CACA Winner – David L. Katz, MD

REMEMBER: The CACA is all about what I/we don’t understand.  It does not suggest that the person, product or service is in any way dishonest, untruthful, scamming, etc.  It simply acknowledges that I/we do not understand how it is scientifically correct, honest, truthful, logical or legit.  By submitting someone or something for a CACA or awarding to someone or something a CACA, we are admitting our own shortcomings, not theirs. 

I cannot vouch for the current existence of any quotes or images I present in a CACA plea for help in understanding.  For example, websites change and people may remove things that are revealed to be wrong, mistaken, etc.  However, all images and quotes did exist at one time.

I do not get this David Katz guy.

I am beginning to think that he is a healthcare ho.

“If dieting worked, there would be a bunch of skinny people walking around,” said obesity researcher Dr. David Katz, head of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center…” From “Dieting most always fails in the long run,” published 04-22-07, available at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18260925/ (accessed June 20, 2007)

 Yet he has authored diet books and endorsed others. In fact, it was this endorsement thing that got me thinking about awarding Katz his very own CACA. More about this later.

You might recall that David Katz is the Yale MD sick care person who is a follower of Jorge Cruise. Though an Associate Professor Adjunct in Public Health Practice at the Yale School of Public Health, he was not smart enough to know that Yale, his own institution, never endorsed their 3-Hour Diet scheme, despite the fact that he and the other Jo made the claim.

POINT (or David's and Jorge's lie)

COUNTERPOINT (or Yale's truth)

Show me who your friends are and I will show you who you are.

Who do you think Katz is?

First, let's look at what he had to say about Cruise in the Foreword to Jorge's and his book:

"Jorge Cruise understands weight control. He knows that losing weight quickly is relatively easy, but that gaining it back with interest just as quickly is both predictable and devastating. He knows a fad diet when he sees one.

In fact, the one word I would choose to represent my friend and colleague to you is understanding. Jorge will guide you to both weight loss and lasting weight control with an incomparable wealth of understanding. He has done his homework, so he understands human metabolism. He understands the science of nutrition, the fundamentals of physiology. But what really sets Jorge apart is that he understands you! He communicates regularly with several million clients at www.JorgeCruise.com. He gets insight and feedback from the more than twenty-three million he advises on nutrition at America Online. He has been everywhere, talked to everyone, and listened with genuine interest, concern, and rare empathy. Jorge understands weight loss.

The 3-Hour Diet ^tm is the product of that understanding. This book will unquestionably help you lose weight and keep it off, because it is written by somebody who understands what it takes to get that job done. (emphasis in the original) Jorge knows that cutting out whole categories of food from your diet can't last. Most of us rebel against such restrictions, and pay the price when we do. He knows as well that even if restrictive fad diets could be maintained, they would still be a bad idea, because they are at odds with health. Jorge will guide you to weight loss, but not at the price of your health.

In The 3-Hour Diet ^tm, Jorge places a primary emphasis on the timing of food intake. This is a powerful insight. Eating in accord with this plan offers both physiological and psychological benefits. You will never need to be hungry, so there is no sense of deprivation. You do not need to jettison whole categories of food to get calories under control. By spreading food out in frequent meals and snacks, you lower insulin levels, reducing the tendency to make body fat. The plan is even designed to help maximize your body muscle without exercise.

If I may have two words to describe Jorge, then I would add caring to understanding. Jorge Cruise doesn't just understand how to help you lose weight. He cares about how you get there!

Because of this caring, Jorge will not resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention. If you want to lose a pound a day, look elsewhere. Jorge is courageous enough to say - quite correctly - that you should not be losing more than two pounds a  week if you want your weight loss to be both safe and permanent. Jorge is also honest and correct in acknowledging that calories count, and all arguments to the contrary are smoke and mirrors.

Jorge Cruise has built The 3-Hour Diet ^tm on a foundation of deep understanding and genuine caring. To that can be added one more vital ingredient: experience. As you may already know, Jorge lived through, and nearly died from, his own struggles with weight and health. Yet he turned this situation around so thoroughly that he is now a role model of health and fitness for us all. Jorge is not sending you off to parts unknown; he is inviting you to follow a trail he has dutifully blazed.

