Biggest winners

I was shocked when I saw the TV show, "The Biggest Loser." These people were competing through weight loss, and it was astonishing to see people distraught over only losing 2 or 3 pounds in a week. Healthy weight loss is one pound a week. These people are losing 5 to 10. Healthy weight loss represents a change in lifestyle. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

But even worse was that these folks were crying and feeling horrible about not losing enough weight. Losing weight and being healthy should be a positive, happy thing. It shouldn't be about feeling bad.

One of my patients was upset that in 3 months, she had only lost 5 lbs. but I was happy for her. "If you lose 5 lbs every 3 months, that's 20 lbs a year. You keep it up!" Those are the folks who are winning, nickel and diming their way to better health.

The post where I lose all my credibility

I was contacted by a viral advertising company regarding the recent release of the St. Elsewhere Season One DVD. I was asked to put up a banner or a DVD review or a link or some such, as I had previously expressed that I liked St. Elsewhere on this blog.

My opinion of viral advertising is not a good one. I think that generating a fake grass roots kind of buzz is a little blah, and it is a big knock to my credibility if I am going to put up links and such for product placement. And I have just (only a few hours ago!) posted on how I think that doctors as a profession are selling out to big pharma.

But I have to admit, I liked St. Elsewhere. And maybe this is tincture of time painting a rosy picture on my memories, but I thought it was more truthful to the spirit of medicine, like Scrubs is, and like ER was when it started, or like M*A*S*H.

And I think that St. Elsewhere deserves a new audience, but maybe that's selfish of me. So anyway, here is the link that was provided to me for the St Elsewhere DVD. Feel free to follow as you like. You should know that I was offered a copy of the season 1 DVD gratis for my troubles. I have not yet decided to take them up on this offer. I realize that sounds trite.