Lose Weight Safely
With the Right Weight Loss Program

From Health Store News
Is there a weight loss program that really works? Half of the American population is overweight and one-third is estimated to be obese. Billions are spent each year on products to help shed those extra pounds. Yet, the sad truth is, most don't succeed. Studies show that most people can lose weight if they try, but they generally gain some if not all of it back. Why?

Most dieters begin their program enthusiastically, following every direction. But after their initial weight loss, begin to slack off. It's that simple. Many become victims of on and off dieting, or yo-yo dieting. Health professionals argue against yo-yo dieting because the negative effects can include raising blood pressure, increasing levels of HDL the good cholesterol and gallstones.

Choosing a Weight Loss Program
Most diet programs are based on exercise combined with one the four following methods:

• food specific programs
• low calorie meal plans
• extreme fasting
• supplements that burn fat or suppress the appetite

Diets that focus on eating specific types of foods, such as fats or carbohydrates, etc., are essentially calorie reducing diets. These may end up short changing you of important nutrients and must be carefully reviewed. Also, many dieters get fed up with eating the same foods over and over again so they quit.

Weight loss programs that encourage low calorie meal plans are more traditional. Ones that offer a wide ranger of foods make good sense. It's really a matter of will power, though.

Extreme fasting is flat our dangerous and should not be tried by most people. Fasting is great for getting rid of toxins in the body but must done with the utmost care.

There are also diets that promise rapid weight loss. Ones that claim you can lose 12 or more pounds in 48 hours. These can be quite harmful to your health in numerous ways. While your body may be able to withstand the strain of losing that much weight in a couple of days, many people take these products for weeks at a time. This can have a negative effect of many processes including immune function.

The fat burning and appetite suppressing diets also promise to work with very little effort on the part of the dieter. These products often have ingredients that may be dangerous or interact poorly with other medications. Many drug store brand and prescription products use suppressants which may cause a variety of side effects including high blood pressure, nervousness, and sleeplessness. Ephedrine and Ma Huang are common ingredients in these formulas. What makes ephedrine potentially dangerous are the alkaloids which stimulate the heart and central nervous system and ultimately speed up the metabolism. Side effects include jitters and headaches. Ephedrine has also been associated with heart attacks, high blood pressure nerve damage, strokes and dizziness.

A New Class of Products
Researchers are always looking for new ways to overcome the weight loss dilemma. A new class of products based on discoveries first made at the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute offers a different approach that is proving to be more successful than most.

Scientists discovered that an extract of the white kidney bean, when taken just before eating a meal, neutralized the absorption of calories from the starch portion of the meal. For example, a typical plate of pasta might contain 400 calories. By taking the extract before eating, a person is able to enjoy the pasta without gaining weight from the calories in the pasta. How does this work? Where do the calories go?

During the digestive process, your body converts carbohydrates, found in starchy foods such as potatoes and pasta, into sugar. Your body does this by breaking-down the carbohydrate molecule with alpha amylase, an enzyme that is produced in the pancreas. These sugar calories are either burned off, through exercise, or stored as fat cells for future use. Unfortunately, inactivity means that these stored fat cells accumulate. The result is weight gain.

The extract "neutralizes" the digestive enzyme alpha amylase before it can convert starch into glucose and then fat. Essentially, it allows the carbohydrates to pass through the system.

A thirty day study of 60 subjects showed that the extract, if taken before meals, can generate a safe and steady rate of weight loss for the user. Furthermore, users were able to accomplish this without changing their eating habits. A very small percentage of users (4%) reported flatulence or bloating, but those side effects disappeared after a day or two.

Another advantage of the program is that the user can regulate the degree of weight loss by deciding how many capsules to use each day. The maximum recommendation is 3 capsules before each meal. Most people take one or two capsules before each meal and experience significant weight loss.

But taking just a minimum dose of one capsule per day can be quite effective. At that dose, the subjects in the study lost an average of 6.45 pounds, 10.45% of fat body mass, 1.39% in hip circumference, 1.44% in thigh circumference and 3.44% in waist circumference during the course of a month. This means that over a six month period, one might easily lose 40 pounds by taking one pill per day! This is a very safe and conservative program.

Whatever method you choose, be sure to exercise regularly. Whether it's walking, running biking, hiking or going to the gym, there is nothing that will make you feel better and increase your overall health profile, like exercise.