Dr. Linda Mintle

Blog

  • Losing Pounds or Your Money?

    Sandy is typical of someone trying to lose weight. When she opens her medicine closet, weight loss products abound. There is a cream to rub on the thighs to make cellulite disappear. So far, not much has disappeared. Three herbal products promise to make fat melt away. Nothing has melted yet. There are more creams, more vitamins, more supplements. I had to ask how much Sandy paid for all this stuff. She didn’t know, but at an average price of $20.00 a product, the money was significant.

    Sandy is not a stupid woman but she hates being overweight. Always hoping the next product will make good on its weight loss claims, she willingly lays out the cash. Now she has a closet full of weight loss products and hasn’t lost a pound. She’s frustrated and feels misled by false claims.

    Closets like Sandy’s exist all over America. Yes, people are ultimately responsible for buying weight loss products, but the weight loss industry needs to regulate itself much more than it does.

    Partnership for Healthy Weight Management is a group comprised of people from industry, public advocacy organizations, government agencies, scientific associations and academia. Its mission is to provide sound guidelines for achieving and maintaining healthy weight. It, like other groups, has published voluntary guidelines designed to help consumers compare products and services.

    The former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher said, “…with the profusion of products and services available to assist them [consumers] in these efforts [weight loss], consumers must be adequately informed of what realistic results, risks and costs they can expect from using these products and services.” The problem is that consumers are not always informed.

    A coalition of the Partnership wants mainstream media to demand proof of advertising claims before they accept ad copy. The intent of this and other similar strategies is to create media responsibility. Nice idea, but the dollars speak louder than voluntary responsibility. Call me cynical, but I have little faith that media will do the right thing.

    Look to consumer advocacy groups for information. You might find what you need to make an informed decision. However, there are still a number of products claiming to do what they ultimately can’t. My advice is to steer clear of the “it’s too good to be true” products because they probably are. Instead, find hospital-based, university-linked programs that have a commitment to scientific discovery and data. Follow the research before you jump on a bandwagon. Otherwise, you’ll have end up like Sandy with a closet full of wishful thinking.

  • Say NO to Cultural Pressure to be Thin

    It’s that dreaded moment. You slip off your shoes (that’s at least two pounds), your jacket (another pound), your watch (few ounces) and step on the scales. You don’t want to look because you know you are retaining water. Besides, the doctor scales are always off a good five pounds. Then, the nurse loudly announces the number as if it’s no big deal. You wish it wasn’t but it is!

    No matter how emotionally healthy we are, we still obsess about our weight. What woman doesn’t want to lose another five pounds?  How many of us lie about weight on our driver’s license? Weight matters, especially to women. In fact, 75% of us think we are too fat.

    Few of us look like the Sports Illustrated swimsuit models yet we spend billions of dollars on weight loss products and magical cures for obesity. Why are we so consumed with dieting? One reason is the media. We are bombarded by images of glamor and beauty constantly-TV, movies, magazines, and advertisements. Even standing in line at the grocery store, we stare at tabloids promising to melt the fat from our thighs like wax.

    With all our emphasis on thinness, 34 million Americans are overweight and 11 million suffer from eating disorders. The average American woman is five feet four inches tall, 144 pounds and a size 12. Compare that to the average model, five feet eight inches tall, 110 pounds and a size two. When you look at the model and then in the mirror, it’s easy to be depressed.

    The cultural pressure to be thin is so intense that nine-year-old girls are dieting and teen plastic surgery is on the rise. Thousands of dollars are spent on shaping, cutting, stapling and lopping off parts of the female body. Girls and women are highly influenced by media images and the media knows this.

    So how can you resist the million-dollar brainwash of the media all around you?

    Become outraged. Speak up about the negative effects media has on women and girls. Write letters to editors of magazines and tell them we’ve had enough.

    · Remember media pictures are often airbrushed and computer altered.

    · Listen to your daughters as they talk about their bodies and unrealistically compare them to the Barbies in their rooms. Correct their thinking to a healthier view of the female body.

    · Refuse to be a part of  the cultural obsession with thinness by complaining about your looks, comparing your body to glamour types and constantly dieting. It is one thing to take care of your body and another to obsess about looks.

    · Stop waiting to be thin. Work on the total person now.

    · Recognize that true beauty is inward, not a manufactured facade. God looks at the heart. Our bodies are mere temples that will pass away some day.

    · Don’t fall in love with products that promise you happiness. Only a relationship with God brings true happiness. There is no magic product or pill.

    · Expose yourself and your daughter to healthy images of women and girls.

    · Determine to be healthy. Focus on good eating habits and nutrition.

  • Dying to Be Thin

    Most women hate their bodies. Compared to women who grace magazine covers, books, CDs, movies, TV… well there is no comparison! The average model is 5’8”, wears a size 2 and weighs 110 pounds. This hardly approximates the average American women at 5’4”, size 12 and 144 pounds. For all our feminist protest, we still define ourselves by our bodies. Thin is in but hard to achieve. The desire to be thin is one reason why the diet industry is fueled by billions of dollars.

    We’ve been duped by a media strategy that vilifies fat people and convinces girls at the age of nine that they need to diet. The media’s role is huge but the media have partners–the food, diet, fashion, beauty and health care-industries. All dangle the thin carrot. We swallow it, even if it means possible death.

    Something has to change. Someone needs to protest. All of us need to stop spending money on magical cures that promise the moon and deliver nothing. This is getting dangerous.  People are being hurt.

