The Miracle Cure or Nightmare Drug? I. Introduction It is pretty safe to say that the majority of the population, if given the opportunity, would like to be in good physical shape. For men it’s the perfect “V” shape, with muscles so finely sculpted, Michelangelo himself would be hard-pressed to mold a finer figure out of clay. For women, the desired look is the “hour glass” figure, with voluptuous breasts, thin and firm abs, and sharply defined legs. Of all those who desire to have a great body (basically everyone), an even greater majority of these people would like to achieve this with as little effort as possible. Face it, it takes discipline and dedication to mold your body to this ideal shape, but who has either one of these virtues, let alone in combination? Recent developments in the biotechnological industry boast claims that there is now a way to lose weight, gain that perfect figure we all desire, and do it all with the simple drop of a pill into our bodies. These new weight-loss products are being advertised to shed “60 pounds in four weeks!” or some other, up until this point in time, ridiculous amount of weight in such a short time. What is the secret ingredient that these companies are using to make these pills? Are their claims legit or is this one big hoax to scam innocent people by taking advantage of a basic human weakness, the desire to be physically fit with little or no effort? The answers to these questions can be answered by asking yet another question, “What is ephedra?” II. What Is Ephedra? Ephedra is an herb native to central Asia, which can also be found under the name Ma Huang. Many people get confused about the difference between ephedra and ephedrine, but the answer to ... ... middle of paper ... ...tical diet in combination with exercise. [i] A Serious Supplemental Hazard http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/media/groundwarrior/issues/Summer01/serious.htm by Ltjg. Jeff Repass and HM3 Joseph Entrekin [ii] Weight Loss Thermogenesis http://www.betrimtoo.com/bthermo.htm BeTrimToo iii When the Heat is On…The Weight Come Off http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag98/dec98_heat.html LE Magazine December 1998 iv The Dangers of Ephedra http://www.healthierliving.org/alternative/ephedra1.html v Bohrer Law Firm http://www.bohrerlaw.com/ephedra.html by Philip Bohrer vi Ephedra Warnings http://www.healthierliving.org/alternative/ephedra3.html vii Herbs of Concern http://armypharmacy.org/ephedra.htm by COL Allen F. Almquist viii The Sporting News http://tsn.sportingnews.com/cfootball/articles/20010811/335294.html by Alan Abrahamson, August 11, 2001
Susie Orbach, a British psycho-therapist wrote an article called “Losing Bodies”, in which she focused on body shapes and how it had changed over the years. Simple terms such as hourglass, pear, straight and apple can be used as descriptive words, but it can also be the name of the four body shapes categories. These body shapes were generally used to differentiate the different shapes and sizes, however, nowadays women take it a lot more seriously. Women are losing confidence in themselves due to the heavily influence by the mass media and the widespread of Western cultures.
Imagine that it is a Friday night and you are up having a little midnight snack and watching some television. Feeling guilty for eating at such a late hour, you begin to flip through the stations when something catches your eye. It is an infomercial, and usually you just flip right through these, but for odd some reason you decide to watch this one. How could you possibly resist not watching? The commercial begins by showing gorgeous blondes in bikinis, and buff studs in speedos stuffing their faces with hamburgers, pizza, chips and everything that you know should not be eaten in quantity (if at all)! The amazing thing is that these “people” all have society’s ideal bodies. They are toned, tan, and thin in all of the right places. The commercial proceeds to boast how these women and men never exercise. They don’t need to because they take Enforma’s Exercise in a Bottle! Well now they have gotten your attention--look great, eat what you want and never exercise? It sounds way too good to be true! This is what miracle product, Exercise in a Bottle, will promise its potential buyers. But the questions, how does it work, what are they and how do its ingredients work, does it work, and are there any side effects are all key questions to be explored before taking Exercise in a Bottle. After I saw the commercial one night when I was up late snacking with my best friend, I admit that I was definitely tempted to pick up the phone and place an order. I even came close to falling into all of the hype and excitement surrounding this new product when I began my research, but after seeing a more scientific approach to the product, I have changed my mind.
Ephedrine is an over the counter herbal stimulant stemmed from the Chinese plant ma huang. The Chinese discovered this stimulant over two thousand years ago for the purpose of treating asthma, cold and flu symptoms, chills, lack of perspiration, headache, and edema. Ephedrine is presently found in herbal stimulants, prescription cold and flu remedies, and asthmatic aid products. Because it is a stimulant, ephedrine motivates thermogenesis in the body. This effect results in speeding up the heart rate causing the metabolism to expedite. Due to this increased metabolism, ephedrine can also be used as a weight loss supplement http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/ephedrine-final.htm
Throughout the centuries, notions about the female body have created and recreated the human form. This has resulted in many varieties of depictions of the female body and thoughts of what “beauty” is and how to represent the female body in different
Growing up, our parents are always telling us that doing drugs can have bad consequences in our lives. Many films in today’s film industry are portraying drugs as the cause of an amazing time accidently encouraging that the use of drugs is totally fine. Requiem for a Dream is directed by Darren Aronofsky. This film shows that utilizing drugs can be all fun in games, but will lead to a very destructive destruction that can affect the drug user and everyone in the addicts surrounding. The movie shows the struggle that four individuals go through to overcome such a strong drug addiction. Aronofsky was very creative when presenting the subject matter; he used certain cinematography, themes, and directorial techniques to tell the audience the story.
