Diet Fads & Rip-offs

Two years ago, ABC News published a story saying that there were 100 million dieters in the US creating a $20 billion diet/year industry.

It is now estimated that we spend $40 billion a year trying to lose weight. That's $110 million spent each day. [Dr Mark Fuhrman, Eat to Live.]

This is America: land of liberty, home of the brave. Oh, and some fat; lots of fatties in America.

There are many reasons we in America are fatter than most other countries. But first we should note that Mexico passed us up last year as the fattest nation on earth. This should have been expected. Mexico has always looked up to America and followed her lead. For centuries Mexicans have cooked with lard. Not long ago, they decided to copy America and they started cooking with shortening (trans fats). Historically, Mexicans have never had much skin cancer. Suddenly skin cancer was rampant.

They ate whole food for centuries, and now they eat junk like we do.

And the poorer you are, the more junk you eat. Good food costs a lot of money. The crap? Well, they're practically giving it away.

Another facet not entirely exclusive to Americans is that we have little patience, and what we want, we want now. People (teachers) talk about delayed gratification, but we want it now. We want to see results now. This is one reason conventional medicine is so attractive: take a pill, the pain is gone.

When it comes to dieting, we’re that same instant-gratification people. We want results now. We want a pill. We don’t want to do the hard work. We want someone else to do it for us. And this is why there is a huge market out there just waiting to take your money; why we spend upwards of $20 billion a year on weight loss programs. We see a diet program online and we buy it. Then they send us another program and we buy it. Some people have bought six or seven online diet programs and haven’t lost a pound yet. They keep thinking that if only I read the right one the pounds will melt off.

Marketing knows its audience. So do hucksters and frauds. And when people are spending $20 billion a year, pretty soon every huckster and fraud around is going to try to get a piece of it. They know we want someone else to do all the hard work, so they lie to us telling us we can eat the foods we want, never suffer hunger pangs, and exercise? Nobody needs to do any exercise!

One huckster, Kevin Trudeau, just got put away for ten years. We've talked about this guy (somewhere at this site). In fact, someone wrote a book on cancer and sent it to me to review. At the end of the book was a list of recommended reading. When I saw Kevin Trudeau's book listed there (Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know About), I immediately wrote back to the author telling him we would NOT review his book as long as he associates himself with this fraud. Personally, I'm more willing than the next to forgive someone their past after they've done their time, but when Trudeau got out of prison, suddenly he was an expert in health and wellness and quickly came out with his book while making infomercials that were borderline fraudulent. And I wasn't about to let this guy fly because...well let me tell you about the first time I heard about him:

If you see an ad about 1 weird tip, or 3 weird foods, run away. They're going to put on a dog & pony show just to get your money, and it doesn't end there.

A friend called me one night and said he wanted to read me something. I said, ok, sat back, and put the phone on speaker. He started reading and it sounded very familiar. When he finished, he asked: "Do you know who wrote that?' I responded, "Well, it kinda sounds like something I wrote." He replied, "That's what I thought, but guess where I found it."

Long story short, Trudeau had lifted his book right from the pages of other authors. He's scum and now he's gone to jail over a ─ GET THIS ─ weight loss book.

When you hear any of these claims about how easy their program is or how you don't need to exercise, run. Run away. Eat the foods you want? Hell, it's those foods that got us fat in the first place. Though there is an exception:  the "latest" diet discovery is that having a "cheat" day is actually good for us. It rewards us and it resets our metabolism to high gear. So for ONE day, you can eat the foods you want. But not feel hungry? What kind of diet lets you eat until your heart (and stomach) are content? Yes, you will at times feel hungry, and that's why a good plan has healthy "cheats."

And whether you diet or not, you are human and humans need to move. A day without movement is like a day in a grave.

