Back when Dr. Phil (and Dr. Oz, too) were once a week guests on Oprah’s show, I really looked forward to watching them and found them to be incredibly wise and credible. Somehow, when they got their own shows, it started to feel like overkill. While my dvr is set to record Dr. Oz daily, and I do watch many of them, I find I really have to sort through a lot of stuff that is way too “out there” for most all of us. Since I do watch Dr. Oz on dvr, I of course fast forward through the commercials. One morning, watching the show in live time, I came to realize that much of the stuff he promotes that seems too “out there” is the same stuff being advertised during commercials. Well, that makes tons of sense! Promote the supplements because they are the people who are sponsoring your show! Dr. Oz, you are wise and I love to learn from you, but selling out to your sponsors makes your credibility nosedive in my eyes.
Similarly, I became upset with Dr. Phil when he would contradict himself. For years he has been saying how bad diets can be for us and how often people go on diets only to gain weight. So I did find it awfully strange that in the past couple of years he has promoted The 17 Day Diet as well as the P.I.N.K Method, geared towards women only. In fact, when he spent a full hour rolling out the P.I.N.K Method, everyone in the audience got pink t-shirts and Dr. Phil said “And this one, I’ve got to tell you, I endorse 100 percent.” I am not going to get into what makes these diets so unique except to say that reading this week’s Newsweek Magazine, I have come to learn that McGraw’s son, Jay, has a great financial interest in both of these products, and is actually the publisher of the Cynthia Pasquella’s P.I.N.K Method! Jay, by the way, is the producer of the show The Doctors, which, of course, also promoted these diets. What is going on here?!?! Make all the money you want, but don’t dupe people! That’s just wrong, Dr. Phil…aren’t you the guy who is always telling us to be authentic and get real?
Millions and millions of people look to people like Drs. Oz and Phil for advice and not only believe what they say, but go out and buy the products that they endorse because they assume the good doctors have done their homework and if they say it works, it must. Personally, I will stand by the old adage that says if something is too good to be true, it probably isn’t. DIET is still a 4 letter word in my dictionary. Weight watchers is about the closest thing to perfect, if you can’t get there on your own. I have no vested interest in WW, but I have seen many of my students and friends lose weight on the plan. Keeping weight off after reaching a goal, that requires the hardest work and where the lifestyle changes will pay off. I can’t even comment on the very newest diet making headline news (tube feeding) other than to say it truly makes me want to throw up, but that is definitely a blog for another day, though I am posting a link to an article about it below…
Be careful where you get your information from and that includes the info I give to you. Do your own homework because it’s YOUR body, YOUR health and YOUR life we are talking about. Take care of YOU. Want some good motivation? Tune into Biggest Loser tonight, but remember…it, too, is a TV show. I wouldn’t necessarily believe they are eating all the food that we see them advertising…I once heard that Jillian told her contestants to spit out their Subway after they filmed the spot…just saying.
Related articles
- All in the Family (thedailybeast.com)
- The K.E. [Insanity] Diet for Brides (urbanveganchic.com)
I agree with you Bonni-I watch Dr. Oz every day and quite frankly-don’t have the time or energy to focus on everything he says to use or eat. Its an interesting show, and I take from it what I feel is helpful to ME. And ALL those VITAMINS-who has the money and time for all of that!