Detoxing

LizKurz

There's no such thing as "detoxing" your body. Your body has a perfectly capable system for removing toxins from your body, and the best thing to assist it is water and some fiber. Faddish "systems", " cleanses" or "detoxes" are money-grabs for gullible desperate people. "my friend said she lost 10 pounds in one week"? Really? Well I have a friend who takes up smoking to lose weight. That's not a brilliant idea either. Besides, we are mostly water and carry between 5-15 pounds of waste in our intestines/bowels. Any snake oil mix with a diuretic and laxative thrown in will make it look like you just lost a bunch of weight, but its not FAT.

agree with this!!

I, too, have always heard that the body does not need to be "detoxed."

I agree that we are made to detox ourselves, but we don't really allow our bodies to do it. How can someone fully detox when they are eating processed foods, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, etc? These are things our bodies ARE capable of detoxing, but the process is much, much slower for these foods as compared to whole foods that have not been processed such as veggies, fruits, etc. Our bodies may be able to detox that crap in time, but I don't see the harm in eating healthily, juicing and having a diet with less processed foods and weird crap that you can't even pronounce in our food. Avoiding that stuff will surely help one's body detox more and faster! I'm not saying that you have to use some weird foot pads or do the Master Cleanse, because I am definitely discouraging that. But my point is that there are healthy ways to detox that should not be written off immediately just because "the body can detox itself"...

"Detoxing" doesn't mean what you think it means. The human body's ability to digest, process, and detox has absolutely no bearing to whether you can pronounce the words or not. Cleanses and detoxes do absolutely nothing.

What is your definition of detoxing, then? To me, detoxing is purifying your body and ridding it of all the crap that we eat these days and the only way to REALLY do that is to avoid foods that are processed and packaged with god knows how many additives to keep them from spoiling on shelves. You can't think that all the processed foods and chemicals and preservatives that go into food are GOOD for you, do you? My point by saying you can't pronounce those words was that the average person doesn't fully know every ingredient in their food and how all of the ingredients can affect your body. I don't know this either. I am just going by personal experience and research. Have you ever tried a detox? If not, have an open mind and try it and let me know how you feel! I am pretty sure you feel damn good.

You "feel good" because of the power of the placebo effect.

You "feel good" because of the unlimited ability of human beings for self-BS. We are odd creatures who can talk ourselves into believing almost anything.

I am aware that we can trick our bodies into thinking pretty much anything but a point I think you missed is that I have done this while supervising the changes in my blood. When I went into my first cleanse, I was deficient in protein, iron, and vitamin D among other things. When I was done with my fast I was checked again and had outstanding results. I did not do it to lose weight but rather to improve my health overall. I hardly lost any weight (maybe 3-4 lbs total)... But blood work results are not a placebo. I even went to a conventional doctor because I wanted the most unbiased opinion (didn't want to go to someone holistic who would most likely already be an advocate for cleansing). Anyway, I love juicing and smoothies but we are all different.

I'm genuinely curious as physics tells me you cannot make something from nothing. How did your vitamin d, protien and and iron go up in number when you weren't consuming any vitamin d (generally found in Fish, seafood and fortified cereals), iron (found in red meat, eggs and dark leafy greens like spinach)' or protien found in meats, eggs, dairy, beans, Nuts and seeds.....none of which you consumed?

Sorry, let me clarify! When I had those awesome results it was not because I was on the Master Cleanse... this was when I was juice feasting/drinking green smoothies and ate only raw foods, the majority of those foods being dark greens and various fruits and veggies either juiced or blended into smoothies. As for Vitamin D, I know it sounds silly to some people but getting sunshine seriously helps with increasing your Vitamin D... that, and there are vegan foods that can up your intake as well, such as mushrooms, oranges, etc. Protein and iron are also found in dark greens, beets and some grains (although I wasn't eating grains at the time).

Oh! So you were eatng food, food rich in nutrients and minerals and vitamins. Well that explains that then doesn't it.

