Get off the scale; it only measures weight

As I was searching for a good column quote I noticed this one from Steve Maraboli, author of Life, the Truth and Being Free. It speaks volumes.

You are beautiful. Your beauty, just like your capacity for life, happiness, and success, is immeasurable. Day after day, countless people across the globe get on a scale in search of validation of beauty and social acceptance.

Get off the scale! I have yet to see a scale that can tell you how enchanting your eyes are. I have yet to see a scale that can show you how wonderful your hair looks when the sun shines its glorious rays on it. I have yet to see a scale that can thank you for your compassion, sense of humor, and contagious smile. Get off the scale because I have yet to see one that can admire you for your perseverance when challenged in life.

It’s true, the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Don’t give the scale more power than it has earned. Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life. You are beautiful!

He’s right. But we do know that excess weight can be a health risk. It affects our hearts, livers and the way our body uses insulin, just to name a few.

Weight loss is a struggle that has beaten the strongest of gladiators. Some folks look down on us from their lofty perch of thinness. Maybe we make them feel better because they aren’t fat. They offer suggestions about eating less and exercising, as if we never thought of it.

Millions have been made off our desperation to be thin and acceptable. But still we continue to struggle. We look for answers, ideas, hope or whatever you want to call it. That one little pill that will change everything has been a myth, but maybe there is hope on that front.

I found an article on the Everyday Health website (everydayhealth.com) that tells of just such a pill.

It involves the compound LuCI, which is short for “luminal coating of the intestine.” It’s designed to be taken orally before a meal, and works by temporarily laying a film over the intestine so only a limited amount of nutrients can be absorbed, potentially aiding weight loss and helping prevent blood sugar spikes in people with Type 2 diabetes.

There was a preliminary study published in the June 2018 scientific journal Nature Materials, and although it’s only been tested on rats, the authors are hopeful it could be on the market for humans with the next five years.

There have been other pills, but LuCI stands out because it contains sucralfate, a medication approved by the FDA decades ago to treat ulcers.

One author, Dr. Ali Tavakkoli, a bariatric surgeon and co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, says their approach is different because they are targeting the gastrointestinal tract with a compound that has no systemic absorption, and no effects on the liver, brain, pancreas and other organs involved in glucose or appetite control. It works locally on the gut.

The other side of the coin, the article mentions, is that the pill could compromise the absorption of beneficial nutrients. The whole point of food is to absorb nutrients. But, then, if people are eating in an unhealthful way, they probably aren’t absorbing a lot of nutrients to begin with.

Tavakkoli notes that nutrient deficiencies are also a concern for those who undergo bariatric surgery. But he doesn’t expect absorption to be significantly compromised with the pill because the intestinal coating only lasts a few hours. Patients can take a multivitamin or calcium when there is no coating to provide the supplements they need.

LuCI could become an alternative to bariatric surgery, an operation with health risks that can include excessive bleeding, lung problems and gastrointestinal leaks.

If all goes well they hope to test the pill on humans within the next year or two. After all, why should fat, diabetic rats have all the luck?