I hope that, if you have been involved with Food 4 The Journey for some time, you will have realized the fundamental fact that ‘diets don’t work’, even though they may appear to in the short term.
Whether calorie counting, using a points system, or high protein with no carbohydrates, in my view these will all fail you and even worse some totally neglect the body’s need for nutrients and can therefore be dangerous from a health point of view.
In the long run, you won’t be able to maintain these diets indefinitely and this means that the weight will go back on - particularly if you return to your pre-diet diet - but this time you will register higher on the scales than prior to the diet, because your body, believing food to be scarce because of the restrictions you have put on it, will begin to stubbornly lay down stores of fat, just in case it happens again.
Fad diets usually restrict something, whether food groups or the amount of food. Unfortunately this invariably means much needed nutrients are missing. All the diets that I am familiar with have elements that go against what the body needs for optimal nutrition.
The most worrying elimination from diet regimes is the exclusion of fats because they don’t differentiate between essential fatty acids which as their name suggests are vital for health and wellbeing and transfats – which indeed should be eliminated. Essential fatty acids actually help you to burn fat by assisting the body to dissolve it.
For me the word diet should be banned! It is not about starving yourself, but eating an abundance of foods which nourish your body and change forever the way that you eat, so that the changes you make will mean that you see the changes almost immediately and that will help you to stay in good health for the rest of your life.
In addition, it is a lifestyle change so that there is no need to ever ‘go on’ another diet ever again.
It is worthy of note that the diet plans are big business and make the big diet company names a lot of money! In the light of this, let’s look at weight loss supplemental products and assess which are the good, bad and ugly. There are a huge number on the market, each of them claiming to bring a ‘never been done before’ approach to losing weight.
Essentially, whichever one you look at, they all generally fall into one of six categories:
appetite suppressants
fat binders
starch blockers
fat burners
lipotropic agents
diuretics
Whilst it would be impossible to look at the claims of each one here, it appears that they either rely heavily on one of these ingredients to achieve the desired results or a combination of them all. The best that we can do is to look at the evidence for each individual ingredient.
Appetite Suppressants
These weight loss supplements fall into three categories:
1) Supplements that aim to curb the appetite by increasing levels of cholecystokinin
Cholecystokinin is the body’s natural satiety hormone. When taken before meals, these supplements stimulate the stomach cells to release CKK which makes the brain think that enough food has been eaten. The active ingredients are HCA (hydroxycitrate), pine nut oil and Hoodia. HCA has proven powerful in animal trials but not human trials. Pine nut oil has been shown in tests to reduce food intake by up to 36%. Hoodia comes from the cactus Hoodia godonii which of itself is safe and used by South African tribes to dispel hunger during famines, but the process of extracting the active ingredients without producing unwanted contaminants that can cause liver damage is hard to achieve and so I advise caution when considering using this.
2) Supplements that are made up of indigestible fibres
Indigestible fibres strengthen the natural process of satiety and include guar gum, pectin, gum karaya, psyllium and konjac root. When added to water, these substances swell to form a gel-like indigestible mass which fills the stomach to create a full feeling. The above mentioned substances are safe and also have other health benefiting properties, such as better bowel function, blood sugar control and improved cholesterol and blood fats. In addition, one study showed a 5 ½ lb weight loss in 8 weeks without altering the diet or doing any exercise.
3) Supplements that work with the emotional factors linked to appetite and cravings
The third group work with the emotional factors linked to appetite and cravings. These are actually the nutritional supplements Theanine (an amino acid found in green tea which is an anti anxiety agent that helps to switch off feelings of worry by boosting the more meditative alpha brain waves and generating a feeling of calm - it is thought to reduce cortisol, a stress hormone that increases the storage of fat around the abdominal area) and as there is evidence to suggest that low serotonin (a neurotransmitter involved with sleep, depression/low mood and memory) and cravings for carbohydrate rich foods, 5HTP is often used to help lift mood and control appetite.
Binders & Blockers
This next group of weight loss supplements claim to improve weight loss by blocking the absorption of high calorie nutrients like fat and sugar. For me, the seductive message to dieters is you can eat what you like, especially junk, and it will still be easy to lose weight.
Typical fat binders include chitisan, an extract from crustacean shells and the cactus opuntia ficus indica. Both of these form fat attracting and trapping gels that claim to reduce fat absorption by 27% (a far cry from the “you can eat what you like” message – because there is the other 73% to consider!)
There is a drug called Orlistat which acts by stopping the enzyme lipase from breaking down fats for digestion and absorption.
The main starch blocker is called alpha amylase inhibitor, a natural ingredient from white kidney beans that blocks enzymes in the gut from releasing sugar from starch foods. The claim of a 60% blockage is not backed up in clinical trials and these substances often cause diarrhoea and abdominal pain, as a result of the indigestion!
In addition it is worth mentioning that if taking a fat binder, it is also potentially capable of binding the fat soluble vitamins A, D E and K and therefore is quite unsafe in my view.
Fat Burners
Fat burners include stimulants, eg caffeine, green tea, cola nut, yerba mate, capsicum, ginger and black pepper, and non stimulants, eg such as fucoxanthin, HCA, carnitine and medium chain triglycerides. They work by increasing the rate at which fat is burnt for energy.
The problem is, that to do so, they rely upon high doses of pharmaceutical caffeine and thus create potential side effects of headaches and anxiety in the short term. In the long term they can be associated with caffeine toxicity syndrome.
Studies on the more natural stimulants such as ginger, yerba mate, capsicum and black pepper, without caffeine, have been shown to have some ability to release fat from storage and reduce hunger to a milder degree, but at least without the side effects.
Lipotropic Agents
This group of weight loss supplements doesn’t get much air time. It is the ability of B vitamins, choline and inositol, the amino acid methionine and an Indian tree resin called guggul gum which work by increasing the flow of fatty substances through the liver for elimination.
The liver is the major detoxification organ in the body and requires these and other nutrients to assist at each phase of the detoxification process. It therefore makes sense, if these nutrients are depleted or absent, that this process will be compromised. By supplementing, these studies show an improved liver function thus aiding weight loss.
Diuretics
The final group of weight loss agents are diuretic formulae with herbal ingredients such as uva ursi, dandelion, kelp, butcher’s broom, artichoke, hawthorne, horsetail, bladderwrack and parsley.
Whilst all of these have straight diuretic properties, increasing water clearance from the body, some have a dual purpose. For example, dandelion and artichoke also improve fat clearance through the liver, giving them lipotropic properties; kelp and bladderwrack are rich in iodine, supporting the thyroid and thus metabolism.
However, in my view the most important factor to remember when using diuretics is that they work on water balance in the body and should only be used if there is a genuine water retention factor by the body.
Conclusion
From a nutritional therapy perspective, there is no winning formula that will answer the dieter’s prayer of easy weight loss. From a physical perspective, a healthy sustainable diet with a good level of exercise is still undoubtedly the very best way to achieve weight loss.
I hope that this has given you an idea of which substances to avoid due to negative effects and which ones are more likely to benefit any attempt to lose weight, in the event that you feel you would like to try any of them.
If you would like to explore how nutritional therapy can help you to embark on a weight loss journey that is successful, why not book a FREE 30-minute clarity call. Click here to contact us through our contact us form.