Kevin Mark Trudeau (/tru:'do?/; born February 6, 1963) is an American author, radio personality, infomercial host, salesman and convicted fraudster who has promoted various unsubstantiated health, diet and financial remedies. Several of his books, including Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, allege that both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical industry value profit over treatments or cures. He is currently incarcerated at Federal Prison Camp Montgomery, near Montgomery, Alabama, and is scheduled for release on July 18, 2022.

Trudeau's activities have been the subject of both criminal and civil action. He was convicted of larceny and credit card fraud in the early 1990s, and in 1998 he was sued by U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for making false or misleading claims in infomercials promoting his book The Weight-Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About. In 2004, he settled that action, by agreeing to pay a $500,000 fine and consenting to a lifetime ban on promoting products other than his books via infomercials. On November 29, 2011, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $37.6 million fine levied against him for violating that 2004 settlement. Additionally, on remand, the district court modified its final order, requiring that he post a $2 million bond before engaging in future infomercial advertising. In April 2013 he was reported to have filed for bankruptcy to avoid fines and stay further Federal prosecution.

In 2013, he was twice briefly jailed for continued failure to pay fines related to his conviction, pleading poverty while continuing to live a lavish lifestyle. In November 2013, Trudeau was convicted of criminal contempt and incarcerated; and on March 17, 2014, Trudeau was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Despite his imprisonment, infomercials for (and featuring) Trudeau continue to air on US television stations.

Early life

Trudeau grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts, the adopted son of Robert and Mary Trudeau. He attended St. Mary's High School in Lynn, where he was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by the class of 1981.

Career

After being incarcerated for fraud in the early 1990s, Trudeau joined a multi-level marketing firm, Nutrition for Life. The firm was successful until the Attorney General of Illinois charged that it was running a pyramid scheme. Trudeau and Nutrition for Life settled cases brought by the state of Illinois, and seven other U.S. states, for US$185,000.

Next, Trudeau produced and appeared in a series of late-night television infomercial broadcasts throughout North America. They promoted a range of products, including health aids, dietary supplements (such as coral calcium), baldness remedies, addiction treatments, memory-improvement courses, reading-improvement programs and real estate investment strategies. The FTC took regulatory action against Trudeau, alleging that his broadcasts contained unsubstantiated claims and misrepresentations. In 1998, he was fined. In 2004, he settled a contempt-of-court action arising out of the same cases by agreeing to a settlement that included both payment of a $2 million fine and a ban on further use of infomercials to promote any product other than publications protected by the First Amendment.

In 2004, Trudeau began writing books and promoting them with infomercials on U.S. television. The first book he published was a medical guide titled Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, which was published in 2005. The book was criticized for containing no natural cures. Trudeau said he was not able to include them because of threats by the FTC. The book became a bestseller selling 5 million copies.

Two years later, Trudeau published a second medical book titled More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease (ISBN 0-9755995-4-2). According to Trudeau, the book identifies brand name products that will cure myriad illnesses. Trudeau's books claim that animals in the wild rarely develop degenerative conditions like cancer or Alzheimer's disease, and that many diseases are caused not by viruses or bacteria, but rather by an imbalance in vital energy. Science writer Christopher Wanjek critiqued and rejected many of these claims in his July 25, 2006 LiveScience.com health column.

Trudeau went on to publish The Weight-Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About and Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. His writing has been commercially successful. In September 2005, Natural Cures was listed in the New York Times as the number-one-selling nonfiction book in the United States for 25 weeks. It has sold more than five million copies.

Trudeau launched a self-titled Internet radio talk show in February 2009 which also aired on several small radio stations consisting of mostly brokered programming.

Personal Life

Trudeau has been married at least three times. Little is known about his first marriage, to Oleksandra Polozhentseva, a Ukrainian immigrant. His second union, in 2007, to Kristine Dorow, a Norwegian student whom he met in London, ended in annulment after four months. In 2008 he married Natalya Babenko, another Ukrainian, who currently runs several of his former companies. She has returned to her home in Kiev, according to Trudeau.

Publications

Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About

In 2004, Trudeau self-published the book 'Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About', which aimed to provide natural cures and medical advice. The natural cures discussed in the book were for a variety of diseases. The advice centered on various forms of alternative medicine. Trudeau made a number of outstanding claims in the book that received widespread media attention. This included that the sun does not cause cancer, sunscreen is one of the major causes of skin cancer and that AIDS is a hoax.

In the year of the book's launch, Trudeau featured in a 30-minute infomercial, in which he advertised the book. A number of Internet watchdogs were said to have analyzed the transcript, with Quackwatch concluding that the claims were misleading.

After the release of the book a natural cure for Diabetes included in the book was disputed by its purported source. The book refers to research carried out on a natural cure for diabetes at the University of Calgary. When questioned about the natural remedy, the University told ABC News "there have been no human studies conducted at the University of Calgary in the past 20 years on herbal remedies for diabetes."

Rose Shapiro published a book titled Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All, in which she was critical of Trudeau's theories in his book.

After Trudeau's book achieved quick initial sales during 2005, the New York State Consumer Protection Board issued a warning saying that his book contains no actual cures. CPB Chairman Teresa A. Santiago stated that the book contents were merely "speculation". Throughout the book, readers are told that the cures they are looking for, in many cases, are available if they spend more money and subscribe to Trudeau's newsletter or his website. Both cost $71.40 per year or $499 for a "lifetime membership", an offer which was criticized by the Board. What appeared to be a back cover endorsement from former FDA commissioner Herbert Ley--who died three years before the book was written--was actually a 35-year-old quote from a New York Times interview.

More Natural Cures Revealed

Following Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, Trudeau released a second medical guide two years later. His second book was self-published as well and titled More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease.

The book is a similar publication to his first, where he purports to explain why drug and food companies hide the truth about how their products can cause disease. In More Natural Cures Revealed, Trudeau writes that workers at the FDA and FTC want to censor him and, figuratively, burn his books. Though the book received negative comments from some reviewers, it received average ratings on both Amazon and GoodReads.com.

The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About

In April 2007, Trudeau released The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About. The book describes a weight loss plan originally proposed by British endocrinologist ATW Simeons in the 1950s involving injections of human chorionic gonadotropin. The diet was criticized in 1962 by the Journal of the American Medical Association as hazardous to human health and a waste of money. In 1976, the FTC ordered clinics and promoters of the Simeons Diet and hCG to inform prospective patients that there had not been "substantial evidence" to conclude hCG offered any benefit above that achieved on a restricted calorie diet. Clinical research trials published by the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have shown that hCG is ineffective as a weight-loss aid, citing "no statistically significant difference in the means of the two groups" and that hCG "does not appear to enhance the effectiveness of a rigidly imposed regimen for weight reduction."

