SlimShots Diet

Just saw this on TV in Miami. Slimshots.com will sell you what looks like a bunch of small coffee creamer cups for $59. Here's their pitch:

How does it work?

* SlimShots has been proven to increase the feeling to satiety [i.e., being full].
* Satiety is the long term effect of a meal—how long it takes to become hungry again and how much food is consumed at the next meal.
* General Explanation: SlimShots™ triggers the body’s natural appetite control mechanism, the ileal brake, satisfying users for long periods of time and in turn, allowing them to eat less, without sacrifice and without depriving them of their favorite foods.

How do I use SlimShots?

* For optimal effectiveness; take two shots per day the 1st week; one shot [9.3 ml container] at breakfast and one shot at lunch. Thereafter, one shot at breakfast should be sufficient. However, response rates can vary for individuals depending on different factors like body weight.
* SlimShots comes in mini shots [i.e., about the site of a coffee creamer], which can be kept at work, in the kitchen or in your purse.
* SlimShots can be taken as a shot or added to coffee, yogurt, cereal or shakes.

Who can take it?

* Anyone who wishes to manage their appetite and moderate their food intake.
* It’s suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
* It’s an ideal compliment to weight loss products except Alli.
* If taking any kind of medication, you should consult your doctor before taking SlimShots as a precaution.

SlimShots should be taken in conjunction with a balanced diet and be viewed as part of a sustainable food and weight management regimen.

Hollywood Diet Ingredients

People all over the world have tried to analyze the Hollywood Diet. Well, our DSI (Diet Scam Investigators) Miami Office actually went to the store and read the ingredients.

Here's what it contains:

water
fructose
pineapple juice
orange juice
apple juice
prune juice
white grape juice
lemon juices juice
extracts of bilberry
green tea extract
ginkgo biloba
grapeseed extract

The instructions are take 4 times a day and eat nothing else. It isn't surprising that you would lose weight since you're getting about 400 calories per day.

Celebrity Diets - Real People Part 1

Real people on celebrity diets.

Avoid the Superbowl Binge

Here's a great video on keeping the calories in control during the Superbowl Snackfest.

Is Phelps Diet All Wet?

This isn't a scam diet as long as you can swim faster than Aquaman.

Here’s Phelps’s typical 12,000 calorie a day diet:

Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. Two cups of coffee. One five-egg omelet. One bowl of grits. Three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar. Three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Lunch: One pound of enriched pasta. Two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayo on white bread. Energy drinks packing 1,000 calories.

Dinner: One pound of pasta. An entire pizza. More energy drinks.

Get in the pool ladies!!!

Hoodia Love?

Don't, I repeat, don't waste your money on the diet supplement Hoodia. I bought a box of the Hoodia chocolates and after consuming 5 of the small, bitter bites, I then downed a liter of Coke, a bag of Doritos, and I think a bowl of Raisin Bran. Bottom line is the cereal was a better appetite suppressant than the Hoodia. Or maybe it was the Doritos?

Top 10 Worst Diets of 2008

1. Ear Stapling. Think about this: how many chubby people do you know with multiple piercings? (If you're having trouble envisioning, think about going to a Ren Faire.)

2. Original Hollywood Celebrity Diet. Sure, you too can lose weight if you live on 400 calories a day for two weeks. Wow, it's like magic!

3. Kimkins. Gives sketchy advice like super-low calorie levels and also laxatives (eeek!), but finding out that the diet's supposed inventor and biggest success story actually weighs over 300 pounds must have been très awkward.

4. Hydroxycut. Starbucks sells buckets of caffeine for much less money than these capsules, and with no scary ephedra accidentally making its way into your misto.

5. Celluslim. Random words thrown together to name pills that made a lot of people feel ishy. Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to us.

6. Chitosan. Weirdly, found to reduce cholesterol to some extent, but totally does not help you lose weight even a little.

7. Slim Slippers. Are you kidding us? Reflexology has no proven association with weight loss or metabolism and also, need we mention that these are slippers! For your feet!

