Kathy Lee and Hoda talk about feeding tubes at 5:15 to 7:15
A couple of years ago, I saw a lady on some idiotic talk show say in all seriousness that she wanted to get a tapeworm so she could lose 10 pounds. This boggled my mind, because it seems way more uncomfortable and nasty to have some parasite living in your gut than just to work hard and lose weight the old fashioned way. I have the same reaction to this ridiculous story about women going on a “feeding tube diet” of 800 calories a day to drop weight fast for events, like their weddings. It’s just outrageous and sounds so painful. If you’re going to do this to yourself willingly (and not because you need it to live, that’s of course different), why does the food have to go in your damn nose? Can’t you just go on a liquid diet, like a few slim fasts or juices a day? (Not that I’m advocating that at all either, just that it sounds better than a feeding tube for God’s sake!) Anyway apparently this is a new thing, women are actually doing this, and it just makes me sad. A Florida doctor outfits them with a feeding tube attached to a liquid diet in a purse at a whopping cost of $1,500 for 10 days. The women go out into the world, and onlookers and acquaintances assume they’re suffering from a terminal illness. The result is about 20 pounds lost in a week and a half. You can read more about this story on The NY Times and on DListed.
A reader sent this story to us as a tip, and she was personally outraged that Kathy Lee and Hoda made fun of the diet on The Today Show yesterday. They laughed about how ridiculous this diet was and joked about going around with the bag and the tube up your nose, but they didn’t make any mention of people who actually need feeding tubes to live. The people in the feeding tube community are upset that these two were making fun of the mechanism of feeding tubes, when they serve a very necessary purpose. Our tipster told us that she has a daughter who relies on a feeding tube and that she “was livid to see their immature, uneducated and asinine opinions.” She told us to check out Kathy Lee and Hoda’s facebook page, where they’re getting lambasted for this.
Here’s what Kathy Lee and Hoda said that people found offensive. These comments start at 6:19 in the video above:
Hoda: That tube has to stay down, there could be some infections who knows what the other problems are with it, but you’re carrying around a bag all the time. And if it gets knocked out, what if you fall down. (Laughs)
Kathy Lee: A nightmare, just flops out of your nose in the middle of the… you’ve got to think these things through.
And here are some of the comments on Facebook about their remarks:
I don’t think you realize how many individuals in the USA right now have a feeding tube. The numbers are stagering. Patients in the ICU, NICU, PICU, and Oncology departments all have the posibility of haveing a feeding tube. This doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands living at home with a fedding tube. For the individuals with a feeding tube it is a life line, not a way to lose 10 pounds. I am a nurse and mother to a child with a feeding tube. I will tell every person I work with about this story and because they know and love my son they will tell someone else…do you see where this is going? I hope so because you will see your ratings fall I am sure. I am sure you have a medical resource on your show…they need more education and so does your hosts Kathie Lee and Hoda.
I guess you didnt watch yesterday when they displayed their morals over feeding tubes and pretty much insulted the entire feeding tube community. Take a look at the pictures and see all of the children they decided to ultimately giggle about, call gross…those children have to carry around “that bag”. It’s disgusting and we are deserved an apology. Out children depend on “that bag” for survival.
I suppose a public apology from Kathie Lee and Hoda for their horrible comments about feeding tubes was too much to hope for. Their publicists are probably just thrilled they’re getting so much attention, even if it is negative. The best we can all do now is boycott the show, sign the petition, spread the word, and keep fighting!
On some level I do understand why people are upset about Kathy Lee and Hoda laughing about the way that feeding tubes work. If I had someone close to me that needed one, I might feel the same. They were making fun of an ill-advised diet, though, and they surely didn’t mean to mock people with medical issues who need feeding tubes to live. I think they should apologize, but I don’t blame them for laughing about it. Again, they were making fun of the mechanisms of the diet, not the medical application. They didn’t seem to mean it that way, and it came across as inadvertent. It was somewhat dumb, but once they get laughing they can make some stupid comments. I’m surprised this is the first time these two have been offensive. (It probably isn’t, it’s just the first I remember.) They drink wine half the morning most days.