The FTC has filed a contempt-of-court action against Trudeau alleging that the alleged misrepresentations in the book violate a 2004 consent order.

Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About

Debt Cures was published in 2007 and has been marketed on television. Chuck Jaffee, a columnist at CBS MarketWatch, stated: "Truth be told, most of the information [in the book] is readily available in personal finance columns you can find online or in books that are readily available in your local library." Trudeau says that if readers disagree with items on their credit reports, they can dispute them as identity theft; this was the "magic cure" of the book's title.

Trudeau routinely mentions esteemed names throughout his books to extend himself creditability, such as Hazel Valera, Executive Director of the California-based non-profit organization Clear Credit Exchange, Harvard Law Professor, Elizabeth Warren, and Robert Hinsley of Consumers Defense, yet none of the mentioned were ever interviewed by Trudeau.

Your Wish Is Your Command

Published in 2009, the product says it gives tools on how to use the Law of Attraction to manifest readers' desires. The packaging also says it contains key links to using the Law of Attraction that are missing in other publications. Among the claims made in the related infomercial is Trudeau's assertion to have virtually flunked out of high school. He also says he was "taken in" by a mysterious group called "The Brotherhood" that taught him the secrets that he is now widely announcing in his book. There is also an invitation at the conclusion of the series to join a "Global Information Network," claimed to be an exclusive group of "highly influential, affluent, and freedom-orientated people from various business, social and economic sectors" who offer advice to its members. The group operates out of the country of Nevis and employs the Law of Attraction as its principal wealth generator, a concept regarded by most in the scientific community as at-best pseudoscience.

Media interviews

Trudeau has been interviewed by CNN's Paula Zahn, Matt Lauer of NBC's Today Show, and Harry Smith of CBS's The Early Show. Trudeau was also the subject of investigative reports done by Inside Edition, ABC's 20/20 and Dateline NBC. The 20/20 segment highlighted a Nightline interview with Jake Tapper in which Trudeau misrepresented the money he was forced to pay to the government, the charges filed against him and the reason the government did not follow through with charges, and claiming ignorance when the claims made in his book were called false by Tapper. Trudeau was interviewed by Jacques Peretti for the fourth episode of the series The Men Who Made Us Thin on BBC2.

Infomercials

At one time, Trudeau was a prolific producer of infomercials. He consented to an FTC ban applying to everything except publications that the FTC concluded would infringe upon his First Amendment rights. All of his subsequent infomercials advertised his books Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About and The Weight Loss Cure. Notable co-hosts included Leigh Valentine (former wife of televangelist Robert Tilton) and the late Tammy Faye Messner (the former Tammy Faye Bakker).

Pharmaceutical companies

Trudeau says that pharmaceutical companies "don't want us to get well" because curing disease is not nearly as profitable as treating it in perpetuity. According to Trudeau, the corporate profit motive overrides the human desire to truly help people.

Trudeau says that natural treatments cannot be patented and are not profitable enough to justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars in testing, so they will always lack FDA approval. Trudeau uses herpes as an example, saying that people with herpes must buy an expensive drug for the rest of their lives. He says that if there were a cheap, easy cure for herpes, the FDA and pharmaceutical companies would not want the population to know about it because corporate profits would suffer.

He cites the number of advertisements on television for prescription drugs and points out that prescription drugs should be advertised to doctors, not to the general public.

He states in one infomercial that there are twelve known cures for cancer but that they are being kept from the general public by the FDA, the FTC, and the pharmaceutical companies. He also says that the FDA and the FTC are two of the most corrupt organizations in America and that there is a long list of chemical ingredients that are secretly not required to be on the FDA ingredients label that are damaging to human health.

Trudeau offers a conspiracy theory, saying that the drug industry and the FDA work with each other to effectively deceive the public by banning all-natural cures in order to protect the profits of the drug industry. Trudeau says that FDA commissioners who leave the FDA to work for large drug companies are paid millions of dollars. In any other industry, according to Trudeau, this would be called "bribery," a "conflict of interest" or "payoffs." Trudeau also says in his infomercials that the food industry includes chemicals (such as MSG and aspartame) to get people "addicted to food" and to "make people obese."

Trudeau has also declared that he will lead a crusade against the FDA and the FTC and will make an effort to sue companies who promote false claims in advertising, such as leading pharmaceutical companies.

References to scientific studies

One of the major complaints about Trudeau's infomercials is that he makes only vague references to scientific studies, making them impossible to cross-check for accuracy. The same criticism exists for the anecdotal evidence he presents in the infomercials. He does not mention names of people who have been cured by his methods. For example, he tells a story in an infomercial about "a friend from England" who came to his house and complained of heartburn. He also references a study done on the antidepressant qualities of St. John's Wort compared to two prescription medications. He claims that the media reported St. John's Wort was "proven ineffective in study."

The infomercials suggest that referencing studies to substantiate claims will be addressed further in the book, but this is not the case. Readers of his book are often referred to his fee-based subscription website to find Trudeau's suggested natural cures.

Newspaper articles

A pair of 2005 Associated Press articles by Candice Choi on the infomercials elaborated on the success and problems of the programs. Choi says that by repeatedly mentioning government sanctions against him, Trudeau "anticipated any backlash with his cuckoo conspiracy theory" and can partially deflect any criticism of him or his infomercials. Trudeau's use of the word "cure" is an issue for regulators. Also, bookstores are polled on their decisions to sell or not sell a successful and controversial self-published book.

Additional marketing ventures

Audio tapes: "Mega Memory"

Trudeau says he adapted techniques used to improve the memory of the blind and the mentally challenged to create Mega Memory and Advanced Mega Memory audio tapes. His promotion of memory-enhancing products was ended by the intervention of the Federal Trade Commission which alleged that the claims made by Trudeau were false and programs involved would not enable users to achieve a "photographic memory," as the advertising claimed.

Trudeau used research that Dr. Michael Van Masters conducted with the State School for the Blind in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1975 as the basis of the Mega Memory products. Trudeau was selling automobiles at Neponset Lincoln Mercury in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston in 1982 when he first met Van Masters. Shortly after meeting Van Masters, Kevin joined Van Masters in the memory business in Chicago.

Non-surgical face lift

In addition to Natural Cures, Trudeau also hosted an infomercial that features the "Perfect Lift" non-surgical face lift. In the United Kingdom, this infomercial was found to violate the ITC advertising rules.

