Word: weightness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...exercise program. That seems rather naive, considering the history of fen/phen. In the four years since the older treatment has been on the market, clinics have sprung up all over the U.S., especially in the Los Angeles area, to distribute Redux to eager customers. One chain alone, California Weight Loss Medical Associates, has 19 centers and a catchy toll-free number (1-888-4FEN-FEN) that it advertises in the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily News and on Howard Stern's syndicated radio show. Some places offer discounts for customers who buy in bulk. Many, says...
...general practitioners and weight-reduction chains get into the act, the problem of inappropriate use could get even worse. Says Dr. Brian A. Joseph, a Naperville, Illinois, physician who is chairman of the ethics committee of the American Society of Bariatric (obesity) Physicians: "These are legitimate medications when used in a responsible manner, as an adjunct to a weight-loss program, by trained physicians." But in the hands of nonspecialists, Joseph fears, these drugs could be misprescribed...
Some general practitioners are certainly enthusiastic. Culver City, California, doctor Ben Krentzman, a family physician, came out of retirement in 1993 to spread the gospel about fen/phen. He now treats some 300 patients--and so far has tallied 63,000 visitors to his Science of Obesity and Weight Control Website. Krentzman's contrarian advice, based on several months of library work and an ongoing experiment begun last year: take the pills instead of worrying about diet and exercise. Says Krentzman: "Dieting and exercise without fen/phen don't keep people slender, so why should they work with fen/phen...
...Most weight-loss experts insist that the reason diet and exercise don't work is that people don't stick with them. But because fen/phen and Redux can be dangerous if they're used too long, and they lose their effectiveness after a few months anyway, patients will eventually have to take up regular exercise and change their eating habits. Neither fen/phen nor Redux alone can "cure" obesity...
What they can do, say the experts, is give obese patients a powerful head start on weight loss. Redux is revolutionary, explains author Levine, because "it overcomes the loss of confidence in one's own diet. The feeling that the drug gives you is the key." That's the attitude of Barbara Dorsett, the Red Lobster survivor: "I'm just so thankful they discovered this stuff," she says. "I felt so old and decrepit. It's like a new lease on life...