Tomato diet model dies of anorexia

Tomato diet model dies of anorexia

What a pity! - A young woman's needless, avoidable death! - If only the truth were widely known about obesity and healthy 'dieting'! - To achieve a lower weight without compromising your health, just eat as little salt/sodium as possible and also make sure you are eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and enough of all the other essential food groups - protein, healthy fat and micronutrients. - That means not using salt in cooking, not sprinkling it on your food and checking the labels on the packets/tins of food you buy to make sure they contain only a low concentration of sodium. (0.5g sodium or more per 100g food is high sodium, 0.1g sodium or less is low sodium). Essentially, you are better avoiding processed food and instead eating fresh food that you cook yourself from scratch. - THERE IS NO NEED AT ALL TO RESTRICT THE AMOUNT OF FOOD YOU EAT OR THE NUMBER OF CALORIES. - IF YOU ARE HUNGRY, EAT! - AND DON'T TRY TO DECEIVE YOURSELF THAT YOU ARE NOT HUNGRY WHEN REALLY YOU ARE. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

The Overweight Dog or Cat and How To Reduce A Dog's Excess Weight.

The Overweight Dog or Cat and How To Reduce A Dog's Excess Weight.

What I read online today was, "Very simply put, if your pet is overweight it is taking in (eating) more calories than it needs." - This is not the case.

If you have an overweight pet dog or cat it is because they have been eating food containing added salt. This is bad for them. Give them unsalted food instead. They will lose weight, have more energy and live longer. - It could be that you have been feeding them some of the food you or your family eat, and this may well have had salt in it, especially if what you gave them was part of a takeaway or other convenience meal, because these meals have usually had a lot of salt added to them in the cooking. - Salt is particularly damaging to pet dogs and cats because they have a smaller body mass than people and so the salt has a proportionally bigger effect on them. - As well as causing them to become overweight, you could eventually be causing them to become diabetic...)o: - And if they are taking prescribed steroid medication for any reason, then they are at even greater risk! - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/

Lies, Distortions and Government Spin (UK) - research is used to 'prop up' policies and inconvenient evidence is often buried.

According to a damning report by MPs, research is used to 'prop up' policies and inconvenient evidence is often buried, says Roger Highfield. - The article is here.

Here is an example of manipulating evidence:

"When the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, told one newspaper this year that more women should have babies at home, she signalled her determination by saying that she had even commissioned research to support her case."
Another extract: "Ministers can also lack a certain scientific rigour. Sir John Krebs, former chairman of the Food Standards Agency, singled out the announcement in September last year by the then Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, that the Government planned to ban junk food from meals and vending machines in English schools.

This all sounds very laudable but, according to Sir John, the policy had been developed with no evidence that it would work, no scientific definition of junk food, no cost benefit analysis and no public engagement."

Well I've got news for Sir John! - The Food Standards Agency does not itself set a good example of scientific rigour. - When in the summer of 2005, I was seeking to apprise the Food Standards Agency of the true cause of obesity - namely, fluid retention, usually owing to salt sensitivity and sodium retention - the fellow who had rung me from the FSA, who emphasised to me that he was a Ph.D., told me rudely that people are fat because they are lazy and they eat too much! - That seemed to me typical of a much lower level of thought and sensitivity than Ph.D.s dealing with problems of obesity and advice about it should be displaying...)o: - There is, of course, NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER to support his contention. - That obesity is caused by over-eating and lack of exercise is an ASSUMPTION, unsupported by evidence or research. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ Eating fewer calories and taking more exercise does not reduce obesity. Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 BMJ article 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 obese dieters actually lose weight, and most actually gain weight as a result of dieting.

Sir David King, the government's Chief Scientist is also quoted in today's article. He is someone else I contacted last year about obesity. He did not personally answer me, but got someone from the Department for Trade and Industry to reply to me. (The DTI is responsible for science policy.) - That reply was polite, but effectively held the same message as the FSA's ill-mannered Ph.D spokesperson. There followed some correspondence which ended with the DTI saying I should contact the FSA - with the result I have already detailed.

NHS computer chief 'failed IT course'

Currently the NHS IT project, the largest civilian IT project in the world, is over-budget, behind schedule and already rife with glitches and malfunctions. Do you think this could be connected to the fact that the NHS computer chief 'failed IT course'? (He is currently the highest paid civil servant in Britain.)

