Consumers Beware! Social Harms Distortion of Perspective Nutrition Quackery at it's Best! Part 4

Secret Truths of Nutrition Quackery 108

Consumers Beware! Social Harms Distortion of Perspective Nutrition Quackery at it's Best! Part 4


This will be a four part series on Harm done by Quackery that will include: indirect harm by omission, psychological harm, economic harm, social harm, and direct harm by commission. This four part series will discuss how the harm caused by quackery fits into these categories.

Indirect Harm

Quackery can seriously harm or kill people by persuading them to abandon, delay, or fail to seek effective medical treatment for grave medical conditions (Barrett and Jarvis, ADA 2008). This is considered indirect harm by omission (Calif. Medical Association). While the number of people lured away from effective treatment into disability or death cannot be ascertained, it is apparently not large enough or obvious enough to provoke a public outcry (Barrett and Jarvis).

Direct Harm

Direct harm is considered harm by commission such as poisoning, maiming, malnutrition, or injury (Barrett and Jarvis). This category includes dangers posed by herbs, herb and drug interactions, contaminated and adulterated supplements, excess vitamins and minerals, and the macrobiotic diet. The L- trytophan tragedy will be discussed first since it is good example of the harm that can occur when dietary supplements are sold without proof of safety, efficacy, potency, or purity (Foster and Tyler).


Social Harm

Here is the final section of this four part series of Harm done by Quackery. Last but not least there is also harm to society. Consumers are taking greater responsibility for self-care due to an evolving health care system and are more vulnerable to nutrition misinformation, quackery, and fraud than ever before. Nutrition products have been found to be among the most commonly misused. This issue becomes even more critical as the population ages, since the majority of victims of health care fraud-up to 60 percent- are older people (ADA 2008).

Money wasted on quackery would be better spent on medical research. Instead, quacks use a great deal of this money to spread misinformation and weaken consumer protection laws.

Quackery is so subtle that few people even realize they are victims. Unfortunately, many people believe that an unscientific method has helped them. They usually have confused cause and effect with coincidence. Sometimes an unproven approach actually relieves emotionally related symptoms by reducing the person's tension level (Barrett and Jarvis).

Quackery can also ruin the lives that are thoroughly deluded that they devote themselves o promoting the methods and welfare of quackery. I'm not saying alternative medicine and supplements are all bad I personally believe there is a time and place for prevention of disease. However, you also need to do your homework when it comes to Health Care, Exercise, Nutrition and Scientific evidence of dangerous disease-producing bacteria. To end this series just be aware of the quacks that claim disease-producing bacteria destroys essential nutrients (which is untrue). Be your own judge and get good resources of science-based evidence and a trusted professional adviser. Best advice be your own advocate, get the facts, and the real truth.

Have a healthy and happy day!!

To yours in Health, Fitness, and serious Nutrition talk,

Natalie Pyles

References: Nutrition Dimension, Ellen Coleman, (Barrett and Herbert), (Foster and Tyler).

NSA Speaker, Author, Medical Exercise and Post Rehab Conditioning Specialist, Licensed Nutritionist, Health, Fitness, and Holistic

3 Harms of Quackery caused by Outbreaks Revealed! Part 3 from Fitness Elements Express!

Secret Truths of Nutrition Economic Quackery 107

3 Harms of Quackery caused by Outbreaks Revealed! Part 3

This will be a four part series on Harm done by Quackery that will include: indirect harm by omission, psychological harm, economic harm, social harm, and direct harm by commission. This four part series will discuss how the harm caused by quackery fits into these categories.

Indirect Harm

Quackery can seriously harm or kill people by persuading them to abandon, delay, or fail to seek effective medical treatment for grave medical conditions (Barrett and Jarvis, ADA 2008). This is considered indirect harm by omission (Calif. Medical Association). While the number of people lured away from effective treatment into disability or death cannot be ascertained, it is apparently not large enough or obvious enough to provoke a public outcry (Barrett and Jarvis).

