How far will product pushers go in this economically challenged economy to get some publicity?
Get ready.
They circulate stories that knock the product, and then respond!
In this case, however, we’re not talking product recall.
The product in question is the long-time Cookie Diet, produced by Dr Sanford Siegal of Miami, who created the diet in 1975.
While the diet has had its ups and downs over the years, it took an on-air knock on a Phoenix radio station by superstar Madonna to bring Siegal out of the woodwork.
Madonna’s reported complaint? That the Cookie Diet dampened her husband’s libido.
“My husband went on that Cookie Diet and it was such a turn-off because he didn’t want to have sex,” she reportedly told The Johnjay and Rich Show.
Siegal says his Cookie monster is not to blame. Indeed, he said in comments e-mailed to the media, overweight people may have libido problems and sexual dysfunction because of their weight, or possibly because of thyroid issues.
“I’ve treated more than 500,000 patients in the 33 years since I created it,” he said in a statement sent to me.
“While my cookies curb their hunger for food, I can’t recall any patients reporting that they lower their sexual appetite, too.”
According to Siegal, a common complaint from his patients is that as their weight increases their libido declines. Their loss of sex drive often contributes to strained relationships which, in turn, reinforces their negative self-image, he wrote.
“There are many factors that can contribute to a reduced sex drive in overweight people. For some the problem is psychological. For others there may be physical causes such as hypothyroidism. My experience with my own patients during the past 50 years is that when we correct their metabolic problem and get them to a healthy weight their sex drive significantly rebounds.”
I have no clue why Madonna got into her hubby’s sex habits with the hosts of a small-time radio show. The Material Girl is in such good shape for a 50-year-old woman I hardly think her physique was the turnoff.
And Guy Ritchie, her husband and father of her son, is years younger than she, so it is also hard to imagine the man has lost his will to have sex.
But as we all know, and as Siegal mentions, there are many possible reasons why people lose their sexual desire.
Pick up anything written by the wonderful Dr Ruth (Ruth Westheimer is a prominent US sex therapist), for a good glimpse into several of them, or even the latest issue of Cosmopolitan magazine or Esquire.
The one topic we all talk so much about, and usually know so little about, is sex.
Why, even Forbes.com has an online article blaming rich foods for inducing sleep cravings instead of sex cravings.
Look to chili peppers and gingers to improve sexual function and pleasure, the Web article states.
But low-calorie cookies?
Fat can equal infrequent sex, but the Cookie Diet doesn’t offer much chance to stuff your sex drive. It reportedly calls for something like 800 calories a day. Maybe Madonna just needs a new routine in the bedroom.
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