The unique understanding, caring, and experience of Jorge Cruise come together in The 3-Hour Diet ^tm. This book is a gift you can and should give yourself if lasting weight control eludes you. And if you are one of those rare individuals who has your own weight fully under control - congratulations! Give this book as a gift to someone you love so they can get there, too!

The 3-Hour Diet ^tm is sensible and simple, practical and powerful, innovative yet intuitive. In the challenging quest for lifelong weight control, there are few who can guide us with the understanding, caring, and experience of Jorge Cruise. In The 3-Hour Diet ^tm, Jorge has paved the way to a healthier, happier, slimmer you. Follow it. In this excellent book, he is extending to you his sure and steady hand. Take it!

Now a more careful look at just some of what he had to say about Cruise in the Foreword to Jorge's and his book (quotes from the Foreword are in red). Some other stuff, like their timing crap, are dealt with here and here.:

"Jorge Cruise understands weight control."

True Fact - “The human body functions in accord with the laws of thermodynamics. If total food Calories exceed daily energy expenditure, excess Calories accumulate and store as fat in adipose tissue.” “Weight loss occurs whenever energy output exceeds energy intake regardless of the diet’s macronutrient mixture, reaffirming the first law of thermodynamics.” From McArdle WD, Katch FI, Katch VL: Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance (5th Ed.). Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins (2001):840

Katz's and Cruise's bull (denial of the Laws of Thermodynamics) - “There is a popular nutritional axiom that goes like this: If the calories you eat equal the calories you burn, your weight will remain stable. If the calories you eat total more than the calories you burn, you’ll gain weight. Finally, if the calories you eat are less than what you burn, you’ll lose weight. The axiom makes sense most of the time, but it isn’t as black and white as it sounds.” From: Cruise, J. The 3-Hour Diet: How Low-Carb Diets Make You Fat and Timing Makes You Thin. New York, NY: HarperCollins 2005:85. Foreword by David L. Katz, MD, p.55.

Inescapable Conclusion - Katz and Cruise don't understand squat about weight control.

 "Jorge will guide you to both weight loss and lasting weight control with an incomparable wealth of understanding. He has done his homework, so he understands human metabolism. He understands the science of nutrition, the fundamentals of physiology."

Inescapable Conclusion - see above. Jorge and David are morons, something else or. possibly con men. You decide.

 "Because of this caring, Jorge will not resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

True Fact - see here and here for the Yale endorsement "deception or exaggerated sales" pitch.

Katz's and Cruise's bull - see here and here for the Yale endorsement "deception or exaggerated sales" pitch.

More of Katz's and Cruise's bull (could this be deceptive use of an image as a sales pitch?) - 

Then there is this compelling image.  Below the image are Jorge's own words.  I assume he means magnetic resonance imaging.  "Magnetic imaging" is more like the toy WOOLY WILLIE (or HAIRY HARRY). 

 

"Muscle loss happens on most fad diets, as shown in this cross-sections of thighs (by magnetic imaging)."  (This is Jorge's caption.)

This, Jorge’s "Secret," quite definitely says that “muscle loss = obesity.”  According to my understanding of the science, this is about as incorrect as one can be.  I would be interested in seeing the data that proves Jorge's statement.  Personally, I am sure there is none.  Still I am open to being proven wrong because this is a CACA and it is awarded because I don’t get it.  Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or greater.  That’s it.  You can be obese with muscle gain, with muscle loss or with no change in your muscle.  Muscle loss does not equal obesity. 

The other striking feature of this image is the associated caption: “Muscle loss happens on most fad diets, as shown in this cross-sections of thighs.” (Many people, especially those educated beyond grammar school, would have phrased it as “these cross-sections.”) This states unequivocally that obesity is the result of “most fad diets,” whatever a “fad diet” is (see the arrowhead).  The visitor to Jorge’s website is led to believe that the picture on the right is what happened to someone following a “fad diet” and the picture on the left resulted from following Jorge’s 3-hour scheme. 

If you visit another of Jorge’s website pages, you will see the following compelling image and caption.  The caption below contains his words.  Again, I assume he means magnetic resonance imaging.

 

"Muscle loss can begin after age 20, as shown in cross-sections of thighs (by magnetic imaging).  Only resistance training can restore youthful fat-burning muscle tissue."   (This is Jorge's caption.)

