Sensa sprinkles sound great but…
May 31st, 2010
I have to admit to a guilty pleasure; I love watching infomercials—especially the ones that sell weight loss products because I get to analyze them and pick them apart. Not only that, but I also get a good laugh because I find it hilarious how almost all of them (including Sensa) use the same ridiculous marketing ploy to create buying impulses:
- You don’t have to make any changes to your current lifestyle!
- You don’t have to exercise to get a beach-ready body!
- You can eat whatever you want—no dieting necessary!
All you have to do is (insert their B.S. claim here) and the pounds will magically melt away right before your eyes!
I have two words for them: If only! (I bet you thought they were two different words—maybe they should be!)
After almost two decades of researching and trying just about everything known to man to lose weight and carve out a six-pack, these statements still give me mixed feelings. On one hand they make me laugh because they’re so ridiculous, but on the other hand, they make me mad because I know they’re tricking people into thinking they can lose weight and keep it off with a bottle of lies—or in this case, a little package of sprinkles.
If you’re not familiar with the product, Sensa was developed by a doctor named Alan Hirsch and is actually very different from most others. Unlike most diet pills that claim to melt fat or speed up our metabolism, this one boasts the ability to decrease our appetite by getting our hypothalamus to release hormones that suppress hunger.
In most instances, a doctor creating a weight loss product would give it greater credibility because we always want to assume that doctors have our best interest at heart. In this case, however, it does more harm than good because they display—and even encourage people—to continue eating all the unhealthy foods that created their problem in the first place.
Overall, Sensa sounds like a great concept if it works as well as they claim, which I highly doubt. But even then, there are still a number of issues this product creates:
1) Since you’re not altering the underlying habits that caused the weight gain in the first place, you have to continue using the sprinkles (assuming they actually work) to maintain your results. Can you say “dependency”?
2) Eating poor quality foods—like the ones displayed in the infomercial—leaves you feeling tired, fatigued and gives you short bursts of energy that cause you to eventually crash. That means eating less would make you feel even worse!
3) Most people who eat “the foods they love” lack the correct amounts of vitamins, minerals and life-giving nutrients their bodies need to function properly. That means eating less would leave them even more undernourished!
4) In spite of the amount we eat, certain foods inhibit our body’s natural ability to use fat as energy because they stimulate so much insulin—sugar-laden and processed foods specifically. (Like the pancakes, pizza and burger with fries in the infomercial!)
5) Becoming dependent on products to provide us with a result puts us in the mindset of looking for shortcuts and miracle cures instead of actually resolving our issues.
6) Products that are marketed like Sensa convince us that we’ve been working too hard and are putting forth too much effort to lose weight. This approach mentally weakens us and conditions us to give up when we’re faced with challenges.
7) Short-term solutions = short-term results instead of permanent ones!
Categories: Get Back on Track, Weight Loss
