Most of us in the western world today wouldn't mind losing a few pounds and some of us have gained enough weight over the years to put a strain on our health a well being. It's hardly surprising though given the abundance of fast food that is currently available to us laced with sugar and salt. After a busy day it is so tempting just to put a frozen meal in the microwave for a few minutes rather than to spend an hour or so preparing one.

But losing weight is easy right? Why would we need to spend our hard-earned cash on diet aids? Most of us understand the basic principles involved. All we have to do is expend more energy than we consume and the fat will come off. If you burn off 3,500 calories more than you ingest then you will lose 1 pound of body fat.

Well, it really is easy in theory but it can be painfully hard to do in practise. We eat, or overeat, for many different reasons. We eat for comfort or to celebrate for instance and this has nothing to do with actually being hungry.

How many times have real hunger pangs ruined your good intentions or caused you to binge on things that aren't necessarily all that good for you? How many of us possess that iron will that will comfortably see us through the tougher times when there is so much temptation all around us?

This is where diet supplements can be useful to help us reach our goals. It's not that we are mentally weaker than previous generations. It's just that food readily is so readily available to us and our lifestyles have changed enormously. Who among us will be chopping down trees this week for wood to build their house? Who is going out hunting and fishing for food? Who will be drawing up heavy buckets of water from the well? Don't be hard on yourself and as always I wish you the best of health.