I see so many people ask, “Is there a safe diet pill that I can take to lose weight or curb my appetite?”  All diet drugs have some type of risk involved, including taxing the heart even more than it already is from the extra weight.  Common side effects from weight loss pills include:  dizziness, headache, insomnia, hypertension, irritability, tremor and dependence. If you get chest pain, psychosis, swelling in the hands or feet or lightheadedness, stop taking the pills and call the doctor or 9-1-1.

I do understand the desire to lose weight and to lose it NOW!  I am very impatient and want results in short order, but what I don’t understand is why we overlook the importance of eating healthy and learning how to eat healthy instead of immediately reaching for the next best diet pill?  Diet pills don’t teach us how to eat, so there is this vicious cycle of taking pills to get the weight off, ceasing the pills, going back to our old ways of eating, and are then surprised when the weight creeps back on and start the vicious cycle all over again by trying a new diet pill.

Here are some tips to curb appetite:  exercise, be sure to get your daily recommended dose of fiber, drink water (ice water preferably to speed up your metabolism), find an activity to perform instead of reaching for food - journal, take a walk, talk on the phone, and best of all, if you’re hungry - eat!  You don’t have to eat everything in the frig.  Eat a light snack - yogurt, fruit, veggies.  If you’re looking for chocolate, eat 2 Hershey’s Kisses.