Do Diet Pills Harm My Body or Mind?

February 25, 2021 by Kristy

My friend and I were discussing if Diet Pills are safe?  The thing is I eat healthy.  I exercise.  But it isn’t as if the number on the scale goes down when I am extra diligent or goes up when I mess up.  That number on the scale always stays the same.  So it is frustrating.  My friend is having the same experience that I have.

I supplement almost everything.  If I get a headache, I am probably low on electrolytes because I haven’t been drinking enough, so I take some electrolyte pills.  If I ate too much marina sauce and my tummy starts hurting I take wormwood and lecithin.  I drink minerals in my water every morning.  I take some additional vitamins especially if I am having a problem that the vitamin can help with.  So where do I stand on taking pills to help lose weight?

I think in my mind it has always been an area that I am not interested in.  Maybe I have just heard too many horror stories.  Or maybe it is something that scares me, because I never want to become addicted to something.  Also can I trust that the company selling the pills hasn’t added things to their pills that they haven’t disclosed?  I think my last objection is, is taking diet pills sustainable?

I spent a year working with a personal trainer and nutritionist.  She taught me how to do squats after not being able to because of poor muscle strength after 3 c-sections.  She taught me a lot of things about nutrition that I didn’t know or realize.  She taught me that to be the best I could be I needed to fuel my physical body and I needed to work my physical body.  She also taught me that I needed to listen to my body.  One question she drilled into my head is, is what you are doing sustainable?  Will you continue to do this even after you aren’t paying me to watch you do it?

According to the FDA, the FDA does not regulate diet pills unless they have a new ingredient in them.  Not that I believe the FDA, but I also don’t know that I trust in companies whose goals are to make money to always do the right thing.  Futures Palm Beach mentions that some diet pills are shown to cause adverse reactions to our bodies. These reactions include increased heart rate, high blood pressure, agitation, diarrhea, kidney problems, liver damage as well as others equally as disturbing.  I think my intuition to stay away from diet pills is a blessing.  I don’t want to become addicted.  I don’t know if I can trust the companies making the products and taking a pill everyday for the rest of my life to stay “skinny” is not sustainable.

Cited Sources:

https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm050803.htm
https://www.futuresofpalmbeach.com/blog/harmful-effects-diet-pills-supplements/