Nicely stated, iluvdeal!
sjwaste: It's a good sign that your physician is into physical fitness (most simply aren't, or just make blanket recommendations like "try to walk 3 or 4 times a week". Get the ECA booklet--the title is "Ephedrine & Caffeine--The Ideal Diet Pill?"--from the phone number I list above, which has a comprehensive review of the _scientific_ literature, both pro & con. I forgot that the ECA booklet is co-authored by an MD. Buy a copy for your doctor while you're at it.
That said, ephedrine is a controversial supplement, but if taken in the recommended doses, it is quite, quite safe. (Unlike "flavor of the month" drugs like Redux, or Fen-Phen, it has a safety profile that goes back _millenia_!) It's not for everyone, but make up your own mind, and open your mind to the idea that doctors don't know everything. Keep that last statement in balance: good doctors know a lot, and doctors are an essential part of everyone's life. But doctors have zero training in nutrition, and almost less than zero training in herbs (I say "less than zero" because they depend upon drug company literature and the PDR for a lot/most of their information--and there's no way in hell that the maker of Redux is going to recommend Ephedrine...or that the makers of Alzheimer's drugs are going to recommend Gingko Biloba...or that the makers of Prozac are going to recommend St.Johns Wort or 5-HTP...and etc.).
You've also got to be wary of the supplement manufacturers. This is especially true in the bodybuilding field, as all of the major magazines are run by supplement companies, so there is a 100% conflict of interest. (As a sidenote, I can recommend
www.testosterone.net as being the closest thing to being an unbiased magazine--even though they do hype their own products.)
To help sort things out, tuning in to Usenet discussions to get general impressions (use
www.deja.com for searches) is a great way to go. You'll run into people like me who have a general interest in fitness and some real-world experience and hopefully some basic intelligence; you'll also run the gamut from idiots, and PhD-level geniuses (like Patrick Arnold and Bill Roberts on the misc.fitness.weights forum) who are creating the next-generation supplements in their laboratories. I think that any intelligent person can figure out which are the idiots, and which are the geniuses.
Here's an example: HMB just doesn't work. You can read all of the advertising copy you want, and be impressed by the EAS and MetRX logos popping up everywere, but it just doesn't work in the real world. If you are a fitness newbie, the best way to discover that is on Usenet (but _certainly_ not by asking anyone who sells the stuff).
Otoh, you'll find that ECA has a very favorable reputation, although it's not known as a "miracle worker" supplement--just something that is effective if you have the right expectations. And if you have an inquiring mind, there is a lot of scientific literature backing it up.
If you think your MD is going to spend time sorting through Usenet to figure out which supplements work, dream on. It's up to _you_.
Many MDs are wary of even a multivitamin like Centrum. In fact, my personal physician is. So, I use him to treat ailments for which he is qualified, and I run the rest of my life by making the best choices I can. [Soapbox mode: OFF]
P.S.--The research behind Glucosamine is solid, as is the real-world "rep," and I've read and can recommend the book by Ray Sahelian. I'm probably too young to need it yet (either that, or I just don't lift enough weight ). I think that Sams Club has a slightly better price than the one you cite, and Beyond a Century (ref. at top of thread) has "straight" (untableted) Glucosamine powder @ 250g=$11.25. Many people combine Glucosamine with Chondroitin Sulfate.