Diet Insanity

I’ve come to believe that most Americans are not interested in finding the optimal diet for maintaining a healthy weight. I say this with a heavy heart for obvious reasons – the last five years of my life have been dedicated to learning how to eat for long-term health and well-being. But, alas, it is true. You may ask me what evidence brings me to my conclusion and I would have to admit that I have no rigorous, scientific research to pull out of my back pocket. It’s just my observation based on talking to people I know, as well as consuming my daily serving of mass media fodder. You may also be tempted to ask, well then, what do I believe? It’s simple:

Most Americans want to lose weight and keep it off while eating any damn thing they please.

That’s crazy, you say? Funny, but this is almost exactly the definition of crazy as famously stated by Albert Einstein: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Once I came to grips with this realization, however, a lot of things suddenly started to make sense. For one, the unending quest for a magic diet pill. The recent media hoopla over the approval by the FDA of Belviq and Qsymia underscores how much we want all of this to be easy, as we implore the Cruel, Cruel Gods of Fat to just make our hunger go away, pretty please! If you can’t get a doctor to write you a prescription for these miracle drugs, fear not. There are a plethora of herbal diet supplements to choose from, available over the counter at any pharmacy in America. And they’re all safe, rest assured, because they say they’re safe right on the label!

This also explains the relentless pursuit by the food industry of newer and better Frankenfoods. Just this week, it was announced that a new healthier chocolate has been invented, one that tastes as good as the real stuff but contains 50% less fat. Now, wouldn’t that be a perfect world, if you could gorge on double-fudge, deep-fried, Krispy Kreme cheeseburgers all day long without ever gaining an ounce? All you need do is trust in the wonders of modern science to make all of your food fantasies come true. And the additives that make up these engineered edible marvels are all safe, rest assured, because “they” wouldn’t let them be sold if they weren’t safe, right?

I spent the first fifty years of my life looking for the secret to weight only to finally learn that there is no secret, no magic pill, no miracle food. I desperately wanted there to be an easy cure and in some ways I still want that. Yet I haven’t found it and, at fifty-five, I don’t want to waste any more time looking for it. Eat less, move more is all I’ve got these days. It might sound boring, or hard, or crazy, but it works and that’s good enough for me.

There's A Pill For That

The FDA approved a new weight-loss pill this week, going by the unpronounceable name of Qsymia. This is on the heels of the weight-loss pill they approved in June, called Belviq. (Apparently diet drugs must include the letter “q” in their names in order to be effective.) The article I read noted that one of the side effects of Qsymia is a higher risk for heart damage. So, we are fighting a condition – obesity – that can cause heart damage, through use of a drug – Qsymia – that can cause heart damage? Is anyone else confused?

I think drug manufacturers like us to be confused. We are more willing sheep if we don’t completely understand what is being done to us. And all the more profit if the average patient throws up their hands and decides to trust that “they” (whoever “they” are) wouldn’t let the drug be used if it wasn’t safe. Right?

Have you noticed how similar drug marketing is to food marketing? Both seduce you into believing that you must have this drug/food, not only that but you deserve this drug/food. It is a constant siren song to eat, eat, eat, and when you get sick and tired from eating, eating, eating, then take this new wonder pill and all your problems will go away. What’s really diabolical is that all of this enticement is a nice, neat backdrop to the hand-wringing about the obesity “epidemic,” including lamentations over those darn fat people who just need to get off their butts and zip their lips.

I detect a smelly con game being played here. It goes something like this:

You, the hapless hungry person, see the advertisement for Dominos’ newest, cheesiest, most pepperoni-and-sausage-laden pizza ever. There are close-ups of mozzarella oozing from the crust and you are done for. You must… have… some… now. And so you do, along with a side of wings and a liter of Coke, immediately followed by the next phase of the con game, called self-flagellation. How could you have eaten that greasy pizza? How could you have eaten so many pieces? How could you have eaten the whole pie? You’re a slug. A sloth. Your relationship with food is a hot mess. But wait! You can go on a diet. Yes! But which diet? You remember the last five diets you went on and the one thing they all had in common: you were hungry all the time while on them. Hey, isn’t there a drug for that? Qsy-something? You’ll call the doctor tomorrow and ask for a three-month prescription.

It’s a beautiful cycle. The food manufacturers make loads of cash because we willingly buy their unhealthy but alluring products. The drug manufacturers make loads of cash because we need their products to counteract the bad aftereffects of our food choices. And we do not blame either of them for suckering us into this gastronomic hell. No, we blame ourselves!

Now, I’m all for personal responsibility, but at a certain point the environment has to be taken into account. We live in a culture of nonstop food porn and the promise of an easy fix after the binge – until we do something about that, there will be no solution to the obesity “epidemic.”

In the meantime, I suggest you take care of yourself the best you can. If you happen to fall into the clutches of an extra-cheesy pizza pusher, don’t beat yourself up. Just acknowledge, learn and move on. It's the real pill for what ails you.