The Dangers of Diet Pills
So many people (it isn’t just women) will go to any lengths to be thin. People want a quick fix, something easy, and something that will not require hours of exercise or changing one’s diet. What many don’t realize is that it is never that easy. One pill will not magically help you drop weight and keep it off. You may see quick weight loss results with a diet pill, but you will be severely jeopardizing your health. Is the risk worth it? Read on for details about this frightening trend in weight loss supplements.
The Truth Behind the Flashy Ads
If you pick up a bottle of a diet pill like Xenadrine, you could be wowed by all of their claims. Clinical studies? Safe? Improving metabolism? Customer testimonials? When things like this jump at you from off of the shelf, it is easy to be fooled. But like with any advertising claim, don’t be taken in by what you see on the surface. Steve Bechler, Major League baseball pitcher, took Xenadrine before a game, after he realized that he needed to drop some weight to have a healthy start to the season. One heart attack later and he passed away. As shocking as it is, this healthy 23 year old man didn’t know the dangers of diet supplements and paid the highest price. Look again at any packaging and marketing for a diet pill. They may magically claim to seed up metabolism and help the pounds melt away, but what significant research backs up these claims? Is there a reputable organization, like the Food and Drug Administration, asserting that the claims are true?
Take a supplement like Ephedra. It can be found everywhere, from weight loss aids to energy boosters. Metabolife, one of the best selling over-the-counter weight loss aids in the country, contains Ephedra. The supplement contains both Ephedra AND caffeine, which the manufacturers have claimed for years have no side effects when combined. Mind you, this is the company trying to market their product to millions of weight-conscious Americans, so you would think they would want to have their facts as straight as possible. However, when staring in the face of criminal charges and a federal investigation, the president of Metabolife, David Brown finally coped to the fact that “between 1997 and September 2001 his company received roughly 13,000 reports of ‘certain health-related issues‘ linked to the supplement, among them heart attacks, strokes, seizures and death. A subsequent analysis added high blood pressure, palpitations, psychosis and other serious problems.” The FDA even estimates that Ephrdra accounts for 64% of all related side effects from herbal supplements, and that for every one of these recorded incidents, 100 go unreported.
Deadly Side Effects of Diet Pills
Sure, it would be nice to be healthy and maybe a few sizes smaller. You’d feel better, feel less tired walking around doing simple every day tasks, and it would be great to solve these issues with just one little pill. If you dig a little deeper, you can find out exactly what is in diet pills, and what the ingredients can do to harm, not improve, your health. Some quick facts on a component of Ephedra, ephedrine:
- In its synthetic form, ephedrine is used on hospital crash carts to help bring patients back to life.
- Its nickname is “the poor man’s speed” based on what it can do to the human nervous system.
- It can cause nervous jitters, a pounding heart and high blood high blood pressure. Combined with the stimulating effects of caffeine, another popular component of diet pills, this creates a literally deadly partnership.
Before you blame all the diet supplement world’s evils on a pill like Metabolife, know that all diet pills contain some similar herb or laxative effect (designed to help shed water weight quickly).
Safe Alternatives to Diet Pills
Before even beginning to sing the praises of a healthy diet and regular exercise, I believe it is crucial to examine the root cause of issues like obesity in America. Why do Americans, both women and men alike, feel the need to be thin? The media plays a huge role here, creating impossible standards in magazines, on television and in movies. If people think they need to look like Lara Flynn Boyle to be beautiful, therein lies the root issue. If we are all trying to achieve almost impossible standards of beauty and ideals based on what the media is telling us, then we need to take a closet look at that. I also believe that eating has become much more of a grab and go function, rather than a process to be savored and enjoyed in the company of others. Take a little time in your day to plan your meals, and make it a point to sit down and eat good food with good people. Leaving McDonald’s drive-thru behind is a great place to start.
And that brings us back to diet and exercise. Yes, it is more labor intensive. Yes, it will take longer to lose weight. But instead of relying on a quick fix for your weight, you will be creating steps to ensure that a new healthy lifestyle and food choices can last a lifetime. Visit with a nutritionist or your regular care doctor, and talk about how to set up a better diet for your lifestyle and time. Get moving for at least 30 minutes a day, no excuses. Walk your dog more, grab a friend and tromp around at lunch, join a gym or take up a new sport. Even the most minute of changes can get you traveling down a path that will aid you in losing weight, and will not put your life and well being in danger.
photo credit: SuperFantastic
Tags: alternative dieting, diet pills, diet prescriptions, dieting, ephedra diet pills, Food and Drug Administration, health insurance plans, healthy dieting, weight loss pill
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:54 am
Well done for having such an informative sight, diet pills are everywhere and your information can only help the public choose a product that will help them, as a health insurance broker i know only to well all the mis-leading information out their.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:57 am
I couldn’t agree more about the media and beauty standards stuffs. They are really major influence of the trends that brought up issues. Somehow I was delighted about the news regarding plus sized models being advocated. I’m not a plus size at all; in fact I’m the opposite. I’m a person who wants to gain some weight because I don’t want to be mistaken as anorexic. People especially teenagers should realize the risk that they are taking by choosing a shortcut.
November 25th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Yes diet pills can be a danger no doubt. Regular exercise that gets the heart rate up combined with a sensible diet is the way to go. We aren’t taught the correct way to look after ourselves at school any more.