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Why you should think twice before taking dietary advice from anyone other than a Dietitian

5/2/2016

73 Comments

 
I know I’ve written about this before and it probably won’t be the last time I write about it, but it needs to be said; it’s best to think twice before taking dietary advice from anyone other than a Dietitian.  Far too often do Dietitians hear about their patients/ clients taking dietary advice from unqualified nutrition “experts.”  This list includes doctors, personal trainers, health advocates, celebrities and people that have tried the most recent fad diet (the list goes on, but I’m going to save you a headache and stop right here). You maybe asking or saying to yourself; Aren’t doctor’s more qualified to talk about this? But my neighbours wife lost 30lbs in 2 weeks doing this! But my personal trainer has the body that I want! (And again, I’m going to stop here to save you another headache).  The answer is no, they’re simply not qualified and this ends up causing more harm. An this is not one of those situations where the end justifies the means.   There’s actually a very simple good and simple reason for this issue.  None of the mentioned people/ practitioners fully understand what food actually means to the individual.
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Now before I go on I have to say that there are many AMAZING doctors, personal trainers etc. that respect the limitations of their training.  This article is not an attack on Doctors or personal trainers as a whole.  It’s merely addressing the MANY concerns and issues that are currently preventing the population from actually eating healthy and proper nutrition, which is making the problem worse.  This blog post is addressing those practitioners that don’t seem to respect the limitations of their training or the complexity of nutrition and seem to think there’s nothing wrong with giving dietary advice when they are not qualified to do so. 
 
Earlier last week I woke up and a fellow Dietitian posted a link on her social network page that read “Insulin makes you fat, fasting makes you thin, according to Scarborough doctor.”  Now having read the title, I obviously clicked the link to read the article (found here), and what I read was just insanity.  The article discussed Dr. Jason Fung’s new book “The Obesity Code” which argues that obesity isn’t caused by overeating, but by excessive insulin.  After reading the entire article and interview my reaction was “Is this guy kidding me?” Dr. Jason Fung, a nephrologist and founder of The Intensive Dietary Management program (which surprise, doesn’t have a Dietitian on staff and he’s the only one running this program) promotes fasting as a “new” way to combat obesity.  There are just too many issues with this.  Aside from the fact that he’s looking at just patients in his nephrology clinic to generalize to the entire population (because it’s completely rational to take what he learned from kidney damage and kidney failure patients and apply it to everyone else) it seems that no one bothered to tell Dr. Fung about Insulin resistance, how Insulin actually works instead of his insane “thermostat” analogy, that fasting isn’t new at all or about the difference between fat mass and lean muscle tissue.  Dr. Fung seems to have a complete misunderstanding of the obesity issue and doesn’t realize that his “effective system” can actually do more to promote disordered eating.  I will give him some credit, he recognizes the impracticality of his proposed “diet,” but that doesn't seem to stop him from promoting it.  He just doesn’t understand any of the issues related to obesity at all. 
 
Let’s not forget almost anyone can write a book.  Dr. Fung isn’t the first one to try to do this.  The Bernstien diet, Dr. Poon’s Metabolic Diet are just a few others.  What’s worse is they advertise medically supervised weight loss, but when you look closer at the program, the term ‘medically supervised starvation’ is more appropriate.  Further more the strict inclusion and exclusion criteria of the Dr. Poon program raises ethical questions about how successful the program actually is.  Lastly, have you ever wondered why these programs don’t post statistics about how successful their clients are at keeping off the weight? That’s because none of them are actually sustainable and therefore they’re just a band-aid solution that causes more harm in the long run.
 
In the same week I had to call a personal trainer that works out in the Oakville area because he had been verbally harassing and manipulating a client of mine to the point that she was in tears during an assessment.  This personal trainer seemed to think his ‘newborn clarity’ of how damaging our food system is and how animals are unethically treated allows him the right to verbally harass everyone that disagrees with him.  It also appears that in his “research” he failed to understand the fundamental differences in American and Canadian food production systems and regulations.  After admitting that he has no actual training in nutrition aside from a few Google searches, reading nutrition books written by Doctors that simply do not understand nutrition and watching a few documentaries, he plainly stated that he has no intention on stopping despite my educating him in the error of his ways.  Ironically no one seemed to explain to him how unethical it is to force your own PERSONAL ethical/ moral code onto other people.  