Update: We got a nice follow-up explanation from our tipster. She writes:
On the feeding tube diet
Many, including myself, are rightfully outraged that a doctor, who is sworn to a Hippocratic oath which states that “shall do no harm” would even offer a service. Not only is it unethical, unorthodox and purely for profit but it is also highly dangerous. A total of 800 calories a day is infused through the NG tube. Yes, you will lose the 20 pounds because your body is thrown into crisis mode and depletes through all its energy. As soon as that tube is removed, these vanity projects will see that weight gained back and more. A body cannot quickly adjust to eating normally, essentially starving and then eating normally again. It’s why crash diets never work and this is nothing more than a crash diet in the most despicable and revolting form.The thing that makes the majority of us the most livid is that these women are using the tube for the total opposite intended purpose. We bumped my daughter’s tube feeds and she only gained half an ounce. Our kids struggle to grow and thrive with the feedings and yet bitches like these use them as an ego and vanity boost.
On Kathy Lee and Hoda being disgusted by feeding tubes
Parents of tube fed children and tubies (as we tend to affectionately call them) are already facing stigmas. Feeding tubes are not widely accepted. Kathie Lee and Hoda had a real chance to show the medical neccesity aspect and the positive impact of a feeding tube. By condemning and being disgusted by feeding tubes, they are just further sending the message that is unnatural and revolting when it is anything but. I can’t tell you how many parents, myself included, are subjected to stares and questions. Some innocent but some scathing, such as if we would just let our kids eat that they wouldn’t need the tube. The lack of understanding and blantant ignorance is something Kathie Lee and Hoda could have corrected not reveled in.Sorry for my long response but as my daughter’s advocate, mother and nurse I can not stand by and let prejudice and ignorance continue!
These photos are from Halloween. Credit: WENN.com
Kathy Lee is a friggen idiot!!!
These two women are an embarassment to American television (and that’s saying a lot)I disliked Kathy Lee when she co-hosted with Regis. She has not grown on me. She regresses with age.
ITA….she is so obnoxious.
Get a grip. They’re not mocking people who need feeding tubes for medical reasons. They’re making fun of the freaks who actually use them for diets. (Although in all seriousness: what medical professional would actually do this?!) Anyway-chill out.
Exactly what I was going to say. So fricking ridiculous how sensitive everyone is anymore…how everything is taken personally. It is OBVIOUS they are talking about these women doing it to lose weight and would never mock someone who needed a feeding tube for medical reasons.
Do you have a child with a feeding tube? If the answer is no why don’t you try to expand your mind and put yourself in our shoes. If the answer is no you have NO right to tell us to chill out because you don’t know what it is like to try to help the world understand why “different” people should not be stared at!!!!
But the comments above mock the tube itself:
“There could be some infections who knows what the other problems are with [that tube], but you’re carrying around a bag all the time. And if it gets knocked out, what if you fall down. (Laughs) A nightmare, just flops out of your nose in the middle of the… you’ve got to think these things through.”
So basically, “Ew! Dirty tube, gross, what if it falls out and it GETS ON ME?!” Which doesn’t distinguish between the dumbasses who are using it to get skinny quickly, and the people who actually need it to live.
They could have mocked the dumbasses without mocking the feeding tube itself. I can’t view the video, but the quote does make it seem like they didn’t realise that people do need these to keep them alive; like they didn’t even realise it could upset anyone.
