Prunes: An Effective Natural Laxative For Weight Loss

You’d likely start imagining old people in pajamas, furry slippers, robes, or shorts upon the mention of prunes.  No surprise there, since dried plums are among the most common food items given to the elderly to help them move their bowels.

What could be a surprise to you is how useful prunes are to adolescents.  For instance, did you know that prunes are among the most effective natural laxatives for weight loss?

Prunes are able to act like laxatives by way of a certain substance these dried fruits contain.  It’s called digestive fiber.  Also called dietary fiber and roughage, digestive fiber is the indigestible natural substance found in certain food items.  Digestive fiber has a component with a laxative-like effect in the body, called soluble fiber.  Not only does soluble fiber make stool soft; it can be dissolved easily in the fluids in the body and thus easy to eliminate.  The number of times you eliminate a day, the easier it’s for your body to do so.  The more you eliminate, the faster you’ll be able to digest.  The faster you digest, the more calories you’ll be able to burn.

Consuming prunes regularly has even more benefits pertaining to weight loss.  To begin with, they can lower the level of bad cholesterol (i.e., low-density lipoprotein) in the blood when consumed.  To be precise, they interfere with cholesterol absorption.  They manage to do so by way of a substance they contain.  It’s called potassium.  Studies show that people who consume high-potassium food items regularly are least likely to have high-blood pressure than those who rarely do or don’t.  A cup of pitted prunes (174 g) contains over 1000 mg of potassium, so consuming some prunes regularly is sure to provide to you the potassium you need to avoid having high-blood pressure.  Doing so also helps you gain the daily requirement of vitamins and minerals to remain healthy.  In fact, a cup of pitted prunes contains many more nutrients—vitamins A, B6, B12, C, and D, as well as calcium, iron, and magnesium, to mention some of them—so consuming prunes regularly would be much help in remaining healthy.

No matter how nutritious and effective natural laxatives are, we aren’t telling you to consume as many prunes as possible.  Consuming more prunes than you should is harmful for several reasons.  To begin with, the daily requirement of vitamins and minerals to remain healthy includes more than prunes could give.  For example, the body needs a certain amount of fat to remain healthy.  Prunes contain little of it, so you need to complete your diet by consuming in moderation food items like meat.  But if you still consume more prunes than you should, you’ll be depriving your body of the nutrients it needs to keep functioning normally.  You might also begin eliminating abnormally, which could cause you to suffer dehydration or worse.

But what if you find prunes awful?  Are there other natural laxatives you may consume to lose weight safely?  Don’t worry; there are many more natural laxatives and we’ll soon be discussing them here, so do pay us a visit again.

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