So, you tried the Grapefruit diet and decided you needed a bit more variety in your life. Or maybe you thought the cabbage soup diet was pretty keen but you were tired of passing gas all the time. Perhaps you got sick of bacon and cheese and broke down after three months on the Atkins diet.
No worries, my friends, we have a new diet for you.
The Twinkie diet.
I’m totally serious here.
Orexigen, a San Diego based pharmaceutical company, announced on Monday that a new drug designed to help patients overcome obesity had passed three clinical trials and was now one step closer to FDA approval.
Contrave combines buproprion and naltrexone, two drugs used to combat a variety of mental afflictions such as depression and addiction, to reduce food cravings in obese patients. Instead of attempting to create feelings of fullness the drug works to curve the desire to eat simply as a reward or to feel better.
With all the talk coming out of Washington these days about health care, and specifically the impact that obesity has an our rising health care costs as a nation, it is not difficult to imagine a time when our elected officials may see fit to try and regulate our waist lines. We’ve written here about several incidents where the government has seemed to do just that. From taxing sugary soft drinks to removing a morbidly obese child from his Mothers care, several states have taken a very hands-on approach to dealing with obesity. With those kind of precedents being set it is only a matter of time before slippery slope logic dictates we will have some kind of federal intervention into our daily caloric intake.
Contrary to popular belief, though, not everything that comes out of Washington, D.C. is going to be the equivalent of the next $400 hammer. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that the federal government is taking a closer look at what can be done about the obesity epidemic in America, and one doctor has outlined a plan that could really make a significant difference without infringing on our personal freedoms.
If there is any one console on the market today that has the greatest potential for helping video game fans get in shape it would have to be the Nintendo Wii. The interactive nature of the motion detecting controllers practically forces you to actually get up and move while playing many of the popular games available on that system (I mean, you COULD sit on the couch while playing Tennis in Wii Sports, but that might just make you a toolbox). Nintendo took the fitness potential of the Wii one step further back in 2007 with the release of Wii Fit and the game buying public couldn’t get enough of it. The game and balance board combination was so popular that one creative individual came up with a website just to track when and where it was available. Soon similar games followed, including one from fitness expert Jillian Michaels (of The Biggest Loser fame).
We here at ShrinkGeek are not scientists. We are not doctors. The closest we come to being official “health experts” would be our resident personal trainer, Rob, and he is the first person who will point out he is not a dietician. Much of the advice that we give here is based strictly on our own personal experience and the struggles we have had dealing with our own health and fitness issues. Whether you agree with us or not I can promise that you’ll never see us make a claim or give advice that is in any way based on anything but what we truly believe is the healthiest option available.
Those humble statements aside, it’s really nice to have folks with fancy letters behind their names confirm one of your core beliefs.
I’ve been struggling with this particular post for a while now. Technically? I’ve been struggling with it for about six months. As I said in my introductory post the other day I came up with the idea for ShrinkGeek over a year and a half ago, but we’ve had an actual blog running as a testing ground since November of last year. During that whole time it was always understood that at some point we’d all write an introductory post about ourselves for those of you who come to the blog that don’t know who we are already.
As I’ve tossed and turned ideas for this post around in my head I’ve tried to decide where exactly I wanted to go with it. Do I talk about my geek cred or my experience as a blogger? Do I mention the fact that I’m an actor? Do I bring the fact that I’m a parent into the mix? What about my career? Is the fact that I’m an I.T. Professional relevant to what I have to say here? Do people want to know why I reject the term nerd and embrace the term geek? Should I keep it short and sweet or is this going to be a post of epic length?
Am I worrying about this too much?
Eventually I just decided to sit down and start writing, and as I’ve been doing so I’m reminded of the way that Hollis Mason started “Behind the Mask” in Watchmen – Start with the saddest thing you know. Since this is a health and fitness blog I figure I’ll start with the saddest thing I know of in my own life that fits that criteria.
In the year 2000, when I was 27 years old, I had two strokes.
In January of 2008 I sent out an email to several of my friends. In that email I mentioned the fact that there weren’t any fitness sites that I was aware of that really targeted the Geek crowd and that, as Geeks who were somewhat experienced in that field, we should do something about that.
I may or may not have mentioned making money in the process. I’m kinda fuzzy on that part. I’ve been subequently told by that my business model of “I come up with a really good idea and people give me lots of money” was missing a few steps.
I thought it was a good plan, really.