Diet Pills A Lot Of Risk For A Little Loss

Diet Pills. There are a number of products on the market - both prescription and non-prescription - which claim to be effective weight loss aids. Many of these have been associated with serious medical risks, including heart attack, heart abnormalities, tachycardia, stroke, seizures and death. The side effects can be daunting, but how realistic are they?

Diet pills fall into several different classes. Most are appetite suppressants of one kind or another, generally stimulants with effects similar to those of amphetamine. They are approved for treatment of obesity, where it's considered that the health risks associated with gross overweight outweigh the risks associated with the medication.

For someone who has less than 30 pounds to lose, the risks are far less cut-and-dried. While the FDA and manufacturers closely monitor the effects of prescription weight loss medications, over the counter medications and their risks are far less well-documented. They're even less well-documented for herbal preparations, especially those whose makers don't officially make weight loss claims for them.

While makers of pharmaceuticals must meet stringent labeling requirements and tests for safety and effectiveness, those who make weight loss 'supplements' are not regulated in the same way. As long as they don't contain a 'new' ingredient, or one that has never been marketed for weight loss purposes, they are not subject to FDA review. Instead, the manufacturer is held responsible for the safety and effectiveness of their products. Often, that means unregulated dosages, unhealthy additives and ineffective ingredients.

In an effort to encourage improvement in the reporting standards and the pharmaceutical standards for weight loss medications, the United States Pharmacopoeia has introduced the Comprehensive Dietary Supplement Verification Program.

Currently voluntary, it involves certification by the USP of certain labeling and practice standards, including that the product contains the ingredients stated on the label in the strength declared, that they are within limits for impurities like metals, pesticides and bacteria, that the medication will be absorbed by the body according to USP criteria, and that it has been created with all safe precautions.

Until the day that all over the counter medications and herbal preparations marketed as weight loss supplements and aids are labeled and tested by impartial researchers, there are some things that you can do to lessen the risks associated with using diet pills.

Research is your best friend. There's a lot of information out there about drugs and herbs like ephedra, ephinedrine, phentermine and sibutramine. Know what you're taking and what the risks are so that you can watch for side effects.

Always talk to your doctor before you start taking any drug or herbal supplement. Many of them interact poorly with other medications, or have an adverse effect on chronic conditions.

Follow dosage instructions. Overdoses of stimulant medications, which are a component of most weight loss preparations, can be serious and severe.

Don't take any weight loss pill or supplement for more than a few weeks without it being prescribed by a doctor.

Check with your pharmacist when purchasing over the counter weight loss preparations to be sure that the ingredients don't interact with other medications you may be taking. Include both prescription and nonprescription medications in your questions.

Ideally, don't take weight loss pills. The effectiveness of most have not been proven at all. It's an awful lot of risk for such a little loss.

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Are You Getting All Of The Nutritional Supplements You Need?

Are you certain that your body is getting all the nutrients it needs? while you're dieting? Chances are that if you're following any restrictive diet plan, you may be missing some important vitamins or minerals. Any diet that heavily emphasizes one food group while completely restricting others is, by nature, lacking in some essential nutrients.

Isn't that part of the idea, though? The popular conception of dieting is that when we feed our bodies less calories than it needs, it will begin to take nutrition from the fat that it has stored. While that's true, there's a basic fallacy in thinking that your body can derive all the fuel it needs that way. Part of the problem with that assumption is that there are many nutrients that your body can't store. It simply uses what it needs and excretes the rest. Those nutrients must be consumed daily in one way or another, and if your diet doesn't allow for that, your body will show the effects.

If you're on a diet that severely restricts your intake of any particular food or food group, you may benefit from adding a nutritional supplement to your daily regimen. In fact, many doctors recommend that dieters take, at the very least, a complete, high-quality multivitamin to make up for any deficiencies caused by the restrictions. Other supplementation might be recommended depending on the diet you're following.

Below are some specific suggestions based on particular diets. The suggestions should not be taken as medical advice, nor is there any dosage recommendation. Instead, take it as a suggestion to discuss your diet with a nutritionist or dietician and ask for their advice on appropriateness or dosage.

On ANY Diet:

A full-spectrum multivitamin should be part of your daily routine no matter what you're eating or not eating. It will help even out the ups and downs of your diet, and supply some valuable nutrients that are difficult to get.

Sunshine. It may not come in pill form, but sunshine is one of the more important 'nutritional supplements'. It assists the body in making vitamin D, which is not derived from any food source. While doctors say that as little as 20 minutes of full sun a day can supply your daily requirement of vitamin D, they also caution that it's dependent on climate. If you live north of Philadelphia, you should take a vitamin D supplement to be sure that you get enough.

On a Low-Carb/High Protein Diet:

Antioxidant vitamins that are found in vegetables are a must. Scientists are learning more and more how important it is that our diets contain a full spectrum of vitamins, proteins, minerals and acids. If your diet cuts out most grains and vegetables, you should be replacing the nutrients you miss out on with supplementary vitamin A, C, B (all the B's), E and K. You should also supplement your intake of folic acid, and if you're not getting a significant amount of your protein from fish products, you'll need omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil, shellfish and flaxseed oil.

Keep in mind that the best diet is one that gives you a balance of nutrients, and that supplements should be exactly that - a supplement to your daily intake of nutrition.

Don't Obsess About Food

One of the dangers of dieting is the 'diet mentality'. The constant need to weigh, measure, count and account for food that most dieters feel can become an obsession with food that comes close to that experienced by someone with an eating disorder. Is it possible to lose weight without becoming obsessed with food?

Dr. David Katz, author of "The Way to Eat", suggests a better way. While it's important to balance the calories you eat with the calories you burn, he says, it's not necessary to obsess about food by counting every calorie. Instead, he suggests, focus on eating well for your health and permanent weight loss will follow.

Dr. Katz's suggestions include replacing highly processed foods which contain added sugar, fat, starch and salt with more wholesome foods with short ingredient lists. Avoid foods with added 'flavor enhancers' like monosodium glutamate and high fructose corn syrup which tend to stimulate the appetite and make you want to eat even more.

Instead, focus on healthier alternatives within food groups. That's far easier to do than you'd think. A simple change in your diet like replacing the light cream in your coffee with low-fat milk can save you 50 calories per cup. If you drink a lot of coffee, that could add up to a substantial lowering in your overall daily calorie intake - with the added bonus of giving you all the calcium and vitamin D you usually get with less than half the fat.

But, you say, you just can't drink your coffee with skim milk? That's fine, too. We all have little luxuries that we think we can't live without. Take a few minutes to analyze your diet and figure out which things you just can't give up - then make adjustments in other areas to account for them. Can't live without cream in your coffee? Skip the muffin you usually have with it, or replace the butter you use on it with a low-fat margarine substitute. Eating healthy is about choices - not obsession.

Here are some other suggestions to help you stop obsessing about calories and start eating healthier:

1. Toss out sugared breakfast cereals in favor of a whole-grain cereal that has little or no added sugar and drop a few berries into your bowl instead.

2. Switch to an all natural, no additive peanut butter instead of a highly processed one that contains added sugar and oils for stabilization.

3. Keep a baggie of dried fruit in your desk drawer for a high-potassium pick-me-up at mid-morning. You'll be far less inclined to overeat at lunch - and you won't find yourself yawning at 11 A.M.