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I hate Dr Oz

I've always thought of him [and still do] as nothing more than a shill for the vitamin and supplement industry, promoting products that do nothing more than line the pockets of himself, and the industry that produces the products he is constantly touting.

I'm not even sure why I bother watching him, but I did so yesterday, and it just further solidified my position.

His first guest was a self appointed diet guru. He was providing information on how to eat healthier, and while some of the info may have had some merit, two bits of information stood out that I had a great deal of trouble with.

The first was adding sugar to vegetables, supposedly to make vegetables taste better, encouraging people to eat them more. While eating more vegetables is certainly good advice, I'm not so sure adding sugar is such a good idea. Sure it will make your vegetables taste better, but adding sugar to anything will make it taste better. And how much sugar is enough or too much? Where do you draw the line? He didn't provide that information.

The second thing that got me, was about energy drinks. His contention was instead of drinking the energy drink, simply swish it around in your mouth, and then spit it out. This supposedly will trick your brain into thinking it's receiving an energy boost from the sugar.

Now while it may trick your brain into thinking it received an energy boost from the sugar, I doubt very seriously it can trick your body into performing like it just received the energy boost it never received. Trust me as someone who has bonked before, when that happens, your body needs real energy, not an imagined one.

He then had some expert, I think from the Mayo Clinic, talking about the importance of antioxidants. The contention was you need to increase your intake of antioxidants to counter the effects of breathing. It was implied [at least I inferred] that oxygen molecules from the air you breathe attach to your DNA (or something like that) increasing your risk of cancer, and only by increasing your antioxidant intake can you counter those effects.

[note]Gimme a break. Now breathing is bad for you. Maybe we should all just stop breathing instead. It would definitely be a lot cheaper. Anyways, if you believe that hogwash, please call me. I've got some swamp land in Arizona you might be interested in.[/note]

There was also some mention of increasing the effectiveness of your white cells, i.e. boosting your immune system, to fight disease. At that point I couldn't take it anymore, and had to shut it off.

I hate repeating myself, but YOU CAN'T BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. And even if you could, you wouldn't want to. How can you control what effect a boosted immune system will have? Will it start attacking your good cells, and forget about the bad cells? That's exactly what cancer is, and I don't think it's a risk worth taking.

Certainly you need to eat a healthy, well balanced diet, something most of modern society doesn't do. It's the surest way to help prevent diseases, obesity, etc. Just don't waste your money on vitamins and supplements you don't need, and won't do you any good, except maybe to cause the exact things you're trying to prevent, and definitely lighten your pocketbook.

Instead, spend that money you've saved on a gym membership, new running shoes, or even a new bike, and get out and exercise more. You'll find that a lot more beneficial.

Just my opinion!

Comments

Mike Foxworth said…
Great commentary, Marc. Couldn't agree with you more. Dee Dee is addicted to Dr. Oz and once in awhile I will reluctantly sit for a viewing. I, too, consider "Ozmania" as nothing more than entertainment, much like Donald Trump's Apprentice, but there is a real danger in all of us putting too much stock in the "truth" of these messages, also in ignoring or discounting everything we see hyped in the media. I remember the now-hackneyed line: "moderation in all things." That includes whatever consumption to which we subject ourselves in media content.
Marc said…
Thanks Mike! It's good to know I'm not the only one who thinks that way. I agree that it is nothing more than entertainment, which is probably why I do watch it. There is some good information presented on occasion, it's just he sprinkles quite a bit of misinformation in between (at least in my opinion) which is then believed.
Rebecca said…
Seriously? Sugar on your vegetables? I thought corn and carrots were loaded with sugar. Maybe you weren't paying attention and he meant stevia. lol
Marc said…
Well, his example was using brussel sprouts, something I would eat even if you put chocolate on them.

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