Why isn't Cambridge advertised?

[wecandothis]

Why isn't Cambridge advertised?

I am just watching a programme on bbc 3 about a girl who is having weight loss surgery as she weighs 34 stone....she was terrified of dying on the operating table. Maybe if she'd heard of the Cambridge diet she wouldn't have had to resort to surgery. it was so upsetting for her.

I wish i'd heard of cambridge years ago. Since ive been doing the diet theres a total of 12 others (friends, family, neighbour, colleagues) who have also started, though had never before heard of the diet.

Does anybody know, why is Cambridge not advertised (or is it advertised anywhere?)

Anyway, thats my rant over with!

Polly x

[Cheb]

Hi

When I first started LL, (now doing CD) I thought VLCD's were the best kept secret ever and felt cheated that nobody had let me into the club years ago!

However, I have seen magazines and newspaper stories since and of course LL mag is now in newsagents too. Not sure if it is that VLCD's are becoming more popular or I'm just more aware.

I think that they are not fashionable in the way perhaps the likes of the GI diet, you know what I mean, there are often different diets that that seem to be the 'in' thing. CD has been around for years and years, I can remember my FIL doing it 18 years ago and I didn't realise it was still around. I'm sure lots of people think the same.

As for advertising, my friend is a CDC and is so busy she struggles to keep up with demand so does not dare advertise! I suppose it's upto each CDC to promote themselves cos if CD did it there may not be enough C's to cope. I guess it's up to us to get to goal, train to become CDC's and spread the word about how great this diet is!!!!

Ooh, sorry went on a bit didn't I, better get off my soapbox now.

[wecandothis]

Don't you just wish you could shout it from the roof tops somethimes about how good this diet is?

There have been so many occasions when I have seen really big people and have been just dying to approach them and tell them about the diet, but of course I wouldnt, as I know how I would have felt if someone had just come up to me talking about a diet!

[Cheb]

I know, really have to bite my tongue and rein myself in. Maybe there are people who are happy with their health and fitness level and appearance even when very overweight but I can't help myself for wanting to share the 'secret' But you're right, if anyone had approached me I'd have knocked them flat!

[chicken on a mission]

I totally agree about wanting to sing the praises of the VLCD from the rooftops.

Trouble is that I think being aware is only half the 1st stage, you need to have your head in the right place too.

My mum lost a great deal of weigh on CD about 15 years agao when my grandad was a CDC and is only just doing it again now. She knew about CD obviously having done it before but she is only ready NOW

[squashedfroggy]

I think the problem with vlcd is that it scares some people.. they get the impression they cant eat. she may have heard of the diet but not even considered it as the most advertised feature about it is that it is a powder diet (I am only saying this as this was my impression before I really investigated /was told about it). I didnt realise food would be slowly introduced

I think to have surgery she must be desperate, and must have tried so many diets, but alot of people want 'quick' fixes and maybe she felt that no diet would give her that loss as quickly as she wanted it.

Surely though her doctor would have suggested the diet before she said about surgery!

[*Kitty*]

I found this on the internet:

