Who dareth to speak against The Oprah? Nay, it is but aninsignificant Newsweek cover story, claiming that Oprah is basically a know-nothing whackadoodle who convinces her audience to take horrible, damaging, and ineffective medical advice promoted on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In Oprah’s defense, she usually puts out some kind disclaimer during or before a segment about how a various treatment isn’t for everyone. And if you’re anything like me, whenever I see that Oprah’s doing a medical-themed show, I switch the channel back to an NCIS rerun. Woohoo, Mark Harmon!
Anyway, you know Oprah. She’s not going to let a little Newsweek story get her down. She released a statement basically saying that her viewers are geniuses, and they can figure out for themselves when, how, why and where to consult a doctor. I’d bet that she’d like to tell Newsweek editors when, how, why and where to find her ass so they can kiss it, though:
Oprah Winfrey is speaking out about Newsweek’s latest cover story which claims that she abuses her influence and credibility by promoting health “cures” that are ineffective and dangerous.
Among the Winfrey guests who have offered questionable medical advice:
* Suzanne Somers: She told Winfrey she swallows 60 supplements every day and takes a variety of bioidentical hormones to fight aging.
* Jenny McCarthy: Declaring that vaccinations caused her child’s autism, the actress supported a Winfrey guest who said she wouldn’t get her own kid vaccinated.
* Physician/author Christiane Northrup: She told Winfrey viewers that “in many women, thyroid dysfunction develops because of an energy blockage in the throat region, the result of a lifetime of ‘swallowing’ words one is aching to say.”Winfrey insists she is only trying to open dialogue between her viewers and their doctors.
“For 23 years, my show has presented thousands of topics that reflect the human experience, including doctors’ medical advice and personal health stories that have prompted conversations between our audience members and their health care providers,” Winfrey says in a statement. “I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions to determine what may be best for them.”
But some Winfrey viewers say they have a hard time not taking the daytime diva’s information to heart.
Living Oprah, a blogger who spent an entire year following “the advice of Oprah Winfrey,” said she “had mixed results from the health guidance I learned on Oprah’s show and there were a couple items that conflicted with my own doctor’s guidance. My doc always shrugged at how many supplements I knocked back in 2008, for instance.”
Biologist PZ Myers, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, also blogged: “It’s about time one of the big media players pointed out that she is promoting dangerous fake therapies … all with a happy smile, of course, and a message of positive self-esteem for women. It’s still credulous glop, though.”
[From US Weekly]
Does Oprah step over a line with her medical advice? I’d say yes, but I’d also say that if your only source of medical advice is Oprah, you’ve got bigger problems. I don’t think Oprah’s explanation is good enough – it’s kind of a bullsh-t defense, to say “oh my viewers are so smart and beautiful, no one would ever sue me.” I’m more disturbed by the news that there’s a blogger out there who lives by the wisdom and words of Oprah totally and completely. Sometimes, I think America can be a little ridiculous. Oh well, live and let live.
Holy Crap! What are they holding in their gloved hands in that picture with the dude in scrubs.
I wish they would talk about FAM on her show. Maybe they have already (I am not a big Oprah viewer) but I think Toni Weschler’s book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, should be required reading for all highschoolers.
what a great photo of her on the cover!
why does she not look like that on the cover(S) of her own magazine???
its about time they turned on Oprah and her “experts” she has sprouthing on her show. Least you forget this is the woman who sprung Dr. Phil and Rachel Ray upon the public Oprah has marketed herself as a lifstyle guru for so long it had to happen the backlash against her
she has millions of minons who blindy..blindly follow her advice on everything hence the success of the people above and have propel books onto the nest selling list.
i totally agree about the FAM however…that could get a lot of girls preggo who dont fully follow it.
Also, who says her wakadoo remedies are wrong? what is so wrong with promoting a more holistic natural approach to living life?
You know…there are people out there that believe pacifying any ailment or problem that rolls out is the WRONG way to handle them. If we can stop and listen to what our body is trying to tell us we could make the personal changes necessary to get ourselves back to health without having to pop 3 pills a day to make the pain go away.