If you mocked the idea of using an NG tube to get skinny- yeah fine go ahead its f****** stupid. Making out that NG tubes are gross and stupid and that people should basically get the gross thing out of my sight? no. That isnt okay. If you are sick enough to need an NG tube the last thing you need is to have it mocked. Its kinda ironic they use NG tubes to refeed anorexic patients in hospital really and here are people using them to “diet”
Agreed, this is SUCH a non-story. They are making fun of the twats who want to use feeding tubes for crash diets. And if some “legitimate tubies” are offended because non tubies might find some tube going down your throat kinda icky and be concerned about bacteria: GET OVER YOURSELVES!! Seriously! A lot of these “advocates” always take it too far and end up doing a disservice to their cause by being so darn over sensitive. Take a cue from the
quadraplegic or amputee community: they have a sense of humour about their “difference”. Only some of the parents out of some sense of misplaced guilt turn themselves into advocates and make things more complicated than they need to be by being over sensitive.
Happymom said it all – I agree!!!
I agree; I read the NYT article last weekend and was really disturbed. Basically these women want to lose weight before their weddings and instead of giving themselves enough time to safely lose the weight they chose to wait until the last minute and stick a tube up their nose. Why don’t the complainers attack the women who are using tube feeding as a diet aide instead? I think they’re the ones who are making a mockery out of it. I can’t believe anyone would willingly walk around with a feeding tube, and there are doctors out there allowing this. This society is getting more and more bizarre.
A tempest in a teapot. Totally.
Their mockery ( albeit, ignorant mockery) was about the insane vanity of the lazy people who use it as a weight loss method, not about ill patients who require an NGT for intermittent or continuous sustenance…
this flap is nearly as ridiculous as the Rosen-Romney kerfuffle.
I do agree, however, that the physician who performs this medically unnecessary procedure (unnecessary for the healthy dieters who employ NGTs- ironically for a purpose diametrically opposed to its original development) should be closely scrutinized by his/her state board of licensure and the AMA. Lipid aspiration pneumonia is deadly, and I’m sure these vapid people have no idea of the risks they are taking. S/he surely hasn’t properly legally consented them to the procedure- if s/he had, they would change their minds. If they accepted, perhaps a psychiatric evaluation is also advised.
Exactly. People who find offense where none was intended are just miserable and annoying.
They were making fun of people who do this to diet. They weren’t talking about people who need them. The women doing this as a choice ARE gross. They ARE disgusting.
Colostomy bags are gross and disgusting, too. Should people who have to wear them be offended that I said so? No. I didn’t say people who had to wear them were disgusting. I didn’t say the conditions made someone “less than” someone else. Colostomy bags save lives and allow people independence and normalcy after serious bowel surgery. They’re still gross. Period.
For what it’s worth, I’ve never met ANYONE who thought children who need feeding tubes were bad or held some stigma on a community of people who need them.
Seriously. That sounds a LOT like searching for the glory of victimhood to me. Go live life and stop trying so d***ed hard to be offended all the time. Life is more fun when you’re not spending it pissed off at random strangers.
Man I am so happy I’m not on televsion-I would get into so much trouble. Guaranteed I would offend several “communities”.
HA! You and me too.
Me three! Let’s all get a show together.
They’re harmless. I agree they should apologize and move on.
Please everyone stop taking everything so g-damned seriously and personally. They are talking about a stupid diet that a handful of stupid women are trying. Enough with PC morality already!~
I think it’s because in the information age, we can be offended and know that there will be others who hear about it and rush to our sides with pitchforks and megaphones.
Plus, everyone needs an apology. Instead of being an adult and understanding that sometimes people say things without thinking of every possible situation, we have to be coddled and every perceived slight must be remediated.
YES! ^This!
Agreed. Agreed. Agreed.
Some people just live to be “victims” and are way too offended nowadays – the most inane, inoffensive jokes send some people into an apoplectic rage.
It must be exhausting being so perpetually offended. That’s no way to live a life.
Excellent point. It must be tough having family members in a feeding tube. But it wasnt directed at those folks so don’t create an issue that’s not there.
I really hope you never need a feeding tube!!! You may actually be a little more sensitive then you think!