Too Big To Walk! - Gary Baines, Alice Duxbury, Jack Gordy, Stacey Pinnock, Hayley Rentall, Jane Thompson Smith, Adam Van Gogh and Vincent Youngman

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week Channel 4 TV Too Big To Walk showed an hour each evening of episodes in a 500 mile walk embarked upon by 8 severely obese adults - 4 men and 4 women - Gary Baines, Alice Duxbury, Jack Gordy, Stacey Pinnock, Hayley Rentall, Jane Thompson Smith, Adam Van Gogh and Vincent Youngman - in the hope of losing excess weight and becoming fitter. - It was a gruelling and at times somewhat dangerous walk, especially for such heavy, unfit people, and in my opinion the organisers/makers of the programme pressed the subjects to levels of endurance that were not unlike torture. - I consider it to have been an unwise, ill-considered and risky enterprise, despite the fact that weight was lost and the four who finished the walk were justly proud of themselves and their self-confidence and happiness had improved.

The hard walking caused severe foot problems and great pain for several of the walkers and some of them had to give up the walk because of the damage it was doing to them.

Strenuous, pain-laden exercise like this is completely unnecessary for weight loss. - If only those walkers - and all other obese people - had the correct information, i.e. that all that is necessary to lose weight is to reduce salt/sodium intake and eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables! - They could all of them have lost a stone/14 pounds in a month by making a serious effort to eat less salt. - They could have done this without taking exercise at all and without restricting calories or going hungry. - If they had carried on in this way they could then, if they felt like it, have gone on some nice long walks without the terrible strain on their feet/knees/muscles/heart that it was to walk when severely obese. The exercise would then have been more enjoyable and beneficial.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or
adverts - just helpful information.)

UK Hospital kitchens found 'lacking in hygiene'

UK Hospital kitchens found 'lacking in hygiene' - The report is here. - It makes scary reading! Here is an extract:

"Consumer group Which? has uncovered low standards of hygiene in many hospitals, including evidence of cockroaches, mice and dirty cooking utensils, it has been reported.

Hygiene inspection reports from 50 hospitals across the country which have been inspected by Which?, show problems such as cockroach infestations, lack of soap, lack of hot water and poor refrigeration."

As ever, the Department of Health defends the indefensible: "A Department of Health spokesperson said that over 96 per cent of trusts were meeting the "core standards" on hospital food."

UK Hospitals fail to report spread of new superbug 'more dangerous than MRSA'

UK Hospitals fail to report spread of new superbug 'more dangerous than MRSA' - Report is here and here are extracts:

"The shambolic state of infection control on wards is exposed in a survey by the Patients' Association. It found only about a quarter of trusts are gathering data on Clostridium difficile (C. diff), the bacterium that experts say poses more of a risk to public health than MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus)."

"The findings from 500 infection-control nurses and managers follow mounting concern over the threat to patients' health from C. diff, which can cause severe illness and death in those with weakened immune systems, particularly the elderly.

The bacterium, which spreads easily through unhygienic and filthy wards, is the major cause of infectious diarrhoea, but it can also cause high temperatures and severe inflammation, and comes with a death rate of about five per cent."

"Katherine Murphy, of the Patients' Association, said: "Collection of data about this very dangerous infection is haphazard to say the least, and we are not getting the true picture. How can patients have confidence in their hospitals if the real threat posed by C. diff is being played down?"

Dr Mark Enright, a microbiologist at Imperial College London, said that the government agency's monitoring scheme was flawed because a new and more dangerous strain of C. diff had emerged in the past year or so, striking patients aged 40 and over."

The Department of Health retains its usual complacency. - "A Department of Health spokesman said clean, safe care was not an "optional extra" for the NHS, adding: "Infection control should be a core activity for trusts.""

Hospital kitchens that fail the hygiene test

Hospital kitchens that fail the hygiene test: - here is the report. - Here are extracts from the report:

"Dirty equipment, cockroach infestations and instances of food not being properly refrigerated featured in the review of hygiene reports produced over the past three years for 50 NHS and private hospitals...

...only 18 per cent of NHS patients were very satisfied with the quality of the food provided, compared with 57 per cent of private patients. In addition, 29 per cent of NHS patients were still hungry after meals, compared with four per cent of private patients."