    Kim found herself using her last bit of savings to go on yet another fad diet. This diet was expensive and beyond her budget. I was moved by the desperation in Kim. Despite her repeated failure on several other programs and the depletion of her savings, she was willing to try again. My advice to Kim was stop dieting. She didn’t need the debt or another failure.

    Kim isn’t alone. It’s time for all of us to stop dying to be thin! Check the statistics of any diet claim. If there are no statistics, be suspicious and don’t spend your money. Understand the risks involved with any diet aid or product. Consumers drive the market. If you stop buying the products, businesses will stop manufacturing them. Check with consumer advocacy groups who review these products and services. Let’s stop the mindless collusion with our culture’s idolatry of the body.

  • Addicted to Work?

    If you work to avoid negative emotional states such as anxiety and depression, perhaps work has taken on an addictive quality.

    In a state of frustration, Rachel recounted her life. “It’s like I married my alcoholic father. Not a day goes by in which my husband spends less than 12 hours on some assignment related to work. When we vacation, he says he wants to rest but I always find him secretly working on his lap top. At night, he steals away to the quiet of his at-home office until wee hours of the morning. After a few hours of sleep, he’s up and traveling to the real office job. I don’t see him until 8:00 pm. By then the kids are in bed. He grabs a bite to eat and the cycle starts all over again. There is something terribly wrong here. Can a person be addicted to work?”

    In the same way a drug addict uses pot or an alcoholic downs booze, work can have an anesthetizing effect on negative emotions. Yes, people do use work to escape and avoid unpleasant emotional states. But because hard work is so sanctioned in our society, it is an addiction often minimized. But the fall out for the family can be just as devastating.

    Our once sacred days of rest have vanished as malls and superstores stay open during Shabbot and Sundays. Technology invades our home life. Solicitors assault us during the dinner hour. And the boundary between work and home is blurred by pagers, faxes, cell phones and computers. This instant communiqué turns our play to work and our home fronts to alternate work sites.

    Workaholism is real. But how do you know if you are simply a hard worker or a workaholic? Ask yourself these questions:

    · Do you view work as a haven rather than a necessity or obligation?

    · Does work obliterate all other areas of your life?

    · Can you make the transition from the office to the Little League game without guilt and constant thinking of what you        need to do?

    · Do you have work scattered all over your home?

    · Do you regularly break commitments to family and friends because of deadlines and work commitments?

    · Do you get an adrenaline rush from meeting impossible deadlines?

    · Are you preoccupied with work no matter what you do?

    · Do you work long after your co-workers are finished?

    If your answers are “Yes” to most of these questions, it’s time to reevaluate your love for work and cut back. Workaholism can bring emotional estrangement and withdrawal in your relationships. In the worse case, it can even lead to separation and divorce.

    Children of workaholics learn they are valued for their achievements and often lack parent attention. They have high levels of depression and tend to take on parenting roles similar to those in alcoholic homes.

    If you think you may be a workaholic, acknowledge the problem. Then, begin making small changes that limit work hours. Pay attention to other parts of life like your family, spirituality, play, friends, etc. Vow to spend more time doing other things and do them. Talk to your family about balance and determine ways to be more involved. Turn off electronics when you come home and be unavailable for certain hours of the day. Leave the office at a reasonable time even if your work isn’t perfect or completely finished.

    Don’t downplay the negative effects workaholism plays in your life. Even though you may be rewarded at the work place for your obsessive efforts, your family needs you, not more work. And as the well-known saying goes, “I’ve never met a dying person who regretted not spending more time at the office!”

  • Stressed? Take a Deep Breath and Relax!

    If you, like millions of Americans, feel stressed out and in need of a long vacation you can’t afford to take, don’t sweat it. There is a lot you can do to de-stress yourself.  Keep in mind that the opposite of tension and stress is relaxation. Relaxation comes in many forms. Sometimes it has to be learned and practiced.

    For example, if you grew up in a home with an alcoholic or abusive parent you may not even realize that your body has carried physically tension for years. Alcoholic/abusive parents can create uptight kids. Kids never know when the alcoholic/abuser will be available, angry, critical, physical, kind or calm. This unpredictable pattern creates a tense child–always waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. Tension becomes a learned state of living. Many of these adult children       need to teach their bodies how to relax.

    Let’s begin with an easy way to learn to relax. Before you begin, try to rate the level of tension in your body from zero (no tension– you are probably dead) to 100 (this much tension will kill you).

    Take deep breaths – When you are tense, breathing often becomes short and rapid. It tends to originate in the chest. Some people even hyperventilate which can lead to panic. Breathing should come from the abdomen, not the chest. If you are unsure, place your hand on your abdomen, take a breath and see if your hand moves. If you don’t feel an in and out motion, chances are you are breathing from your chest and throat.

    When you concentrate on taking deep, slow breathes, you supply more oxygen to the brain and muscle system. You stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms you. Taking deep breaths can help you clear your mind. Try to concentrate on your body. Try to inhale slowly through the nose and let the air go down low. Pause and slowly exhale through your nose or mouth.

    Do this over and over, about 10 times. When you practice deep breathing three or four times a day, you will catch yourself breathing incorrectly and teach your body to breathe correctly. The good thing about this form of relaxation is that it is free, easy to do and can be done anywhere. You can be in the middle of a crowd, start feeling tense and take a number of deep slow breaths to calm down. Or you can be alone in the house and practice.

    After you have practiced this exercise a few times, rate the level of tension in your body again on that 0-100 scale. The number should be lower. If not, you need more practice. The more often you sense stress in your body, the more you can apply this technique. So next time you feel tension creeping into your body, take a deep breath and relax!