Hundreds upon hundreds of people have at one time or another struggled to lose weight. It's a really important issue for many since society places such value on being thin. Do you realize that over 300,000 people a month search the Internet using the term weight loss?Billions of dollars have been spent on weight loss and the weight loss industry is making money hand over fist. Oddly enough, even though there are all these natural remedies for losing weight on the market, obesity is on the rise. People and children are fatter than ever. The natural weight loss remedies gear themselves to people just like this - praying on their dreams to be thinner, their frustration at not being able to lose and their confusion over what will or will not work for them.
If you have ever read any of the labels for natural weight loss products, you'll likely realize more than half the ingredients have names you likely do not recognize. And most definitely you will not know how they interact with one another, and with any drugs you may be taking. That's the bad news. The good news is you can lose weight, but you need to do it the old fashioned way - change your diet and get exercise. There is simply no way around that.
Back to reading labels, and trying to figure out what is in the product you are looking at. Many of the over-the-counter weight loss products have a variety of herbal diuretics in them, and most of them are derived from caffeine (which is a stimulant). Some of them have juniper seeds (can cause renal failure), equistine (a neurotoxin - can cause brain damage), horse tail or shave grass (convulsions/hyperactivity). There is also dandelion, hawthorn and green tea.
By themselves, herbal diuretics don't provide enough water shedding to give you an effective water weight loss. And while not considered to be toxic (on their own) when mixed with a variety of other compounds they can have serious interactions with drugs you may be taking already to achieve weight loss (like Lasix). In addition if you are on lithium or digoxin herbal diuretics have a history of interacting with these medications.
Herbal diuretics trick you into thinking you are getting thinner. You're not. You are merely losing water weight. If you take these kinds of products too long, the loss of water will leach sodium and potassium from your body. The best method to achieve the same effect is drink lots of purified water. You'll lose excess water weight, hydrate your skin, and get other health benefits.
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