The Tree Diet

Recently i met a friend of mine who became victim of what i call "The Tree Diet" and i felt really sorry for her. She was even hospitalized from this incident, which is why i do not recommend this diet to anyone regardless of what your situation is. The tree diet is extremely dangerous and foolish if you ask me, yet so many people fall victim to it by sly sales tactics. And these sales people - well they basically prey on people's desperate want and need to lose weight fast.

What is the tree diet? its simple. Tie a person to a tree and don't feed them. Check every few days to see how much weight the person has lost. Only untie the person from the tree once they have achieved their ideal weight. Simple enough. Now i know you may be laughing after reading this, but honestly, how many people do you know who starve themselves to death in a desperate attempt to lose weight? Or more popularly, some people call it a detox camp where all you are allowed is liquids for 3 whole days. Hence any extreme starvation diet like this is called the tree diet.

My friend who was hospitalized was victim to one of these MLM sales people. This person recommended my friend a whole bunch of vitamins ans fruit juices for 3 days. Nothing else. No solid food, no protein no nothing. Just a bowl full of vitamin tablets and fruits. That's it. As a result, she got really sick and was hospitalized. After hearing this, i told her that what someone did was sell you the tree diet and i explained what it was to her. She laughed and asked why do people do this? Simple. Many of the sales people have absolutely no clue on fitness and nutrition. They are just a bunch of retards who are trying to make a fast buck. So the only sure fire way they know on how to sell their products is to help you lose weight. What better way to lose weight than to starve you have to death and pump you with their vitamins. Even if you don't lose fat, you will lose muscle, water or even bone density.. but heck who cares... as long as the scale shows 2kg off in 3 days - then you will be a believer and continue buying. The problem with this is, there are still many people gullible enough to try anything and unfortunately, this is the result.

Now before you jump on the bandwagon and shout "Death to all MLM scum", i would not blame the MLM companies. All they do is come up with the products and allow these agents to sell it. Problem is, anyone with a RM 200 or so can easily fill up the form and join and then they start claiming to be a fitness expert. Lets put it another way. Let's say Moron 1 is desperate to make a quick buck. So he goes to the market and buys 1kg of cabbages. He finds someone who wants to lose weight and says "hey buddy, i can show you how to lose weight. All you need to do is boil this cabbage with water for 3 hours. Then just drink the water and throw out everything else. Do this for 3 to 4 days and i guarantee you weight loss." So the poor victim buys it, and tries it - but gets sick because they are severely under nourished. Now let me ask you. Who should be blamed? Moron 1 or the cabbage? Would it be fair to label cabbages as unsafe for consumption because 1 moron found a stupid thing to do with it? Same thing goes with MLM companies. All their products have to be certified by the Ministry of Health. In fact every supplement in Malaysia which is sold, must carry the KKM sticker as shown below.

If it doesn't don't buy it. So you are assured that the products are safe for consumption as long as you consume it following the recommended method. its not the MLM companies fault, nor is it Ministry of Healths fault if you decide to pop 500 multivitamin tablets.

So what should we do to avoid being conned by retards like these who are walking around? Well here are some simple tips.

1) ask them what certification they carry that allows them to start giving advice on weight loss and nutrition - if all they have is a membership to the MLM company, then run away quickly.
2) Check with a buddy who is in fitness or better still, check with your doctor and see what he says about this - if your doctor says this is crap, it probably means it is crap. So avoid it.
3) Ask them why you need to consume more than the recommended dose on the bottle.They will come up with really creative ideas so be careful. Some of these answers are really convincing. Go on Google and double check their claims before anything.
4) Any diet program which only forces you to drink liquids through out (Be it protein shakes or fruit shakes) is a NO NO. Replacing some meals are OK. But all meals does not work - mainly because you cannot maintain it. So why bother shedding 5kg in 4 days only to put it all back within then next 4 days.
5) Read Fitness Malaysia's blog more often - By reading this blog often, you will get a better understanding on whats good and whats not so that you can make better decisions. In a sense, i want people to have the right knowledge so that they can make informed decisions.

So there you go folks. I really hope this post is an eye opener and also to warn you on whats going on out there. Also, i feel that MLM companies have been getting the bad rep for other people's mistakes and i think its not fair. So i hope this helps to clear up the air. As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.