Falling to the dark side Dr Oz et al

Dr. Oz peddles false miracles not science

I shouldn't be surprised, and really I'm not, but I still shake my head and sigh with the feeling that one more has succumbed to the pull of the dark side.

It isn't as though Oz only recently began peddling false miracles as the article suggests; he's been pushing questionable exercise and dietary practices for years.

Shows like the Dr Oz show are bent on pomp and circumstance to attract and engage watchers.

The fitness and diet business is mostly about phoney hoopla.  Many who start out with good intentions swearing they will never cross the line and start selling quick fixes and hyped promises eventually cave.  The money and recognition is much, much better on the dark side.

I get a daily email newsletter from a kinesiologist who's made quite a name for himself for being a speaker on exercise, focusing on injury rehabilitation. When he first started it was all about the facts.  Very helpful meaningful information on injury prevention.

Gradually over the years the questionable stuff started to leak in.  Most recently he started selling one of those goofy 'cleanse' products.

I've now unsubscribed from the newsletter.

The biggest challenge?  These goofy idea's are so prevalent that they compete head to head or better, with legitimate facts.  The facts are so twisted or obfuscated that the phoney information begins to seem viable.  It's so hard to talk about reducing calories to reduce body fat when the advertising power of fat burning cleanse juicing metabolism super booster is so ever-present and so much more enticing and magical.

The thing is that going for a walk and eating a little less is far less complicated than buying into a diet fad and the weird, contrived food combinations and restrictions therein. Yes of course healthy diet and exercise is more than just eating less and going for a walk, but starting with those two things is simple, costs nothing, and produces a result.  It's a better place to start than what the Dr. Oz's of the world are peddling.

I hope the hucksterism becomes the lesser instead of the current greater.  Hope doesn't count for much though..  sigh..