Yeah, it seems to me they never made fun of people who NEED feeding tubes, just people who are so vain and desperate as to CHOOSE to use one just to get skinny for an event. Although, those people probably have some undiagnosed psych disorder…
I mean, on the one hand, they weren’t making fun of feeding tubes as a necessity. I think that’s an important distinction that’s being glossed over. The mock-worthy status of feeding tubes only exists because people are dieting with it. They’re taking something that many ill people have to use, and turning it into something vain and frivolous. That should be the most offensive thing, I think. Why aren’t feeding tube advocates going after proponents of the diet? They’re the ones really making a mockery.
On the other hand, their comments are demeaning. It’s like they’re trying to say “why would anyone want to do that if they didn’t have to?” and they can’t really say without making the people who DO have to use them feel shitty.
But I don’t think that the people who need to use them would unless they had to.
I have never understood the desire some women seem to have to look like someone they are not to take great pictures at a wedding or whatever. The pictures would look great with you looking your best-dressed and better-groomed than a normal day self. Just buy a dress that fits you now,for goodness sake. Ugh, vanity.
Good grief – we’ll all be too scared to say anything soon. It was a joke – get pissed at the stupid women doing this as a “diet” not those that are mocking them! Sheesh!
Tell that to the teenager that started bawling because of the show. These people get bullied enough, they don’t need to have an insensitive “celebrity” (failure) making fun of tubes either.
I don’t like either of these women. I feel they are ignorant. But that is the norm for daytime television, unfortunately. However, I didn’t find this to be insensitive, really. They were obviously talking about the diet. I think people are WAY too sensitive and always looking for a hook to bring “awareness” , sometimes at the expense of others.
Tapeworms actually don’t work as a weight loss method (says my parasitology professor) so don’t any of you crazy ladies get any ideas!
Neither do leeches.
So much about this article shocked me.
1) People actually watch and pay attention to Kathy Lee and Hoda.
2) There is a feeding tube diet and people actually do it!
3) People are upset about the remarks of Kathy Lee and Hoda. Anyone with common sense would see that they meant the diet not ALL people on feeding tubes! Gaw people, stop being pissy over everything in life.
woe woe woe..I think that this got out of hand. Not that I’m a fan of Katie Lee but the idea of putting a tube to feed a HEALTHY, NARCISSISTIC PERSON is worth making fun of. No one is making fun of those who need to stay alive. Major difference in where the cynicism is directed towards. I think people are reading into the REAL issue here — people have become too extreme in their dieting and this nonsense has to stop.
Dude… The feeding tube community needs chilllllll !!! I have been on one for legit reasons and totally laughed at the morons paying $1500 to do it. Kathy Amd Hoda (yes they r annoying ) were making fun of the idiot quick fix dieters, for good reason. Seriously calm down ppl!
Why don’t these brides ills just lay off the carbs, take some diuretics and laxatives Amd boom… 10 lbs! Ot just lose ten lbs the normal way with diet and exercise ..
They werent making fun of people who need feeding tubes they were making fun of people who would CHOSE to use a feeding tube for a diet. If anything they were advocating for the people who need them/dont have a choice vs the idiots/who have a choice using them for a diet.
The people who need feeding tubes should be pissed at the morons touting this as next diet fad!
I can understand being sensitive to the subject, especially with personal experience, but I think K&H’s intent was pretty clearly to mock people using this as a diet method – which IS wrong.
They should discuss that, apologize as needed, and open a dialogue – that would be more productive than boycotting and petitions. Use it as a stepping stone to raise awareness for those with true medical needs.
I also think those upset should focus their energy not on two wine chugging morning show hosts, but on the doctors and others who are actually doing this. They are the real source of the problem.
$1500/10 days? Crikey. Eat a salad and exercise, and be glad you can do both!
Sorry but I call BS on the person claiming children with feeding tubes are stigmatized. As the “dieters” say, people see the tube and assume they have terminal illnesses. When people encounter sick children, the reaction is rarely disgust — it’s sympathy, it’s “how can I help?” It’s about granting last wishes, millions of dollars in donations to telethons, neighbors and friends collecting money to help with medical costs at traffic lights and throwing car washes, crowning the girl with cancer Homecoming Queen. Of course there are some ignorant asses out there who will stare and point, but they would be that dumb with or without Kathy Lee and Hoda.