Is it me, or it this the same image as before?  Only this time it is being used to show muscle loss allegedly due to growing older.  Well which one is it?  Is the thigh on the right an allegedly obese one from following a “fad diet” (see above) or is it a thigh from being “age 40+” and having lost muscle from aging?  Is the thigh on the left from some "3-hour diet" (see above) or from being “age 20”?  

Inescapable Conclusion - Katz and Cruise do "resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

"He communicates regularly with several million clients at www.JorgeCruise.com. He gets insight and feedback from the more than twenty-three million he advises on nutrition at America Online. He has been everywhere, talked to everyone, and listened with genuine interest, concern, and rare empathy."

True Fact - According to Jorge himself, Katz's self-acknowledged "friend and colleague," “Jorge Cruise launched his weight loss career in 1998.”  This is a quote from Jorge's website which is copyrighted 1997.  Let’s assume it all began in 1997 and Jorge has “coached” merely 3 million people.  From January 01, 1997 until December 31, 2005, there have been 3,287 days (including two leap year days).  Each day has 24 hours, each hour 60 minutes, each minute 60 seconds.  From January 01, 1997 until December 31, 2005, 283,996,800 seconds will have passed.  Assuming only 3 million people and no sleep, it takes Jorge about 94.6 seconds to “coach” a client.  Once.  Possibly less since I was figuring from January 1997 through December 2005.  (http://www.jorgecruise.com/home/index.php?page=AboutUs)

Or maybe Jorge is not that busy.  His book 8 Minutes in the Morning is copyrighted 2001.  According to the back cover, by then he had “helped more than 3 million people slim down via his website www.jorgecruise.com.”  Maybe no one else has used his services since 2001.  Admittedly, more than 3 million is an open number.  But even Mickey D, whose food Jorge seemingly promotes (their logo is on his website), is diligent enough to update its numbers.  Incidentally, if we go from 1997 to 2001, the average time spent “helping” a client is about 52.5 seconds. 

Katz's and Cruise's bull - call me stupid, but I fail to see how anyone can "communicate regularly with several million clients," "get insight and feedback from (the) more than twenty-three million he advises," and  "be everywhere, talk to everyone, and listen with genuine interest, concern, and rare empathy." (minor changes made in quotes for readability)

Inescapable Conclusion - untrue and likely a "resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

"If you want to lose a pound a day, look elsewhere. Jorge is courageous enough to day - quite correctly - that you should not be losing more than two pounds a  week if you want your weight loss to be both safe and permanent. "

True Fact - Here are the official Amazon images and listing for the paperback edition of the 3-Hour Diet ^tm book: The 3-Hour Diet (TM): Lose up to 10 Pounds in Just 2 Weeks by Eating Every 3 Hours! and The 3-Hour Diet (TM) Cookbook: Lose Up To 10 Pounds In The First 14 Days. Katz is still the author of the Foreword. And the Foreword has not changed.

Katz's and Cruise's bull - 10 pounds in 2 weeks is more than "two pounds a  week" according to my calculations. This equals 71.4% of a pound per day, not quite 1 pound per day.

Inescapable Conclusion - untrue and likely a "resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention." Arguably, Katz is a scam-bag.

These are the covers of the books, see for yourself, and here is the Amazon address, read for yourself http://www.amazon.com/3-Hour-Diet-TM-Pounds-Eating/dp/0061237191/ref=sr_1_2/104-8334814-0972722?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187634427&sr=1-2 and http://www.amazon.com/3-Hour-Diet-TM-Cookbook/dp/006079318X/ref=pd_sim_b_img/104-8334814-0972722?ie=UTF8&qid=1187840636&sr=8-1: 

But, as I mentioned earlier, like at the beginning, what got me inspired to award this CACA was the whole endorsement thing.

I was looking at the Consumer Reports diet rating issue, which is grossly misinforming, and noticed that the silly Abs Diet was on the list ahead of the, IMHO, deadly YOU: On A Diet book.

So I went to the library and looked again at the stupid Abs Diet book and what did I see? The Dr. Katz ho again.

Here is what he has to say about this drivel:

"Clear, crisp, refreshingly sensible, and as entertaining as it is enlightening, The Abs Diet will reward its readers handsomely. There are few 'diet books' that I am willing to endorse; I endorse this one enthusiastically. If you have an abdomen, get this book!"

