Mineral Wrap Diet

A mineral wrap diet is not really a diet at all. It is literally a wrap soaked in certain minerals that goes around your body. The mineral wrap is supposed to rid your body of lifelong buildup of material by removing it through your pores. Proponents of mineral wraps claims a 60-minute treatment can remove 6 to 20 inches from your body.

Wraps

There are three main types of body wraps: mineral, herbal, and clay, although seaweed, collagen, MSM, lipase or aloe vera are also used. The Ask a Healer website recommends that you obtain a list of ingredients of minerals or herbs that you will be wrapped with before undergoing the procedure. You can use herbal body wraps to tone and moisturize your skin and to heal or detoxify your body. Clay wraps, using such clays as bentonite, french green clay and red clay, are generally used for detoxification purposes.

Mineral Wraps

Mineral wraps use such ingredients as magnesium, potassium and sodium. Since these ingredients may be absorbed into the skin during the treatment, some people may not be suitable candidates for a mineral wrap. People with heart conditions or those on potassium or magnesium supplements should get an okay from their doctor before using a mineral wrap with these ingredients. Those on a sodium-restricted diet should also get an okay from their doctor, since salt may be absorbed during the treatment.

Procedure

At the Houston Body Wrap Center, you are wrapped for one hour. Patients are advised to eat something light before the treatment and drink a normal amount of water. Women are wrapped wearing their bra and panties, men are wrapped in their swim trunks. Houston Body Wrap suggests one or two wraps per week at the beginning of treatment, combined with supplements that they sell. You should lose 1 lb. per week until you reach your desired weight and then come back for maintenance treatments several times per year.

Effectiveness

The Ask a Healer website states, "Many wraps only provide temporary water loss, so you can fit in that dress for your wedding or high school reunion..." It adds that weight loss tools such as mineral wraps only work if they are used to supplement a healthy eating and exercise program. Quackwatch is much more scathing, labeling any sort of detoxification or cleansing regimen, whether it be mineral wraps or sauna treatments or colon irrigation, as "schemes and scams."

Cautions

Even clinics that tout mineral and other wraps advise people with many different conditions to avoid mineral wraps. The list includes pregnant and nursing women as well as people with infectious skin conditions, open wounds, recent surgery, high blood pressure, heart problems, blood clots, varicose veins, allergies, epilepsy, asthma and diabetes.