In 2008, Trudeau began airing another infomercial, for a product called Firmalift, with Leigh Valentine.

Trudeau partners with Donald Barrett and ITV Direct

On September 11, 2006, Donald Barrett and ITV Direct, a direct marketing company based in Beverly, Massachusetts, announced that they had partnered with Trudeau to market both of his Natural Cures books. Trudeau also worked with ITV to create ITV Ventures, a new MLM group based out of ITV's home office. As of December 2006, ITV Direct has pulled all information concerning both this partnership and Trudeau's books from its corporate website; however, the infomercials have continued to run as of April 14, 2008.

International Pool Tour

In 2005, Trudeau founded the International Pool Tour (IPT). His goal was to transform billiards into a "major league" sport with aggressive promotion and the largest purses ever offered. The initial three events in 2005 and early 2006 were successful, but at the fourth, the IPT World Open tournament in Reno, Nevada, promoters announced that they did not have sufficient funds on hand to cover the purse. Winners were assured that they would receive their prizes in small installments, but most were never paid. The Reno fiasco marked the demise not only of IPT, but of professional pool competitions as a whole. As one commentator put it, "The pool hustler wasn't murdered by any single suspect, but the last man holding the knife was Kevin Trudeau."

Legal proceedings

In connection with his promotional activities he has had a felony conviction and has been an unsuccessful defendant in several Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuits. Trudeau has been charged several times by agencies of the United States government for making claims without evidence. In these cases Trudeau signed a consent decree in which he did not plead guilty but did agree to stop making the claims and to pay a fine. Trudeau subsequently began to sell books, which are protected by the First Amendment.

Trudeau was convicted of fraud and larceny in the early 1990s. The FTC has sued him repeatedly and keeps an extensive record of its conflicts with him. A court order currently restricts his ability to promote and sell any product or service; however, he is permitted to promote books and other publications due to free-speech protection under the First Amendment as long as they are not used to promote or sell products or services and do not contain misrepresentations. On November 19, 2007, a court found Trudeau in contempt of that court order for making deceptive claims about his book The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About. In August 2008, he was fined more than $5 million and banned from infomercials for three years for continuing to make fraudulent claims pertaining to the book. The amount of the monetary damages was later increased to $37 million.

1990-1991: Larceny and credit card fraud

In 1990, Trudeau posed as a doctor in order to deposit $80,000 in false checks, and in 1991 he pleaded guilty to larceny. That same year, Trudeau faced federal charges of credit card fraud after he stole the names and Social Security numbers of eleven customers of a mega memory product and charged $122,735.68 on their credit cards. He spent two years in federal prison because of this conviction. Later, in an interview, he explained his crimes as:

"... youthful indiscretions and not as bad as they sound, and besides, both were partly the fault of other people, and besides, he has changed. The larceny he explains as a series of math errors compounded by the 'mistake' of a bank official. As for why the bank thought he was a doctor, that was just a simple misunderstanding, because he jokingly referred to himself as a 'doctor in memory'. He still can't quite believe he was prosecuted for the larceny charges. 'Give me a break,' he says."

1996: SEC and various states

Trudeau began working for Nutrition For Life, a multi-level marketing program, in the mid-1990s. In 1996, his recruitment practices were cited by the states of Illinois and Michigan, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Illinois sued Trudeau and Jules Leib, his partner, accusing them of operating an illegal pyramid scheme. They settled with Illinois and seven other states for $185,000 after agreeing to change their tactics. Michigan forbade him from operating in the state. A class action lawsuit was filed by stockholders of Nutrition for Life for violations of Texas law, including misrepresenting and/or omitting material information about Nutrition for Life International, Inc.'s business. In August 1997, the company paid $2 million in cash to common stockholders and holders of warrants during the class period to settle the case. The company also paid the plaintiffs' attorney fees of $600,000.

1998: FTC fine

In 1998, Trudeau was fined $500,000, the funds to be used for consumer redress by the FTC, relating to six infomercials he had produced and in which the FTC determined he had made false or misleading claims. These infomercials included "Hair Farming," "Mega Memory System," "Addiction Breaking System," "Action Reading," "Eden's Secret," and "Mega Reading." The products included a "hair farming system" that was supposed to "finally end baldness in the human race," and "a breakthrough that in 60 seconds can eliminate" addictions, discovered when a certain "Dr. Callahan" was "studying quantum physics."

2004: FTC contempt of court and injunction

In June 2003, the FTC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Trudeau and some of his companies (Shop America (USA), LLC; Shop America Marketing Group, LLC; and Trustar Global Media, Limited), alleging that disease-related claims for Coral Calcium Supreme were false and unsubstantiated. In July 2003, Trudeau entered into a stipulated preliminary injunction that prohibited him from continuing to make the challenged claims for Coral Calcium Supreme and Biotape.

In the summer of 2004, the court found Trudeau in contempt of court for violating the preliminary injunction, because he had sent out a direct mail piece and produced an infomercial making prohibited claims. The court ordered Trudeau to cease all marketing for coral calcium products.

In September 2004, Trudeau agreed to pay $2 million ($500,000 in cash plus transfer of residential property located in Ojai, California, and a luxury vehicle) to settle charges that he falsely claimed that a coral calcium product can cure cancer and other serious diseases and that a purported analgesic called Biotape can permanently cure or relieve severe pain. He also agreed to a lifetime ban on promoting products using infomercials, but excluded restrictions to promote his books via infomercials. Trudeau was the only person ever banned by the FTC from selling a product via television. Lydia Parnes, speaking for the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection stated: "This ban is meant to shut down an infomercial empire that has misled American consumers for years." Trudeau claimed the government was trying to discredit his book because he was "exposing them."

2005: Trudeau v. FTC

On February 28, 2005, Trudeau filed a complaint against the FTC in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Trudeau also filed a motion for preliminary injunction, which the court denied.

The complaint charged that the FTC had retaliated against him for his criticism of the agency by issuing a press release that falsely characterized and intentionally and deliberately misrepresented the 2004 Final Order. That conduct, Trudeau asserted, exceeded the FTC's authority under 15 U.S.C. § 46(f) and violated the First Amendment. The FTC responded with a motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), and for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted under Rule 12(b)(6).

The district court granted the FTC's motion to dismiss. First, the court concluded that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction because the press release was not "a 'final agency action'" under "section 704 of the [Administrative Procedure Act]", 5 U.S.C. § 704. Second, the court held, "in the alternative, that Trudeau's claims failed to state a viable cause of action as a matter of law."

