You can’t turn on the television or skim through a magazine without seeing an ad for diet pills. In fact, if you Google “diet pills,” you get over nine million results. However, even though they are very accessible, that doesn’t mean that you should take them.

Consider Your Heart

A large number of weight loss pills have ingredients in them that are meant to speed up your metabolism. This also increases your heart rate, putting you at risk for cardiovascular issues even if you felt relatively okay before you started taking them.

Ephedra is a good example of this as many people were taking this particular diet pill when they were trying to lose weight, but some of them lost more than they bargained for – their life. It is said to have caused both fatal and non-fatal heart attacks and strokes, which is the reason it is now banned in countries like the United States.

Unnatural Fillers

In addition to containing substances that aren’t good for you heart, a majority of them also have a variety of unnatural ingredients that don’t necessarily go along with a healthy diet. And it isn’t always clear what effect they have on your body, so you’re better off without them.

They Are Addictive

Diet pills can be just as addictive as other drugs, which makes them a poor thing to take when you’re striving for better health. After all, you wouldn’t do cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamines to get healthy, so don’t take diet drugs in an attempt to get your body healthy either.

They Address Symptoms Only

Taking diet pills may help you lose weight, but they won’t help you keep it off because you haven’t changed the behaviors that allowed you to gain weight in the first place. So, when you quit taking them, you’ll likely gain back the weight you’ve lost – and then some.

Do yourself a favor and stay away from diet pills. Why risk bad health in the name of good health? It kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?