Do laxatives help expel calories before they are absorbed?

I read that laxatives work in the colon, and do not help your body not to absorb calories, because it is too late. Is this true?

Laxative induce bowel movements. They do not prevent the food from being processed, digested, absorbed, etc. They can help you lose weight because you will basically get diarrhea. This is not healthy for you. There is a new product on the market called Alli. Alli helps prevent fat from being digested. It aids you to learn how to eat healthier. The reason you learn to eat healthier is because then undigested fat is expelled through your digestive track. In other words, if you eat a high fat diet then you will have oily bowel movements. So to prevent that, you start to eat low fat/calorie foods. Not only do you gradually lose weight (within 1-2 weeks you will notive you drop 3-5 pounds) but you will feel better, too. You can get this at most drug stores. It is kind of expensive. But it does work. If stopping your body from absorbing fat is your goal, try this instead of laxitives…

What are the bad affects to taking laxatives regularly to “loose weight”?

I have heard that when people want to loose weight sometimes they will take laxatives very often so they won’t get much of the calories in the food and they can still eat “normal” I have also heard that after a while a lot of bad things can happen besides the whole starvation mode, organs shutting down thing. Can they eventually loose control of their sphincter muscle or the muscle that one clenches until they can get to a restroom?

I’ve heard yay and nay. What are the bad affects of taking laxatives regularly? I’m not doing this, only interested.

Everything you’ve heard is true. They also get the great side effects of anorexia and bulimia like yellow and flaky skin, hair loss, goiters, thin layer of hair growing all over the body, confusion, mental retardation, etc..

Why Shouldn’t Colon Cleansing Herbs be used over a Long Period of Time?

The concept of cleansing the colon has been there for sometime now. In fact if we go back in time, the very first mention of colon cleansing can be traced as far back as the Egyptian civilization. In fact the Egyptians believed that the root of all physical ailments can be traced back to the colon. So, most of the treatment that they practiced was targeted in getting the colon work properly.

Practitioners of conventional medicine strongly disagree with such a theory. However, what modern practitioners of alternative medicine tend to put across is that even if not all physical ailments can be traced to an unclean colon, a significant number of diseases are caused because of an unclean colon. There are also a number of people who report a remarkable improvement in their health after a colon cleansing.

One can use colon cleansing herbs to induce bowel movements and thereby clean the colon. Projected as alternatives to commercial laxatives there are genuine risks attached to having such herbs. Some of the most popular colon cleanse herbs are cascara sagrada, rhubarb, senna, etc. All these herbs contain substances called anthraquinones. These are the key substances responsible for the laxative effects of the herbs. But the risks associated in consuming these herbs over a long period of time are serious.

These herbs used as laxatives are quite potent and they start to show action almost as soon as they are administered. Effects begin in anything between six to twelve hours after the first dose. What this suggests is that continuing to have them beyond a week in a row can really be too much for your colon to handle. Your colon should be completely cleansed in a period of seven days. Also if they are to work, they will in the first seven days. So there would be hardly any point in continuing with them if they don’t yield results in a week.

There is also the possibility of you developing a dependency for such kind of products if you continue to use them for longer periods.

The colon cleanse herbs and the herbal laxatives are generally harmless and are alternatives to commercial laxatives. Colon cleanse herbs contain substances which fall under the category of anthraquinones. These would include cascara sagrada, rhubarb, and senna. That the herbs have laxative effects can be attributed to the presence of the anthraquinone substances.

If you don’t think that your problem of constipation is serious and you are not facing any severe ailments which conventional medicine is not adequate to handle, then it is sensible to stay away from the colon cleansing products and therapies. Just increasing fiber content in your regular diet should work.

Barney Garcia
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/why-shouldnt-colon-cleansing-herbs-be-used-over-a-long-period-of-time-66418.html

Types of Colon Cleansing

Although we don’t quite care about our colon it is one organ that suffers the most these days. And this is because of our eating habits which is full of low or non fiber high processed foods. So often the colon accumulates a lot of waste which can only be dealt with if we go for colon cleansing. There are various ways in which we can have our colon cleansed. We mention a few here.

One of the most effective ways of getting your colon cleansed is to go for colon hydrotherapy. This process involves the insertion of a tube through your anus into the colon. Plenty of pure water is poured into the colon through the tube to flush out the contents of the colon. This is a natural method and doesn’t involve any use of drugs. A colon hydrotherapy program would require you to attend 10 to 12 sessions over a period of two months, each session spanning for something around 45 to 60 minutes.

The second option is juice fasting. It is better to practice juice fasting than simple fasting to get your colon in proper shape. Vegetables and fruits contain a lot of fiber in them and this helps in bowel movements. Since you are not consuming anything else there is nothing additional that gets deposited. However consuming entire fruits and vegetables would not be a nice idea as the fibers in that form can be harder to digest. When you take them in the form of a juice you are much likely to yield better results. Also the fact that since most fruits and vegetables have high nutritional value, your body will not be deprived of energy to work which would have been the case if it was a complete fast.

The third alternative is herbal laxatives. The colon cleanse herbs and the herbal laxatives claim to be harmless and position themselves as alternatives to commercial laxatives. They further their claim saying that since they are natural, they are safe. The herbs are generally very strong and they start showing results in 6 to 12 hours time after consumption. They should be had only in moderate amounts as a prolonged use can have serious side effects.

There is another form of natural colon cleanser which is available today in the market. It is an oxygen based formula. The mixture reacts chemically with the hydrochloric acid present in our stomach. After the chemical reaction takes place the fecal matter, also known as the plaque, would melt into a liquid and gas. This then can be easily expelled.

Barney Garcia
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/types-of-colon-cleansing-66291.html