The Seven Deadly Spins: Part II

The second deadly spin, from Vain Hair's 'advisory council that I'd like to address is Sloth. For the first installment, click here: http://blazingpants.blogspot.ca/2015/08/the-seven-deadly-spins-part-1-lust.html When we think of sloth, we we think of laziness, slow movement, etc. Today we'll address sloth in one that wants fame and fortune but is far too lazy to get an actual education in nutrition and so, opts for online diploma mills that spend more time educating students on how to start and run a scam business than about human biochemistry or actual nutrition.

Meet Christa Orecchio, self proclaimed "co-author" of a pamphlet of recipes called "eating for wellness" written by Ms Orecchio and Cheryl Tiegs - because you know a paid supermodel knows everything about nutrition. Of course, our slothful O'wrecker doesn't call it that; she calls it the "The Anti-Inflammatory Diet" which was actually a subtitle to the original e-publication that is no longer available. Perhaps it's because it was pushing a product that Tiegs was endorsing through infomercials that the FTC had a significant problem with. TriVita was sued by the FTC for making false health claims about their 39.99 (plus shipping and handling) bottle of miracle elixir cactus juice. No, I'm not making this up - read it for yourself here: FTC on TriVita

But O'wrecker likes that narrative of 'anti-inflammatory' because it pushes her concept of Candida being the root of all physical ailments, which of course, she has a cure for. But I won't get ahead of myself here. Let's take a look at O'wrecker's educational claims and we can see where the deception starts.

According to Orecchio's own linkedin resume, she posts this:

I contacted University of North Carolina and they know nothing about the CN or HHC designation, nor do they offer classes in nutrition outside of a nursing program nor do they have anything related to "wellness". Nope, instead her CN, HHC come from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), which will start you on your new business for the low, low price of $5,995. along with about 25,000 other quacks. Don't worry about the rigors of academia though, it's an online school with all open book tests and in order to satisfactorily complete your education you need only do a few simple tasks. for nearly half of the required points, you need only attend a few "coaching circles" and if you complete and submit your required "health history" (potential new clients) you need only score a 50% on one of 4 tests to graduate! So much less stressful than a real education don't you think? Then you can hang that HHC off the end of your name to make it appear as though some certifying body thinks you know what you are talking about. There is no body that certifies a holistic health coach (HHC) by the way. I'm going to dedicate a whole post to IIN, after all, how many actual higher institutes of learning have rich CEOs instead of deans or chancellors? This "school" not only teaches you to create your own scam business (and recommends you charge $125/hr) but sells you all the tools to do it along the way. You can even buy your "integrative" web site from them. Sorry, I couldn't resist that! Nor is there any certification for a 'clinical nutritionist' (CN).

It seems that O'wrecker wanted a more lucrative career than her degree in business was providing for her so she gave up selling yoga pants and went on into woo instead. Her website shows lots of videos that make it seem like she's an in demand TV personality when, in truth, most of them are infomercials that she paid a pretty penny to make to the "Wellness Hour". These shysters specialize in helping quacks health care providers attract and keep suckers  clientele.  They even have a video on "gummy bear breast implants". I swear! I cannot make this shit up!

Anyway, O'wrecker hangs out her shingle in the greater San Diego area and tells people that they have an overgrowth of Candida yeast but sells a ton of supplements to solve the issue. In fact, going back to TriVita, they sell a line of supplements (probably about as effective as their cactus juice) and have a newsletter for which O'wrecker is a regular contributor. So please tell me how food is medicine (one of her favorite lines) but as a consultant she recommends lots and lots of pills, drops and books? Guess that crack education pays off because she offers a whole store for her "whole journey" through woo, and the products don't come cheaply!

But before you can start to recommend your crap, you have to have a backstory. You have to have overcome some life threatening ailments due to your eating habits, right?It doesn't even have to be very original, since that would be too much like work. I mean The Food Babe had appendicitis, right? O'wrecker has to go one better:

Now that she has you convinced that you can be healthy and attractive like her (sound like the food babe?) you'll need to follow instructions. First you need to enrol in a "gut thrive program because everyone in the who's who of woo has to say 'gut' these days. Her program can be yours for the low, low cost of:

Of course she must have been doing crystal math when she proclaimed the value of this "program" at $3800.00! But wait, you have to purchase the supplements FIRST.

And of course it doesn't end there - you need a transition and maintenance supplement plan for the low, low price of:

And be prepared to keep forking over the cashola, because she's a "nutritionist" after all, it says so on several of her many websites.  She also makes some claims about closing her 'successful' private practice to go with her new online program, because I'm sure that it's much more profitable to suck in a couple of thousand people at a time, charge them 700 bucks and sell them a bunch of supplements. Additionally she claims to have co-authored a book about fertility called ""Whole Baby, Whole Mama". An online search for the title of this book, however, only results in one hit. Her website. But you can get her "cookbook" which is available only for sale on her website as a non-refundable digital download only. Yeah, that sounds legit.

