CLEANSING!!

I have heard it can be used as a jump start in weight loss. What exactly did you use to do your colon cleansing?

yes cleansing can def aid in weight loss. Depending on the cleanse it not only cleanses your colon but detoxify's your liver and organs.. Great way to start any weight loss system!

Yes I did a colon cleanse in the beginning of my weight loss journey. IF you ate a lot of junk before and are eating healthy now you WILL keep that weight off! The cleanse is amazing but only if you stick to eating healthy. I did a 14 day cleanse and I really like how gentle it was so that I really could keep the weight off.

BY the way...I used Renew Life's 14 day Organic Total Body Cleanse

can someone point me to some resources for how to do one? i like the sound of that 14 day one....are there directions anywhere?

Yes go to your local health store and ask for the one I did. It was the first cleanse I did. The directions are all on the box- I am pretty sure I took 2 pills in the morning and 2 at night. It was well worth it!!

I am sorry, but the only thing you need to do to "cleanse" is eat clean. If you were to actually have impacted fecal matter in your colon you would be very ill. A lot of products, like psyllium, mold to the shape of you colon and are gooey and may give you the impression that it is fecal matter, but it is not.

Any laxative product may help to move out more slowly digested food quicker, but it doesn't clean out an accumulation of old material.

NO, there's absolutely, positively no medical science behind using "cleanses" for weight loss. There's a lot of opinion, a lot of rumor, and a lot of false statements, that's about it.

I've spoken with a gastroenterologist on this matter, and he confirmed. His words were (I'm paraphrasing) "If you have stuff stuck to the walls of your colon and intestines, then you're sick and you need professional help immediately, otherwise they should be pink, slimy, and waste free except for waste passing through." In other words, all you're doing with a cleanse is removing stuff that would be leaving on it's own anyway. And in the process you're removing beneficial microfauna (bacteria) and dehydrating yourself. As to the idea of removing "toxins" from your body, that's generally not the case. Eating healthy, getting your fiber and vitamins and minerals are really all you need to do, unless you're prepping for a medical procedure, you generally don't need a cleanse or a colonic.

http://www.renewlife.com/organic-total-body-cleanse.html#reviews

thoughts on this one anybody? thinking about ordering it...

I think you should do it...this is the one I did and it really did help me out. I felt so much better after doing this cleanse. It really did clean me out and help with my new diet. I really believe it is good for you. I asked my doctor and he said even doing it every 6 months truely is good for your colon. There are so many toxins from unhealthy food and doing this cleanse will get the crap out haha

yes cleansing can def aid in weight loss. Depending on the cleanse it not only cleanses your colon but detoxify's your liver and organs.. Great way to start any weight loss system!

Exactly what toxins are being cleansed and how (specifically)?

It is normal to have food, in various stages of digestion in your digestive tract. This is how your digestive tract works. When you "cleanse" it artificially, you remove this. Yes, the number on the scale goes down, but you have NOT lost any fat, and will not lose any fat as a result of this procedure. As soon as your body has had time to return to normal, the weight will come back.

If I want a colon cleanse, I just eat something with milk in it (since I'm allergic).

Thoroughly cleans me out for under $2.

Save your money. As soon as you're full of poo again, all of your "weight loss" from the cleanse will go away.

I actually ended up doing the Renew Life Organic Total Body Cleanse when I was 17, and it really helped.

I had been stupid about trying to rapidly lose weight, and made the mistake of taking a bunch of weight loss pills for a few months, this in turn with a 2 week vacation to a foreign country with foods I wasn't used to really messed up my digestive system, and I was admitted to the hospital with severe cramping (it had lasted for a full week) running from my chest to my belly button. The doctors couldn't figure out what the issue was, but one of the nurses suggested this cleansing program to me as I was leaving (still in severe pain that they couldn't treat).

I went straight to the natural health foods store and bought the "kit" and began to eat vegan for 2 weeks, cutting out all processed foods and liquor. It really seemed to help, and I felt amazing once the cleanse was over. I had lots of energy, and had lost about 3 lbs (daily calories averaging about 1800). After the cleanse was over, I really had to ease myself back into my "regular" foods again though. I still stuck to eating as many fruits and veggies as I could, and gradually introduced white meat and fish, but 6 years later I still won't really go near red meat. I completely cut out refined sugars and white breads/rice too.

I think it was moreso a step in the right direction towards a healthy lifestyle change. Lately I've been slipping up, and coincidentally I saw an ad for Renew Life's products in a magazine yesterday...and I was thinking of trying it out again

Because I was having a constipation issue after a recent trip (sorry if that grosses anyone out), and it was on a clearance rack, I bought Dr Natura's cleansing kit.........it's basically a psyllium-based fiber drink (like Metamucil) and Senna tea. Stuff that I could buy MUCH cheaper. I would never have bought it, but it was on sale for $10.

Did it help? yes, a little. I didn't complete the full 14 days, and didn't drink the senna tea every night (it's a laxative). But I tend to be on a Metamucil regimen all the time, at a doctor's suggestion.

So...............does it help you lose weight? probably, if you're blocked up. Is it good for you? Short term, I don't see the harm. But the idea that you're full of "toxic waste" is silly.

Sounds REFRESHING! I love a fresh, minty colon.

I think it was Dr. Oz (could be wrong) that said any benefits are psychosomatic. People think they are doing something that helps their body, so they then do other things that actually help their body. But as far as the science behind it, he said what others in the thread are saying - that there is no actual benefit.

Well, it removes a lot of stored up gunk from your intestines. So, it's probably not really fat loss, but it's just junk that was in your belly weighing you down.

Stored up gunk? Au contraire, mon frère...

According to Chau Che MD, with New York University:

"Despite evidence to the contrary, the idea that colon cleansing is therapeutic by removing impurities, lives on. However, these claims largely fail to consider normal physiology. The digestive tract has inherent properties that work to clean our colon. After food ingestion, the small intestine absorbs nutrients and contracts to move indigestible residue into the colon. The colon continues the digestive process by absorbing and secreting electrolytes and fluids while its resident bacteria ferments the undigested food products. These are just some of the many mechanisms in which the digestive tract works in order to ensure that the colon does not become encrusted with fecal matter as some products claim. The black, rubbery material passed on a colon cleanse is actually a byproduct from the supplements and fiber in the colon cleansing product as opposed to old fecal material, in which consumers are led to believe."

http://www.clinicalcorrelations.org/?p=1605
Reviewed by Michael Poles MD and Fritz Francois MD, NYU Division of Gastroenterology