Skip to main content

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.

Popular posts from this blog

The green tea phenomenon

Despite being a heavy drinker of green tea since my diagnosis, mainly for its cancer prevention, and hopefully cancer curing qualities, I recently have developed a new found enthusiasm for green tea. Now whether it has been the green tea I have been drinking for the past 6+ years, my heavy exercise routine, or just pure chance that has kept my MCL stable, or at least [very] slow progressing, for the past 7+ years is certainly open to debate, but based on past research, I have chosen to believe green tea has at least helped to some degree. So what has given me this new found enthusiasm? Well, a friend of mine, and cycling buddy, was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer, and knowing my daily regimen called to ask my advice on green tea. He had already done a lot of research on the subject, so when I told him my obsession with green tea consisted principally of drinking the least expensive, decaffeinated green tea available (Trader Joe's brand of 18 tea bags for $3, and more recentl...

Alternative treatment blowback

I received some interesting criticism the other day for my stance on alternative therapies. I ......... cannot for the life of me understand why you would not use supplementation and then use an over the counter poisonous liquid which has proven liver toxicity. Especially while taking a statin. She was referring to the use of an over the counter cough medication, I have been taking to help ease the symptoms of my upper respiratory infection. I did this once and vow to never use it again! I have gotten off Lipitor by using Nicotinic Acid and getting much better results but still use COQ10 to protect Liver as you must do while taking Statins. If you are not using CoQ10, I urge you to research this issue. MCL reduces your D3 and should be taken everyday! I use 5000mgs a day. I was sorta taken aback. She was partially correct. I'm against taking supplements, but when necessary I don't have a problem taking over the counter medication, when my ailments finally get the better of me. ...

When is enough, enough?

Today I learned, Lance Armstrong, the most drug tested athlete in the history of sport, is being accused of doping, again . This time by the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA), who claim they have collected blood samples from him in 2009 and 2010 that were “fully consistent with blood manipulation including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.” Really! What took them so long? The French have been trying to make allegations of drug doping stick for years, ever since he won his first Tour d'France, but to no avail. And now the USADA claims to have evidence to support that claim, and they've waited almost 3 years before releasing this evidence. Needless to say, I am skeptical. Then there's this from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO): Increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes by 50 cents per pack eventually would increase Medicare and Social Security spending, slightly. Eventually? What is the CBO suggesting here? That we should encourage smoking, because if we don't, in...