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13. Supplements - What weight loss companies don't want you to know
Beware of false ads.
Date: 4/10/2009 11:41:30 AM ( 15 y ) ... viewed 2884 times Most "fat-burning" and "muscle-building" supplements are completely unnecessary and probably a total waste of money. They are long on marketing hype and short on science. The supplement industry - especially the weight loss side of it - is BIG BUSINESS! Market data Enterprises, a market research firm from Tampa, Florida, reported that in the year 2000, Americans spent nearly $35 BILLION on diets and weight loss products!
According to the Nutrition Business Journal, the supplement industry reached an all time high of $13 billion in sales in the year 2000. One-thousand different manufacturers produce about 20,000 different products, which are consumed by 100 million people! With billions at stake, fat-cat supplement and weight loss companies will tell you just about anything to get you to buy their products. They'll even lie right to your face if they can get away with it. And the fact that the industry is so loosely regulated allows them to get away with murder.
Why Yon Can't Believe Everything Yon Read
Here's why you should view ALMOST ALL nutritional supplements with a skeptical eye: Most people get their information about supplements from magazines because magazines are generally considered one of the most credible sources for information. But that's not always the case - you can't believe everything you read.
Most fitness magazine publishers own supplement companies and they use their magazines to promote their products. By putting information about "new supplement breakthroughs" into editorial format, they appear much more believable.
That makes magazines the perfect tools for selling supplements and weight loss products. As a result, many magazines have turned into nothing more than thinly disguised "supplement catalogs" with the single purpose of brainwashing masses of easily-influenced consumers.
The "magazine/supplement company" business plan is nothing new. Certain well known publications have been doing it for decades. One day, it dawned on the rest of the publishers that more money could be made selling supplements than selling advertising or subscriptions. Soon, almost everyone had jumped on the bandwagon. This is just as true for online magazines as it is for paper and ink magazines.
Even if a magazine doesn't have a vested interest in a particular line of supplements, you still can't count on them to reveal the whole truth to you because publishers don't want to offend the deep-pocketed companies that are spending big money to advertise. Publishing is a tough business. Magazine owners depend on advertising revenue to keep themselves afloat.
A full-page ad in a high circulation national magazine can cost tens of thousands of dollars. With this kind of money at stake, do you think any magazine will print an article about how supplements don't work and run an ad on the next page for the same supplements they are criticizing? Not likely! And do you think they'll turn down advertising dollars just because the effectiveness of the product being advertised is questionable? Also not likely - scarce few human beings have that much integrity.
The Difference Between Supplements and Drugs
Supplements are food. Steroids are drugs. There's a huge difference between the two. Supplements cannot and never will have drug-like effects. Any claims to the contrary are pure marketing hype!
The closest thing to a supplement with drug-like effects is the ephedrine-caffeine-aspirin stack. As we now know, this is a powerful central nervous system stimulant, so like all real drugs - it's not without side effects.
Any real drug will always have undesirable side effects.
Supplements will never amount to anything more than food - and all the best supplements like whey protein, meal replacements, flaxseed oil,' etc. are really nothing more than powdered food or food derivative.
Vitamin and mineral supplements will NOT burn fat, they will NOT build muscle, they will NOT increase performance, and they will NOT increase energy and endurance. What they will do is act as your insurance policy against deficiencies. They simply fill in any gaps that might be left by the food in your diet.
The Truth About Fat-burning Supplements
Nearly all of the advertising you see on television and in the magazines for fat-burning supplements greatly exaggerates their effectiveness. "Take a pill, go to bed and wake up skinny its magic!" That pretty much sums up the marketing strategy of most supplement companies today. Here's the cold, hard reality: There is no magic pill that will just "melt" away fat and never will be! Even if such a pill really existed, you would only be addressing the symptom (effect), but not the cause.
Body fat is a symptom (an effect). If you want to get rid of body fat, you cannot merely treat the effect. Instead, you must trace the effect back to its cause and treat the cause. The cause of body fat is inactivity and poor nutrition. Until you increase your activity and improve your nutrition, no supplement or fat burning pill will ever help you in the long run. A sound nutrition program combined with weight training and aerobic exercise maintained for life is the only way to burn fat and keep it off permanently.
Although there is no quick fix, thermogenic supplements may add to the fat burning effects of your diet and exercise program if you're in good health and you tolerate stimulants well. However, don't let yourself be taken in by the outrageous claims and the even more outrageous before and after photos. These products work, but they don't work miracles. There are also definite risks and side effects.
Thermo genesis is the process of the body burning fuels (fat) without making chemical energy. Instead, the calories are released as heat. Studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as the International Journal of Obesity have shown that the caffeine-ephedrine combination can increase body temperature and metabolism, and encourage the body to burn fat before other sources such as body protein.
The most common ingredients in these products are the herbs Ma Huang (Ephedrine) and Kola nut or Guarana. White Willow, Citrmax, Chromium and L-Camitine are frequently added to the formulations but there's no proof that these increase the effectiveness. Ephedrine and caffeine work synergistically for a thermogenic effect and also a stimulant effect, increasing your energy levels. These substances have also been noted to reduce appetite. Examples of these products include Theremadrene, Hydrocycut, Stacker,Xenadrine and Diet Fuel.
WARNlNG: Individuals with a history of cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure should never use these products; neither should anyone who is overly sensitive to stimulants. These products are not without side effects and definitely have the potential for abuse and addiction. Use them with caution if you use them at all. For the few percent they may help, the risks may not be worth the small benefits. Check with your doctor before taking any stimulant-based supplements.
Food - real food - is the secret to your success
The human digestive system just wasn't designed to process liquid products all day long - it was designed to process whole foods. By developing dependence (I call it "laziness") on meal replacement products, you are short-changing yourself of the thermic effects that whole food has on your metabolism. Whole foods crank up your metabolism - shakes don't! Supplements will give you the calories and nutrients you need, but they won't provide the thermic effect that food does.
Bottom line is nothing can be better for you than real food. and as I said before in my other posts IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS!!!!
Use common sense - there IS and NEVER will be a pill that allows you to just take it go to sleep wake up and "POOF" you are a t your ideal weight.
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