Oregon Daily Emerald
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
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The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub
lished daily Monday through Fn
day during the school year by the
Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing
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gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald
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■ In my opinion
Fruitless fad diets
Just in time for New Year’s resolu
tions, an article published in the An
nals of Internal Medicine last week
finds little to no scientific evidence to
support the claims made by popular
dieting programs.
The review of 10 diet programs
found that only Weight Watchers could
provide scientific data to back up the
claims that its program leads to any
maintainable weight loss — and even
then, the results were unimpressive.
The authors of the study say a lack
of scientific data does not mean these
diets don’t work — just that no one
has been able to prove that they do.
“There are no data on weight loss
when you go to a health club either,”
said study co-author Dr. Thomas Wad
den of the University of Pennsylvania
in a New York Daily News article.
So basically there is no scientific
data to suggest that significant, main
tainable weight loss is possible. How
ever, there is no shortage of scientific
evidence detailing the severe health
risks of obesity. Cancer, diabetes,
arthritis, hypertension and heart dis
ease are just some of the side effects
of the widening of America.
America’s $43 billion-a-year obses
sion with weight loss is not merely an
attempt to live up to some superficial
| concept of beauty — it’s motivated by
I serious health concerns. There’s a
healthy middle ground between Cal
ista Flockhart and Rosie O’Donnell
that over half of all Americans have
; not achieved.
This is a complicated problem with
no simple solution. Fad diets add to
the problem by propagating the lie that
there is a magic solution for weight
loss. If you don’t eat bread you’ll be
thin as a rail. If you drink a milkshake
for breakfast, you’ll drop three dress
sizes. If you eat gourmet TV dinners,
you’ll be skinny beyond your wildest
GABE BRADLEY
THE WRITING ON THE WALL
dreams. This seemingly endless cycle
of failed fad dieting breeds a failure
mentality that can lower self esteem,
reducing the chance of. success for fu
ture dieting programs. This vicious cy
cle probably helps explain why obesity
and depression have been linked in
some studies.
Interestingly, the people who most
seem to buy into a silver bullet theory
of weight loss are those insensitive
people who’ve never had to deal with
the issue themselves. “Why don’t
these fatties just get on a treadmill?”
goes the argument. From a purely
cause-and-effect point of view, limit
ing intake and increasing exercise will
lead to weight loss. But understanding
the behaviors that can lead to weight
loss is only half the story.
Millions of Americans know that
they should eat less and exercise more,
but they don’t. Where’s the disconnect?
Certainly these people aren’t hurting for
lack of knowledge — they are deluged
with information. Overweight people
don’t need more information or con
trols on their eating and exercise behav
iors — they need help and support in
order to integrate the personal values
that motivate healthy behaviors.
Any weight loss program that mere
ly tries to control behavior (don’t eat
this, don’t eat that) is fighting the
problem blindly. Perhaps that’s one
reason why Weight Watchers, which
uses support groups as an integral
part of its program, has been as suc
cessful as it has.
People trapped in an unhealthy re
lationship with food create an envi
ronment that rewards and encourages
their behavior. The challenge for those
struggling to lose weight is not merely
to eat less and exercise more, but to
identify and eliminate the ways in
which they set up payoffs for their un
healthy behavior.
This process is difficult because it
takes emotional maturity for people to
honestly evaluate their lifestyles, to
look at the role food plays in how they
deal with their emotions and then
make real changes. Far more tempting
is the lie that one can achieve the
same results by eating a Big Mac sans
bun. This is why people trying to
make major changes in their lives
need support and mentorship.
This is especially true because we
are surrounded by a culture that en
courages gross overconsumption. We
have microwave burritos that won’t fit
in most microwaves. We drink soda
by the bucket. Portion sizes increase
while activity levels decrease.
If this study tells us anything about
weight loss, it’s that we can give up
the guru search. There is not now, nor
will there ever be, a magic eating plan
that will instantly lead to weight loss.
Your weight loss guru should always
be your doctor.
However, I will give props to my
man Dr. Phil who talks about getting
into the right head space to experience
successful weight loss in his book,
“The Ultimate Weight Loss Solution.”
At least he is willing to recognize that
the solution is more complicated than
simply giving up bagels and getting
these fatties on a treadmill.
gabebradley@dailyemerald.com
INBOX
False anti-Semitism
accusations mislead public
When civil liberties are limited by the
federal government, academia often is
an early target. So it is logical to ask on
this campus: from what does “academ
ic freedom” have to be protected? The
threats never have been more pro
nounced than today, according to a re
cent Associated Press article. The arti
cle suggested higher education is facing
a simultaneous effort by a loose coali
tion of attackers — politically conserva
tive extremists, Christian fundamental
ists and Israeli lobbyists.
Many of us safe in the shelter of
Oregon mistakenly identify such crit
ics as “cranks.” They supposedly are
all “out there somewhere,” as in the
case of discredited New York Post
columnist Daniel Pipes. He wrongly
accused University instructor Doug
Card of teaching anti-Semitism in his
sociology classes.
Some of us are awakening to the un
happy reality that Pipes clones are alive
and flourishing in our midst. I faced it
when an out-of-control University pro
fessor screamed at me during a public
reception, “You dirty anti-Semite!”
