Fat burners

Stimulant drugs commonly abused in the USA include methamphetamine ("crank," "crystal"), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy"), and cocaine ("crack") as well as pharmaceuticals such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) and ephedrine (as such and in the herbal agent Ma-huang) (see Chapter 32). Caffeine is often added to dietary supplements sold as "metabolic enhancers" or "fat-burners" and is also sometimes combined with pseudoephedrine in underground pills sold as amphetamine substitutes. 

What if you could put the benefits of tough exercise in a pill and sell it Supplement companies claim to have done just this. Pharmacies, health food stores, and the Internet are flooded with countless products claiming to help the body get rid of fat. So, do they work As with all supplements, that s an ongoing matter of debate. Fat burners and metabolism boosters are labeled "dietary supplements," since the FDA has yet to approve a medicine for this purpose. 

Chromium is a mineral found naturally in foods. It is an essential nutrient. It helps control blood sugar, and this makes it important in diabetes and heart disease research. Studies on chromium as a fat burner haven t shown that it actually burns fat. In general, studies have come up with no evidence, or have had mixed results. Furthermore, too much of the mineral can be toxic. (This is highly unlikely from food alone, but quite possible with supplements.) Users can suffer kidney, liver, muscle, and bone marrow damage from taking in too much chromium. 

Also, cattle fed on fatty foods such as coconut oil lost weight. And do not give up rich, meaty foods such as steak, eggs, prime ribs, lobster, bacon, etc. Instead of a carbohydrate burner, turn your body into a fat burner. In a way, the proposed diet is similar to Dr. Atkins low-carbohydrate diet, which in turn was similar to the thesis of the book titled Calories Don t Count, igniting a controversy that once ended up in court with a judgment against the book s authors. But it was a different world back then, in the 1960s. 

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