Trudeau later filed an appeal which was unsuccessful in reversing the court's ruling.

2005: Trudeau v. New York Consumer Protection Board

Trudeau filed a lawsuit on August 11, 2005, accusing the New York State Consumer Protection Board of violating his First Amendment rights by contacting television stations in New York state and urging them to pull Trudeau's infomercials promoting his book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. Trudeau won a temporary restraining order on September 6, 2005 prohibiting the Board from sending letters to the television stations. The temporary restraining order was replaced by a preliminary injunction. However, Trudeau lost a motion to have the Board send a "corrective letter" to the television stations and subsequently dropped all claims for monetary damages. The case is still in litigation.

2007: FTC contempt of court action

The FTC filed a contempt of court action against Trudeau and the companies that market The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About, alleging that Trudeau was in contempt of a 2004 court order by "deceptively claiming in his infomercials that the book being advertised establishes a weight-loss protocol that is 'easy' to follow." The action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on September 17, 2007. According to an FTC press release, Trudeau has claimed that the weight loss plan outlined in the book is easy, can be done at home, and readers can eat anything they want. When consumers buy the book, they find it describes a complex plan that requires intense dieting, daily injections of a prescribed drug that is not easily obtainable, and lifelong dietary restrictions.

On November 19, 2007, Trudeau was found in contempt of the 2004 court order for "patently false" claims in his weight loss book. U.S. District Court Judge Robert W. Gettleman ruled that Trudeau "clearly misrepresents in his advertisements the difficulty of the diet described in his book, and by doing so, he has misled thousands of consumers." On August 7, 2008, Gettleman issued an order that Trudeau was not to appear in infomercials for any product in which he has any interest, for three years from the date of the order; and was to pay a penalty of $5,173,000, an estimate of the royalties received from the weight loss book. On November 4, 2008, Gettleman amended the judgment to $37,616,161, the amount consumers paid in response to the deceptive infomercials. The court denied Trudeau's request to reconsider or stay this ruling on December 11 of the same year.

Trudeau appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit which upheld the contempt finding, but sent the case back to the lower court to explain the basis of the $37,616,161 damage finding and the three-year infomercial ban. After the lower court justified the basis for the damage finding, and set a $2 million performance bond for future infomercial advertising, Trudeau again appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed the damage award on November 29, 2011.

2010: Arrest on criminal contempt of court charge

On February 11, 2010, Trudeau was arrested and appeared in U.S. District Court before Gettleman for criminal contempt of court after he "asked his supporters to email the federal judge overseeing a pending civil case brought against him by the Federal Trade Commission." He was forced to turn over his passport, pay a $50,000 bond and was warned he could face future prison time for interfering with the direct process of the court. On February 17, Gettleman sentenced Trudeau to 30 days in jail and forfeiture of the $50,000 bond. Well-known critic of Trudeau, Stephen Barrett, the creator of Quackwatch.org, "has for years labeled Trudeau a fraud" and was quoted: "He struck me as somebody who (believes he) is omnipotent. That is, no one can touch him," Barrett said. "That's almost been the case." Trudeau appealed the ruling and on May 20 the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals granted his motion, dismissing the contempt citation.

2011: Loss of appeal against $37.6m fine

On November 28, 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission issued warnings to companies selling human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) as weight loss products as the claims are unsupported. The HCG diet was popularized by Trudeau's The Weight-Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About book in 2007.

On Nov. 29, 2011, Trudeau lost his 2010 appeal in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The court found that the $37.6 million fine for violating his 2004 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission was appropriate as Trudeau had aired 32,000 infomercials and described the figure as "conservative." The court considered sales only from the 800 number used to place orders and excluded internet and store sales. Additionally, the court found that requiring Trudeau to make a $2 million performance bond prior to participating in an infomercial was constitutional.

2013-2014: Additional contempt citations, asset concealment, imprisonment

In September 2013 Judge Robert Gettleman held Trudeau in civil contempt for violation of multiple court orders and failure to pay the $37 million fine assessed in 2010. Noting that he continued to maintain a lavish lifestyle, despite insisting that he had been "completely wiped out" financially, Gettleman appointed a receiver to identify and catalog Trudeau's assets and holdings. A month later Trudeau was arrested after refusing to cooperate with the receiver's investigation. In November a jury found him in criminal contempt for repeated violations of his 2004 agreement as well as subsequent orders and plea deals. Pending sentencing he was held without bail as a flight risk, and for continued failure to disclose hidden assets.

In February 2014 the court-appointed receiver announced that a number of Trudeau's known assets, including a home in Ojai, California, would be auctioned, with proceeds to be applied toward unpaid fines and restitutions. The receiver also assumed control of Trudeau's Global Information Network, a "secret club" that had promised extraordinary money-making opportunities and numerous "secrets to success". He informed its members that the club's business model "likely amounted to an illegal pyramid scheme", and that its relentlessly publicized group of 30 billionaire financial advisors known as the "GIN Council" did not exist. The organization's remaining assets were later auctioned as well.

In March 2014 Trudeau was sentenced to 10 years in prison, an "unusually lengthy" term for a contempt conviction. Judge Ronald Guzman, "visibly irritated" by Trudeau's plea for leniency, described him as "deceitful to the core". "[Trudeau] has treated federal court orders as if they were mere suggestions ... or at most, impediments to be sidestepped, outmaneuvered or just ignored," Guzman said. "That type of conduct simply cannot stand." Trudeau has filed an appeal. He is incarcerated at Federal Prison Camp Montgomery, near Montgomery, Alabama.

Guzman ordered that royalties payable to Trudeau from continuing sales of his books--now owned by a California company called Free is My Favorite LLC, which purchased the rights from Trudeau--be forwarded to a government-controlled trust and used for fine and restitution payments. Infomercials for his Free Money "They" Don't Want You to Know About book, produced and marketed by Free is My Favorite LLC, continue to run on television stations throughout the United States. Trudeau maintains an active Facebook page, where he solicits donations for his "defense fund" and compares his imprisonment to that of Nelson Mandela.

Other criticisms

Medical experience

One common criticism by consumer groups is that Trudeau has had no medical training. Trudeau responds that by not having such training, he is not biased toward pharmaceutical companies and the FDA, and that medical doctors "are taught only how to write out prescriptions" for "poisons" and "cut out pieces of a person's anatomy."

