Losing weight by eating too much
WHEN Hilton Selvey told us about an email he had received promoting a 鈥渘egative calorie鈥� diet that supposedly means the more you eat, the more weight you lose, he added he was worried that if he followed this diet and ate too much he would eventually disappear in a puff of smoke.
We had a look around, and found that a famous web search engine lists 392,000 pages containing the words 鈥渘egative calorie foods鈥�. Typical of the claims they make are the ones at , which states: 鈥淭he Negative Calorie DietTM is based on more than 100 negative calorie foods requiring your body to BURN more calories than the actual calorie content of the food itself! This results in your body burning the remaining stored fat as its new source of energy because it no longer feels hungry or starved.鈥� We are then told we can order this diet as an eBook, along with various 鈥渂onus鈥� downloads, for $47.
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Could this be rubbish? Is the whole concept of negative calorie foods a myth? Yes indeed. In its 鈥渓ovely little Wikipedia鈥� notes that a negative calorie food 鈥渋s purported to require more calories to be digested than it provides鈥�. It goes on to say, bluntly: 鈥淲hile this concept is popular in dieting guides, there is no scientific evidence that any of the foods claimed as negative calorie foods are such.鈥� New 杏吧原创 agrees. Celery is commonly cited as being 鈥渘egative鈥� in this way, but digesting it actually requires only a small proportion of its calorie content.
Another scam bites the dust.
鈥淭he care instructions for a from online store ASDA Direct state: 鈥淢achine Washable, Dry Clean Only鈥�
ALLERGIC reactions can make people seriously ill, so allergy warnings are A Good Thing even if they sometimes seem unnecessary, like the notorious 鈥渕ay contain nuts鈥� warning on packets of nuts. Stuart Neilson, however, sends us a photo of a packet of tomato ketchup discovered by his daughter Melina in Dublin, Ireland. It seems to take allergy caution to a new, all-inclusive level. It also provides a surprising insight into what tomato ketchup is made of these days.
The packet warns: 鈥淎llergy Advice: May contain Nuts, Peanuts, Sesame Seeds, Celery, Wheat, Barley, Fish, Eggs, Soybeans, Milk, Sulphites and Cereals containing Gluten鈥�.
Is this, Stuart wonders, the tomato ketchup secret recipe?
Astrological influences on climate change
THE state legislature of South Dakota recently passed to 鈥渢each the controversy鈥� on climate change. Those who felt this indicated a certain lack of intellectual finesse on the part of the legislators responsible were hardly reassured by the wording of their resolution, which insisted that teachers must tell students about the 鈥渧ariety of climatological, meteorological, astrological, thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics that can effect world weather phenomena鈥�.
Astrological effects on the weather? Come on, guys.
The pill: secret of immortality
SEVERAL readers noticed two inspiring sentences in the London free newspaper Metro last month. An : 鈥淭aking the pill cuts the long-term risk of dying from any serious illness including cancers and heart disease, new research suggests. Women who take the contraceptive are 12 per cent less likely to die compared with those who never have.鈥�
Sarah Fellows asks: 鈥淚f the entire female population began taking the pill, would a lucky 12 per cent of us become immortal? We think this kind of side effect would surely be worth investigating further and can鈥檛 understand why pharmaceutical companies have not caught on to it.鈥�
A SIGN in the cafe of Ikea鈥檚 store in Sydney, Australia, reads: 鈥淏y taking your tray to a tray station, we can continue to keep our prices low.鈥�
Peter Fyfe confesses to 鈥渢aking a pedant鈥檚 pleasure in leaving my tray on the table to ensure prices remain low鈥�.
Meanwhile, in the UK, John Parry tells us that the University of Hertfordshire is well known for its leading position in robotics and computer science, so he was initially impressed last week by a new sign in the students鈥� refectory saying 鈥淭his is a self clearing restaurant鈥�.
A little observation soon revealed that it means, just like the old notice, 鈥淧lease put your plates and cutlery on the trolley.鈥�
AN EMAIL from Facebook arriving in Tina Bayley鈥檚 Googlemail account informed her that a friend had written on her 鈥渨all鈥�. Google鈥檚 keen algorithms helpfully suggested that she may well be interested in other types of wall such as Hadrian鈥檚 Wall, concrete walls or walls made of bricks and mortar.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a nice try,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut I鈥檓 quite happy with my electronic one.鈥�
FINALLY, when Alan Bailey鈥檚 stainless steel vacuum flask stopped keeping things warm, he took it back under warranty to his local Kmart store. They happily replaced it, telling him that 鈥渢he vacuum must have leaked out鈥�.