Weight loss is one of the big topics-no pun intended-on the late night television circuit. While flipping through the channels after 11p.m., you are likely to come across several advertisements for weight loss pills and diet supplements, each promising to assist you drop those unwanted pounds and remove stubborn belly fat once and for all.

Let's face it, if these pills really worked, America wouldn't be the top overweight country in the world.

There are types of alternative medicine, which can help with weight loss, however, and with great results. While no alternative medicine is a magic solution, practicing these principles can help you become more limber, feel more energetic, and the end result-or side effect if you will, is weight loss.

Take yoga for example. The low impact stretching involved with yoga will help you feel less stressed, and as a result less likely to over eat as a result of depression or anger. Acupuncture has exact pressure points in the ear which help reduce cravings, and detoxifying teas and herbs can help you feel healthier, and the side effect would be thinking twice before deciding that you want to "pollute" yourself again with oily and fatty foods. In this regard, alternative medicine is wonderful for loosing weight.

The majority alternative medicines for weight loss come in the form of detoxifying teas, energy supplements, and vitamins. The exercise and diet plans are the basis, as they should be, for safe and effective long-term weight loss. There is no magic potion to lose weight. In fact dropping pounds and keeping them off requires regular daily exercise and a change in eating habits, period.

However, to get you ready for weight loss, here are some alternative medicine detoxifying teas and interesting supplements.

Take turmeric, ginger, and lemon-about a half teaspoon each and the juice of half a lemon, and boil it all in 2 cups of water. Drink every morning as a detoxifier before you start your diet.

All diets should consist of fresh fruits and vegetables, and buying a juicer is a great way to make a habit out of eating healthy. Please see your doctor before starting any kind of diet plan.

Visit your local food co op or herbalist, they can get you set up with all sorts of alternative teas and nutrition advice, and can refer you to a good homeopathic doctor who will evaluate you as to what your individual nutrition needs are.

Bovine and shark cartilage are two dietary supplements to hit the alternative market. Both have been used for years outside of the United States and Britain, but now are big business in the health food stores.

The most popular form of alternative medicine for weight loss isn't really medicine at all, rather behavior modification through hypnosis. Hypnosis doesn't make you rely on will power, that's one of the reasons it's so popular.

How hypnosis works is that it examines what is subconsciously holding you to the thinking and eating habits that keep you overweight. Hypnotists believe that if the root cause of the obesity can be alleviated, the patient will naturally begin to lose weight. It is actually a very efficient form of alternative medicine, and overall can cost much less than trips to day spas and expensive over the counter weight loss pills. Through hypnosis you can let go of fears that keep you from eating healthy, and begin to allow a positive energy flow through you, causing you to want to stick to the new way of eating and exercising.