In a perfect world, de-bloating would involve sizeable slabs of brie, a large glass of malbec and plenty of sedentary Iplayer catch up. But while we await that nirvana, how about if instead flat stomach confidence was as easy as drinking a cup of tea? I'll take that.
The latest trend in detoxing is teatoxing - 28 day programmes designed to aid digestion, boost energy, quell your appetite and more - and it's as simple as drinking a brew or two.
With a special occasion looming, I tried one of the more well-known teatox packages, the appropriately namedBootea(all becomes clear later) The promise is simple, drink one Daytime Detox every morning, this contains metabolism-boosting Chinese Oolong, Ginseng root to rev up energy and dandelion, thought to suppress sweet cravings and aid digestion. Then, every other night before bed, drink a Bedtime Cleanse, a natural blend of peppermint, liquorice and, the key to it all, Senna. Drink this natural extract and within 8 hours it'll produce a natural (very gentle!) laxative effect, to help clean out your digestive systemand flush away toxins your body might be holding on to - hence the name!
So, did it work? In a word: yes. In two words: yes, but...
Of course you won't magically turn into Cindy Crawford by drinking a cup of tea, but after a week of teatoxing my stomach was feeling lighter, looking less bloated and also, I felt genuinely more energised so exercise became easier. There is a healthy eating plan you can opt in or out of which is just sensible stuff - lots of veg, not so much cake - but I found teatoxing made me more conscious of what I was eating anyway, so I naturally made better choices.
So while I can't promise you the brie and Bake Off miracle plan, Teatoxing is a fabulously lazy way to de-bloat for an occasion, or to kick-start some healthy lifestyle changes.For only three minutes of extra effort, you can't say fairer than that!
