I was browsing around the internet this morning and came across a new diet tried – the HCG Diet. HCG? Does that sound familiar? It should. It’s the hormone women produce when they are pregnant.

Eesh.

Apparently, “Taking HCG while going on a very low calorie diet can help you lose weight.”

Well no duh! Anyone who goes on an VLCD (very low calorie diet) is going to lose weight. It’s as simple as that. You can exercise, not exercise, call your mother, cut your hair or sing show tunes for all you want, you will lose weight.

You also might lose your gallbladder, like I did when I went on a VLCD.

So barring the VLCD side, barring the fact that they don’t know how it works just that it works, barring wondering what the heck this will do to screw up birth control pills, barring the whole thing that a lot of people just eat too much…

HCG is a hormone. Argh! Let’s just go ahead and let your body think your pregnant so you can lose some weight. (WHAT?) Let’s just give men a hormone that is produced when a female is pregnant. Let’s just see how their testicles like that.

Ugh.

I’m not innocent. I watched the video. I thought about it. I wanted it to be true. But then logic came knocking and I invited it in with open arms.

Yes, it’s easy for me to say because the scale is finally headed back in the right direction and I’m nourishing my body rather than trying to beat it into submission… but really. HCG? Seriously?

When I grew up, my first doubts of the ‘health experts’ came when I noticed that about every few years or so, ‘they’ would decide that eggs were good. Or bad. Or good again. Or bad for your cholesterol. Or good for your heart. Or bad again.

Not even a teenager yet, I decided that the experts on eggs were obviously a bit full of it and I would have to decide on my own whether I would eat eggs.

Now ‘the experts’ have me on a rage again.

When I was a kid, having three solid meals a day plus (maybe) one healthy snack after school was the way to go. For kids. Adults could skip the snack. Then, around when I became a teenager, a marvelous new way to eat emerged: grazing! Grazing was much healthier, as it kept the blood sugar steady through the day, made for less overeating and was all in all a good thing. That feeling has lasted quite a while… until now.

I receive a weekly PCOS newsletter. In the last newsletter, the “experts” have now determined that three meals a day really is the way to go and that grazing can actually harm your system rather than stabilizing it. If you don’t actually have a blood sugar problem, then your system is fine with regulating blood sugar and grazing could keep your organs working overtime.

This all makes sense, of course. But it pisses me off!

How long will it take this time until grazing is back in the good graces of ‘the experts’? Can I expect a reversal of this ‘discovery’ in, oh, five or ten years? Probably. And I’m sick of it. I realise that we learn new things every day – and that is beautiful. But when you’re messing with people’s health, you should have your bloody facts straight before making announcements, okay? Make a decision, research it thoroughly and then stick with it. Quit letting the people who fund your projects determine your outcome.

Screw you, experts. Screw all your flip-flopping, so-called expertise that can’t be relied upon anymore than a hole-filled umbrella in a hurricane. Screw you all. I’m done listening, I’m done following your advice.

I’ll eat what I know is good. I’ll eat when I’m hungry. Simple as that.

On a funnier note:

Today I went to the shops for my lunch break to get some sushi. Of course, being the week before Easter, it was packed. (Easter is not Christmas people! Half of you don’t even believe in the religion that celebrates the day!) At one end of the food court, the people from the gym were taking advantage of the crowds and giving away gym deals.

As much as I tried to keep up my ‘zoned out shopper’ face, one guy practically walked into me to get my attention.

I said, “No thanks, I have an elliptical at home.”

He nodded knowingly but almost seemed to pout at the fact that you can’t argue someone who already has gym equipment into a gym membership.

Just then some blond little chickie practically bounces over and hands me a chocolate Easter egg.

“Take one of these!”

Then she ‘bounces’ away.

I look down at it and can’t help but think: “Yes, get me fatter because my elliptical at home won’t be enough! I’ll have to get a gym membership!”

Of course that wasn’t the case, but come on. You’re a gym! Promoting health and all that? You’re handing out chocolate? (And they were decent sized ones too, not those measly little bullet pieces of fake chocolate crap.)

I know carrot sticks wouldn’t have gone over that well, but try giving away meal on the go bars or granola bars. Something at least dancing under the mask of being healthy. Chocolate? Come on.

Your PR section is crap people! CRAP!

I am one of those people who, when faced with a problem, will Google her heart out for information. Before my gallbladder surgery, I was looking for all sorts of alternatives.

The alternatives failed, but I am damn glad I at least gave them a go.

Now I am looking around for general info from people about living life after having your gallbladder removed. My diet was pretty low-fat before all this anyway, so I’m not worried about that side. I’m more curious about the long term.

If anything – anything – makes me angry in all my research before and after, it’s people.

Seriously, what the hell do you think you are doing eating the exact things that set you off before your surgery afterward?!

Getting your gallbladder removed is not some free pass to be a complete ass to your body. Eating crappy stuff is very likely what got you on the operating table in the first place!

Ugh! It’s disgusting! I read about people who, not even a week out of surgery, are eating Philly cheese steaks and greasy pepperoni pizzas.

(BTW, dairy, meat, and anything spicy are all no-nos before and after surgery if you have gallbladder problems.)

I’m not sure what it is that makes me so angry. Maybe it’s the obvious abuse of the body? Or maybe I’m just pissed off because I was working so hard to be healthy when this happened to me where other people have no regard for their bodies or what got them there in the first place.

Either way, it pisses me off.

Wake up! If your gallbladder going off wasn’t enough of a wakeup call for you, then what is it going to take? What’s going to be sacrificed next?

/rant