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| Senna is a plant, so it’s completely natural and has been used for its laxative properties all around the world for thousands of years. It started in the Middle East and Egypt and quickly became a part of the traditional herbal system in the Western cultures. The leaves are the most potent part of the plant, which is what is typically used in teas, but it can also be in capsule or tablet form or even as a liquid extract. There are a lot of different forms of senna, and most health food stores and pharmacies will have it one form or another. It is a widely used ingredient that has been deemed to be well tolerated to treat constipation, help irritable bowel syndrome, cleanse the colon before surgery, and aid in weight loss.

Senna is an ingredient present in many well-known laxative products sold in supermarket and pharmacies. There are quite a number of clinical studies that have used senna used as a laxative or colon cleanse. There has also been a wide variety of participants in the different studies as well. Healthy adults suffering from constipation, as well as those suffering from serious disease, and postpartum patients have all been part of successful senna studies, which have all concluded that when senna is used as directed it is a well-tolerated and efficacious medicine. Some minor abdominal cramping is sometimes experienced, but in every study, it is the minority of people who experience this.

The idea behind our SkinnyMeTea Evening cleanse, which uses senna as one of the main ingredients, is to encourage your body’s natural detoxification process by eliminating the waste through the bowel. It has been used as a colon cleanse for years in the medical setting as well, and that is essentially what you’re doing at home. You are cleansing your colon and detoxifying your body through the colon. By doing this it gets rid of excess fluid and excess waste that might be the cause of bloating.

Good quality senna is completely natural and has excellent tolerability if used correctly. It has has been in use for thousands of years, but there are still some things to keep in mind while using it. Hydration is key. It is very important to keep hydrated and drink plenty of water while taking senna. Your body is flushing out a lot of excess fluid as waste, so it could be easy to get dehydrated if you’re not mindful of that. Drink plenty of water and eat foods rich in water content.

How long you use the product is also important. Senna is a great cleansing ingredient, but you’re not meant to be on a cleanse forever. It is best used as a kick-start to your new lifestyle or as a periodic cleanse or detox. Our SkinnyMe Tea Evening Cleanse label recommends you use the tea every other night for 14 to 28 days to avoid becoming dependent on the product and to promote a healthier way to cleanse.

We also advocate and stress the importance of diet and lifestyle change. The only way to make these effects long term is to change your lifestyle, which means regular exercise and a healthy meal plan. Continuing to feed your body exactly what you want to be cleansed isn’t what you’re supposed to do.

Further, our Evening Cleanse is listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). That means that our product is manufactured in a facility that is required to follow Good Manufacturing Practice and testing for the identity of all ingredients in the formulation as well as for heavy metal and other potential toxins. Beware of imitations that are not listed on the ARTG. Senna is a therapeutic herb and therefore it is regulated as a medicine. It is essential that products containing this ingredient are entered on the ARTG and due to the known adulteration of many herbal weight and cleanse products I wouldn’t take any senna product or weight loss/cleanse product that wasn’t on the ARTG.

Many of our competitors are trying to pass off their products as being within the food regulatory category (ie as teas or herbal infusions). Any product containing senna is not compliant if it is not on the ARTG. Senna is not permissible in foods. Make sure you look for the AUST L number which should be on the front of the packaging of products containing senna. You should also look for the mandatory warning statements required on be on the packaging as follows:

WARINING: Contains senna which contains hydroxyanthracene glycosides. Prolong use may cause serious bowel problems. Do not use if you have abdominal pain nausea or vomiting or if you develop diarrhea. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, seek medical advice before using this product.

The following warning should appear on all products making claims that it will help reduce the symptoms of a condition. If symptoms persist consult your healthcare professional.

If the product does not contain the AUST L and the mandatory warning statements, we highly recommend that you do not purchase these products or contact the Therapeutic Goods Administration for advice before purchasing the product.

