Maybe… just a thought here…. but maybe the number of solo dieters are so high
because insurance won’t cover you if you want to lose weight. I can’t get
insurance for babyboy because he’s too big. Same applies if you want to quit
smoking – insurance won’t pay if you want to use zyban, or thorazine or whatever.
70 percent of dieters go solo, with no doctor, survey finds
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) — — Besides extra pounds, dieters also seem to carry a hefty independent streak. A survey finds that 70 percent of Americans who are trying to lose weight are following their own diet plans and have no interest in seeking a doctor’s help.
One-third have tried dietary supplements of unproven benefit — pills and powders that promise to burn fat, boost metabolism or melt pounds without the sweaty hard work of exercise or the discipline and deprivation of diets, the survey found.
Doctors say there is no safe way to lose more than a pound or two a week and no proof that unregulated, over-the-counter products help at all.
“People need to get away from magical thinking,” said Saul Shiffman, a University of Pittsburgh health psychologist who helped develop the survey. “It’s easy to hope for a magic pill that’s going to rev up their metabolism or shed their pounds.”
He and the others involved in the survey were paid by GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which has an obvious interest in steering people away from dietary supplements. The company makes orlistat, sold in prescription form as Xenical and soon to be available over the counter.