So let’s start looking at some of these rip-offs. Keep in mind that if you follow a program and do what you need to do, even these rip-offs will work. And then there’s the 1 in 500 who finds success with any old crappy product and loses weight. These people are the ones giving you testimonials for the crappy product. They are not you. In most cases, only a solid plan, due diligence, and hard work will get you through to your goal. If you are a lucky 1 in 500, hey, all the better. 

Sensa

Alan Hirsch, M.D., who developed Sensa, says proof of its effectiveness comes from a six-month study he conducted in which participants lost an average of 15 percent of their body weight. The makers of Aroma Patch and SlimScents point to another study by Dr. Hirsh to bolster their claims. That study, which was reported in a medical journal, showed that volunteers who used an aroma inhaler lost an average of 2 percent of their body weight over six months.

Alan Hirsch conducted his own research. This should be enough to send up a few red flags. Exactly how objective could a person be who stands to make millions?

Besides, one look at the study shows just how flawed it was. There was no control group and in a study of weight loss, behavior is an important factor. Without a Sensa placebo group, one cannot be certain that the weight loss seen in the study is actually due to Sensa’s ingredients or because Sensa just made people more aware of their food intake.

Well, just this year, Sensa was forced by the courts to refund $26.5 million dollars.  

At the same time, the courts went after L’Occitane that advertised a cream that would slim your body, and the HCG Diet Direct that marketed a human hormone touted for half a century as a weight-loss treatment. Only thing is, there are no studies behind either of these products. Not even one conducted by their makers, as in Sensa’s case.

The truly interesting thing here is that Sensa is still being sold: Shake Away The Pounds. (Go ahead. Click and check them out.)

Lipozene

I love this advertisement:

You can find this product on Amazon. The sellers are practically giving it away because, well, it’s not as good as the advertising would have you believe.

I love the part in the ad where the woman says: “You just can’t do it on your own. You can’t.”

Boy oh boy. That is something every diet program in the universe wants you to believe. They want you to believe that you need them. You need their advice, their products, their books, and all the books, products, and advice of all their friends.

Lipozene is a product of a tiny little company called The Obesity Research Institute, LLC. In the last three years the Better Business Bureau has received 150 complaints about this institute and their product.

The Obesity Research Institute hasn't performed any research. Its only job is to sell you this product. They rented an office in the office complex below (found using Google Maps). Their job is to sell a "diet pill."

The interesting thing is, this product has been around for years. It’s a powder in a pill called Glucomannan.

Glucomannan is a water soluble dietary fiber. It has virtually zero calories and it expands in your stomach. The danger of taking glucomannan is not drinking enough water, or taking it at night.

So, here’s their plan: take glucomannan before a meal and you will feel full faster. The thing is, if you are not feeling full, it’s because your hormones are out of whack and no amount of fiber is going to fix that. To get your hormones balanced, you have to modify your diet and incorporate an exercise program.

You can purchase Glucomannan anywhere. Every health food store sells it. But first, I want you to go here and click on the radio ad: https://www.truthinadvertising.org/bystrictin/

My favorite part of this ad is where he says that it's going to expand in your stomach to over 50 times its size, and that it’s all natural, as if consuming things that expand 50 times their size is all natural.

At the end of this page, I’m going to let you in on a nutritional form of this glucomannan that dieters will actually love. So be sure to stick around.

Bystrictin is mainly glucomannan and a few other forms of fiber that will expand and make you eat less. The problem with this is that as your stomach expands, it will expand to where you need more food to make you feel satiated. The stomach is an ever widening bag that will eventually hold a lot more than you need.

Garcinia Cambogia (HCA)

This is one of my favorites. Why? Because it just goes to show us all what a huckster Dr Oz really is.

Dr Oz has become the Oprah Winfrey of the medical world. I remember publishing the Masters Cleanse at our site and that was that. The day after Oprah mentioned the Masters Cleanse on TV, you couldn’t find a lemon in the entire country.

When Dr Oz says something, people listen. Even if it’s pure crap, people listen.