The food babe has a bio on her 'advisory council' that states O'wrecker had a private practice for 10 years, though Christa claims 8 on her own site (which she began while still enrolled in that crack, intensive nutrition program). Food babe also touts a "nationally syndicated" radio show, which is really the paid programming from the folks at the Wellness Hour that we mentioned above. Someone has some disposable cash apparently.

While I could go on for hours about her dubious credentials and online practices, I'm going to go ahead and call this one a big fat, five alarm, get the bucket brigade fire, fire!

If you buy into any of this quack's line of BS about your gut, candida (which by the way, she refers to as a disease as opposed to a common yeast that we all have present in and on our bodies) overgrowth or anything that requires you to buy expensive supplements, think about her lack of qualifications and endorsement of the food babe. Those two are peas in a pod. Both are too lazy to get a real education about their topics, they just want to cut to the paydirt.

I'll just leave you with a set of her qualifications in her own words: The Whole Journey are not acting in the capacity of a doctor, licensed dietician, psychologist or any other licensed/registered professional. Christa Orecchio and The Whole Journey will not diagnose, treat, or cure in any manner, any disease, condition, or other physical or mental human ailment.

Thanks for coming along with our queen of sloth; O'wrecka.

The Seven Deadly Spins: Part 1 - Lust

I'm calling this series of posts the Seven Deadly Spins in honor of Vani Hari and her new "advisory Council" of six. Together they add up to the seven blithering idiots who spread fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about the world we live in. If you were to adhere to everything they say (you couldn't since they contradict each other frequently) but if you could, you'd end up living in a glass bubble subsisting on juiced kale and pumped in oxygen (pure oxygen, cause you know that nitrogen mixed in is an evil conspiracy by the airlines)

First up, I'm going to introduce Dr. Joel Kahn, integrative cardiologist and his deadly spin is lust. Now with a name like Kahn, you'd expect me to choose 'wrath' as his deadly spin because the "wrath of kahn" is a much catchier title but we're about truth here, and wrath is not something I attribute to Kahn.  Passive aggression, pride and condescension he possesses in great supply but that's attributable to many in his profession. No, his real sin is lust. Now I'm not talking about carnal lust here, I have no idea about that, nor do I want to. I'm talking about his lust for the limelight. He craves the fame, attention and wealth that his heroes like Dr Oz have been basking in and he's shown that he's willing to ditch science over his lust for it.

Because vegans don't get cancer, apparently

He calls himself many different things; America's Holistic Heart doctor, Interpreventional cardiologist, Vegan Cardiologist I just call him quackers or for fun; "Chakra Kahn". Let's start with his educational claims. He is undisputably a board certified cardiologist but he likes to tout his Summa Cum Laude graduation from University of Michigan medical school. The reality is that he entered medical school through a now defunct and then experimental program called Inteflex, that sought to fast track high school students into the medical profession by combining undergraduate and medical school into one six year program. In doing so they avoided the complicated and competitive process of being accepted into mainstream medical school. In fact, its 50 accepted students never even took the MCAT. So while Joel may have graduated summa cum laude, at most he only bested 30 some odd students, who were only required to pass courses with a 'C' average, for that title.

Now that's not enough for our boy Joel and his constant quest for edumacation. According to his website he states:

"My knowledge of heart health and healing has come to some degree from standard medical education, journals and conferences. A larger part has come from my post-graduate training at the University of South Florida in Metabolic Cardiology."

But when asked about his education in health and nutrition on twitter he responded thusly;

But according to Chakra Kahn's own words he took 'metabolic cardiology' at USF and according to USF, they don't offer a graduate degree in it, more like a one year certificate of completion. Nice try Joel but you are bending and distorting your achievements, yet again.  

It's also interesting to note that 'metabolic cardiology' is a new field invented by Dr Stephen Sinatra (integrative cardiologist, anti-aging specialist, author and anti-vaxxer) who famously writes; "most diseases result from an inadequate supply of essential nutrients, emotional blockage and environmental toxicity" and who is also a believer in earthing aka grounding. Of course he will happily lighten your wallet to sell you wootastic cures. What I find funny is that Sinatra has a page on his site to help you find the best integrative cardiologists. It must chap Kahn's hide that while he isn't listed his 'pal' Jack Wolfson is listed. I'll get back to him in a couple of minutes, I promise. It's seriously a tangled mass of webs with these hucksters - all intertwined to boost the bottom line.