The op wanted to do a cleanse in which they drank some horrible concoction of syrup, cayenne and something else (lemon?.) for days on end, with no food.

syam3000

There's no such thing as "detoxing" your body. Your body has a perfectly capable system for removing toxins from your body, and the best thing to assist it is water and some fiber. Faddish "systems", " cleanses" or "detoxes" are money-grabs for gullible desperate people. "my friend said she lost 10 pounds in one week"? Really? Well I have a friend who takes up smoking to lose weight. That's not a brilliant idea either. Besides, we are mostly water and carry between 5-15 pounds of waste in our intestines/bowels. Any snake oil mix with a diuretic and laxative thrown in will make it look like you just lost a bunch of weight, but its not FAT.

agree with this!!

I, too, have always heard that the body does not need to be "detoxed."

I agree that we are made to detox ourselves, but we don't really allow our bodies to do it. How can someone fully detox when they are eating processed foods, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, etc? These are things our bodies ARE capable of detoxing, but the process is much, much slower for these foods as compared to whole foods that have not been processed such as veggies, fruits, etc. Our bodies may be able to detox that crap in time, but I don't see the harm in eating healthily, juicing and having a diet with less processed foods and weird crap that you can't even pronounce in our food. Avoiding that stuff will surely help one's body detox more and faster! I'm not saying that you have to use some weird foot pads or do the Master Cleanse, because I am definitely discouraging that. But my point is that there are healthy ways to detox that should not be written off immediately just because "the body can detox itself"...

"Detoxing" doesn't mean what you think it means. The human body's ability to digest, process, and detox has absolutely no bearing to whether you can pronounce the words or not. Cleanses and detoxes do absolutely nothing.

What is your definition of detoxing, then? To me, detoxing is purifying your body and ridding it of all the crap that we eat these days and the only way to REALLY do that is to avoid foods that are processed and packaged with god knows how many additives to keep them from spoiling on shelves. You can't think that all the processed foods and chemicals and preservatives that go into food are GOOD for you, do you? My point by saying you can't pronounce those words was that the average person doesn't fully know every ingredient in their food and how all of the ingredients can affect your body. I don't know this either. I am just going by personal experience and research. Have you ever tried a detox? If not, have an open mind and try it and let me know how you feel! I am pretty sure you feel damn good.

You "feel good" because of the power of the placebo effect.

You "feel good" because of the unlimited ability of human beings for self-BS. We are odd creatures who can talk ourselves into believing almost anything.

I am aware that we can trick our bodies into thinking pretty much anything but a point I think you missed is that I have done this while supervising the changes in my blood. When I went into my first cleanse, I was deficient in protein, iron, and vitamin D among other things. When I was done with my fast I was checked again and had outstanding results. I did not do it to lose weight but rather to improve my health overall. I hardly lost any weight (maybe 3-4 lbs total)... But blood work results are not a placebo. I even went to a conventional doctor because I wanted the most unbiased opinion (didn't want to go to someone holistic who would most likely already be an advocate for cleansing). Anyway, I love juicing and smoothies but we are all different.

I'm genuinely curious as physics tells me you cannot make something from nothing. How did your vitamin d, protien and and iron go up in number when you weren't consuming any vitamin d (generally found in Fish, seafood and fortified cereals), iron (found in red meat, eggs and dark leafy greens like spinach)' or protien found in meats, eggs, dairy, beans, Nuts and seeds.....none of which you consumed?

Sorry, let me clarify! When I had those awesome results it was not because I was on the Master Cleanse... this was when I was juice feasting/drinking green smoothies and ate only raw foods, the majority of those foods being dark greens and various fruits and veggies either juiced or blended into smoothies. As for Vitamin D, I know it sounds silly to some people but getting sunshine seriously helps with increasing your Vitamin D... that, and there are vegan foods that can up your intake as well, such as mushrooms, oranges, etc. Protein and iron are also found in dark greens, beets and some grains (although I wasn't eating grains at the time).

Oh! So you were eatng food, food rich in nutrients and minerals and vitamins. Well that explains that then doesn't it.

The op wanted to do a cleanse in which they drank some horrible concoction of syrup, cayenne and something else (lemon?.) for days on end, with no food.

Lol, exactly. And I was trying to convince her that if she's going to do any cleanse it should be with juices/smoothies. I've tried the Master Cleanse when I didn't know any better (I was 16, hah) and it is way, wayyy too much sugar and can be dangerous.