Direct Harm

Direct harm is considered harm by commission such as poisoning, maiming, malnutrition, or injury (Barrett and Jarvis). This category includes dangers posed by herbs, herb and drug interactions, contaminated and adulterated supplements, excess vitamins and minerals, and the macrobiotic diet. The L- trytophan tragedy will be discussed first since it is good example of the harm that can occur when dietary supplements are sold without proof of safety, efficacy, potency, or purity (Foster and Tyler).


Economic Harm

Here is an example of what direct harm can do and why it is up to you to be preventative and use true wisdom before it is life threatening to you or anyone you know and care for. Most victims of Quackery are harmed economically rather than physically (Barrett and Jarvis). The true cost of quackery is difficult to calculate, but is likely in the tens of billions of dollars, especially when considering the cost of purchasing products (such as some supplements) that may do no harm but also provide no benefit (ADA,2008 Updated).

Quackery that involves small sums of money and no bodily injury is often considered harmless. For example, a person who buys a protein supplement from multilevel marketer is going to go broke. This is your choice on the matter I personally use my own products but I am clear and upfront with all my customers and clients. Retail shopping is always an o.k. way to shop too, but honesty is always what you want in dealing with any Health Care professional. Use your Gut on this matter!! However, this practice may indicate confusion on the part of the person and vulnerability to more serious (and expensive) forms of quackery (Barrett and Jarvis).

Americans spent $5.8 billion or more each year on multilevel health products (Nutrition Business Journal, 2008). Those that have nutritional value (such as vitamins and low-fat foods) are, without fail, overpriced. Do me a favor look at quality and how long a product will last you that is fairly priced for the proven quality suggested by a Licensed Health Care professional not someone off the streets that knows nothing about supplements. The products promoted as remedies are phony, unproven, or intended for conditions that are unsuitable for self-medication. Also, people who distribute multilevel products are generally not qualified to give health advice(NCAHF 2008; Barrett and Herbert). Just use good judgment on this topic my health and fitness friends and make sure you are taking advice from a Health and Nutrition expert that will not harm you or make you a product of Nutrition Quackery.

This article was not written to scare you or make you afraid of everything out on the market, because I see no point in being scared of everything that is no fun and not my position at all. I do want you educated, and informed on what you put into your body. You also must get as credible as possible sources of information to what you truly need. These are scary times we are living in and all kinds of things are coming out of the wood works so please be advised.

To conclude: As you know Government actions against multilevel organizations have not been energetic by any stretch at all, so you must be you own good consumer and do your homework. Remember these companies are left alone unless their advertising is so flagrant and their sales volume so great that regulatory agency is obliged to intercede. Best advice be your own advocate, get the facts, and the real truth.

Have a healthy and happy day!!

To yours in Health, Fitness, and serious Nutrition talk,

Natalie Pyles

References: Nutrition Dimension, Ellen Coleman, (Barrett and Herbert), (Foster and Tyler).

NSA Speaker, Author, Medical Exercise and Post Rehab Conditioning Specialist, Licensed Nutritionist, Health, Fitness, and Holistic Nutrition and Nursing Educator

Did You Know Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) can burn up to more than 1000 calories without even Stepping one foot in the Gym?

NEW! Weight Control Update from Fitness Elements Express!

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) refers to the activities of daily living that burn calories without stepping foot inside of a gym. In fact, it appears that NEAT has more of an impact on body weight than “working out” does. NEAT varies widely among people. Yours could contribute as little as 15% or as much as 50% of your total energy expenditure.

People with highly active jobs can burn up to 1000 calories more each day than their sedentary counterparts. According to the American Heart Association, “To reverse obesity, we need to develop individual strategies to promote standing and ambulating time by 2.5 hours per day and also re-engineer our work, school, and home environments to render active living the option of choice.”

