Do Cleanses Work?
A growing number of cleanses, detoxes, and other quick fixes have flooded the market in recent years as individuals look for solutions to different health conditions. Quite often, these products boast claims of removing toxins from the body, accelerating weight loss, or a myriad of other “solutions” in hopes of earning consumers’ hard-earned cash.
With endless suggestions and products on the market, it may be difficult for an individual to sift through the information and make the right choices. Is there any truth to the claims these miracle cleanses make? Are they the answer to all of our problems, or are they just adding to the confusion by providing false claims and misinformation?
Know Your Enemy
The big claim of many of these items is that they remove toxins from a person’s body. That sounds great, right? When asked if you want to remove harmful substances from the body, who could say no to that? One of the universal problems with many of these cleanses is that they do not advertise which toxins they are trying to eradicate. In addition, consumers are unaware of which toxins may be in their bodies, the levels in which they exist, and the potential dangers or lack thereof. This creates a market of “just trust us” without measuring a product’s success or failure.
Energy Misspent
In addition to money spent and time invested in the latest miracle cleanse, some health risks are also involved. A typical cleanse is extremely low in calories, maxing out at 1200 per day and sometimes as low as 800. This can result in weakness, light-headedness, lethargy, and, most certainly, mood instability. For an individual attempting a longer-term detox, there may be an impact on vitamin levels, mineral levels, and muscle breakdown in the body. In addition, many of the popular cleanses result in dehydration and low electrolyte levels due to their laxative-like effects.
The Amazing Human Body
The good news is that a properly functioning human body can detox itself. It doesn’t need any special help in the form of the latest cleansing craze. At this very moment, the body is busy removing toxins and trying to run as efficiently as possible. The skin, lungs, liver, and kidneys all work to remove toxins from the body and keep it alive. In perspective, if toxins continued to build in the human body and were only released during an expensive cold-pressed juice cleanse, it would most likely be overrun and stop working before a person even got there.
Building New Habits
One major impact of cleanses and detoxes is that they encourage the idea that there is a quick fix to a problem. While everyone is looking for a fast way to undo the damage of their past behaviors, there will always be someone waiting to sell the “miracle” answer. Individuals must start to look at the entirety of their diet over a longer period of time and not focus just on a one or two week period. This would be the same concept as someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day for 51 weeks a year with one week off to let their body detox. It is certainly easy to see the problem with this example.
The most important thing a person can do to help their body detox is to simply not get in the way. Let the body do what it naturally does and stop contributing to the problem in the first place. This includes reducing the amount of fast food, processed food, sugar sweetened beverages, and other food-like substances. By increasing the amount of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, high quality protein, and other whole foods, an individual can help the body to function at it’s highest level.
Remember: Each time a person eats, they are either helping to fight disease or they are helping to fuel it!