Unsubstantiated claims

Trudeau has been criticized for his inability to provide evidence to back up his claims. Although he recites anecdotes, he has never provided evidence evaluated by licensed medical practitioners. In instances where Trudeau has been asked to provide proof, he has misinterpreted medical studies or cited dubious or fictitious studies. For example, Trudeau cited a nonexistent 25-year research study involving a natural cure for diabetes at the University of Calgary. When ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper confronted him on Nightline, Trudeau insisted that he had a copy of the study and would provide it; he never did. He later claimed in his infomercials that the university destroyed its findings to prevent reprisals from the pharmaceutical industry. In 2006 University of Calgary officials announced in a public statement that none of Trudeau's claims about the university's research were true, and that its attorneys had sent Trudeau a "cease and desist" letter, demanding that he stop associating himself with the school.

False endorsements

In August 2005, the New York Consumer Protection Board warned consumers that Trudeau has used false claims of endorsements to promote his products, noting that the back cover of Natural Cures includes false endorsements. Further, the NYCPB states that Trudeau's television ads "give the false impression that Tammy Faye Messner opposes chemotherapy in favor of the 'natural cures' in Trudeau's book." A representative for Messner before her death from cancer said that was not true and that she was starting chemotherapy again.

The back cover includes the following quote from Dr. Herbert Ley, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who died three years before the book was written: "The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn't. What the FDA is doing and what people think it's doing are as different as night and day." The statement, extracted from a 1969 New York Times interview, was made in the context of Ley's resignation from his post as a result of numerous policy disputes. Trudeau's lawyer, David J. Bradford, says that this quote does not constitute a false endorsement of the book by Ley, but rather is merely a statement that is in line with the purpose of the book.

Footnotes

External links

• Kevin Trudeau at the Notable Names Database

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It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medication needed in a basic health system. Compliance with the Montreal Protocol, which requires the banning of the use of ozone-layer depleting CFCs, has caused the price of inhalers, however, to increase as much as ten-fold as generics were forced off the market from 2009 to 2013 by new patents obtained by pharmaceutical companies for non-CFC delivery systems.

Brand names

Drug forms of this compound are marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Ventolin, Ventoline, Ventilan, Aerolin, or Ventorlin, depending on the market; by Cipla as Asthalin and Asthavent; by Schering-Plough as Proventil, by Remedica as Salbutamol 4,by Teva as ProAir and Novo-Salbutamol HFA (Canada), Salamol, or Airomir, by Beximco (Bangladesh) as Azmasol by Ad-din Pharma as Ventosol and by Alphapharm as Asmol.

Medical uses

Salbutamol is typically used to treat bronchospasm (due to any cause, allergen asthma or exercise-induced), as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Emergency medical practice commonly treats people presenting with asthma who report taking their salbutamol inhaler as prescribed with salbutamol; in general, people tolerate large doses well.

As a ?₂-agonist, salbutamol also finds use in obstetrics. Intravenous salbutamol can be used as a tocolytic to relax the uterine smooth muscle to delay premature labor. While preferred over agents such as atosiban and ritodrine, its role has largely been replaced by the calcium-channel blocker nifedipine, which is more effective, better tolerated and orally administered.

Salbutamol has been used to treat acute hyperkalemia, as it stimulates potassium flow into cells thus lowering the level in the blood.

Salbutamol has also been tested in a trial aimed at treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, where it appears to show modest benefits. The drug is speculated to modulate the alternative splicing of the SMN2 gene, increasing the amount of the SMN protein whose deficiency is regarded as the root cause of the disease.

Other potential uses include in cystic fibrosis, and subtypes of congenital myasthenic syndrome associated with mutations in Dok-7.

Adverse effects

The most common side effects are fine tremor, anxiety, headache, muscle cramps, dry mouth, and palpitation. Other symptoms may include tachycardia, arrhythmia, flushing, myocardial ischemia (rare), and disturbances of sleep and behaviour. Rarely occurring, but of importance, are allergic reactions of paradoxical bronchospasm, urticaria, angioedema, hypotension, and collapse. High doses or prolonged use may cause hypokalaemia, which is of concern especially in patients with renal failure and those on certain diuretics and xanthine derivatives.

Chemistry

Structure and activity

This drug is sold as a racemic mixture. The (R)-enantiomer (CIP nomenclature) is shown in the image at right, and is responsible for the pharmacologic activity; the (S)-enantiomer blocks metabolic pathways associated with elimination both of it and of the pharmacologically active enantiomer.

With regard to structure-activity relationships, the tertiary butyl group in albuterol/salbutamol makes it more selective for ??-receptors.

Detection after dosing

Salbutamol may be quantified in blood or plasma; practical needs for this include to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in hospitalized patients, or to aid in a forensic investigation. As well, urinary salbutamol concentrations are frequently measured in competitive sports programs, for which a level in excess of 1000 ?g/L is considered to represent abuse.

The window of detection for urine testing is on the order of just 24 hours, given the relatively short elimination half-life of the drug (estimated at between 5 and 6 hours following oral administration of 4 mg).

Society and culture

Bodybuilding

Salbutamol has been shown to improve muscle weight in rats and anecdotal reports hypothesis that it might be an alternative to clenbuterol for purposes of fat burning and muscle gain, with multiple studies supporting this claim. Abuse of the drug may be confirmed by detection of its presence in plasma or urine, typically exceeding 1000 µg/L.

Doping

Clinical studies show no compelling evidence that salbutamol and other ?₂-agonists can increase performance in healthy athletes. In spite of this, salbutamol required "a declaration of Use in accordance with the International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions" under the 2010 WADA prohibited list. This requirement was relaxed when the 2011 list was published to permit the use of "salbutamol (maximum 1600 micrograms over 24 hours) and salmeterol when taken by inhalation in accordance with the manufacturers' recommended therapeutic regimen."

According to two small and limited studies, performed on eight and 16 subjects, respectively, salbutamol increases the performance even for a person without asthma.

Another study contradicts the above findings, however. The double blind, randomised test conducted on 12 non-asthmatic athletes concluded that salbutamol had a negligible effect on endurance performance. Nevertheless, the study also showed that the drug's bronchodilating effect may have improved respiratory adaptation at the beginning of exercise.

