Slimming pills - madness

[MikeyB]

I don't know if any of you have spotted the TV ads for XLS Medical diet pills, but because I am suspicious ( and not fat!) I had a look at their website.

Do you know how this stuff works? I will quote from their website:

"Clavutanol blocks some of the digestive enzymes including alpha amylase, alpha gluconisade and lipase. This results in a decreased ability to break down carbohydrates, sugar and fat. As a result, they are left undigested as they are too large to be absorbed in the intestine, helping you to lose weight fast as they are naturally passed through your system"

And further: "Because XLS Medical products come from natural organic plant sources, they are naturally well tolerated"

How did this stuff get a license to be sold over the counter? Give yourself steatorrhea and lose weight. Well, we all know that one. Natural plant sources? So are belladonna, strychnine and heroin, and we all know how well tolerated they are.

My worry is that slimmers don't follow guidelines when they find something that poos your weight down the toilet. And you can buy these pills in supermarkets. With CP we get regular blood test monitoring to make sure we are getting proper nutrition. These slimmers will all be getting serious nutritional deficiencies and lacking fat soluble vitamins such as vitamin D. So they will lose weight, but get transparent bones.

This is complete madness. But only if the tablets work. If they don't really work, they are a con. If they do work, they are an obvious danger to the public. Someone needs to told

[Anne Dawson]

I remember discussing this some time ago.
I suppose it's a toss-up between eating less and digesting less for some people.

[paul m]

Might as well be taking a laxative then you will be one step off having eating disorders I would rather be a bit chunky ( oh I forgot I am chunky )
Exercise is free and do you a lot more good

[chandra]

It is my understanding that if you stick to a lower fat diet you will not have those side effects, which really means you will lose weight by following a healthy diet and nothing to do with the pills

These, I believe, are a weaker form of a prescription tablet which a relative of my OH tried many years ago, she didn't stick to the diet.... and you can guess the rest

Tablets = expensive poo

I was talking on a similar theme this week to my students, that if they like those detox drinks then by all means have them, but all that really does is give you expensive wee
Our bodies are perfectly capable of 'detoxing' if we treat our liver and kidneys well, that is their job

[unclemorris67]

Well it seems I will have to cut off limbs to loose weight.

I have been a lapsing vegetarian (only lapsed a handful of times) for 18 months and my pee went from being stewed tea to straw yellow within a matter of weeks, if I fall of the healthy band wagon, pee reverts to stewed tea again. I think my liver likes not having to deal with rubbish and gets to grips with the drugs easier.

I suppose these tabs sound helpful but slow and steady with weight lose normally means you want put weight back on.

I notice these ads always go into hyper drive in spring so we can have our beach bodies.

I already have mine beach(ed) whale.

[chandra]

I notice these ads always go into hyper drive in spring so we can have our beach bodies.

This has been my topic all week - I was asking 'what is a Yoga Body?' - the answer being if you have a body and do yoga, then you have a yoga body

I despair at the way the media decides what we should and should not look like. Obviously, if extra poundage is affecting our health then we can address that, but sometimes the most leanest person can have visceral fat, so our outer shell doesn't necessarily have any reflection on our health or fitness.

I also can't believe some of the negative things we say about ourselves- you wouldn't talk to your friends in that way!! I have a poster on my bathroom wall that says "I'm fabulous!" - I read it every morning!!

One size doesn't fit all, the usual analogy I make is about vehicles (always easier to explain to Steve!) - you can have a sleek Ferrari but if you put the wrong fuel in it, don't put water & oil in it - then it may well still look sleek on the outside but it won't run right. If you have a little VW beetle and lovingly put good fuel, water & oil in it then it will serve you well

As an aside.... I usually say to people that my vehicle (body) had a manufacturing fault and had to go back to the garage

[MikeyB]

In my own experience the best way to lose weight is full blown ulcerative colitis- when I got back to work everyone said how trim I looked. I'm told that amoebic dysentery and cholera work just as well, with the marginal disadvantage of being potentially fatal.

[paul m]

If every one was as skinny as the nhs would like us to be how many of us would survive ap / cp .

[chandra]

I was very slim, then I was as skinny as a 7 year old, I am a CP survivor

[paul m]

Sorry didn't mean to upset you Chandra didn't mean all who survive were fat just my opinion that survival rate must be higher if you have a few extra pounds for body to live off when we go through weight loss stage

[chandra]

No offence taken .... think my point is that this illness is indiscriminate, inasmuch as not all alcoholics have CP either.

And whilst at my absolute worst I only weighed 6 stone, I was, pre-illness very, very fit, think that helped, guessing that un-fit, overweight people may have found it harder to recover... there is no 'one size fits all'

Julie

[paul m]

My point was that I lost about 1/3 of body weight if I had been about 8 stone when wet think the outcome may have been different as it was body had a bit of fat to live off

[chandra]

I totally get your point, Paul.
Yes, I lost about a 1/3rd too, and believe me its not much fun trying to sit down when your coccyx is protruding with no natural padding
I was fed by a stomach tube.

I think that the 'middle ground' is probably best, if you are obese then the strain on your organs will make it harder to survive, and if you are too skinny then there isn't much to live off of

[paul m]

I was lucky appertite returned Justin time never needed a tube

Still cannot spell

[Janey Dal]

I have to say that (in my opinion) these slimming pills are just for people who are too lazy to make the effort to eat a healthy diet. They want their cake and eat it - literally!

From watching Alan forced to take tablets by the bucket-load I simply don't understand why anyone would ingest something into their body that it doesn't need. No matter what it is you are taking there has got to be some side effects even if they aren't obvious or debilitating.

I agree - it's madness - but I also don't like the 'nanny state' mentality. People should be free to make their own choices - if they are too stupid to realise there may be consequences then there isn't much you can do with them anyway.

About 12 months after the '5 a day' initiative was introduced by the government to encourage healthy eating a survey was carried out. 1 person thought orange squash was one of your 5 a day. One person thought chips were one and one thought Jaffa cakes were one.

You can't legislate for idiots .

Hugs

Jane xx