In a country where 65 percent of the population is overweight or obese, the search for a miracle “cure” has become a national obsession. In 2004 alone, over 30 billion dollars were spent on weight loss products.

The major appeal of these products is the promise of a quick, painless solution to years of struggle. “We are always looking for a quick fix,” says Donna Wolff, a nutrition consultant in private practice in New York City. “We don’t want to consider the possibility of having to alter our eating habits. We want the easy way out.”

Unfortunately, this has opened the door to thousands of unscrupulous companies willing to do anything to attract potential buyers. Diet scams come in all shapes and forms, from “miracle diets” to patches, pills, and powders. How do you know when something holds potential and when is it just a scam? Here are the tell-all signs that something’s definitively wrong.

They tell you to forget calories and eat all you want

Sorry, that’s just not possible. Weight loss occurs when more calories are burned than consumed. There is no device available that can block the absorption of calories. Many eat-all-you-want products are basically laxatives and diuretics –While they do not help you lose weight, they create the illusion of doing so. “This is a very dangerous concept closely linked to eating disorders,” says Wolff. “A bulimic thinks she can eat all she wants and then purge the excess out of her body. The same theory applies to products that promise you won’t gain weight, not matter how much you eat.” Some fad diets also work on the same concept --Eat all you want as long as you don’t touch these type of food, which brings us to number two…