(.... climbing up onto soapbox. Ranting begins ..)

I used to be an avid reader of Prevention right from the early days of Rodale, when they advocated the completely wholistic, natural approach to preventive health and well-being. Now, it has become so mainstream, and the major sponsors and advertisers are pharmaceutical companies plugging antidepressants, Xenical and cholesterol-lowering drugs. My god, they're even pushing drugs you can get the vet to prescribe for your pets! ..

I resent the fact that the picture on the cover is ALWAYS a thin, young white female. Never a man, never someone of colour, never a plus-size or mature person, and nobody wears glasses or is in a wheelchair. Oh wait, one issue ONCE the young blonde woman was wearing very chic red-framed glasses.

In March 2000, the feature article was a write-up about the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets. I could just picture the author being dragged, kicking and screaming, long fingernail-drag-marks in the carpet, as she grudgingly admitted that MAYBE these diets were healthy, and MAYBE they were better for you than a steady diet of white bread and sugary foods. Prevention usually posts its feature articles on the website. Strange, last March's entry is mysteriously blank.

As for prevention.com, I read an email from a woman who stated her doctor had put her on a lowcarb diet to correct blood chemistry. She was having trouble sticking with the diet due to boredom. She wrote to prevention asking for help and ideas. The response was (no big surprise here) don't follow a lowcarb diet, it'll kill you in a flash. Eat more breads and cereals. First, this response was not from a trained nutritionist it was from the FITNESS editor. Second, who is this person to tell someone to NOT follow their doctor's orders. I'm a nurse; I'd lose my license to practise if I ever did that!

Ok, I'll get down off the soapbox now...

Karen, you make a good point about who sponsored the booklet. I remember picking up some pamphlets from my Employer Health office once, on heart disease and cholesterol. Lots of diet recommendations, and the warnings about the dangers of butter and animal fats. Flipped it over ... ooooooh, big surprise, published by Becel margarine. Yet, the cover was very clearly the red and white emblems of the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation. Let's try to guess the politics and profiteering behind THAT ...

Doreen