Now you may be thinking to yourself “But Ben, that’s only two examples.” And you’re right, I’m only giving you two examples, because if I listed them all I would never be able to finish this article, also, it was a slow week.  All Dietitians have had countless arguments with these self appointed “Nutrition Experts,” so many that we have lost count, and that’s just within our first year in the profession. ​

What’s the ultimate issue in all of this? (Aside from the lack of formal training in Dietetics and that these practitioners can’t seem to respect the limitations of their scope of practice).  These interventions completely ignore the individual.  They’ve ignored so many facets of information that desperately need to be considered and are vital to success and sustainable behaviour change.  They’ve ignored what food actually means to people.  Of course it’s easy to lose weight when you have no actual relationship with food and you think food exists only to fuel the body.  The reality is that this type of person is the minority.  For the majority of the population, someone’s food choices are a reflection of their culture, their religion, their ethical/ moral beliefs, the way they were raised, their income level, their political beliefs, and their emotional state with many other factors at play.  Essentially, someone’s food choice is their identity; it is a reflection of them.  Think about that for a second.  If someone comes in and tells you to change EVERY aspect of your dietary patterns you may be able to maintain that for a week, maybe a month, but at some point you will abandon that diet or meal plan because you can’t recognize who you are anymore, making the extreme diet methods even more unsustainable and damaging.  Am I being overly dramatic here? Not at all, because the emotional toll these changes take on a person are devastating.  When you ignore the individual’s identity or relationship with food what you have is a recipe for failure.  Furthermore what these practitioners don’t seem to understand is that it’s the Dietitians that have to clean up their irresponsible messes.  And what’s worse? These diets cause so much damage that it makes weight loss and healthy living so much more difficult! 
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The truth is that these people may know one or two things about food and the human body, but by no means does that mean they know anything about nutrition.  Nutrition involves so much more than just calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates, food groups etc.  Nutrition involves many social sciences, the study of cultural and religious aspects of food, economic patterns, societal and political differences, microbiology, organic chemistry and the list goes on.  The important thing here is that Dietitians have been trained to combine all these complex topics into a recommendation specific for the individual that has no other agenda then to improve that person’s health.  Most other self-proclaimed “nutrition experts” cannot even fathom how complicated it is to balance that many things and simplify it to a recommendation that promotes health.  That is the real art of what a Dietitian does.
 
At the end of the day, a doctor is only qualified to look at what they’ve been trained to look at. A personal trainer is only qualified to give exercise recommendations and teach you how to safely perform an exercise.  The training Doctors get in nutrition is one course over one semester and personal trainers get one chapter in a text book, and what’s worse is most of the nutrition information is completely wrong! (I know because I was a personal trainer) I’m not even going to explore anything else here.  If you want someone to give you GOOD dietary advice, go to a Dietitian.  A Dietitian has a minimum of a 4-year undergraduate degree and a master’s degree or has completed an internship.  A Dietitian will create something specific and personalized for you.  So would you trust the dietary advice from someone that took one nutrition course or read one poorly written chapter in a text book over someone that has over 5 years studying nutrition and before they can be considered an entry level Dietitian? I’m hoping you say no, because taking dietary advice from someone without formal training makes as much sense as getting a plumber to install a new hardwood floor.  I'm not saying that they're wrong, I'm just saying maybe you should consult with a Dietitan before making any changes, after all Dietitians are the specialists in Food and Nutrition.  







Ben Sit, RD, Sports Dietitian
President of Evolved Sport and Nutrition
Complete Lifestyle Management




73 Comments
Aimee
19/5/2017 01:43:37 am

This article although at first has a good general message, you clearly haven't read Dr Fungs book or looked into him at all. Might want to do that before you continue to discredit a book you haven't even bothered to read, and for anyone who has actually bothered to read this book, you aren't convincing them to get another opinion, you are merely making yourself look quite silly to be honest. I'd suggest reading it and rewrite your article with information relating to the book not someone else's opinion on the book.

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Bill
18/10/2020 07:08:28 pm

Exactly. Lol. Fung went to University of Toronto for his MD, and did residency at UCLA, two of the best schools in the world. By contrast, a dietitian certification is like getting a realtor license. The degrees are often unregulated in terms of the kind of accreditation that does in to regular institutes of higher education. Ben Sit is not a doctor of anything, and it is obvious he has very little medical knowledge at all. He studies for what, a couple months, a year maybe, learning from hacks how charged people to tell them what to eat. These people are usually people who sign up for a gym membership and get a free consultation. Far cry from a real doctor, let alone one trained at two of the best institutes in the world. I don't even know why I'm bothering to write this honestly. If anyone takes Ben Sit seriously about anything, I have a bridge to sell you. Or whatever they sell on infomercials these days.