America needs to stop blaming their bodies and start blaming their actions
i personally believe the wakadoo methods she offers are going to be the “wave of the future” (for lack of a better term) with health care what it is and the trust being lost with dr to patients maybe we can take our health back into our own hands. Im not a big fan of her BUT at least she is getting people to question we need to stop taking our doctors word as Gold.
No one can understand your body as well as you can.
why is oprah always under attack? it’s like the public can’t handle the fact that a black woman can have so much influence… most of these people who go on her show also appear on other shows… a disclaimer is inherent isn’t it? although the general public CAN be a bunch of dimwits *eyeroll*
Forget Zohar; Oprah Knows These Things.
Sigh. Gibbs.
Sorry, I have no idea what you wrote about. I got distracted by picturing Gibbs.
Roma – Right? Mark Harmon is a fox!
LEROY JETHRO GIBBS 4 EVA.
@fizgirl: Please don’t make this a race issue. You’re trying WAY too hard. If that were the case, she wouldn’t have been the most powerful celeb for this long and have such a HUGE following. Most of which are white. So, stick it!
how about you stick it while i watch and cheer you on peon…i’m sure you know it’s not a race issue because??? oh right, i forget, you’re a mind reader. besides, how do you know i wasn’t putting more emphasis on the “female” and not the “black” because i was…
i’m all for being bitchy to celebs, but i see no grounds here… if they want to convince me that they are purely concerned about the public being duped, then i’m not buying it. mainly because that’s what talk shows do, they bring people on with different experiences and interview them… i’d say there’s an ulterior motive here…
and that’s fizXgirl to you buddy… *eyeroll*
About time somebody called Oprah on the bullshit she spouts on her show.
She has an enormous audience and she has a responsibility to present accurate information instead of this quackery. Somebody could get seriously hurt.
It’s like people are afraid of an alternative or holistic approach to curing disease.
Dr’s have little to NO knowledge of the benefits of natural treatments and are afraid of geting their funding cut by Big Pharma. Alot of modern medicine is effective however, alot is absolute shit and does more harm than good. It’s still out there because it makes big bucks for big pharma!
i used to like her but now she reminds me of gwyneth paltrow and her goop
she’s imposing a life style to her viewers like she knows every answer or everything she says and do it’s the right way
and no it’s not about her race i just think she could do a great show without telling us what we should or shouldn’t do
and i love the faces of the public on her show always with a stupid smile looking at her like she’s some kind of god or their saviour lool
Forget Oprah, let’s have more stories on NCIS and Mark Harmon! Let’s talk about the season finale and Ziva! I went to a TV guide chat room and they call Tony and Ziva “Tiva”. 🙂
I find Oprah so annoying. And her sheep.I’ve only seen the show a few times but I know annoying things come from her show: Dr Phil and Rachel Ray who are both insufferable. And ‘the secret’.
I liked fat, funny Oprah better then buff, self-righteous Oprah. I used to watch her show because she seemed real and involved in social issues that mattered. I quit watching her show because after her weight loss with marathons, she seemed to take herself wayyyyyyyyyy to seriously and the show was all about her; not things that were important or interesting!
i like oprah but i hate her eating right advice… i’d never be able to subsist on chicken breast, lettuce leaves and oatmeal like she suggests… i enjoy good food entirely too much… and she’s gotta be around 200 lbs, so at that weight i’m thinking she’s eating more than the chicken breasts she so adamantly advocates… so i really dislike that she proposes others eat styrofoam while she enjoys her delicious foods… other than that, i used to have an oprah subscription and i’d have to say for the price you pay, the O magazine is in a league of its own for the amount of articles and substance it has… i think she definitely tries to deliver on what people expect of her… i generally do like her and her work…
If you don’t have enough sense to consult your physician about your own health because its not what Oprah advised, then you have bigger problems than a lack of critical thinking skills.
For those who obviously haven’t watched her “medical” shows, Dr. Oz is a real doctor. What they’re holding in that one picture is the “lace webbing” (MY words cos I can’t remember what it’s called) in the abdomen that stretches if someone gets obese. The one she’s holding is normal-size.
I happen to love Dr. Oz’s approach, in that he takes holistic measures and then follows them up with “accepted” Western medicine. He wants us to eat right, exercise, and take care of ourselves – and be our best advocates. I can’t wait to see his show this fall. (as he’s no longer on Oprah)
She picked this President-nothing more need be said.
