There are many herbs that can help you lose weight. Each does this job in different ways ways and have different effects on the body. You need to read the labels of the herbs that you buy and make sure that you really do understand what kind of side effects can occur before you take anything.
Take hoodia for example. This is vegetable found in Africa which cuts your thirst and hunger so much that you can actually become malnourished and dehydrated if you take it for too long. Your body forgets what it needs to do to stay healthy. Other herbs are classified as being thermogentic meaning that they speed up body functions such as heart rate, breathing and digestion. These are the “fat burning” herbs. Many of these have caffeine in them. These include green tea, dandelion and nettle. If you need a pep up these are good substitutes for the coffee with cream and sugar.
The herbs have the most side effects are the herbs known as the diuretics. Believe it or not both green tea and dandelion are part of this group of herbal diuretics which can seriously dehydrate you if you take too much. You do look thinner taking these herbs but the effect is temporary. As soon as you stop taking them you gain the weight back when tries to gain back the water it lost.
Many weight loss herbs have the side effect of diarrheal. Watch out for uva ursi, birchbark and buchu. The United States Food and Drug Administration warn of side effects including cramping, diarrheal and other problems.
Ma Huang also known Herbal Phen Phen is a herb to be careful. This drug causes an overstimulation of the central nervous system, an increase in blood pressure and an elevated heart rate. The FDA warns that this causes heart murmurs, depression, anxiety, heart palpitations, heart attack, dehydration, seizures, chest pain, stroke, dissociation, and psychosis.
Safer choices include cayenne and seaweed. Both kick start a low metabolism.
Keep in mind that before you take any kind of herb it is very important for you to talk with your doctor first. Some conditions simply don’t respond well to even the safest of herbs for weight loss. For instance although green tea is generally considered to be healthy it is not the beverage you should drink if you suffer from anxiety because it is super-charged with caffeine.
It would take four hours in the gym to lose the same 700 calories that you would burn by bathing in infrared light rays for just half an hour!