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Leslie
5/10/2021 06:59:15 pm

Wait, you think that a Dietician is a certification? No sir. To become a Dietician in the U.S. it requires an accredited University Bachelor's degree in Dietetics or Nutrition Science with all dietetics specific coursework completed. This is followed by a one-year internship at a hospital, then an examination (test: written and multiple choice questions) before you can work as a Dietician.

Those "real doctors" do not even get a semester length course in Nutrition or Dietetics as Pre-med students OR in medical school in the U.S.

This may be different in other countries. I am a graduate of UC Davis and hold a pre-med Bachelor's of Science in Nutrition Science & Dietetics. I had no plans for med school, and chose NOT to become a registered Dietician. I worked as a Nutrition Scientist, doing research, followed by an over thirty-year career in Nutrition Counseling, private practice.

You may want to believe that doctors are the most educated and can help their patients learn how to eat for weight control and maximize their health, but it simply isn't true. At best, you may find a doctor who will literally sell you a diet program or steer you towards nutrition classes held at their hospital. At worst? It is the likes of Dr. Fung, who write a book based on cherry-picking concepts from scientific research.

RenaudMartowski
25/5/2022 09:40:40 pm

I think that the person who is criticizing Dr.Fung should not be making comments about obesity and insulin resistance. He obviously doesn't know anything.

emma
29/6/2021 04:40:23 pm

Yes, clearly hasn't read any of his books.

Dr. Fung in fact says fasting is NOT new. It's found in every religion in the world and has been practiced since the beginning of time.
Dr. Fung says that obesity is a hormonal problem involving insulin insensitivity and that fasting is specifically to increase sensitivity to insulin.

I actually get the idea that the author of this article is trying to claim Dr. Fung's ideas as his own, and relying on people not having read his books in order to do that.

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Jennifer Dyster
10/3/2022 02:50:06 pm

Dieticians are sources of a great deal of nonsensical bad advice particularly fats. They are notorious in my country for recommending low-fat foods which recent research has found to be partially responsible for obesity.
No form of medical practitioner is automatically immune to fashion.
I prefer to follow Harvard, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Arthritis Foundation.
There are dieticians and dieticians

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John
22/8/2017 06:32:07 am

Decent article but I think you need to study the effects of insulin a little more. Or support your disagreement with some facts. Opinion is just an opinion. Dr. Fung is backing up his theory with actual blood work which is objective evidence.

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Cyndi V.
29/7/2022 03:44:53 pm

Dietitians are the worst. They are in charge of the meal plans in hospitals. You can’t heal well with the junk on their menus. At least Dr. Fung has studies to back him up.

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Marcella
18/11/2018 09:29:17 am

Dr. Fung has a clinic in Toronto ( for 20 years) where he treats people with kidney disease from diabetes and tens of thousands people in his online community. The results are awesome. People using keto, intermittent fasting and extended fasting are losing weight, getting off meds for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and many other "incurable" diseases following Dr. Fung's recommendations. We have doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and just regular folks learning how much following government guidelines for eating have messed us up. You can publish articles day and night saying how wrong he is, but he has the proof to back it up and understands so much more than you ever will unless you are willing to re-examine your beliefs.

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Kate
2/12/2018 03:06:53 am

Normally, I would agree with your assertions about self styled 'nutrition experts' and fully concur with the need for a qualified dietician to assess dietary requirements.
However, having read Dr Jason Fung's book, and watched a number of 90 minute interviews and presentations by him. AND having a background in health sciences, I feel that you may be judging him too harshly. ALL the studies results quoted in his book " the Obesity Code" are from clinical trials, some of theme far ranging and conducted over a significant number of years - the Framingham study, for instance, conducted on human subjects.
He is the first to admit that as a medical student he may have had a total of four hours of lectures on nutrition. He is also not putting himself forward as a dietician.
He practices evidence- based medicine, and his results are backing him up. It has long been known that, if a Type 2 diabetic loses weight, their diabetes will either become very stable or reverse altogether, I have known this for 30 years, and I am not a doctor.
I also remember when a brand new pill called 'Zantac' ( Ranitidine) was the wonder drug for stomach ulcers... until two Australian doctos said' No, I believe that stomach ulcers are caused by a certain bacteria - Helicobacter pylori" ... they were laughed at and derided by their peers. So, using the time honoured scientific practice of self-experimentation, one of them drank a beaker full of the bacteria... and lo and behold, developed stomach ulcers which responded to antibiotic therapy.
This one move turned the time honoured treatment of a "bland diet' on its head... and earned them the Nobel prize for physiology in medicine in 2005.
Please, read the book.

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Noz
10/2/2019 03:44:47 am

Just because one doctor was supposedly laughed at doesn't make all future doctors claims true. That's a logical fallacy.

