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Inside How Detox Teas Work : The Marketing, The Method, The Mistakes...

do detox teas work

Detox teas are an expensive illusion of which the growth and popularity beg the question "do they even work?"

In a sense, everything about these miracle teas works. Their marketing and their methods are great examples of such. The question is, however, "do they do what they promise?" My answer is a slow groan followed by an empty "well....sort of."

The Marketing ....Works

Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.
— Sigmund Freud

The marketing of detox teas is a stellar example of what happens when companies are successfully able to push all your buttons. Their strategy relies on triggers, an emotional trigger, a convenience trigger, and a social trigger. Emotionally these teas laser focus on a common problem area for women, their tummies. There's this unique angst that women feel about having excess stomach fat compared to any other area of the body. Why that is the case escapes me, but a taught stomach is the most sought after result of any diet or workout. However, the point is that stomach fat is a source of anxiety and insecurity for women who just want to feel comfortable in a two piece bikini or a midriff top. Detox tea companies target those emotions by communicating that they can solve those issues and by proxy the negative emotions you feel simply by sipping their tea. It's simple. It's easy.

Detox teas also rely heavily on convenience triggers. You don't just want your body to look different; you also want the results in the least time consuming and effort inducing way possible. All you need to do is sip on their tea, go on about your day, and voila you have abs. The results of teasing your emotional and convenience triggers are so powerful that logic can't even compete.

The third trigger is a social trigger. As people, we've always used social capital as a way to validate others or ideas. For example, the more friends a person has, the more people want to be their friend. The more people that agree with an idea, the more validated that idea becomes. It's a snowball effect, and the same is true for how detox tea companies leverage social media. They only collaborate with celebrities or social media influencers with large followings. Further, they work with tons of celebrities and social media influencers which validate the product even more. Before you know it, you're at minimum curious, and that's what they need, your attention.

The Method....Works

Their method of weight loss totally works, but they omit how it works and allow you to fill that part in for yourself. Someone who is interested in their tea doesn't have a solid background in fitness, so the immediate assumption is that the tea helps you lose fat. They didn't tell you that. Hell, they didn't say how it worked at all, but it does help them that you filled their omission in with a false assumption. In fact, detox teas won't burn a single ounce of fat from your body. Instead they only manipulate your water weight as detox teas are high in caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it assists in flushing water from your body. Water affects your weight and therefore if you drink a detox tea you will lose weight, but just not the type of weight you think. Moreover, that weight is going to come right back, as is the nature of water weight manipulation. So technically, detox teas totally work, if you know what they're actually doing. Although, if you're purchasing a detox tea to help you manipulate your water weight, there are much cheaper alternatives. Pre-workout powders, and black coffee or much more affordable options that do the same thing. Also, there are naturally diuretic foods like asparagus, beets, seaweed, spinach, and kale that you can add as a side to your meal or include in your salads.

The Mistakes...

If you made the mistake of purchasing a detox tea, it helps to understand the path by which that mistake happened. First, they triggered your emotions of potentially being unhappy with your body. Then, they triggered your desire for convenience or a quick fix to what is making you unhappy. Lastly, they validated your curiosity by using the people you follow to market to you. Detox teas totally work, but do they do what you promised yourself they would? Not even one bit.

There are no quick fixes in fitness; there are only slow, dedicated, permanent, and life changing ones.