Fat people will be offered cash incentives to lose weight and take regular exercise under a radical Government strategy to tackle the obesity epidemic

Obesity crisis: get paid to lose weight

Extracts from Telegraph report:

"Fat people will be offered cash incentives to lose weight and take regular exercise under a radical Government strategy announced yesterday to tackle the obesity epidemic.

Leader: Battle of the bulge Your view: Should fat people be paid to lose weight? Employers will be encouraged to set up competitions with money, vouchers and other rewards for people who give up junk food in favour of healthy eating and living. Those losing the most weight would earn the biggest prizes. Ministers believe that by giving people incentives to do something about their weight now, it will help avoid larger costs associated with treating cancer, heart disease and diabetes caused by obesity. Similar schemes have worked well in America and British medical insurance companies already offer discounts for people who go to the gym regularly. Experts say that most of the population will be obese by 2050 unless urgent action is taken and the associated rise in ill health would cost the NHS £50 billion a year. The Government wants Britain to be the first major nation to reverse the rising tide of obesity and said it would focus on reducing within 12 years the proportion of children who are overweight back to the 2000 level of 26 per cent. At present, 30 per cent of children are obese or overweight." "The Government is investing £372 million over three years to implement the strategy and annual progress reports will be published. Dr David Haslam, the clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, said the incentives scheme smacked of "desperation". There was little evidence that payments would work and it would be difficult to check whether people were regularly taking exercise. A recent analysis of nine research studies which used financial incentives found there was no effect on weight after 12 months. Aberdeen University's Health Services Research Unit said eating more fruit and vegetables was more effective than paying for weight loss." The trouble with offering cash incentives to lose weight is that it will encourage people to eat less food/diet, and dieting does not reduce weight; dieting usually causes weight gain and is very harmful to health. The best way to reduce obesity is to tell the truth about how it is caused and how to reduce it safely. - Dieting (reducing calorie intake) does not reduce obesity because obesity is not caused by overeating. Obesity is caused by fluid retention in people who are vulnerable/sensitive to salt. These people can lose weight easily and fast by avoiding salt and salty food. - They can lose excess weight even more rapidly by eating plenty of fruit and vegetables because these foods contain a lot of potassium,and potassium helps to remove excess salt from the body - i.e. potassium displaces sodium in the body. - See vulnerable groups

Doctors 'must own up to blunders' says Steve Walker, chief executive of the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA)

Doctors 'must own up to blunders'

Extract from The Observer:

"Doctors have been told to own up and apologise if they make mistakes, in a bid to reduce the £613m in compensation paid each year to victims of blunders such as wrong diagnoses, botched surgery and delays during childbirth.

A new culture of honesty and openness should see such patients receive a personal apology from the doctor concerned and a detailed explanation of what went wrong, a senior official said.

Steve Walker, chief executive of the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), said that patients and their families can feel hugely frustrated when hospitals are reluctant to acknowledge and explain cases of negligence. He believes that a more candid and speedy response could reduce the £613m paid out in damages each year. He made his comments in the week that Leslie Ash was awarded £5m in damages after contracting MSSA, a variant of the MRSA superbug.

Negligence lawyers say that the main reason a number of victims take legal action is to obtain more information.

'The message to doctors is: if you're aware of an error, or a shortfall in what's been delivered, you should feel free, indeed you should feel under an obligation, to tell your patients and to apologise and to explain, either verbally or in writing, even if the patient is likely to sue,' he told The Observer. 'The explanation bit is really important to many, many claimants. It doesn't matter if it heads off a claim or encourages a claim, people as human beings and patients are entitled to this and they should be getting it."

I think the culture of lying, evasion and cover-up of clinical negligence by doctors, along with collusion by the Department of Health and the Health Authorities, and partiality from the criminal justice system, has been allowed to go on too long for any meaningful change to come about without employing legal sanctions...)o: - And the uselessness of the GMC and similar bodies in protecting patient safety, rather than doctors' reputations, is well-known and notorious... - Routinely, when patients or their relatives complain about clinical negligence they are given further distress rather than a scrap of help or any sincere words of regret, apology or explanation.

I watched Jamie Oliver's Channel 4 show: "Eat to Save Your Life" last night and found it, like the curate's egg, 'good in parts'...

I admire Jamie Oliver's campaigning, and in this programme he was right to draw attention to the poor quality and undesirable ingredients of much processed food and ready meals, and right to urge people to eat wholefoods and to cook from fresh ingredients.

But the nutritionist on the programme gave the usual misinformation that reducing calorie intake is the way to reduce or prevent obesity. - There is not a shred of evidence to support this claim. - It is categorically untrue. - As far as food intake is concerned, to reduce or prevent obesity it is chiefly necessary to minimise sodium/salt intake and to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. This is because obesity is caused by fluid retention, not by overeating. It is also necessary to avoid dieting; dieting is a major cause of weight gain and ill-health...)o:

Prescription drugs were not mentioned at all in the programme, and yet they are overwhelmingly the cause of the most severe cases of morbid obesity. - People need to be warned to avoid prescription drugs as far as they possibly can. They cause far more harm than good...)o:

You can read about fluid retention, and about fat retention, and about pharmaceutical junk and the harm it does, and about salt sensitivity and the groups of people vulnerable to salt - and much more - on my website. - And I'm not selling anything...(o:

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

A critical view of the drug companies

The Truth About the Drug Companies

Read about the many benefits of having enough vitamin D.