Add some more activity into your daily routine, and keep at it for 3 weeks. It will become a habit, and you may just become thinner and healthier! Dr James Levine of the Mayo Clinic, the founder of the NEAT principle, has studied calorie burning for more than 20 years. For more information about NEAT, read Levine’s book, Move a Little, Lose A Lot, written with Selene Yeager.

Simple ways to increase NEAT
Try these suggestions:

Pace while talking on the telephone
Do jumping jacks, push-ups, or another exercise of your choice during commercial breaks
Park as far away as possible from the store when shopping
Do not use drive-through banking or fast food—get out of the car and walk inside
Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator
Mow the grass with a push mower
Become a gardener instead of hiring a landscaper
Do not send interoffice e-mail; instead, walk to the other person’s office and talk face to face
Get up every 20 minutes and walk around, or do some stretches when working at your computer or doing other work at your desk
Just stand up; stand instead of sitting whenever possible—you will increase your level of NEAT
Wash your car by hand instead of taking it to a drive-through car wash
Prepare your own meals instead of purchasing them ready to go; yes, even slicing your own tomatoes or mashing your own potatoes increases NEAT
Put your alarm clock across the room instead of right beside the bed—up and at ‘em
Do a little housework every day
Schedule your work meetings with coworkers or have your after-dinner conversations with friends and family outside—take a walk around the block or yard
References and recommended readings

Hellmich N. Q&A: how to drop pounds with all-day activities, not exercise. Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-01-21-fidget-activity_N.htm. Accessed May 17, 2010.

Levine JA, Vander Weg MW, Hill JO, Klesges RC. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis: the crouching tiger hidden dragon of societal weight gain. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol [serial online]. 2006;26:729-736.Available at: http://atvb.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/26/4/729. Accessed May 17, 2010.

Mayo Clinic. Levine, James A. (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). Available at: http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/levine_lab/. Accessed May 17, 2010.

Forwarded, By Natalie Pyles

Your Whole Health, Fitness, and Nutrition Expert

Have a Healthy and Happy Day!!

Intuitive Eating: The 10 Principles Whole Health and Fitness Education from Fitness Elements Express!

Intuitive Eating: The 10 Principles

1. Reject the diet mentality

Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently. Get angry at the lies that have led you to feel as if you were a failure every time a new diet stopped working and you gained back all of the weight. If you allow even one small hope to linger that a new and better diet is possibly lurking around the corner, it will keep you from staying free enough to rediscover “intuitive eating.”

2. Honor your hunger

Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise, you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant. Learning to honor this first biological signal sets the stage for rebuilding trust with yourself and food.

3. Make peace with food

Call a truce, and stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can not or should not have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, binging When you finally “give-in” to your forbidden food, eating is experienced with such intensity, it usually results in overeating and overwhelming guilt.

4. Challenge the food police

Scream a loud “no” to thoughts in your head that declare you are “good” for eating under 1000 calories or “bad” because you ate a piece of chocolate cake. The food police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created. The police station is housed deep in your psyche, and its loudspeaker shouts negative barbs, hopeless phrases, and guilt-provoking indictments. Chasing the food police away is a critical step in returning to intuitive eating.

5. Respect your fullness

Listen for body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show that you are comfortably full. Pause in the middle of eating a meal or a food and ask yourself:

* How does the food taste?
* What is my current fullness level?

6. Discover the satisfaction factor

The Japanese have the wisdom to promote pleasure as one of the goals of healthy living. In our fury to stay or become thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence—the pleasure and satisfaction that is found in the eating experience. When you eat what you really want in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive is a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. By providing this experience for yourself, you will find that it takes much less food to decide you have had enough.

7. Honor your feelings without using food

Find ways to comfort, nurture, distract, and resolve your issues without using food. Anxiety, loneliness, boredom, and anger are emotions we all experience throughout life. Each has its own trigger, and each has its own appeasement. Food will not fix any of these feelings. It provides comfort for the short term, distracts from the pain, or even numbs you into a food hangover. But food will not solve the problem. If anything, eating for an emotional hunger will only make you feel worse in the long run. You will ultimately have to deal with the source of the emotion, as well as the discomfort of overeating.