See also

• Epinephrine
• Beclometasone dipropionate
• Ipratropium/salbutamol
• Levosalbutamol
• Carbuterol

References

Additional notes

1. Moore, NG; Pegg, GG; Sillence, MN (September 1994). "Anabolic effects of the beta 2-adrenoceptor agonist salmeterol are dependent on route of administration". Am. J. Physiol. 267 (3 Pt 1): E475-84. PMID 7943228. 
2. Schiffelers, SL; Saris, WH; Boomsma, F; Van Baak, MA (May 2001). "beta(1)- and beta(2)-Adrenoceptor-mediated thermogenesis and lipid utilization in obese and lean men". J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 86 (5): 2191-9. doi:10.1210/jc.86.5.2191. PMID 11344226. 
3. Van Baak, MA; Mayer, LH; Kempinski, RE; Hartgens, F (July 2000). "Effect of salbutamol on muscle strength and endurance performance in nonasthmatic men". Med Sci Sports Exerc 32 (7): 1300-6. doi:10.1097/00005768-200007000-00018. PMID 10912897. 
4. Caruso, JF; Hamill, JL; De Garmo, N (February 2005). "Oral albuterol dosing during the latter stages of a resistance exercise program". J Strength Cond Res 19 (1): 102-7. doi:10.1519/00124278-200502000-00018. PMID 15705021. 
5. Caruso JF, Signorile JF, Perry AC et al. (November 1995). "The effects of albuterol and isokinetic exercise on the quadriceps muscle group". Med Sci Sports Exerc 27 (11): 1471-6. doi:10.1249/00005768-199511000-00002. PMID 8587482. 
6. Martineau, L; Horan, MA; Rothwell, NJ; Little, RA (November 1992). "Salbutamol, a beta 2-adrenoceptor agonist, increases skeletal muscle strength in young men". Clin. Sci. 83 (5): 615-21. PMID 1335400. S
7. Desaphy, JF; Pierno, S; De Luca, A; Didonna, P; Camerino, DC (March 2003). "Different ability of clenbuterol and salbutamol to block sodium channels predicts their therapeutic use in muscle excitability disorders". Mol. Pharmacol. 63 (3): 659-70. doi:10.1124/mol.63.3.659. PMID 12606775. 
8. Maki, KC; Skorodin, MS; Jessen, JH; Laghi, F (June 1996). "Effects of oral albuterol on serum lipids and carbohydrate metabolism in healthy men". Metab. Clin. Exp. 45 (6): 712-7. doi:10.1016/S0026-0495(96)90136-5. PMID 8637445. 

External links

• Salbutamol at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
• Volmax Drug Information
• Side Effects
• U.S. National Library of Medicine: Drug Information Portal - Albuterol

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Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health, or physical fitness, refers to a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon, and other connective tissue. Weight loss can either occur unintentionally due to malnourishment or an underlying disease or arise from a conscious effort to improve an actual or perceived overweight or obese state. "Unexplained" weight loss that is not caused by reduction in calorific intake or exercise is called cachexia and may be a symptom of a serious medical condition. Intentional weight loss is commonly referred to as slimming.

Unintentional

Characteristics

Unintentional weight loss may result from loss of body fats, loss of body fluids, muscle atrophy, or even a combination of these. It is generally regarded as a medical problem when at least 10% of a person's body weight has been lost in six months or 5% in the last month. Another criterion used for assessing weight that is too low is the body mass index (BMI). However, even lesser amounts of weight loss can be a cause for serious concern in a frail elderly person.

Unintentional weight loss can occur because of an inadequately nutritious diet relative to a person's energy needs (generally called malnutrition). Disease processes, changes in metabolism, hormonal changes, medications or other treatments, disease- or treatment-related dietary changes, or reduced appetite associated with a disease or treatment can also cause unintentional weight loss. Poor nutrient utilization can lead to weight loss, and can be caused by fistulae in the gastrointestinal tract, diarrhea, drug-nutrient interaction, enzyme depletion and muscle atrophy.

Continuing weight loss may deteriorate into wasting, a vaguely defined condition called cachexia. Cachexia differs from starvation in part because it involves a systemic inflammatory response. It is associated with poorer outcomes. In the advanced stages of progressive disease, metabolism can change so that they lose weight even when they are getting what is normally regarded as adequate nutrition and the body cannot compensate. This leads to a condition called anorexia cachexia syndrome (ACS) and additional nutrition or supplementation is unlikely to help. Symptoms of weight loss from ACS include severe weight loss from muscle rather than body fat, loss of appetite and feeling full after eating small amounts, nausea, anemia, weakness and fatigue.

Serious weight loss may reduce quality of life, impair treatment effectiveness or recovery, worsen disease processes and be a risk factor for high mortality rates. Malnutrition can affect every function of the human body, from the cells to the most complex body functions, including:

• immune response;
• wound healing;
• muscle strength (including respiratory muscles);
• renal capacity and depletion leading to water and electrolyte disturbances;
• thermoregulation; and
• menstruation.

In addition, malnutrition can lead to vitamin and other deficiencies and to inactivity, which in turn may pre-dispose to other problems, such as pressure sores.

Unintentional weight loss can be the characteristic leading to diagnosis of diseases such as cancer and type 1 diabetes.

In the UK, up to 5% of the general population is underweight, but more than 10% of those with lung or gastrointestinal diseases and who have recently had surgery. According to data in the UK using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool ('MUST'), which incorporates unintentional weight loss, more than 10% of the population over the age of 65 is at risk of malnutrition. A high proportion (10-60%) of hospital patients are also at risk, along with a similar proportion in care homes.

Causes

Disease-related

Disease-related malnutrition can be considered in four categories:

Weight loss issues related to specific diseases include:

• As chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) advances, about 35% of patients experience severe weight loss called pulmonary cachexia, including diminished muscle mass. Around 25% experience moderate to severe weight loss, and most others have some weight loss. Greater weight loss is associated with poorer prognosis. Theories about contributing factors include appetite loss related to reduced activity, additional energy required for breathing, and the difficulty of eating with dyspnea (labored breathing).
• Cancer, a very common and sometimes fatal cause of unexplained (idiopathic) weight loss. About one-third of unintentional weight loss cases are secondary to malignancy. Cancers to suspect in patients with unexplained weight loss include gastrointestinal, prostate, hepatobilary (hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic cancer), ovarian, hematologic or lung malignancies.
• People with HIV often experience weight loss, and it is associated with poorer outcomes. Wasting syndrome is an AIDS-defining condition.
• Gastrointestinal disorders are another common cause of unexplained weight loss - in fact they are the most common non-cancerous cause of idiopathic weight loss. Possible gastrointestinal etiologies of unexplained weight loss include: celiac disease, peptic ulcer disease, inflammatory bowel disease (crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis), pancreatitis, gastritis, diarrhea and many other GI conditions.
• Infection. Some infectious diseases can cause weight loss. Fungal illnesses, endocarditis, many parasitic diseases, AIDS, and some other subacute or occult infections may cause weight loss.
• Renal disease. Patients who have uremia often have poor or absent appetite, vomiting and nausea. This can cause weight loss.
• Cardiac disease. Cardiovascular disease, especially congestive heart failure, may cause unexplained weight loss.
• Connective tissue disease
• Neurologic disease, including dementia
• Oral, taste or dental problems (including infections) can reduce nutrient intake leading to weight loss.