Everyone on here who is saying “chill” obviously has never loved a child who needs a feeding tube. It is very painful to see a person you love need a feeding tub because they cannot eat themselves- of course the nose tube is only temporary and then the child gets a Gtube directly in the stomach. Children with disabilies are stigmatized and people look away from the disability. The feeding tube community here is just another word for the community of people who love and advocate for the severely disabled. Yes, it’s easy to mock and easy to ridicule until it is your child that is in this situation. We do get some sympathy, we also get a lot of patronization and a lot of comments about “chill” which is ridiculing our fight for the dignity of the disabled. That’s a lot easier to do than to see our point.
I am sympathetic to those who have a loved one using a feeding tube and to those who must use feeding tubes themselves. It is a difficult and isolating situation.
I can’t get behind the outrage over this piece, though.
They aren’t mocking and ridiculing children who need feeding tubes to live. They are mocking and ridiculing healthy people who pay ridiculous amounts of money to use feeding tubes for narcissistic ends.
I think it’s pretty obvious. I can see this despite the fact I *loathe* Kathie Lee and Hoda (who ruined a reputable career in jounalism to hang with that ditz.)
am i supposed to look away from the disability, or am i supposed to stare at it. i though tlooking was being rude truly. please tell me, whats pc when you come across someone with crossed eyes, or a missing leg, or a feeding tube, or burn scars, or severe acne or anything that might make someone appear different. i dont know whats right anymore, but im sure people dont mean to stigmatize you when they look away, there are trying to not be rude
@Bobbie, I have to respectfully disagree. I am very good friends with a wonderful married couple who have 3 beautiful girls–two of which have g-tubes. Their oldest has severe cerebral palsy, and their youngest was born ‘normal’ but because of human error during her hospital stay is now severely brain damaged. While they are not my children, I have become accustomed to seeing children with g-tubes, and understand the necessity. Their parents have also become full-time caregivers and disability advocates, so I’m also fully aware of the stigma that people with disabilities often face. However, I found it to be pretty obvious that Kathy Lee (whom I’ve always hated, btw) and Hoda were mocking the stupid, shallow women who abuse this medical necessity for their own ridiculous vanity. While they could certainly have been more tactful, I personally find being outraged by their comments to be a little extreme.
@scarlett Thanks for the feedback. I am certainly sensitive on the topic and I appreciate your point. You might be right. It’s just that feeding tubes don’t normally get mentioned in the media AT ALL and to have them mentioned in the context of ridicule is hard. I get that they’re making fun of the brides, which is completely well deserved, but I guess the comments here sort of shocked me regarding the callousness toward the whole issue. I suppose the commentator conspiracy theory is correct that you have to live it to really understand it but I wish, as I always do, that people were a little more empathetic. As to the people who don’t think that children with feeding tubes and disabilities get stigmatized, I can only say that I wish that were true.
No, that is people’s response to children with cancer. Children with profound disabilities are generally ignored or treated like they are less than people. If people with firsthand experience are telling you something happens, it is pretty rude to tell them they are wrong and that they have no right to be offended.
“Sorry but I call BS on the person claiming children with feeding tubes are stigmatized”
———————————–
Well, I can tell you from personal experience that most people are sympathetic, but it only takes a few judgemental a-holes to make you sweat just a bit every time you take your tube-fed kid out in public. Hell, even doctors are judgemental sometimes, such as our former GI, who suspiciously asked “why would you want to do that to your child?” when I brought up a feeding tube out of desperation. Sidenote: Eight months and one new GI later, I can confidently answer, “because it *works*, bee-otch”!
That makes more sense, and I am truly sorry that you have to go through that at all. But by claiming that the stigmatization is wide-spread and the norm rather than the exception, the writer weakens her argument tremendously. Having said that, even ONE person trash-talking to/about sick children and their parents is one too many.
