Making the Cut (48 page)

Yohimbe has not been researched as thoroughly in the area of fat loss as many other weight-loss aids, especially where clinical trials are concerned, but the existing data are promising.

GLUCOMANNAN AND CHITOSAN

Glucomannan and chitosan are both forms of dietary “fiber” that some claim have miraculous fat-absorbing effects. Both are found in nature but are not naturally occurring in our diets. Glucomannan and chitosan are supposed to be able to “soak up” large amounts of fat within the body, render it undigestible, reduce the absorption of carbohydrates, and slow digestion, which promotes a feeling of fullness.

My advice: stick with the flax-based fiber we discussed earlier. There is no need to experiment with alternative fiber sources. Flax is the healthiest, most natural way to go, and it has all the same benefits that the other fibers claim to have as well.

Think Twice

The following supplement is controversial and the long-term results are unclear. I would proceed with
great caution
before experimenting with it, and do not mess with it unless you are under the supervision of a health care professional.

HOODIA

Although this supplement is intended for the very obese and is therefore not really relevant to you while
Making the Cut
or peaking, it’s a controversial substance that is about to get a lot of attention, so it’s good for you to know some of the basics.
Hoodia
is native to the Kalahari Desert, where Bushmen have been using it for centuries to help ward off hunger during long desert trips. It is an entirely natural appetite suppressant that works by tricking the brain into believing that you have just eaten. Pharmaceutical companies find it so promising that they are trying to isolate the appetite-suppressing molecule P57 to create a patented diet drug in the future.

Although
Hoodia
has no known side effects, personally I feel there simply hasn’t been enough research done on this supplement for us to know whether it’s completely safe. Yes, Bushmen in southern Africa have been using the
Hoodia
plant as an appetite suppressant for thousands of years, but they have not been eating it every day. They use it sparingly, only when going on long trips. So scientists are unaware as yet of the effects of using
Hoodia
every day.

Danger, Danger

Okay, the following supplements are absolute no-no’s. I am outlining them in this book only because I’m sure you’ve heard of them and I want to explain to you why you should avoid them. I have screwed around with all of them, and, man, was I sorry. I’m glad to be able to give you firsthand knowledge as to why you should avoid them.

EPHEDRA/MA HUANG

Ma huang, or to use its more popular name, ephedra, has been used for more than five thousand years by the Chinese as a decongestant and antihistamine, and to treat respiratory ailments such as asthma.

The active ingredient in ma huang is ephedrine, which reduces the appetite while stimulating fat metabolism. It increases the basal metabolic rate, which allows your body to burn calories faster and more efficiently. By mobilizing stored fat and carbohydrate reserves, ma huang works to reduce your appetite and helps you lose excess weight. I know right now you’re thinking,
Oh boy, where do I get this miracle pill?
But not so fast, buddy. While people taking ephedra have seen some success in the weight-loss area, they have also put themselves at risk for serious health consequences.

The dangers of ephedra range from mild to potentially deadly. Adverse reactions to ephedra are similar to symptoms associated with stimulants, such as nervousness, dizziness, tremor, alterations in blood pressure or heart rate, headache, insomnia, psychiatric effects, heart palpitations, and gastrointestinal distress. The drug has been found to induce central nervous stimulation, bronchodilation, and vasoconstriction—all technical terms indicating ephedra’s tendency to raise blood pressure and put stress on the circulatory system. These physiological reactions lead to increased risk of more serious side effects including chest pain, heart attack, hepatitis, stroke, seizures, psychosis, and death. These dangers are thought to increase with the dose, with strenuous activity, and when ephedra is taken in conjunction with caffeine (known in the fitness world as stacking).

The FDA recently banned the sale of all supplements containing ephedra. FDA experts caution that the drug has only limited, short-term benefits, and produces no other health benefits.

You will read
a lot
of conflicting information about this supplement. Some people will tell you it’s as harmless as caffeine, and others will tell you it’s an angel of death. Honestly, folks, I have talked to caffeine scientists and biochemists in depth about it, and
it should be avoided at all costs.

