So you want to look “decent” enough for the summer, meaning, no pot bellies or love handles that can get in your way of total beachlife freedom. You’ve tried all those diets to kill the carbs, but they proved to be just hypes. Is there anything left to try? Maybe the so-called fat blockers could be your last resort.

Fat blockers are nutraceutical (combining elements of nutrition and pharmaceuticals) products composed of bean and wheat germ extract that prevents a digestive enzyme from breaking down carbohydrates that is absorbed in the body and accumulate as fatty tissues or muscles. By blocking the fat-inducing enzyme, carbohydrate build-up from starchy foods like bread, pasta and potatoes are merely passed on to the digestive track and eliminated.

The chief component of fat blockers (also called starch blockers or carb blockers) is chitosan, a polysaccharide (complex carbohydrate) sourced from extracts of shellfish like shrimps, that inhibits the formation of fats in the body. Chitosan works like a dietary fiber, passing through the digestive tracts without being digested. Chitosan also has the ability to absorb a great volume of fat deposited along its way in the digestive tracts, all of which are excreted in the stool.

Fat blockers available in the market may be all-natural (pure extracts of fiber plants, seeds or shellfish extracts) or a chemical compound of dietary fibers fortified with vitamins and minerals.