by Sarah Copeland

Created on: May 21, 2007

The diet craze in this country is out of control! Every other commercial, every other spam e-mail, and pop-ups galore - all pushing the latest, greatest diet plan. And if those are not about Atkin's diet, South Beach diet, Jenny Craig diet, or Best Life diet, they're trying to push some kind of diet pill like Zantrex and Relacore. I am going to explain why all of these diet fads are scams, preying upon the lazy and desperate.

No Exercise Required

One of the biggest selling points these fad diets want us to believe is the one where they tell us that you don't need to exercise or work out. They advertise that all you have to do is "eat the food" or "take the pill" and the balanced meal plan or their patented formula will take care of the rest.

The worst perpetrators of this scam are the diets that send you food. So, not only do you not have to maintain an exercise routine, you also don't have to exert yourself in order to go grocery shopping. What if the person participating in one of these kinds of diets doesn't work? How are they burning off those calories?

Diet plans, whether it be pills or meal plans, are pandering to the laziness in all of us. Instead of encouraging us to create a healthy lifestyle that incorporates necessary exercise and healthful foods, they set us up for failure by telling us that exercise is essentially obsolete. They know that if they advertised that we actually have to work for it, they wouldn't sell half as many memberships or pills as they do now.

Keep an eye on the bottom of the screen when you see a commercial for any type of diet scam. All of them have a little disclaimer in tiny print that says "results are not typical". If everyone could just sit around, eat, pop a pill, and lose weight, they wouldn't need that disclaimer.

Not For the Casual Dieter

We've all seen those commercials with the techno dance music playing in the background, peddling their fancy diet pills that have been "scientifically proven" (but yet can't ever get approved by the FDA). These diet pills are supposed to give you large amounts of energy and greatly increase your metabolism. You do not have to change how you eat and you don't have to work out as long as you take this diet pill. But watch out! These are NOT for the casual dieter and should only be taken by those who have tried everything and still have significant weight to lose.

Similar to the "send you food" diet plans, the anti-casual dieter diet pills are marketed to lazy folks who want the weight to come

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