DAVID L. KATZ, M.D., director of medical studies in public health at Yale University School of Medicine and director of the Yale Prevention Research Center

This book is clearly another piece of crap. The author is David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine. He is, IMHO, another scambag liar.

Like Cruise he preaches that one pound of muscle burns 50 calories (sic) per day at rest (p. xiii), their websites look similar and he is in bed with Katz.

Zinczenko is also an alchemist. He claims he can turn fat into muscle. No one else can.

Well, no one telling the truth can.

Consumer Reports rated this bull**** even higher than You: On A Diet. This should give you an idea of both how crappy the You: On A Diet book must be and how terrible a job Consumer Reports must do when they evaluate diets.

But this CACA is  not about the Abs Diet (IMHO, con). I can save that for another CACA.

It is about Katz, who like CR, endorsed the alchemy of David Zinczenko. This should give you an idea of Katz's skills in nutrition and fitness.

In any event, when he says he endorses "few" books, I thought I would see if there were any others.

BTW, did I mention that Rodale publishes the Abs Diet? Interestingly, it also publishes Katz's Flavor Point Diet. Both on the same day, too. Could there be a connection?

Abs Diet:                "Publisher: Rodale Books (December 13, 2005)" from http://www.amazon.com/Abs-Diet-Six-Week-Flatten-Stomach/dp/1594862168/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8334814-0972722?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187842240&sr=8-1 

Flavor Point Diet:    "Publisher: Rodale Books (December 13, 2005)" from http://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Point-Diet-Delicious-Breakthrough/dp/B000QCQGPK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8334814-0972722?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187842152&sr=8-1 

Where were we? Oh, yeah. Katz also endorses, either directly or indirectly, at least two other weight loss-related books:

The Vice Busting Diet/LifeChanger Weight Loss Plan
America's Weight Loss Master Motivator brings you the...

Weight Loss Plan
that's guaranteed to change your life!

August 9th 2007 Offer!!
Use the Discount Code 'water' for $50 OFF!!

"Friends, around the country thousands have followed this weight loss plan and reached their goals...and more continue to do so. When you have the right motivation you can achieve any goal. And with the right plan, you will! In life, we all need a plan. For the most part, a plan is laid out for us before we're born - we learn, go to school, and get a job, and sometimes work our way up the ladder.

But most of us weren't taught how to live healthy, we just followed the habits and influence from those in our lives - family, friends, co-workers. Eventually, the odds are in favor of you becoming overweight. Eventually we just get lost and forget what and where a healthy lifestyle is! But the right plan will empower your life and bring you to a state of better health and happiness.

Three well-known and respected professionals comments on this weight loss plan:

 

Dr. Mehmet Oz

“Julia has walked the walk and shares her insights into how we can join her in gaining wellness through healthy weight control.”— Dr. Mehmet Oz, co-author of YOU: The Owner’s Manual and the current #1 Best-seller You: On a Diet. He is also the Discovery Health Channel's Medical Consultant and XM Radio Host of the Oprah and Friends! radio show where Julia was interviewed by Dr. Oz.

Dr. David Katz

“The advice Julia offers is eminently sensible, definitely doable, and wonderfully empowering. It is also tried and true, the basis for Julia’s own remarkable weight loss success. Healthy, vibrant and 130 lbs lighter than her former self, Julia talks about weight loss—and lasting weight control—not as a hypothetical, but as a journey she knows intimately. When you follow where Julia leads, there is no risk of losing your way, because Julia has walked every step of this walk already!”— (quote from Dr. Katz's foreword in The Vice Busting Diet book!) Dr. David Katz is an Oprah's O Magazine contributor, show guest, Author of The Flavor Point Diet" and "The Way to Eat".

 

and see here: 

http://www.newstarget.com/010265.html 

So, in addition to his own diet books, there are at least 4 other weight loss-related books he endorses in one way or another. Seems like more than "few" to me.

As near as I can tell, among other things, this guy has no idea of the fundamentals of weight loss, misrepresents endorsements, writes patently dishonest Forewords, promotes the deceptive use of images as "exaggerated sales pitches" and is still considered a leader in weight loss.

If someone out there can explain all this to me, I'd be grateful.  Until then, David L. Katz,  Associate Professor Adjunct in Public Health Practice at the Yale School of Public Health, is a CACA award winner.