the pharmaceuticals giant Schering-Plough.

They also condemned the Fabian Society, the Labour-affiliated think-tank which published the pamphlet and secured the sponsorship."

A happy story of success

Someone I have been helping for the last 4 weeks with advice and suggestions for losing weight safely has emailed me today to say she has now lost a total of 15 pounds in 5 weeks. - All she did essentially was cut down severely on her salt/sodium intake and give up diet drinks. - She absolutely definitely did no calorie restriction and absolutely definitely did not go hungry. - She is feeling very well and has lots of energy that she didn't have before.

If you are obese, you can do the same as she did. - It is EASY to lose about a stone - 14 pounds - in 4 weeks, simply by seriously reducing your salt intake and eating plenty of fruit and vegetables. - You must NOT restrict calorie intake.

Read all about this safe, reliable way of losing excess weight by visiting www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or adverts - just helpful info.)

Sleep Apnoea and Snoring

Sleep Apnoea and Snoring are associated with being obese or overweight.

Rather than using gadgets to assist with these problems temporarily, why not try reducing your salt intake? - This would result in safe weight loss and, hopefully, cure the sleep apnoea and snoring for good...(o:

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or ads - just helpful info.)