Carb Blocker Review
Carb blockers are weight loss pills that work by preventing many of the carbohydrates you eat from ever being absorbed into your bloodstream. In this diet pill review, we’ll find out how these diet pills work and discuss their effectiveness for different types of dieters.
How Carb Blockers Work
Carbohydrate is really just another word for sugar. Complex carbohydrates, also called starches, are simply chains of sugar molecules strung together. On its own, a starch molecule is basically of no use to you. Your body has to first break down that large molecule into the sugars that it is made of before you can absorb it into your bloodstream and make any kind of use of it. At that point, you will either use it for immediate energy or convert it into fat for storage.
Your digestive tract produces a natural enzyme called alpha-amylase, which breaks down the long molecular chains of complex carbohydrates into the simple sugar that your body can actually use. Carb blockers are diet pills that work by neutralizing this enzyme. Since longer-chain carbohydrates cannot be absorbed into your blood until they have been broken down into sugar, they simply pass through your intestines and are harmlessly expelled.
What this means is that, when you take carbohydrate-blocking diet pills, much of the starch that you eat will never be absorbed. It will not affect your blood-sugar levels, will not be stored as fat, nada. You win.
However, this also means that carb blockers will not have any effect on your absorption of actual sugars. So your sweet treats will still make you fat, but your breads and french fries will not have as much impact on you as they otherwise would have. That is why carb blockers are probably the best diet pills available for low-carb dieters who just can’t help their cheating ways.
You should also understand that the human body naturally contains millions of bacteria, and many of them live within the digestive tract and will tend to go to work on anything you’ve eaten that your own upper digestive process didn’t finish. Some of these bacteria are capable of breaking down complex carbohydrates, and so some of your undigested starches will be consumed by these intestinal flora. Generally there are two by-products of this bacterial digestive process, one of which is actually quite good, and one of which is maybe not so good. The first thing I mention is a type of fat found in dairy which seems to have some beneficial effects on the metabolism. The other side effect of carb blockers is good old fashioned gas. So you’ll probably be a little gassy when you take carb blockers. Some people experience this worse than others, and my impression is that the effect usually lessens over time. On the bright side, this is the only side effect you’re likely to experience from taking carb blockers.
What’s in a Carb Blocker?
The diet pills themselves contain a simple white kidney bean extract called phaseolamin. This ingredient has been pretty well tested, and from the research I’ve seen phaseolamin is every bit as safe as plain old white kidney beans are, which is very safe. Diet pills that work through the action of this white kidney bean extract are marketed under a number of different brand names. The most common brand name is Phase 2, which I think is a play on the word phaseolamin. Some of the brand names you’ll see out there are:
- Now Foods Phase 2 Starch Neutralizer
- Natrol Carb Intercept
- Doctor’s Diet Carb Block
- Absolute Nutrition CBlock
- Baywood Carb Eliminator
- Health & Nutrition Carb Cutter
- Accuslim Carb Blocker
- Swanson Ultra
Ultimate Carb Control C-120X
All of these are the exact same white kidney bean extract, as far as I can tell.
Who can benefit from carb blockers?
I’ve already mentioned that carb blockers are pretty much the ideal diet pill for low carb dieters, simply because a low carb diet is all about avoiding carbs, and this diet pill is all about preventing carbs from being absorbed. the way I see it, even a strict low carb dieter who has willpower to spare could benefit from these supplements, since many delicious and nutritious vegetable foods that are generally allowed on a low carb diet still contain some carbs. Carb blockers could help to weed out these incidental carbs, making a strict low carb diet into a super low carb diet with very little additional effort. The idea with a low carb diet, after all, is that the fewer carbs you can manage the better off you’ll be.
However, I also think that pretty much any dieter can see some benefit from blocking their carbohydrate absorption. After all, carbohydrates contain calories, and most dieters would rather have fewer calories going in. So, carb blockers seem like a pretty safe and easy way for folks on low fat or low calorie diets to reduce their overall caloric intake without really sacrificing anything. Sounds like a winner to me.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that although these diet pills work by blocking carbohydrates, they are probably not a total replacement for a low carb diet. Even the more optimistic manufacturers only claim about 60% effectiveness for their carbohydrate blocking supplements, meaning that about 40% of the carbs you eat will still be digested and absorbed. Still, that is certainly enough effectiveness to make a big difference even for someone who simply took these diet pills and made no other dietary changes. On the whole, though, you’ll always do best by eating a healthy diet—whatever that might mean to you and your doctor—and by exercising regularly. Once you’ve made those lifestyle changes, I think your likely to find carb blockers to be a diet pill that works right along with your overarching diet program.