By this time, the very low calorie diet had already proven itself to be disastrous, since 58 people had died from being on the commercial liquid diets that were popular in 1976 and 1977. The amount of protein in these drinks was insufficient to keep the body from feeding on its own stores of protein, including lean muscle tissue and vital organs. The Cambridge Diet, however, advertised that it was "the perfect food," and "provides you with scientifically balanced nutrition," and backed its claims with assurances from Dr. Howard, who was hardly an unbiased scientific observer, but continued to defend the product in scientific journals without revealing he'd been paid for his services. It took journal articles by other well-known obesity researchers to bring to light the fact that even Howard's own research showed that the extreme diet burned up the body's muscles and organs.
After two months, the US Postal Service and the FDA forced Feather to stop mail-order sales from ads that claimed that the Cambridge Diet would produce "no harmful side effects," was "metabolically balanced," and that people could stay on the formula for an "unlimited amount of time." Feather stopped selling the product through the mail, and instead created the kind of wildly profitable multi-level marketing plan used today by Herbalife. The diet sold by word-of-mouth, with counselors who served as cheerleaders and spiritual advisors for their clients. The diet counselor who sold the liquid formula not only got a profit from each can sold to his own customers, but a percentage of the sales of each counselor he recruited into the Cambridge "family."
This pyramid scheme was so successful that some counselors were earning more than $150,000 a month. Successful counselors-turned-executives were rewarded with BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, solid gold pens, and glitzy, celebrity-ridden hotel extravaganzas. Eventually, more than three million people had tried the diet, which Feather marketed as "an Ultimate Truth." For some, it was the ultimate diet: Thirty people died from heart attacks before the FDA forced the company to stop selling the nutritionally inadequate diet drinks.
The Cambridge Diet debacle shows just how dangerous weight loss marketing schemes can be. The problem with most weight loss products sold over the years is they don't work, except to make the promoter wealthy. The problem with the rest is that they do work, temporarily, by promoting unhealthy weight loss through starvation, as in the case of the Cambridge Diet, or by stimulating the nervous system, as in the case of over-the-counter diet pills containing phenylpropanolamine (now banned in the United States), which not only cause unpleasant side effects such as dizziness and irritability, but can lead to heart attacks and stroke. If money were the only thing people lost in diet scams, it would be serious enough. But many people have lost their good health or their lives trying to lose weight. No matter what the claims, no obesity cures to date really work to help people lose weight permanently. At best, they only make your wallet thinner.

[Russiandoll]

I think I remember this article being discussed once before on DH and the upshot is that it was the American version of Cambridge being discussed: I'm not 100% certain but I think it's different from the UK formula.

For myself, I studied the Scoop European study into VLCDs (which is independant and not subject to commercial interest) before making my decision to embark upon CD.

If anyone wants to take a look at the report then here's the link:

VLCD

I think that the American 'issue' probably blotted the copy book for all VLCDs which now all seem to be tarred with the same brush. This is making it difficult for reputable British companies to shake off this image of VLCDs being 'starvation diets' which are bad for your health. There is a plethera of mis-information about and stories of what can happen to you on a VLCD have reached almost 'urban myth' proportion.
I just wish there was unbiased information about all the weight loss methods available - pros AND cons - without all the hysteria attached.

Weight loss surgery doesn't seem to be suffering from the same negative attitude despite some real horror stories (details of which tend to be swept under the carpet and quickly forgotten). Only today in the Daily Mail, I saw a large ad for gastric banding.
I'm a member of another forum where most of the people have had or are interested in having WLS and I can tell you that, like ANY other weight loss method, it definitely isn't the magic bullet and doesn't work for everyone.

As for the question of CD advertising ... for as long as it has the negative image of VLCDs hanging around it's neck like the proverbial albatross and for as long as the medical profession refuses to reach a consensus on its viability as an effective weight loss method, they'll never be able to advertise.

[Isobel1965]

Kitty - this is an old, biased, American article that is nothing to do with the UK Cambridge Diet.

[Russiandoll]

Thanks Issy - I thought that was the case!

(I'm not going senile after all!! )

[chicken on a mission]

Very-Low-Calorie Diets and Sustained Weight Loss -- Saris 9 (Supplement 4): 295 -- Obesity

I like this study too

[*Kitty*]

Kitty - this is an old, biased, American article that is nothing to do with the UK Cambridge Diet.

ah ok, copycats!!!

[Geri]

Ahh I really wanted to watch that programme but forgot all about it!

does anyone know if it's going to be repeated??

[Geri]

Ooooooooooh just popping back to answer the orginal question lol

I think that these diets work best from word of mouth... when you see someone losing weight so quickly you wanna know all about it, and word quickly spreads!

My local paper carries an ad most weeks with both lighterlife and cambridge diets.... but I reckon most new clients come through recommendation

[Mini]

Every year we get some new diet fad that hits the head lines as the answer to the weight loss problem.

vlcd's have been around a long time and countless of people have used them safely and lost weight.

Like any diet they can be abused.

Also, if you don't change your old habits and continue to do the same as you did before you lost your weight you will eventually put it back on again.

One of the things I have noticed about those who do a vlcd is that they look absolutely brilliant...

Anyone who begins a vlcd journey does not do it lightly as it is a tough journey it is not for the faint hearted and it is difficult for people who never had a real issue with weight to fully appreciate the extent of the problem and that most of us have already tried every diet on the planet before resorting to a vlcd...

Love Mini xxx