Here is what Dr Oz says about Garcinia:

I love the web, because you can always get a second opinion. And if your doctor is a huckster, you will probably want a second opinion.

The Journal of Obesity performed a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials using this weight loss product: Garcinia.

You can read about them here: The Use of Garcinia Extract Hydroxycitric Acid) as a Weight Loss Supplement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Clinical Trials. 

Or you can jump to the conclusion: “The evidence from RCTs suggests that Garcinia extracts/HCA generate weight loss on the short term. However, the magnitude of this effect is small, is no longer statistically significant when only rigorous RCTs are considered, and its clinical relevance seems questionable. Future trials should be more rigorous, longer in duration, and better reported.”

If you are going to use this product, it has to be a part of a rigorous diet and exercise program.

My Findings

I’ve been gathering data and jotting down websites for months preparing to write this article. The most interesting thing I’ve discovered is that over 50% of the links I saved for this article lead to dead ends. The page has moved, no longer exists, or has been abducted by aliens.

We were in an affiliate program for The Diet Solution once, but we dropped out when I realized they were constantly bombarding any of our readers who went there, and constantly trying to sell them more and more and more. Well, here is the link to their "site:" http://www.thedietsolutionprogram.com/  Go ahead and take a look where it brings you.

Everyone has a scam for you. If you search for diet products using Google, the first links to appear are from advertisers.

One of the biggest and newest marketing devices on the web (and we've touched on this in the past) is to tell you BEWARE OF A SCAM, because they’re going to tell you the truth (yeah, right!) and then take all your money.

I found this great picture with text below it saying: Eat this strange fruit and lose weight forever.

The thing is, when I clicked on the link, I got me a page full of promises but this fruit wasn’t there. The ad was simply a come-on to get me to go to their page. I looked up this fruit on Google using their reverse image search (you drag the image into the search and Google will go find it on the web). I discovered that this fruit is from Australia. And it has nothing to do with weight loss. It’s just one of Australia's exotic fruits.

So, let me ask you: If they lie to get you in, how much of what they have to tell you after that are you willing to believe? How much will you trust their "diet program?"

To sum it up: Beware of the "come-ons." When they talk about a "weird" trick or "eat this" or "3 foods never to eat if you want to lose belly fat," or "3 foods to eat to lose belly fat" you are seeing a come-on. Beware of the come-ons because you're going to get a "great" pitch that will appeal to all your emotions, fears, sensibilities, and senses. These sales gimmicks have been researched for years and modified with the advance of media. The invention of the web has created a whole new tool box of sales gimmicks. Just beware.

Here’s a site: Simple Green Smoothies.

You can get a Simple Green Smoothie there that is going to take off the pounds. And you don’t have to do a thing. No exercise, no dieting. Just drink the darn smoothie.

That should be the first clue that you’re being bamboozled; that it’s easy and you don’t have to do a thing. If dieting was easy and nobody had to do a thing, would we have an epidemic of fat in America?

Here’s a come-on from someone I normally respect:

• How eating less and exercising more actually slows your metabolism.

• Why people who eat the least tend to weigh the most.
  

• Exactly WHY you gain it back every time.
  

• Why just 20 minutes a week of exercise is all you need.

What’s interesting is that, as someone who has studied weight loss and nutrition for some time, these things border on the truth. When you cut your calories, your body goes into the starvation mode and your metabolism drops. But people who eat the least tend to weigh the most is borderline bullshit. Why people gain it back is because they went on a diet and then they stopped the diet and went back to eating/living as they did before the diet.

There is no such thing as going on a diet. You change your life.

You have to change your life, at least in some way, so that you'll know when you've left your path and have to get back on your path. This is how you maintain your weight and health.

Diet Tip: One of the first signs that something has to change is when you no longer feel full when your belly is full. This is one of the first signs that your body is about to become enhanced (fat).

