Diet Pills Essay, Research Paper

In today’s materialistic driven society, people are judged in every possible

aspect. From their appearance, background, social status, way or thinking to

their friends, families. The need to be accepted and admired by others

captivates the minds of many men and women of today. This conquest for social

acceptance becomes so real that the idea then becomes an obsession. The way we

look plays a big role in our lives. It determines the way others see us and from

that, it will then determine how we feel about ourselves. One major proponent of

appearance is our weight. Do you ever notice that the most admired and said to

be most popular girls in school are the sexiest, slimmest and most flaunting

girls? They are the ones that upon passing by make the guys stop and take a

second look. Not only that but this applies to men as well. The most

heart-throbbed, crushed on guys are those with firm-cut bods, most of the time

carrying footballs or basketballs. From these observations, it becomes a known

fact, not only for the young generation, that men and women are obsessed with

their weights. And why not?? Whenever you turn on the television or open a

magazine all you see are beautiful people flaunting their beautiful bodies. This

constant images of seeing sexy idealistic people implants a message in our minds

that this is the way all men/women should look in order to be beautiful. And

because of this, we subject ourselves to abusing our health and bodies just so

we can be like those perfect images. As early as I can recall, there have been

ways and tactics created by man to loose weight as fast as they can. The faster

and easier, the better. In the past three years, there has been an abundant

intrusion of "diet pills" that has hit the Philippines. The first one

that hit was an appetite suppressant drug called Ionamin. It apparently

stimulates the brain’s appetite-control center into thinking that your stomach

is always full. It is an effective weight loss drug that enables one to lose the

weight desired in a short amount of time. Consequently, the drug was found to

have unpleasant adverse side effects. These are: mood changes, blurred vision,

unpleasant taste or dry mouth, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, urinary

urgency, false sense of well-being. It was a non-prescription drug easily that

could easily be bought by anyone until studies showed much side effects very

harmful to one’s health. Next and still quite popular with the public are Bankok

pills. These pills are so in demand in the Philippines that people are willing

to pay thousands of pesos for just a 2week supply of those pills and further,

they are bought through connections because they are not just sold anywhere in

any drugstore. This drug taken morning and night somehow also works as a

appetite suppressant but the way it gets rid of your unwanted excess weight is

by taking it out through your bodily fluids. In other words, when inducing the

drug you are subjected to constant urination. It takes out so much that it also

takes out the liquids that your body needs to maintain itself. Your urine will

turn into a clear almost like water appearance from the usual yellow color. This

will then cause and leave you feeling dehydrated. In my opinion, using bankok

pills for weight reduction may work fast but the results are ill looking. The

weight that you loose will leave you looking dry and malnutritioned. Basically

you will look unhealthy and ugly. Recently, a new drug was introduced in the

weight loss market, Xenical, the generic name for Orlistat. This is an

anti-obesity agent manufactured by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. It is a lipase

inhibitor for obesity management that acts by inhibiting the absorption of

dietary fats. This drug on the other hand, disposes unwanted body fats by

secreting it through your feces coming out in the form of oil. Sometimes your

"poop" will even just seep through as all oil. Also, throughout the

days of treatment, you will experience oil-spotting discharges. This drug is a

prescription drug used to cure obesity for medical purposes so there are still

studies to make as to how the drug will affect people who just take the drug for

quick diet purposes. But like all drugs there is a good possibility that it

could be harmful to us when taken ignorantly. Subjecting yourself to habit

forming diet pills that are bad for your health so that you can reach the weight

and look you want is not the proper way. Also, once you stop using the pill you

will quickly gain twice as much as you lost in the first place, faster than you

can make it back to the store to buy some more pills. The one who looks good or

feels good about themselves doesn?t necessarily have to be the thinnest one in

the group. In fact nowadays people with curves are the ones who are thought of

as sexy. I mean, if you are to put your arms around someone, would you want to

hold a bag of bones or hold someone who is soft and who actually has something

to be held? And besides, what makes a person beautiful is the person as a whole.

Their mind, personality, attitude?being in his or herself! Of course

maintaining the proper weight is always good but doing it the right way like

exercising and eating right is a better healthier way to do it. In that case

your body will also slowly but effectively condition itself to eating right and

working out regularly so that your body will remain healthy and maintain itself

at the proper weight you desire. So if I were you, don?t be an empty-headed

person who would harm themselves just so that they can look good for other

people who don?t even admire them for their inner being but for how they look

in a bathing suit.