DETROIT, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Kwame Kilpatrick, the former Detroit mayor turned defendant, says a diet involves massage with steel balls has helped him shed 16 pounds.
The diet was designed by Grigory Sadkhin, an acupuncturist from Russia who has clinics across the United States, The Detroit News reported. One is in the Dallas area, where Kilpatrick lives.
Sadkhin's method includes having patients massage behind their ears with the little balls every two hours. He says that nerves in that area go to the stomach and the massage helps patients feel full.
Patients might need something to feel full since the food prescription for Sadkhin's diet consists of 1.5 pounds of fruit and vegetables for two days followed by two days of no more than 2.5 glasses of milk or yogurt. Then they begin the routine again and keep going until they are through with the diet.
Kilpatrick's embrace of the diet came to light Wednesday when he appeared in court in Michigan with masking tape behind his ears.
Experts say they are more concerned with the restrictive eating pattern Sadkhin advocates than the massage.
"They may think it's helping them," said Marie Hoskins, a registered dietician from Troy, Mich., of Sadkhin's patients. "In truth it doesn't do anything."
