# Yet another bimbo "wellness" blogger found to be a fraud **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 18, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331 "2015-03-18T22:30:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/181 "2015-04-09T18:34:31Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I once heard something about fools and their money… How did that go again? I know, but it’ll cost you $49.95 for the answer. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/182 "2015-04-09T19:04:43Z")
You’d better buy that answer, because you’re in danger of dying! From common chemicals in your home! ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/183 "2015-04-09T19:21:30Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > I say, “Dihydrogen monoxide is water. That was the point of my link, to show you how, when placed in a particular context, anything can seem dangerous or deadly. That’s what the Food Babe does.” > > Yeah, **45 minutes later, she blocked me on Facebook, her husband (former teammate) defriended me, and I found out that she’d deleted the thread**. This is where it goes from comical to rather depressing. This person was making a principled, uneducated stand against _fucking water_, because she wasn’t capable of understanding decent sourcing and looking further than the very first thing she saw. You showed her how wrong it was to do this, and her response was not “Whoops, can’t believe I fell for that” but “Fuck you for showing me I was wrong about something important!” That’s just depressing. Like, how do people get like that? What causes this kind of attitude? I don’t get it. You don’t even sound like you were mean to her, either. I just don’t understand, and it’s crucially important that we, collectively, learn how to talk to these people. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/184 "2015-04-09T19:27:39Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I once heard something about fools and their money… How did that go again? > [@Calatin](#): > > I know, but it’ll cost you $49.95 for the answer. But WAIT! Call within the next ten minutes and we’ll DOUBLE your order! That’s right, just $49.95 gets you TWO copies of the answer! You just pay separate shipping! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/185 "2015-04-09T19:30:05Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > This is where it goes from comical to rather depressing. This person was making a principled, uneducated stand against _fucking water_, because she wasn’t capable of understanding decent sourcing and looking further than the very first thing she saw. You showed her how wrong it was to do this, and her response was not “Whoops, can’t believe I fell for that” but “Fuck you for showing me I was wrong about something important!” That’s just depressing. Like, how do people get like that? What causes this kind of attitude? I don’t get it. You don’t even sound like you were mean to her, either. I just don’t understand, and it’s crucially important that we, collectively, learn how to talk to these people. ☹ I dunno. We could research whether it’s possible to have an ethicsectomy, and then just enslave them… ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/186 "2015-04-09T19:33:00Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Like, how do people get like that? What causes this kind of attitude? I don’t get it. You don’t even sound like you were mean to her, either. I just don’t understand, and it’s crucially important that we, collectively, learn how to talk to these people. ☹ You can’t. Like CTers, they’ve discovered something that nobody else knows and they’re going to educate everyone else because they have the real answers that _ **they** _ don’t want you to know, and any attempt to disrupt their twisted narcissistic world view is met with hostility and accusations that you’re either a brainwashed fool or _ **they** _ have “gotten” to you. You’re right, it’s sad. But there’s really nothing you can do but present them with actual facts and hope that eventually it gets through, hopefully before they really harm themselves or someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/187 "2015-04-09T20:37:44Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > You can’t. > > Like CTers, they’ve discovered something that nobody else knows and they’re going to educate everyone else because they have the real answers that _ **they** _ don’t want you to know, and any attempt to disrupt their twisted narcissistic world view is met with hostility and accusations that you’re either a brainwashed fool or _ **they** _ have “gotten” to you. You’re right, it’s sad. But there’s really nothing you can do but present them with actual facts and hope that eventually it gets through, hopefully before they really harm themselves or someone else. Pretty much this. When I posted the NPR story where scientists debunk her claims, I received an initial reply of (paraphrased) “I appreciate that you support the idea that there are two sides to every story. _ **I** _ support the side that promotes healthy living and avoiding ingesting toxins and other chemicals.” I don’t even know if she bothered to look at the article (it was fairly lengthy), or if she just dug in her heels at the mere thought of having her beliefs challenged or even questioned. Later in the thread, she started talking about how I obviously have an agenda or I wouldn’t oppose a natural lifestyle. I really think she was claiming that I was on some sort of payroll to discredit the Food Babe. I think she saw herself as the sole light in the darkness who would show all of her Facebook friends “The Way.” I’m half-tempted to ask other (formerly) mutual Facebook friends if she is still posting woo, but it almost seems pointless now. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/188 "2015-04-09T21:23:21Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I think Oz is even more dangerous than the Food Babe because he is a legitimate professional and he actually says legit stuff about half the time I wouldn’t have thought the percentage was that high - seeing as how shrieking miracle cures are so much more ratings-worthy than evidence-based medicine. