Laxatives and Losing Weight: A Good Idea?

Among the millions of people trying to lose weight, there are a lot of them who are not satisfied with the results of their diet plan or their fitness regimen. Therefore, these people try to explore more ways on how to shed the weight and more importantly keep them off for good.

Laxatives and weight loss are two things that are very often linked with each other. In more ways than one, the use of laxatives as a method of weight loss has been explored, with varied results that range from successful to disastrous.

Taking laxatives results to more frequent and augmented bowel movements and causes the large intestine to be incapable of absorbing food particles. It also diminishes fat absorption, thereby limiting the fat content in the body and resulting to greasy fecal release.

Laxatives as tools in weight loss pose both short term and long term effects to one's health when used indiscriminately or inappropriately. Here are some of the underlying dangers that one should know:

• Long term usage of laxatives can cause chronic mal absorption syndrome. This is an affliction wherein the digestive system becomes incapable of absorbing food particles needed to nourish the body. This can lead to malnutrition and other digestive or eating disorders.

• It can result to a permanent damage to the G.I. tract

• Can also cause the bones to get brittle as well as the muscles to weaken

• It can lead to eating disorders such as bulimia as well as anorexia nervosa

• It can cause weakening of the immune system

• It can cause incontinence

• Injury to the intestines

• Chronic diarrhea

• Stomach cramps

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Bloody fecal matter

Women are more prone to the side effects of laxatives since they are the ones who experience the effectiveness of laxatives as weight loss tools. It has been found out that the prolonged use of laxatives can affect ovulation and menstrual cycle. It can also affect a woman's fertility and cause difficulty in conceiving. Pregnant women are strongly forbidden to take laxatives in any way, shape, or dose because it can adversely affect the development of the growing embryo or foetus. Those women who are trying to get pregnant are also advised to steer clear of laxatives, even the ones that comes as a regular drink (teas, etc)

If you are inclined to lose weight using laxatives, be aware of all the side effects as well as the long term health risks. It is understandable that sometimes people are looking for easy ways to get things done, such as losing weight quickly but the risks should never outweigh the rewards.

Using laxatives should never be used as an alternative for real and effective weight loss programs. In the end, your health should always be a paramount concern among everything else. There are so many other ways of losing weight without resorting to using laxatives and risking your well being. It always takes time and utmost commitment in order to achieve weight loss and fitness.