2011 Health Trends: 11 Fads That Need To Go In 2012

Every year has its health fads, both the fit and the fear-inducing. In 2010, it was all about fitness video games and the Shake Weight, according to Shape.com. In 2009, the big news was BPA-free water bottles and shoes that trim, tone and lift, according to Glamour.com

This year, there were some break-out stars: Americans focused on getting enough vitamin D, we cracked down on our diet soda addictions and we said goodbye to the out-of-date food pyramid.

But there were also some letdowns. We've still had the wool pulled over our eyes by advertisers touting bogus health claims for the latest get-slim-quick gadget and we've been suckered into risking our health just to try dangerous dieting fads. Click through our picks for the 11 fads that need to go in 2012. Then click over to HuffPost Canada's predictions for the hot new fitness trends we'll see in the coming year.

For more on the best of 2011, visit bestofaol.com.

Comments

[rvhalejr]

11:55 PM on 12/29/2011

A Tale of Woe Epilogue

Perhaps as a control, people who move from the EU to the US and
maintain a Traditional Diet how do they fare ?

Somehow the non-science allegations do not seem important anymore.

Sometimes the most important science is boring hard work (retrospective
analysis and reviews placed in the public domain) professionals and students
have to perform because there is something far more valuable than money,
fame and fortune at stake.

Just the other day I ran across a piece about Cancer now being the #1 cause
of mortality in Canada (replacing heart attack and stroke). I've been researching
that one for about 15 years now. For some "God only knows why" reason
Metabolism is now regarded as a principle part of that puzzle from hell.

Gentlemen, the world is watching and waiting.

[rvhalejr]

11:47 PM on 12/29/2011

A Tale of Woe Part II of II
Then search PubMed.gov (All Sources) for the phrase "volek metabolism" and they will get 200+ papers and/or abstracts and start reading some of them. Maybe look at the 50-100 references at the back of those and read a few. As a Protocol writer I'd refer to that as basic fact checking and drilling down (research). Compiling references for a book has forced me to read about a dozen so that when I write about something I do not embarrass myself or trigger a cascade of mis-information. I guess they do not need to read papers and books in France (in their NIH anyway)?

This is not to say there are no differences of opinion, there are a lot out there. But then in 2010 along comes the Katz Diet author pretty much setting precedence for the French (NIH) with a less than nice piece about the Dukan Diet. MDs usually never criticize MDs unless they are in another country ? They do have occasional food fights but those are few and far between.

I would have read Katz If I'd known about him, and will probably do so anyway. Both the Dukan and Katz Diets are rooted in FRANCE and the "Mediterranean Diet". Given the #1 cause of mortality in the US is CHD/CVD AS/AS how do the Katz vrs. Dukan Dieters fare ?

[rvhalejr]

11:06 PM on 12/29/2011

A Tale of Woe Part I of II
My interest in the Dukan Diet and Teta Diet was a follow on to the Oz Diet that came out a few years earlier. Although somewhat effective and attentive to Cardiac Heart Disease (CHD/CVD) and Arteriosclerosis (AS/AS) the Oz et. al. Diet did not emphasize Metabolism ("The NEW Me Diet" Teta title) and did not have a survey to help the reader identify their individual type and suggest appropriate meals.

I thought this was common knowledge but that appears not to be the case. The French version of the NIH (I think) was the first to allege the the Dukin Diet was not based on science (more or less). Being a Clinician should have been a big clue that they were about to prove themselves to be ignorant, incompetent, corrupt and/or crazy. What Oz, Dukan, the Tetas and many others advise is based on thousands (maybe more) of peer reviewed papers and books, each moving our knowledge of the discipline incrementally forward while validating the Repeatability and Accuracy of a hypothesis. This is universal to all disciplines.

I like creationists as they give proponents of scientific dogma heartburn. But does any Scientist really believe that Dukin Diet was created out of thin air by some super (theist or non-theist omnipotent) entity ? Well if you do not speak English perhaps so. Our French friends need to start with Banting (1797 – 1878) and move incrementally forward.

[the grange gorman]

02:14 PM on 12/28/2011

and no Norway butter diet either....