OVER-THE-COUNTER DIET PILLS

Common over-the-counter appetite suppressants include phenylpropanolamine and ephedrine hydrochloride. There are a wide variety of diet pills on the market; many of them have addictive qualities, and some even contain small amounts of laxative.

Diet pills, both over-the-counter and prescription, can cause the following: nervousness, restlessness, insomnia, high blood pressure, fatigue and hyperactivity, heart arrhythmias and palpitations, congestive heart failure or heart attack, stroke, headaches, dry mouth, vomiting and diarrhea or constipation, intestinal disturbances, tightness in chest, tingling in extremities, excessive perspiration, dizziness, disruption in menstrual cycle, change in sex drive, hair loss, blurred vision, fever, and urinary tract problems. Overdoses can cause tremors, confusion, hallucinations, shallow breathing, renal failure, heart attack, and convulsions.

Prescription diet pills should
never
be taken without the written prescription of a doctor. There is an ongoing debate about their effectiveness, and all the health risks and benefits should be weighed. They should only be used in cases of extreme obesity.

As for ephedrine hydrochloride, which we covered earlier
…No!
It can cause all the side effects of diet pills, with an increased risk of addiction (both physical and psychological), headaches, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, and arrhythmias, including heart attack. Ephedrine use can contribute to psychosis, anxiety, and depression.

My conclusive statement would be
do not
resort to these medications. Many healthy options are available. If you choose to ignore me, or don’t want to listen, consult with your doctor.

Colonics, Laxatives, Fasting, and Water Pills

COLONICS

The diet book
Fit for Life
(1986) popularized the notion that when certain foods are eaten together, they “rot,” poison the system, and make a person fat. To avoid this, the authors recommend that fats, carbohydrates, and protein foods be eaten at separate meals, and they urged emphasizing fruits and vegetables because such foods high in water content can “wash the toxic waste from the inside of the body” instead of “clogging” it. These ideas are utter nonsense, but thus began the colonic craze.

A colonic is a procedure during which waste is removed from your colon through a plastic tube inserted through your rectum and into your colon. Up to 20 gallons of liquid—usually water, herbal solutions, or coffee—are pumped into your large intestine. Sounds like fun, right? Proponents of colonics make grandiose claims that it will fix all types of intestinal disorders like congenital defects, infections and inflammations, tumors, impaired blood supply, obstruction, peptic ulcers, appendicitis, diverticular disease, obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, worms, bowel or colon cancer, and other types of cancer.

Now, listen to me very carefully: the things listed above can be symptoms of poor diet and are
not
solved by colonics. In fact, there is
zero
scientific evidence to suggest that colon cleansing has any positive effect or benefit whatsoever. What’s more, the negative side effects of colon cleansing have been well documented by the medical community. Colonic irrigation, which can be expensive, has considerable potential for harm. First, the process can be very uncomfortable, since the presence of the tube can induce severe cramps and pain. If the equipment is not adequately sterilized between treatments, disease germs from one person’s large intestine can be transmitted to others. Several outbreaks of serious infections have been reported, including one in which contaminated equipment caused parasitic infection in 36 people, six of whom died following bowel perforation. Cases of heart failure (from excessive fluid absorption into the bloodstream) and electrolyte imbalance have also been documented. And to add insult to injury, no license or training is required to operate a colonic irrigation device, meaning that most of the time colonic irrigation is administered by less-than-qualified professionals.

To sum up, there is
no
true scientific evidence to support the use of colon therapy, and there is hard evidence supplied by the medical community that colon hydrotherapy can cause infection, disruption of probiotics (healthy bacteria), and mineral and electrolyte imbalances that can be dangerous. Need I say more?