Senna is not safe to use is if you are experiencing abdominal pain or nausea or vomiting because these are signs of a potential or existing intestinal blockage. In these instances, you should refer to a healthcare professional.

Firstly, once you have completed your Teatox Program give yourself a pat on the pack!

At SkinnyMe Tea, we have designed this program to promote a healthy lifestyle change, as opposed to it being a short-term solution or ‘fad’ diet. We hope that as you have completed the program you have picked up some important health tips and lifestyle changes that you can use moving forward.

Our SkinnyMe Detox Program Eating and Exercise plan can be continued after you have completed your Teatox. This will continue to assist you in facilitating consistent long-term changes and a healthy lifestyle.

Ultimately, we believe that balance and moderation are important to future success. |

We have to admit that when we first started we didn’t have a great deal of knowledge. After we were contacted by the TGA we consulted experts to help us ensure that we were delivering the highest quality, compliant products to our customers. In the process, we learnt a great deal and we decided to ensure that we made very certain that our products were made in Australia and that all of the ingredients in our teas were of the highest quality possible. We discovered the only way to do that was to make sure the ingredients come from countries that are highly regulated.

We have learnt that there are concerns with adulteration of herbal ingredients from China as well as heavy metal contamination so to rule out any risk of this being a concern for our products SkinnyMe Tea very proudly sources most of its ingredients from Australia or Germany, which has a deep-rooted history in the study of herbal medicines and goes through strict regulations for the herbs it produces.

Many of our competitors source their ingredients from China, which can actually be quite scary because you never know what you’re going to get. The lack of regulations and low-quality standards have led to some very serious health problems. Even when you think the ingredient is “safe”, if it’s from China, you cannot be so sure.

http://www.realnatural.org/chinese-herbs-tainted-with-pesticides-and-heavy-metals-what-to-do/

One of the largest health scandals involving ingredients from China is the 2008 milk scandal. This scandal involved milk and infant formula, along with other food materials and components, which were adulterated by melamine, which is a flame retardant and pesticide. The ingredient was added to the milk and formula because it increased the protein content, therefore, making it more profitable. There were 300,000 victims in total, 54,000 hospitalized babies, and six of the babies died. Four years earlier, in a separate, less publicized incident, watered down milk lead to the death of 12 infants due to malnutrition. The World Health Organization said this incident was one of the largest food safety events it has dealt with in years. A similar incident with melamine was discovered in eggs and possibly other foods exported to the United States despite a 2007 ban on the ingredient. A spokesman said the scale and gravity of the problem proved that it was, "clearly not an isolated accident, [but] a large-scale, intentional activity to deceive consumers for simple, basic, short-term profits.” Meaning, this is a common occurrence in China, and due to the political corruption in and lack of organized food regulation system, there is simply no way to know if you’re getting a quality product or a poisoned ingredient used for someone else’s quick profit.China is no stranger to controversy regarding the quality of its ingredients and products. Countless scandals have broken out over the decades, not to mention the thousands of cases that didn’t make headlines. Just to mention a few, there have been cases of heavy metals in herbal extracts, prescription drugs in weight loss products and aluminum in dumplings, mercury in skincare products, glow-in-the-dark pork, urea in bean sprouts, 40-year-old meats, hepatitis A in frozen berries, plastic rice, formaldehyde in beer, sewage used as cooking oil and tofu marinated in human feces. All you have to do is google “Food safety incidents in China,” and your mind will be blown.