Oh, and the 20 minutes a week of exercise? Yes, but that’s for maintenance. If you really want to take it off, you’ll want to do 20 minutes three times a week, with a bit of weight lifting and a lot of walking.

Here’s one last come-on I got in my mail:

What’s Jenny’s secret? It’s simple. Her secret is she’s going to make a million dollars this year selling you a program that might or might not work for you.

Whenever you hear “strange secret” run like crazy. This is another of the latest marketing tricks to suck you in.

Keep in mind that everyone is different. What works for Jenny, might not work for you. This is why any diet program has to cover all the bases, and not just sit out in right field for someone “special” like Jenny.

The Long Hard Sell

If you get any health/wellness newsletter, eventually the newsletter will point you to a "must see" video. It's not really a video. It is mainly a huge sales pitch. My latest favorite was the one that was going to tell me about three special things. The first two were up front, the last one though, he was going to save for last...but first, he was going to tell me all about his program. I listened to the entire sales pitch. He never got around to number three.

So I started the recording over, but this time, I attempted to go to another site. This is when you get a little pop-up window asking you if you really want to leave. They even offer you a non-existent $10.00 off (they say you'll get a coupon code, but that never materialized). When someone sends me to a site with a "video," I always try to leave it, then when I get the popup, 98% of the time I'll get a page of advertizing rather than the "video" sales pitch.

I love the nice long advertizing. They make promises after promises. And they know their business because most of the time they've hired advertizing experts to create these pages. They're going to appeal to every emotion you've ever had. They are going to manipulate you.

This is NOT a Fantasy – This Can All Be Yours, But

Only if You Take Action Right Now...

Everything is NOW or TODAY. They want you to think you're getting a discount today.

I know all about sales pitches. When I returned home from Vietnam, the only organizations hiring trained killers were the Mafia and Direct Sales. (That's a joke.)

I got a job in sales, and I know how to take your money. A good salesperson has an unlimited income. They can make more next year if they want. They just have to be good and make sales.

Another thing common to all these diet programs are the stock images. This photo on the right is a standard image for diet programs. Hey, even I purchased a stock photo for the cover of my diet book (Rapid Safe Weight Loss). I mean really, what's a diet book without a picture of a pretty gal swimming in a pair of jeans 12 sizes too big for her?

The reality is, that model has NEVER been that big.

Now the image on the left just cracks me up. It doesn't take a trained eye to see that the person in the before photo isn't the person in the after photo. The jeans aren't even the same. And she must have really lost a lot of weight because he ring on her right hand has slipped right off her thin fingers.

Another commonality is you never pay full price. I've seen weight loss programs that are valued at thousands of dollars, on sale, TODAY ONLY, for $69.99. 

What a great scam. They get to inflate the cost of their trash so they can sell it at an inflated cost.

Remember the old days when we bought real books? The information in this guy's diet program couldn't fill an average book. That book sold for 6 to 12 dollars, tops. Now they put together "pamphlets" with huge print, lots of white space, and quadruple the price.

Oh, here's another example, but interestingly enough, the same stock photos used by the guy on the right were used by another weight loss site (on your left). 

The guy on the left is selling you one thin pamphlet for (today only!) plus five bonus thin pamphlets FREE for 81% off the retail price of $197.00. Just $37.00 for all that. (All of which wouldn't fill your average paperback novel.)

And the guy on the right is selling his product (today only!) which retails for $290.00, for only $39.99, but wait, you get a full access to the program for seven days for just ONE dollar!

And then your credit card will be billed for the rest at exactly one minute past midnight seven days from now.

I love, by the way, the idea of a package rather than a booklet on the right. It just makes you feel like there's really something inside that thing that could be worth $290.00.

