If you're trying to lose weight, Twitter can be a surprisingly good source of support. After all, weight loss is a common goal; Twitter can help you connect with others who are on the same path. Just look at these weight-loss winners who used Twitter and other sources during their journey to skinny jeans.

But if you're looking for reliable diet information, Twitter might not be your best friend. After all, it's not just average Joes and Janes tweeting about their day-to-day activities. Twitter is an ever-increasing tool for marketers touting their goods. Just take Twitter user "LoseWeight123" for example. Rather than useful, helpful dieting articles, they link to gems (and be sure you read the word gems with as much sarcasm as possible), such as "How to Get Your Wife With Ugly Belly Fat to Lose Weight" and "How to Lose 20 Pounds in Two Weeks." I have two words: Offensive and baloney. In actuality, they're selling a diet product. And you can read Jonny's Take to get some good information about unsafe diet products.

When browsing Twitter and similar sites, beware of marketing scams wrapped up as advice. The advice can be unhelpful at best and dangerous at worst. Stick to reliable sites when looking for information and raise a red flag whenever you see a specific product being advertised within the article. And remember, if you have a specific health or diet-related question, you should turn to experts such as your doctor, nutritionist or personal trainer.

Breathe in. Breathe out. There. You just supplied your body with much-needed oxygen, some of which will make its way to your cells. When your cells use the oxygen, however, they leave some free radicals behind. Antioxidants are a cleaning crew, of sorts -- they clear away all those unwanted visitors.

When it comes to getting your antioxidants, are you turning to produce and other natural sources? Or are you looking to processed foods?

As so often happens in the food industry, when a health-related item becomes somewhat trendy, everything from soda to candy will be labeled to match the trend. You may not have to think back too far to remember a time when you had never heard of antioxidants. But now that they're in the public eye, you can find a wide variety of products with labels touting their antioxidant power.

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Back in the day, when I started playing basketball, I had two choices for drinks -- water or Gatorade, with a choice of Orange or Lemon-Lime. There might've been Fruit Punch, too, but I am not a fan.

Anyway, just as I've expanded my interests from strictly basketball to a variety of sports and fitness endeavors, Gatorade is stepping it up, too. "Just like any good athlete, Gatorade is taking it to the next level. Whether you're in it for the win, for the thrill or for better health, if your body is moving, Gatorade sees you as an athlete, and we're inviting you into the brand," said Gatorade's chief marketing officer.

And this brand is sporting a whole new attitude. Today's athletes want choices beyond a variety of flavors, and that's just what Gatorade is putting out there. The new names for the different types of Gatorade aim to convey the attitude of a tough-love coach or trainer, which will be evident on the new labels.

It was Saturday morning, early. I had just woken up and was clearing the sleep out of my eyes while devouring some grapefruit and a piece of toast. This morning, like all lazy weekend mornings, I switched on the TV while I ate. And what's usually on the tube on a Saturday morning? You guessed it--Infomercials.

Blame it on the early-morning haze of fatigue. Blame it on the fact that I was feeling bloated and sluggish from the previous night's visit to the movie theatre (complete with butter-soaked popcorn.) But whatever you blame it on, the fact is my defenses were down and I did something completely out of character. I bought something from one of the infomercials.

I bought a set of fitness DVDs. They weren't that expensive, and there are worse things to spend your money on than fitness goods (hey, at least I didn't buy a deep fryer!), but still, I feel like I've sold out; like I'm some major sucker for mass marketing. So I'm wondering ...

I remember taking a class in university where we discussed the history of marketing products to children. Giants like Disney and McDonald's got in the business early, convincing kids that their toys and burgers were must-haves. Since the start, many other companies have gotten on board, realizing the money-making potential that lies in advertising products to easily-influenced and hard-to-ignore (by weary parents anyway) kids.

Is it ethical? I suppose it depends on your personal point of view. At the very least I can understand why a company like Disney, whose brand focuses on kid-friendly products, would market to children. I'm not so sure what to think though when a company like Starbucks admits that kids and teens are a part of their client base.

As Heather Craven at ParentDish points out, most Starbucks beverages are chock full of sugar and caffeine, neither of which need to be ingested by kids on a regular basis. It may be hard to refuse your children when they're begging for a giant-sized white chocolate beverage, but Craven pledges to save her money and deny her children.

