What do laxative teas do

Somehow I had no idea that tea gets stronger the longer you leave it in water, so I recklessly steeped them for an unsanctioned 45 minutes. I texted every holistic friend I had to alert them that I had achieved the Serena Slam of shitting. How very, very wrong I was. I used to swallow marbles as a child as a party trick to make people like me. I remembered this at 32, feet in the air, when I suddenly realized that my recently flushed colon, a day off of its seeming-ceramic victory lap, still had a few things to say.

While I was able to pull off a few minute occupations of the single stall, someone would invariably knock, forcing me sheepishly back to my assigned seat. During the last 25 minutes of my flight, I found myself in the truly mortifying position of realizing that no matter how tightly I clenched, I was definitely going to shit my pants.

To be clear, the actual pants-shitting was at best a fart with a little something extra. With my head held high and my denim-cutoff-clad cheeks clenched tight, I exited that airplane with all the dignity an ancient Chinese-American could muster and power-waddled to the La Guardia bathroom to put on my actual big-girl underpants. Most important: Laxative teas are not magic.

While they should start kicking in within six to eight hours, if, like me, you ate your body weight in fast food hoping for a get-out-of-jail-free card, it may take a few hours longer to feel relief. Do not double or triple up as you lie in wait. As for the weight loss, I did shed a couple of pounds, but only for a day or two. Another herb that's common in detox teas is cascara sagrada, which works similarly to senna, according to holistic nutritionist Carley Mendes, an expert at The Tot.

But she adds that they can also go too far in the other direction, causing stomach cramps and diarrhea. Registered dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD gives her thoughts on detox tea in the video below. Check it out:. According to Mendes and Metsovas, detox teas should only be used for the occasional stomachache. A representative from Yogi Teas, which makes a laxative tea product, agrees, saying they recommend no more than four cups of any of their digestive teas to be sipped in 24 hours, or longer than 10 days of use.

To that end, these teas are not to be used for weight management. And again, relying on these products long-term could lead to dangerous side effects and create a dependency.

Metsovas says her main issue with detox teas is that they can discourage people from getting to the root of their digestive problems. Used to excess, laxatives can irritate the digestive system, cause diarrhoea, and stomach cramps, and prevent your body from absorbing nutrients from your food. Long term, they can affect the way your bowels work, making them lazy and leading to a reliance on them just to go to the toilet as normal. They can also reduce the effectiveness of the Pill. For long-term weight loss, the focus should be about lowering body fat percentage and teas and shakes on their own cannot achieve this.

Exercise, balanced eating, sleep and stress management all need to be considered. If you find a detox-style product helpful in getting you on to the right track, be a detective about what ingredients are in it and how they work. The main ingredient to watch for is Senna , a natural leaf with strong laxative properties. Natural ingredients can have strong laxative effects on the body such as Senna. Other ingredients you may see include Satiereal and Super Citrimax , which are found in so-called slimming products promoted by celebs including the Kardashians, but are not approved by the FDA Food and Drug Association in the US.

And be wary of fibrous bulking agents such as agar , psyllium husk and methylcellulose , which work with water to give a laxative effect - and can lead to chronic constipation if overused.