What exactly is a dietary supplement? There are many loose definitions of the phrase going around and we’re here to set it straight once in for all. We offer you the accurate definition of a dietary supplement, straight from the FDA.

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Carb blockers, also known as starch blockers,  are made up of bean and wheat germ extracts.  This mainly consists of white kidney beans, which are known to inhibit a digestive enzyme that breaks down starchy carbs.  Starchy carbs are food items like potatoes, bread, and pasta.

Carbohydrate blockers supposedly prevent carbs from being absorbed by the body.  Instead, the blockers make them pass through the digestive tract and be disposed over naturally.  Most pills available on the market today claim to inhibit about 30-45 grams of carbs from being absorbed.

This is false.  While it is shown from research that the people who follow a vegetarian die eat less calories and fat than non-vegetarians, it’s not universally true.  Vegetarians probably eat less calories and fat because they are simply more aware and alert of what they are eating.

As with non-vegetarians, those that choose to take food coming from animals out of their diets make bad eating decisions.  This can conist of eating large amounts of high-calories, high-fat foods.  Additionally, they can consume foods with little or no value.  When you don’t have animals in your diet, there are many nutrients that you would need to supplement:

- iron
- vitamin D
- vitamin B12
- zinc
- protein
- calcium