ASK THE TRAINER: The truth about supplements

I get questions daily on which is the best fat burner to take. News flash — there is not one!

Companies spend millions of dollars each year to make you believe the outrageous claims that these pills will make you instantly lose weight, feel great, look younger and all without lifting a single finger and continuing to eat junk. It is impossible to just pop a pill in your mouth sit on the couch while eating chips and expect for all that fat to just magically melt away.

You have to get off your tush, throw the chips in the garbage where they belong and take control of your own life. Yes, these pills MAY give you a little more energy, but the healthy eating habits you should adopt will take care of the energy problem and not raise all the health concerns that the “magic” pills should!

Anyone can get any of these pills on the internet or in any major grocery store. Unlike prescription drugs, over the counter dietary supplements are not regulated. Prescription drug companies spend millions of dollars on testing and studies to prove to the FDA that their drug is safe and does what it is intended to do. Dietary supplements do not have to prove anything, in fact it is the opposite. The FDA has to obtain the supplement, test it and prove the ingredients are not what they say or that the supplement is not safe. By the time the FDA can do this, the manufacturer usually has closed up shop and has begun selling the exact same supplement under another name or made small changes in the ingredients, so the FDA has to start all over again. Many of these so called safe weight-loss supplements have been found to have the same active ingredients as prescription strength drugs that are not even related to weight loss. Some of the active ingredients are those of some very strong antidepressants and amphetamines. The FDA shows many side effects from death to strokes and heart attacks. Not only are these pills not safe, they can also be very addicting.

These are some very serious risks in your quest to get skinny. So before you decide to take these pills that claim to good to be true results, I suggest taking up eating healthy and exercising — neither of which come from a bottle.