Borax and Tapeworms and Clay, Oh My!
The things people consume for “health” and “wellness” reasons can go from normal to dangerous pretty quickly. Let’s take a look at some of the strangest dietary “supplements” of modern times!
Disclaimer: though I am a certified nutrition coach, I’m not a registered dietitian. RDs go through extensive education and training to become licensed in their fields and are generally the most up-to-date on nutrition-related topics.
However, I don’t need to be a nutritionist to call out these questionable dietary additions. It’s just common sense!
1: Borax
Ah, borax. The most recent questionable fad diet trend, and my source of inspiration.
In case it’s not obvious: don’t eat your laundry detergent, kids.
Borax is made with boron, which is what people are actually going for when they “hop on the borax train.” The thought seems to be that borax can relieve arthritis, inflammation, and fibromyalgia.
The truth? There’s very little evidence to suggest that. This is mostly due to the fact that borax is not safe for human consumption, so no one is doing research on the effects.
Boron itself, one of the main components of borax, might be what people are really after. Boron is a chemical element and can actually be found in food sources like coffee, beans, and potatoes. However, it’s not considered an essential nutrient in the human diet and there’s very limited research on how much it has to do with the functions of the human body.
Borax is toxic and ingestion can lead to symptoms ranging from nausea to renal failure. These negative effects are not worth the supposed potential benefits!
2: Tapeworms
I don’t usually get squeamish, but something about this diet fad makes me feel a little unsettled.
If you’re not aware of the tapeworm diet, I’m sorry for cursing you with this knowledge.
The idea is people swallow a pill with a tapeworm egg inside. The egg hatches, the tapeworm grows inside your body, and you lose weight because the tapeworm eats what you eat.
If this sounds a little familiar, it’s because this diet is also a form of infection.
Tapeworm infections are no joke. Once inside your body, they feed off your body’s nutrients and begin reproducing. In addition, there’s no telling what the tapeworm attaches to or whether it stays inside your digestive system at all. If it leaves the digestive tract, symptoms can include diarrhea and fever, as well as bacterial infections and neurological issues.
These issues can occur regardless of how the tapeworms got into a person’s body.
People are willingly infecting themselves with tapeworms and risking mild to severe symptoms in the name of weight loss.
I find it pretty upsetting to think about the lengths people are willing to go to because of how much pressure they feel due to their weight. It’s not worth it!
Honorable mention: ParaGuard! (The parasiticide, not the copper IUD) The ParaGuard cleanse is the opposite of the tapeworm diet. People are taking a parasiticide to “deworm” themselves. The problem with this is that parasitic infections are pretty uncommon in the US, and taking ParaGuard can do more harm than good. It can cause diarrhea and cramping, but it can also flush good bacteria from your gut, leading to more severe issues.
Stop listening to people on the internet, please!
3: Clay
Does anyone remember when things first started coming out about the unusual habits of Shailene Woodley? This is one she’s got a part in too!
According to an article she wrote many years ago, she “first heard about the benefits of clay from a taxi driver.”
No disrespect to taxi drivers, but that’s not a good enough source of information to me.
The idea behind eating clay is that it will bind to metals in your body and keep them from being absorbed.
There’s pretty limited evidence about the effects of eating clay. It might sound like a good idea to minimize metal absorption, but I don’t think people consider the importance of potassium and iron, which are both metals and both essential for humans. Too much clay can lead to a dangerously low level of these nutrients.
Maybe leave the clay to your topical beauty routine!
4: Laxatives
I know I put this in a “weird diet trend” post, but the use of laxatives for weight loss is actually a serious concern I think needs to be addressed.
Laxatives are commonly used to promote weight loss. People think that increasing the frequency of their bowel movements will lead to easy, quick, low-effort weight loss.
To no one’s surprise, this isn’t true!
Laxatives might help you lose weight fast, but it’s typically water weight. That means that these effects are only temporary.
A small amount of research has been done on this topic, all finding that laxatives are ineffective for weight loss. However, long-term use of laxatives for weight loss can lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and potentially dependence.
Harming your body in such a way, all in the name of weight loss is pretty horrifying. What’s worse is that there are plenty of people who think the dangers are worth it. In case you haven’t figured it out, the dangers aren’t worth it. If weight loss is something you want to achieve, it’s vital to use safe and sustainable methods to keep yourself in good health and lower the chances of weight regain.
5: Cabbage Soup
I know this sounds pretty mild compared to some of the other trends on here, but it’s still a concern!
The cabbage soup diet was made for quick weight loss (which I think we all know by now is fake).
This diet works well as a method of quick weight loss because it severely restricts a person’s caloric intake. Those on the cabbage soup diet eat the meal several times a day for a week. It’s low fat but also high in fiber, leading to more bathroom usage. The combo of lowering water weight and reduced calories can lead to weight loss, but it’s all temporary. As soon as you’re off the diet and return to your normal habits, the weight will come back. This diet doesn’t address dietary and lifestyle habits, nor give you the tools to make changes.
The diet is high in sodium, so dehydration isn’t uncommon. In addition, the extremely low caloric intake can lead to headaches, dizziness, nausea, and worse symptoms like muscle loss and gastrointestinal issues. In addition, diets like this mess with your metabolism. Bodies are pretty amazing and they react quickly to starvation, which can actually lead to additional weight gain once a person resumes a normal diet.
If you actually enjoy cabbage soup, don’t let this deter you from eating it! But remember to include it in a well-rounded diet, and take a look at your activity level too, especially if weight loss is something you’re interested in.
6: Cayenne-Lemon-Maple Water (AKA the Master Cleanse)
The Master Cleanse is also known as the lemonade diet and is thought to be one of the first detox diets. It started back in the 1940s and is a liquid fasting diet.
The Master Cleanse requires those following it to eat nothing for 10 days but drink mostly lemonade made with water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.
This diet is supposed to cleanse your body of chemicals and toxins, helping to “reset” your body and shed weight.
As many of us know by now, detoxes are bogus! Your body detoxes itself, and research doesn’t support cleansing your body.
Since this is essentially a liquid fast, it makes sense that weight loss occurs. However, just like with the cabbage soup diet, this weight loss is temporary. You can’t sustain an extremely low-calorie diet forever, and your body will fight its hardest to keep you at the weight you were at, or quickly return you to that weight.
I am intrigued by the spicy lemonade, but not as the only thing I consume for 10 days straight!
The Takeaway
I tried to keep this post lighthearted, but a lot of these things are actually really concerning. Listening to random people on the internet, eating non-food items, and putting your health at risk for weight loss are dangerous things to do.
None of these things are going to make you “healthier.” In fact, some of them are almost guaranteed to worsen your health (looking at you, Borax).
As many of you have had to hear me say time and time again, there is no “one thing". Your health and well-being rely on many factors, not just the things you eat.
I know that trying to lose weight with no results can feel pretty awful, and we as individuals are often made to feel responsible for our failures when that’s not the case at all.
We are all unique individuals with bodies that look and work so differently from those around us. Weight and supposed health superiority are concepts that have been pushed for centuries, but we are learning how little these things actually matter for our actual health and well-being.
Please don’t eat laundry detergent. Please don’t start a liquid diet for weight loss. Please don’t consume parasites or parasiticides.
If you want to talk more about these or other diet fads, please let me know!
If you want to talk more about sustainable methods for wellness and weight loss, I’d love to chat about that too.
Photo by Åsa Pålsson on Unsplash