11/12/07 Reality TV Take it with a Grain of Salt

Take much of what you see on television with a grain of salt and in the following case, sea salt. I tuned into a segment of the Biggest Loser for my first time. It is a reality show where overweight individuals work with assigned trainers to lose excess pounds and become healthier in the process. Actually quite admirable. It also just happened to be "green week" for the network so the program was filled with hybrids, and tips on leaving tiny carbon footprints or reducing electricity, again, perfectly admirable. What got in my craw though were the blatant mistruths about food spewed by one fitness trainer. She raved about the nutritional benefits of organic produce and ranted about the perils of pesticides to a group of obese individuals with much bigger health problems than ingesting a trace of of something that has never been proven to be a health risk when she should have been educating her group on the "reality" of diabetes heart disease and other conditions resulting from obesity. Yes, teach them to opt for fresh veggies but don't lie and tell them an organic carrot is healthier than a conventionally grown one, it simply isn't true!