Losing weight is an admirable goal, especially given that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions. But one of the least intelligent weight loss methods that has been promoted is using laxatives.
Digesting your food starts with chewing it, then makes it’s way down your esophagus into your stomach. After, it travel more than twenty feet, through various organs and through passageways such as the upper and lower intestines. By the time the remainder of your food reaches the large intestine, it is entirely waste material.
The large intestine is alive with a wide variety of bacteria, which are not dangerous to the health if they stay confined to the intestine. The function of these bacteria is to help process the waste into smaller pieces in order that the body can safely and easily shed it.
There is also a very delicate balance between solid matter and water in the large intestine. As that balance can sometimes be messed up, you may perhaps find yourself either loose or hard stool. Constipation is the outcome of an excess of solid matter, while diarrhea is the outcome of an excess of water.
Laxatives are meant to relieve constipation by absorbing water back into the bowel from the surrounding tissue and softening the stool so that it can pass more comfortably. Since laxative weight loss works in the large intestine, which contains an insignificant amount of body weight, this is a harmful and ineffective method of weight loss. The large intestine rarely hold more than five pounds of waste and water at any time.
The problem is that while a laxative will certainly help get the accumulated waste in the large intestine out quicker, the human is going to continue replacing it rather quickly by consuming additional water or food, and most likely both! The only way to achieve measurable results with weight loss is to change the way a person he is and the amount of exercise the person receives.
Tags: laxatives weight loss, losing weight, Weight Loss, weight loss with laxatives
