Get the Skinny on Diet Scams
You want to lose weight and you want to lose is fast! Most people who want to lose weight want it to happen over night. That’s why product claims such as: “Lose 30 lbs. in 30 days!”, “Watch the lbs. melt away”, “Block the absorption of fat, carbs and calories with this pill” can be convincing. We want to believe it can happen.
But….be warned, the only thing that you’ll lose when you “buy-into” these “miracle diets” is money. Diet scams are big business with serious competition for the $35 billion dollar weight loss market. Scammers are successful because people want to believe that they can lose weight faster than they took to gain it.
A recent FTC (Federal Trade Commission) report found that more than half of weight-loss ads have at least one false or unsubstantiated claim.
Most people need something more than a pill or a diet aid to get them to change the behavior that got them in trouble in the first place. Most of the time, the product can’t “fix” the problem.
Be wary of diets that promote weight loss with the following:
- Metabolism-boosting pills based on herbal ingredients.
Pills containing herbal ingredients are not regulated by the FDA. Be especially careful of products containing ephedra and Kava. Ephedra has been banned because it can cause high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, insomnia, nervousness, tremors, seizures, heart attacks, strokes and even death. Kava is a plant found in the South Pacific. The FDA has warned that Kava has been linked to severe liver damage.
- Fat and carb-blocking pills
Fat blockers also “block” the absorption of vitamins and nutrients. They can also lead to gastrointestinal problems like diarrhrea, bloating, and gas.
- Herbal Weight Loss Teas
The main ingredient in these teas is often-times caffeine, which is a diuretic that leads to losing water-weight. Teas may benefit the dieter if indeed they are substituting it for other high-calorie drinks
- Diet patches
Patches that deliver medication through the skin have been effective for smoking cessation, but to this point no effective weight-loss drugs have been designed to be delivered through patches.
- Body wraps or “slim-suits”
Body wraps make you sweat, so the only weight you may lose is “water-weight”. Once you being to drink water again, the weight is restored.
General rule: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The only way to effectively lose weight is to burn more calories than you eat.
Information taken from WebMD website Sept. 2007. www.webmd.com