@
Umm wow…you have that completely backwards! There are a handful of people who show sympathy, the rest state and point, say its kinda gross, there are even a few people who are afraid to hold or touch my son because of his tube. You people are just as ignorant and the drunk bitches on TV
sorry, I don’t agree–they are making fun of the idiots, going this route to lose weight.
I’m not a fan but I know they did not mean to offend the people that really need a tube to survive.
there have been alot of media calling out these desperate dummies, they meant no harm.
JMO
::faceplam::
thats all
Lighten the hell up – if Kathy Lee and Hoda offend you – the two of them being idiots – you’ve got some serious issues.
I want the tapeworm community to weigh in. Are they offended?
Excellent! ROFLMAO!
Excellent. BTW, Hoda and the other one should audition for RuPaul’s Drag Race. As contestants.
kathy lee and hoda, as idiotic and awesomely drunk as they are, are correct to make fun of dumbass people who try to find shortcuts to weight loss. especially idiot brides who will do apparently anything to lose weight and fit some warped picture of alleged perfection they have in their heads. people like that should be made fun of on a regular basis.
AMEN!
considering the divorce rate, those women should take the $1500. and put it towards pre-marriage meetings to make sure they are both congruent in their ideas about children, money etc. Once the honeymoon wears off, they better be good friends working towards common goals…sheesh, people just don’t think about consequences much….one thing that REALLY bothers me about Kathie Lee is she always takes statements or words that are a bit sexual and makes either a stupid face of lewd comment…it’s downright creepy when she makes that weird, leering, lip face thing..ugh…you’re nearing 60, be a bit classier if possible.
Does anyone else agree that the whole “wedding” process has become ridiculous? Sadly, I think a lot of young women are getting married for the “attention” – regardless of the cost. The more they spend must mean their wedding is better. And to go to these extremes? Sanity has officially been lost.
Full disclosure-I am in a long-term relationship but NOT married. I think if people want to get married, that’s wonderful but I’m not religious and I’ve never really seen the appeal of a big gigantic engagement party, a big gigantic bachelorette party and then a BIG GIGANTIC wedding. It all seem so frivolous and a big waste of money (just my opinion). I’d rather take the $20K or whatever it all costs and put a down payment on a house.
For a long time, I have marveled at the craziness surrounding *SOME* weddings-the cost, the showiness.
*shrugs* Just seems like the actual MARRIAGE is less important to people than the big costly show. But then again, everything is commercialized in today’s consumerist culture. Blame MTV and that stupid Sweet Sixteen show..Really depressing…
Also wanted to add that I have been to some really beautiful, modest, low-key weddings that really put the emphasis on the ceremony and the love between the couple getting married so I guess it just depends on the couple.
I agree with everything you have said. I had a small wedding. Hubby and I were more interested in our honeymoon & furnishing our house. The best wedding I have been too was a small intimate shindig next to a pet cemetery. As creepy as it sounds the location it was actually beautiful (you couldn’t see the cemetery but I guess that’s what happens when two Stephen King fans get married).
Can you get any more LAZY & GROSS than these idiots who use this as a way to lose weight! Friggin WORK OUT & EAT SENSIBLY!! Sheesh!!!!!!
As a way to lose weight, it’s a ridiculous method. Comparable gastric bypass…or wiring one’s jaws shut. Yeah, exactly. It’s new…but, not unimaginable.
Okay I have to periodically use a feeding tube because I have cystic fibrosis and have difficultly maintaining a healthy weight. I am not insulted by KLG and Hoda being stupid. I’m, however, horrified at the lazy asinine women who decide to use for the convenience of losing 10 pounds. I think that is right up there with people who pray to get a stomach bug so they can lose weight.
