Dangerous Detox Diets Debunked
Let's say you need to drop 10 pounds. How do you do it? If you had a couple months you could eat less, workout more--creating a calorie deficit--and lose a couple pounds per week. This method is sustainable and healthy. If you wanted to do it quickly you could use sanitized tape worms, cut off an arm, or start a trendy "detox" diet.
MSN Health & Fitness has a great article about three trendy diets: The Martha's Vineyard Detox Diet, The Master Cleanse, and Skinny Bitch.
In a nutshell, The Martha's Vineyard Detox Diet and The Master Cleanse are both crap, despite what some celebrity with a nutritionist and a personal trainer says. Essentially you starve yourself, which slows down your metabolism and burns muscle instead of fat. And the whole "detox" thing is completely bogus.
The only somewhat reputable diet is Skinny Bitch, which is merely a vegan diet lacking in nutritional balance. It was written by a model who refers to readers as "fat pigs", so don't be surprised if you go on the diet and only lose self-esteem.
--Spanno
DensityDuck on May 21, 2008 at 01:27 PM
"...don't be surprised if you go on the diet and only lose self-esteem."
Well, the overinflated egos of some of the self-appointed Intellectual Elite have got to be good for a few pounds...
Shannon Love on May 21, 2008 at 01:28 PM
I am always intrigued by people who talk about diets or "all natural" treatments that remove "toxins". Nobody ever seems able to tell me what these toxins actually are. I am especially amused because in biology, whether a substances acts toxically is wholly a matter of location and concentration.
I think the popular conception of toxin that these diets claim to address springs from some innate concept of contamination. I think it akin to the pre-scientific ideas of humors or miasmas. The word "toxin" simply means some mysterious something that makes you sick. It could just as well be evil spirits.
Richard Campbell on May 21, 2008 at 01:43 PM
I fully agree with you Shannon, on this bugaboo of "toxins" that's been so talked about in recent years. I pretty much steer clear or any product or diet that claims to rid by body of "toxins," since they don't specify what these toxins are, where they are found, or how this process purports to work.
Equating it with humors, demons, and such is brilliant and accurate.
Dave Hardy on May 21, 2008 at 01:54 PM
Was just flying on Continental, and the catalog in the seat pocket included an ad for pads that you tape to your feet, and while you sleep they draw toxins out of your body thru your soles. Proof was a pic showing how the pads are darker after use, so I gather the toxins are supposed to be dark colored. Actually, I gather that the pads contain a chemical (toxic? grin) that darkens on exposure to heat or humidity.
I can recall reading a book on health by ... Bernar McFadden, something like that, from the 1920s, that called for regular enemas in order to get all the toxins out of your large intestine, so the tradition of believing that your body for some reason harbors such goes way back. I suppose you have to get rid of your bilious humors somehow! Time for the leeches....
Rob on May 21, 2008 at 02:10 PM
The 'toxin' bugbear is amusing. Sometimes when used it in promotional material it clearly means 'impacted material', as in colon cleanse, ear cleanse, etc. I understand the toxic effect of impacted material is not necessarily real or significant, but it's probably a good idea to get rid of it and that gets conflated with fear of contamination (as described by Shannon).
I've never tried a 'detox' diet, but I have been working hard for the last 10 months or so to get lots of fiber to bring down my cholesterol. In the early weeks of my high-fiber diet, I saw some evidence that my colon was being 'cleansed', which I'll spare everyone. It seems like legitimate remedies to 'clean out the pipes' are cheap and readily available (Metamucil for the gut, Debrox for the ears, etc) but the removal of mysterious and ineffable 'toxins' add significant margin to quacks.
Robd on May 21, 2008 at 02:23 PM
Here is an intersting blog post on the posability of using orlistat to help cleans the body of toxins but there are side effects.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/weight-loss/a-legitimate-use-for-orlistat/
Morgan on May 21, 2008 at 04:47 PM
I have done the Master Cleanse, got the 'organic' grade B maple syrup, the French sea salt, etc. I have to guess the initial 'internal salt bath' was as toxic as anything I've ever eaten, in retrospect. My body was rejecting it in a dramatic fashion.
After that it wasn't too terrible, but I am highly dubious that I wouldn't have felt better just eating less and having some self-control. I do not believe it extracted anything from my colon that wouldn't have been moved along by peristalsis anyway.
Denny, Alaska on May 21, 2008 at 05:40 PM
Eat anything you want and ride your bicycle 12,000 miles per year. Your mileage may vary.
Steve on May 21, 2008 at 07:46 PM
I am a registered nurse, and I can tell you all about colons. When someone comes to the hospital to get a colonoscopy, we give them this bowel treatment called "golytely". They drink this substance, and it basically gives them diarrhea so they get rid of everything in their colon. It doesn't take much, and I've seen the pictures of colons after this treatment: pretty clean. No impacted stool.
A fecal impaction is actually an emergency condition that can lead to ischemia and bowel death. Not something that affects most people walking around. There are toxins in the colon: clostridium difficele, e. coli, etc. These are good little bugs which have a function (as long as they stay where they are supposed to be). They help us digest certain foods. So cleaning out these "toxins" is a bad thing. FYI.
T Wendell on May 21, 2008 at 09:27 PM
Marketers get away with colon cleanse marketing and talk of "toxins" by using "all natural" remedies.
Since these "natural" remedies are not pharmacologic, they aren't regulated by the FDA. Anyone can make any claims that they want with no government oversight. That is the whole point, and in fact, the only point of pitching the natural component to this. No standards for truth, accuracy, efficacy, etc. are required.
These ads are not scientific and prey on an unwitting public who easily buy into natural cures for toxins, even when neither the disease nor the cure exist.
The most ridiculous is the concept that some stool remains in the colon for many years, stuck to the lining of the colon, and needs to be cleaned out. That is, in a word, crap. (Pardon the pun.)
BTW, I am a board certified general surgeon and have performed hundreds of colonoscopies per year for over a decade.
Jason on July 24, 2008 at 12:56 PM
There are good toxins in our body but there are some bad ones and I can tell you what those toxins are. They are in the food that we eat. Those pesticides that are sprayed in our food and the hormones that are given to the animals. Those are bad toxins we put in out body every day. How come we are so sick these days. It isn't because mankind is healthy. Next time you get sick, try to get natural remedies off the computer first. They work and you don't fill yourself with pesticides that are made to kill.
Sarah on September 17, 2008 at 03:54 PM
this is totally stupid. you talk crap about those three diets and while i havent been on any of them you have no prof or anything to back up YOUR OPINION that they are crap. you just have this lame website that says no dont do that. but why i ask? your commenters have more information then you do so before you start having a bad opinion on something GET SOME FACTS TO BACK IT UP.
Andrew on September 20, 2008 at 10:34 AM
The number of chemicals introduced into our environment by industry grows at astounding rates every year. Our government agencies do not require the chemical companies to verify their safety. Even a perfectly functioning organism could not process and expel all of these chemicals. Same for evidence of heavy metals like arsenic, iron, lead, mercury. check with the Center for Disease Control.
We're kidding ourselves if we don't think there is a price we pay for ingesting all these.
Detox anyone?
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Many alternative medicine practitioners promote various other types of detoxification such as "diet detoxification," but there is no evidence that detox diets have any health benefits. Furthermore, Sense About Science, a UK-based charitable trust determined that most commercial products' "detox" claims lack any supporting evidence and can be considered a "waste of money
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