If you're female, if you hit the grocery store from time to time and, you happen to be carrying a few extra pounds (there are a lot of us out there) then you no doubt fall prey as I tend to do, to the endless array of magazines and products directed at people just like you and I to lose weight.
Drop a pound a day, lose twenty pounds by Thanksgiving, walk your way to a smaller jean size - you've seen the headlines. If not I have a huge collection of magazines I can share. Whether it's the promising looking pictures or the captivating headlines, they seem to lure me in every time I stand in line waiting to pay.
Everybody wants a quick fix and an easy route to having that perfect body, or at least a healthier body so when see something that may have the potential to help us, it's sometimes tough to just leave it be.
But do all these things that are being thrown at us work? The answer to that question would be a resounding 'NO'. Of course some tips and some products will do what they say but as a general rule there are no quick fixes and no tangible results without some effort on your part.
I guess that's why I was pleased when I read earlier this week that a Canadian distributor is being fined and ordered to pay back it's customers for misleading them into thinking a little jar of cream was the answer to all their cellulite issues.
On Wednesday it was announced the distributor of Nivea products has been fined $300,000 and it will also have to pay back its customers who purchased a cream called My Silhouette which the company claimed the use of will make your body slender and more toned. Both on the package and on the website there were claims that stated by using My Silhouette it could lead to "a reduction of up to three centimetres on targeted body parts such as thighs, hips, waist and stomach... My Silhouette combines high performance active ingredients for a duel effect of slimming and reshaping."
Hmmm... now if it were true, I'd take a case! But unfortunately it's not and a lot of hopeful women forked out a lot of cash for something that did not deliver.
It's not right under any circumstance to take advantage of someone who is vulnerable and it's good to see at least in this instance, that something will be done to right the wrong.
There are a lot of 'quick fix' gimmicks out there but sadly in the end, it all boils down to healthier eating and more exercise. Boring but true.
