Herbal teas are found out to be very efficient in easing or curing many health problems. There are specialists – herbalists, who can advise which kind of tea will be good for your medical condition and recommend quantities and frequency of drinking.
Some of the teas have become very popular these days as the means to help losing excess weight. Fitness maniacs and people Aspiring to lose extra pound rapidly always claim these teas are extremely helpful. However, regardless the popularity of the subject and many scientific researches not a single herbal tea has been proved to actually work as weight loss aid. So far, there are no scientific data confirming any of the claims regarding herbal teas and weight loss. Because of the growing popularity of diet teas, you should know something about these drinks. First of all, there are two distinctive types of these teas and they can be either stimulant or laxative teas.
Stimulant Diet Teas
Most of stimulant teas for weight loss contain guarana, ephedra, ma huang or kola nut as main ingredients. These herbs have been claimed to increase rate of your heartbeat, speed up your metabolism and affect your appetite as well. Our metabolism determines how the body spends the energy from the food we took. Increased metabolism leads to faster pumping of the heart and thus increased burning of calories. As the result, our body burns and loses excess fat. Besides spending the taken calories much faster, these herbs can help you eat less because they also act as appetite suppressants.
Stimulant teas also posses certain adverse effects associated with their primary means of action, especially if you took too much of the tea. Patients have reported insomnia, anxiety, nervousness and headaches as the result of over consumption of stimulant teas for weight loss.
Laxative Diet Teas
Another type of weight loss teas are laxative teas, containing herbs such as: Senna, aloe, locus plant, buckthorn or cascara. They work by increasing excretion in the body, leading to frequent urination and bowel movements. These teas cause dehydration and water you lose is actually what is considered as temporary weight loss. Results of these teas are only transient, because as soon as you drink lost water, the weight goes up again. Side effects of laxative teas include dehydration and addiction potential these teas posses. They are also frequently blamed for abdominal cramps, fainting, breathing problems, breaking down of intestinal muscles, but also for the fluctuation in body temperature and in some cases for lethal consequences.
All these unwanted effects and possible complications of laxative teas for weight loss make them even less desirable for loss of excess weight than stimulant herbal teas. Whatever tea you want to use, it is always best option to consult your doctor and hear his advice about the matter. Healthy diet and regular exercise are much safer options for everyone trying to lose excess pounds than any of herbal teas available on the market.
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