Some of you all need to bother and read the entire Newsweek story before casting judgement on the article and airing your opinion.
I read it yesterday. I was suprised at the cover and decided to buy it. The article actually covers a broad spectrum of topics she has covered over the past few years. It covered using the “Secret” to heal yourself, vaccinations, etc. It mainly says that it isn’t what she talks about but how it is presented and that the risks of such methods are not discussed. I thought it was valid and conservative in it’s accusations and only presented what she has done vs. valid medical authorities. Just the facts. I rarely watch Oprah but have seen a couple of the Dr. Oz episodes. The article doesn’t talk about Dr. Oz very much except to say that he is good and presents valid medical information. It really doesn’t have anything negative to say about him and his methods at all.
How come she cant seem to lose and keep her weight off???
I wouldnt bring it up but she DOES ALL THE TIME.
I recall Oprah saying on her 50th birthday, with all of the great weight loss she had, she would never gain again. Well, enough said.
We simply never get above human.
@ Jag:
It’s the omentum!
no no, you guys have it all wrong… it’s a pair of her unwashed panties… before and after 😡
I think Oprah goes on these lettuce leaves/chicken breasts/oatmeal diets when her weight reaches critical mass, and then once she gets the weight off, she goes back to eating the way she normally eats. At that rate, she’ll keep yo-yoing for decades. She’ll never keep it off.
A lot of people don’t realize that when you get older your metabolism goes south and your weight goes north unless you eat a lot less than you used to eat. Your body doesn’t burn up the calories as efficiently as it used to. This doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself of all the things you like to eat. Just eat a lot less of it. Don’t go back for second helpings. And get up off your butt and exercise. Try it, it works.
SHE SUCKS …. ALL HER NEW AGE CRAP . SHE IS DRAGING PEOPLE A WAY FROM GOD!
WAKE UP PEOPLE …EVIL COMES IN ALL TIPES AND LOOKS SO INASENT & NICE !
SHE IS A FAT SLOB !!!!
Oh my…
I read the Newsweek article as well and was a little suprised by some of the stuff there. I don’t watch Oprah anymore, it got a little old after awhile so I have not seen many of the medical themed shows, those tend to bother me anyway; not much of a stomach for it. What I found the most off base was this Dr. Northrup saying thyroid problems were caused by “swallowing” words you should have said. Oprah agreed and it ended somewhere along the lines of thyroid problems are the soul’s way of telling you to speak up. I’m sure I’m off a little there,I don’t have the article in front of me right now, but really? That is complete nonsense.
My goodness Sandy,,,I will pray for you…and your spelling.
Angelina Jolie is going to take Oprah down! She already too #1 on Forbes from Oprah!, next stop….The World…..run Oprah, run~
I. Cannot. Abide. Oprah.
And neither can a lot of people. A friend of a friend is the husband of her producer. Basic feedback is: The woman is bat#hit crazy, and The Devil Wears Prada could be about her rather than Anna Wintour. None of the Harpo employees are allowed to look at her or Gail, cannot speak to them unless spoken to first, and god forbid, cannot ride on the same elevator.
Or say the so.
I just think she has a maniacally large ego that cannot possibly be explained or justified. Just go get over yourself, girlfriend. Geez.
cakes: Amen to that.
For those who say that ‘you know your body best’ – have you had ANY medical training at all to know what ‘signals’ your body is giving you? Because you’re fooling yourself if you think that years of medical training can be replaced by knowing yourself. Doctors are trained professionals, they are not in a conspiracy with pharmacists.
Off-topic rant over. (And I happen to agree with the NW article!)
leroy jethro gibbs…….i am yours forever…..
Dirty Martini: I’m sure a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend is a pretty reliable source about Oprah.
How about, we’ll never know the truth unless we worked there?
Sandy: Go to back to school to learn how to spell correctly first before attacking someone else, ok hon?
And Bittercup: AMERICA voted Obama into the Presidency, not Oprah! Even if she endorsed him on her show, that still wouldn’t influence enough people to provide the amount of votes that ensured his victory!
You give Oprah WAY too much credit and Americans not ENOUGH credit!
Bella: That’s right Probee! Jethro rules!