Fung claims nobody ever lost weight by a calorie deficit. He says it on a YT video. An outrageous claim. His claims about it all being insulin are unsupported.

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Theresa
13/2/2020 12:48:56 pm

He actually doesn't just say the calorie restriction doesn't work. He goes further and says in the short turn it works but not the long term.

His claims are supported.

Edson
14/11/2020 12:22:30 am

He says that short term almost all diets work but they have 90 to 99% of failure rate in long term (3-5-10 years) and most patients regain all weight back and more in 1-2 years.

Theresa
14/3/2019 12:00:35 pm

I am so disappointed by this blog. Inflammatory language and nothing to support the claims made by the author.

Instead of attacking someone else’s work why not defend your own.

It was such a waste of good reading time I actually felt compelled to waste more by commenting here.

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Luke
3/1/2021 01:15:47 am

Could not agree more, what an absolutely wretched article, not much more than a rancid attack on a guy with more than 20 years of research/practise, backed by an enormous multitude of other specialists and registered Physicians. What about Dr. Ken Berry? Dr. Paul Mason? Dr. Annette Bosworth? Dr. Benjamin Bikman? Dr. Stephen Phinney - Professor of Medicine Emeritus?

Do you even know who these specialists are? The research and hard work they've done? The multitude of clinical research and data they have produced?

You are an embarrassment to honest medical discussion and scientific enquiry.

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Gordon
22/4/2019 10:42:03 am

I agree with most of the comments here (especially Aimee). FIRST you must listen completely to Dr. Fung's message. He never said that nobody ever lost weight by a calorie deficit! What he says is that over time that approach just doesn't work and eat less calories and move more is bad advice; traditional dieting combined with exercise will (almost always) fail OVER TIME. When he talks about a chronic state of Hyperinsulinemia and how this promotes fat gain, he makes PERFECT sense. Trying to discredit him by saying he uses (an) 'insane “thermostat” analogy' is just misinformed on your part. Having listened to Dr. Fung at length it is easy for me to simply ignore your attempts to discredit him. In my opinion, Dr. Fung's message combined with your own doctors advice (and perhaps the advice of a Registered Dietician) are ALL worth your time.

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Sandra
6/12/2019 01:23:08 pm

I'm wondering what your thoughts are about the team of Registered Dieticians employed at the Toronto Metabolic Clinic. This is the clinic co-founded by Dr Fung for fasting and reversing diabetes. The doctors consult, but for any direction on diet and food one is referred to a Registered Dietician at the clinic and tgey pay anywhere from 90-130$ per session with those RDs.
Do you suspect their credentials or professional integrity? Is there a danger to fasting on the body which you can elaborate on?

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Sally
10/1/2020 08:33:44 pm

It doesn't matter. It still is an effective way to lose weight and fasting really does get rid of hunger. I was deeply addicted to food and especially carbs. I felt hungry every few hours. I did IF for just one week and now I am no longer hungry and able to enjoy my food when I have food. Dr.Fung's advice wasn't a dietary advice. He doesn't tell you what to eat... he tells you WHEN to eat. It IS true that today, people eat too frequently. It is also true that most of us are fat. It is true that fasting is normal for humans and our bodies are built to handle this lol.

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A.K
13/2/2020 05:04:41 am

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6566854/

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Doug F
4/3/2020 01:49:29 pm

The problem with getting dietary advice only from dietitians is that dietitians have often been wrong. At various times, dietitians have encouraged people to eat carbohydrates for weight loss and to replace butter with margarine. Until recently, they encouraged people with diabetes to eat carbohydrates.

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Marshal
27/4/2020 10:58:04 pm

Well I went to a dietician 2 years a go because im developing type2 diabetes. She was herself overweight, and ask me to eat 5 times a day with counting calories. Went back a few month i gained weight and my diabetes went worse...

I read and follow jason fung im 2 month in and i lost 16 kg, no diabetes and no high blood pressure... off from all medicine... yeah dont listen to jason fung...

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Jacqueline Nseir
8/4/2021 12:23:47 pm

Hi, did you see Dr Fung or just followed his directions from books and youtibd,?

Thank you

ZainGuru
29/5/2022 06:40:59 am

Thank you for this comment. I am in your position right now. Just got prescribed metformin and statins for my diabetes and high cholestrol.

Having read / watched a ton of material, only thing which made sense to me was fasting approach. Listened/ watched Dr Jason Fung, Dr Pradip Jamnadas videos, and have started intermittent fasting for the last 7 days. Feeling good, except that I am not sure if I should continue taking medicines while fasting or not (trying and testing either way)? Talked to a couple of dieticians, but as some others have said here, they are just like... count calories, exercise more, low fat, 5-6 meals a day type advisors.

