Spectrum of eating disorders and society (Warning a couple possibly graphic photos)

[hedgehog]

17. I have yet to see a scientifically controlled study

in which people lost weight and kept it off with the exception of gastric by-pass surgery. The problems with the surgery are that no one seems to know exactly what's going on (blood sugar comes into control before the patient loses and ounce!), there can be lifelong problems with mal-absorption of needed nutrients and some people actually manage to start re-gaining the weight!

We keep reading about the cost of obesity, but if it really is a national crisis (and I think it is), why aren't we studying the hell out of it!?!? Are too many people (Jenny Craig, for example) making money on obesity? There does seem to be agreement that unprocessed foods are best (although I can't point to actual evidence); maybe no one wants to study obesity and find out that a lot of it is due to a massive processed foods industry.

One sign of a medical issue which the medical establishment can't handle is a plethora of quack remedies and patient blogs on the internet. Compare the number of quack remedies, diets, special foods, etc out there meant to help you lose weight with, say, quack remedies for lupus or thyroid and you'll see what I mean.

A thousand anecdotes and pet theories are as worthless as a single anecdote; we need scientific studies!