"Givin' Up The Funk..."

You can’t watch TV or read a magazine without hearing something about a “cleanse” or “detox” diet. There are many types of diets and levels of “cleansing” and very few are regulated or standardized. I’ve heard from people who swear by the concept, “tons of energy”, “adult-onset acne completely clears”, “sleep like a baby” and “allergies disappear”, and others who have horror stories about their experience!

Generally, most detox diets will contain some combination of the following foods:
-Organic food and drink (no pesticides or fungicides), with whole unprocessed foods (grains, nuts, seeds, etc). and a high mix of vegetables and fruit.
-2 liters of water per day, sometimes using herbs such as Psyllium seed, Licorice root, Yucca root, Milk thistle seed, Gentian root, to aid the detoxifying process.
-They avoid: Alcohol, caffeine, and processed and refined foods

The most popular cleanse (basically because it was followed by many celebrities) is the Master Cleanse, developed by the late Stanley Burroughs as a detoxification and fasting program. The Master Cleanse Diet is supposed to "release years of built-up waste in just 10 days, while your energy soars." Yet, experts point out, the liver already detoxifies the body. Further, there is no medical evidence that fasting or "cleansing" diets actually rid the body of any toxins not otherwise discarded in bodily waste.

You eat no solid foods, no supplements. Only the “lemonade solution” (made from lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and filtered water) is allowed. The plan calls for you to drink 6 or more servings daily of the lemonade drink. The only other options are a "salt water flush" of 2 teaspoons salt mixed in a quart of water in the morning, and an herbal laxative tea at night, if needed.

After following this fast for 4-14 days, dieters are urged to slowly ease back into solid food. Of course you will lose weight, because of the calorie deficit, but it will most likely be water weight, not fat. You might feel hungry, and may experience headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sluggishness, diarrhea, nausea, or constipation. Nutritionists point out that the Master Cleanse diet plan is deficient in all the essential nutrients: calories, vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and fat. And, after the cleanse, they tell you simply choose to “eat wisely” to keep the weight off. Maybe had you done that in the first place, you wouldn’t need the cleanse!

Beyond the Master Cleanse, almost all detox diets require some combination of fasting, food restriction and supplementation. Some of the more popular plans include:
The Eat Stop Eat- short 24 hour fasts a couple times a week which are supposed to promote detox.
The Raw Food Diet-a generic diet advocating consumption of raw, uncooked food only
The Fat Flush Diet-a popular 3 phase diet plan from Ann Gittleman, starting with a 2 week restrictive phase of between 1100-1200 calories per day.
The Raw Food Cleanse-an introduction to the benefits of a raw food diet with a selection of cleanses ranging from 3 to 28 days.
And Clean, Green and Lean-a 4-week plan to help dieters to eliminate toxins that may be preventing them from losing weight. This program claims it will help overcome chronic health problems such as allergies and fatigue and boost your energy
(For more detailed info, go to http://www.everydiet.org/detox_diet.htm)

It’s not to say all forms of detox diets should be strictly avoided. According to Natalie Digate Muth, MD , “As a health-promoting practice, committing to a short term (1-2 day) detox regimen helps people stop and consider the healthy and unhealthy components of their lifestyles, and make changes — eating less, examining health habits, and getting rid of the junk like processed foods, nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol.”

They all typically begin with a “cleansing phase", which is usually two or three days of only liquids. Brown rice, fruit, and steamed vegetables are sometimes added, until about a week later when other foods — except red meat, wheat, sugar, eggs, and prepackaged foods — may be reintroduced. This final phase is expected to be followed indefinitely for maintenance.

Most include elimination of caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, and many restrict meat and solid foods altogether. The diets also tend to involve consumption of large amounts of liquid, fiber, and raw vegetables — ingredients that are thought to purge the gastrointestinal system of accumulated harmful substances.

Actor Jason Lee slimmed down thanks to a five-week cleanse under the direction of Dr. Bo Wagner, a leading Los Angeles diet guru. “He taught me proper food combining, and how to eat for my blood type,” says Lee. “I cut out sugar, starch and booze.”

Sandra Ballentine, a writer for the New York Times , tried a juice fast assisted by Marcus Antebi, co-owner of the Juice Press, an organic fruit and veggie bar in Manhattan. According to Antebi, "...it’s not what you put into your body, it’s what you leave out. A period of subsisting on freshly cold-pressed organic fruit and vegetable juice ideally helps set the stage for a diet that excludes processed and a lot of cooked foods.”

Trying a variety of “elimination “strategies may help, however, eliminating all foods (or fasting for more than a day) for weight loss seems too dangerous!

Because food was often scarce for our ancestors, our bodies have been genetically programmed to combat the effects of fasting. When you eat less food, your metabolism slows down to conserve energy. Then, when you go back to your usual diet, your lowered metabolism may cause you to store more energy, meaning that you will probably gain back the weight you lost and possibly even put on more weight when eating the same calories you did before the fast.

As you fast, your body will adjust by reducing your appetite, so you will initially feel less hungry. But once you have stopped fasting, your appetite hormones will kick back into gear and you may actually feel hungrier and be more likely to binge.

So, will I do a Master Cleanse or all liquid diet? I doubt it. However, the idea of “cleansing” maybe one or two unhealthy elements (like alcohol or sugar) from my diet is somewhat appealing, and I know it wouldn’t compromise my health, in fact, it could greatly enhance it. I can see the logic in eliminating the food components that can cause problems, but shouldn’t that be part of working on a healthy lifestyle? Fitness gurus like Jackie Warner, author of This is Why You’re Fat, Tosca Reno author of The Eat-Clean Diet, and even Jillian Michaels in Master Your Metabolism, all advocate eliminating toxic foods from your diet, but they don’t put your body in starvation mode!

If you decide to try one of these plans, be sure to check with your doctor first. Be wary of any plan that completely eliminates a necessary group or food altogether!

If you have tried a cleanse, I’d love to hear about your experience. Email me at hkraus52@gmail.com.