8. Hoodia. It might be TrimSpa, but it's also bullshit, baby!

9. Diet Patch. Come on, you're on a diet, not an ocean voyage.

10. Mariah Carey's Purple Food diet. No, really. Purple food.

Eat Cookies and Lose Weight?

I wish this one wasn't a scam!

Diets for Terrorists?

Diet scams could be part of an international terrorist organization. If your credit card has been billed for products like Algoxyll, Plant Macerat, or Befosan, there's a good chance that your credit card fraudulently billed. Just look at your credit card, and if you notice foreign transactions that you can't explain, please let us know.

Algoxyll and their associated companies are now taking aim at older women and men. They are placing 2 page ads in Quilt Magazine, weaving magazines, and more. So, if you see any of these scams in your magazine, please let us know.

BBB Diet Scam List

Here are some of the weight-loss products that the Better Business Bureau has listed on its Web site as unsatisfactory due to their empty promises and unscrupulous business practices:

Metacor's Weight Loss Pill

The Better Business Bureau serving Denver and Boulder has received complaints from consumers in six states who thought they were paying to take part in medical trial tests for a new weight-loss drug. The company, Metacor — also known as Progenics, Inc. - is advertising on the Internet, noting that people who are interested should "enroll" in their program, pay $144 up front, and then take a special new weight loss pill every day for two years. For their trouble, the company promises to refund the $144 after the first month and compensate consumers $319.73 each month. Complainants allege that they paid the required $144, received pills, and never heard from the company again; they never received a refund, compensation, or additional pills.

Wu-Yi Source's Weight-Loss Tea

The Better Business Bureau serving Eastern Washington, North Idaho & Montana has received complaints from 19 states for Wu-Yi Source – a company that maintains a Billings, MT drop-box address. Wu-Yi Source offers a 100 percent "iron-clad" refund for their weight-loss tea. But dozens of consumers say that when seeking a refund, company reps provided vague answers, told them to use the products for 4-6 weeks, and questioned whether they were dieting and exercising. Consumers allege that the company is merely using a stall tactic to get them to go past the 60-day mark so the company doesn't have to honor its refund policy.

Changes International's Hypnosis Session

The Better Business Bureau serving Dallas and Northeast Texas has received complaints from across eight states for Changes International Inc. The company promises "QUIT SMOKING & LOSE WEIGHT in one brief HYPNOSIS SESSION" and offers a 100 percent money back 10-year guarantee if the hypnosis doesn't work. Until confronted by The Better Business Bureau, the company attempted to instill trust in consumers by falsely claiming in online and print advertising that they were "the only organization of our kind endorsed by the Better Business Bureau." Complainants report paying more than $250 for the hypnosis seminar and a set of CDs, and allege that the hypnosis is ineffective and that the company doesn't honor its refund policy.

Fat-Dissolving Injections

The Better Business Bureau serving the St. Louis metro area has received more than 350 complaints and reports about a company called GO FIG, INC–doing business as fig. and Advanced Lipo Dissolve Center – a company that administered fat-dissolving micro-injections for upwards of $10,000. The procedure is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and complainants allege the injections were ineffective and caused extensive swelling and pain. Reports to The Better Business Bureau also reveal improper billing practices and difficulty obtaining refunds. The St. Louis-based company went out of business suddenly in December citing "economic conditions" and shut 17 of its 18 offices nationwide – however, many other companies across the country currently offer similar procedures.

Hollywood Diet Disaster

You've probably heard about miracle weight loss potions like those advertised on late night infomercials; or maybe you've been intrigued by the bold marketing claims at health food stores promising dramatic weight loss results in as little as two days. This folks, is scam dieting at its finest! The Hollywood 48 Hour Miracle Diet is a great example of diets providing false hope - lose up to 10 pounds in 2 days? Sign me up!

The magical substance hyped in this diet is actually an overpriced concoction of fruit juices and 'special' enzymes. During the 48 grueling hours of this liquid diet, the dieter is only permitted to sip away at the special fruit juice - no food is allowed.

