We’ve seen them before: falsely inflated promises by some fitness or nutrition company, claiming their product will change your life. Unfortunately, our industry is flooded with ill advice, often confusing consumers of what is actually healthy. So…how do you know what to listen to or trust?

First: Read the fine print. At the bottom of almost every advertisement, there are some important details consumers should read regarding the product. If you haven’t already heard, there is a new weight loss system called SENSA®, “which was designed to work with your sense of smell to help trigger Sensory Specific Satiety”. Although they claim “the scientific principle behind SENSA® is remarkably simple”, they don’t want you to know the fine print they legally have to include at the bottom of the advertisement: “Some Sensa users depicted lost more than 30.5lbs by using Sensa longer than 6 months and/or following a sensible diet and/or exercise regimen.” The key here being, “and/or”…which implies that all individuals who lost weight did so by increasing their activity levels and improving their diet…NOT through Sensa alone.

Second: Listen/read carefully. A recent commercial was released for 5 hour energy, where they claimed that “Of the 500 online and 2,500 in-person [physician interviews], over 73% said they would recommend a low calorie energy supplement to their healthy patients who use energy supplements.” If you are like most people, and multitasking while watching TV, you may have missed the most important part of this statement: “who use energy supplements”. Of course the physicians are going to recommend the lower calorie option to their patients…figuring that if their patient is going to use energy supplements, at least they can buy the lower calorie options, making it a slightly “healthier” choice.

Third: Check their sources. Most companies have caught on and know that if they claim that their product is backed by research, they will be more profitable. You’ll commonly hear companies using catchy phrases such as “a recent university study showed”, which is unfortunately, a really good marketing tool. Most people will hear this and think, “if a University supports this product, I don’t see why I can’t”. The problem with most of those studies is the quality of the research. With a sample size of 10 and volunteers being made up of mostly young, healthy, college students, it’s hard to claim the results will be similar in other populations. Even worse, if a product doesn’t provide any research to support their claims, then that should tell you something (i.e. it may not be a good idea to use this product).

Fourth: Think critically. Simply put-if a product seems too good to be true, it probably is. The “shake weight” is a great, hilarious might I add, example of a product that is too good to be true. With claims such as “get results in just six minutes a day”, it’s no one people are interested in trying the product. Anytime a company offers a “quick fix”, the general public will be tempted to buy it. BUT….don’t be fooled. Good old fashioned weight lifting can give you the same results with half the embarrassment.

Hopefully we’ve given you a few tips on how to sift through the plethora of fitness information that you come across. If you’ve been following Smart Fit Chicks, you know that it is our mission to provide research based health and fitness information to the general public, with a particular focus on females. In other words, we want to help clear up an otherwise confusing field. With that said, any time you have a topic you’d like discussed or question you want answered, contact us-we’d love to hear from you!