**REVIEW** Dr Miller Miracle Tea (part 2 of 3) *UPDATED

(Part One of this review is found here.)

UPDATE TO THE REVIEW

WHY I NIXED THE TEA

Final Update (Hah!) *I have been granted a refund by Amazon. I think I have to print a shipping label for return, but I'm not sure because I got 2 separate emails from them. One said that my refund would be processed upon a scan of the return label, and the other indicated that they have already processed my refund. I will be checking with them for clarification. At any rate, it's cool to know that Amazon has a customer's back in cases like this. Thank you, Amazon!

Also, I have to mention that the Seller of the Miracle Tea also reached out to check on my satisfaction with the product. I'm waiting to hear further. I will upgrade my Amazon review by a star just because they at least are making an decent customer service effort.

So, I tried the tea yesterday for the first time and I'm not even going to continue with it. At least not on the 3-day schedule I initially intended.

Like I mentioned, I made the tea as suggested on the label and added it to some regular Lipton Tea. By the way, my niece sent me a comment that this can be made as a tea on its own (instead of adding it to another tea like the Liptons I used), but, oh well.

This is what the tea looks like with the Liptons:

I was going to make up at least a pint of the Miracle Tea with nothing else added and take a photo. But, as I said, I changed my mind about continuing my 3-day use. Once I read up on all the information about the ingredients, I realized that it's safer for me to do a "cleanse" by doing a 3-day all fruit and veggie routine. 

Understand that I'm not implying that the Miracle Tea is dangerous or anything but, for me, it makes more sense to stay away from the blend used in the tea. One of the reasons is that I think it's too powerful for me to drink more than a couple of times a day on an every-now-and-then basis. I realized this after I drank two 8-ounce servings yesterday.

The first serving of tea didn't really affect me. I started drinking it at about 8am and just sipped on it for an hour or so. I didn't want to gulp it down on an empty stomach. I'm not much of a breakfast person, but I did eat half a bagel with some strawberry and cream spread. After I finished the tea, I made sure to drink a 12-ounce bottle of water.

I started on the second serving of the tea sometime around 2pm. This time, I did just drink it in a shorter period of time (maybe 10 minutes), and I didn't eat anything. True to the claims, I did seem to feel very full. That's a good thing, right? I was full enough that I had to force myself to drink more another bottle of water.

By around 4pm, I felt like I had pigged out on a bread buffet. That "very full" feeling had intensified until it was uncomfortable. One of the reasons I rarely overeat is because I hate that stuffed, sickly feeling of a too-full belly.

I never did get to the third serving of the tea.

You know that feeling you get with an upset stomach where you wish you could expel something from one end or the other, just to get some relief? Well, that's the wish I was making before 7pm. It was all I could do not to snag some ipecac syrup.

When feeling full means not being hungry, that's a good thing. When feeling full means feeling sick-full that not a good thing.

Yeah, so...

Happily, when I woke up this morning, I felt much better. I wanted nothing to do with that tea. I drank a couple 16-ounce glasses of water throughout the morning and wasn't even tempted to eat. I didn't notice any unusual urge to use the bathroom either.

I paid too much for this tea to dump it all, but I'm going to save the unused tea bags for later (and for using in smaller amounts) if I can't give them away.  I don't know if it's just me or what but I didn't like the way the tea made me feel.

Since my intention was to clean out my system from some recent bad eating habits, I'm going to revert back to the fruit and veggie routine that I started when I was getting rid of my prednisone weight. Even though I don't have the weight issues anymore, that routine is one that I can maintain and enjoy. It's also one I can afford.

I told my niece about my experience with the tea and she can't understand it. She loves using the tea so far - though she isn't sure that she will be able to get through the whole gallon batch in a month. I did warn her about not letting her body get dependent on the tea and.... Well, just read the rest of this post.

I did promise a review of the Miracle Tea, so I'm going to include in this post what I came up with as far as information. For tomorrow's post, I'm going to detail the fruit and veggie routine I've used off and on.

BEFORE I NIXED THE TEA

Since I am using this mostly for its detoxifying effects, I wanted to see what some benefits of that might be. Of course, I suddenly start finding all kinds of information that suggests "detoxes" and "cleanses" might not be as beneficial as I've been led to believe. 

Oh boy.

Time for a bullet list!

• Bad news: There are some studies that suggest certain types of "cleanses" might do more harm than good. At best, some cleanses are simply unnecessary. The body, its noted, already does a good job of cleaning itself - colon included. Good news (linked from same article): "Some studies" support that certain remedies might benefit liver function.
• Bad news: This discussion among doctors seems to factually suggest that cleanses are unnecessary, but part of the discussion seems contradictory - in a way. When one doctor says that a pre-procedure (colonoscopy) purge is sufficient to clean out the stool, I wondered if an occasional "purge" isn't good for people who have never had a colonoscopy. Good news (maybe): The key word for me is "occasional". Of course, doing anything obsessively could be harmful. Most of the worst I'm hearing about these cleanses is for people who do them more often than needed and in lieu of eating a proper diet on a consistent basis.
• Bad news: Colonics (the kind I always pictured as being kind of, um, invasive, are not something I would ever do. Apparently, high colonics can cause tears and other damage to the intestines. If I ever had wanted to do a colonic, finding out how lightly regulated the industry is sure put that out of my head. Good news: Just like with any laxative, the trick is not to let your body become dependent on them. So, for myself, I'm still sticking with my occasional-is-okay line. (I am going to be warning my nieces about this since one of them uses her Miracle Tea on a regular basis...)
• Some general information and warnings on colon cleansing. (How I love WebMD!)

Basically, I'm realizing that using any kind of cleansing product should be done only occasionally and that a person must make sure to stay hydrated. 

