there are reputable manufacturers of diet products, there is also a huge market in what can only be described as weight-loss fraud. As long as people are prepared to try to lose weight at any cost there will continue to be ‘entrepreneurs’ who exploit that desire by selling bogus products.
Recently I received an ‘invitation’ through the post to buy an ‘all natural’ tablet whose main unspecified ingredient reportedly helped dieters lose 72 pounds in 10 weeks—a result, which I imagine, could be achieved only by amputation. If I sent off my application ‘immediately’ I would be lucky enough to get an extra week’s supply of these fabulous capsules absolutely free. I can’t wait!
According to the product blurb, if I take just two tablets each day I will lose as much weight as I want and—yippee!—my metabolism will increase to such an extent that the fat will drop off my body (into a greasy puddle on the floor?). Developed in Switzerland (why is that meant to impress?) by doctors (not window cleaners then?), these tablets mean I will never feel hungry. Amazingly, I will never have to diet again as the tablets will be ‘retraining my body’s ability to convert fat to energy’. Thank goodness for that then.
The leaflet accompanying this miraculous, 100-percent herbal fat-burner shows a studious-looking man in a white coat wielding a stethoscope (in case I didn’t believe the ‘doctor’ bit?). The wording is full of scientific terms that seem to suggest the product has been created as a result of exciting new research into lipogenesis—the metabolic processes by which fat is stored in the body. The unique ingredient (still unnamed) is ‘especially relevant for people whose calorie consumption exceeds healthful levels’.
These claims are designed to persuade you that if a product is ‘relevant’ to overeating, you will stay fat forever if you don’t use it. The fear factor! Are you convinced?
If you’re looking for a quick-fix slimming aid, you are undoubtedly well served by manufacturers of diet products. It is a terrific industry – I wish I’d thought of it! But do we really believe we can buy a product and it will make us slimmer? Aren’t we just buying a fantasy? Some people buy Lottery tickets and dream about becoming a millionaire. Others buy diet products and dream of becoming slim. It’s the same thing (except that there’s a very small chance of actually winning the Lottery).
If there were indeed a safe, authorized, over-the-counter product that could make a fat person slim, we would all know about it. We would have read about it in a respected medical journal. There would have been controlled medical tests, serious long-term research and all the endorsements in place from government drug-safety administrations to license the product for sale. More to the point, everyone who wanted to be slim would be. But they aren’t. So that magic product or ingredient isn’t available. This doesn’t stop manufacturers claiming their diet products achieve this effect or, if they’re more responsible, suggesting that they can help you lose weight as part of a properly managed diet plan.
Sometimes these products are endorsed by doctors, who extol the safety and benefits of the tablets, potions or supplements. Personally, I believe that any doctors endorsing a diet product should be made to declare whether they have a financial interest in that product or are being paid any kind of commission.
Any product that promises instant success without the chore of dieting and exercise is a real concern to me. Such claims simply divert consumers from considering healthier ways of controlling their weight. Moreover, there can be serious side-effects from taking more than the recommended dose on the packet, and many dieters do this, as the diet mentality dictates that if one tablet or tea bag will make you slim, then five will make you slimmer.
In an image-obsessed culture, where companies market diet products aggressively to exploit people’s dissatisfaction with their looks, common sense sometimes loses out. Even though, intellectually, many people know the products won’t work, their desire to lose weight—to find a short cut so that they can be accepted, admired and successful – is so strong that it’s worth £29.99 just to buy into the fantasy.
Stop deluding yourself. You can’t have it all. You can try. You have tried. It doesn’t work.
Creaming off the Profits
Talking of cost, hands up who has paid a large amount of dosh for a cream that you rub in your thighs and bottom to get rid of cellulite? Oh, come on, you haven’t! And did it work? Did it get rid of the fat? Where did the fat go—to your stomach, your ankles, the bloodstream? If you had a bath in the cream, would you emerge slimmer all over?
A marketing friend told me about a campaign that was initiated to create massive demand for a cream that would reduce fat on the thighs. The plan was to create a huge buzz about the product before it was launched—and it worked magnificently. It was so simple: just a little whisper in a few susceptible ears: ‘It’s only available in France at the moment!’, ‘They’re queuing round the block to get it’, ‘It’s selling out over there’, ‘Coming here soon!’, ‘Really expensive!’, ‘Limited stocks when it does arrive’, ‘Quick—before they sell out!’.
And the inevitable result? ‘How do I get it?’, ‘Where can I get it?’ Rather ordinary smoothing cream becomes the must-have new product before it is even packaged in the expensively designed pot, because no-one wants to be the only person left in town with fat thighs.
Don’t worry. You didn’t miss anything. As one doctor said, ‘If this cream has any effect on physiological function, then legally it should be sold as a drug. If it doesn’t have any effect, why should anyone buy it?’
For the sake of your body and your bank balance, understand this: you cannot break down fat from the outside. The only way fat gets on your body is when you eat more food than you expend in energy, and the excess gets stored in your cells. Therefore the only way to get rid of it is to make sure it gets used up as energy—and you know exactly how that works. A cream that could dissolve fat would have to dissolve the skin first—think about it!
There is a discrepancy between the manufacturers’ and the public’s perception of what constitutes a ‘cure’ for cellulite, or cauliflower bottom syndrome (CBS). The manufacturers assume it is to make the skin smoother and less lumpy-looking; the user wants to end up two inches slimmer.
Beware Beauty Salon Treatments
Save your money. Any treatment undertaken in a beauty salon which claims to make you slimmer by applying ointment, clay, slimy gunge, or attacking your thighs with nasty-looking instruments, tight bandages (to squish the fat into submission?), electrical impulse treatment, or whatever, is a complete waste of time. Little electrical impulses to stimulate your muscles will have no impact on the surrounding fat. Similarly, there is no such thing as a ‘non-invasive’ face-lift.
You should also be wary of suggestions made by the attractive, slim beauty therapist attending to your vulnerable thighs while you lie prone in your cubicle. A white nylon coat and a name tag do not confer instant qualifications upon the wearer. The letters after her name are probably her postcode.
Aspiring beauty therapists are indoctrinated with three key phrases: ‘Breaks down the fat’, ‘Increases the circulation’ and ‘Gets rid of toxins’ (sound familiar?). Therapists are instructed to repeat these phrases at intervals during each consultation with a client, in the firm belief that said client will not dispute this. Asking for a more detailed analysis, ‘What do you mean it breaks down the fat?’ will elicit the response, ‘You know, it breaks down the fat so that it can be carried away by your increased circulation’. Don’t bother to ask ‘How?’ or ‘Where does it get carried to?’—she doesn’t know and you will only confuse her.
