If you've read the advertising sections of a Sunday newspaper lately, you've probably noticed the sales flyer promising weight loss with the use of reflexology shoe inserts. The shoe inserts include a bed of prongs shaped into a chart of reflexology areas for digestion. The use of a reflexology chart and the mention of proven studies has drawn the curiosity of many reflexologists. Allure magazine reporter Helen Wilson was curious enough to follow up.
The September issue of Allure reports that two nobby weight loss insoles are on the market, Dr. Metz' Slimming Soles and SlimReflex. Dorothy Flagler, owner of SlimReflex, notes that "We look at the insoles a s tool to assist people to balance their bodies and lose weight naturally." "Dr. Metz SlimmingSoles are equally nubby, but the company's are far more outrageous-the money back guarantee says a Metz insole will make you lose 15 pounds without the slightest effort."
"Not surprisingly, reflexologists are just as skeptical as the rest of us. 'I don't think the science is there right now,' says Kevin Kunz, owner of Reflexology Research, a company that publishes information on the field. And then he asks the obvious question: 'If you walk around the block in these (and lose weight), is it the walking or the insoles.'" (Helen Wilson, "Skeptic's Corner," Allure, September, 1996, p. 100)
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