The Doctors: Food Addiction
The Doctors spoke to Marnie, who said she was addicted to food and wanted to stop. She currently weighs 350 pounds. “My eating is out of control and I just can’t seem to stop,” she said. The first thing she thinks about is food. She said even if she’s not hungry, she’ll eat a breakfast sandwich at a fast food place. Then at work, she’ll have a bunch of snacks, including chips and gummy snacks.
“I want to stop doing this to myself and I just feel like I can’t,” she said.
The Doctors: What Is Cirrhosis?
The Doctors talked to a woman who suffered from food addiction and gave her a health scare wake-up call by having her put on a suit that made her 100 pounds heavier. (JIANG HONGYAN / Shutterstock.com)
The Doctors sent Marnie to oncologist and internist Dr. Lawrence Piro, who agreed to give her a scare. Dr. Piro said it’s important to remember what things make her joyful in life. Marnie said her two cats and her friends. When Dr. Piro asked Marnie why she thought she was overweight, Marnie said she tends to eat her emotions.
After Marnie agreed to a scare wake-up call, Dr. Piro showed her three different livers. Fat is deposited throughout the body, but it also gets deposited in the liver. If too much fat is deposited in the liver, it can lead to Cirrhosis. Dr. Piro showed her a normal liver, a liver with fat deposited, and a liver suffering from Cirrhosis that wasn’t able to function anymore.
The Doctors: Food Addiction Scare
Marnie has been gaining about 20 pounds a year over the last 10 years. Dr. Piro put her in a weight vest that weighs about 40 pounds, so Marnie could see what she’d feel like in two years. Then Dr. Piro put her in a suit that weighed another 100 pounds.
Dr. Piro said that a cat scan machine is what they use to diagnose cancer. If they were worried that Marnie might have a cancer, they might not be able to fit Marnie into the scanner with the fat suit on. They tried to put her into the machine, but only her legs fit.
The Doctors: What Is Neuropathy?
Dr. Piro also had Marnie put on shoes lined with sandpaper. This is because people who suffer from diabetes often get something called Neuropathy, which is a tingling or painful sensation in the bottoms of their feet. Eventually, they lose sensation completely in the feet. That’s why some diabetics lose their limbs, because they don’t realize when things get infected.
After taking off the fat suit, Marnie said she felt free.
The Doctors: Health Scare Experiment
Dr. Piro did some blood work to measure Marnie’s body fat. After the experiment, Marnie said it was very hard to look at herself like that and so far, it’s been very effective. She said it’s giving her a different mental image of herself.
Dr. Piro said health scares work because when you have good health or bad health, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like the other way. This kind of experiment puts the patient into that mindset. Dr. Travis said that Marnie has the choice to be scared or to be excited about the changes she can make starting today.
Dr. Piro said that the body fat tests showed that her body fat was 56.4 percent. A fit woman would have between 21 and 24 percent body fat. So Marnie’s body fat is about two times that amount. However, Marnie’s blood sugar was normal. She doesn’t have any evidence of diabetes.
The Doctors: Surprise For Marnie
Then The Doctors surprised Marnie with an all-expenses paid two week trip to Miami to a spa where she will get state-of-the-art individualized attention to improve her diet and fitness regimen. They also gave her gourmet delivery from the Fresh Diet, who will give her three fresh meals and two snacks that are nutritionally balanced every day. Ladies First Fitness is giving her a year-long membership to help her learn better fitness as well.
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