My book? It's $10.00. And overpriced at that. It too wouldn't fill your average paperback novel. But what it does have is EVERYTHING ADVERTIZED IN ALL THESE REALLY REALLY EXPENSIVE PROGRAMS. Because all the information in them is out there. It's in books, in studies, on web sites. It's there. If you found it all, it might cost you upwards of $60.00. I know, because when I spent my time learning all about metabolism, I bought a lot of books from the experts. And when I felt I was expert enough, I put my own program together (based on the research of the experts). I put it together for myself, and then made it into an e-book for anyone who wanted to try it. Because it worked. I was able to lose five pounds a week following the plan I created. And yes, there was a great cheat day in which I drank a morning mocha, had nachos, pizza, and a few beers. This was my reward for making it through the week without losing my mind.

But there is one thing I will not do: I will not make a huge lying sales pitch. I tell you right up front, this program is difficult and if you're not ready for it, don't waste your money. You will have to work your butt off (how do you think it got so small? magic?) and you will have to work the program. Yes, there are tiny cheats and things that will accelerate the weight loss so you don't feel you're just spinning your wheels. But it's not going to be as easy as all these other folks pretend it is. Take a look for yourself: Rapid Safe Weight Loss.

Even when the information is good....

Since I get a kajillion newsletters, I've seen anything you can think of. After a while, when I get the lie: "See this video before it's taken down!" I start to unsubscribe. What I like is that sometimes, the articles they send out stimulate me to investigate more and write my own article, though sometimes, I just pass them onto you and give you a chance to subscribe, if you want.

What I'm going to show you next is "damn good research." I've been writing this same stuff up for my re-write of my diet book. It took me six years of research to write the diet book. I learned a lot about hormones. But there were a few things that hadn't been published while I was researching and I've learned them since. Well, here's a guy who's going to tell you exactly what's going into my re-write. It is great. He hits everything I've learned about handling hormones since first publishing mine, and some of what he says we've already talked about in our newsletters and articles (like our discussion on adiponectin).

Before you read it, I should tell you that he's trying to sell you something. Yes, he has to make a living. So, you're getting a well designed sales pitch. If you do read it, come back and I'll show you something you'll want to know: The Four Fat Burning Barriers and How to Shatter Them.

If you've read it by now, you know it's a well researched article. However, the product is highly OVERPRICED. You see, there are companies that make products and if you have a website or a store front, you can buy that product for your inventory, with YOUR label. This is one of those products. Let me tell you, I've had hundreds of companies approach me asking me if we'd like our own label supplements. The moment the label goes on, the price goes up. I've turned them down.

Now let's take a look at the ingredients in Real Dose Weight Loss Formula No 1.

Just in case you're confused, the ingredients on the left are what is in Real Dose's product. At Swanson, you buy the ingredients separately. The amounts listed (in milligrams) are the amounts in both companies' products.

Lowat™ is the marketing name of the two things you read about in his article: Dolichos biflorus (seed) extract, Piper betle (leaf) extract.

And I love it that you can take a pinch of black pepper, re-name it BioPerine®, and up the price a thousand percent. The reason I didn't post a Swanson version is this: my readers put pepper on their food. And if they really want to stimulate their fat burning, they put cayenne pepper on their food. My readers let their food be their medicine.

You are told to take the Real Dose product 3 times a day, but the studies he quoted (in his paper) didn't do that. According to the "studies," you take Svetol (the green coffee) twice a day (with meals), Lowat™ three times a day, at meals, but not necessarily, and the Rhodiola needs to be taken just once a day, though twice is optimal.

Svetol is taken prior to a meal to help keep your blood sugar from spiking. If you're fasting, you don't need to take it. He didn't tell you that, did he?

So now we should compare costs (because you get a quantity discount through Real Dose):

Swanson always has good products and a good price. I've not yet found these products made by NOW Foods, but I'm sure soon they will have their versions and the price will probably come down even further.

What we've learned here is you can get some very good information from a variety of places, but when they continually tell you that their ingredients are the same ingredients in the same amounts as were used in studies, watch out. The price will probably be inflated.

