by Jennifer Macon-Steele

Created on: January 26, 2010

Forget the Lap Band. Here comes the tongue patch. It's another unhealthy fad diet, but this one requires surgery.

 Dr. Nicholas Chugay, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, has invented a new surgical way to lose weight.

 His tongue patch is a surgically implanted device that fits over your tongue. Dr. Chugay’s website says it takes about an hour to fit and place the implant. The patch causes eating solid foods to be difficult and painful, so you are forced to stick to a liquid diet. The doctor’s staff will give you the nutritious liquid that you’ll need. Most patients return to work the very next day, presumably with a diet milkshake in hand.

 How about just wiring your jaw shut instead?

 Dr. Chugay’s website says you can lose 30 pounds a month on his tongue patch diet. It does not say if you can drink hot chocolate and soda instead of eating.

The truly desperate, or those who can’t think of anything better to do with their time and money, have gone to Dr. Chugay for the procedure. He says his patients are happy and he has the testimonials to prove it.

 Dr. Chugay’s website lists his television appearances including a spot on the “Tyra Banks Show”. It also says that he was mentioned in various Hollywood shows and The Tonight Show. It doesn’t say anything about the nature of the comments.

 Liquid diets are not new, and folks have had their jaws wired shut for weight loss purposes. Some people have their jaws wired shut for jaw surgery, and they lose weight too.

 Also there are people who follow temporarily liquid diets, ingesting nothing but lemonade or iced tea for a period of time. And then there are the weight loss shakes crowd. Those diets recommend you eat healthy meals in between shakes, but many look for quicker results by just going the all shake route.

 All of those people typically lose weight. And all of them tend to gain the weight back very quickly when they go back to normal eating. The tongue patch folks most likely will have the same problem.

 So unless you plan to suck down your food for the rest of your life, the tongue patch diet or any fad diet is probably not the best, or healthiest, option.

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