Therapy-related

Medical treatment can directly or indirectly cause weight loss, impairing treatment effectiveness and recovery that can lead to further weight loss in a vicious cycle.

Many patients will be in pain and have a loss of appetite after surgery. Part of the body's response to surgery is to direct energy to wound healing, which increases the body's overall energy requirements. Surgery affects nutritional status indirectly, particularly during the recovery period, as it can interfere with wound healing and other aspects of recovery. Surgery directly affects nutritional status if a procedure permanently alters the digestive system. Enteral nutrition (tube feeding) is often needed. However a policy of 'nil by mouth' for all gastrointestinal surgery has not been shown to benefit, with some suggestion it might hinder recovery.

Early post-operative nutrition is a part of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols. These protocols also include carbohydrate loading in the 24 hours before surgery, but earlier nutritional interventions have not been shown to have a significant impact.

Some medications can cause weight loss, while others can cause weight gain.

Social conditions

Social conditions such as poverty, social isolation and inability to get or prepare preferred foods can cause unintentional weight loss, and this may be particularly common in older people. Nutrient intake can also be affected by culture, family and belief systems. Ill-fitting dentures and other dental or oral health problems can also affect adequacy of nutrition.

Loss of hope, status or social contact and spiritual distress can cause depression, which may be associated with reduced nutrition, as can fatigue.

Intentional

Intentional weight loss is the loss of total body mass as a result of efforts to improve fitness and health, or to change appearance through slimming.

Weight loss in individuals who are overweight or obese can reduce health risks, increase fitness, and may delay the onset of diabetes. It could reduce pain and increase movement in people with osteoarthritis of the knee. Weight loss can lead to a reduction in hypertension (high blood pressure), however whether this reduces hypertension-related harm is unclear.

Weight loss occurs when the body is expending more energy in work and metabolism than it is absorbing from food or other nutrients. It will then use stored reserves from fat or muscle, gradually leading to weight loss.

It is not uncommon for some people who are at their ideal body weight to seek additional weight loss in order to improve athletic performance or meet required weight classification for participation in a sport. Others may be driven to lose weight to achieve an appearance they consider more attractive. Being underweight is associated with health risks such as difficulty fighting off infection, osteoporosis, decreased muscle strength, trouble regulating body temperature and even increased risk of death.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), healthy individuals seeking to maintain their weight should consume 2,000 calories (8.4 MJ) per day.

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans those who achieve and manage a healthy weight do so most successfully by being careful to consume just enough calories to meet their needs, and being physically active.

Low-calorie regimen diets are also referred to as balanced percentage diets. Due to their minimal detrimental effects, these types of diets are most commonly recommended by nutritionists. In addition to restricting calorie intake, a balanced diet also regulates macronutrient consumption. From the total number of allotted daily calories, it is recommended that 55% should come from carbohydrates, 15% from protein, and 30% from fats with no more than 10% of total fat coming from saturated forms. For instance, a recommended 1,200 calorie diet would supply about 660 calories from carbohydrates, 180 from protein, and 360 from fat. Some studies suggest that increased consumption of protein can help ease hunger pangs associated with reduced caloric intake by increasing the feeling of satiety. Calorie restriction in this way has many long-term benefits. After reaching the desired body weight, the calories consumed per day may be increased gradually, without exceeding 2,000 net (i.e. derived by subtracting calories burned by physical activity from calories consumed). Combined with increased physical activity, low-calorie diets are thought to be most effective long-term, unlike crash diets, which can achieve short-term results, at best. Physical activity could greatly enhance the efficiency of a diet. The healthiest weight loss regimen, therefore, is one that consists of a balanced diet and moderate physical activity.

Weight gain has been associated with excessive consumption of fats, sugars, carbohydrates in general, and alcohol consumption. Depression, stress or boredom may also contribute to weight increase, and in these cases, individuals are advised to seek medical help. A 2010 study found that dieters who got a full night's sleep lost more than twice as much fat as sleep-deprived dieters.

The majority of dieters regain weight over the long term.

Therapeutic techniques

The least intrusive weight loss methods, and those most often recommended, are adjustments to eating patterns and increased physical activity, generally in the form of exercise. The World Health Organization recommended that people combine a reduction of processed foods high in saturated fats, sugar and salt and caloric content of the diet with an increase in physical activity.

An increase in fiber intake is also recommended for regulating bowel movements.

Other methods of weight loss include use of drugs and supplements that decrease appetite, block fat absorption, or reduce stomach volume.

Bariatric surgery may be indicated in cases of severe obesity. Two common bariatric surgical procedures are gastric bypass and gastric banding. Both can be effective at limiting the intake of food energy by reducing the size of the stomach, but as with any surgical procedure both come with their own risks that should be considered in consultation with a physician.

Dietary supplements, though widely used, are not considered a healthy option for weight loss. Many are available, but very few are effective in the long term.

Virtual gastric band uses hypnosis to make the brain think the stomach is smaller than it really is and hence lower the amount of food ingested. This brings as a consequence weight reduction. This method is complemented with psychological treatment for anxiety management and with hypnopedia. Research has been conducted into the use of hypnosis as a weight management alternative. In 1996 a study found that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was more effective for weight reduction if reinforced with hypnosis. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ACT, a mindfulness approach to weight loss, has also in the last few years been demonstrating its usefulness.

Crash dieting

A crash diet is the willful restriction of nutritional intake (except water) for more than 12 waking hours. The desired result is for the body to burn fat for energy and thereby lose a significant amount of weight in a short time. Crash dieting can be dangerous to health and this method of weight loss is not recommended by physicians.

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, "If the diet or product sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are no foods or pills that magically burn fat. No super foods will alter your genetic code. No products will miraculously melt fat while you watch TV or sleep." Certain ingredients in supplements and herbal products can be dangerous and even deadly for some people.

Weight loss industry

There is a substantial market for products which promise to make weight loss easier, quicker, cheaper, more reliable, or less painful. These include books, DVDs, CDs, cremes, lotions, pills, rings and earrings, body wraps, body belts and other materials, fitness centers, personal coaches, weight loss groups, and food products and supplements.

