Are Detox Diets Worth It?

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It sounds so appealing -- undo the damage from years of bad eating by going on a detox regimen that will clean you out and help you drop a nice chunk of weight while it works its magic. According to a Forbes.com feature, "Body cleansing and detoxifying formulas have been around at least since the 19th century, when European spas promoted the idea of ridding the body of disease-causing poisons. The master cleanse was popularized in the 1970s with the publication of the book The Master Cleanser by Stanley Burroughs. However, spas and citrus elixirs cannot rid the body of toxins." So why are slimmed down stars like Beyonce linked to detox programs? Well, since the programs serve up little more than juices, you can drop a few pounds in a short time. Another popular detox method is a colonic. That's a process in which the gastrointestinal tract is flushed out with water. Oh, you may end up with a cleaner colon, but the cost may not be worth it. "The colon is an ecologically balanced environment like the rain forest," warns Dr. Don C. Rockey, chief of digestive and liver diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center. "Disrupting that—like chopping away all the trees—is not a great idea." And, if you ask me, inserting a hose and flushing out my colon isn't something I yearn to do anytime soon. So, is the fast weight loss linked to detox programs considered healthy weight loss? The short answer appears to be NO. You can check out the Forbes.com feature at http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100237141&GT1=31036


Author: John McGran

Archived posts 2009

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