Are Diet Pills a Crutch?

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Friday, March 11, 2011 4:42 pm Email this article

​Initial report from Robert Skversky is that his appearance on the Dr. Oz show went very well. You will see the show on March 17. I feel relieved. But Robert said something in his analysis that set me thinking. He said, "My only disappointment (there's always something) was Oz's final comment of the show. He stated he thought meds for weight-loss on/off label were not to be used long term suggesting they were a crutch." But I may agree with Dr. Oz on this. Let's see...

What is meant by the word "crutch"? An exogenous item used to help one do something, and the subtext implies one could have done the thing on one's own without the crutch. In the American context, the word "crutch" implies a moral judgment. If you don't believe me, substitute the neutral word "aid" or "accessory" for "crutch", into Dr. Oz's sentence and you'll see the sentence makes no sense. It must be a moral judgment only, because the evidence furnished by Skversky shows that the medicines are not harmful long-term. But isn't it interesting? If a patient could have lowered their blood pressure by reducing the salt in their diet, but didn't, and the doctor put the patient on a medicine to lower the BP, no one would call the BP medicine a "crutch". Why not? You're first reaction to the idea of Dr. Oz passing moral judgment on fat people is probably negative, since the liberal half of our schizophrenic nation shuns passing moral judgment on anyone. But I may agree with Oz, in a way. I too think patients should not use meds for weight loss longer than necessary, NOT because it is a moral issue but because it is ultimately ineffective. All that phentermine does is to reduce hunger; MOST of the eating fat people do has nothing to do with hunger. They eat from habit, boredom, loneliness and frustration. Diet pills buy time for me to transform the patient's culture, making them adults instead of children, European in outlook instead of American. I know Dr. Oz agrees with me, but by focusing his show on PILLS, anti-oxidants, supplements, herbs, soy products, etc. he only increases the distraction of the American public. I WISH he would do a real show on American culture! Maybe the producers don't know how to tackle such a "soft" target. But then they didn't put me on the show, did they? Uh, that would have been a first step.

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