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/189 "2015-04-09T23:10:26Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I wouldn’t have thought the percentage was that high - seeing as how shrieking miracle cures are so much more ratings-worthy than evidence-based medicine. Somebody actually researched it. [Read article here.](http://www.newsweek.com/researchers-cant-find-proof-two-thirds-medical-advice-dr-oz-293551) > [@](#): > > Of the health recommendations that appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, researchers found evidence to support 46 percent, meaning that 46 percent of the time the show gave solid advice. But 15 percent of the time, the advice directly contradicted best available evidence. A whopping 39 percent of the time, the researchers found no evidence to support the advice. I guess I was a little generous saying it was a full half. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/190 "2015-04-09T23:43:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Here’s a startling revelation: The Food Babe tells us that the flu vaccine [has been used for genocidal purposes](https://twitter.com/thefoodbabe/status/121679383328075777). > > Apparently there were no Nazi death camps; Goebbels just urged certain groups to be sure and get their flu shots. :)😕:eek::smack: I don’t do Twitter, and know little about it, but all the comments for this and the cilantro tweet are hostile and call out her bullshit. Is that a select list I’m looking at on Twitter, of only bullshit tweeters? If she’s so popular then where are all the positive tweets in agreement with her? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/191 "2015-04-09T23:50:18Z")
I saw someone compare these health CTs to the ghosts, demons, devils and spirits of yesteryear. I would agree, except that people still believe in [demons that cause illnesses](http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/spiritual-healing/physical-illnesses-caused-by-ghosts). I have an idea stuck in my mind: Do you remember that time in history when the vast majority of the population was illiterate and only an “elite” few were keepers of knowledge. Yeah, it’s still the same. Just because people can read and write doesn’t mean they can understand what they read. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/192 "2015-04-09T23:54:05Z")
BTW, both Elle and Cosmo published articles critical of Food Babe this week, written by people with a scientific background. I guess they learned something after putting Belle The Fraud Gibson on a pedestal. Nah! Who am I kidding? They are doing it because the blogosphere has turned on FB. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19adc/32.png) [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why_Bother)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/193 "2015-04-10T00:54:04Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > This is where it goes from comical to rather depressing. This person was making a principled, uneducated stand against _fucking water_, because she wasn’t capable of understanding decent sourcing and looking further than the very first thing she saw. You showed her how wrong it was to do this, and her response was not “Whoops, can’t believe I fell for that” but “Fuck you for showing me I was wrong about something important!” That’s just depressing. Like, how do people get like that? What causes this kind of attitude? I don’t get it. You don’t even sound like you were mean to her, either. I just don’t understand, and it’s crucially important that we, collectively, learn how to talk to these people. ☹ The trouble is, the appeal of this bullshit is that it makes people who desperately want to feel smart think that they’re smart without doing any real work. If you burst that little bubble, they tend to go pop 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/194 "2015-04-10T02:41:17Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I once heard something about fools and their money… How did that go again? Paraphrasing Harry Anderson - ‘A fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place, and it’s your duty to take it before a dishonest person comes along.’ ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/195 "2015-04-10T04:58:58Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > This is where it goes from comical to rather depressing. This person was making a principled, uneducated stand against _fucking water_, because she wasn’t capable of understanding decent sourcing and looking further than the very first thing she saw. You showed her how wrong it was to do this, and her response was not “Whoops, can’t believe I fell for that” but “Fuck you for showing me I was wrong about something important!” That’s just depressing. Like, how do people get like that? What causes this kind of attitude? I don’t get it. You don’t even sound like you were mean to her, either. I just don’t understand, and it’s crucially important that we, collectively, learn how to talk to these people. ☹ Well, as Douglas Adams put it: > [@Douglas Adams](#): > > The Infinite Improbability Drive is a wonderful new method of crossing interstellar distances in a few seconds, without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace. The principle of generating small amounts of finite probability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny Fifty-Seven Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer - say a nice hot cup of tea - were, of course, well understood. And such generators were often used to break the ice at parties, by making all the molecules in the hostess’s undergarments simultaneously leap one foot to the left, in accordance with the Theory of Indeterminacy. Many respectable physicists said that they weren’t going to stand for that sort of thing, partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn’t get invited to