Weight loss fads come and go but because there’s never a shortage of people who take the easy way out, weight loss shortcuts never really go away. Americans spend billions of dollars on cosmetic surgery yearly but for those who are afraid to go under the knife, the diet pill seems like the next best thing.

Diet Pills: A History of Hits and Misses

Would you believe that the earliest forms of diet pills contained tapeworms or tapeworm eggs? Ugh. Since tapeworms are parasites, they cling on to the host’s intestinal wall to absorb food as it passes through the intestines. Tapeworms may also cause loss of appetite and pain the abdomen. It’s kind of hard not to lose your appetite knowing that you have parasites inside you.

In the early 1930s, two physicians from Stanford began promoting the use of dinitrophenol (DNP), an industrial chemical that speeds up metabolism and turns food energy to heat, making the user sweat profusely. The downside: DNP’s side effects included potentially fatal fevers and blindness.

By the 1950s, amphetamines came into fashion. Amphetamines are drugs which stimulate the central nervous system and also encourage weight loss by decreasing appetite. But despite good weight loss results, amphetamines were also very addictive and produced disruptive side effects, including increased heart rates, mood changes and chronic insomnia.

The 1990s brought Fen-Phen, a combination of two appetite-suppressing drugs: fenfluramine and phentermine. A University of Rochester study showed that people who dieted, exercised and took Fen-Phen lost an average of close to 16 percent of their weight. The publication of the results of the study put the combination diet pill on the map. However, Fen-Phen’s success was short lived because the FDA withdrew the product from the market after hundreds of cases of hypertension and heart valve disease among users were reported.

Besides appetite suppressants, the fat blocking drug Orlistat also joined the diet pill market. Marketed by Roche as Xenical and by GlaxoSmithKline as Alli, Orlistat is said to prevent up to approximately 30% of diet fat from being absorbed in the body.

Alli, the first weight loss pill to be approved for over-the-counter sale by the FDA, has a gross side effect: it can make you poop in your pants! That’s because if you take Alli and eat too much fat – which you can’t absorb properly with the pill – you’ll suffer the consequences.

Xenical and Alli are still in the market because they haven’t caused as much trouble as ephedrine, which is perhaps the most dangerous diet pill ever to be sold in the market.

Diet Pills Can Kill You

Ephedrine is an appetite suppressant, energy booster and performance enhancer derived from the herb ephedra, called ma huang in China. From 1993 to 2000, the FDA received 1,398 reports of adverse reactions linked to products containing ephedra, including 81 deaths, 62 cases of cardiac arrhythmia, 91 reports of hypertension, 69 strokes and 70 seizures.

The highest profile death was 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler, who succumbed to multiple organ failure due to heatstroke after he collapsed during spring training in 2003. Bechler was taking an ephedrine supplement and died less than 24 hours after complaining of dizziness.

The FDA banned the sale of ephedra-based supplements in 2004. But despite the well-documented side effects of using diet pills, people are still willing to risk their health to shed those unwanted pounds.

Just last month, StarCaps, another popular weight loss product being marketed as a “natural” diet capsule, was found to contain bumetanide, a powerful diuretic with potentially dangerous side effects, including serious fluid and electrolyte loss and increase in uric acid levels.

The FDA has released a list of 69 tainted products (including StarCaps), mostly made in China, to warn consumers and help prevent adverse reactions.

Lose Weight the Natural Way

Dr. Mercola explains that contrary to the popular belief that you should eliminate fat, fat cells are actually very important to your body. There are two contributing factors which lead to an increase in fat mass: the number of fat cells and how much fat the fat cells store.

This means that it’s possible for you to have fewer fat cells and still be overweight because your fat cells are at their fat content limit. You can also have more fat cells but still be at your ideal weight because your fat cells are working properly and are not storing extra fat.

Either way, you’re still in control.

It’s not too late for you to take control of your weight. For Dr. Mercola, these four principles are the key to optimal health and weight management:

• Eating according to your Nutritional Type

• Sleeping right

• Managing your stress levels, and

• Exercise

Don’t be a diet pill junkie. Stop waiting for that magic pill. If you want to lose weight and get fit, it can be as simple as changing your eating habits, getting enough sleep, staying stress-free and breaking a sweat. If you badly want to lose weight and keep it off, you can do it.

Soy has been claimed to be an ideal source of protein, lower cholesterol, protect against cancer and heart disease, reduce menopause symptoms and prevent osteoporosis, among other benefits. But did you know that this “perfect food” was listed by the USDA as an industrial product back in 1913?