Pretty disgusting, isn't it? - But the Dept of Health can always be relied upon for a complacent response to criticism:

"A spokesman for the Department of Health said yesterday that the independent Healthcare Commission last month found that 96 per cent of trusts were meeting core standards on hospital food."

Do you snore? Do you suffer from Sleep Apnoea?

Do you snore? Do you suffer from Sleep Apnoea?

Both these problems tend to be associated with being overweight or obese. - The easiest, safest and most reliable way to lose excess weight is to forget about calories and calorie restriction, and concentrate instead on eating less salt and making sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. - And you'll be well on your way to having a better night's sleep...(o:

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

"Relative risk" and NNT (number needed to treat) with particular regard to STATINS

Now here's a very interesting article I invite you to paste into your address bar: http://www.slate.com/id/2150354/?nav=ais - It explains 'relative risk' and in particular considers whether the prescribing of statins as treatment for high cholesterol levels is justified. - A statistical tool you may never have heard of is NNT - the 'number needed to treat'.

Go on! - Read it! - I feel sure that you'll be glad you did!

Are some patient groups close to being extensions of pharmaceutical companies' marketing departments?

Some patient groups are said to be perilously close to becoming extensions of pharmaceutical companies' marketing departments. See this article and judge for yourself.

The South Bank Show. Claire Tomalin speaking to Melvin Bragg about her biography of Thomas Hardy.

I watched the South Bank Show that ended some minutes after midnight - Claire Tomalin spoke to Melvyn Bragg about her new biography of Thomas Hardy, A Time-Torn Man. She had also been filmed visiting key locations and landscapes in Dorset, Cornwall and London. It was an excellent programme. Tomalin has a rich, expressive voice and obviously such a deep love of Hardy's poems and novels, and encyclopaedic knowledge of his writing and his life, and she chose to read and to offer insights into illustrative passages from Hardy's work, and I was moved again to feel as I feel when I read Hardy, as his words and insights again worked their magic.

About thirty years or so ago, I remember watching Melvyn Bragg on TV, speaking about Thomas Hardy, and in particular about Jude the Obscure, and Bragg is clearly also an expert and a lover of Hardy's work. I enjoyed hearing these two knowledgeable people putting flesh onto the bones of what most of us know of Hardy, with telling anecdotes and explanations about his life, his marriage and his writing. I can never these days bear to read again the story of Tess, because its terrible sadness and and inexorable tragedy move me to so many tears, and I shed tears for poor Tess of the D'Urbervilles again tonight.

Bragg commented on the sexual double standards to which Hardy was drawing attention in this novel and he and Tomalin spoke of Hardy's compassion and love for the fictional Tess and the complexity of Hardy's characters. Sexual double standards were, of course, the underlying reason for Tess's unjust and horrifying fate.

But we still have double standards in Britain today, though much less so in the field of sexual morals, of course. I am thinking of the sexism so often seen in the medical profession. Sheena McDonald did some TV work on this in the 90s. - The sort-of standard 'joke' to which I seem to recall her drawing attention, was that when a male patient goes to the doctor he is asked, "And what is the matter with you?" - Whereas a woman patient will be asked, "And what seems to be the matter with you?" And I remember Jean Robinson, former Chair of the Patients Association and former lay member of the GMC (General Medical Council) saying to me in the 80s, when we both were vice-presidents of the College of Health (I was limited to a year as an elected VP, Jean was a long-serving appointed VP), that when men go to the doctor in pain, the doctor tends to prescribe pain-killers, but when women go to the doctor in pain, there is a tendency for the doctor to prescribe anti-depressants...)o: - I shall no doubt return to this topic in this blog in future posts. Medical sexism has equally dire consequences of terrible harm to women as had the cruel double standards of sexual morality did in the past.

I visited the Equal Opportunities Commission in Manchester for an afternoon in the 80s, to bring to their notice the inequality of health care provision with regard to the sex/gender of the patient - health care provision for which both sexes pay by way of taxes, but health care provision that favours men patients over women patients. - They were sympathetic to my mission and said they had heard from a number of women who knew themselves to have experienced medical treatment inferior to that of men, but that the EOC was unable to take up medical sexism as an issue because it was outside the EOC's remit, the conventional wisdom being that doctors are not prejudiced and that men and women are treated equally and that there is no stereotypical thinking among healthcare professionals! - Well, as I say, I shall no doubt return to this topic in a future blog entry...