Sensa: An interesting final chapter

As most of you know, I ordered Sensa from HSN last month as an experiment to see if there was any truth at all to their claims that you could suppress your appetite and lose weight just by sprinkling this magical powder on your food. Oh, and you didn’t have to bother with changing the way you eat. Sensa would do it all for you, for a mere $60 per month.

After my experiment, I came to the not surprising conclusion that this stuff was pure crap and returned it.

So last night I mosied over to HSN to see if my return had been processed and, as long as I was there, decided to head over to the Sensa page and read the reviews. And guess what I found?

No Sensa anywhere.

It has been totally removed from their site, no doubt with only thousands of boxes marked “return to sender” to prove it ever existed.

Now that should tell us all something, shouldn’t it?

Sensa Day 1: An attitude and an experiment

I admit I went into this Sensa trial with a preconceived attitude that it would not work; I was not going to cut it ANY slack at all.

And I was aggravated that it took ten days for this stuff to get here from HSN.

What was in the $60 Month 1 box: Two Sensa dual-sided shakers, one side containing the “tastant” to be sprinkled on sweet foods, the other to be sprinkled on salty foods; an instructional DVD which I did not watch; a photo-heavy instructional pamphlet written, insultingly, at an approximately 6th grade level.

First trial: Breakfast

Immediately confused as to whether plain oatmeal would be considered a “sweet” or “salty” food, I consulted the instructional pamphlet which told me oatmeal was a “marginal” food and I could use either tastant. I chose sweet and sprinkled it in an amount consistent with the photo instructions. I could smell it at first and tasted it (not unpleasant) for the first couple of bites, but then didn’t notice it at all.

Honestly? I got full about halfway through my too-large bowl of oatmeal but finished it anyway – because I have this irrational fear of getting hungry later while I’m at work and not being able to do anything about it – and then I was uncomfortably full. And bloated. And burping. And then I got a headache.

What I also realized: I was not that hungry to start with and the pants I was wearing may have been just a smidge tight around the waist. Still, I started to think maybe this stuff actually DOES work and felt cautiously hopeful. Especially since I did not feel my usual hunger around 11:00 am and skipped the banana I normally have at that time.

Second trial: Lunch

I sprinkled the “salty” tastant over the top of my tuna sandwich (you want to put it on top, rather than inside the sandwich, because you have to be able to smell it) and, about a half hour after that, sprinkled the “sweet” tastant over a bowl of strawberries. The degree of fullness I felt while eating, and after, was no different than how I felt on any other day eating this same lunch.

Additionally, my friend, who was excited to participate in my study, used the “salty” on her salad and seemed surprised to report she “didn’t notice any difference at all”.

My earlier optimism started to wane.

Third trial: The dinner experiment

I decided I would sprinkle the Sensa on Mr. Jelly Belly’s dinner and not tell him. Then I would watch him closely to see if it seemed he stopped eating sooner than normal. I thought this would be an accurate measure of whether Sensa somehow worked on its own or had a “placebo effect”. (Please do not ever tell him I did this. If you do, he will question every single food item I hand him for the rest of his life and I’m not in the mood.)

We had turkey and mashed potatoes. I had roasted asparagus with that and he had peas. I sprinkled the Sensa over both meals. It was a small miracle that he didn’t notice it. We ate our dinner. He went back for seconds and then picked at a little more. Then he had a snack. Then an odd thing happened. I developed a HUGE craving for something salty. This is odd because I almost never snack at night. And, if I do, it’s usually a bowl of sugar-free Jell-o or pudding and that’s it.

So I found this bag of Pringle’s Sweet Potato Chips that looked like they would do the trick. Only 150 calories for 28 chips. Turns out they weren’t salty, though. Coated with sugar and cinnamon (3 grams of sugar per serving) - and they were delicious, by the way.



And then I ate THE WHOLE BAG. I would like to repeat that I never do this kind of thing, so I found this very strange. And I sat around the rest of the night like a slug. Mr. Jelly Belly fell asleep watching TV. Must have been all that turkey.

First day overall opinion: They’re kidding, right? I put out $60 for a weight loss product designed to make me eat less and, instead, actually ate MORE than I normally do? Well now, this doesn’t seem quite right, does it?

Oh, one more thing - the following day I forgot to take it with me to work and had the EXACT SAME experience with my oatmeal as I had when I used it. Minus the burping and the headache.

I am going to continue to use it over the weekend to see if anything earth shattering happens but my feeling is that this stuff is going back on Monday. I can buy a lot of vegetables for that $60!

Does this make any Sensa?

Earlier this week, HSN was promoting a diet aid as their “Today’s Special”. For a payment of $74.95 (and FREE SHIPPING!) for a two-month starter kit, Sensa promises to curb our appetites and help us to lose weight while continuing to eat exactly the way we always have. You know, all that junk food that got us overweight in the first place. No need to change our eating habits. No sirree, Bob.

Sounds like a bunch of crap. So I set off to research so that I could properly rip on it – and then a funny thing happened. I got interested. Dammit; they hooked me.

I am not a fan of diet products. Most, if not all, are useless. I can look at them, laugh at their claims and Photoshopped “before and after pictures” and pass them right by. And I fully intended to laugh and pass this one by as well. But something about it really appealed to the sucker in me.

The “science” behind the product: Created by Dr. Alan Hirsch, a neurologist, Sensa is supposed to work with your sense of smell to send signals to your brain that you are full. Does that make sense to you? Me either. Here’s the description from HSN’s website:

Dr. Hirsch believes as you eat, smell and taste receptors send messages to your brain, which releases hormones that tell your body it's time to stop eating. Based on his research, he developed Sensa Tastants, and believes these Tastants help speed up the sensory specific satiety process, thereby helping you eat less and take in fewer calories so you can lose weight. Smell has a profound influence on taste, and taste has an influence on appetite. Dr. Hirsch believes Sensa works solely with your sense of smell.

How you use it: The Sensa “Tastants” come in a two-sided dual shaker – one side to use on sweet foods and the other to use on salty. You are supposed to change up the shakers every month to get new Tastants because, you know, your brain could become immune to the smell. You need to shake things up (no pun intended) to keep it working.

They also recommend you use it for six months to see results. I would imagine that is for the person who doesn’t want to make any changes to their eating habits – and didn’t read the small print about using Sensa in conjunction with a diet and exercise program. I would further imagine it will put a ton more money in the good doctor's pocket.

The cost: $58.95 per month (since we missed the “Today’s Special”). Yikes.

Yes, it still annoys me that they promote it by saying, “eat whatever you want and lose weight” but they do suggest (again, in the small print) you begin a healthier diet when you start using the product. Now, for someone like me with portion control issues, this could be helpful. If it works. I don’t have a lot of weight to lose, but I would really love to be able to get back on track – and I’ve been having problems with that lately.

Since one of my biggest pet peeves is people who write disparaging things about a product without trying it, I’m plunking down my $60 and giving it a whirl. Just for you guys. Because I’m thoughtful like that. What do I have to lose? One of the nice things about ordering from HSN or QVC is their “no questions asked” return policy. If you don’t like it, you send it back within 30 days and you get a refund. Even if you’ve used it all.

Stay tuned for sucker updates.