Andreas Avester link
7/3/2020 06:12:27 am

I am non-religious and non-nationalistic. Religions, cultural dietary norms etc. are irrelevant for me. When looking for nutritional advice, the only facts I want to know are what scientific studies say about which foods are healthy or not healthy.

I am the generation that was raised with the food pyramid. For years I was forced to eat white bread every day, because nutrition authorities stated that these foods are part of a balanced diet. I was euphoric when I finally learned that refined grains (white bread, cereals, pasta, white rice) are unhealthy. I finally had an excuse to ditch all this crap from my diet. I always perceived these foods as tasteless and bland.

USDA dietary guidelines are crap. No, you don’t need several servings of refined grains per day (as they still keep on recommending). Some of the so called fad diets are something I could live with. The official recommendations, on the other hand, are something I always hated.

Nowadays, I eat more than a kilogram of vegetables and fruits every day. I like the taste of vegetables, so that’s what I eat the most. I also eat dairy, fish, meat, peas and beans, seeds and nuts. I don’t eat any refined grain products and hardly any whole grain foods. I perceive grains as tasteless unless they are mixed with lots of sugar, the latter being unhealthy.

Whenever somebody tells me that I must follow official advice and ignore alternative “fad diets,” I cannot help cringing. No, I am not going to eat white bread regardless of how much USDA wants to force it upon me.

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Alf
10/5/2020 12:24:16 pm

Just not a good post. It seems as though you don’t fully understand how obesity happens. There are many experts that get there through there own learning and independent thinking. You’re off on this one as many other have pointed out.

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Marshal
25/5/2020 06:21:39 pm

Just an update, I lost 21kg, my diabetes is reversed... my HbA1C from 7.1% to 4.9%.
I start this lifestyle from 29 of feb. Thanks to all what Jason Fung wrote... so I guess he know what Obesity is and how to reverse it as well...

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jay
15/9/2020 09:55:07 pm

cool post great work!

I gotta get my A1c down I work out a lot (prob too much) to get readings down, and now I'm Vegan

but still... daily readings are too high...

just missing some data

know about I/fasting, just not utilizing it..

I'm hopeful Fong will have answers

Jay

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Bill
18/10/2020 09:49:38 pm

Cool man, great job. I work out too. Proper jacked mate. Biceps to my forehead. It's sweet. Got a couple ribs taken out. Now I don't need to find love.

Manon Carbajal
3/6/2020 09:13:25 pm

Great article. I agree that consulting a credentialed nutrition professional, such an RD, is key. However, there is another legitimate nutrition credential that you did not mention: the Certified Nutrition Specialist, or CNS. The American Nutrition Association defines a CNS as "a highly qualified nutritional professional with an advanced degree (graduate or doctorate) from a fully accredited university in nutrition plus 1,000 hours of a supervised internship and must pass the rigorous exam administered by the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists." Just saying.

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Logan
7/8/2020 11:38:03 am

I think you'd be best served to read the book before strawmanning Fung's claims. I aggree, MD's don't receive nearly enough education on nutrition, but that doesn't make them unqualified to read the literature. Not to mention, the vast majority of nutrition research is horribly flawed!

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Mattman
14/8/2020 03:11:00 am

LOL you criticized his book when it's clear you didn't read it. There's an entire chapter based on insulin resistance. Good job dope.

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Ivana
13/9/2020 09:26:41 pm

I’m actually thoroughly confused by this article. Where’s the actual science debunking Dr. Fung? I totally agree that all plans should be personalized but you’ve said nothing about science and even less to disprove any of the theories the book presents. It comes across as a “dietitian scorned” message to be frank - “don’t trust Dr. Fung because he’s not a dietician and because his advice is generalized”. If diets that dieticians have been pushing for decades actually worked, then a) we wouldn’t have obesity and b) we wouldn’t need dieticians. I’ve been looking hard trying to find some scientific arguments to counter Dr. Fung’s book but I can actually find very little. The arguments against usually fall into one of two categories: a) he’s not an expert and he’s only speaking from experience of treating kidney disease or b) all diets work because of calorie reduction (which isn’t even a main point of his book).