Anyway, back to Chakra Kahn, whose mentors, like Sinatra are a who's who of woo list! He counts among them, the infamous Dr Oz, Dr Mark Hyman (who I will be writing about in the next post), Daniel Amen, Dr Mercola and...gack...Gabriel Cousens. Oh my, my little munchkins, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, simply slide your wallet over and don't make any fast moves.

All of these 'physicians' are violating their own code of ethics, or perhaps when you step into the woo world as a trained doctor, you trade the hippocratic oath for  the capitalistic oath, because certainly Chakra Kahn has no problem with that:

See, Kahn links to all kinds of profitable endeavors from his website. He links to the Daniel Plan, which is a faith based plan for diet and exercise that's willing to sell you all kinds of cool merch, books, CDs and links to Dr Mark Hyman, who will readily sell you the rest of the stuff, like supplements cookbooks, powders and miracle self-cure kits. In fact, you can pay up to $300.00 for supplements that support your 10 day detox so you can literally piss away 300 bucks. Kahn also has links to the Thrive store - which is an online merchant designed to give up to 20% of the cuts back to the referring site. Problem is, nowhere on Kahn's site does he have a disclaimer that tells you he gets paid to promote these affiliate products. I'm sure that the FTC as well as the AMA would frown on that practice. But hey, capitalism is the cooperation of many, right? He provides links and you provide cash, downright symbiotic.

I'm focusing on Joel, because since becoming a member of the Food Boob's advisory council, he has become her most vocal and ardent defender on twitter. Now why is that do you think? Just since he's become the boob's advisor, he's picked up a couple thousand twitter followers. You see, Vani has what he lusts for; she has fame and followers but he has something she does not; credibility. So they do a swap. Vani gets to reference a doctor - no a cardiologist,  whenever she's out in left field (which is usually) and he gets to cash in on some of her followers. Sadly for him, his credibility will be shot all to hell, what there is of it, anyway.

You see, Kahn just isn't doing as well as some of his shyster idols. They go on CNN, make big bucks on their woo and have much more brand recognition than the Chakra Kahn has. Take his pal Dr Jack Wolfson, the notorious integrative Paleo cardiologist and anti-vaxxer. See in order to up the woo quotient you just keep adding random words to your title. Wolfson is much more well known as the Paleo doctor and was much more in media demand until his disastrous CNN interview about vaccines. When Kahn was asked about the difference between the vegan cardiology theory that he pushes, and the paleo theory that Wolfson promotes (along with the requisite supplements) Kahn referred to it as 'splitting hairs'. Say wha???? They seem like opposite ends of the spectrum, but then, as Joel repeatedly reminds everyone on twitter. HE is a doctor and you are not. Funny how that science thing only counts when they are selling their brand of 'science'. I do have to wonder, however, about some of Kahn's advice.

He recommends a strict vegan diet. OK, that works for some I suppose and he even claims it's anti aging, however, if that's the case one wonders why his website photo is at least 25 years old. Is he not content with his looks on his strict diet, exercise and spiritual healing routine?

Joel's website photo, doesn't he look young and healthy?

Current photo of Joel (age 56)

He also recommends sleeping on 'grounded sheets' and believes in Earthing 

(something even Woo-Master Andrew Weil thinks is bunk).  Most recently he wrote a few paragraphs of poorly researched and even more poorly cited opinions about genetically modified foods. The citations he actually managed to include were laughable links to fraudulent studies, long ago debunked. So why put himself into this controversy? That's right, back to his deadly sin. Lust for the limelight. Help him out Food Boob, poor guy just wants to be Dr Oz before he's too old. Whoops, that ship looks to have sailed already. Sorry, buddy.

But don't ask him questions or take him to task on anything via social media because his responses are as worthless as his advice. I was told to hug someone because he deduced I had anger issues based on asking a few simple questions. Despite his PR person actually responding to my personal cancer story with a completely inappropriate remark, I'm not angry, I'm amused.

Dr Kahn's PR agency tweet in response to a cancer story

Believe it or not, she's still doing PR for a doctor who claims to teach classes in cardioncology after that brilliant response. Of course the good doctor himself told me I needed to visit Heart Math and buy an application to reset my energies or some such nonsense, also known as tooth fairy science.

Sadly, I could go on all day but it's time to get out the truth-o-meter. What say you? Well, according to Joel Kahn, in an interview he said; "the consumer is at the prey of whomever is most effective at marketing" and it's the first honest thing I've heard him say. So choke down another handful of chlorella, doc, since that's what you swear by, because we're going to call this a big fat pants on fire.

Oh and I'll save the 200 bucks you wanted me to spend on Heart Math and I'll sleep on Egyptian cotton instead of plugging in my sheets to ground them. Watch your wallet folks, the Seven Deadly Spins are out to get their hands on it!

Next time we'll talk about the Second Deadly Spin.

That's All Folks!