Long-time reader, infrequent poster, and mom of a tube-fed eight year old weighing in. These brides are shallow twits (duh), but on some level I actually feel sorry for them because they have no idea what is really meaningful in life. Hoda and Kathie Lee are nitwits (duh again) who should really think a bit before they open their traps, but I don’t think they were being intentionally cruel. I guess you’d have to ‘live it’ to really get why the feeding tube community is so upset. As in, live through being the one who has to traumatize your child by reinsering their NG tube every time it accidentally gets yanked, etc. Take it from me – there’s some gripping video for ya, NBC!
It’d be nice if all the anger aimed at Kathy and Hoda was instead aimed at the “doctor” offering this “diet” and the stupid, selfish, lazy b*tches who sign up for this “diet.”
Priorities! Kathie and Hoda are both red herrings, nothing more. The dieters are the ones deliberately aiming to look ill so they can lose weight and get sympathy while doing so. MichaelK saw that right away and drew that out. Go after the dieters and the doctor.
Side note: love how MK has Europeans asking “Why do we always get blamed for jacked up shit like this?”
Why don’t the brides just buy a dress in the right size? It’s the first day of your whole life with your future husband you might as well be comfy because it’s gonna be a bumpy road into the future.
Makes me glad I eloped. I wore a sun dress and it was just me, my husband and the old couple that married us. I’ve never regretted foregoing the wedding hoopla.
As far as the feeding tube for dieting: fugin’ stup’id. But what you expect from someone who will buy a dress too small?
I’m offended by the sheer ridiculousness of it. I’m offended that these women co-opted feeding tubes as a way to move through society and steal sympathy from people who think they have a legitimate illness (a-holes) in order to lose weight. That is what I find offensive.
I loathe KG, Regis, Kelly Ripa and don’t remember or know Hoda. That is a stream of conscientiousness I don’t want to swim in. Ever.
I have Gastro Parisis. There is no such thing as “eating normal” to me. I am LUCKY TO GET IN 800 CAL A DAY. TPN–total parenetal Nutrition is how us with feeding tubes lives. this isn’t funny. this sucks. It sucks the energy and joy out of life.
where is the comedy in suffering?
KLG and Hodent are hilarious together, except when Hoedown snaps her fingers to bad ghetto music. That when I wish KLG would get out the Hoda Hammer and use it on her hands. Hammer! Hammer!
I’m not offended by what the women said, it was said within the context of the diet feeding tube for brides, not in the context of those who are ill and need feeding tubes. Why do some Americans always ignore the context and create this slippery slope just to argue? And this is what I’ve noticed when I read anything on line via American web sites. If something is mocked within a confined context (i.e. stupid brides who are superficial as well as lazy), then suddenly it’s supposed to include every other situation or context. No. It doesn’t. It’s illogical.
This trend for brides to use doctor supported feeding tubes for superficial reasons like fitting into a dress has to be stopped. Doctors should be struck off for even doing this.
Americans (I’m one so I think I can be critical of myself) like to think the world is all about “me”. I’M special, I’m unique, and if you’re talking about one thing and I have some tangent attachment to it you must be talking about me too. We’re a nation perpetually in a state of teenage narcissism. The upside is we celebrate uniqueness which allows people to be creative and different, the downside we have a lot of narcissists who think they are worth celebrating. That’s my opinion about Americans, not so much about the loved ones with feeding tubes. I think under intense stress we all have a tendencies to be sensitive about our situations. They have a right to their feelings and I have a right not to agree (that’s so American of me).
I think that everyone knows they were making fun of the absurdity of the diet, but they were saying things about the tube being gross etc. Children who require the tube and are old enough to understand what was being said, yet not able to understand about the context see this show as well and can lead to them feeling even more insecure about having to have the tube in the first place. I don’t think people are trying to be a victim as much as defend their children and continue to help raise awareness about tube feedings. I agree that in life we have to learn to deal with all kinds of negative statements, but when you have a job as a public figure you should also learn to think before speaking.