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john gray
1/11/2020 02:04:35 am

Well Said. Dr Fung is most certainly charlatan who comments far outside of his feild or understanding and utilising good marketing to develop enough of a cult to sell books and courses. . Here is a review of his overall work from two much better qualified people (look them up) starting at 1.14.00 https://sigmanutrition.com/episode355/

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Marsha Waggoner
20/11/2020 09:57:51 pm

Well, I went looking for critics of Dr Fung, and I found 'em. LOL
I understand the points you're making, although I can't say that I agree with all of them. This is what I do know for sure: I have struggled with my weight for decades. I can cut my caloric intake to under 600 a day and still not lose weight. I have tried a couple of "diets" with varying degrees of limited, short-term success, although I'm not really a diet fan, as my normal foods are pretty healthy, mostly vegetables, no processed food, no fast food, no soda, etc. My thyroid stuff all comes back normal, so it's a puzzlement for the doctors. Meanwhile, I've had 2 heart attacks and 3 stents, and I have fibromyalgia, high blood pressure (poorly controlled with meds), and COPD. I'm told I'm now also pre-diabetic. Literally the only way I have managed to lose any weight at all is by not eating anything. I'm painfully aware that this is not sustainable for the long term, but I'm willing to give it a go because I don't know what else to do -- and not a single doctor I've seen in the last 5 years has been willing or able to help me with that, other than to suggest bariatric surgery, which I will not consider. None have even been willing to say, "you're having all these medical issues because you need to lose weight," although if I know that, it seems likely that they do, too. Certainly none have suggested that a chat with a dietician might be in order ... and even if they did, I seriously doubt that would be covered by my poor-people's insurance.
My point here is that, while I can see and appreciate the value of consulting with an expert in nutrition and diet, I can't for the life of me figure out how I might go about doing that. I wish I could. In the meantime I'm counting on Dr. Google and YouTube to help me out with this.

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Luke
3/1/2021 01:17:14 am

What an absolutely wretched article, not much more than a rancid attack on a guy with more than 20 years of research/practise, backed by an enormous multitude of other specialists and registered Physicians. What about Dr. Ken Berry? Dr. Paul Mason? Dr. Annette Bosworth? Dr. Benjamin Bikman? Dr. Stephen Phinney - Professor of Medicine Emeritus?

Do you even know who these specialists are? The research and hard work they've done? The multitude of clinical research and data they have produced?

You are an embarrassment to honest medical discussion and scientific enquiry.

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Blanche
2/9/2021 03:00:12 pm

https://www.redpenreviews.org/reviews/the-obesity-code-unlocking-the-secrets-of-weight-loss/
Scientific Accuracy
We evaluated three core claims in TOC:

Reducing calorie intake does not lead to weight loss
Elevated levels of insulin are the primary cause of obesity
Intermittent fasting is particularly effective for long-term fat loss
These received an overall score of 1.2 out of 4, indicating that they are poorly supported as a whole.

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Claude
28/1/2022 02:18:27 am

correction :
Reducing calorie intake does not lead to SUSTAINED weight loss

This Nutritionist is damn funny, when you KNOW that DOCTOR created the discipline and trained them, ok, some nutritionist do now, but doctor started it and do the research.

As for Fung and other, they don't have 4 month of training, that was the university degree part, they have a LIFETIME of training, patients results and research.

Sure I won't take a generalist M.D opinion with basic training over a nutritionist knowledge, but I WILL take a doctor's lifetime SPECIALISATION and CURRENT RESEARCH result before a nutritionist regurgitating 20 year old advices.

I would expect the nutritionists to listen to Fung and other SPECIALIST, like Research Center for diabetes, CATO institue, Mayo Clinic, Medical PROFESSORS, etc. so they can ADAPT their advices accordingly.

I just got diagnosed with DT2, and currently looking for all available information on the subject I can find online. I am pretty sceptic, and even without being an expert, we can detect when an argument are flawed..and this blog are.

We'll see, maybe in a year or 2 I'll get back to tell my experiences...

Scott
15/2/2022 02:25:53 am

The South Dakota Board of Medical Examiners ordered Dr. Annette Bosworth's medical license be revoked. https://www.healthgrades.com/media/english/pdf/sanctions/HGPYA1DE9F24FF9044C9A09102015.pdf

She has also been convicted of 12 felonies--lying on election forms when she ran for Senate as a Republican in her Repubican state. https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2015/07/01/former-us-senate-candidate-annette-bosworth-sentenced/29552579/

She had a raffle to "sell the farm" -- land she inherited. https://madvilletimes.com/2013/11/16/bosworth-dodges-raffle-questions-plus-more-raffle-details/

Reply
claude
15/2/2022 03:05:20 am

@Scott What you did here is called 'Ad Hominem fallacy'

Milos
8/2/2021 09:30:52 pm

Solid article

Fung is a quack



Reply
Shelley Coles
18/3/2021 08:06:14 pm

following his advice has cured 2 members of my family (mom and husband). No meds for 2plus years.