[rvhalejr]

07:42 PM on 12/28/2011

The Colbert Report:
"Norway's Butter Shortage"
December 12, 2011 colbertnation.com

The Science:
"Movement back to traditional food"
Dec 16,2011, lakesuperiornews.com

Both are true, just different contexts.,.

[rvhalejr]

04:47 PM on 12/30/2011

Dukan in Critical Review Part I of III

After attaining ideal weight dieters tend to put the weight back during years 2 - 5 at a rate as high as 80%.

This may explain why Bariatric Surgery tends to dominate the best long term medical outcomes. Once you have it there is no going back (with the exception of the Lap Band).

I was advised by several psychologists (independent of one another) that post diet recidivism is a bitch and indeed that appears to be the case. I tend to decouple the subsequent long term maintenance phase from the initial weight loss regimen as that in of itself is very complex and confounding issue.

Although Carbs do not appear to be "essential" to the diet in my case (morbidly obese, 62 years old male, 7/8 EU and 1/8 Cherokee decent , a sugar burner with high sensitivity to malto-dextrin) I experienced sugar withdrawal during the initiation phase, both physically and mentally.

[rvhalejr]

04:49 PM on 12/30/2011

Dukan in Critical Review Part II of III

I go through cut and washout cycles that are in tandem with very low carb weight loss and then the plateau with 10-20% carbs. If I do not get that 10% the sleep and awake nightmares return, so I'm cursed with that regardless of attaining an ideal weight.

Fats are tricky. If they are used at 10-20% of the caloric intake during the washout interval adverse effects of no or low sugar can be avoided. The individual needs to be in the "good numbers" range (per their MD's lipid panel) else triglycerides can spike and CHD/AS risk factors elevated.

Most impressive to me are the extreme sports participants who derive most caloric their intake from Fats. From a safety perspective it may be better to disallow trans-fats and hydrogenated (processed) fats altogether. In addition the Sat Fat to MUFA/PUFA ration should be no less than 1:3 . This generalized protocol should only be considered until we understand how the "Mediterranean Diet" and "French Paradox" work.

[rvhalejr]

12:50 AM on 12/28/2011

Part 2 of 2

Best way to avoid withdrawal is observe a 10% dietary calorie minimum of carbs. Otherwise epigenetic decent into darkness (maybe some validity to the selfish brain theory).
Rule #7 Be nice. Reasonable minds my differ, but there is a lot of common ground we can agree on. New things are discovered every week. How they miniaturized a linear accelerator and the mass spectrometer to measure metabolites is beyond me (I thought MALDI-TOF was cool).

The royal wedding and Dukin diet do look like tabloid fodder and those with opposing views could
probably educate me on more than a few things.

The one thing we all have in common is that there are questions we cannot answer w.r.t. observed repeatable phenomena. So maybe we could give those we do not agree with the benefit of the doubt until we have exchanged enough information to define meaningful differences that new evidence will help us sort out.

I'm no a believer in extending life, only in improving its quality. As a friend pointed out you cannot have one without the other and I agree. I'm good with that and those who hold an opposing view.

How this all gets decided will result in some large epidemiological numbers. So I vote for cutting everyone some slack (especially the clinicians with patients and outcomes that affect loved ones and friends).

[rvhalejr]

06:04 PM on 12/30/2011

"Is All Saturated Fat The Same?" 6/14/11
Ref: huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/saturated-fat_b_875401.html

See "Favorites" Comments

Breathtaking.

One point overlooked is that every cell wall in our bodies are
comprised of lipids (fats) including cholesterol. Thats right,
No Fat means No Human Life. Period.

We just want it in the right places (cell walls) verses bad places
(arteries).

Drilling Down Deeper we find that modeling cell walls
now requires using a Quantum model. Yep, we have to go subatomic
to understand it AND Quantum Logic which dictates yes and no are
true at the same time. Duality is a good term to descibe that
(visable light: wave/particale Duality).

I have not seen what this implies for DNA other than an inference
that this information may be encoded in the Allels (DNA sequences)
at the Quantum level.

I'm having trouble getting my head around that one.

