Talking About Green

A lot of people these days are looking for ways to improve their overall health, and in this respect organics can really deliver.  In addition to providing you with a chemical-free alternative to the products you buy regularly, you might be surprised to learn just how many areas organics now encompass.  Not only can you find produce that is grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides and meats raised without hormones and antibiotics; you can also get organic textiles for clothing and use in your home, organic cleaning agents, and as the title of this article suggests, organic weight loss supplements.  Although the term “weight-loss supplements” may automatically bring to mind thoughts of potentially harmful herbal products like ephedrine diet pills, you should know that there are all kinds of natural supplements that can deliver a one-two punch for better health by helping you to lose excess pounds without the addition of chemical toxins.  Here are just a few reasons you might want to opt for organic supplements.

Savvy shoppers might be a little bit skeptical about herbal supplements in general.  This is largely due to the fact that they’re unregulated, which means there is no system in place to ensure that safety testing has been done and that what you see on the label is actually in the bottle.  Further, many supplements claim to be “natural”.  All this really means is that the components are naturally occurring.  It doesn’t offer any guarantee that they won’t harm you or damage your health in some way.  Magic mushrooms occur naturally, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to ingest them.  Further, the term “natural” has no legal recognition, so a manufacturer’s idea of a natural product could be totally different from yours.

Organic, on the other hand, is a term that carries some legal weight.  Companies that wish to use this term have to adhere to strict guidelines and display a USDA Certified organic label on their packaging.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that there are any controls in place to ensure that the product does what it says, but it certainly lets you know that the ingredients included don’t have any additional chemical content that could pollute your body (and the environment).  Of course, products can claim to be organic, but without certification, you can reasonably expect that while they might have some organic ingredients (identifiable by the word “organic” before each ingredient on the label), they haven’t included a high enough percentage to obtain certification.

In terms of weight-loss supplements, organic is probably the best way to go and there’s solid reasoning behind it.  First and foremost, you don’t know what included chemicals are really doing to your body.  With all the hype about free radicals and cancer permeating the media these days, you’re probably better off avoiding toxins wherever possible, especially when you’re working so hard to reach a better state of overall health through reaching and maintaining a prescribed weight.  But even beyond that, plants grown with chemicals are a source of planetary pollution, which means that you’re getting a double whammy of chemical consumption (as toxins seep into the water supply and the air).  By choosing organics in all areas of life (including your supplements), you can help yourself and your fellow man.