More and more Australian's each year are turning to their local pharmacy for weight loss help. In response to this, more and more pharmacies are beginning to offer professional weight management products and services.

In this article, we explore some of the benefits of getting weight loss help from your local pharmacy and provide some examples of the type of weight management products and services now being offered by pharmacies across Australia.

Benefits of getting weight loss help from your local pharmacy

The major benefits of getting weight loss help from your local pharmacy include:

• Easy Access - Most people have pharmacies close to where they live.
  
  
• Trust - Pharmacists are trained professionals who are usually very highly trusted.
  
  
• Existing Relationships - Many of us already have a relationship with our local pharmacist whom we buy medicines and other health management products from.
  
  
• Cooperation - Pharmacists have a track record of working well with other health professionals such as GP's, dietitians, etc.
  
  
• Condition Management - In addition to helping us to lose weight, pharmacists are also in a unique position to be able to assist us in the management of weight related conditions such as diabetes for example.
  
  
• Cost Savings - Getting weight loss help from a pharmacy can be less expensive than some other weight loss program options.
  
  
• Ongoing Support - Pharmacists can provide ongoing support which is a critically important factor in successful long-term weight loss.
  
  
• Professional Weight Management Options - Pharmacies are now offering a range of professional weight management products and services, such as the Ultra Lite Program, Tony Ferguson Weightloss Program, and other 'in-house' type programs such as ones based on popular diets such as the CSIRO diet.

Professional Weight Management Options

One of the greatest benefits of getting weight loss help from your local pharmacy is that many of them offer proven, professional weight loss programs such as the Ultra Lite Weight Management Program.

In fact, some pharmacists are dedicating sections of their pharmacy, equipped with consulting rooms and specialist trained staff, just to assist the growing number of clients who want to lose weight.

This is certainly the case for the growing number of pharmacies who are offering the Ultra Lite Weight Management Program.

For those who don't know a lot about the Ultra Lite program, it was originally developed and delivered only by naturopaths but is now offered by community pharmacies employing trained consultants.

Pharmacist trained to provide the Ultra Lite program advise clients to follow a modified diet that balances protein and carbohydrates in the correct portion sizes so that their body burns fat rather than carbohydrates.

The Ultra Lite program is an educational one that empowers people to make better food choices and is therefore usually very successful over the long-term.

Pharmacies who promote the Ultra Lite program offer it as either a 5 or 10 week weight loss program, a 3 week detox and weight loss program, or as a maintenance program for those who have achieved their goal weight or wish to lose only a little bit of weight.

Ongoing support, which is a key element to maintaining long-term weight loss, is provided by the pharmacy for the duration of the three, five or ten week program period, which helps clients to fully develop and establish their new healthy eating habits.

After the pharmacy has helped clients complete the weight loss part of their program, additional support is available during the maintenance program if required.

According to our friends at Ultra Lite, there has been nearly a 100% increase in the number of pharmacies choosing to offer their program over the past year (2006 versus 2005), making it even easier to find a fully trained consultant.

As we mentioned earlier, getting weight loss help from a pharmacy can be less expensive than some other weight loss program options and more and more health insurance companies are offering rebates for participating in weight loss programs, making them even less expensive.

For example, the health insurers providing rebates for participating in the Ultra Lite program includes:

• Australian Unity
  
  
• Grand United
  
  
• CBHS
  
  
• Health Care Insurance Limited
  
  
• Manchester Unity
  
  
• Medibank Private
  
  
• NRMA Health
  
  
• SGIC Health
  
  
• SGIO Health
  
  
• Queensland Teachers Union Health Fund
  
  
• St Lukes Health

In this article we've only explored some of the many benefits of getting weight loss help from your local pharmacist and only briefly reviewed one of the weight loss programs on offer.

For more information on what your local pharmacist can do to help you lose weight, visit them and ask.