Posted by katte

Laxatives are commonly used as a temporary relief from constipation. It’s fine to use laxatives once in awhile, when you are constipated, but too often laxatives are used as a way of losing weight . Laxative abuse is often followed by binge eating and then purging again, creating a dangerous cycle that leads to serious eating disorders.

People who use laxatives as a purgative to lose weight are mistaken in thinking that they are flushing calories from their bodies. Actually, all they’re doing is draining fluids from their bodies along with necessary minerals such as sodium, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus that are vital for proper nerve and muscle function. Resulting dehydration causes tremors, weakness, blurred vision, fainting, erratic heartbeat, and raises your risk for heat stroke or kidney damage.

Laxatives work by stimulating the nerve endings in the colon, also known as the large intestine, which causes the colon to draw water from the body to aid in elimination of feces. People who think they are eliminating calories are not, because calories are actually processed in the small intestine, before waste products even reach the large intestine. Therefore, they are not losing any calories by purging with laxatives.

Laxative abuse is strongly associated with eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexic and bulimic people are obsessed with food and with losing weight. They see laxatives as part of their daily weight loss plan , just as healthy people who want to lose weight eat healthy, low calorie and low fat meals combined with regular exercise regular as part of their daily weight loss plan. Those with eating disorders see themselves as fat although they are emaciated. They are more susceptible to illnesses and infections and are at higher risk for liver damage or damage to the kidneys, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and certain types of cancer.

Something most people do not realize is that laxatives are addictive. People do use laxatives on a daily basis in order to stimulate bowel elimination must increase their daily dosage to compensate for increasing tolerance of the drug, just as junkies must use more and more heroin to get high for the longer they use it. When you decide to stop using laxatives you will go through withdrawal, just as recovering drug addicts do. The symptoms of withdrawal are very similar to those of dehydration, and it is advised that people kicking the habit of laxative abuse do so under the supervision of their doctor.

Eating disorders are deadly illnesses that usually strike young women in their teens and continue on until death or recovery. Recovery from eating disorders, like any addiction, is a lifelong process. It is also not unknown for middle-aged women who are spreading in the middle, but have shown no previous signs of an eating disorder develop anorexia or bulimia. One age group is in no less danger than the other of developing serious illness as a direct result of purging their bodies using laxatives.

You don’t have to use laxatives in order to lose weight; in fact laxatives contribute nothing to losing the fat that causes you to be overweight. To lose weight and stay healthy consult your doctor or a nutritionist and find a diet and exercise program that will help you lose the fat you need, without resorting to laxatives.