It is hard to turn on the T.V. and not see "perfect" people with perfect bodies. "If I just looked like that...." is how many of your thoughts might start after you open any magazine. "I wish..." is how many of us start our days when examining ourselves in the mirror. Advertisement has given American a stereotypical view on how "perfect" men and women are supposed to look. They give us an illusion that if our bodies looked like the models we would smile and skip through life or at least get the attention that we have yearned for. We then look to our options and diet pills seem to be the best choice. After all, they are legal and we can find them in any drugstore or supermarket. These pills that promise weight loss can't be so bad after all. Just think of the celebrities who endorse these products the latest being Kim Kardashian for QuickTrim.
We see two Kardashian sisters asking us if we want to be hot, if we want to have great bodies like they have. Of course, if you are a female the answer might be "Yes". Yes, we do want to look like these two celebrities who most likely have personal trainers and/or nutritionist telling them what to eat for their body type. Yes, we do want to look like these two celebrities who just before this commercial shot had makeup artists, hair dressers and maybe even a person spraying their bodies to make sure their tan was even. But, I do not think that these two sisters should be endorsing a product who's slogan is "Live the Dream" when the side effects of this product are as follows: Confusion, hallucinations, restlessness, aggression, nausea, diarrhoea, stomach pains, irregular heartbeat, tremors, fainting, breathing problems, convulsions.
Read the article written by Deborah Kotz for U.S. News to find out more about the side effects for each pill in the QuickTrim system.
Deborah Kotz interviews Adriane Fugh-Berman, a physician and associate professor in the complementary and alternative medicine master's degree program at Georgetown University Medical Center who states, "It irritates me that they're not saying how much caffeine is in these pills. If you pop a couple of these pills with your Starbucks coffee, that's not good; you could get caffeine poisoning, which can cause heart arrhythmias."
Basically Kim and Khloe and QuickTrim want you to live a dream. They want you to think that this product will make you look like a person who has the access to people that help them look the way they do whether it be because of a top chef, personal trainer or makeup artist. QuickTrim also wants the dream like cloudy affect to fog up your brain at the same time you go to Google to search the side effects of this fabulous drug that gives you "the power to reinvent yourself". But just scroll back up and look at the side effects. Do we really want to harm our body's for a dream? It is known that once you stop taking diet pills many people gain the weight right back.
"Certainly, you'll drop a few pounds on this plan, which is fine, says Fugh-Berman, as long as you don't mind putting them right back on after taking the dress to the cleaners."
Once the dream is over you cannot take back what you have done to your insides. I understand how sexy and dreamy these commercials might be. I also understand the need, even more the want, that some of us might have to look like people we see in advertisements but that is not the norm. It is sad to think that celebrities promote products that could have serious side effects to the user. Let's not fall into the trap of thinking that we all have to look the same to be special, important or sexy. We need to celebrate our differences and IF we are really unhappy with our appearance there is no reason that we cannot eat healthy or exercise to get to where we want to be. Having a healthy body should be more important to us then having a "perfect" model-like body. We are always looking for the quick way out, which is where diet pills may come into play, but we should not look for the easy path when we are talking about our health.
Please step out of this diet pill, skinny model dream and create your own dream. Create a dream where you are Kim and the sexy music is playing in the background, but this time imagine YOU with a healthy body that you created through healthy eating and exercise. Dream about your sexy body no matter what size it is because that is the body that you will have created after doing the right thing for your self-esteem and for the only body you will have the rest of your life.
"Don't rely on someone else for your happiness and self worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can't love and respect yourself - no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are - completely; the good and the bad - and make changes as YOU see fit - not because you think someone else wants you to be different." ---Stacey Carter
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