Dandelion - please help

Roisinbunny

Hiya guys,

I heard that Dandelion Extract was beneficial for weight loss and esp water retention and just wanted to know does anyone have experience of it? I am already taking Kelp Supplements

Apparently 15 drps with water 3 times a day - the girl in the health shop wasn't really too sure of its properties so I got the usual sales speel.

Just a bt of background - very healthy eater and love being active. Weight plummetted from 10stone 7 to 8 st 5 last year for no particular reason, except a lot of stress and prob some excessive training. Since then, weight crept back up to 10st 7 and nothing will shift it. Lots of medical tests (thyroid, intolerances etc) - nothing came to light except probable IBS (an easy way to fob off a patient in my opinion) If anyone could offer some help on this it would be much appreciated. Am completely demoralised staring at the same weight on the scales everyweek and not sure at all where to go from here.

Sugar Drunk

dandelion is a diuretic (so those old stories about it making you pee are true!). It will definately help stop you retaining water and will also help detox the liver a bit. Ive never added it to food but took the apple cider vinegar tablets before which had dandelion in it made me pee lots!

tbh

the french call the dandelion "pis-en-lis" (pee the bed) - it's famous for it's diuretic properties!

BaZmO*

Sugar Drunk wrote: »

dandelion is a diuretic (so those old stories about it making you pee are true!). It will definately help stop you retaining water and will also help detox the liver a bit. Ive never added it to food but took the apple cider vinegar tablets before which had dandelion in it made me pee lots!

There is nothing that will help the liver detox other than plain water and time. The liver's purpose is to detox the body anyway so no mount of herbal remedies will help it do what it's designed to do any faster or efficiently.

Roisinbunny

Thanks a mil for the replies. Sugar Drunk - I did't actually know that it was a diuretic?? The box didn't go into any detail to be honest so I went with what the sales girl said, which was a bit vague ..

TBH - I'm ashamed to say my fiancee is French and I never knew about pis-en-lis! he has just confirmed what you said. Apparently he said you can take the real stuff from the garden, wash it and add it to salads! Not sure if I'll go down that homemade route yet, but thanks..:)

Bazmo - I take your point entirely.. The body sometimes is the only one who can help itself, it's just after years of eating well, exercising and painfully watching everything I put into my body and never feeling 100% while I watch others around me shovelling in crap into their guts and still look fantastic, I'm just looking for some divine inspiration..:o

Sugar Drunk

BaZmO* wrote: »

There is nothing that will help the liver detox other than plain water and time. The liver's purpose is to detox the body anyway so no mount of herbal remedies will help it do what it's designed to do any faster or efficiently.

my fault phrased that wrong. The liver is the only thing that detoxs but some herbs like artichoke and milk thistle can help support the liver in doing that. OP- dandelion is indeed a diuretic it makes you pee, therefore the water you are retaining is reuced. Having used it in the past I would advise to make sure you drink plenty of water when taking it as I ended up with dry skin when I didnt!

ApeXaviour

Roisinbunny wrote: »

beneficial for weight loss and esp water retention

A more effective way of weight loss and dealing with water retention is removing high GI foods from your diet (any sweet foods or drinks, white bread/pasta/rice, potatoes). Increased insulin (the Zeus of hormones) is a major cause of water retention. Decrease your high-GI foods and you'll decrease your insulin. Reducing the amount of salt you eat is also a factor. A diet deficient in protein will also tend to cause water retention.

Diuretics will treat the specific symptom, but not the underlying cause. Much in the same way a paracetamol wouldn't cure a headache caused by dehydration, but would remove the pain.

http://www.water-retention.net/water-retention-causes.html

Roisinbunny

Hi ApeXaviour, I take your point about the low GI -I have tried this before to no avail. In fact I think I ended up gaining 4lbs. Again there may have been other contributory factors (i.e too much protein perhaps?). The increased insulin is an interesting point - I read a book which made claims similar to this but instead attributed the stress hormone cortisol to weight gain around the mid section. It's interesting though - why your body chooses to fluctuate and either make you gain weight when stressed or else lose weight rapidly when under stress?? I dont think I'll ever understand.. I'll just keep searching for the magic formula.

ApeXaviour

Roisinbunny wrote: »

Hi ApeXaviour, I take your point about the low GI -I have tried this before to no avail. In fact I think I ended up gaining 4lbs.

Hmmm... Do you mind if I ask what you would have eaten on a typical day?

Roisinbunny wrote: »

there may have been other contributory factors (i.e too much protein perhaps?).

Doubtful, unless you were supplementing protein or eating nothing but meat. Dietry fat might have been a factor, lean meat is the way to go for that.

The increased insulin is an interesting point - I read a book which made claims similar to this but instead attributed the stress hormone cortisol to weight gain around the mid section. It's interesting though - why your body chooses to fluctuate and either make you gain weight when stressed or else lose weight rapidly when under stress??

What book, I somehow doubt stress is a deciding factor in these things

Roisinbunny wrote: »

I dont think I'll ever understand.. I'll just keep searching for the magic formula.