8. Respect your body

Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of 8 would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size 6, it is equally as futile and uncomfortable to have the same expectation with body size. But mostly, respect your body so that you can feel better about who you are. It is hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.

9. Exercise—feel the difference

Forget militant exercise. Just get active, and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie-burning effect of exercise. If you focus on how you feel from working out, such as energized, it can make the difference between rolling out of bed for a brisk morning walk or hitting the snooze alarm. If when you wake up, your only goal is to lose weight, it is usually not a motivating factor in that moment of time.

10. Honor your health

Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds, while making you feel well. Remember that you do not have to eat a perfect diet to stay healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency or gain weight from one snack, meal, or day of eating. It is what you eat consistently over time that matters. Progress not perfection is what counts.



Used with permission
Contributed by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD, and Elyse Resch MS, RD, FADA, authors of Intuitive Eating, 2nd ed. New York, New York: St Martin’s Press; 2003. (www.IntuitiveEating.org)

Forwarded: By, Natalie Pyles

Whole Health Fitness, Wellness, and Nutrition Expert

Yes Harm Done by Quackery can cause Psychological Harm Part 2

Secret Truths of Nutrition Quackery 107


Yes! Harm Done by Quackery can cause Psychological Harm! Part 2

This will be a four part series on Harm done by Quackery that will include: indirect harm by omission, psychological harm, economic harm, social harm, and direct harm by commission. This four part series will discuss how the harm caused by quackery fits into these categories.

Indirect Harm

Quackery can seriously harm or kill people by persuading them to abandon, delay, or fail to seek effective medical treatment for grave medical conditions (Barrett and Jarvis, ADA 2008). This is considered indirect harm by omission (Calif. Medical Association). While the number of people lured away from effective treatment into disability or death cannot be ascertained, it is apparently not large enough or obvious enough to provoke a public outcry (Barrett and Jarvis).

Direct Harm

Direct harm is considered harm by commission such as poisoning, maiming, malnutrition, or injury (Barrett and Jarvis). This category includes dangers posed by herbs, herb and drug interactions, contaminated and adulterated supplements, excess vitamins and minerals, and the macrobiotic diet. The L- trytophan tragedy will be discussed first since it is good example of the harm that can occur when dietary supplements are sold without proof of safety, efficacy, potency, or purity (Foster and Tyler).

Now adding to the list we will continue this discussion with the topic of Psychological Harm which is perfect for today's times.


Psychological Harm

Quackery also causes tremendous mental anguish by arousing irrational fears -convincing people to wrongly believe they have serious illnesses such as cancer.(Calif. Medical Association).

Creating false hope in for the seriously ill, however, is quackery's most heartless kind of psychological harm. Even when death is unavoidable , false hope can do great harm. The person's elation over an expected cure is followed by deep despair when the treatment fails. The removal of hope crushes the human spirit (Herbert,1993).

Authorities who study the dying process note that, although the initial reaction is shock and grief, most terminally ill will adjust well, provided they don't feel deserted. Those who except the reality of impending death can put their affairs in order and die psychologically prepared. Unfortunately, those individuals who buy false hope from quacks can get stuck in an attitude of denial. They waste their time, money, and what little they have left to just enjoy the rest of their life.

This article was not written to scare you or make you afraid of everything out on the market, because I see no point in being scared of everything that is no fun and not my position at all. I do want you educated, and informed on what you put into your body. You also must get as credible as possible sources of information to what you truly need. These are scary times we are living in and all kinds of things are coming out of the wood works so please be advised.

Have a healthy and happy day!!

To yours in Health, Fitness, and serious Nutrition talk,

Natalie Pyles

References: Nutrition Dimension, Ellen Coleman, (Barrett and Herbert), (Foster and Tyler).

