If you are a person who has battled with weight and has a BMI (body mass index) over 27, the thought of a pill helping you lose weight can be very tempting. Swallowing diet pills may appear to be a speedy fix for overweight persons to lose weight. The effectiveness of diet pills have to be weighed with the possible risks of side-effects.Items you have to consider when taking diet medications:Harmful side-effects and drug interactions: Some prescription diet medications are powerful. Potential side-effects take place in roughly all prescription drugs, and some may be extremely serious in nature. Each diet medication has its exclusive list of side-effect warnings, but a few more frequently mentioned side-effects are upset stomach, insomnia, dry mouth, irritability and constipation. You should look at the potential of drug interactions among the diet medication and other pills you are taking. If you have a history of other health problems, the taking of diet medications may result in severe consequences when mixed with other meds.The possibility of becoming hooked on diet medications: There are several weight-loss remedies that may become habit forming. Other prescription diet drugs are stimulant-based and might be misused by users. This abuse may become dependence, as with any other powerful drug. Remember to speak with your doctor if she chooses to put you on a diet medication that is known to be habit-forming. Research the warnings you need to be aware of that point to a problem.The possibility of the diet medications interrupting the body’s metabolism: Given that diet drugs primary objective is to curb appetite, the patient using diet medications can notice themselves eating much less calories than usual. Obviously, this is great for losing weight, but only on the surface. Eventually your natural metabolism will slow down, and when your metabolism slows, so will the pace in which you lose weight. This is the reason why many who take diet medications learn they lose a limited amount of weight when they use only medication.All natural diet supplements may not be as powerful as prescription medications, but are far safer. Most active ingredients are derived from foods we know and eat. The supplements are concentrations of these ingredients that would be difficult to obtain naturally by eating these foods. There are hundreds of supplements to choose from, your own research is necessary to weed out the more effective products. An exciting new supplement is made from Acai berries. These berries are found in the Amazon rainforest and similar to any other edible berry. The acai is known for being rich in antioxidants and providing an energy boost when eaten. It is nutrient dense and a good supplement during a diet that includes exercise, which leaves the body starving for nutrients. This should help to keep the metabolism running fast. Since fresh acai is not available in most parts of the world, there are many acai products available that offer the same benefits. Perhaps the best advice if one has been approved by a doctor to take diet medications, is to also use supplements to help the body get all of its nutrients and keep the body’s metabolism balanced