Weight-loss ideas grow Dieting options range from drugs and hormone therapy to prayer

Susan Simpson

Jan. 12, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- The menu of weight-loss plans is as varied as the smorgasbord at a chain restaurant buffet.

Would-be waifs can pick from programs that push proteins over carbs, carbs over fat, prayer over piggishness or pharmaceuticals over fasting.

Oklahoma City area doctors will inject pregnancy hormones to "reset your weight point," prescribe phentermine (the less litigious of the formerly faddish fen-phen pairing) to suppress your appetite, or tailor your food intake to suit your metabolic needs.

Where's a would-be waif to turn?

If you google (NASDAQ:GOOG) "diet," you can get about 26 million links, but try "weight loss" and you'll access 102 million sites. Here's a tip: browse the sites instead of eating for the next few years and you're likely to drop a dress size or two.

The display tables are laden this time of year with how-to books on dieting, fitness and figure-flattery.

One such book was penned by Oklahoma City medical doctor Rita Hancock. "The Eden Diet" combines New Testament passages with portion-control pragmatism.

Hancock lost 75 pounds by eating small portions and doing so only when hungry. She urges prayer during times of temptation, but doesn't believe in abandoning forbidden fruits because "a merciful God would not give us Whoppers and then tell us not to eat them."

Harold Bradley of Oklahoma City said he's lost about 40 pounds over the last year using Hancock's techniques.

"This was a way of getting me to look at the spiritual side of things," said Bradley, 57, who gained weight after battling a debilitating illness.

Medical cures?

Dr. Stacey Hedlund says she expects brisk business at her Oklahoma City medical spa Epiphanea, which now offers injections of human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, a hormone produced during pregnancy. The injectable hormone is made from the urine of pregnant women.

Hedlund says injecting the hormone, while slashing food consumption to 500 calories a day, can help the body reset its weight point and "liberate calories from fat stores" in the body. She recently lost more than 20 pounds over six weeks on the plan, which she says has long been a diet secret of European aristocracy.

She said her success is proof the plan works, despite little scientific analysis of the use of hCG in weight loss.

Dr. Matt Draelos, a weight loss doctor and endocrinologist, says he's skeptical of hCG's promises, although he would prescribe it upon request at his clinic.

"I don't know if it really works, or if it's simply a placebo that helps people maintain their low-calorie diet. Anyone will lose on 500 calories a day," he said.

Draelos said doctor oversight is important for any very low-calorie diet to avoid potentially fatal electrolyte imbalances.

He urges patients to undergo a metabolism screening to see what type of diet would suit them. "There are a lot of goofball diets out there," he said. "But common sense and moderation hold the day for the most part."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0148-30984419