Do you know any of these ‘health nut’ people who swear they don’t take any prescription drugs and eat all organic foods yet pop all kinds of weird, manufactured ‘supplements’?  Maybe it’s you? If I can say anything about the vast array of eating and nutrition habits my friends and family adhere to, it’s that none, including my own, are completely logical.

In Milan I lived in a shared models apartment with anywhere from 0 to 5 other girls. And not like on these reality shows. We had Ikea furniture and the rest was up to us. Anyway, the gym down the street gave us free membership so we’d generally make an outing of it. On one occasion my health freak Mormon roommate popped a couple pills beforehand. She said it was an herbal supplement that made you burn more calories for the same amount of work. That sounded pretty good. I tossed one back. I mean, if it’s herbal why not?

Fast forward 45 minutes and I’m afraid to get off the elliptical machine. Literally afraid. I’m not sure I can stop. My heart is racing and my limbs are pumping and stopping seems like sticking your hand in a piston engine. I threw up on the way home. The herb was called Ephedra and the FDA banned its sale in 2004 for basically killing people, among other adverse effects. Which they should, because if you’re going to take speed you might as well take one that gets you high too. I mean really, what a waste of blood pressure and liver function.

Unfortunately it’s quite hard for the FDA to control these substances. Much lobbying and general BS mucking make every ban take years and there’s thousands of these herbal concoctions. Plus much of the actual manufacturing is done in China or other places with similar lax rules without any FDA inspections.

So if you’re planning on bulking up, trimming down, detoxing, meditating, or energizing, as least check out these dozen supplement ingredients listed by Consumer Reports as the worst of the worst for your health:

Aconite, Bitter Orange, Chaparral, Colloidal Silver, Coltsfoot, Comfrey, Country Mallow, Germanium, Greater Celandine, Kava, Lobelia, Yohimbe

Now, take care and check out the link because there’s other names for the same ingredients. Be well!

By the way, I don’t know who these guys are or if they ever took any supplements.