What's cooking?

S and I were watching a current affairs program on TV the other night. One of the items they put on was a new weight loss treatment, from the United States, where the person trying to lose weight doesn't have to diet or do any exercise. Now, where have we heard that before? It seems like every three months or so a new weight loss treatment or diet is heralded with a fanfare worthy of a Roman Emporer, only for it to turn out to be just another spin on an already tired method.

So, understandably, S and I watched with a liberal sprinkling of scepticism. Justifiably, as it turned out. The new weapon in the battle of the bulge? Microwaves. No joke! The "practitioner" takes up an object which looks similar to a phaser from Star Trek (original series), and rubs the client's stomach with it, bombarding the area with microwaves. The idea seems to be to heat the fat cells and cause them to "melt away".

The problem with this, that I can see, is that for quite some time now, scientists have been warning us about the dangers of leaking microwave ovens, saying that the escaping radiation can result in some serious health problems. Yet here we have someone deliberately offering to cook us!

According to the bloke who has imported this procedure, the fat cells are heated to a temperature of 65° Celsius (149° Farenheit).

Ow!

Of course the fat is going to melt away. But, as the majority of the people seeking this "treatment" are likely to be women there would appear to be an obvious (to me) problem which I pointed out to S. The area being microwaved also houses the woman's ovaries. Surely they could be risking some serious damage?

If they're not careful, they could end up with a serving of fried eggs. Even worse! Cooked in fat!

And what if the woman has just fallen pregnant and doesn't know it? Gives a whole new meaning to "bun in the oven", doesn't it?

Perhaps it would be a hot, cross bun?

Weird people...