The dieting world is full of fads. There is no bigger fad than slimming teas. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest they work, beyond the placebo effect, and people are making a lot of money out of people’s desperation for an easy answer. There will be some immediate weight loss – there is no doubt this is true. The teas will act as a diuretic, flushing out excess fluid from the body. However, beyond this – unless there is a significant change in diet – you will experience no greater weight loss than if you were drinking water. In short, slimming team is a scam and you need to save your money.
How are diet teas marketed?
Laci Le Beau Super Dieter’s Tea was sued because of the claim that it would help the user burn fat. There were found to be no ingredient in the tea to aid fat loss. Therefore, they were subject to laws related to deceptive marketing practices. Triple Leaf Herbal Teas were also forced to change labelling on their tea. They were told to remove the statement: “Research indicates that green tea’s antioxidants help to promote a healthy metabolism.” They were also forced to include the statement “This tea is not intended to be used for chronic constipation or as an aid to lose weight.” This therefore underlines the unethical practice of selling a laxative as a weight loss tool, which is unethical at best.
How do they get away with it?
At first, when you drink the tea, you will lose faecal weight. In other words, the tea will help to flush out the gut and therefore get rid of a lot of waste product. In this use, the tea is a great temporary measure to detoxify the system. However, if you keep using it, as suggested, you will just dehydrate yourself, as you will be simulating the effects of diarrhoea. However, because of the initial boost and the sense of feeling better, users believe that there is long term benefit in using the teas, as directed on the package.
Therefore, even though there are no active ingredients in the tea to suppress appetite or to burn fat, the consumer is led to believe they are taking a dieting aid. The nonsensical nature of the product is that eventually the user will begin to feel worse, as they are losing essential electrolytes and will likely begin to feel cramping in the lower abdomen. It is also likely to lead to weight gain after a period of use, as the body will begin to bloat and the metabolism will slow – as the body registers the problem as a potential threat to maintaining fuel levels.
So, how do diet tea producers get away with? Who knows, it is a scam, and a dangerous one at that.
What are the alternatives?
First things first – there really is no short cuts that last. A balanced diet and regular exercise – as a change in lifestyle – is the best way to lose weight and then maintain the weight you feel comfortable with. This is not easy, especially as we grow older and our body does not react with as much elasticity as it used to do when we were younger.
Some people believe in intermittent fasting. This means that your body is given a period to completely use up resources, so that it doesn’t store food as fat. Some work on a basis of eating within an 8 hour window and then fasting for 16 hours. Some people take two 24 hours of fasting out of each week. There is a lot of research to support intermittent fasting but it is only a reasonable option if you see yourself maintaining your routine as part of a lifestyle change. If you use fasting and then go back to eating as normal, you will regain the weight you lost relatively quickly and damage your metabolism at the same time.
There are aids that can be used to help with the more difficult stages of changing your eating habits bearable and there are supplements that support the creation of lean muscle mass, when used with exercise. Gymnema Sylvestre can help to suppress the craving for sugar, which helps to remove simple carbs from your diet – which burn quickly and make you hungry more regularly. This supplement can also reduce the speed with which carbs are released as glucose into the bloodstream, which means it will help to suppress your appetite. This is only a weight loss aid if you change your diet at the same time as using the supplement – which is as much a psychological habit, as it is a bodily need. Another herb that can aid in weight loss is Senna, though they are present in certain slimming teas, the dosage is not sufficient to make an impact on the body, however supplements can have dosage high enough to aid weight loss.
If, whilst exercising, you use protein shakes and BCAAs, you will improve the effect of the exercise and you will prompt quicker recovery. If you recover quickly it means you can exercise more. Be aware though, drinking protein shakes without exercise and with a normal diet as well can lead to weight gain – and not toning and shaping that they are meant to be used to support.
Overall
We would love to tell you that there is a miracle product that means you can eat pizza, drink beer and sit watch TV all day – and still look amazing. There is no such product – and as some of the herbal tea companies have found out – we could get sued if we claimed there was. There are certainly products that can help you in your efforts – but unfortunately maintaining our body in a way that we want does take some effort.