There are so many products on sale to help with weight and figure problems that it is easy to be confused - and in fact misled. The prevalence of cottage cheese thighs in Ireland is a boon to the cosmetics industry. Anti-cellulite creams abound with different claims as to how they deal with the problem. Some claim they break down cellulite to release the toxins it contains. Others claim to increase circulation to carry away the toxins that "are the main cause of cellulite", or to release water trapped in unsightly ripples under the skin. Some go as far as to claim their creams will remove cellulite wholesale.
Yet as Dr. Peter Fodder, president of the Lipoplasty Society emphasises, there are no toxins, and there is no trapped water. Cellulite is just ordinary bodyfat sitting under the skin in tiny pockets separated by connective tissue. You cannot remove a molecule with creams or lotions unless they contain a beta-adrenergic agonist drug that can penetrate the skin and enter the fat beneath. All such drugs are still experimental and it will be years before the FDA approves one. Then it will be strictly on prescription. Over-the-counter weight loss remedies don't have such a good record either. Recently the FDA has banned, as ineffective or unhealthy, more than one hundred substances from being sold for weight control. These include: Fibre Pills (the amount of fibre is negligible); Herbal Teas (contain diuretics, cause only temporary water loss); Certain formulations of Artificial Sweeteners (no evidence that users lose weight); Guar Gum (has fatally blocked throat or intestines); Glucomannan, Spirulena (bulking agents that don't); Gymnema Silvestre (taste blocking herb); Starch Blockers (putrefy intestines); Intestinal Peptices (not active orally); Grapefruit Pills (hype and dreams). The only two substances now permitted to be sold freely for weight loss are benzocaine and phenlylpropanolamine (PPA). Benzocaine is just a local anaesthetic aimed at numbing the taste responses of the mouth and throat to food. PPA is a stimulant that does appear to suppress appetite a bit, but it also tends to raise blood pressure and cause nausea even in healthy young people. And even makers of over-the-counter weight-loss drugs containing PPA do not recommend them for long term use. Athletes we have measured while they were using these drugs show no additional fat loss at all. There are drugs that will strip off bodyfat but the side effects are horrendous.
The majority of people who take drugs to remove body weight nearly all put the weight back on. The dangers of Speed such as Adlifax and Ionomin include possible increased blood pressure, nausea, insomnia, permanent nervous feelings, heart palpitations - it's just not worth it!.
Another alarming trait of the slimming business has been to convince people that attaching machines to themselves at home and lying back to watch TV will help them lose weight - it just isn't true. At best these machines will keep the body toned as a person who is already in good shape. No such machines will ever burn off body fat and it is a shame that people are gullible enough to believe it.
For permanent results you have to change your lifestyle, eat a low fat diet, exercise with light weights and aerobic exercises, cut down on tea, coffee, alcohol and sugar, and junk food. Have regular massage to help breakdown waste and fat which has accumulated over a long period. It may take a while to achieve the desired results, but see your progress as a long term project. Allow yourself one year to reinvent yourself with your new figure or physique.
Remember, if you have a lot of fat on your tummy, hips, legs etc, the only real way of reducing the fat is to stop eating it. Fat builds fat. Also, avoid all low-calorie diets, starvation diets and liquid diets. They will never give permanent results.
Back to Articles