How Did Soy Become so Popular in America?

Nutrition expert Dr. Mary Enig explains that soy is so popular in America because soy oil has become a very large industry after farmers started planting soy to extract the oil.

In 1924, U.S. soybean production was only at 1.8 million acres but by 1954, the harvest ballooned to 18.9 million. Soybean is now America’s third largest crop, with the U.S. supplying more than half of the world’s soybean demand. And to think that soy isn’t even native to the Western hemisphere.

Since there was a surplus of soy oil and a lot of soy protein residue that they could only feed to animals in small amounts, they had to find another big market, which of course, was you and me.

As a result of the millions of dollars spent on marketing and intense lobbying of the FDA, more than 80 percent of Americans now believe that soy products are healthy.

The FDA approved a health claim for soy in 1999, which stated that diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol that included 25 grams of soy protein a day may reduce the risk of heart disease. This resulted in massive soy sales. In fact, between 2000 and 2007, over 2,700 new foods using soy as an ingredient were introduced to the market, and from 1992 to 2007, soy food sales increased from $300 million to nearly $4 billion!

Popularity has elevated soy’s status as a healthy food. But is soy really healthy?

What You Don’t Know about Soy May Harm Your Health

Soy products can be classified into two main groups: fermented and unfermented. In terms of farming, soy is grown either organic or genetically modified. Unfortunately, around 80 percent of soy is genetically modified, which can wreak havoc with your health and should be avoided at all costs.

Unfermented soy includes soy products such as tofu, bean curd, all soy milks, soy infant formula, soy ice cream, soy protein powders and soy meat alternatives, such as soy hotdogs and sausages and veggie burgers, and contains:

• Phytoestrogens (isoflavones) genistein and daidzein – mimic and block the female hormone estrogen
• Phytates(phytic acid)  – block your body’s uptake of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, zinc and iodine
• Enzyme inhibitors – hinder protein digestion
• Haemaggluttin – causes red blood cells to clump together and inhibits oxygen take-up and growth
• High levels of omega 6 fat – promotes chronic inflammation

Because soy contains phytoestrogens, it only takes two glasses of soy milk daily for a month to alter a woman’s menstrual cycle.

If you’re a nursing mom, you should not give soy-derived products to your baby because infants who are exclusively fed soy formula consume the equivalent of five birth control pills worth of estrogen every day.

The Whole Soy Story author Dr. Kaayla Daniels downplays the supposed benefits of soy, pointing out that soy does not effectively lower cholesterol. She also explains that the processing methods do not remove the anti-nutrients and toxins that are naturally present in soybeans but only leave toxic and carcinogenic residues due to the high temperatures, high pressure, alkali and acid baths and petroleum solvents used.

The American Heart Association and other groups and health professionals also no longer support the soy health claims endorsed by the FDA.

Studies show that a high soy diet may cause a number of health problems, including:

• Thyroid problems like thyroid cancer, weight gain, lethargy, malaise, fatigue, hair loss and loss of libido
• Premature puberty and other developmental problems in babies, children and adolescents
• Breast and bladder cancer
• Brain damage
• Reproductive disorders like persistent sexual arousal syndrome
• Pancreatic disorders
• Kidney stones
• A weak immune system
• Severe, and sometimes fatal, food allergies
• Digestive intolerance
• Increased risk of asthma

But not all forms of soy are bad. Properly fermented soy products, like natto (traditional Japanese soybean), tempeh (whole soybeans pressed into loaves), miso (soybean paste), soy sauce and fermented tofu and soy milk, are the right types of soy to consume because the fermentation process greatly reduces the levels of isoflavones, phytates and anti-nutrients.

Eating fermented soy is very beneficial in enhancing the friendly bacteria in your large intestine, which neutralizes the bad bacteria and allows you to assimilate more foods and nutrients.

There are two things I’ve learned in this soy controversy; first, popularity does not necessarily mean a food is healthy and second, it’s still better to have a balanced diet than to rely on a single “perfect food.”

It doesn’t sound as impossible as you might think. Keep your fingers crossed (I am) because the FDA may soon decide the future of stevia – dubbed by many as the world’s best natural sweetener.

Stevia is an herb that has been used as a sweetener in Paraguay and other South American countries for over 1,500 years. Stevia is touted as the “holy grail of sweeteners” for four simple reasons:

•             It’s 100% Natural
•             Almost 300% SWEETER than sugar
•             Has ZERO calories, and most importantly,
•             DOES NOT cause an increase in blood sugar levels

If you haven’t heard about stevia it’s probably because it has only been approved for use as a nutritional supplement but not as a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) additive for foods.