Vitamin D Council

Extract:

"Current research indicates vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing seventeen varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, and periodontal disease.

This does not mean that vitamin D deficiency is the only cause of these diseases, or that you will not get them if you take vitamin D. What it does mean is that vitamin D, and the many ways in which it affects a person's health, can no longer be overlooked by the health care industry nor by individuals striving to achieve and maintain a greater state of health."

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

One in five GPs puts drug reps above advisers

One in five GPs put drug reps above advisers

Extract from the Guardian:

"GPs should be made to declare the gifts they receive from drug firms, following revelations that one in five is more influenced by drug reps than official advisers when prescribing, MPs say today.

A report from the public accounts committee says the NHS spends about £200m a year more than it should on expensive medicines when there are cheaper generic versions available.

Edward Leigh, the committee's chairman, said the pharmaceutical industry spent £850m every year marketing its products to GPs. "It's hard to doubt that the blandishments of the pharmaceutical industry are having an effect. But GPs must concentrate more on following official guidelines, increasing prescribing of generic drugs where appropriate."

A survey by the National Audit Office revealed the extent of the influence on GPs by drug reps.

New drugs are protected by patent for up to 20 years so the maker can recoup research and development costs. But after that generics manufacturers can make cheap copies, giving the NHS the chance to save money. Yet firms frequently produce new, allegedly better, drug versions, and the slight changes bring them further patent protection, keeping the price up."

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

"In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating" sounds a jolly sensible book. - Three cheers for rationality!

This link is to a Guardian extract from Michael Pollan's book "In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating" - link

Well worth reading, in my opinion.

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions

I watched Channel 4's Dispatches: The Truth About Your Food programme last night and it contained the usual untrue claims about food calories...)o;

The format of the programme was mainly about how when people eat in restaurants and the like, they eat more calories than they think, and the high calorie intake was blamed for the increase in obesity in the UK. Assertions like these are untrue and are not supported by any evidence. - All the evidence, in fact, is to the contrary, viz: for overweight/obese people, dieting (i.e. eating fewer calories than the body requires, in order to lose excess weight) almost always results in weight GAIN, not weight loss. - This is because obesity is caused not by overeating, but by fluid retention.

Overweight/obese people can easily and swiftly lose weight by giving up dieting and instead concentrating on avoiding salt and salty food. This reduces the fluid retention.

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Doctors in UK have never had it so good - and their threat to quit the NHS over reform plans will not be carried through - says medical student.

GPs are crying wolf

Extract from Guardian article:

"Of course the exodus from the profession will not happen. Doctors are happy to talk about thousands of people walking out in protest as long as it does not actually include them. They know when they have it good. They know that outside of London a secure job that pays more than £35,000 a year and provides a degree of respect and social standing is hard to come by.

Many senior figures within NHS management and the Department of Health have said that there are some senior doctors are refusing to attend internal and external management meetings and negotiations unless they are being paid to attend - on top of their salaries, at GMC rates that is about £100 an hour. Is it any wonder doctors are being left out of negotiations? This is scandalous and downright cheeky.

They may talk about their colleagues in law or banking earning many times the salary they do and yet they do not leave their jobs and retrain. I've lost of the number of medical students in their final year who've spoken to me of going to work in the City and the fabulous salaries they could command.

Do you know what - not one of them has taken a job anywhere but medicine. They knew and I know that if they went into my old City firm with the sheer arrogance they display as medical students they would have their bollocks chewed off by lunchtime.

I'm fed up with hearing that morale is at an all-time low when everywhere I go I see contented doctors who are happy to teach students and treat patients. They have made peace with the fact that they did not become bankers or lawyers and are happy to get on with it."

I agree with the writer of the article. Most British doctors are arrogant and overpaid, and would be unwelcome in any other workplace. In my opinion most do their patients far more harm than good because of their reckless over-prescribing of powerful pharmaceutical drugs/junk, the adverse side-effects of which they know too little, if anything.


Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

If you are overweight, you will NOT lose weight by cutting down on calories! - You WILL lose weight by eating less salt/sodium...

Forget about calories! - How to Lose weight!

A slimming drug for pet dogs! - What foolishness! - They just need to eat only food that does not contain added salt.

Dog weight-loss pill approved by vets

Extract from the Telegraph:

"A new slimming drug to help tackle Britain's growing dog obesity crisis has been approved for use by British vets.

The liquid drug, called Sentrol, has already been used successfully in the United States and experts believe it will help cut the increasing number of overweight pets in Britain.

Vets believe up to 40 per cent of Britain's estimated nine million dogs are grossly overweight, compared with only around 10 per cent in the 1970s.

However, the RSPCA has criticised the new drug, claiming the best way to keep a dog slim is through a healthy diet and regular exercise."

This is sheer folly. - Obesity in pets - dogs, cats, rabbits, for instance - is caused by giving them food containing added salt, e.g. the leftovers of the owner's meal (or ready meal).

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.

How to Lose weight!

Are you being harmed by the drugs your doctor prescribes for you?

See Overdosing doctors
and prescribed steroids and prescribed HRT and amitriptyline, etc