[rvhalejr]

12:31 AM on 12/28/2011

My earlier posts seem to have got lost. I'll try to keep this very brief but informative.
Rule #1 Never allow nutrition to dip below the Stanford Bariatric Post Op Guidelines.
Rule #2 Fact Check Everything. Example: Dukan and the Teta's books both featured "Metabolism" as a key component and driver of deductive logic. Useful, lots of papers in PubMed but that does not mean they are spot on about everything.
Rule #3 Context matters. "Mediterranean" precedes "Dukin Diet". The mountain of Empirical generally accepted settled science w.r.t. CHD and AS in the US verses Europe is not arguable by any institution or scientist with any degree of credibility and/or integrity. Research is ongoing but there are generally agreed on guidelines that are effective, safe and will save lives.
Rule #4 History matters. Deaths resulting from extremely low calorie diets (early in the last century) were likely drivers of what is to referred to as PSMF which has been around for a long time and seems to be continuously improved.
Rule #5 Go for the best solution that fits your needs. I LOVE making salmon lox, brined and frozen at home after careful inspection for parasites. Good for a Bachelor, Not something that I'd recommend someone put on the family dinner table. However, Processed Foods BAD, Raw (or natural) Food GOOD.
Rule #6 Know enough to break the rules. Carbs, basically sugar, are psychologically addictive to me (sample size of one insignificant). Part 1 of 2

[nova9sw]

01:19 PM on 12/24/2011

Correction to my previous post: Doctor should have been doctors.

[nova9sw]

01:10 PM on 12/24/2011

When will doctor begin treating the genetic disease called greed? So many other diseases stem from this genetic disease that has gone untreated among the upper class. So many others suffer from those who have this genetic disease. Untreated greed is the bane of our species.

[emikoala]

11:50 AM on 12/23/2011

I'm insulted by the man who gained 70 lbs to demonstrate his contempt for his weight loss clients. Science is quite clear that naturally thin people who get fat have a vastly different biology from fat people. In one study, healthy weight subjects had to consume up to 10,000 calories a day just to stay overweight because their metabolisms sped up to compensate for their increased weight, while overweight clients who lost weight and then ate a normal diet had all the biological markers of starvation because their metabolisms slowed down to compensate for their decreased weight. (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/08/healthscience/snfat.php?page=1)

[wordwhizkid]

12:16 PM on 12/22/2011

I didn't realize the keratin hair treatments used formaldehyde! I'm glad I decided against doing that.

[bbtri]

08:15 PM on 12/21/2011

Slide shows, we don't want any more slide shows in 2012. If there's a number in the title it's probably a slide show.

[fashion isha]

07:29 PM on 12/21/2011

This is all very validating...I thought I was the only one who had weird fantasies about losing weight in very unnatural ways. I finally came to terms with the fact that, while we are not sapposed to be FAT we are not naturally sapposed to be as 'skinny' as the the media idealizes. I'm in my 40's and have 5 kids and I'm finally satisfied with being a size 6 instead of a 4. What a sad waste of energy it was to not be happy and healthy!
xo
Sharon

[Alvarask]

07:40 PM on 12/21/2011

If you're a size 6 you're probably beautiful. Enjoy being who you are and congratulations on having the self esteem to choose happiness for yourself! Merry Christmas!

[PatBitton]

05:29 PM on 12/21/2011

When I was a child in England in the 1950s, my mother routinely sent me to parties where German measles (Rubella) was known to be in circulation in an attempt to get me to catch it. Never worked. But it was certainly "the norm" at the time.

[snoopjohnny]

03:26 PM on 12/21/2011

Gosh, they're calling month-long Micky-Dee benders, Vodka-soaked tampons and tapeworms "bad" for us! I mean, just when I found low-carb tapeworms in the health food section! Talk about taking the fun out of Christmas....

[AlysiaTherin]

01:22 PM on 12/21/2011

Atkins is not unhealthy. In fact, if you read the book (which I assume you have not or you would not have made a ridiculous statement), by the time you have progressed through the program, you are eating whole grains and some starches again. It stresses eating unprocessed foods, lots of veggies, and no white sugar or flour. How is that bad?