What would you do? Do you thi it's unethical of Starbucks to market caffeine-filled drinks to kids?

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If I could opt for one elective surgery, I'd choose something that would erase the loose post-pregnancy skin hanging from my tummy. I know it's been four years since my last 10-pounder was born but it seems no matter how fit or lean I get, the jiggle remains. A tummy tuck or liposuction would be ideal. I'm not sure I'd ever go through with these procedures, though. Something about choosing to have surgery for a non-medical reason makes me a little nervous. If it weren't so controversial, maybe I'd hop on the lipodissolve bandwagon.

Surgery is not required for lipodissolve. All it takes is a few injections of a chemical found in lecithin, the food ingredient derived from soybeans. Shots are given right into bulging body parts where they dissolve fat cells. Lipodissolve is becoming quite the rage, despite the fact that the FDA has not approved the compound used in the shots.

Lipodissolve just hasn't received much clinical study. Besides the possible pain, nausea, diarrhea, elevated liver enzymes and lumps at the injection site, who knows what long-term side effects of this treatment might surface. Lipodissolve is such an unknown that the state of Kansas has banned the marketing and sales of this quick fix.

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For someone with sensitive skin, hypoallergenic products can mean the difference between clean skin and a horrible rash. But just what makes a product hypoallergenic, and how is it so different from non-hypoallergenic?

According to this article, the term hypoallergenic might be nothing more than a clever marketing ploy. Currently, the FDA has no regulation as to what properties an item has to have to be considered hypoallergenic. Furthermore, nothing is truly hypoallergenic, since anything can have an adverse effect on someone with an extreme sensitivity. And since the use of many harsh chemicals have been discontinues in cosmetics, non-hypoallergenic products might be just as gentle as hypoallergenic.

What do you think -- is it a marketing gimmick, or do you swear by your hypoallergenic cosmetics?

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When you go food shopping and see the growing section of organic products do you ever wonder exactly what "organic" means? Most just think that organic equals healthy and don't take it any further.

A group of organic farmers in Canada want consumers to think beyond the labels and actually consider what they're buying. According to the definition provided here, true organic food contains no genetic modifications and is harvested by hand without the use of herbicides or pesticides. No wonder it costs so much!

The growing demand for organics has led an increasing number of giant farming corporations to get in the game and their rules for production are rarely as strict. In addition, they may use the label "organic" simply as a way to market food to health- and image-conscious consumers. The Canadian farmers want standardized labels to be attached to truly organic products so that consumers can become more aware of exactly what they are buying. As the article mentions, "organic is about the way food is produced, not how it is marketed".

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I would have thought the days of "weight loss in a pill" products were numbered (the credible ones anyway), but they just keep coming! The latest is from GlaxoSmithKline and it's called Alli. It's a version of Xenical, and it's the first drug to be approved by the FDA for sale without a prescription and over-the-counter in the U.S. It works by preventing some absorption of fat into the body.

The advertising of this product will be interesting, with more than $150 million dollars budgeted for marketing alone they plan on taking a slightly different approach than many diet pills have in the past: it's gonna take work on your part too. Interesting.

Learn more at myalli.com.

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Shoppers in the plus-sized section of United Kingdom department stores may find an extra tag on their clothing, if a team of experts writing in the British Medical Journal have their way. The tags -- which would have a weight loss helpline number printed on them -- would be placed in all clothing with a waist size larger than 40 inches for men, and in anything size 16 or above for women. I think this idea is absurd, as well as demoralizing and insulting to the intelligence of overweight shoppers.

However, the group did manage to come up with more reasonable ideas to help reverse the ever increasing trend of obesity in their country. Marketed mainly to children, and placed directly at their eye level, the group would like to see candy bars and sugary snacks removed from grocery store aisles and checkout lanes. Health screenings for children leaving primary and secondary schools, as well as only allowing new urban roads if they had adjacent bicycle lanes, also topped the list.

Believing that just advising people to exercise and eat right will not do enough to reverse the obesity epidemic, the group's aim was to give "help, advice, and sympathy" to those struggling with obesity. I think their hearts and minds were in the right place. But I still can't get past printing a help line number on plus-sized clothing. Shopping is hard enough, without your clothing telling you that you need help!

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