And Now for the Weight Loss (non-secret) Secrets I promised

These are not really secrets. Like anything, if you look for an answer, you’ll find it.

Remember the glucomannan we talked about? It comes from a Japanese root that looks a bit like a potato. They’re being grown all around the world now and not only for pills in health food stores, but for food stores. Look around, ask, perhaps your local supermarket has noodles called shirataki or konjac noodles. Some contain tofu also. That’s what I’ve found at our local supermarket. They keep them refrigerated, but they don't have to be.

They're in plastic, soaking in water.

I’m going to introduce you to a website where you can order a variety of these noodles (even tiny bits they call rice) for your stir fries, and even to take the place of pasta for spaghetti or in pasta salads.

Welcome to the Miracle Noodle site. I should tell you that I first posted this link before finding out if they had an affiliate program. They've contacted me because of some things I've written about them and told me about it, so we joined up.

Here you will find everything you ever wanted to know about this noodle and you’ll be able to order as much as you need per month. You get a "quantity discount" and if you get on their auto-ship program, you can subtract an additional 15%. So, if you order a quantity, and join their auto-ship program, and use the above discount code (AFF10) you should get around a 40% discount on your first order, and they will be shipped to you for around a 30% discount every month.

I get about $40/month in these noodles. They do not require refrigeration till you’ve opened them, but after I’ve opened them, they get eaten. DO NOT FREEZE.

They actually have “negative” calories since the fibers surround your other foods and they don’t get fully digested hence you don’t get all the calories.

And if you eat SLOWLY (like you’re supposed to eat), you get fuller faster. And you are letting your food be your medicine.

I will be posting recipes in my newsletter that use miracle noodles and more suggestions for using them. So, if you don't get our newsletter, go here: Sign Me Up!

One Final "Questionable" Tip

There's an old fat flushing drink that's been around a while, but recently co-opted by Dr Oz. Remember him?

This is what his site posted: "You should drink at least three 8 oz glasses per day, they say the longer it sits, the better it tastes. You can eat them as well but they are intended as flavoring and still work [what they do is questionable], so that is a personal choice. The Vitamin C turns fat into fuel, the tangerine increases your sensitivity to insulin, and the cucumber makes you feel full. Try it for 10 days and see what you think!"

It's a simple formula, water with sliced things in it. However, I haven't a clue how vitamin C even gets mentioned here since the amount would hardly register. You're not eating the fruit (though you can); you're simply slicing it up and putting it in water. Cucumbers are a great diet food; big bang for the buck, because they do fill you up with few calories. But again, why do they think drinking water with slices will make you full? Well, I happen to know how this all "might" work and I will let you in.

There was a study done in which people sniffed essential oils of fruits and things (coconut, for example) before eating. There was another group who sniffed nothing. After a while it was discovered that the group that sniffed the fruity oils ate less than the other group and felt full faster. Apparently, giving the brain a good whiff of food up front (before the meal) makes it think it's already eating. Thus we can extrapolate that drinking "hints" of fruits acts upon our minds almost homeopathically in that the small amounts of food are telling our brains we're eating.

Of course, this is my theory, and I'll have to wait for someone to prove it. I do know, however, that people do benefit from this drink, so here it is:

Ingredients per 8 oz serving

Water
½ grapefruit, sliced
1 tangerine, sliced
½ cucumber, sliced
2 peppermint leaves
Ice ─ as much as you like

Directions
Wash grapefruit, tangerine cucumber and peppermint leaves. Slice cucumber, grapefruit and tangerine. Combine all ingredients (with skins) into a large pitcher. Let sit for a while, drink 8oz, three times a day over ice.

Editor's Note: I have made this drink. It is one of the most horrid tasting liquids I've ever put in my mouth. So, I quit making the drink, and instead, I slice up the things above (minus the peppermint) and put it all in my lemonade (made with stevia). This is a much better way to take in their nutrients, especially if you don't want to gag.