Oolong tea is a a traditional Chinese tea. It is very good. It comes in many flavor varieties. It is most popular hear in the states for being a weight loss tea. It is also known as WuLong slimming tea. The Chinese have used oolong tea for years for weight loss, weight management, digestion aid, and a general cure all. Oolong tea is so named by the way it is processed and scented. When researching, I found that all tea comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. Different teas look and taste different because of the way they are processed. So, if you are drinking a tea for health benefits, all teas have health benefits. Some have more than others, like green tea, but all teas do have health benefits.

Oolong tea works like a natural laxative. It is not a laxative, but has a laxative effect. Laxatives were also thought of as cure-alls in the states about 100 years ago. For some of our families, like mine, it may have been about 20 years ago. Castor oil was the miracle cure all for many people years ago. Castor oil, for those of you who haven’t suffered a dose, is also a natural laxative. I remember hearing many stories form my grandmother about being given Castor oil when she and here 9 siblings were sick, or complained of stomach ailments. It seems that many older people use to think laxatives were magical cure-alls that clean out whatever is making you feel ill from your system. It is an old outdated way of thinking. We now have the wisdom of nutrition and the gift of antibiotics and other simple drugs that make life much easier than it was years ago.

Will oolong tea help me lose weight?

It is a myth that oolong tea can be a safe weight loss choice. Yes it can give you temporary weight loss, but remember it works like a laxative. Laxative abuse is very dangerous. Using a any type of natural or unnatural laxative to lose weight can result in malnutrition, because the food doesn’t have time to stay in the small intestine for nutrient absorption. Using laxatives to lose weight also can result in dehydration, which can be as simple as dry skin and migraines, and as serious as death. The colon is also damaged in laxative abuse, and IBS and colon cancer can occur.

But if oolong tea is a natural laxative, it’s o.k. right?

No, it’s not o.k. for regular use. For occasional constipation relief, using a natural laxative or in this case, a natural tea that has a laxative effect, is fine, but laxatives should never be part of a regular diet. Recommended amounts of fiber from green leafy vegetables and whole grains should be part of your regular diet to help prevent digestive problems, and help maintain a healthy weight.

My funny story with oolong tea
My first experience with oolong tea was with a friend about eight years ago. She approached me with a new miracle tea for weight loss. I, having battled my weight since I put on a freshman 40, couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say. She told me she had lost a tremendous amount of weight in a very short period. She said it was so easy, and the tea actually tasted really good. In the middle of our conservation, her best friend walked in. She listened for a few moments and snickered.
She said as she laughed, “Don’t listen to her, she doesn’t know what she’s saying.” This coming from a very over weight woman. Who was I to believe, the skinny lady, offering me guaranteed weight loss, or an overweight negative woman.
The overweight best friend went on to say while she giggled hysterically, “There’s something she’s not telling you about that miracle weight loss tea, it has side effects.”
I said, “What side effects could be worse than the joy of losing a bunch of weight.”
The overweight woman then said through uncontrollable laughter, “We also call oolong tea the poo poo tea.” She went on to say, “It makes you poop everything you eat, you can’t stay out of the bathroom.”
I said to my skinny friend, “Oh, you’re crazy, I am not going to drink a tea that makes me poop all day, I’ll pass.”
Even after saying that, I went out to the Asian grocery and got some of the famous oolong tea anyway. I thought, how bad could it be? I started the first day with one cup of tea after dinner. The next day was horrible for me, I couldn’t stay out of the bathroom. The infamous poo poo tea had definitely lived up to its name. I put the tea in the back of my pantry and forgot about it.
Sometime later, I was reorganizing my pantry, and took all of my teas out of their boxes and consolidated them in one airtight box.
A few more years past. Recently, we have been making cutbacks in our household budget where ever possible. I have been reaching to the back of the pantry and freezer, and trying to use every morsel of food, before we buy anything new.
Last week, I had ran out of all my regular iced tea bags, so I went for that old box of tea bags. It is a crafter’s hexagonal box I had covered in wall paper to match a kitchen in an apartment we had lived in when we first moved to Orlando. It was packed full of all different kinds of teas I had tried over the years. Teas for pregnancy, smooth move tea, tea to relax, tea for mother’s milk, and a host of others. I picked out eight bags of what I thought were unlabeled chamomile tea. I made a gallon pitcher of sweetened chamomile tea to be served with dinner.

My son was overjoyed at the taste of the mild herb tea. My husband loved it too, and so did I. By the end of the night, the three of us had finished off half the gallon pitcher. We were all happy and relaxed, from what I thought was the chamomile tea. Around midnight, I woke up with terrible cramps. I suffered for a little while, tossing and turning, then ran to the bathroom. I went back to bed, and then woke up a few hours later, I thought we must have a terrible stomach flu. I was awakened to the smell of a stinky diaper from my son early in the morning. I cleaned him up, and watched my husband run to the bathroom. I had the unfortunate experience that day of cleaning as many poopy diapers as a newborn makes from my toddler son. I thought that it was quite odd, because my son had never been sick, not even a sniffle.

I spoke with my husband that afternoon, and he confirmed he must have lost 5 pounds, and asked if I might have thrown in one of the smooth move tea bags by accident. Then I realized all the tea bags that I thought were chamomile were actually oolong. That day was terrible for my family, drinking large amounts of oolong tea was a similar comparison to the days I spent at the end of my pregnancy trying to induce labor with Castor oil. It was not pleasant, but it is a funny experience looking back. My lesson was learned, never ever serve mystery tea from the back of your cupboard.

In conclusion, it is not safe to use a oolong tea for anything other than occasional constipation relief. Weight loss and weight management is something most of us struggle with everyday. There are no easy ways to lose weight and keep it off. There are just simple choices we can make everyday, like choosing to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, and staying active.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Weight Loss Myths. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.