Through research online, I learned that prior to the 1980’s, stevia was in the FDA’s GRAS list and was stricken off the list at about the same time that aspartame, one of the first artificial sweeteners, entered the scene.

It’s intriguing to say the least as to why this happened. It also makes me feel mad at the possibility that the FDA may be keeping something good away from consumers, including diabetics like my dad, because something like stevia could cause a lot of changes in the sweetener industry.

Merisant and Cargill, makers of stevia-based sweeteners PureVia and Truvia, both said that their products are safe for public consumption and are waiting for FDA approval. International scientists connected with the World Health Organization have confirmed that these forms of stevia sweeteners are safe. Beverage giants Pepsi and Coca-Cola have thrown their hats in the stevia market and are backing Merisant and Cargill, respectively.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives concluded that stevia extracts containing 95 percent steviol glycosides (the compounds that give the stevia plant its sweet taste) are safe for human use in the range of four milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day.

The Japanese have been researching the properties of stevia since the 1970’s and have found it to be completely safe. In fact, 40% of Japan’s sweetener market is estimated to be stevia-based.

Australia and New Zealand have also recently approved steviol glycosides for use in foods.

If the FDA approves the use of stevia as a safe food additive, it will open the doors to all sorts of stevia-based products and will put a smile on the faces of diabetics and sweet lovers. More importantly, it will help us avoid the potentially harmful effects of artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, Saccharin, Sucralose, Acesulfame-K and Neotame.

The ball is now in the FDA’s court.

Back then, I would try anything anyone gave me (of course as long as it isn’t drugs or anything illegal) as long as they were taking it too. It’s a good thing I didn’t really like Red Bull or other brands that much to regular drink some.

Red Bull, a product of Austria, sold almost 3.5 billion cans in 143 countries last year. It also owns almost half of the U.S. market for energy drinks. There are also a lot of other brands like Spike, Cocaine and Blow, to name a few.

These drinks, which are supposed to help you regain lost energy, have an alarming side effect – they increase your risk of getting a stroke!

Researchers from Australia have recently reported that just ONE can of Red Bull may increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke, even in young people, and that taking Red Bull could be deadly when the drinker is suffering from stress or high blood pressure because it may impair proper blood vessel function.

If you look at the contents of a regular 12-ounce cola, you’ll find that it contains about 35 milligrams of caffeine. Because many energy drinks pass themselves off as “dietary supplements,” the FDA caffeine limit for soft drinks does not apply, and so, energy drinks may contain anywhere from 50 to more than 500 mg of caffeine.

Here are the brands with the most caffeine content (mg of caffeine per ounce):

• Spike Shooter – 35.7mg/oz (16 oz = 570 mg)
• Cocaine – 33.3 mg/oz (16 oz = 533 mg)
• Redline RTD – 31.3 mg/oz (16 oz = 501 mg)
• Blow – 30 mg/oz (16 oz = 480 mg)
• Fixx – 25 mg/oz (16 oz = 400 mg)

I was shocked to find out that Ammo, which comes in a 1-oz can, contains 171 mg, while RedLine Power Rush, which comes in a 2.5 oz can, contains 140 mg/oz!

The symptoms of caffeine overdose are similar to mood disorders and can cause:

• Nervousness
• Anxiety
• Restlessness or psychomotor agitation
• Insomnia
• Gastrointestinal upset
• Tremors
• Rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) and
• Death!

Yes, you read that right. Sweden’s National Food Administration actually investigated Red Bull after the deaths of three consumers in 2001.

As I’ve said earlier, since the FDA limit on caffeine for soft drinks does not apply to energy drinks, these caffeine-packed brands do not need to warn consumers of the potential risks of caffeine overdose.

If you often take energy drinks, just check their labels and you will find that composition wise, they don’t differ too much from carbonated beverages because they both contain little nutritional value. The B vitamins and taurine that these energy drinks contain are only negated by their high amounts of caffeine and sugar.

To help you kick the energy drink habit, try to find out why you lack energy in the first place. Is it because you lead a stressful lifestyle at work and at home? Do you have poor nutrition, harbor negative emotions and lack exercise and sleep?

You can increase your energy by simply addressing the above factors. Minimize stress in your life. Eat healthy. Take some dietary supplements. Get enough exercise and sleep.

I’ve personally applied these steps and I can tell you know that I’ll never drink a can of energy drink ever again. I hope you can say the same thing.