Diet Pills, Pilloried or Not

Diet is a word describing the types of food one eats. Dieting, on the other hand, tends to describe the kinds of foods you don’t eat, usually to lose weight. To say you are on a diet is to say you are dieting, for unless you don’t eat at all, if you are eating anything, that makes up your diet.

Blah blah blah.

But with over 1/3 of Americans overweight and 1/3 obese, dieting is the national past time. Despite the many efforts over the many  years that so many have tried to lose weight, few have successfully done so over the long haul.

While the science shows that a regular and consistent exercise regimen done nearly every day of the week, rain or shine, along with a reduced calorie diet does help most people lose weight, there are some who seem resistant to such programs; they lose but not as much as would be expected.

And science has shown that some popular diets – Weight Watchers, for example – help more people lose more weight over a one or two year time frame, the weight lost is nominal: ~5 kg, or 11 pounds. If you weigh 300 lbs, that’s a pittance.

And while newer and better gastric bypass surgeries are available and being promoted for health, not just weight loss, many fear the surgery, are anxious about the restraints these procedures impose, and are scared of failure after the initial losses, the price paid, even if insurance covers it, may not be worth the short term benefits. (Not to mention, many would need plastic surgery to remove the excess skin after losing 50-100 lbs.)

So what to do?

Reviews.com is a website dedicated to testing the truth behind claims, much like Consumers Report. They recently posted a pretty thorough and succinct review of 360 diet supplements that are over the counter, testing their claims and their ingredients for safety and efficacy. What they found is worth reading, and sharing.

While one can argue, and I’m sure some will, that all supplements are for s..t, go natural, etc, since there are millions of people seeking help, millions of people trying to lose weight, and billions of dollars being spent doing so, doesn’t it make sense to help those folks make sense of the products out there, and the risks they face?

I think so.

Weight Loss Supplements Reviewed