The Secret Behind Diet Pills
Diet pills generate approximately £11billion per year in Britain. This shocking revelation stands for the fact that when it comes to weight-loss, many people would rather pop a pill then strain themselves through exercise and diet. But does it really benefit their health? Alice Hart Davis of DailyMail.com investigates:
With one-third of Britons classified as overweight, the nation spends £11billion a year trying to get thin.
It shouldn't be so hard, since all you need to do to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than your body burns up, yet it is something that many of us find fiendishly difficult.
Today's diet pills are a lot safer than the addictive amphetamine-based products popular in the 1960s and 1970s, which killed the appetite but often caused insomnia or hallucinations, too.
Mostly, diet pills fall into three groups: those that boost the metabolism; those that make you feel full and suppress your appetite; and those that prevent some of the fat you eat from being digested.
So are these new diet pills the Holy Grail of weight loss? The end of calorie-counting and salad-munching? Or are they yet another so-called miracle cure that needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt? Or worse, are they bad for you?
There is no magic bullet for weight loss. To lose weight, the basic adage is 'eat less, move more'.
Dr Justine Setchell, a GP at the Westover clinic in London, says diet pills, even if they work, will not solve the underlying problem of why you got fat in the first place.
'None of these pills offers a long-term solution. People who take them haven't looked at the underlying reasons why they got fat in the first place, so when they stop taking the pills, they usually go back to their old ways and regain the weight.
'If you don't address the psychology of why you eat what you eat, you will never lose weight.'
It shouldn't be so hard, since all you need to do to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than your body burns up, yet it is something that many of us find fiendishly difficult.
Today's diet pills are a lot safer than the addictive amphetamine-based products popular in the 1960s and 1970s, which killed the appetite but often caused insomnia or hallucinations, too.
Mostly, diet pills fall into three groups: those that boost the metabolism; those that make you feel full and suppress your appetite; and those that prevent some of the fat you eat from being digested.
So are these new diet pills the Holy Grail of weight loss? The end of calorie-counting and salad-munching? Or are they yet another so-called miracle cure that needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt? Or worse, are they bad for you?
There is no magic bullet for weight loss. To lose weight, the basic adage is 'eat less, move more'.
Dr Justine Setchell, a GP at the Westover clinic in London, says diet pills, even if they work, will not solve the underlying problem of why you got fat in the first place.
'None of these pills offers a long-term solution. People who take them haven't looked at the underlying reasons why they got fat in the first place, so when they stop taking the pills, they usually go back to their old ways and regain the weight.
'If you don't address the psychology of why you eat what you eat, you will never lose weight.'
A great example on how this works was proved by Professor Lesley Regan, of St Mary's Hospital in London.
As part of a demonstration for her TV programme Professor Regan's Diet Clinic, she gave an unnamed diet pill to a group of women, who were delighted to find that, over the course of six weeks, they each lost up to half a stone.
Only then did the Professor reveal that the pill contained nothing more potent than starch. That really was a case of mind over matter...
Get real ladies. It's time to stop cutting corners and start getting familiar with the real trick to losing weight: Moderate diet and adequate exercise.
[DM]