Body sculpting is a fast growing obsession and profession in many parts of today’s self-absorbed world, in which the importance of appearance is overly emphasized. Quickly obtaining muscle, mass, and ultimately reaching ones desired physique becomes hard to do when the standards for a perfectly sculpted body in todays society is becoming harder and harder to achieve. Advertisements using sex appeal rose from 15 to 27 percent in a 20 years period (Pappas). These advertisements constantly push images of photo shopped, unrealistically fit models, pressuring society to aim for unrealistic shapes and sizes. Paralleling the rise in sexy advertisements is the growth of sports products and nutritional supplement vending retail web sites.
Ephedra (common name) comes from the family Ephedraceae. It has several scientific names that depend upon the plants founding location; Ephedra major (American), Ephedra trifurca (American), Ephedra nevadensis (American) are found in North America; and Ephedra sinica (Chinese- Ma Huang) is found in Asia. Other varieties of Ephedra can be found in Europe, India, and Pakistan. Ephedra was initially found in a Neolithic grave in the Middle East. This evidence may indicate that Ephedra was used as a medicine more than 60,000 year ago. In China, Ephedra was the first herbal remedy to yield an active constituent, in this case ephedrine. The first isolation of ephedrine was in 1887, by a Japanese chemist, N. Nagai (2,5).
M.D. “Body Image: A Clouded Reality”. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self Knowledge 2.2 (2004): 58-65 pg. Web. 18 Nov 2013.
Down through time, during man’s ascendancy on this earth, we have had people who wielded power over us. It probably started out with the biggest and strongest of the group defying anyone in his tribe to stop him from telling them what to do, and backing it up with muscle and a big club.
Models of Rubens, Rembrandt, Gaugin and Matisse were all rounded, plump women.A plump and healthy women was admired as it reflected wealth and success.(14). Where as images of women have become slimmer since the 1950’s according to Jennifer A. (Australian journal of nutrition and dietetics).
Cause and Effect of the Fitness Movement. In our ever-changing society, the one common thread that now every American seems to possess is a desire to have a body that is not hour-glass (1950’s) nor waifish (1990’s), but one that is lean, trim, and can physically go the “extra mile”. I speculate that the all-around athletic look is so popular because it is probably one of the hardest body types to achieve. In earlier times, hour-glass figures were the product of genetics and corsets, and the emaciated Kate Moss look could simply be achieved by starvation.
Phentermine is one of the most effective weight-loss medications currently on the market. With it’s quick turn-around time, the medicine can easily be paired with healthy food and exercise to help turn someone’s health around. Almost everyone who has gone on the medication has lost weight, and they lost it quickly.
Every day people are becoming more and more concerned with their health and their appearance. Thanks to scientific research there are many remedies to improve the human body. As far as weight loss there is exercise, diets, pills, and different surgical procedures. Diet pills have become a very popular supplement to assist in weight loss, but with diet pills come many questions; are they safe, do they really work, and mainly if they are a good product or not. In order to know whether or not something a quality product, is to know how it works. The ingredients are very important and unfortunately not every diet pill has the same ingredients. There are multiple types of pills, with different effects, and conditions. There are three popular types of pills. There are appetite suppressors, metabolism regulators, and fat absorbing pills. Combining these effects into one pill with the correct usage creates positive results.
A supplement that is progressively becoming more popular in the United States are diet Pills. The purpose of consuming these pills is to help individuals lose weight in a easy manner. Diet pills come in many different variations that contributes to certain tasks in the body. Diet pills alone can have a dangerous effect on the body let alone being knowledgeable in knowing what diet pills are best for your body is very important. People who are consuming or looking into consuming diet pills often forget to look further into the product due to desperation. Everyone already knows that the best way to lose weight is by exercising and eating healthy; but since people are not taking that into consideration, it’s best to believe they are to the point
In today's society it seems that a woman's body is the main focal point in the media. We see the female body being portrayed as one of a model with unattainable measurements such as 36-24-36. All of this can be attributed to how our TV shows, movies, music videos, magazines, etc. portray the perfect female body. America and its' media need to begin portraying women with all types of figures. This would help greatly to widen our thoughts and definition of what beauty really is, not to mention greatly lesson the different types of health problems American citizens have as a result of today's unattainable beauty standards.