One morning, I woke up to see my dad sitting on the sofa, looking slightly pale and light-headed. Right then and there, I knew something was wrong.

Dad only looks like that for two reasons: He just received some sort of bill, or he had a bad case of diarrhea. I then knew the answer when he turned to my mom and said darkly:

“I am never drinking that tea of yours ever again.”

That, and the fact that we had a really big family dinner the night before.

Mom kept saying “I told you so.”

Anyway, my dad was just one of the millions – maybe even billions – of people who suffered from the side-effects of slimming tea. Slimming tea is an herbal product that is about 25% tea. The remaining 75% is composed mainly of laxatives. Hence, the diarrhea.

Taking slimming tea can not only lead to diarrhea, but also to a truckload of medical problems such as stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, fainting, chronic constipation, dehydration, gastrointestinal (GI) tract problems, and possible death for those with eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia.

Randi Fine, and American who was interviewed by Self magazine, filed a report with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about her declining energy levels and heart palpitations after taking slimming tea on a regular basis for three months. She was so weak she couldn’t even get out of bed. She was – believe it or not – one of the lucky ones. The other women the FDA documented suffered from heart failure from taking such slimming teas.

Jena Jackson, a nutritionist, had a friend who was anorexic. She not only refused to eat, but routinely drank slimming tea as well, insisting that it had more benefits than risks; that it was a safe weight loss method. Her friend was proven wrong in the most fatal of ways: death.

Slimming tea is definitely not a good way to shed some pounds. Looking back and remembering the look on my dad`s face, I can attest to that. So instead of taking that bitter tea and ending up looking like my dad, I recommend that you lose weight the good old fashioned way: through regular exercise and eating healthy. Grab a salad or a glass of fresh fruit juice.

Or else, you’ll end up like my dad: in a cold sweat and being chastised at the age of 42.

Tags: Safe weight loss, Slimming tea, Diarrhea, Constipation, Stomach Cramps, Nausea, Vomiting, Fainting, Chronic Constipation, Dehydration, Gastrointestinal (GI) tract problems, Eating disorders, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Heart Failure