Did you know that Americans spend over 33 BILLION dollars a year on weight reduction products? This includes diet foods, drinks and pills. Any way you look at it, that’s a ton of money being spent on trying to get thin.
Diet pills can have their place in the quest for a slimmer body. It’s important to note that diet pills should be considered an adjunct to your overall weight loss program. A diet pill is not a magic solution that you take once or twice a day that allows you to eat anything you want.
Two key components will help you if you choose diet pills to help your weight loss efforts. One is to know they are only intended for short-term use in most cases. The other is to make sure the diet pill you choose will aid you in the manner that’s most helpful for your individual case.
Diet pills can basically be broken down into four categories; appetite suppressants, diuretics, fat blockers and fat burners. Knowing which one does what can help you determine which type is the best choice for you.
Appetite suppressants are pretty self explanatory; they work to decrease your appetite so you don’t feel hungry, enabling you to cut out in between meal snacks and also reduce the amount you eat at mealtimes.
They achieve this by affecting neurotransmitters in the brain, essentially ‘turning off’ the hunger mechanism. If your weight is caused by constant overeating, you may find that appetite suppressants can help you lose weight by curbing your appetite.
Diuretics are designed to flush the excess fluids from the body, and they will. And again, these are only intended for short term use. Extreme care must be used if you take diuretics. These pills work so well they can actually deplete your body of fluids to the point that essential vitamins and minerals are reduced to dangerously low levels, particularly potassium.
Too few fluids left in the body can lead to kidney stones, gallstones and liver problems. A better choice to flush out your system is drinking plenty of water, along with an all natural cleansing routine.
Fat blockers primary component is usually Chitosan, which is made from shellfish and has properties similar to fiber. They bind to fat molecules and prevent them from entering the bloodstream because they’re too large to pass through the wall of your stomach. Therefore, only a small amount of fat actually passes through the intestine.
The downside of fat blockers are the side effects, although they generally lessen once you’ve been taking them for awhile. These can include stomach cramping, excess gas and diarrhea.
Fat burners work for weight loss by burning off the fat you have stored in your body. This is accomplished by raising your metabolism rate. One such fat burner was Ephedra, which was highly effective, but had to be taken off the market. It was such a strong stimulant that often the body couldn’t handle it.
The result was many people suffered heart attacks and strokes, so it was finally removed from the market. There are many herbs available, though, that also work on raising the metabolism, such as ginseng, green tea, HCA (which also regulates blood sugar and decreases the appetite), yerba mate, whose main active ingredient is caffeine, and guarana. The most common complaint about fat burners is a feeling of nervousness, the ‘jitters’, or headaches.
For obvious reasons, it’s important to check with your doctor before beginning any diet program that includes diet pills. While some diet pills may offer some metabolism boosting properties, it’s not worth jeopardizing your long term health and fitness.
