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Can Herbal Products Help You Lose Weight Quickly
If you've decided you want to lose some weight, chances are you'll
want to lose weight quickly. Here's some advice from WLR Dietitian
Juliette Kellow.
Lose Weight Quickly?
By WLR Dietitian
Q: A friend of mine is on a diet called Herbalife, which
consists of a green tea drink, some powders that are mixed with
milk, a few vitamin tablets (I think) and a ‘no carbs but lots
of salad and meat’ diet. It says you’ll lose 1lb a day or
20-30lb a month and costs £85 a month. My friend is very
overweight and says she’s fed up trying to lose weight slowly by
calorie counting or joining a club. But surely it’s not healthy
to lose this much weight so quickly?
A: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! In my
experience, any product that claims it’ll help you lose more
than 2lb a week isn’t worth spending money on. I agree that a
weight loss of up to 30lb a month is far too much. However, I’d
be really surprised if your friend achieves anywhere near this.
Many ‘get-slim-quick’ products work on the basis that you’ll be
so pleased you’ve lost some weight, you’ll forget the outlandish
initial promise.
It’s likely your friend will lose some weight though, mainly
because the diet plan that comes with this product sounds as
though it’s low in calories – cutting out carbs and surviving on
vegetables and protein-rich foods will almost certainly result
in weight loss. As for the other components, it’s unlikely the
powder mixed with milk is anything more than a glorified
milkshake – a glass of skimmed milk and multivitamin would
probably provide a similar range of nutrients.
Meanwhile, a
limited amount of research shows that green tea might help to
boost metabolism, but more research needs to be carried out
before any firm conclusions can be drawn.
Your friend might not want to lose weight slowly – let’s face
it, none of us do – but a slow, steady weight loss of no more
than 2lb a week really is the only way to stay healthy and keep
those pounds off for good. And when you look at it this way, it
still adds up to a staggering 8 stone in a year. My advice to
your friend is that at the moment, she’s probably losing the
wrong sort of pounds! |
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