those sorts of parties. Another thing they couldn’t stand was the perpetual failure they encountered in trying to construct a machine that could generate the infinite improbability field needed to flip a spaceship between the furthest stars. And in the end they grumpily announced that such a machine was virtually impossible. Then, one day, a student, who had been left to sweep up the lab after a particularly unsuccessful party, found himself reasoning this way: “If such a machine is a virtual impossibility, then, it must logically be a finite improbability! So, all I have to do in order to make one, is to work out exactly how improbable it is, then feed that figure into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea… and then turn it on.” He did this and was rather startled to discover that he managed to create the long-sought-after Infinite Improbability Generator out of thin air. It startled him even more when, just after he was awarded the Galactic Institute’s Prize for Extreme Cleverness, _ **he got lynched by a rampaging mob of respectable physicists who had finally realised that the one thing they really couldn’t stand was a smart-arse** _. My emphasis. \*\*Calatin \*\*was - however inevitably and unintentionally - a smart-arse who embarrassed their former “friend”. The reaction was almost inevitable. Calatin engaged in a rationally impeccable process of showing their former “friend” how their lack of understanding of chemistry left them unable to rationally evaluate toxicity claims. If the “friend” was a rational person in the first place, Calatin’s tactic might conceivably have been of value. As it was it just left the “friend” with a feeling that Calatin was a person not to be trusted with the friend’s feelings. It’s all about trust. Trust is gained by personal warmth and empathy etc. Logic, facts, rationality have nothing to do with it. Even on these boards I can think of at least one poster who emanates charisma and personal warmth, is widely beloved, and peddles woo. I once pulled them up on something and got hammered from all sides for daring to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/196 "2015-04-10T12:43:39Z")
Well, another wellness warrior rises from the ashes of Gibson and Ainscough. > **[Woman claims she cured her cancer by eating three PINEAPPLES a day](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3017683/Former-model-cancer-turned-chemo-claims-cured-eating-three-PINEAPPLES-day-ditched-husband-well.html)** > > Candice-Marie Fox, 31, from Houghton Regis, Hertfordshire, turned to healthy living after learning she had thyroid cancer three years ago. She ditched her husband and took up yoga and juicing. I eat a ton of pineapple (I live in the tropics and I like them), so I will never get cancer. Hurrah! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/197 "2015-04-10T13:14:10Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > [Candice-Marie Fox claims she cured herself of thyroid cancer by eating PINEAPPLES | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3017683/Former-model-cancer-turned-chemo-claims-cured-eating-three-PINEAPPLES-day-ditched-husband-well.html) > > I eat a ton of pineapple (I live in the tropics and I like them), so I will never get cancer. Hurrah! Amusing. I like how they put “Mark Simon, director at the Nutritional Oncology Research Institute” (not to mention NOT an oncologist and in fact a well-known purveyor of bullshit) ahead of two actual medical professionals, buried at the very end of the article. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/198 "2015-04-10T13:54:36Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > Yeah, 45 minutes later, she blocked me on Facebook, her husband (former teammate) defriended me, and I found out that she’d deleted the thread. I wonder if your ex-friend vaccinates her children. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/199 "2015-04-10T14:38:34Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > My emphasis. \*\*Calatin \*\*was - however inevitably and unintentionally - a smart-arse who embarrassed their former “friend”. The reaction was almost inevitable. Calatin engaged in a rationally impeccable process of showing their former “friend” how their lack of understanding of chemistry left them unable to rationally evaluate toxicity claims. If the “friend” was a rational person in the first place, Calatin’s tactic might conceivably have been of value. As it was it just left the “friend” with a feeling that Calatin was a person not to be trusted with the friend’s feelings. I will admit that, towards the end of the conversation, I wasn’t completely dissatisfied that she so vehemently denounced dihydrogen monoxide. That being said, my initial response to her was just a link to the NPR article, and the comment that the Food Babe does not have the support of the scientific community. It wasn’t until she started getting self-righteous and indignant that I decided to use the “water” example to show her the error in her thinking. I never misled her or attacked her and I responded with respect. I expected a thread deletion, but the defriending and the blocking really threw me. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331/200 "2015-04-10T14:50:25Z")
[rant]I don’t agree with this “we need to treat them with respect” bullshit. For fuck’s sake, _we need to be shaming these people into the fucking ground_. It’s the “everyone is entitled to their opinion” and “we can disagree, but let’s be civil about it” crap that opens the window for these people to think that what they are doing is acceptable. People just politely nod and accept whatever bullshit comes out of their mouths because they don’t want to be rude. These people are cowards and bullies and they need to be intellectually curbstomped until they learn to use their fucking brains rather than mindlessly following clueless, vapid cunts just because they showed up on Dr. Oz.[/rant] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-bimbo-wellness-blogger-found-to-be-a-fraud/715331.md?page=11)