The Secret is.…
May 7, 2010
by Carter Schoffer
Taking a page out of Bill Maher’s notebook, new rule: if a website or other ballyhooing vehicle uses the word secret in any way, shape or form, as in but not limited to “secrets to health” or “weight loss secrets revealed,” to describe the book, program, diet, service, etc. they’re peddling, you have the right to punch them in the face. Or, short of the justifiable but potentially legally cumbersome application of violence, do yourself a huge solid by navigating your oculo-auditory resources, and along with them your pocketbook, Paypal account and credit card digits, elsewhere.
These promise the world but sell you nothing more than an expensive empty shell hucksters are today’s equivalent of the slick snake oil street-wagon pedlars of 100+ years ago. At its best, this broad industry of body comp, wellness, and/or performance professionals truly helps people change and improve their lives physically, mentally and/or emotionally but the dark, seedy and frankly sinister hucksterism employed by a range of moronic fraudulent harpies to, corruptive greed aside, otherwise arguably legitimate experts, hangs a dark, gassy, acrid cloud over the entire field.
That’s the secret. Or, more correctly, that’s the obvious, but sadly nonetheless compelling due to desperation, reality lurking below the dolled-up pig with lipstick epithet that the use of secret is in this context.
The cold shower truth is that to change your body you have to change the habits that led you to your current state. Most often, this means eating real food and exercising, everyday over a significant period of time and having realistic goals. Which, arguably, is no small task and one that you likely could use a good deal of help with but nonetheless is a really freaking elementary, secret-less, process. Simple but not easy.
So whether it’s the use of secret or some other pitchman ad copy buzzword, I plead you, caveat emptor, if not a full fist to face encounter.
