I thought that I had covered the major fad diets out there but realized that there are a few more to aim at. Before I plunge into more of these scams, I figured it would be a good idea to write more generally about how to make informed decisions about your health or anything else. Ridiculous new ideas are coming down the pike every day. Here are some guidelines you can use:
1. Always, always, always, first and foremost: If it seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is. There are no magic bullets in the area of health or, for that matter, finances, the other area where scams abound.
2. Put on your skeptic’s hat and ask, “How does this (diet, supplement, detox treatment) actually work? Let’s go back to the story I told about the toxin-removing footbath in my post on the paleo diet. Jim was able to tell his co-worker what was actually happening chemically with that scammy product, but in actuality she didn’t even need to know those facts. She could have considered the product logically and asked the guys doing the demo, “Okay, so the toxins are coming out of my feet? Are they coming through my skin? How does that happen? How come I don’t see any spots or holes or burns that mark toxin exit points? Are the poisons in my bloodstream? How come I’m not bleeding? What do these toxins consist of?” And on and on.
3. Ask what is being sold. In the above example the item sold is, of course, the footbath itself. With many if not almost all diet gurus it’s supplements. Follow me here: If you’re advocating a ridiculously-restrictive diet for whatever reason, then you’re going to have to add back in some of the stuff you’re cutting out, and that’s where supplementation comes in. It’s rare to find the author of a best-selling “miracle diet” book who doesn’t also sell supplements.
You may remember that while ago I posted a series of articles on the “keto” diet. One of the big, big pushers of this diet is someone named “Dr.” Eric Berg (a chiropractor, so not a medical doctor), and he sells his books and also ridiculously-expensive supplements. As another purveyor says, ““Getting all of the nutrients you need simply cannot be done without supplements.” (Steven Gundry; you’ll hear more about him in later posts.) Ah hah! So you’re creating the problem and then selling the product to solve it. Or, as an excellent article in The Atlantic says, there seems to be no recognition that it’s a problem when “the definitive expert on the pathology whose existence necessitates purchase of products sold by the author” is the author.
It seems to be difficult for people to disentangle this whole mess. So I got a fair amount of pushback on my keto posts. One woman questioned why just the fact that a doctor or other medical practitioner was selling products directly related to his/her theories would be a red flag. After all, she said, her dermatologist sells skincare products at her office. So should she assume that this practitioner is a scam artist? It was a good question, and although I didn’t bother answering her at the time I’m bringing it up now. (I’ve found that responding to comments, on any forum, is a total waste of time. You just get drawn into pointless backing-and-forthing.) Here’s what I would say now as a good litmus test for any medical professional who sells products:
- Are the products directly tied to the theories of the practitioner? In other words, must you use the product in order to be “cured”?
- Are the products a large part of the practice? How much profit do they contribute? (You wouldn’t know any kind of exact figure, of course, but you can certainly judge for yourself by means of the size of the display, amount of publicity, etc.)
- Are you urged constantly to buy the products? (Many chiropractors push their supplements relentlessly.)
- Are the products much more expensive than you could just buy at the store? (Here’s where the dermatologist’s skincare and makeup would probably fail the test, but if none of the other factors is in play then you don’t really have a problem.)
At some point, you need to look for evidence. It’s important to understand what types of evidence there are and how to evaluate them. You can’t carry out experiments or clinical trials out of your basement, so you have to develop a keen sense of what stands up and what doesn’t. Here are some materials you’ll run across:
- Anecdotal: individual stories or examples that you hear about personally from people you know. “I did this and it totally worked.” At some point I want to do another case study that will examine someone’s experience with a certain diet. The thing to remember is always: Anecdotes are not hard evidence in and of themselves. Just because your friend followed a certain diet and lost 20 pounds does not validate the diet. What else was going on?
- Testimonials on websites that are selling what the person is praising. It should be clear that the marketer of certain materials or products is only going to post (or make up) comments that are favorable. You can almost always tell by the name of the website whether it’s a neutral third party or not.
- Articles or studies in reputable publications. Here’s where you start getting the good stuff. I often look for the words “pros and cons” in the title of the article. Sources such as U.S. News and World Report, Popular Science, Health Magazine, the Mayo Clinic, as well as big mainstream news outlets such as The Washington Post or The New York Times are going to give you at least a somewhat balanced view. Read those first and see what you think, then go from there. Don’t get all of your info from a source that has a vested interest in selling you something.
Well, better quit. This is a fascinating topic with much more to say. We all owe it to ourselves to be informed consumers of information.