I can’t handle watching them. At all. But I am on their side as far as they were not maiking fun of the feeding tube community. Which btw, I find kind amusing that there is a need to name themselves “feeding tube community”, but that is for another time. 😉 I really don’t think they need to aplogize at all. They did nothing wrong. Make the woman who are using the tubes to lose weight aplogize. They are the ones, in my opinion, that are offensive. Just because someone gets offedned by something someone else says, it does not warrant an apology. I actually hadn’t even thought of in the way the “feeding tube community” brought it uo, untill THEY did. String the stupid weight loss women up. Oh and btw, shouldn’t these doctors and I use the word doctors very losely, be accountable? How can this be ethical?????? 🙁
Re the diet: I don’t understand the appeal. I’ve had to log food at various times, and it really isn’t hard to eat 800 calories naturally if you’re healthy. Live a little and add 200 calories, and compensate with walk in place exercise for an hour total while gabbing on the phone or poring through bridal magazines. Actually, it’s easy to do 2 hours walk in place in installments, so really splurge and eat the recommended minimum of 1200 calories. That’s actually a lot of food if you don’t eat junk. You’d still lose the same amount of weight in the same time. And save $1500.
I should mention that you’d lose the same amount of real weight. Most of that “20lbs in 10 days” is water, so the real trick is dehydrating them. So they’ll balloon up again on the honeymoon, assuming they don’t pass out before they say “I do”. You need a 3500 calorie deficit to lose a single pound so do the math. Average women not in combat usually need 1500 to 2500 calories per day. 800 calories intake would give them at most a 1700 calorie deficit or about half a pound real weight lost max. That’s about 5 pounds in 10 days.
Sick of all these fad diets. Eat 3 healthy meals a day, go running/gym 5 days a week and you’ll lose weight. It’s not rocket science.
These advocates of the “tubies” need to CHILL OUT and refocus their anger on the Dr himself. It’s pretty obvious that Hoda and Kathy Lee weren’t mocking the people who need feeding tubes for medical necessity or the device itself. They’re mocking those vapid idiots who choose to use this as a quick way to lose weight because they’re too lazy to work out. I’ve had family members who needed the use of a feeding tube while battling cancer, so yes I do understand where these mothers are coming from; they’re still overreacting in my opinion. When I first saw this story on the Today Show a couple days ago, I was completely disgusted. I can only hope that something comes of this…as in that Dr losing his license.
I agree that they weren’t being intentionally cruel to real tubies, but I DO think they were being unintentionally stupid by making the tube-feeding process sound gross and unnatural. My 18 month old has been tube fed her whole life and it is completely natural to her. I think people are responding appropriately outraged by this. When you have a child or loved one on a tube you can do everything for them except control how other people treat them.
And to the ‘thinkaboutit’ commenter; where are you getting YOUR statistics from? Because I believe children with disabilities are even more stigmatized than adults. Sure, practically anyone with the means will write a check but hardly anyone knows how to treat a child face to face.
To answer another question of what is PC; try looking them in the eye. Don’t stare at the handicap and don’t look away these children need to feel as normal as possible especially as they get older and start noticing they aren’t exactly like everyone else.
I don’t think an apology matters because they would just be doing what they’re told. The issue is what someone else said, this subject has hardly any publicity. It took me awhile to find others with similar situations and was blown away. So the fact that the publicity the tube gets is negative (even if it is just meant for the unnecessary use of it) it is very discouraging and upsetting when we are trying so hard to get the word out that these beautiful children are just that. And completely normal
that hat is very similar to one worn by princess beatrice which was absolutely awesome-i’m not even kidding i’d totes wear that shit. as for tapeworm, it was popular practice back in the 40’s. it is rumoured that maria callas lost weight by swallowing one. nasty.
What has happened to Kathie Lee Gifford? Why is she drinking so much? She used to be compassionate and caring. Wine brings out careless and hurtful words. it seems like she is always trying to be funny and that she is showing off for someone. I know she cares very much about her own children. She should be a better example for them.
Why stop at a feeding tube? Why not walk around with an IV? Maybe hook up electrodes to your head to shock your brain whenever you think of food? Hey, self lipo-surgery sounds good too.
Seems what people really need is a little discipline and common sense.