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Carb blockers are weight loss pills that work by preventing many of the carbohydrates you eat from ever being absorbed into your bloodstream. In this diet pill review, we’ll find out how these diet pills work and discuss their effectiveness for different types of dieters.
How Carb Blockers Work
Carbohydrate is really just another word for sugar. Complex carbohydrates, also called starches, are simply chains of sugar molecules strung together. On its own, a starch molecule is basically of no use to you. Your body has to first break down that large molecule into the sugars that it is made of before you can absorb it into your bloodstream and make any kind of use of it. At that point, you will either use it for immediate energy or convert it into fat for storage.
Your digestive tract produces a natural enzyme called alpha-amylase, which breaks down the long molecular chains of complex carbohydrates into the simple sugar that your body can actually use. Carb blockers are diet pills that work by neutralizing this enzyme. Since longer-chain carbohydrates cannot be absorbed into your blood until they have been broken down into sugar, they simply pass through your intestines and are harmlessly expelled.
What this means is that, when you take carbohydrate-blocking diet pills, much of the starch that you eat will never be absorbed. It will not affect your blood-sugar levels, will not be stored as fat, nada. You win.
However, this also means that carb blockers will not have any effect on your absorption of actual sugars. So your sweet treats will still make you fat, but your breads and french fries will not have as much impact on you as they otherwise would have. That is why carb blockers are probably the best diet pills available for low-carb dieters who just can’t help their cheating ways.
You should also understand that the human body naturally contains millions of bacteria, and many of them live within the digestive tract and will tend to go to work on anything you’ve eaten that your own upper digestive process didn’t finish. Some of these bacteria are capable of breaking down complex carbohydrates, and so some of your undigested starches will be consumed by these intestinal flora. Generally there are two by-products of this bacterial digestive process, one of which is actually quite good, and one of which is maybe not so good. The first thing I mention is a type of fat found in dairy which seems to have some beneficial effects on the metabolism. The other side effect of carb blockers is good old fashioned gas. So you’ll probably be a little gassy when you take carb blockers. Some people experience this worse than others, and my impression is that the effect usually lessens over time. On the bright side, this is the only side effect you’re likely to experience from taking carb blockers.
What’s in a Carb Blocker?
The diet pills themselves contain a simple white kidney bean extract called phaseolamin. This ingredient has been pretty well tested, and from the research I’ve seen phaseolamin is every bit as safe as plain old white kidney beans are, which is very safe. Diet pills that work through the action of this white kidney bean extract are marketed under a number of different brand names. The most common brand name is Phase 2, which I think is a play on the word phaseolamin. Some of the brand names you’ll see out there are:
- Now Foods Phase 2 Starch Neutralizer
- Natrol Carb Intercept
- Doctor’s Diet Carb Block
- Absolute Nutrition CBlock
- Baywood Carb Eliminator
- Health & Nutrition Carb Cutter
- Accuslim Carb Blocker
- Swanson Ultra
Ultimate Carb Control C-120X
All of these are the exact same white kidney bean extract, as far as I can tell.
Who can benefit from carb blockers?
I’ve already mentioned that carb blockers are pretty much the ideal diet pill for low carb dieters, simply because a low carb diet is all about avoiding carbs, and this diet pill is all about preventing carbs from being absorbed. the way I see it, even a strict low carb dieter who has willpower to spare could benefit from these supplements, since many delicious and nutritious vegetable foods that are generally allowed on a low carb diet still contain some carbs. Carb blockers could help to weed out these incidental carbs, making a strict low carb diet into a super low carb diet with very little additional effort. The idea with a low carb diet, after all, is that the fewer carbs you can manage the better off you’ll be.
However, I also think that pretty much any dieter can see some benefit from blocking their carbohydrate absorption. After all, carbohydrates contain calories, and most dieters would rather have fewer calories going in. So, carb blockers seem like a pretty safe and easy way for folks on low fat or low calorie diets to reduce their overall caloric intake without really sacrificing anything. Sounds like a winner to me.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that although these diet pills work by blocking carbohydrates, they are probably not a total replacement for a low carb diet. Even the more optimistic manufacturers only claim about 60% effectiveness for their carbohydrate blocking supplements, meaning that about 40% of the carbs you eat will still be digested and absorbed. Still, that is certainly enough effectiveness to make a big difference even for someone who simply took these diet pills and made no other dietary changes. On the whole, though, you’ll always do best by eating a healthy diet—whatever that might mean to you and your doctor—and by exercising regularly. Once you’ve made those lifestyle changes, I think your likely to find carb blockers to be a diet pill that works right along with your overarching diet program.