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Mike
29/6/2021 02:07:46 pm

So Fung told them to starve themselves, they developed an irrational fear of carbohydrate and now they're part of the cult. Cool.

Theodora Rondozai
15/2/2021 11:32:51 am

You obviously didn't read or research anything on Jason Fung before writing this article.

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Blanche
2/9/2021 03:01:10 pm

I did research.

https://www.redpenreviews.org/reviews/the-obesity-code-unlocking-the-secrets-of-weight-loss/

Scientific Accuracy
We evaluated three core claims in TOC:

Reducing calorie intake does not lead to weight loss
Elevated levels of insulin are the primary cause of obesity
Intermittent fasting is particularly effective for long-term fat loss
These received an overall score of 1.2 out of 4, indicating that they are poorly supported as a whole.

Reply
Matt
24/8/2022 04:12:01 am

How come you didn't mention this part from their review?

Bottom Line: Following the TOC program will likely result in weight loss and improved health

Smartass
9/3/2021 11:54:23 pm

Medicine dictates nutritional advice.. Nutritionists like you are a scam. You call yourself president and refer to your clients as patients.. You are delusional and should be cancelled because you are pulling info from your own a.s.s instead to listening to what medical journals and studies say about the matter.. Go trick mid age ladies into some bogus diet and leave science to scientists.. Pathetic!

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Shelley Coles
18/3/2021 08:04:48 pm

Testimonial are not proof, but my mom when told by her doctor that her diabetes progressed to the point where she needed insulin. She then decided to give Dr Fungs Obesity Code a read. After 3 months she was off all medications, including bloodpressure meds. It has been 2 years since she has taken any medications and she has normal blood sugar readings. As a nurse she knew how long it takes for the medical system and doctors to catch up with medical science.
Now my husband has been diagnosed with T2D and after 4 weeks of intermittent fasting and low carb diet, he is off his metformin. and his blood sugars are in the 6's and 7s. At least his doctor was on board with his choice. And he continues to make progress.
My mom's doctor told her that diabetes is a "progressive disease". The same words used by the nutritionist my husband visited today used. They should learn that diabetes is reversible.

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Jacqueline Nseir
14/5/2021 11:04:59 am

This really makes me feel better.

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Rusty
16/11/2021 09:22:55 am

So its been several months now is your husband still using Fung's method?

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Kate
24/3/2021 12:02:04 pm

I actually think Fung's physiologic theories are completely sound. However, if you look at an example of what a 7-day diet looks like with his plan, it is absolutely unsustainable.

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Valerina
6/4/2021 12:39:28 pm

Keep eating your sugar and carbs then! (eye roll).

I never thought I could follow a low carb/ketogenic diet or fast (I have always had a big appetite) but when your body is ready (properly fed), hunger goes away. I lost my pandemic weight and more. Not going back.

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Anthony Hulse
14/5/2021 10:30:01 am

Dietitians follow the Canada Food Guide. Need I say more?
OK I will. I've been to dietitians and all they tried to get me to do was to follow the Canada Food Guide exactly. A food guide that was created with the pressure of big agriculture and big processed food companies behind it. With both Dr Fung I've actually lost significant weight, cured my fatty liver, avoided diabetes and kept the weight off.

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Jacqueline Nseir
14/5/2021 11:06:32 am

Hi did you subscribe to his program or just followed his advice thru videos?

Reply
Mariana
17/11/2021 12:45:03 am

You can get lots of info here. They also offer a free trial.
httpss://www.thefastingmethod.com/

anthony v hulse
18/12/2021 10:50:01 pm

Followed his program on the advice and with the supervision of my GP.

Becky
18/5/2021 02:51:59 pm

Jason Fung is amazing.

Reply
Mariana
23/6/2021 04:24:02 pm

I went to see a registered dietician. I didn't even try what she suggested. I knew I couldn't do it. Dr Fung's method is much easier and I've lost 35 pounds so far. I could keep doing for ever if I had to. Whether Dr Fung is wing about some details or not, it's working for me and thousands of others... This article sounds like someone who is sour because he didn't get a bright idea like that....

Reply
Whitney
11/8/2021 11:30:40 am

I like that Ben's main point is that you have to look at the whole individual. The science may look great and promising but in the end, intermittent fasting is not for everyone, just like low carbohydrate isn't for everyone, etc. I don't think that only dietitians are qualified to give nutrition advice, there are dietitians out there who also do harm. Many of the personalities that are drawn to this style of restrictive eating may either be in the middle of an eating disorder or probably already exhibiting eating disorder-like behaviors. If food can't fit into your life in an enjoyable way, what kind of life is that? Nutrition is an evolving science and people can argue until they are blue in the face, but in the end there is no one "right" way of eating.

