Why You Should Avoid Diet Pills

Where there are some legitimate uses for diet pills, they are commonly abused by dieters in search of a shortcut to weight loss success, and in that context they can be quite dangerous. They will suppress your appetite, sure – but this does nothing to make you more healthy in the long run. The real solution is to learn about healthy eating, and diet pills won’t make that happen. As soon as you stop taking the pills you’ve been relying on (you can’t take them forever), your appetite will return, and since you still won’t have learned proper eating habits, the weight will probably come right back as well.

Diet pills can also be addictive, and for those who already have body image issues or eating disorders, this can add up to a powerful one-two punch. Doctors are reluctant to prescribe pills for dieting, and there’s a good reason for this. The medical side effects of various diet aids can range from difficulty sleeping to addiction, hallucinations, high blood pressure, or heart problems.

The ingredients in many of these pills are downright dangerous. Some of them contain Phenolphthalein, a suspected carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) used frequently in chemical experiments. Others contain Sibutramine, a drug that is know to cause medical problems including seizures, palpitations, heart attack, stroke, and more.

Another commonly used ingredient which is unapproved by the FDA is Rimonabant, which is widely used in Europe. Common side effects are mental instability and depression, and users have an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and actions. This drug has been responsible for at least five deaths and several hundred bad (but not fatal) reactions in Europe.

The FDA exposes some of the worst diet pill offenders in a list on their website (www.fda.gov). There are dozens of products listed, so we can’t go over them all here, but you will find them easily if you do a quick search on the FDA’s website. Some of the brands include Powerful Slim, 21 Double Slim, and Fatloss Slimming. Whatever you do, make sure that you know exactly what you are putting into your body if you make the decision to try diet pills.