Weight Loss and Herbal Wraps Get The Facts

Weight Loss and Herbal Wrap - Myth or Reality?
Tess Thompson

One of the weight loss solutions that have caught the fancy of the public in a big way is that of herbal weight loss wraps. The concept works when you wrap bandages smeared with pastes prepared with herbal extracts, collagens and amino acids on your body. These herbal pastes, amino acids and collagens work together to help in weight reduction.

Some herbal body wraps use a mixture of clay, natural sea salt, herbs and some essential oils. These essential oils include sandalwood, lavender, lemon grass, grapefruit and olive. Herbs used in body wraps usually include alfalfa leaf powder, ground basil, chamomile flower powder, rose petal powder and rosehip powder. To make the paste, water is boiled and mixed with natural sea salt until it dissolves completely. All the other ingredients are then added to form a paste. The paste is then smeared over the entire body. A sheet is used to cover the paste and wrapped over the entire body. The wrapping sheets help in compressing the tissues to obtain greater benefits from the herbal concoction.

A warm shower is recommended before rubbing the mixture on the body so that all the pores are open when the paste is applied on the skin. In some cases, you may be asked to take a hot bath in water mixed with magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts). It is contended that the hot water opens the pores and as the water cools the Epsom salts extract toxins from the body. This process also reduces any swelling and relaxes muscles.

An ideal session of herbal weight loss wrap therapy can last approximately 45 minutes. Body wrap formulas are mostly marketed as packages along with other supplements. It cannot be determined which remedy in the entire package actually works best on the body. Most of the promotional materials that are found along with the herbal body wraps allege that the product can make you ‘lose inches’ within hours.

Due to the growing incidence of obesity the world over, natural weight loss supplements have become one of the fastest selling products in the industry for health-related products. This has also lead to extensive research on the issue of the causes and treatment of obesity. Inferences drawn from research and studies on obesity indicate that there is no quick-fix formula for weight loss. It has been established with reasonable certainty that any conventional or natural weight loss regimen must include exercise, diet control and adopting an active lifestyle. Even weight loss medications are recommended only as a last resort.

Ancient Indian therapies have used herbal pastes to treat various conditions with success. Obesity, however, does not seem to be one of them.

Herbal body wraps may be an enjoyable experience. But it is evident that herbal body wraps are shrouded in mystery, and their effect on weight loss needs to be examined further before they are accepted as an efficient weight loss solution.