Before you waste your money and your time on the latest diet gimmick, use the old rule, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

*There are no creams that will dissolve fat.

*Magnets placed over an acupuncture point don't cause weight loss.

*Eating collagen before you sleep does not make your body burn fat.

*Fat absorbers (chitin products) bind to small amounts of fat, but they cost about $35 to block the amount of fat in a Big Mac.

*Pills or anything that promises to get rid of cellulite are useless because cellulite doesn't exist. It's just plain fat.

*Products that remove water (diuretics) or empty your colon (laxatives or colon cleansers) can cause you to drop several pounds in a day or two, but this is strictly temporary and does not remove any fat. You do not need to "cleanse" or "remove toxic waste products" to lose weight or for any other reason. Prolonged use of diuretics or laxatives can be dangerous.

*The only function of a body wrap is to make you sweat, and thus lose water. They claim you will lose 14 inches in 2 hours? So you lose 1/4" in the circumference of your legs through dehydration; they measure each leg, your waist, your hips, your arms, etc., 30 places and voila you've lost 14 inches. You can get the same effect if you take the measurements before you go to sleep at night and after you wake up in the morning. Water loss is not fat loss. Here's their guarantee: "The inches will stay off unless you regain the weight." They don't tell you -- OF COURSE you will regain the weight as soon as you drink water.

*Most products that claim to "rev up your metabolism" or "burn fat" contain stimulants. Many plants contain stimulants, and you will get the same effect from "natural" or herbal weight loss products that you get from drinking huge amouts of coffee or tea. Stimulants cause you to burn more calories and you will lose weight at first, but you need to take more and more as the days go by, and they can cause unpleasant, even dangerous side effects.

The only ways to lose weight (without surgery or prescription medications) are:

1) Take in fewer calories,
2) Burn more calories, or
3) Both.

*All of the popular diet books, regardless of the "scientific" explanations they give, recommend menus that give you 1500-1800 calories or less per day, and for most people this means you will be taking in fewer calories. You can lose weight on any of them, but ask yourself: Is this a way of eating I can follow for the rest of my life? (If not, you will regain the weight as soon as you go back to your old eating habits.) And do the foods they tell me to eat supply all the nutrients my body needs? Most people can eliminate foods and food groups for a short time without any harm, but eventually you will create deficiencies if you do not eat a wide variety of foods, with lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and other seeds.

Don't believe that you can make up for what's missing in your diet with vitamin pills or any other supplements: a lousy diet with supplements is a lousy diet.