According to Kabler, the Hollywood Diet will wash away any unhealthy toxins and fat, to provide your digestive system with a vacation. During this time your metabolism will be stimulated, which will then enhance your fat-burning potential. Great marketing claims, but the only thing this juice will be burning is a whole in your pocket!

This product claims to be clinically proven, which is a major contributing factor for any individual considering purchasing a diet product. If it's proven it must work, right? Wrong! There is no regulating body to refute any claim of clinical study; no one to either prove or disprove such claims. Although you will lose weight on this liquid diet, it is almost guaranteed to return as soon as you start eating again. Remember, this two-day weight loss diet is just a fancy juice fast - if you decide to follow this dieting route, save yourself the money and get fruit juice from your local grocery store.

CNN Warns against Hoodia

CNN has published a report of several diet supplements to avoid, and have included hoodia on the list. Why? Because you don’t know what you are getting, and it will likely be YEARS before a genuine and safe hoodia gordonii product is available.

According to CNN:
Hoodia There’s been lots of hype about hoodia gordonni, a cactuslike South African plant with appetite-suppressing chemicals (in one study, people who took it ate 1,000 fewer calories a day).

But the hoodia in that test isn’t available right now, says University of California, Los Angeles, expert and Health Advisory Board member David Heber, M.D., Ph.D. He says the hoodia products in stores or online probably contain other hoodia types that don’t work — or none at all.

The British company Phytopharm, which has a global patent on hoodia for weight loss, says real products are years away. Bottom line: The available hoodia products may be safe, but they’re useless.

Top 5 Diet Scams

Experts say roughly the same top five diet scams seem to keep resurfacing every few years, each time with a shiny new marketing gimmick. But they're all based on the same bad science.

Those top five diet scams include:

* Metabolism-boosting pills based on herbal ingredients
* Fat- and carb-blocking pills
* Herbal weight loss teas
* Diet patches, jewelry, or other products worn on the body
* Body wraps or "slim suits"

"There have always been quack weight loss schemes out there because nobody ever believes that you can't lose weight faster than you gained it," says registered dietician Althea Zanecosky.

"It maybe took two years for them to gain those 15 pounds, but they want to lose it in two weeks."

A more realistic timetable for lasting weight loss is to lose about a pound or two a week, says Zanecosky.

Nonetheless, researchers say diet scams continue to flourish, thanks in part to the law of supply and demand as a growing number of Americans find themselves overweight and looking for an easier way to lose it.

In addition, many of the most popular diet scams are based on herbal ingredients, which are not regulated as drugs by the FDA. Therefore, the weight loss claims are not evaluated for accuracy by the FDA.

In fact, a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report found that more than half of the weight-loss ads th

Hydroxycut gets sued.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has filed a false advertising suit against the marketers of Hydroxycut, an epehdra-containing product claimed to be a safe and "clinically proven fat burner." The suit charges that the manufacturer, MuscleTech Research and Development Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, had:

* Failed to disclose that the product contained ephedra or that ephredra posed serious health risks.
* Failed to disclose that its own research showed that Hydroxycut has no efficacy as compared to placebo with the possible exception of an appetite-suppressing effect.
* Manipulated "research" results by failing to disclose when subjects dropped out because of adverse effects, including one case in which hospital care was required.
* Used "before" and "after" photographs obtained with different lighting and poses to create the false impression that people who used the product were trimmer.

MuscleTech states that the Hydroxycut it is producing now is ephedra-free, but Nixon said there are unknown quantities of Hydroxycut still being sold that contain ephedra. The current ingredients include 200 mg of caffeine, the amount in two cups of brewed coffee. Nixon wants the company to stop making misrepresentations, pay restitution to Missouri consumers harmed by the misrepresentations, and to pay undetermined penalties and investigative and court costs to the state.

Welcome to Diet Scams

The Hoilday Battle of the Bulge is upon us! We'll help you separate the good, the bad, and the ugly truth behind the Internet's top diets. We'll review the Hollywood Diet, The Cookie Diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and all the rest. Visit us daily for to learn the truth.