As for the totally natural alternatives for a a healthy colon:

• Avoid these if you suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (I don't have IBS, but most of these foods irritate my bowels)
• About fibers and fluids. Good info here. Other than suggesting milk (which bothers my gut), I'm paying attention to what he's saying.
• Good and bad bacteria is a trending topic these days. Instead of buying all the probiotics (costly for the most part), here are some foods to use.
• And what's up with "good" and "bad" bacteria?
• And some more "good" and "bad" info (and sources for the good stuff)

So... I will finish this review up in a few days but, after that, I'm going to pull my blender out of hibernation and get back on my best nutrition game. My niece and nephew are going to hate me because my niece has been great about preparing full meals every night, but... I have to get this body of mine back into top shape. Losing all that predni-weight was hard, but it's no good being thin if I'm a mess nutritionally.

SUMMARY

Pros:

• This tea works fine for my one niece, who has been using it for a long time, and for another niece who just started using it. My experiences may be unique to me.
• The ingredients are noted for some positive benefits when used carefully and occasionally.
• Some users have given positive reviews of the product.

Cons:

• The tea made me feel bloated and over-full to the point of discomfort.
• It's very expensive & this is one of the few times I didn't check beforehand for a seller's return policy... (~slapping my own hand~)
• Some of the ingredients listed are repetitive and (so it seems) unnecessary.
• A person can get the same benefits more cheaply and more naturally with a good diet.

Basically, I can neither recommend or discourage use of the product based on what I know. I can just share what my experience was. I should have paid more attention to everything I researched before I even tried this tea. I am waiting now to hear back about the seller's refund policy. If there isn't one, I hope the standard Amazon return policy is satisfactory. I will let you know one way or another.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this mess. I won't be talking anymore about the tea, but I will be talking about a truly natural cleanse...

Peace

--Free

**REVIEW** Dr. Miller Miracle Tea (part 1 of 3)

This is one of the reviews that I will have to do in parts. First, I will talk about the product claims and general information. The second post will be about my results after some usage. Finally, I will post my overall experience after I've had time to evaluate my personal results.

So what product am I checking out this time? It's this:

That's Dr Miller Miracle Tea (I don't like calling it "Holy Tea", but I think the name comes from the ingredients, which are listed on the packets.

My niece told me about this tea, then another of my nieces decided to give it a try. I initially balked because of the price, then I realized I had a credit saved up that I could apply to my order. Still, it's not cheap at the full price so I'm going to be very interested in seeing if I can recommend it to anyone else.

To start off with, I am going to have to check with my nieces to see which strength tea they are using. When my one niece got hers in the mail the other day, she told me that the package had (her words here) "Stunk up my whole mailbox!" But when she actually brewed the tea, the smell wasn't bad at all and she liked the taste of it. She said that it even smelled good. Okay.

The second thing I did when I got my packets was to smell them. (First thing, I took photos.) The smell wasn't bad at all in my opinion. The scent is similar to black tea (or any other "regular" and unscented tea) so I don't know what my niece meant.

Oh, here are the packets with the ingredients:

From the product description page on Amazon: "A special blend of Malva leaves, Blessed Thistle, Holy Thistle, Milk Thistle, Marshmallow leaves and Persimmon Leaves." (my underline)

Of course, I wanted to know a bit more about each of those ingredients, so let's see...

• Malva Leaves - This stood out for me: "Malva sp. leaves have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea or externally as baths for treatment of disorders of the skin, gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract. "
• Blessed Thistle - WebMD points out that, among other things, people use it for "loss of appetite," but I always like to pay attention to the notes on warnings and interactions too. Wikipedia has some more info on the medicinal uses and the other name for it: Cnicus.
• Holy Thistle - This is strange because my usual sources show this as being the same as Blessed Thistle so I'm not sure why it's listed twice. At any rate, Wellness Mama cleared up the origin of the name.
• Milk Thistle - Once again, I see that this thistle (or silymarin) is about the same as the other two. What on earth??? I did notice that I see more mention of this as an aid for liver problems.
• Marshmallow leaves - Finally something new. The first uses I saw for this was for pain, swelling and inflammation. Also, the herb is supposed to provide a sense of being full.
• Persimmon Leaves - This one seems to be noted for relieving a strange range of issues, including pollen allergies, bruising and problems with immunity to colds. Okay. 

I suppose mixing the different herbs might have something to do with the benefits, but when I checked on some reviews, I saw that the tea acts basically as a laxative and there are no studies to back up the claims made for the product. On the other hand, my niece did tell me that what she noticed immediately is that she was suddenly very, um... regular. That's a good thing, I guess.

By the way, I was curious about this Dr. Miller. Not to be mean, but his webpage reminds me of the back of a cheap tabloid magazine. From the 70s. (I shouldn't have peeked because now I'm a little skeptical.)

The first niece - who turned us on to the tea - said that she and her husband use the tea every other month or so. They just mix up a gallon and drink it a few times a day until that gallon is gone. She claims that it does help her with the bloating and other effects of lapsing into bad eating habits. Okay.

I made my first batch tonight. I used regular Lipton tea and added the two bags of the Miracle Tea. Maybe it's the after-effects of my last cold, but I don't really smell anything extraordinary. It looks like regular old tea. Of course, it has to sit out overnight, so we'll see what it looks and smells like tomorrow.  I even talked my other niece into agreeing to trying it with me. 

I'm off to bed now. If this tea works the way it's supposed to, I need to rest up for all the exercise I'm going to get from running to the Ladies. LOL

I will post soon as I can (maybe tomorrow) on the taste and what, if any, effects I get with the first cups... So, stay tuned.

Peace
--Free