Reply
Mariana
12/8/2021 05:03:38 am

Why do people have to eat all day? It wasn't always like that. It leads to weight gain and other health problems. Fasting has many benefits, other than weight loss. It reverses diabetes, improves skin, boosts metabolism, corrects hormone levels, increases growth hormone, improves depression, anxiety etc. When eating, you don't have to be restrictive and count calories, etc. and food definitely fits into my life in "an enjoyable way" and without guilt. Why would you consider it being an eating disorder just because we don't eat all day long? I consider eating all the time, until you're obese and unhealthy, much more of an eating disorder...Maybe do a bit of research before making up your mind about intermittent fasting. It has been done for thousands of years...modern westerners are just afraid of it, because they don't know it.

Reply
John C.
18/9/2021 01:06:24 am

Seems like Jason Fung has a large group of fans out there -
and I'm another one of them.
Staying motivated to stay the course on a diet is a major hurdle for many, if not most, of us.
This is where I find JF, Dr Pradip Jamnadas and other like-minded medicos out there, are so invaluable.
The first motivational factor is that JF's advice gives a quick results. A quick result will motivate you to stick to the diet longer.
A second motivational factor, I find, comes from watching and listening to JF's videos. When my willpower wanes, JF's videos helps resurrect me and stay on track.
I can't tell you how incredibly valuable I find these two motivational factors.

Reply
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Cynthia Cretsinger, PA-C
10/11/2021 11:58:42 am

Ben you are spot on! Great article, thx!

Reply
overseas
16/11/2021 02:27:43 am

I needed to comment when I stumbled upon this utterly ridiculous article. You are debunking Dr Fung? Are you qualified to do so? Has helped thousands, literally thousands get off their diabetes (and often other) medications. I am pretty sure something he is doing is right for many (thousands) of people.

There are some MDs who learn more than that what was taught in medical school, they learn from their additional research and clinical experience.

I have been following Dr Gundry since the days he had 1 book (Diet Evolution) and no one knew who he was (and you could easily get an appointment with him). He continues to tweak what he teaches based on his continuing research and what he sees and learns from his patients. With his recommended dietary changes I no longer have any symptoms or markers in my blood for my autoimmune disease - for which other doctors wanted me to take medication. Working with a dietician is nice, but often they lack the up to date experience and research of doctors like Drs Fung and Gundry, who are continuously trying to learn more to help their patients. Hopefully these doctors will have a cadre of dieticians to help other follow their protocol.


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anthony v hulse
18/12/2021 10:50:55 pm

Dieticians are salesmen for the food lobby.

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Jason
6/3/2022 12:36:52 pm

Thanks for this. It's astounding how much ire you attracted from people who treat this like a religious crusade. I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems clear that science and medicine advance through evidence-based consensus, peer review, and publications in high quality venues. A lot of the comments here seem to ignore that.

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Mariana
7/3/2022 10:45:11 pm

Lots of studies have already been done on fasting. Dr Fung and others have listed many of them in their books. This "expert" just wants people to buy his expensive nutritional counselling packages instead of using fasting for free....

Reply
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David
18/4/2022 11:16:24 am

I haven't read Dr. Fung's "The Obesity Code" book, but I have read his other book "The complete guide to fasting". At least on this one he does not advocates to any general type of diet, the only generic diet he proposes is to avoid processed food, added sugar, and stick with whole food. And he makes a great distinctions between diet (how to eat) and fasting (when to eat).
I'm T2 diabetic and I have followed meal plans prepared to me by dietitians (while taking metformin) only to see my condition to slowly progress. Recently (after seeing my blood sugar hitting 300s for the first time) I started a ketogenic diet, and later I followed Dr. Fung's intermittent fasting protocol. After 3 months my blood sugar is now fluctuation between 80-120 over the day. I'm also no longer taking metformin.

I get where you're coming from: so many people create crazy diet plans. But your rage needs to have scientific support to be valid. A Nephrologist is talking about fasting because he is one of the doctors that treats diabetic people after decades of bad guidance regarding to diabetes T2 by other professionals in general (including dietitians). I'd be seeing a Nephrologist too if I was to follow the standard guidance by health professionals (including dietitians).

You're free to contact me with the e-mail I provided in the form and I can tell you all my journey with diabetes.

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4/5/2022 02:24:18 am

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16/6/2022 08:06:01 am

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Carneades
28/1/2023 12:14:39 pm

Well you certainly provoked many members of the *~Dr. Jason Fung~* Cult to lash out, lol.

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