Diet Direct - Should You Buy Diet Products Online?

by Sam

In case you don't know, Diet Direct is an US America based firm that sells diet products online. So far, so good, but before buying anything from anybody, you should always ...

In case you don't know, Diet Direct is an US America based firm that sells diet products online. So far, so good, but before buying anything from anybody, you should always make sure that you get the best value for your money. Now testing this without buying and lab-testing every product available from Diet Direct is difficult. But nevertheless, by looking at some points like the following ones, you can make up your mind if buying diet products is a good idea and even start to evaluate from where to buy.

Who and What is Diet Direct?

Diet Direct is a place, an online shop, that sells diet and weight loss products via their e-shop and website. Their specialty are diet foods and meal replacement foods. A full summary of their offerings can be found in the next section.

What are the Products Diet Direct offers?

Diet Direct claims to offer the same medical-grade protein diet supplements that are used, and sold, by hospitals, diet clinics, physicians, GPs and weight loss groups. The product categories they offer are:

Weight Loss Starter-Kits / WonderSlim Diet Plans

That are 2-12 weeks long diet kits that provide you with pre-packed meals for the whole time. You live basically on replacement meals. Instead of fresh food, you eat prefabricated and packed food. The advantage of such a diet is that you don't need to care about calorie counting, meal preparation etc. All is easy-easy. The drawback is that you are only allowed a small amount of real food per day, meaning that you just replace your usual fast food with diet fast food and are not learning about healthy eating in general nor learning to change bad eating habits.

Protein Diet & Weight Loss Foods

Better as the kits above, Direct Diet offers also a whole range of single replacement meals and snacks. Whilst maintaining a healthy, vegetable and fruit rich diet at home, you can replace now unhealthy food at work or whilst traveling with one of the products Diet Directs offers. As long as you follow a healthy nutrition in general, these little helpers can be really useful, especially if the selection of healthy lunch options at work is small. And to boot it, they offer even kosher diet snacks and shakes ;-)

Low Carb Foods

Low carb is the newest diet craze, and also Diet Direct offers a range of products that goes from snacks, shakes and puddings to pasta, baking and cooking formulas. As you can see Diet Direct 'believes' mainly in the low fat and low carb approach, combined with a high protein formula. This approach is not without criticism amongst nutritionist and physicians. The Atkins diet, the first one to promote this type of diet, has been often connected with a higher risk of heart and vascular problems amongst people that follow such a diet. Whilst replacing the odd meal with a high protein, low carb and fat snack can be beneficial, you shouldn't base your whole lifestyle around this idea.

Fresh Fruit is healthier!
Fresh Fruit is healthier!

Sugar Free Foods

The sugar-free products at Diet Direct are mainly based on replacing sugars with Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners. Leaving aside the ongoing debate about the long-term effects of artificial sweeteners on the human body, they tend to increase cravings for sweets and food. The mechanism is easy to understand. The body tastes sweetness with the first bite or sip and in preparation of receiving food, releases a healthy amount of insulin into the blood stream. But if the food that the body actually gets is extremely low-calorie and low carb, a hypoglycemia results. This lower blood sugar level results in hunger bangs and cravings for sweets. You see Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are actually not beneficial for somebody on a diet. They make dieting only harder as it is already. You would be better off to replace such snack with some very low calorie food, like fresh, raw vegetables and fruit.

Vitamins, Minerals and Amino Acids

No that is a less complicated minefield ;-) If you know what kind of vitamin or mineral you want to purchase, you can have a look if it is on offer on Diet Direct and if it is cheaper there than elsewhere. Just make sure you buy a reputable brand and have a good luck at the list of ingredients, as well as at the customer reviews on the website itself.

Health Support Supplements

Under Health Support Supplements understands Diet Direct the whole range of pills and capsules that are meant to improve ones health without being a prescription drug. But beware, because these pills are not subscription drugs, they are also not monitored closely by the FDA for proof of effect and quality of the ingredients. As above, if you know already what you want to buy, it is always worth a look if the product is available cheaper at Diet Direct. But if you have no idea what you are looking for, make sure you don't fall for some 'wonder pill' advertisement without any proof of effectiveness.

Diet Pills & Supplements

Obviously, an online shop like Diet Direct can not sell prescription drugs, therefor they have to restrict themselves to so-called natural diet pills. As far as I could see none of the dietary pills and supplements on offer at Diet Direct come with any proof of success. But they all come with a money back warranty ;-) I am a natural sceptic when it comes to 'wonder pills and patches', so here I would really like to see some evidence why Direct Diet thinks that these products work. But in the end, they are not the producer, they are only the reseller, so the proof of evidence should be brought on by others, the ones that produce said pills and patches.

Should you buy from Diet Direct?

There are actually a few points that are speaking in their favor. One is that they have a product review system similar to Amazon and, like Amazon, they do allow negative reviews. That gives them really some plus points in my books. They also offer a money back guarantee of 30 days. Their money back warranty is actually pretty realistic, Diet Direct states: “If for any reason you are unhappy with any product you have purchased from us, you may return it for a full refund (less shipping and handling) or exchange. You may return ONE (1) opened package (box, bag, bottle, etc.) of any individual product. All others of the same product must be returned in factory sealed, unopened condition for a full refund. You are covered by this money back guarantee for a full 30 days from your date of purchase.”

Another plus point, in my opinion, is that they offer personalized advice about diet and diet products, both by email and via a toll free 1-800 number. To see if the advice in question is any good or not, you will have to try it out for yourself ;-) But you have always to bear in mind that Diet Direct is a reseller, not the producer of the products they sell. Therefore their possibility to influence product quality is limited and as much as they might be interested in gaining returning customers, as much are they interested also in closing the first sale!

As for the effectiveness of the sold products, one statement is plastered all over the website “The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.” Meaning, in the end, when it comes to dietary supplements a lot depends not only on the quality of the ingredients, but also in your faith in the placebo effect ;-)

Summary

If you know already which product you are looking for, Diet Direct is worth checking out and good to compare prices with other sources like for example Amazon. Look out for Diet Direct coupons and you might even get the better deal than Amazon. But don't forget, not all the diet supplements in the world can replace a healthy diet with lots of fresh fruits, vegetables and exercise!

I am interested in your opinion!

Do you buy diet food and / or supplements online?
Updated: 07/03/2012, Sam
 
Thank you! Would you like to post a comment now?
1

Comments

Only logged-in users are allowed to comment. Login

You might also like

20 Super Easy Tricks for Eating Less

Twenty tips on how to cheat hunger and lose weight for people who spend too m...

An Easy, Healthy Way to Lose Some Weight Quickly

Most diets are unhealthy. This weight loss regimen is healthy, with no yo-yo ...


Disclosure: This page generates income for authors based on affiliate relationships with our partners, including Amazon, Google and others.
Loading ...
Error!