LAXATIVES

Laxatives, whether in the form of pills, liquids, enemas, suppositories, or teas (even herbal), are all equally formidable. Laxative abuse is a common form of “weight control” in people suffering from eating disorders. The use of laxatives as a way to lose or control weight is not only dangerous but irrational. The actual purpose of taking a laxative is to stimulate the large bowel to empty, which occurs only after the food and its calories for energy have been absorbed through the small intestine. Essentially, people taking laxatives to control weight are only going to cause their bodies to lose fluid, which can be followed by periods of water retention and an appearance of bloating (causing the sufferers to want to lose more weight and ingest more laxatives). The reason people suffering from eating disorders seem to lose weight while taking laxatives is because in most cases they are increasingly watching caloric intake and restricting food consumption, inducing vomiting, and/or compulsively exercising.

Continued laxative use can cause bloating, cramping, dehydration, electrolyte disturbances and imbalances, cardiac arrhythmias, irregular heartbeat and heart attack, renal problems, and death.

When the use of laxatives is stopped after a continued period of using them as a “weight-loss” method, withdrawal symptoms can be expected. These symptoms include abdominal cramping, mild to severe constipation, bloating, mood swings, and general feelings of fatigue and nausea. In less severe cases, the symptoms will usually subside in about two weeks, but in cases where a person has ingested handfuls or more of laxatives on a regular basis, it may take longer and require medical assistance.

If you need to take a laxative because you are truly constipated,
do not self-administer.
First consult with your primary health care physician to make sure that you are indeed constipated. Although laxative ads warn against “irregularity,” constipation should be defined not by the frequency of movements but by the hardness of the stool. Stimulant laxatives (such as cascara or castor oil) can damage the nerve cells in the colon wall, decreasing the force of contractions and increasing the tendency toward constipation. Thus, people who take a strong laxative whenever they “miss a movement” may wind up unable to move their bowels without them. Frequent laxative use of any kind will lead to a physical dependence. Ordinary constipation can usually be remedied by increasing the fiber content of the diet, drinking adequate amounts of water, and engaging in regular exercise.

To sum up, do not utilize laxatives in
any
form to induce or magnify weight-loss results. The calories from the foods are already absorbed once they’re in your body, and you run the risk of doing serious damage to your health.

FASTING AND CLEANSING

Whether it’s the master cleanse, the grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet, a juice fast, or something else crazy, I cannot say enough to warn you off any kind of fasting program, as the results can be disastrous for your metabolism and for your long-term health.

Fasting depletes the body of important nutrients, essential minerals, and energy, and it is totally ineffective and counterproductive for weight loss. The few pounds that are lost in the beginning of a fast are from water, and this weight, and then some, will return as soon as the fast is over. I did a fast for seven days a few years back and lost eight pounds. Two weeks after the fast was over, I had gained 15 pounds back, and it took me six months to get my metabolism back on track. It was by far the stupidest thing I have ever done to my body (next to supplementing with ephedrine).

Also, just so you know, fasting causes weakness, nausea, and headaches and can even induce depression. In extreme cases, extended fasts can lead to disturbances of heart rhythm and death.

For those of you who think you are going to fast to detoxify your system, that theory is a load of bull. There has been no evidence to suggest that toxins are removed from fat cells when fasting. In fact, you burn very little fat when you are fasting, and what you do burn is mostly muscle. The best way to detox your system is to start eating right, drinking lots of water, and letting exercise burn all your stored fat. Unless you are fasting for religious purposes or are under strict doctor’s supervision to treat a specific illness, avoid fasting or toxin flushing at all costs.

WATER PILLS

Often people will use water pills (diuretics) as a way to control their weight. Just like using laxatives, this is dangerous and irrational. Diuretics work to reduce water retention, which can cause dehydration and electrolyte imbalances (specifically potassium deficiencies, which can result in hospitalization). Continued use can lead to long-and short-term fluid retention, even when the diuretics are discontinued. There are plenty of healthy, natural ways to reduce water retention and bloating, which I am going to cover in the next section, as they are essential to your final countdown.