I can add nothing more to this hilarious take-down of alli, except to add that the publicity department that is able to gloss over the fact that this drug is going to make you shit your pants should win some kind of prize. I mean, they tell you that this drug will make you shit yourself and yet people are still buying it like it’s going out of style. That’s some marketing right there.
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On a completely unrelated note, one thing I hate about living with a hippie is that sometimes you pick up something, not sure what it is, and you look at it, still not sure what it is, and then–still not understanding what it is–you put it down because you feel like you’ve made a terrible mistake by leaving your fingerprints on it.
Tiny Cat Pants 
I just read that about alli and laughed out loud.
I went to myalli.com yesterday after reading that blog post and found that women are creating “Alli-oops” in-case emergency kits: baby wipes, washcloths, clean panties, clean pants, pantyliners, etc. to carry with them. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
I’m sure the Butcher feels the same way.
Because it’s better to shit yourself constantly than to be fat.
I’m on the dieting treadmill (not the good-for-you treadmill, which is gathering dust), and alli isn’t in my immediate future, but there is one appealing ‘feature’ that stems from this side effect. When dieting, it is easy to minimize the eventual impact of a slice of cheesecake. The half-pound of weight gain that the cheesecake will cause, sometime in the future, isn’t really significant compared to the fifty pounds that I have to lose.
With alli, there is a more immediate and impactful feedback loop. It might even be enough to convince me to stick to a lower-fat diet. But taking alli would mean jumping on the evil, dangerous pharmacorp treadmill; no thanks.
See, actually, indifferent children, you are on the edge of something that the women in the forums I was reading through have embraced whole-hog: that it’s so handy that alli “punishes” you if you “misbehave.”
I’m no great fan of Naomi Wolf, but damn if that whole thing doesn’t prove her end point of The Beauty Myth, which is how we’ve totally wrapped together our relationship to food with morality.
That is what I think is the dynamic here–not that it’s better to shit yourself constantly than to be fat–but that, because you are fat, and hence “bad,” you deserve the “punishment” of shitting yourself, especially when you are “weak” and fail to control your self.
Oh. My. God.
I laughed so hard that I almost shit my pants…. Could it possibly be alli by osmosis?
> you deserve the “punishment” of shitting yourself
That’s one way of looking at it. But the idea of a non-judgemental, automatic, immediate “consequence” (as opposed to “punishment”) to a certain behavior (like eating fat) can be helpful. This is very similar to the drug Antabuse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antabuse) for alcoholics. The reaction to drinking alcohol is sufficiently un-fun that it is easier to stay on the wagon. This is not a case of “you evil, weak, alcoholics deserve to be violently ill”, so much as a realization that, “longing to be sober forever and ever, is a less powerful motivator than fearing nausea and vomiting right now”.
Though a Freudian would probably have a field-day analyzing the shame that comes from breaking potty-training with alli.
Yeah, I see that. And I am sure that for some folks it works just like that, but check out those forums. Those women are talking about “being bad” and “cheating” and such in ways that bring judgment into it. That’s what reminds me so much of Wolf.
Wow. An over-the-counter health product that produces the same symptoms as dysentery. Yay!
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I used to know a woman who was on Antabuse. I’d see her out at bars all the time. I’d ask her whether she was off the Antabuse for the week or something, and she’d say no, she knew she was gonna get sick, she just wanted to drink and was willing to take the punishment. And she saw it as punishment for drinking, there’s no question.
How about they market allie as a birth control pill, instead?
I think it would work.
Except maybe in Germany.
I know someone who will “allow” herself to eat all the candy she wants, as long as it is chocolate-covered prunes. She figures that she will have incentive to police herself on how much she ingests and if she eats too many…
There must be an after-market product for Post-Traumatic-Treatment-Effects… some sort of toilet paper with corks or something. Or perhaps a new angle for the Bart Durham’s of the world, “If they made you poop, then you’ve got a suit”.
Here’s the thing: a tablespoon of olive oil has more than 15 grams of fat. And that’s healthy fat! So, if you have some salmon, sweet potato and veggies cooked in olive oil you’ve gone over the fat allotment. I’m just not convinced that low-fat is the key to health, but rather the right fats/right carbs.
The more I think about this, the angrier I get. At first I didn’t feel I had a right to judge because I’m a fat person who takes three different prescription drugs to fight my metabolic problems. I have no intentions of giving up these treatments until I’m stable.
However, each drug addresses specific symptoms and helps me feel better, not worse. My life is easier without my thyroid dragging its figurative butt around. I’m happier without my blood sugar going up and down wildly. All this drug is going to do is prevent nutrient absorption and cause hideous side, um, treatment effects.
Bless my endocrinologist who is all about chemistry and not appearance. She said flat-out that I would never be thin, but could be healthy. Yay! What a concept! Fat women deserve to feel good. Why should that be such a bizarre, revolutionary concept?
alli eeeeewwwwww
That is beyond sad into utterly pathetic.
Back in the day, I made the mistake of eating them tater chips with Olestra.
Take it from someone who knows, it is better to be fat than to smell like you shit your pants.
I hear it makes your doo doo orange. It’s not fun to be fat, it’s not fun to crap your pants and certainly not fun to have orange crap.
Still, I’d be tempted to try that stuff, if’n I had 50 extra bucks to throw away on ShitMaker.
Still, I’d be tempted to try that stuff, if’n I had 50 extra bucks to throw away on ShitMaker.
One of the articles I read yesterday said that it blocks the equivalent of 225 calories on a 3,000cal diet.
225calories is less than 1 candy bar. It’s half of one piece of cheesecake. It’s one 16oz bottle of coke. It’s two chocolate chip cookies.
In other words, the amount of calories it blocks is negligible and more easily avoided for free.
Hey, now, let’s not be talking like fat is a one-way ticket to misery. I have fun. Granted, a lot of it is because I have enormous boobs, but still.
And, Smiff, all I’m saying is that if you start taking a pill that makes you poop your pants, please do not stand too close to me at blogger meet-ups. You’re a woman that should either smell like flowers or like something good cooking in the kitchen and I don’t want that image of you I have in my head ruined.
Another alli rant here on my blog (GracefulFlavor). As you might guess, I don’t take too kindly to this sort of sham.
This drug is a trainwreck. Despite the press and clever packaging, I give this thing six months, tops, before it fades into sunset as a cheap consumer exploit.
Funny how things that intentionally make you incontinent do that.
I admitt I have fallen into the Alli trap having to loose my last ten pounds and hitting a wall!
Now reading all these bloggs If you cut out two cookies or a half a piece of cheese cake it’s better than these damn treatmnet effects! Opps, I need to use the potty now!!!