The GI Diet Blog and Board

I found myself slightly amused today, logging on and finding spam in my blog inbox. Now spam isn’t anything new really, but since I’ve been writing, none of the people spamming me have been topic specific; until today.

Oh, I was getting links to Hoodia, to Xanex, to online pharmacies, to Ephedra even! What I find highly amusing is, if you ever look at these diet pill supplements (and believe me, I have and I’ve purchased them), they all say: “For best results use [enter diet pill name here ] in conjunction with a calorie-reduced diet and regular exercise program”. It kind of reminds me why I didn’t choose weight loss surgery. If I had to wait for something to happen, why not just eat better? If the pills work best with an exercise program and calorie reduce diet, then isn’t it a waste of money if I’m not eating right. And if I’m eating right, why would I need something like that?

blah. You get the picture. So, thanks for the amusement people, but really, it takes a split second to mark your comments as “spam” and be done with it.

Spam doesn’t just exist online either. In my search for a doctor where I live last, I had at least 2 doctors suggest directly or passively, the use of Xenical.

Have you ever been suggested this product? Oh, it’s a WONDER folks. No really.. .here’s the drill. First of all, Xenical is a fat blocker, but I mean, a serious fat blocker. If you consume more than 30% of fat in your diet, you’ll need to…. you’ll need to… well… you’ll need to use the washroom on a more than regular basis. So, basically, this drug is supposed to “make” you not choose fat by making you uncomfortable if you have a bad day and cheat.

The kicker with this product is, I was guaranteed by my doctor, that I’d likely lose about 10-15% of my body weight (which at the time, was about 50 lbs). This was suggested as part of a method to keep better control of my blood sugar. Then I asked the all important question to my doctor (an endocrinologist, actually) : what happens if I stop taking this pill?

“There’s a big chance you’ll gain the weight back if you do”.

Out of desparation, and with no resolve to debate this point with my doc, I took the perscription anyway. I figured, ok, fine. I’ll at least try.

I should point out, this was roughly a year after my type 2 diagnosis, with no significant weight loss. Although my primary physician suggested the GI Diet in 2002 (a program I didn’t following until 2004), my endocrinologist was the specialist that actually checked my weight and blood work on a regular basis.

Two doctors, two different recommendations. I guess you could say I took the perscription out of politeness. Later in the day, when I arrived at my pharmacist, he asked me if I was on a drug program (which I’m not). Normally I don’t sweat it. Even at over 450 lbs I was relatively healthy with no real complications resulting in a lot trips to the doctor. Far from that. So without thinking, I said, sure just give me the three month supply that’s on the script. He paused and looked up, and said: “That’s going to be $450.00″

IMAGINE! $150 / month for a FAT BLOCKER?

“Do you still want me to fill the script?”

I shook my head no, not at this time.

It was right then and there that I made a decision: I could spend $150 buying better food to cook at home, eating more protein, and avoiding the carbs. Eating more and more salads and less bread or less trips to the drive-thrus.

Three months later I went into the pharmacy for another perscription (not weight related) to be filled and asked that they take the xenical perscription off my record.

I reached a 60 lb drop in 3 months without the “help”.

Maybe you can too.