Acai | Beauty and Fashion Tech

Jan 11, 2012

Products That Will Not Help You To Lose Weight

January 11, 2012 By Carleenp 3 Comments

OK, it is almost 2012, and this means only one thing - millions of people will be searching Google for ways to lose weight and many of these people will unfortunately come across websites that offer the most dubious services imaginable. So today I shall briefly outline some of the worst ways to try to lose weight. Note, none of these “weight loss” products or services are based on science, none of the testimonials you read are ever verified. The products can also cause you far more harm than good. So here is our list.

Anything with Acai in It

Acai is a small berry that grows in South America. It has lots of vitamins. That is where its health properties end. Acai does not help you lose weight in any way. Taking it raw, in a juice or as a pill will have not positive effect on your weight. Your fat will not melt away!

Green Tea Products

Green tea is healthy and good quality green tea can be tasty too. So if you like tea, by all means, have a cup of green tea. Do not expect green tea to cause your fat cells to self implode though. Although it does have some properties that may aid weight loss, overall the evidence is inconclusive. Green tea is sometimes provided in pill form. In these cases they pills are just giving you extra caffeine which can lead to a very slight increase in metabolism.

HCG Pills and Drops

HCG is without doubt the biggest joke on the market. Often people sell “homeopathic” HCG, which actually means that there is no HCG in the product at all. The pills are just expensive sugar pills. However, even if you got some “real” HCG, this still will not lead to weight loss, as scientists have carried out double-blind trials on HCG and found that the medicine does not lead to increased weight loss.

Hoodia extracts

Hoodia is another product that showed some signs of aiding weight loss in early trails, but it was never turned into a proper weight loss pill or product. Trials were inconclusive. However, people are still selling it online by the bucket load.

With all of these products you are encouraged to also follow a very strict diet and told to exercise. When you do this, you lose weight. You do not need the products to lose weight though, as they really make very little difference at best, and some make no difference at all. If you dispute this, please feel free to share scientific evidence that has been peer-reviewed and confirmed in later trials. Otherwise, forever hold your peace.

Basically, the number one rule of weight loss is that you should put less stuff in your mouth, not go out and buy more stuff to eat. Too much food leads to fat accumulation and nothing else.

If you wish to learn how to lose weight then the best solution really is to empower yourself. You do not need any products, diet foods or equipment to lose weight. All you need is a sensible plan of action and some basic information. There are many weight loss plans that provide meal plans and exercise routines that guarantee weight loss, if you follow the rules.

Disclosures: Beauty and Fashion Tech at times reviews products provided by a representative of the company. When we do so, we specifically state so. We also use affiliate links. For more, please see the disclosure page

Filed Under: Diet and Fitness Tagged With: Acai, Diet, Fitness, Green Tea, HCG, Hoodia

Jul 22, 2009

Ignore the Diet Ads Please! I Do Not Endorse Them!

July 22, 2009 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

Update: Glam quickly processed my ad removal request, so the offending ads appear to be gone now. Many thanks to them for acting so quickly!

I am being served a bunch of those awful diet ads today: The ones leading to called "blogs" claiming you can get rid of belly fat by following one simple rule--which is to buy a couple of products from a subscription type service that might be hard to cancel before your card is charged. That free sample? You have to sign up for the subscription to get it. For more on the issues with these and and why I so dislike them, read my previous editorial post on them.

Please do not patronize them. Don't click them, don't look at them. Because of reports of questionable activity from these companies, and what I personally believe is deceptive advertising, I don't endorse them.

I have asked that the ads be removed from my site, but it could take a day or two. Until then, please ignore, ignore, ignore.

Thanks!

Filed Under: Diet and Fitness Tagged With: Acai, Diet, Editorial

Apr 3, 2009

Fitness Friday: Why You Should Ignore Those Acia Berry Diet Ads

April 3, 2009 By Carleenp 12 Comments

I recently saw one of those acai berry/total cleanse diet ads pop up on my site from an ad service. Needless to say, I immediately took steps to have it blocked. Why? Because the acai berry diets that have been widely advertised have been reported as fraudulent and misleading.

Here is how they work: The ads note something along the lines of “I lost 40 lbs of belly fat in one month by following one simple rule” and usually include some logos for news sources, Oprah, and Rachel Ray, indicating that they have endorsed the information. If you click the ad, you will be taken to a site that looks like a blog telling you that, how by buying a few products, you too can quickly loose enormous amounts of weight. There are a fairly good number of these “blogs” floating around out there, all with the same format and all selling products.

Despite the ad’s inferences or claims, they are not endorsed by Rachel Ray and Oprah: Instead, these ads are capitalizing on various unrelated mentions of acai berries or juice on their programs. But be sure to be clear on this: Oprah and Rachel Ray do not endorse the diet products and methods in the weight loss ads. Read here for Oprah’s announcement on the matter, and here for Rachel Ray’s announcement.

Next is this problem: These “blogs” will proclaim that you can try the method free. Simply order a free trial and cancel if it doesn’t work. But these are subscription based trials. You provide a credit card number, and if you do not cancel properly, you will be charged. For some, canceling has proven to be difficult. There have been reports of the cancellation phone numbers not working or cancellation requests not being honored. To learn more about this read the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) Warning, or see this CNN article.

Finally, there is no concrete evidence that these programs work: Think about it. If they did, the stuff would be on every drugstore shelf and Oprah and Rachel Ray really would be talking about them and endorsing them. The fact of the matter is that there is no magic fruit or pill for weight loss. Acai juice has some anti-oxidant properties and I think it tastes good as well, but it isn’t going to make you lose your belly fat in a matter of weeks, and a crushed up version in a pill isn’t quite the same as drinking a good juice. You could eat the bike in the picture that I used too, and you would get some great antioxidants and such—but you wouldn’t magically burn off 10 pounds.

I have taken steps to try to avoid having these ads appear on Beauty and fashion Tech and Girl Gloss. However, because I am under contract with third party ad servers, some might slip by. If you see any such ads on my sites, please know that I do not endorse them in any manner whatsoever. There are also other similar ads for products such as teeth whitening and wrinkle removing out there that, like the acai ads, lead to "blogs" with free trials of products. I also do not endorse those ads, but lack information on their business practices. I suggest treating them with skepticism.

(Added June 11, 2009) How to report an ad: I have made, and continue to make attempts to block these ads. I have asked that one be removed from Glam's server (which they did). I also have blocked ones that show up through Google. The rub is that there are many different links, so they sneak past the blocks that way. I ask any reader that sees one of the ads on my site not to click it. Instead, right click it to get a pull up menu and select "copy link location." Then please email that link to me at [email protected] I can then go to google and block the ad. Please also note that some acai ads are legitimate. For example, there is nothing particularly wrong with a company seeking to sell acai juice. It is the fake blog diet and colon clease ads that are of most concern.

On a side note, why a picture of a veggie bike and not some acai berries? Well, I went to purchase a licensed photo of some berries and found them terribly overpriced. I guess a lot of people are making money from acai!