Diet & Fitness Blog
Useless Weight-Loss Gadgets!
Email Page
By Glenn Mueller
eDiets Senior Writer/Editor
It doesn't seem to be mentioned in the hit song from the early '80s, but maybe the real reason Corey Hart wears his sunglasses at night is to keep his appetite under control. If you've been following the latest headlines, you'll know that a Japanese company is currently marketing a special line of sunglasses to help dieters lose weight. (As the popular humorist Dave Barry is fond of saying, "I am NOT making this up!")
The Japanese company, Yumetai, claims their magic glasses work in two ways:
- Since the lenses are blue, they make food look extremely unappetizing. The company claims that the color blue suppresses the appetite sensors in the brain.
- The lenses also block red light, which is said to stimulate the appetite center in the brain.
And to think, all this time I thought the secret to losing weight was to burn off more calories than you take in. I have been wasting valuable time trying to follow a healthy meal plan and get to the gym, when all I really have to do is wear blue sunglasses. Where do I sign up?! I'll wear two pairs at the same time... that way, I'll be sure to lose twice as much weight.
Oh well. In a culture obsessed with instant gratification, I guess it is not surprising that companies keep marketing absurd diet gadgets. After all, they wouldn't keep creating them unless people were buying them. As the great P.T. Barnum once said, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Now, I'm tempted to say that weight-loss sunglasses are the most ridiculous weight-loss product of all time, but I know they have stiff competition. There have been slippers, earrings, patches and even insoles for shoes that were marketed to help people lose weight. Not to mention sauna suits, soaps, stimulating electrodes and vibrating belts.
What do you think is the most useless weight loss gadget of all time? Place your vote by leaving a comment below.
Comment by 
Robert @ SuperSaunaSuits.com said... - Tuesday, April 22, 2008 11:20:00 AM
I agree about the validity of most of the aforementioned tools ("gadgets"). However, at least one of them does help to shed weight - sauna suits. The weight loss is from water-loss, which can be replaced by drinking more water, the "proven" advantage is the removal of toxins and a dermal cleansing.
Sauna suits DO work, if used with common sense. I wouldn't consider them to be a "gadget", or the answer to instant weight-loss, a dangerous idea in and of itself.
Have you ever tried one?
Comment by said... - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 3:38:00 PM
How is buying a pair of sunglasses that I KNOW will make food look less appealing going to stop my craving for...say...chips or ice cream? Duh...
Comment by said... - Thursday, April 24, 2008 7:13:00 AM
Not really a gadget, but I remember an exercise video infomercial in which the 'satisfied customers' kept saying it was so easy, all you had to do was "just push play." WATCHING all the exercise videos won't do squat--you gotta DO them and with your VERY best effort!
RSS/XML
