This was new to me, but some of you from the early days of Lowcarb Friends may remember this, or encounters like it, between Kimmer and anyone who disagreed with her.
At that point she claimed to be:
But really she was:
Read what she had to say with that in mind:
Still Neauseous?
Dr. Briffa had an interesting post about thyroid health a few weeks ago:
Low thyroid function may be a factor in weight gain despite ‘normal’ tests
He starts with this - see if it sounds familiar to you!
When I was studying medicine I was even more cynical than I am now and so, I think, were quite a few of my friends. We had all established firmly in our minds the notion that eating few calories than the body ‘burned’ would result in weight loss, so generally had little compassion for individuals who claimed they did not overeat but still could not shift their excess weight. Also, around the time a study was published which claimed that the overweight tend to significantly underestimate the amount they eat. So, if someone claimed that they thought they had a ‘sluggish metabolism’ or had ‘a problem with their glands’ (low thyroid function) then our eyes would usually roll skywards, if not outwardly, then at least inwardly.Then you had thyroid testing and it was normal, right? Read the whole article to find out more about why normal may not be so normal after all.
...this study focused on TSH levels in the ‘normal’ range, which the researchers cite as 0.5-3.5 mlU/L. This is interesting in itself, as the lab I usually use for these tests quotes and upper limit of TSH of 4.20, and I saw a patient yesterday who came with some blood test results where the upper limit of TSH was quoted as 5.50! it seems there is a lack of consensus about what the normal range of TSH should be…
Yikes! In the end, Dr. Briffa says:Anyway, focusing back on the study, the research looked at the risk of cardiac death in a group of about 17,000 women and 8000 men over a period of something more than 8 years.
They found no significant relationship between TSH levels and cardiac death risk in men. However, in women, it was a different story. Compared to women with a TSH level of 0.5-1.4 (relatively low levels which should mean relatively high thyroid function):
Women with a TSH level of between 1.5-2.4 were found to be at a 41 per cent increased risk of cardiac death.
Women with a TSH level of between 2.5-3.5 were found to be at a 69 per cent increased risk of cardiac death.
Quite a few doctors I know express concern at the thought of someone with ‘normal’ test results taking thyroid hormone. They often cite the risk of treatment, including risks to the heart. Obviously, I think it’s a good thing that as doctors we should be aware of the risks associated with thyroid hormone treatment. I just wish more doctors would see the other side: that there can be considerable risks associated with not treating too.One of the commenters (Jackie) on the blog post shared some support resources. If you would like to learn more, check here:
I am just kidding, of course, but she did get Kimkins-like results. Check out the Katie Couric Photoshop Diet! Be sure to read the article so you can hear how she reacted when she found out this was done to her picture.
An interesting article from last year about a study that concluded that diets don’t work. You can read the whole thing here.
Here are some things that stood out for me:
"You can initially lose 5 to 10 percent of your weight on any number of diets, but then the weight comes back," said Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study. "We found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more. Sustained weight loss was found only in a small minority of participants, while complete weight regain was found in the majority. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people."
"What happens to people on diets in the long run?" Mann asked. "Would they have been better off to not go on a diet at all? We decided to dig up and analyze every study that followed people on diets for two to five years. We concluded most of them would have been better off not going on the diet at all.
"Several studies indicate that dieting is actually a consistent predictor of future weight gain," said Janet Tomiyama, a UCLA graduate student of psychology and co-author of the study. One study found that both men and women who participated in formal weight-loss programs gained significantly more weight over a two-year period than those who had not participated in a weight-loss program, she said.
Another study, which examined a variety of lifestyle factors and their relationship to changes in weight in more than 19,000 healthy older men over a four-year period, found that "one of the best predictors of weight gain over the four years was having lost weight on a diet at some point during the years before the study started," Tomiyama said.
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