There was something about me she did
not know: I twice have published com
mentaries in defense of exploited Jews.
The anti-Semitism issue at the
University serves as a microcosm of the
broader threat. Pipes exploited propa
ganda value by getting Card to publicly
condemn anti-Semitism, as if the pro
fessor harbored secret views to the con
trary. He also got him to condemn pro
fessors who use their classrooms to
promote anti-Semitism, as if that were
some common cancer on the campus.
This allowed Pipes to mislead the
public about alleged anti-Semitism by
college teachers. That fits in with what
I've observed of Pipes’ efforts to create
a culture of suspicion in society, stem
ming from instructions given nation
wide for letters-to-the-editor to be writ
ten to label anyone who criticizes
policies of Israel as anti-Semitic.
A related controversy now involves
the Pacifica Forum on the University
campus. A year ago, one of our guests
went to our sponsor, the Wesley Foun
dation, accusing Pacifica of having anti
Semitic programs. We were asked by
the Foundation to find another location.
Pacifica was given no opportunity to
confront its accuser. Whether or not the
charge was unfounded, the sponsor
wished to risk no “complications,” and
Pacifica had to leave.
It returned to campus to meet on
Fridays in the Erb Memorial Union, a
privilege given because the Survival
Center generously gave nominal spon
sorship to Pacifica. Within weeks, the
accuser confronted the student board
of the Center with the same ground
less charges. The Center reacted with
out exploring with Pacifica the validity
of the complaint. When Pacifica was
granted a brief meeting with the
board, the students said their decision
was based on a Pacifica exhibit pam
phlet which suggested some Jews
were guilty of self-victimization.
Did Pacifica endorse that claim? Or
was it in the exhibit to illustrate demo
nizing of Jews, which Pacifica oppos
es? The Center will never know, be
cause it did not ask. It was reacting to
intimidation. The facts made no dif
ference. There was no smallness on
the part of the sponsors in evicting
Pacifica Forum. There was fear — fear
of further pressure from a tiny minori
ty who allege discrimination even in
the absence of provocation.
The strategy is to reject dialogue, a
means fine-tuned by the propaganda
of Pipes and his fellows who seek to
insulate Israel from criticism coming
from any source. Professor Card and
the Pacifica Forum are among local
victims of that panic-mongering. The
true victim is freedom of expression
made voiceless when attacked with
the weapon of fear by those with self
serving motives.
George Beres lives in Eugene
■ Editorial
Punishments justified
for sloppy journalists
CBS News announced Monday that it fired
four employees who were involved in an erro
neous story aired during the presidential cam
paign on “60 Minutes” about President Bush’s
National Guard service.
The story contained several factual errors, re
lied on questionable sources and was based on
documents whose authenticity was dubious at
best. An independent panel found that the “my
opic zeal” of the producers to be the first to
break an important story in the heated election
season played a big part in the decision to go on
the air with such a thinly constructed and bare
ly fact-checked report.
The Emerald applauds CBS News for taking a
stand against sloppy journalism. In light of the
recent Armstrong Williams scandal, certain
pundits have suggested that the liberal media is
attacking Armstrong merely for his conser
vatism. But sub-standard journalistic practices
should be punished regardless of the ideologi
cal bent of the particular offender. CBS News
made the right choice to ax not only the pro
ducer of the piece but the executives who were
supposed to supervise it.
With major falsification scandals taking place
at the nation’s most well-read and well-respect
ed newspapers, journalistic credibility is in seri
ous trouble in this country. News organizations
must draw a hard line against unduly biased,
sloppy or uninformed journalism.
Television romance
not always fictional
News organizations around the world took
a break from covering the tsunami disaster in
order to cover another, much less important,
disaster: the end of Brad Pitt and Jennifer
Aniston’s marriage. Normally the Emerald
board wouldn’t dignify this story with a re
sponse, but in this case, the break-up of Holly
wood’s golden couple has shined a spotlight
on the pressures of modern relationships —
pressures many college couples must deal
with as well.
Tabloids are reporting that Aniston’s desire
to focus on her acting career didn’t jive with
Pitt’s desire to start a family, and that was the
crux of the couple’s falling out. It is a case of
life imitating art (or, more accurately, life imi
tating a network situation comedy): Aniston’s
character, Rachel, in the hit show “Friends”
broke up with the show’s central character,
Ross, in part because of their difficulty balanc
ing careers and dating.
When both partners have separate careers,
even living in the same time zone can be diffi
cult, especially for couples in the Pacific
Northwest who don’t want to move to New
York or Los Angeles. To avoid the stress and
strain of a long-distance relationship, one
partner usually has to compromise. And this
can be the beginning of the end for a couple.
The last sitcoms of cultural importance,
“Friends” and “Seinfeld,” were popular be
cause they unveiled the dysfunction and con
fusion in our modern search for love without
moralizing about the decline of traditional
values. At the end of the day, we learned a
pragmatic lesson from these shows: It is al
most impossible to have it all. Relationships
demand sacrifice, whether that means delay
ing a career or delaying parenthood. A couple
where neither partner is willing to compro
mise is doomed to fail eventually.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
David Jagemauth
Editorial Editor
Steven R. Neuman
Managing Editor
Gabe Bradley
Freelance Editor
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