Herbal Diet Pills

Should You Take Herbal Diet Pills?

These days, herbal diet pills are a popular alternative to a more traditional approach to weight loss such as diet and exercise. Herbal ‘remedies’ in general are all the rage today, which I find somewhat troublesome for a few reasons.

First, almost anything can be called an herbal diet pill. Herbs enjoy a kind of loophole in the FDA system because they are not classified as drugs and therefore don't have the strict standards for testing and safety that drugs get. In fact, herbs can be every bit as potent and potentially harmful as drugs. The difference between medicinal herbs and drugs is really quite vague anyway, as most FDA approved drugs start out as a particular plant or herb.

In most cases the ‘herbal’ classification doesn't last for very long; the FDA eventually classifies it as a drug and calls on the scientists. When that happens, herbal diet pills either become available only by prescription or—more likely—are banned completely. Browsing through the sites selling herbal diet pills, it's obvious that the makers of these products are very familiar with the FDA. Many sites even try to use it to their advantage by saying things like: ‘buy it now before the FDA bans it!’. Ask yourself, if the FDA is likely to ban an herbal diet pill you're thinking of taking, should you be taking it at all?

I took some herbal diet pills in college once, and I didn't eat anything for almost two days afterwards. I also didn't get much sleep either. Anything that makes you that wired and eliminates your appetite just can't be good for you. Even though they were ephedra-free and were supposedly safe and all natural, I don't think I have ever felt so out-of-whack and ill in all my life. Lo and behold, a year later I found out that the FDA had banned the very same herbal diet pills I had taken. I have to wonder…what it was I had put into my body.

The moral of the story? Don't be fooled by ‘herbal’ in the term; herbal diet pill. I trust a medical diet pill that is FDA approved a lot more than an herbal diet pill that has, who knows what, in it. The words herbal and natural are marketing ploys—loopholes in the system—and should not be confused with the words safe and effective unless there’s been rigorous testing to prove it.

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