Some of the best selling books are the ones with those yellow and black covers that have titles such as “Computers For Dummies” or “Real Estate For Dummies”.
The goal of the title is to grab the attention of those looking to have a better understanding of the covered material. The title of this newsletter is “Detox Diets For Dummies”, but I’ll leave the interpretation of the meaning of the title up to you after reading the article.
The following article is by Jonathan Ross, 2010 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year and one of my mentors. Jonathan’s article gives a perfect explanation on these diets and whether you should waste your time and money on them.
Cut the Cleansing/Detox Crap
originally published here
http://www.inspire.com/JonathanRoss/journal/cut-the-cleansing-detox-crap/
I’ve been reading the many posts/questions about detox and cleansing AND have seen enough marketing for these programs from fitness and health people that should know better…
so it’s time to take out the trash…
Due to the ingestion of many toxins and the exposure to them in our environment, we are presented the notion that we need to periodically do something drastic to allow our bowels, liver, or other organs a chance to detoxify themselves. Many of the regimens call for abstaining from nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, meats, and some even go so far as to recommend a period of starvation. Theoretically, this gives the liver and other organs a “break” from doing their normal work and allows them to clear built up toxins.
Right, and Santa Claus is real.
Detox and cleansing are clever little fairy tales concocted by people trying to sell you something. I’m not selling you anything so I can give you truth.
A common-sense analogy: Suppose you are over your head in debt. Along comes a financial adviser that explains you can get out of debt by ceasing to spend any money. Stop paying taxes, skip the car payment, ignore the monthly utility bills, stop wasting money on excessive unnecessary purchases, stop putting gas in the car, never go out to dinner, and start taking your lunch to work.
Some of the advice is good, but some of it would be disastrous. Knowing exactly what to eliminate is key. Eliminating ALL spending would be idiotic, but eliminating unwise spending would be smart.
There is no scientific, logical, or common sense-ical basis for the validity of detox diets or cleansing routines. If you’ve been a regular reader of my posts you know I’m not inclined to make strong, heavy-handed statements, but in this case I’ll make an exception.
There can be only one conclusion for anyone with their eyes open to truth and minds closed to marketing, hype, and fairy tales.
If you come across someone who hysterically proclaims dramatic improvements in their energy and fitness levels from following a detox regimen or cleansing routine, one of three things is happening:
(1) -They are overcompensating with zealous enthusiasm so they don’t feel like an idiot for being duped into investing in and following a detox regimen. None of us like to feel silly, and the only way you can avoid feeling silly for falling for a detox or cleansing program is if you BELIEVE it works.
(2) -They are trying to get you to buy the products to boost their own profits from the products.
(3) -They have lost the ability to behave normally and think clearly from the lack of food.
Our lungs, kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal tract, and immune system are effective in removing or neutralizing toxic substances within hours of consumption. Case closed.
But, just in case you need more details to blow up someone’s belief in the fairy tale, here are more details…
Detox/Cleansing Fails its Physiology Test
High volumes of liquid could theoretically remove water-soluble toxins, but they don’t accumulate in the body (since we consume lots of water and urinate many times a day.) Most pollutants are fat-soluble (meaning they are stored in fat). Fiber consumption may help eliminate some toxins in the liver, but not chemicals located in other parts of the GI system.
Since most pollutants and toxins are stored in fat, the best “detox” program is the same one that’s good for just about everything else – a well balanced fitness and nutrition plan to reduce body fat. Sorry if that’s not dazzling enough for you, but the truth often isn’t. Fairy tales of unicorns, the tooth-fairy, and detox diets are magical, the truth is plain.
Another problem with detox diets and cleansing routines is that your organs just don’t work that way! You can’t flush your liver like you flush a toilet. The liver always works to detoxify the blood. It starts working from the day you are born and doesn’t stop. If there are toxins present, it removes them. If there aren’t, it doesn’t. It’s that simple.
For example, consider alcohol – the most commonly ingested toxin. If you drink too much, you feel awful the next day because you have a massive build-up of toxic products in your body. The liver clears them out over the course of many hours. Want to help out your liver? Stop putting the toxins in.
The colonics and enemas that are often a feature of detox diets can be downright dangerous, posing many risks including perforation of your colon. You should never need an enema or colonic. If you do it is because something is wrong with your day-to-day habits that needs correcting permanently, not during a ridiculous detox regimen.
Detox/Cleansing Fails its Philosophy Test
Call me crazy, but what if we eliminated our ingestion of and exposure to toxins? What if we stopped eating and drinking junk, and limited our exposure to environmental toxins?
If you limit your intake of toxins, there is no need to even attempt to detoxify. A desire and a need to “detox” illustrates that something is wrong with the lifestyle that supposedly builds up the toxins.
Limiting nicotine, alcohol, and sugar is a good general idea all the time, not just during a detox phase. Instead of living like a weirdo for a week to try and detox, live well the other 51 weeks of the year, stop putting the junk in, and you eliminate the need to follow bogus detox rituals.
But when this concept is taken too far, it becomes silly. For example, one popular detox regimen features a 14-day period of starvation with a diet of saltwater flushes and a concoction of maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. Anyone following a regimen like this must have also taken something to flush the smarts from their brains.
Detox/Cleansing Fails its Common Sense Test
Go to any nation where lots of people are starving to death, and tell them about all the silly Americans who have an abundance of food all around them and willfully starve themselves for days on end. I can only imagine the reaction you’ll receive. They would justifiably be offended and think us insensitive for pursuing such foolishness.
If the human species were so precious and delicate that only way for us to survive for millions of years was to undergo colon-cleansing, stop eating (also known as starvation), and ingest some hard-to-find exotic compound to scare away the icky stuff inside of us, we’d have died out a very long time ago.
Our bodies are not designed to go for long periods of time without a mix of a variety of foods. We are meant to consume healthy foods and be active. This should not shock you. Once again, healthy living beats pseudo-scientific nonsense that is designed to rob people of money they can ill-afford to spend on bad diets.
For a fun game, go to a search engine and type in “detox” and “cleanse.” When your search returns, you’ll see the words “dummy,” and “idiot” all over the place. How very appropriate…
I’m sure those in Cult of Detox may get upset with these facts, but frankly, I don’t care. I’m sick of meeting people who have had their health and/or finances wrecked by following one of these routines. And I’m calling out any “health professional” who offers this nonsense, be they doctor, trainer, or other health guru. Shame on you for betraying the trust placed in you by someone who is seeking to live better.
“But, I’ve done detox and/or cleansing before and it works.”
No, it doesn’t.
Just because you lost weight, doesn’t mean it works.
If you do it and lost water, not fat, it doesn’t work.
If you have to do it again periodically, it doesn’t work.
If you can’t sustain it long term, it doesn’t work (and you shouldn’t even be doing it.)
If it doesn’t result in a permanent change to lifestyle habits, it doesn’t work.
If it goes against every fact of human physiology, it doesn’t work.
You can lose weight by amputating an arm. Losing weight is easy. Losing body fat, consistently exercising, giving your body what it needs – these are sustainable, life-enhancing behaviors. But there’s no gimmick, you just have to do it. And that doesn’t sell as well as false promises and bogus products.
The Death of Detox has arrived!
To celebrate, go have a nutritious, varied meal, and use the energy boost it provides to have a great workout, and enjoy life!
Jonathan Ross
2010 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year
www.AionFitness.com