Of course, it’s not only the food we eat. The product manufacturing in China has been a corrupt free-for-all for years. Even the Chinese themselves would rather buy their milk products and food from countries like Australia. An expert on the issue, Paul Midler, author of the book “Poorly Made in China”, explains that much of the Chinese manufacturing problem is “quality fade.” Quality fade is, “the deliberate and secret habit of widening profit margins through a reduction in quality of materials.” This means that after foreign companies make deals with Chinese manufacturers, often ones that seem too good to be true (because they are), the Chinese manufacturer complies with the agreed upon specifications, but shortly after, the quality of the promised product starts to deteriorate. By cutting costs after the deal is made, it then makes the deal much more lucrative for the Chinese manufacturers. Not only do these cost cuts make the product unethical, it often makes it extremely dangerous. Packaging is cheapened, chemical formulations altered, sanitary standards curtailed and so on. The importers of these products may very well know this is happening, but don’t want to know too much because that would then ruin the deal they are making a huge profit on. If the problems are undetected by the consumers, it is great for both companies. Some Western companies have begun to use outside laboratories to test ingredients, which may seem like a great idea, except there are too many ways to get around these tests, such as sending more products to test than needed and only using the one that passes. Because there is not a good regulation system, they get away with these sort of tricks all the time. Many of the more modern Chinese manufacturers also outsource their work to much smaller factories which don’t have to worry as much about environmental regulations or standards of products or workers. So even if you are not concerned about the quality of your product or integrity of the ingredient, there is also a moral question regarding the standards of practice many of the labor in China endure. Though child labor, prison labor, or even slave labor doesn’t only happen in China, China is a country notorious for this kind of practice. Conditions in factories can be filthy and even lead to the death of the children workers due to the complication of health. Most Westernized countries have very strict laws that prevent this kind of slave labor and working conditions.

What consumers don’t always realize is that they are the ones in control. For every Chinese manufacturer, there is an importing company selling that product and a consumer buying that product. Without consumers, there would be no need for anything to be manufactured. The importing companies are making huge amounts of money by jeopardizing the safety of their clients and integrity of their product. Choosing your herbal products that are made in countries such as Australia which have well intact regulating systems, ensures the quality of the product. SkinnyMe Tea’s Evening Cleanse is a listed medicine and is on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. This means that it is produced in a facility that complies with the Good Manufacturing Practice, so you know you’re getting a product that has been tested and quality assured, something that the competitors have not done. For more information on this issue go to links on the TGA’s website
below:

https://www.tga.gov.au/community-qa/buying-medicines-and-medical-devices-over-internet

https://www.tga.gov.au/community-qa/weight-loss-beware-buying-unregulated-products-online

This is a product and program designed for adults. If you are under the age of 18 years we request parental permission to purchase our products containing our Evening Cleanse Tea, this is included in our SkinnyMe Teatox. We also do not recommend taking the Evening Cleanse Tea if you are under the age of 18 years.

Our Evening Cleanse Tea contains Senna leaf, which can produce a mild laxative effect. This is not recommended as your body is still developing.

Further information on why those of a younger age, should not consume the tea, can be found below.

Senna is a laxative herb. Except for bulk laxatives ( eg fibre, psyllium husks, flaxseed), all herbal and many synthetic laxatives all work in the same way: they stimulate the intestinal wall cells to release extra water and electrolyte minerals into the gastrointestinal tract. Normally water and electrolytes are reabsorbed by the intestines, however, the laxatives prevent this. The water increases the volume of waste matter passing through the gut, which stimulates peristalsis: the wave-like muscular action which pushes the wastes out of the body.

The water does the work; however, the electrolyte minerals are lost in the waste matter. This is the reason why laxatives are meant to be used only in the short term. Used constantly for long periods of time, they will cause mineral deficiencies and potentially illness. Children are growing and it is very important to make sure they get enough minerals along with vitamins, proteins etc. Adolescents do not stop growing until the age of 18, on average. Teenagers have a greater need for many nutrients, relative to their body weight than adults. During the teenage years, minerals to support the growth of muscle and bone are crucial. Of the electrolyte minerals, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus and calcium are crucial for bone development and strength while potassium is essential for muscle growth. Deficiency of minerals in the teenage years can be serious, as adolescents are still actively growing and have not yet developed adult reserves of nutrients. It becomes clear that the use of herbal laxatives (except bulk laxatives) for children and teenagers can cause losses of very important minerals, and should not be considered without the advice of a qualified health practitioner.