Unsure whether to try that latest TikTok Health Trend? Today we’re unpacking whether it’s worth trying, or better to avoid!
Trend 1: Salt Water Flush
A salt water flush is where you drink a mixture of warm water and non-iodized salt.
Drinking this salt water drink has a laxative effect, so it usually causes urgent bowel movements within 30 minutes to an hour, although it may take longer.
Health Claims:
- Pushes waste through the body – releasing toxins
- Improves digestion
- Cleans out the intestines
- Removes parasites
Some major red flags coming through with these claims, but let’s first start by looking into the potential benefits.
Benefits:
- It can temporarily relieve constipation due to its laxative effect
Concerns:
- Sometimes recommended as part of detox diets or juice fasts, which promote problematic laxative use.
- Long-term use of laxatives (in various forms) can cause significant gut issues and disrupt normal digestion.
- Drinking salt water can lead to urgent bowel movements, making it inconvenient for daily activities.
- Drinking salt water on an empty stomach may cause nausea, vomiting, and electrolyte imbalances.
- Increased risk of sodium overload from frequent use, potentially leading to high blood pressure.
- Colon cleansing can cause electrolyte imbalances, leading to symptoms like muscle spasms, weakness, confusion, and irregular heartbeat.
- Not eating while undergoing this process can lead to negative side effects like excessive hunger, binge eating, and blood sugar imbalances.
So the verdict: give this TikTok health trend a skip! The concerns overwhelmingly outweigh the benefits.
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Trend 2: Sober Curious
Being sober curious is about questioning the role of alcohol in your life, and exploring either not drinking or drinking less to improve your health or wellbeing. It also explore this idea of being more open to socialising, celebrating, and managing stress without using alcohol as a coping mechanism.
To share a bit of statistics: young Australians are statistically reducing their alcohol consumption. The percentage of people in their 20s abstaining from alcohol now is 22%, compared to 9% in 2001. That’s a significant increase.
Benefits:
- Reducing alcohol intake can reduce health issues associated with frequent drinking, as alcohol is unfortunately a toxin for our health.
- It can potentially increase your energy levels as well because our body can’t use the energy from alcohol very effectively. Reducing alcohol means we have more opportunity to consume food instead.
- Anyone who’s felt like they’ve had a few too many on a weekend knows what it feels like on Saturday or Sunday afterwards, when your body is trying to eliminate and process that alcohol, and the fatigue that comes with it. Some people also experience high anxiety, known as hangover anxiety, which can affect mood a lot.
- It can also affect our eating patterns because after a big night out drinking, we might eat foods we wouldn’t usually choose. While we’re all about ‘all foods fit’, it might not align with your values.
- It may also inspire learning some other coping strategies for stress or navigating social situations
Concerns:
It’s probably positive for many people, drinking less, especially in Australia, where we have a really strong drinking culture.
The question would just be around whether concern for your health is impacting your ability to join in on social situations and connections. If you’re feeling like you’re missing out on socialising completely because you don’t want to be around alcohol or don’t want to drink alcohol – that can be really tricky and can be quite isolating.
Sometimes if you are sober curious, or you’re wanting to change as part of your lifestyle, sometimes it does mean adjusting how you’re spending time with people and sometimes even who you’re spending time with. We acknowledge that this can be really hard.
It can be a bit of a double-edged sword in terms of causing a bit more isolation if you don’t have friendship groups that are doing non-alcohol related activities.
There are community groups available online, I’ve come across some of their pages on Instagram about being sober curious. If you’re trying to reduce or change around your friendship group, or even think about how to manage your current friendship group and being sober with your current friendship group, there could be some really good resources out there.
Get your copy of my free 3 Steps To Stop Cravings eBook here!
Trend 3: Dry Scooping Pre-Workout
Let’s move on to the next TikTok health trend – dry scooping pre-workout. It’s essentially taking pre-workout powders without water, literally just putting it in your mouth as the powder.
In terms of what pre-workouts are, they’re usually something people take before exercising, given the name ‘pre-workout’. They usually contain things like caffeine, creatine, beta-alanine, and a bunch of amino acids.
Claims:
- Helps you absorb it faster and produces a better workout
Sadly there are no benefits of this trend, but we do have quite a few concerns.
Concerns:
When we try to swallow a dry powder in our mouth, there’s a strong risk of not being able to swallow it because of the chalky texture. If we can’t swallow it and we’re gasping for air, especially if we breathe in air through our nostrils, we can suck powder into our nasal cavities and into our lungs. That’s very dangerous.
We don’t want pre-workout sitting in your lungs and trying to breathe. It can lead to inflammation and
Other things that we are a little bit concerned about are side effects on the heart. This can happen with pre-workout by itself as well. Large doses of caffeine, especially if it’s not diluted by water, can affect the heart and cause heart palpitations or blood pressure issues. It can also create a few digestive issues as well, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and cramps.
Verdict: No – please don’t do it!
Trend 4: Lemon Olive Oil Morning Drink
This TikTok health trend is essentially a drink that you have in the morning made with lemon, two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, honey, ginger and cinnamon.
Claims:
- Increases energy
- Improves digestion, however it can promote loose bowel movements
- Supports the liver
- Supports your lymphatic system
Benefits:
- It might actually taste nice, not that we have tried it so we are just assuming with this one
- Because of the lemon and the honey and the spices – it does contain vitamin C and some antioxidants and polyphenols
Concerns:
- Generally taking more than one tablespoon of oil, especially if we take it in the morning, can cause diarrhoea, cramping and discomfort
- We also want to be cautious about whether this drink is taking the place of solid meals – we don’t want it to be used as a meal replacement
- It might be tasty – but at the end of the day there’s not really any evidence behind these health claims. Sure, some of the ingredients have health-promoting nutrients – but there is likely more enjoyable ways to enjoy these nutrients than in this drink
Our verdict: There’s not necessarily a whole lot of harm in trying it, but we would reduce the olive oil component or leave it out. If you are trying it, it needs to only be in addition to an already balanced diet.
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Trend 5: Raw Carrot Salad to Balance Hormones
Essentially what it is – is shaved carrots into thin strips, dressed with salt and pepper, olive oil and vinegar.
Claims:
- Detoxifies the body
- Balances hormones
Benefits:
- Carrots are great! They contain vitamin A – which is very important for your eye health, cell health and DNA
- The olive oil is also beneficial as it helps absorb vitamin A, as vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin
Concerns:
- It’s just another salad. There’s nothing special about it. It’s just carrots, olive oil and vinegar. It’s going to add a few more antioxidants in there. But at the end of the day, what we really want to send home with this – is there’s never one food that’s a magic solution to health.
Verdict: Enjoy your carrots, but don’t expect it to be the magic solution to ‘balance’ your hormones!
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