In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Diet Lures and Diet Lies" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/27/opinion/bruni-diet-lures-and-diet-lies.html?ref=opinion&_r=0), Frank Bruni, the rising star of the New York Times's blindered and self-absorbed op-ed page, writes:
"'In terms of diet, the general laws of thermodynamics hold,' Rudolph Leibel, an obesity expert at the Columbia University Medical Center, told me. 'The issue of — ‘If I eat a diet of all watermelons as opposed to a diet of hamburgers with the same number of calories, will I be able to lose more weight on the watermelons?’ — that’s a specious argument. We’re dealing with chemistry and physics, not imagination.'"
. . . .
Cue Oz. A distinguished cardiothoracic surgeon, he has traded time in the hospital for time on TV, where he revisits no topic more incessantly than (supposedly) ingenious ways to slim down. With a shameless vocabulary of 'magic,' 'miracle' and 'revolutionary,' he has showcased or outright validated HCG hormone shots, green coffee bean supplements, raspberry ketone supplements and more. He told viewers: 'I’m going to show you how you can get fat to eat itself right out of your body.'
The sum of these exhortations 'just violates science,' said Leibel. 'It’d be like if we went to NASA and they were using astrological charts to try to figure out how to get a rocket to Europa. It’s at that level.'"
Bruni's conclusion:
"[D]ecades of trendy diets have confirmed one and only one magic bullet: a mix of restrained eating and regular exercise."
But is there really no hope? What about an Atkin's low-carb diet? As observed by U.S News & World Report (http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/atkins-diet):
"It is still unclear, regardless of claims made for low-carb diets, whether the main reason for weight loss is carb restriction specifically or simply cutting calories. A study published in 2009 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that after two years, participants assigned either to a 35 percent or a 65 percent carb diet lost about the same amount of weight—6 to 7½ pounds on average. In 2003, researchers who analyzed about 100 low-carb studies concluded in the Journal of the American Medical Association that weight loss on those diets was associated mostly with cutting calories and not with cutting carbs."
The sad bottom line for me: Notwithstanding the joint pain and loss of flexibility that comes with aging, there can be no avoiding weights and aerobic exercise, unless I am stressed-out, whereupon the extra pounds disappear overnight.
No benefits to food supplements whatsoever? "I wouldn't go that far," he (meaning myself) said, staring hopefully up at a shelf over my desktop, where there are bottles of CO Q-10, melatonin, vitamin D, tumeric and green tea extract lined up in less than neat rows.
Will I live to 100? Not a chance. Please spare me the pain.
