This is it! It’s finally happened, a miracle! Years of research and scientific discovery have, at last, found a way to lose weight that is absolutely guaranteed. It’s absolutely free, you don’t have to buy any special potions or powders and it will work – no doubt! Are you ready………..?
Don’t eat for a week – only drink water. Are you impressed? Nope thought not and that’s why I have a real problem with advertisers who say that they have found a ‘miracle’ weight loss ‘cure’. Some of these wonder solutions are completely natural and people turn to them in the hope of finding the holy grail – weight loss without effort and without changing eating habits. Here are just a few that I’ve come across:
Raspberry Ketones: basically the chemicals in this delicious fruit that make them smell so nice. The claim is that they will help you to ‘lose weight fast’ by helping your body to burn fat more efficiently. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it and the claims are apparently based on ‘scientific evidence’. Ah the wonders of marketing! This actually translates as ‘we’ve done a few tests in some glass tubes and on some poor mice (who did not presumably give their consent) and it looks as though these chemicals might speed up metabolism……a bit’. You could try this and if you replaced all your usual desserts with actual raspberries you might actually lose weight.
Garcinia cambogia: this is another fruit, a tropical one this time, and, allegedly, if you take the supplement that contains it, you’re body won’t make fat and you won’t feel hungry. There is some evidence that it works as claimed and also that it could aid lowering insulin levels. However, a review into the product found that the difference in weight loss between the people that took it and those that didn’t was negligible and the reviewers couldn’t prove that any of the weight loss was down to the Garcinia Cambogia and not the healthy eating and exercise programme that the participants were put on whilst the trial took place.
Apple Cider Vinegar: This is quite effective as a colon cleanse if you mix a couple of tablespoons into a large glass of warm water as is fresh lemon juice. I find that both work well to help stomach bloating and apple cider vinegar is a great cure for heartburn. However, as with all these ‘miracles’ they won’t actually help you shed the pounds if you carry on with your normal exercise and eating patterns. To be blunt, at most, they will make you poop a little more easily if you happen to have problems in that area.
Mint and fennel seeds: Again these are hailed as mini miracles in the battle against excess flab; there are various videos on Youtube using these ingredients which all claim that you can lose umpty ump kilos in less than a month blah, blah, blah and they’ve had thousands of views. Does it work? 
Insomuch as you will poop through the eye of a needle if you drink too much, yes. A drink containing these two ingredients will work as a pretty effective laxative so great if you’re constipated but otherwise really not a good idea as you run the risk of becoming severely dehydrated and disturbing the natural balance of mineral and electrolytes in your body.
To sum all of this up – and, trust me, these are just a few of the ‘miracles’ that I’ve found after a few minutes searching on good old Google – the only effective, safe, long term solution to losing weight is to eat less and exercise more. I’d love to be able to tell you that there’s a holy grail of dieting out there but there really isn’t and anyway, I’m too busy looking for the Elixir of Life to spend too much time on that just now ;O) x
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