Save £20 By Joining The 3 Month Plan

WeightWatchers is one of the most respected weight loss programmes the UK has to offer.

Unlike a majority of diet plans our American cousins have to offer WeightWatchers is dedicated to inspiring and helping you adopt a healthier way to live. So you can successfully learn how to lose weight and keep it off for good with bring unnecessary science into the equation.

The programme encourages participants to eat the foods they love.

More about WeightWatchers

Prickly Pear – Diet And Hangover Cure

It is often said that nature is sciences’ shopping basket – most scientifically developed products are derived from the natural world. None more so that in the health industry.

The  Optuntia Ficus, a cactus more commonly known as the Prickly Pear has origins dating back hundreds if not thousands of years . It has been used by ancient civilizations and in particular the Aztecs.

The Prickly Pear can offer a wide variety of natural remedies – probably the two most common uses are for weight loss and to treat hangovers.

Prickly Pear And Weight Loss

The Prickly Pear has been used throughout history for common disorders  but it is only relatively recently that its benefits to weight loss  have been discovered.

Extracts of the fruit are particularly effective at binding with dietary fat.

The commercial weight loss, diet and slimming market is fully stocked with products that claim to be natural but in essence the fact is that a high proportion of ingredients have been synthetically engineered.

This was highlighted in a recent Daily Express article.

National tabloid editor Jo Wiley (of the Daily Express) composed an article entitled “Prickly Pear Is Key In Battle Against Obesity” it detailed how one diet pill  producer, Proactol had introduced a commercial product into the market in 2005 and built a solid reputation while trying underplay its role in the worlds obesity pandemic.

Proactol product manager Katie Downing-Howitt said: “We aren’t suggesting that Proactol is a miracle treatment for obesity but it is clinically proven to bind with fat and, as part of a balanced healthy lifestyle, does assist weight loss.”

Proactol is a natural fat binder it can stop the absorption of approximately a quarter of dietary fat from being digested from food consumed. Or put another way – only 75% of the potential calories taken on will appear in the places you don’t want them to.

Proactol has been subject to numerous independent clinical trials – it is classified as a Medical Device Type 1 (MDD 93/42/EEC) and carries the CE mark of Approval.

More about Proactol

Can The Prickly Pear Cure Hangovers

The first documented clinical trial attaching the Prickly Pear and health benefits was focused around a possible treatment for the after effects of consuming too much alcohol and subsequent hangovers

The resulting clinical trials have confirmed that taking extracts of the Optuntia Ficus India Cactus can greatly reduce the symptoms of excessive alcohol consumption (dry mouth, headache, sickness and fatigue)

Several independent trails have confirmed that hangover sufferers who take the substance are far more likely to recover quicker than those who don’t

The best hangover cure is obvioulsy abstinence but for those who cannot resist drinking to excess there is always the prickly pear – you may also shed a few pounds into the bargain.

___________________________________________________

What Is The Alli Diet Plan

The Alli Diet Pill was introduced to the UK mid April amid a blaze of publicity. Boots, Tesco, Superdrug and other high street vendors were quick to position Alli in the premier spots among their current range of slimming products.

A product that was released at a similar time was the accompanying book – The Alli Diet Plan.

Billed as the “Essential Guide To Success With Alli“  the 350 page paperback  contains everything you could possibly need to know about the former prescription only slimming drug.

What Is The Alli Diet Plan

Consumers hoping for a revolutionary new diet plan may be a little disappointed.

The first few chapters detail exactly what Alli is, how best to use it and an explanation of the much publicized side effect (the Alli Oops)

It covers all the bases from a technical perspective,  explaining in great detail that there are different enzymes that break down proteins, carbohydrates and fats and that the active ingredient (Orlistat) only prevents the breakdown of fat so that the other nutrients can slip through.

This information though, is readily available on the internet, for free.

The rest of the book (over three quarters) is just a recipe book. Consumers paying £9.95 for 350 pages that could quite easily be condensed to 50 may feel ever so slightly ripped off.

Is The Alli Diet Plan Worth Buying

A tenner will not put too much of a hole in your weight loss budget, but it is a needless purchase.

As mentioned above, there is more than enough Alli information available for free on the internet. The 300 or so pages of recipes are not new or inspiring.

Where To Buy The Alli Diet Plan Book

Any high street shop that sell the Alli diet pill will most likely stock the book. Bookstores such as Waterstones, Wh Smith and Amazon also supply.

