Some Deceptions and Exaggerated Sales Pitches

It is clear that Oprah's experts, David Katz, MD and Jorge Cruise claim that they will not resort to deceptions and exaggerated sales pitches. The following is from the Foreword to The 3-Hour Diet:

"Because of this caring, Jorge will not resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

This is an interesting statement from a person who has endorsed the following:

1.         Faked Yale University Endorsement: (this is also dealt with elsewhere on this website)

David Katz is a Yale MD who is a “colleague” (Katz’s own word) of Jorge Cruise.

An Associate Professor Adjunct in Public Health Practice at the Yale School of Public Health, he, together with Jorge Cruise, misrepresented that Yale endorsed their 3-Hour Diet scheme:

David's and Jorge's Misrepresentation

Yale's Truth

2.         The Deceptive Use Of An Image To Exaggerate A Sales Pitch: (this is also dealt with elsewhere on this website)

Here is a compelling image, clearly designed “to gain your interest or attention.”

Below the image are Jorge's, and presumably David’s (as he surely signed off on the book since he did author a portion), own words. I assume they meant magnetic resonance imaging. 

"Muscle loss happens on most fad diets, as shown in this cross-sections of thighs (by magnetic imaging)." (This is Jorge's and David’s caption. It is in the plural, “our secret.”)

This, their "Secret," quite definitely says that “muscle loss = obesity.”

Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or greater. That’s it. You can be obese with muscle gain, with muscle loss or with no change in your muscle. Muscle loss does not equal obesity. A BMI of 30 or greater does.

The other striking feature of this image is the associated caption: “Muscle loss happens on most fad diets, as shown in this cross-sections of thighs.” (Many people, especially those educated beyond grammar school, would have phrased it as “these cross-sections.”) This states unequivocally that obesity is the result of “most fad diets,” whatever a “fad diet” is (see the arrowhead). The visitor to the 3-Hour Diet website is led to believe that the picture on the right is what happened to someone following a “fad diet” and the picture on the left resulted from following Jorge’s and David’s 3-hour scheme.

If you visit another of Jorge’s and David’s website pages, you will see the following compelling image and caption, clearly designed “to gain your interest or attention.”

The caption below contains their words. Again, I assume they mean magnetic resonance imaging.

"Muscle loss can begin after age 20, as shown in cross-sections of thighs (by magnetic imaging). Only resistance training can restore youthful fat-burning muscle tissue." (This is Jorge's and David’s caption.)

In my opinion, this is the same image as before, only this time it is being used to show muscle loss allegedly due to growing older.

Here are the images side by side. See if you agree that they are the same.

Well which one is it? Is the thigh on the right an allegedly obese one from following a “fad diet” (see above) or is it a thigh from being “age 40+” and having lost muscle from aging? Is the thigh on the left from some "3-hour diet" (see above) or from being “age 20”?

Neither. It is the same image used for two different purposes.

Oprah’s experts, Katz and Cruise clearly "resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

3.         Another Exaggerated Sales Pitch: (this is also dealt with elsewhere on this website)

The following is from David Katz’s Foreword to the 3-Hour Diet:

"He communicates regularly with several million clients at www.JorgeCruise.com. He gets insight and feedback from the more than twenty-three million he advises on nutrition at America Online. He has been everywhere, talked to everyone, and listened with genuine interest, concern, and rare empathy."

According to Jorge himself, Katz's self-acknowledged "friend and colleague," “Jorge Cruise launched his weight loss career in 1998.”  This is a quote from Jorge's website which is copyrighted 1997.

Let’s assume it all began in 1997 and Jorge has “coached” merely 3 million people. From January 01, 1997 until December 31, 2005, there have been 3,287 days (including two leap year days). Each day has 24 hours, each hour 60 minutes, each minute 60 seconds. From January 01, 1997 until December 31, 2005, 283,996,800 seconds will have passed. Assuming only 3 million people and no sleep, it takes Jorge about 94.6 seconds to “coach” a client. Once. Possibly less since I was figuring from January 1997 through December 2005. (http://www.jorgecruise.com/home/index.php?page=AboutUs)

Or maybe Jorge is not that busy. His book 8 Minutes in the Morning is copyrighted 2001. According to the back cover, by then he had “helped more than 3 million people slim down via his website www.jorgecruise.com.” Maybe no one else has used his services since 2001. Admittedly, more than 3 million is an open number. But even Mickey D, whose food Jorge seemingly promotes (their logo is on his website), is diligent enough to update its numbers. Incidentally, if we go from 1997 to 2001, the average time spent “helping” a client is about 52.5 seconds.

There is an inescapable conclusion here. The assertions are untrue and likely a "resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

These deceptions and exaggerations are facilitated by the Oprah Machine which serves to take your money and shove it into the pockets of Oprah, the mastermind, and her band of deceivers and exaggerators.