In 2008 between US$33 billion and $55 billion was spent annually in the US on weight-loss products and services, including medical procedures and pharmaceuticals, with weight-loss centers taking between 6 and 12 percent of total annual expenditure. Over $1.6 billion a year was spent on weight-loss supplements. About 70 percent of Americans' dieting attempts are of a self-help nature.

In Western Europe, sales of weight-loss products, excluding prescription medications, topped £900 million ($1.4 billion) in 2009.

See also

References

External links

• Weight loss at DMOZ
• Health benefits of losing weight By IQWiG at PubMed Health
• Weight-control Information Network U.S. National Institutes of Health
• Nutrition in cancer care By NCI at PubMed Health
• Unintentional weight loss

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Weight loss coaching is the use of personal coaching techniques to bring about long term weight loss. The aim is to establish the causes of over-eating, and to put the responsibility for eating behaviours firmly in the individual's court. Based upon the relationship between weight and attitude and the mind body relationship, coaching is an holistic approach.

Weight loss coaching had borrowed techniques from NLP and psychology, amongst other disciplines and there are many well known coaches in this area. Each coach has their own particular blend of techniques based around a core set of practices.

Early Days

For a long time it has been recognised that attitude can have an impact upon the maintenance of a healthy weight. In 1978 Susie Orbach published her book "Fat is a Feminist Issue" one of the first texts to highlight the relationship between behavior, culture and weight gain. In her book Susie looks at how food becomes associated with love, comfort and nurture and how this can manifest in over eating behaviors. This was the start of an acceptance that the calories in = calories out equation may have been an oversimplification and that diets were not a long-term solution.

Methods

Coaches use many techniques. Borrowing the concept of modelling from NLP, a weight loss coach will identify the behaviours associated with those of normal weight individuals and help the overweight individual to adopt many of these behaviours for themselves. The process will involve establishing which of the behaviours will serve the individual best and how to make it easier to follow such helpful behaviors.

A coach will also work with the individual to establish what their original beliefs, values and behaviors associated with food and their diet are. These can be explored with a view to adopting adaptations of these beliefs and behaviours that will be of benefit to the individual, whilst losing those that are not beneficial. The coach can also help to keep the individual in touch with their desire to lose weight.

A coach will also help the individual to set realistic goals for weight loss and develop a plan to attain the goals. This plan can include actions, research and education. This is not a menu plan or diet. The plan is also driven by the individual, so it is tailored to them and not a generic plan. The coach will help to consolidate all the ideas of the individual into steps which take them towards losing weight. This is often the part we struggle with.

The coach does not tell the individual what to eat and how. That is for the individual to determine once they have developed their plan.

Coaches chose to work in a variety of methods. The most common is one-to-one coaching, either by telephone or face to face. Some coaches work in groups running classes and workshops. Less common is ecoaching, which is working via email, webinars and instant messaging. Some coaches are beginning to launch on line courses, where email support and exercises are given to the individual for them to work on in their own time.

Not Just Food

Weight loss coaching recognises that it is not just food that leads to weight gain. Exercise has long been associated with weight management but less known associations like sleep particularly in teenagers, and stress have also been shown to affect the body's ability to lose weight.

These areas are beginning to be incorporated into weight loss coaching and will probably begin to figure more.

Research

Interactive health coaching interventions have been studied for their effect on weight loss in obese adult employees and has shown to be effective. E-coaching for weight loss has also been studied and has been shown to be effective.

References

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In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism.

Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. The word diet often implies the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons (with the two often being related). Although humans are omnivores, each culture and each person holds some food preferences or some food taboos. This may be due to personal tastes or ethical reasons. Individual dietary choices may be more or less healthy.

Proper nutrition requires ingestion and absorption of vitamins, minerals, and food energy in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Dietary habits and choices play a significant role in the quality of life, health and longevity. It can define cultures and play a role in religion.

Religious and cultural dietary choices

Some cultures and religions have restrictions concerning what foods are acceptable in their diet. For example, only Kosher foods are permitted by Judaism, and Halal foods by Islam. Although Buddhists are generally vegetarians, the practice varies and meat-eating may be permitted depending on the sects. In Hinduism, vegetarianism is the ideal, Jain are strictly vegetarian and consumption of roots is not permitted.

Dietary choices

Many people choose to forgo food from animal sources to varying degrees (e.g. flexitarianism, vegetarianism, veganism, fruitarianism) for health reasons, issues surrounding morality, or to reduce their personal impact on the environment, although some of the public assumptions about which diets have lower impacts are known to be incorrect. Raw foodism is another contemporary trend. These diets may require tuning or supplementation such as vitamins to meet ordinary nutritional needs.

Weight management

A particular diet may be chosen to seek weight loss or weight gain. Changing a subject's dietary intake, or "going on a diet", can change the energy balance and increase or decrease the amount of fat stored by the body. Some foods are specifically recommended, or even altered, for conformity to the requirements of a particular diet. These diets are often recommended in conjunction with exercise. Specific weight loss programs can be harmful to health, while others may be beneficial (and can thus be coined as healthy diets). The terms "healthy diet" and "diet for weight management" are often related, as the two promote healthy weight management. Having a healthy diet is a way to prevent health problems, and will provide your body with the right balance of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.

Eating disorders

An eating disorder is a mental disorder that interferes with normal food consumption. It is defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive diet.

Health

A healthy diet may improve or maintain optimal health. In developed countries, affluence enables unconstrained caloric intake and possibly inappropriate food choices.

It is recommended by many authorities that people maintain a normal weight by (limiting consumption of energy-dense foods and sugary drinks), eat plant-based food, limit red and processed meat, and limit alcohol.

Diet classification table

Notes

External links

• The dictionary definition of diet at Wiktionary

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Heavy is an American documentary series that airs on A&E. The series chronicles the weight loss efforts of people suffering from severe obesity. The first episode aired January 17, 2011. The first season ended on April 4, 2011.

Overview

Each 60-minute episode chronicles six months in the lives of two people who are facing life-threatening health consequences as a result of their obesity. In episodes 1 through 5, the individuals are sent to a fitness camp in Texas for the first month, undergoing a strict program of diet and exercise and learning to change their attitudes about food. For the remaining five months they continue to lose weight at home, with the help of personal trainers, but can be called back to the camp if periodic weigh-ins reveal that they are not making progress. There are no weigh-ins during the sixth month except for the last day, with the goal of encouraging the participants to make the transition back to daily life outside of the weight loss program.

Starting with episode 6, the two individuals spend the entire six months at a fitness camp on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Episode 12 was a revisit to some of the Texas participants.

Episode list

Season 1: 2011

References

External links

• Heavy page at A&E Television site

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