Oprah is an expert on everything! There is nothing she doesn’t know! She continuously interrupts “experts” in mid-sentence, I find her irritating.
BITTERCUP!!! How refreshing to see your well developed and thought out pearls of wisdom once again on CB!
WOW Oprah herself picked President Obama, thanks for that wise observation…clearly the rest of the American public who voted for him had nothing to do with it…
“in many women, thyroid dysfunction develops because of an energy blockage in the throat region, the result of a lifetime of ’swallowing’ words one is aching to say.” That really made me LOL!
This sentence made me LOL so hard: “I’d bet that she’d like to tell Newsweek editors when, how, why and where to find her ass so they can kiss it, though”
@nfrk: I don’t have medical training, but so far my track record seems to be in the high 90’s for diagnosing myself when my doctors were wrong, or negligent. My sister almost died from pernicious anemia in her early 20’s because she was misdiagnosed for over 8 years. At 22 or so, I was told by a hematologist – blood specialist – that I couldn’t have pernicious anemia because I wasn’t over 65; needless to say, I do have it, confirmed with different tests, many times over 2 decades. Same for my sleep apnea, same for my torn medial meniscus in my knee, et cetera. I knew things were wrong and it was just a matter of finding the right doctor to believe me and treat me appropriately.
The most recent thing was complaining yet again about my IUD hurting me, which it had for 2 years. Well, it turns out that it was bent 90 degrees and was impaled into my uterus. Seems I WAS right about it causing me pain.
Doctors are people who are in a specialized job with specialized training. That is it. They’re human, just like the rest of us, and there are good ones and bad ones. The trouble is, if the McDonald’s drive-through person messes up at his/her job, someone doesn’t possibly die.
Be your best advocate, because only you know your body.
I’d say a family friend of my friend is not so far removed. But I’d easily believe that O is a total megalomaniac! Evidence is what comes out of her mouth!
With doctors – IMO we all have responsibility to think about how our bodies feel. As much as I find the archaic “doctor knows best” crap to be .. well, crap, we need doctors, plus a healthy dose of assertiveness. And for the record, I have been badly served by the medical profession leading to prob a lifetime of issues (of the ‘special needs’ variety) for my son. So i know both sides.
Also, hell, can’t help myself: SANDY! LOL!
The very serious issue here is the immense POWER and INFLUENCE Oprah has over millions of sycophantic viewers. If you read the article you will find that advice given could be damaging to one’s health. Oprah is not a doctor and she and her staff do not properly balance things. This can be extremely dangerous – but again, the problem is the sycophantic followers of the CULT OF OPRAH. Survival of the fittest, kiddies!
Happy to oblige my fans!
JAG- *high five*
The Oprah Winfrey name is a ‘brand’ in itself.
Hack.
man, so many Americans can be so f*cking mindless sometimes, it is truly insane.
Our ancestors fight tooth and nail to institute democracy and freedom of choice– so what do we do, we appoint rulers of our thoughts and ideas, and in turn, develop our very own caste system… we are awesome. God Bless America. 🙄
As a person who studies autism (and yes, procrastinates on celebitchy), I find Oprah’s touting of Jenny McCarthy and her unsupported claims about vaccines and autism very alarming to say the least.
Here’s the bottom line: There is no scientific evidence of a link autism with childhood vaccines. Measles, mumps, and rubella are very dangerous (possibly deadly diseases). It’s lower risk to vaccinate.
Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. Go to “google scholar” and type in vaccines and autism. Here are a few good articles:
Nature-Practice Journal (2007) “Vaccines & Autism: Evidence Does Not Support a Causal Association”
Journal of Paediatrics (2009) “Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines & Autistic Spectrum Disorder: A critical review of the published original data”.
“I’d bet that she’d like to tell Newsweek editors when, how, why and where to find her ass so they can kiss it, though”
Kaiser, that line right there is gold. Lol.
Carry on…
Christiane Northrup is a foremost authority on holistic women’s health and is highly respected. She is an M.D. and does not advocate any weirdo therapies but she does promote women to address lifestyle issues that may address their problems.
“Also, who says her wakadoo remedies are wrong?”
The fact that they are wrong is what makes them wakadoo.
