Why Most Diet Pills are Either Illegal or Ineffective (3 of 3)

Here we are at the concluding chapter of on diet pills. Does this means that basically there is no hope for weight loss other than exercise and the actual diet itself? Yes, there’s the new “hope” on the media regarding the latest diet pill. But keep in mind that according to the publicized research in cell magazine itself, this compound has only been tested on mice, and proven to increase its endurance. So the way the test was designed, instead of a diet pill, its more of a doping pill for endurance athletes.

This time I would like to discuss the fact that there is actually working diet pill, and they are legal everywhere in the world, and readily available on the cheap. Of course there are some important caveat attached to each of them. Following are the “diet pills” I would recommend.

Diet Pills that are Legal and Effective

Caffeine

Sources: Coffee, Tea and many dietary supplements

Yes, the humble caffeine that has been used for centuries as stimulants actually works. 1980 research had shown that coffee taken after meal will significantly increase your metabolic rate and fat oxidation. The only problem is that as most of you already know, prolonged caffeine consumption leads to tolerance build up, i.e. you need to keep on increasing your dosage to get the same effect. Hence if you are already consuming up to 4 – 5 cups a day, it would be a good idea for you to take an off day or two once in a while to reduce your tolerance. If you don’t, you would need to continually increase your caffeine consumption to get the same effect until you ended up with insomnia. Lack of sleep actually contributes to obesity.

Fiber

Sources: Fruits, Vegetables, and whole grain cereals

Why is it even here? Everyone should know that fruits and vegetables are essential to a healthy lifestyle. Not only do they contain high amount of phytochemicals (plant enzymes, vitamins and other micronutrients) and minerals, they also are high in fiber that helps cleans your digestive system and increase your satiety (sense of fullness) from the same amount of calorie. And no, fruit juices doesn’t count because most of the fibers are removed already. Problem is, most of our modern diet are devoid of edible fiber. Most processed food available on the market did not get their “fiber” from what our ancestors would recognize as food, they simply came from additives such as inulin, pectin, polydextrose, methylcellulose, and maltodextrin. These additives can be legally classified as “fiber”, hence allowing “food” manufacturers to claim their frankenfood to be healthy. However, these additives do not produce the same effect in your bowels as fibers that came from fruits, vegetables and whole grains. An exception would be when the fibers are sourced from psyllium husks or grain bran (rice and oat bran). Although I personally think diet alone will not give you six pack abs, this is one diet advice you can use to help you loose weight: Eat more fruits, veggies and whole grains!

Conclusion

The two items above are widely known and comes with their own caveats. For caffeine, your body will build up the caffeine tolerance over time and you will need to “reset” it. For fiber, basically you should eat the naturally sourced ones instead of packed food and supplements that claims they uses “fiber”, eat 5 – 7 servings per day, preferably before having your main meal. Some people might argue that Vitamin B should also be included on the list above, but most updated research on the general population does not show any effect of Vitamin B supplementation on weight loss.   There is currently no commercially viable quick and easy “slim pill” that has no dangerous side effect.

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