Your road to fat-loss consists of repeating a series of dietary and behavioural fundamentals over and over again. Though many enjoy structure and routine, this repetition can be boring for most. Unlike your body, which requires only a few essentials to survive and perform, your mind requires constant stimulation. Advertisers understand this tendency.
Have you ever wondered why there is a new diet, a new pill, or a new exercise gadget released almost monthly? Have you ever noticed how many diets, gadgets, and fads from years gone by seem to cycle back into favoritism every few years? If all the exercise physiology textbooks keep repeating the same old advice (exercise more, don't eat more than your body needs, everyone's needs are different) but diet trends change with the seasons, who is right? Have you ever noticed how most diet fads promise weight-loss without exercise? Ever notice how so many popular diets revolve around a single nutrient or hormone. These programs are "incomplete at best" and are thus "destined to fail", according to Tom Venuto, The Body Fat Solution.
Raspberry ketone, green coffee extract, Acai berry, and hCG are a few products that tout unbelievable health and/or fat-loss claims without any scientific credibility. In the case of hCG, some over the counter products are even illegal.
So how is it that hCG is so readily available?
Fraudulent products are so rampant in North America and abroad that the FTC and CFIA just can't keep up. Whenever they pull one product from the shelves there is another to take its place.
But if the product is going to get pulled eventually, why even market it in the first place?
Because those desperate enough to be perusing the weight-loss aisle in Wal-Mart account for the majority. Furthermore, fraudulent companies willing to sell unproven product are also willing to sell fake unproven product. Most hCG products are really just distilled water. This creates less overhead and a smaller pricetag, which is very enticing. Even if remotely skeptical about hCG, people convince themselves that "even if it doesn't work I only spent $XX".
The third point is celebrity association. Two of the four products listed above gained notoriety due to being promoted by recently shamed TV celebrity Dr. OZ.
Most people don't investigate products before they invest, instead making purchases based on impulse and emotion. This gives fraudulent companies plenty of opportunity to make loads of money before getting busted. For them, it is often well worth the risk.
Wouldn't it be nice to take a pill, go to sleep, and wake up skinny? Sadly, most people waste years of their lives on this fruitless pursuit, getting duped by fradsters such as Dr. Bernstein, Dr. OZ, Dr. Mercola, and Kevin Trudeau. Sadder still, they have no results to show for it.
Those who fall for these gimmicks are not less intelligent than those who don't, of course. Marketers are experts at appealling to your psychological tendencies and emotional impulses. In the practice of psychology there is a principle called The Law of Least Effort, which says that no intelligent human being will choose a slower way to achieve a goal if a faster way is available.
Contrary to popular belief, diet gimmicks end up being drawn out over the long-term without any results to show for the money and effort put forth.
Ask yourself, would you rather perform 8 weeks of diet and exercise to successfully reach your goal, or would you prefer to spend the next 4 years of your life trodding through failed diet fads?
Sources:
The Body Fat Solution, Tom Venuto
Have you ever wondered why there is a new diet, a new pill, or a new exercise gadget released almost monthly? Have you ever noticed how many diets, gadgets, and fads from years gone by seem to cycle back into favoritism every few years? If all the exercise physiology textbooks keep repeating the same old advice (exercise more, don't eat more than your body needs, everyone's needs are different) but diet trends change with the seasons, who is right? Have you ever noticed how most diet fads promise weight-loss without exercise? Ever notice how so many popular diets revolve around a single nutrient or hormone. These programs are "incomplete at best" and are thus "destined to fail", according to Tom Venuto, The Body Fat Solution.
Raspberry ketone, green coffee extract, Acai berry, and hCG are a few products that tout unbelievable health and/or fat-loss claims without any scientific credibility. In the case of hCG, some over the counter products are even illegal.
So how is it that hCG is so readily available?
Fraudulent products are so rampant in North America and abroad that the FTC and CFIA just can't keep up. Whenever they pull one product from the shelves there is another to take its place.
But if the product is going to get pulled eventually, why even market it in the first place?
Because those desperate enough to be perusing the weight-loss aisle in Wal-Mart account for the majority. Furthermore, fraudulent companies willing to sell unproven product are also willing to sell fake unproven product. Most hCG products are really just distilled water. This creates less overhead and a smaller pricetag, which is very enticing. Even if remotely skeptical about hCG, people convince themselves that "even if it doesn't work I only spent $XX".
The third point is celebrity association. Two of the four products listed above gained notoriety due to being promoted by recently shamed TV celebrity Dr. OZ.
Most people don't investigate products before they invest, instead making purchases based on impulse and emotion. This gives fraudulent companies plenty of opportunity to make loads of money before getting busted. For them, it is often well worth the risk.
Wouldn't it be nice to take a pill, go to sleep, and wake up skinny? Sadly, most people waste years of their lives on this fruitless pursuit, getting duped by fradsters such as Dr. Bernstein, Dr. OZ, Dr. Mercola, and Kevin Trudeau. Sadder still, they have no results to show for it.
Those who fall for these gimmicks are not less intelligent than those who don't, of course. Marketers are experts at appealling to your psychological tendencies and emotional impulses. In the practice of psychology there is a principle called The Law of Least Effort, which says that no intelligent human being will choose a slower way to achieve a goal if a faster way is available.
Contrary to popular belief, diet gimmicks end up being drawn out over the long-term without any results to show for the money and effort put forth.
Ask yourself, would you rather perform 8 weeks of diet and exercise to successfully reach your goal, or would you prefer to spend the next 4 years of your life trodding through failed diet fads?
Sources:
The Body Fat Solution, Tom Venuto
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