The problem is not natural remedies; it’s that people think that natural remedies are better than proven medications. Heres what happens:
Jane Doe gets a diagnosis of cancer. Her doctor recommends surgery and chemotherapy and perhaps radiation therapy. Not wanting to go through that, Jane consults a homeopathic “healer” that has minimal, if any, actual medical training. That “healer” gives Jane a truckload of supplements to take and tells Jane that because it’s natural, it’s better for her body.
For a while, Jane does feel better. Partially placebo effect, partially because something in those herbs has an effect that actually does give her a better sense of well being. But then…after a while her old symptoms come back. She starts feeling even worse. Finally, in desperation, she returns to her MD to start the treatments that he originally recommended.
Only now, because she waited so long to obtain appropriate treatment, she is much sicker than before and her prognosis is worse. Her treatments will have to be much more aggressive and invasive. Her mortality rate has become worse.
I’ve worked for a teaching hospital for 12 years and that is a very common complaint that I have heard from literally dozens, if not hundreds, of physicians.
It’s one thing to ask your doctor about various supplements to see if they might help with an ailment. Often they will and doctors generally are not afraid to say so. But there can be harmful interactions, as well. What it boils down to is that anytime one is treating an illness—wheher allopathically or homeopathically—an actual doctor should be consulted. There are too many variables and “healers” simply don’t have the education and training to know what they are talking about.
The Sandy posting was a joke right?? Come on and ‘fess up – there’s NO WAY that’s for real!!!
Barnes, I absolutely understand where you’re coming from, but I would remind the medical community (who I have had to deal with frequently these last 6 years), that if they would return to that time when they showed empathy and respect for their patients instead of judgment and disdain…people might feel more comfortable going straight to the doctor.
Only on the internet have I been spoken to more coarsely and with such thick contempt as I have in doctors’ offices…just for showing up to get checked out. I have to fight tooth and nail at EVERY visit to get what’s needed. I have to put up with condescending jackasses from beginning to end almost every time.
Occasionally, I run into a doctor who is particularly gifted and wonderful with patients or a nurse who is uplifting and kind as well as competent…but these encounters have become so few and far between that I can hardly condemn people with serious illness who shudder at the thought of spending their most frightening hours with such people and embrace whatever “option” is given to them.
It’s just a thought.
Oh! And after 6 years of being told I was lazy, a hypochondriac, “just take a sleeping pill,” workout more (I work out 5 days per week but they didn’t believe me), and on and on…while the doctor speaking to me looked down his or her nose with a bored and exasperated tone of voice.
I was finally diagnosed with anemia. Six years of begging for help. Not one doctor looked at my bloodwork and saw the need for an iron panel even though my numbers have been nearly identical for six years on all the lab results. Once an iron panel was ordered, it became obvious that I was anemic.
TWO WEEKS on iron therapy with Vitamin C and Folic acid…and I feel like a million bucks, have no more insomnia, and am beginning to come out of some of the general malaise I’ve been suffering under.
I knew something was wrong…but it took six years to find a doctor who could be bothered.
Perhaps, if I’d gone to a wacko holistic place, they’d have put me on some sort of fatigue cocktail including iron and vitamin C a long time ago.
So…where I know that what Barnes is saying is absolute truth…I understand why people would rather listen to Oprah.
I’ve found the very occasional useful article online taken from Oprah’s magazine – of course, none of the useful ones I’ve found have been written by Oprah herself.
Oprah Winfrey is unarguably financially successful. However, the self-esteem and integrity issues she brings out would be better addressed with a therapist (and low-cost mental health services are available in many places in America). Oprah might be well-intentioned, but in dealing with deep-seated emotional issues, I think that she cheats her audience into thinking they’ve had a meaningful, changing experience, when they haven’t. Furthermore, it is difficult to combine Oprah’s loud, image-driven “fabulousness” with the type of honesty and quiet introspection that most people need in order to truly effect change in themselves.
Oh dear- well I tried biodentical hormones, and voila, they worked for me.I am sorry that you are so green with envy.maybe sometime you will have or own show, instead of this pissy blog LMAAO!
There is power in believing in mind over matter, and that is the gist I get from what Oprah stands for. I have been able to rid my body of the antibodies for lupus and inflammation in my eyes without the use of drugs. No doctor has been able to understand how or why. Modern medicine is not the only road.