Anyone that does not see scams in the weight loss industry has to be looking the other way all of the time. There are commercials, ads, radio spots and lots of internet based companies selling a dream that can not be possible. I see these everyday and just saw a very complete and well thought out article that exposes Lipozene, a product that makes huge promises and of course only delivers on the TV commercial.

ABC News has an expose type article about how they tested some popular diet pills by themselves to see if they would help people lose weight.

The test was done with a product called Lipozene that costs $81 per month. Lipozene is popular and expensive and according to the commercials it is a miracle that works even when you do not change your diet or get any exercise. This sounds like crap to me already. If this is really true then why wouldn’t somone have found it years ago?

The article is really worth reading, read it now and just skim even through the three pages and see what you think.

The real fact is that no matter what you do to lose weight whether it is diet or exercise or a combination of both the byproduct is that you will become more healthy as a result, if a pill could even lose you the weight it would not make you any healthier which would defeat the purpose of getting in shape in the first place.

OK one more thing. There have been a lot of products in the 90’s and even earlier that would crank up your metabolism and help you lose weight. These products did in fact work but just like in the way that Anabolic steroids will help a bodybuilder gain muscles, a ephedrine based pill will create a substute in your body and in the end will weaken your body by forcing. In the case of Anabolic steroids you pump up the testosterone in your system which will cause your body to stop creating it on it’s own and in the case of Ephedrine it will stop your body from naturally raising it’s own metabolism and also raises the chances of a heart attack.

Stay away from the scam of diet pills

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: a lot of products, ABC, diet, health, heart attack, lipozene, lose weight, USD, weight loss pills

Every season it seems there is a new weight loss secret that becomes a great big hype machine. Last year is was Anatrim and Hoodia and right now it is Green Tea. I know that there are a lot of reasons to believe that green tea is very good for you but it is not a wonder drug for losing weight even if you mix it with caffeine and other chemicals as Enviga has. There is no such thing really as negative calories and there is a better way to look at weight loss by increasing your metabolism on a natural basis and reducing your calorie content by eating the right foods. ABC News has exposed this product and I am happy that they have.

The makers of Enviga bill the sparkling, caffeinated green tea as an energy drink designed to promote a healthy lifestyle. According to tests conducted by Switzerland’s University of Lausanne and Nestle, who manufacture the beverage along with Coca-Cola, drinking three 12-ounce cans of Enviga per day burns 50 to 100 calories.

Though it’s only available in New York City and Philadelphia now, early this year, the drink will hit store shelves nationwide.

Enviga gets its calorie-burning power from the combination of caffeine and EGCG, an antioxidant naturally found in green tea. Though its makers stand by the drink’s ability to burn calories, Nestle and Coca-Cola claim they’re not marketing Enviga as a weight loss product.

“This product seems ideal for folks that are exercising regularly, have a balanced diet, and are taking care of themselves. This is one more step. It would be great if the product was inspirational, but it’s not a weight loss product,” Coca-Cola spokesman Ray Crockett said.

Though Enviga is not marketed specifically as a weight loss product, some doctors and consumer advocates say that looking at the ads, it’s hard to think of anything else.
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Tags: ABC, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, beverage, Center for Science, chemicals, Coca-Cola, contributor and associate professor, Darwin Deen, David Katz, director of sports nutrition, energy drink, Leslie Bonci, Nestle, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Medical Center, Ray Crockett, spokesman, sports nutrition, Switzerland, Switzerland's University of Lausanne, the Public Interest, University of Pittsburgh, weight loss product, Yale University's School of Public Health

Child’s death linked to small parts used in popular toy Magnetix.

I only bring this story up because I have two young kids. But there is a company called magnetix that makes a toy that you have probably seen just like the picture above, these are little sticks with magnets on each end. These sticks connect to each other or to a small metal ball and people can make little molecule like shapes with the sticks and balls. The geek in me loves this toy but there is a danger of the little magnets falling out and a child swallowing them. The little magnets are glued into the sticks and with use these magnets will just come loose and stick to another magnet. When a child swallows two or more of these magnets they can get caught in their small intestine and the magnets can stick together blocking the small intestine and causing real health problems including the death of a two year old and the hospitalization of a child in Seattle. Just like any story that makes the mainstream news I hate to be an alarmist and do not know how often this happens but still get very concerned nonetheless.

There was a story about this on ABC News and I have linked the ABC News video here just to make sure that the story gets out clearly.

Tags: ABC, Dangerous Childrens Toy Child, metal ball, Seattle, the ABC News

I just ran into a couple of great articles on Hoodia and thought it would be great to share them. Why do I care about Hoodia? Well I keep getting spam about the “Greatest weight loss product ever” and man do I hate unfounded hype.

It seems that Hoodia may be a good product but if there is ever a wonder drug that will stop people from eating and help them lose weight than the lack of exercise will surely kill people. I t is very important to remember that even if Hoodia does a great job in helping you lose weight that you still need to exercise regularly to stay or regain health. I have made my own notations here in bold from this great article at about.com written by Cathy Wong

Introduction to Hoodia

Each year, people spend more than $40 billion on products designed to help them slim down. None of them seem to be working very well.

Now along comes hoodia. Never heard of it? Soon it’ll be tripping off your tongue, because hoodia is a natural substance that literally takes your appetite away. It’s very different from diet stimulants like Ephedra and Phenfen that are now banned because of dangerous side effects. Hoodia doesn’t stimulate at all. Scientists say it fools the brain by making you think you’re full, even if you’ve eaten just a morsel.

Hoodia is a cactus that’s causing a stir for its ability to suppress appetite and promote weight loss. 60 Minutes, ABC, and the BBC have all done stories on hoodia. Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in health food stores and on the Internet. Hoodia is also found in the popular diet pill Trimspa.

Hoodia gordonii can be found in the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Much like a cactus it has recently been turned into a cash crop in Namibia where there are hundreds of acres of it being grown to meet the demand in North America.

It takes about 5 years before hoodia’s pale purple flowers appear and the cactus can be harvested. Although there are 20 types of hoodia, only the hoodia gordonii variety is believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant.

Although hoodia was only marketed recently, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have been eating it for a very long time. The Bushmen, who live off the land, would cut off part of the hoodia stem and eat it to ward off hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips. They also used hoodia for severe abdominal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes.

In 1937, a Dutch anthropologist studying the San Bushmen noted that they used hoodia to suppress appetite. But it wasn’t until 1963 when scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa’s national laboratory, began studying hoodia. Initial results were promising — lab animals lost weight after taking hoodia.
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Tags: 60 Minutes, ABC, Africa, Angola, anthropologist, BBC, Botswana, Brown University in Rhode Island, Cathy Wong Introduction, correspondent, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, cramps, depression, diabetes, energy, health food stores, Hoodia plant, hypertension, indigestion, Kalahari desert, Leslie Stahl, liver disease, Namibia, north America, pfizer, pharmaceutical giant, Rhode Island, South Africa, South Africa's national laboratory, supplement, tough product, Trimspa, tuberculosis, Unilever, USD, weight loss product, weight loss solution