NSA Speaker, Author, Medical Exercise and Post Rehab Conditioning Specialist, Licensed Nutritionist, Health, Fitness, and Holistic Nutrition and Nursing Educator

In Need of a Back to School Body Back? Free Report from Fitness Elements Express !

Straight from the Press!!

Check out the link and Enjoy Your Healthy Meals in 10 Minutes or Less!!

10 Healthy Meals in 10 Minutes or Less Free Report from Fitness Elements Express for Local Scottsdale and Phoenix Residents for Back to School Body Back

Yes! Harm Done by Quackery causes Outbreaks! Part 1

Secret Truths of Nutrition Quackery 106

Yes! Harm Done by Quackery causes Outbreaks! Part 1

This will be a four part series on Harm done by Quackery that will include: indirect harm by omission, psychological harm, economic harm, social harm, and direct harm by commission. This four part series will discuss how the harm caused by quackery fits into these categories.

Indirect Harm

Quackery can seriously harm or kill people by persuading them to abandon, delay, or fail to seek effective medical treatment for grave medical conditions (Barrett and Jarvis, ADA 2008). This is considered indirect harm by omission (Calif. Medical Association). While the number of people lured away from effective treatment into disability or death cannot be ascertained, it is apparently not large enough or obvious enough to provoke a public outcry (Barrett and Jarvis).

Direct Harm

Direct harm is considerd harm by commission such as poisoning, maiming, malnutrition, or injury (Barrett and Jarvis). This category includes dangers posed by herbs, herb and drug interactions, contaminated and adulterated supplements, excess vitamins and minerals, and the macrobiotic diet. The L- trytophan tragedy will be discussed first since it is good example of the harm that can occur when dietary supplements are sold without proof of safety, efficacy, potency, or purity (Foster and Tyler).


L-Tryptophan

Here is an example of what direct harm can do and why it is up to you to be preventative and use true wisdom before it is life threatening to you or anyone you know and care for. Studies in the 1960's and 1970's showed that 1 gm doses of L-tryptophan, an essential amino acid, reduced the time needed to fall asleep in both normal people and mild insomniacs. Even though the product was not approved for drug use, health food stores (quick to recognize a potential money-maker) began to market 100 to 667 mg capsules utilized as an over-the-counter sleep aid, and was even promoted to aid depression, premenstrual syndrome, and weight loss, although it had not been proven or safe or effective for any of these purposes (Barrett and Herbert).

In 1989 all disaster struck. A contaminated batch of the amino acid supplement triggered an outbreak of eosinophilic myalagia syndrome (EMS), a rare disorder characterized by severe muscle and joint pain, weakness, swelling, of the arms and legs, fever, skin rash, and an increase in eoisinophils, a type of white blood cell (Barrett and Herbert,1994). Over the next year, 1,500 cases and 38 deaths were reported (Barrett and Herbert, 1994). The outbreak was traced to a contaminant in L-tryptophan produced by a manufacturing problem at the plant of Showa Denko KK in Japan (Foster and Tyler,1999;Barrett and Herbert, 1994).

Most authorities still believe to this day that L-tryptophan never should have been marketed to the public in the first place. Like most single ingredient amino acids, it did not have FDA approval for medicinal use. In fact, the FDA issued a ban in 1973 but did not enforce it (Barrett and Herbert, 1994).

This article was not written to scare you or make you afraid of everything out on the market, because I see no point in being scared of everything that is no fun and not my position at all. I do want you educated, and informed on what you put into your body. You also must get as credible as possible sources of information to what you truly need. These are scary times we are living in and all kinds of things are coming out of the wood works so please be advised.

Have a healthy and happy day!!

To yours in Health, Fitness, and serious Nutrition talk,

Natalie Pyles

References: Nutrition Dimension, Ellen Coleman, (Barrett and Herbert), (Foster and Tyler).

NSA Speaker, Author, Medical Exercise and Post Rehab Conditioning Specialist, Licensed Nutritionist, Health, Fitness, and Holistic Nutrition and Nursing Educator