There is a simple magical formula that's been known for ever. It's a basic thermodynamic principal that goes eat more = get fatter, eat less = get thinner. It really is that simple. People (including myself) overcomplicate things wit lots of little factors that make small difference to actual overall weight. After that the most important thing I'd say is to vary your diet, then eat lots of vegetables and fruit, then get adequate protein, then (and this is where my opinion and what I've read comes more into it) reduce sugar and sugar-like things.

I will admit some people are better built to deal with more carbohydrate, they're rare but they do exist. These people will tend to be quite lean naturally. But if you have had or have a family history of accumulating around your gut, especially if you've a pot belly (indicates visceral fat behind the muscle tissue and is definitively linked with excess insulin), high blood pressure, diabetes etc. then you are not one of these people.

g'em

Sorry, a teeeny tiiiny point - in women in particular cortisol has actually been shown to contribute to a disproportionate amount of fat gathering around the waist. In some people it has even been shown to be hyperphagic and antithermogenic. This is especially seen in otherwise lean women who have bellies i.e. an oversensitivity to cortisol.

All that said, like ApeX said, low GI foods are probably the best way to combat water retention, along with drinking plenty of water. I take Diuretik from Sona (with dandelion in it) when I need to lose a bit of water weight pre-competition (I'm taking them all this week for example) and it does help a little bit for sure, but isn't a substitution for healthy eating and other preventative measures.

Roisinbunny

ApeXaviour wrote: »

Hmmm... Do you mind if I ask what you would have eaten on a typical day?

There is a simple magical formula that's been known for ever. It's a basic thermodynamic principal that goes eat more = get fatter, eat less = get thinner. It really is that simple. quote]


Typical day..Breakfast - porridge with Soya milk sprinkled with seeds. Mid morning snack - apple or 2 satsumas OR small pot of bio yoghurt. Lunch - small tin of tuna on one slice of McCambridge. Dinner - salmon baked in oven with lemon, lots of brocolli or green beans and turnip. For snack - cashews/few pistachios or more fruit. Cut out tea/caffeine completely, sugar completely, milk completely. Ive nevver really been a big soft drink or junk food kind of person so thats not a problem for me.Ironic thing is when I gradually introduced milk, felt much better digestively and actually lost some weight. Gave up a lot of the nuts cos my skin was TERRIBLE. PS I do cardio 4 to 5 times a week and also walk to/from work and the shops as I sold my car!

The book referencing the cortisol theory is called "Fat Around the Middle". Seemed like a good read with a lot of science backing up what she said. Unfortunately, if the thermodynamic principal you mentioned applied to me, I would be burning far more than I consume (prob insufficient to sustain) and I wouldn't be headwrecked trying to figure out how my body works:)

ApeXaviour

Roisinbunny wrote: »

Ive nevver really been a big soft drink or junk food kind of person so thats not a problem for me.Ironic thing is when I gradually introduced milk, felt much better digestively and actually lost some weight.

I may have been hasty before on my admonishing of moderate use of dairy.

Gave up a lot of the nuts cos my skin was TERRIBLE.

Oh... strange. From pistachios and cashews? Do you think you'd experience similar if you tried almonds/walnuts?

Roisinbunny wrote: »

The book referencing the cortisol theory is called "Fat Around the Middle". Seemed like a good read with a lot of science backing up what she said.

Interesting, I might give it a look. I'm no fan of cortisol myself. Your brain hates it, and so does your lean mass. Though body builders are a bit crazy against it. I'm pretty sure it's release is required in small amounts, but like anything, excess = bad

Roisinbunny wrote: »

Unfortunately, if the thermodynamic principal you mentioned applied to me, I would be burning far more than I consume (prob insufficient to sustain) and I wouldn't be headwrecked trying to figure out how my body works:)

It's a physical principal that applies to everybody, no really... If you did disobey it there's no doubt you should be studied, since in physics you simply can't get out more energy than you put in (when people have claimed this to be the case they've usually turned out to be overlooking something). Unless you have a rare disease that prevents you going below a certain weight then reducing your intake will make you thinner.

Roisinbunny

I take your point - something must be overlooked by me - its the only explanation. I read somewhere else also that diagnosis of underactive thyroid can be missed if you are a borderline case so it's another possibility.

As for the nuts, I'm putting it down to just another food allergy!

I would like to study cortisol more - its strange how it can affect the same people in different ways - i.e lose/gain weight

Perhaps some people have a lower calorie intake needs than others, before diet/exercise come into it....

EileenG

Definitely agree about calorie needs. I go to an on-line calculator and it says I should be eating around 3500-4000 cals a day to maintain my weight and lifestyle (and you should have seen the figures it gave me when I was breastfeeding!) but I know that in reality, I can eat half that amount and maintain. I comfort myself that if there's another ice age, I'll survive on a handful of nuts a day, while the rest of you starve.

EileenG

Oh, and dandelion leaves make a great addition to salads. They are slightly bitter, so they offset the blandness of most lettuces. Best picked when young for salads.

Older dandelion leaves can be cooked. Bring leaves to the boil, then discard that water and start again. After the second time coming to the boil, drain and add plenty of butter, or throw into a pan where you've cooked rashers.