Alli Diet Pill

If you are thinking of trying the Alli diet pill it is  recommended to understand what it is and exactly what it does.

Read about Alli Diet Pills

________________________________________

Does Chitosan Work

Chitosan is not so much a slimming tablet brand but more a generic term

Chitosan is used as either a sole or an ingredient predominately found in over the counter non prescription fat blockers.

The non prescription slimming tablet market mainly comprises of herbal products produced from plant extracts – Chitosan, although natural, is derived from the exoskeletons of shellfish, it is a fibre complex consisting of extracts of shrimp and crab.

How Does Chitosan Work

As mentioned above, Chitosan is a fat blocker that can stop the absorption of a percentage of dietary fat from consumed food.

Chitosan Clinical Studies

Producers of Chitosan based slimming tablets have in the past been guilty of some  outrageous and unsubstantiated claims concerning its efficacy. Some unscrupulous  vendors are  claiming that you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight with very little exercise.

There is not an awful lot of conclusive evidence surrounding the fat blocker, not on humans anyway.

Most of the clinical study that has been undertaken has been carried out on animals – not humans, and so any long term health implications are far from conclusive.

Possible Side Effects Of Chitosan

To date, the possible short term side effects are very rare – some users may experience the following:

• Breathing problems
• Tightness in the throat and chest
• Hives, itching or skin problems
• Swelling of the ankles

The above reactions are rare but nonetheless exist – as mentioned above it is not the short term side effects that are of main concern but the potential,  largely unknown longer term.

Is Chitosan Worth The Risk

Slimming tablets that stop the absorption of fat are highly effective. Unfortunately Chitosan or any Chitosan based product is as yet unproven both from an effect and safety perspective.

For a guide to choosing effective and safe over the counter slimming tablets Click Here

_____________________________________________________

Big Brother Kinga And Alli Side Effects

Alli has been available to UK customers without prescription (over the counter) since early spring.

Real life comments, user experiences and testimonials are beginning to filter through.

Probably the first (semi) high profile story to surface is former Big Brother contestant Kinga Karolczak’s

Kinga was the larger than life star of Big Brother 2006.

In March of this year, Kinga was 10st 3lbs -  5ft tall and a size 14. She turned to Alli, the much publicized Miracle Slimming Tablet.

Previous diet attempts had not proven a success with the Cabbage Soup Diet and Slim-Fast failing miserably – she asked if she wanted to trial the new former prescription only diet drug Alli.

Two months on, Kinga has lost nearly a stone.

Miracle Slimming Tablets Made My Body Leak Fat

Alli has an awful lot positives surrounding it but one very embarrassing and rather unpleasant side effect may prove its undoing from a consumer perspective.

Alli (a fat blocker) works by preventing the fat in food from being absorbed. But this means the undigested fat must pass through the body, leading to the most unpleasant of side effects including flatulence and diarrhoea. More about Alli

Undigested fat is orange and gooey – Alli has the unfortunate habit of expelling this when and where it pleases.

“more oil would leak out every few days.”

Kinga’s overriding experience of Alli is not so much the weight loss but the side effect and the disruption it caused to her life.

Kinga explains how weight loss should not be at any cost “One morning, a week into taking the tablets, I woke up with a huge, dark yellow, oily stain all over my sheets. It was all over the seat of my pyjamas, too. Fat, which looked exactly like olive oil, had been leaking out of my bottom. It was disgusting…. more oil would leak out every few days”

The Big Brother star also explained how Alli put a dent in her lovelife  “I was constantly full of wind. My boyfriend Danny, 27, thought it was hilarious, as he’d never heard me break wind before, but it didn’t make me feel sexy. And the smell was unbearable”

Is Alli Worth The Risk

Alli has both sides of the coin covered it would seem – it does seem to do what is says on the tin, so long as you don’t mind the laundry bills.

Alternatives To Alli

Fat binders are very similar to fat blocking (Alli is a fat blocker) with the added advantage of binding with fat rather than blocking it completely.

Fat binders do not cause the runny leakage issue – undigested fat passes through the body in a solid state.

Proactol is possibly the most effective fat binder the UK has to offer. Proactol has been voted Best Fat Binder 2 years in succession by successful slimmers who participated in the Telegraph’s Best Ways To Lose Weight surveys. More about Proactol

______________________________________________