10 Weight-loss Myths Busted
Courtney Breving
Article Summary
The article I chose is written by Vera Tweed in “Amazing Wellness” magazine written in March of 2016. The purpose of this article is to break the common thoughts about how to lose weight and give a better understanding to those who are trying lose weight by: walking short distances every day and slowly increasing the distance, doubling the amount of protein and decreasing starchy vegetables, eating fruits, eating a large variety of healthy foods, fast dieting by cutting calories, change the type of food you eat and you won’t be hungry all the time, don’t work too hard physically, get enough sleep, avoid diet sodas and sugar free sweeteners, and supplements can aid in weight loss. The author used various doctors and specialists in each of the 10 myth busting sections to help further convince those who are losing weight the wrong way.
Article Critque
The “Amazing Wellness” magazine is owned and operated by Active Interest Media- healthy living group, as well as the magazine “Better Nutrition”. Active Interest Media issues over 20 magazines, and is formed by Wind Point Partners, which is a private-equity investment firm with over 80 invested companies. The author’s accreditations, Vera Tweed, consist of her being an editor, ghost writer, publisher of prints, and a writer for multiple books, special issues of magazines, and journals including the following magazines stated above (“Amazing Wellness and “Better Nutrition”). Tweed has also written articles in PubMed, the US National Library of Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health. With these findings I would conclude that the author and the source are valid. Any factual points or quantities were backed by Joe Colella MD weight loss specialist, author Dariush Mozaffarian MD at Tufts University, the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition”, and Harry Preuss MD and professor at Georgetown University. On the other hand there were a few references to “researchers found” (Tweed, 2016, p. 58) but nothing more was specified and “several studies have found” (Tweed, 2016, p. 62) with no additional information provided. With that being said, I would say most of the major points made are not based on scientific evidence but on the knowledge from medical doctors. To the contrary, Tweed has published many articles with accredited government health and medicine websites which then would validate any points that Tweed may have made in the article. Much of the information stated in the article was very familiar to me being that we have talked about these topics in class. I would say overall it is a very well written article that provides professional suggestions to taking on a healthy life and losing weight.