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I think this will always be an ongoing argument. I don't believe in detoxing on purpose. Neither does my DH. We believe that if you try to eat right most of the time and do other things to take care of yourself, detoxing is not necessary because our bodies are in detox mode all the time. I'm certainly not saying I agree with modern western medicine here, but I've been on Fat Flush and no one could live that way for long. I did it for nearly three years, but the reason why, now, has eluded me entirely!!!
I cherry picked some excerpts from an article and placed them here. If you are interested enough to read the whole article, start to finish, click here ---> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/fashion/22skin.html?fta=y
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"But many Western doctors question the legitimacy of the regimens and their claims of promoting good health, believing detoxification does little to no good, and is possibly harmful.
“It is the opinion of mainstream and state-of-the-art medicine and physiology that these claims are not only ludicrous but tantamount to fraud,” said Dr. Peter Pressman, an internist with the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., and a critic of detoxification. “The contents of what ends up being consumed during a ‘detox’ are essentially stimulants, laxatives and diuretics.”
Such opinions have done little to deter the growing interest in the practice. Detoxification is enormously popular, according to SPINS, a market research and consulting firm based in Schaumburg, Ill., that caters to the natural and organic products industry. Sales of herbal formulas for cleansing, detoxification and organ support among natural food retailers were more than $27 million from Dec. 2, 2007, to Nov. 29, 2008. A survey by Mintel International, a Chicago-based research firm, found that 54 food and drink products were launched in 2008 with the word “detox” in their descriptions — up from 15 in 2003.
The thinking goes that by avoiding certain foods, adding nutritional and herbal supplements and cleansing your innards, you can cure the body of all sorts of evils.
“Western medicine is treating the symptoms instead of addressing the root cause,” said Edward F. Group III, a Houston-based naturopath with theholisticoption.com, an online resource for the alternative wellness community. “We basically have a world that’s constipated. It’s like if you change your oil in your car but never change the oil filter. Ultimately it gets so full of sludge the engine’s going to break down.”
The goal of detoxification is to remove that sludge. Indeed, most regimens — whose benefits have been espoused by celebrities like Beyoncé Knowles, who claimed to have lost 20 pounds before the movie “Dreamgirls” on the Master Cleanse, a concoction of lemon juice, cayenne pepper, maple syrup and water — typically involve fasting, food restriction, nutritional supplements or a combination thereof.
Most regimens eliminate caffeine, alcohol and nicotine; some limit meat and solid foods and rely on unusual juice blends (cayenne pepper and lemon, for instance), all in an effort to rid the gastrointestinal system of pesticides, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and food additives — in other words, just about anything you have eaten, drunk, smelled, inhaled or looked at that isn’t organic.
Because many holistic doctors believe that one’s bowels should be irrigated as much as four times a day, some detoxers rely on colonics, enemas and herbal laxatives to move things along. Others rely on liquid fasts, herbal supplements, colonics and formulas like those sold by David Kirsch, a fitness trainer in New York. His products include “LemonAid 48 Hour Detox Diet,” which consists of lemon, purified water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper, and is designed to “turbo-charge your metabolism, increase energy and kick-start weight loss.” (A 32-ounce bottle of his “one of a kind supplement” costs $24.99 on his Web site.)
According to Lynne McNees, president of the International Spa Association, almost all of the roughly 15,000 day and destination spas nationwide offer some kind of detoxifying treatment. For instance, Le Jardin Day Spa near Philadelphia has a 30-minute “foot detox,” which involves placing feet in a saltwater bath; it can, the spa claims, energize red blood cells and circulation, aid kidney and liver function and boost the immune system."
I cherry picked some excerpts from an article and placed them here. If you are interested enough to read the whole article, start to finish, click here ---> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/fashion/22skin.html?fta=y
********************************************************************************************
"But many Western doctors question the legitimacy of the regimens and their claims of promoting good health, believing detoxification does little to no good, and is possibly harmful.
“It is the opinion of mainstream and state-of-the-art medicine and physiology that these claims are not only ludicrous but tantamount to fraud,” said Dr. Peter Pressman, an internist with the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., and a critic of detoxification. “The contents of what ends up being consumed during a ‘detox’ are essentially stimulants, laxatives and diuretics.”
Such opinions have done little to deter the growing interest in the practice. Detoxification is enormously popular, according to SPINS, a market research and consulting firm based in Schaumburg, Ill., that caters to the natural and organic products industry. Sales of herbal formulas for cleansing, detoxification and organ support among natural food retailers were more than $27 million from Dec. 2, 2007, to Nov. 29, 2008. A survey by Mintel International, a Chicago-based research firm, found that 54 food and drink products were launched in 2008 with the word “detox” in their descriptions — up from 15 in 2003.
The thinking goes that by avoiding certain foods, adding nutritional and herbal supplements and cleansing your innards, you can cure the body of all sorts of evils.
“Western medicine is treating the symptoms instead of addressing the root cause,” said Edward F. Group III, a Houston-based naturopath with theholisticoption.com, an online resource for the alternative wellness community. “We basically have a world that’s constipated. It’s like if you change your oil in your car but never change the oil filter. Ultimately it gets so full of sludge the engine’s going to break down.”
The goal of detoxification is to remove that sludge. Indeed, most regimens — whose benefits have been espoused by celebrities like Beyoncé Knowles, who claimed to have lost 20 pounds before the movie “Dreamgirls” on the Master Cleanse, a concoction of lemon juice, cayenne pepper, maple syrup and water — typically involve fasting, food restriction, nutritional supplements or a combination thereof.
Most regimens eliminate caffeine, alcohol and nicotine; some limit meat and solid foods and rely on unusual juice blends (cayenne pepper and lemon, for instance), all in an effort to rid the gastrointestinal system of pesticides, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and food additives — in other words, just about anything you have eaten, drunk, smelled, inhaled or looked at that isn’t organic.
Because many holistic doctors believe that one’s bowels should be irrigated as much as four times a day, some detoxers rely on colonics, enemas and herbal laxatives to move things along. Others rely on liquid fasts, herbal supplements, colonics and formulas like those sold by David Kirsch, a fitness trainer in New York. His products include “LemonAid 48 Hour Detox Diet,” which consists of lemon, purified water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper, and is designed to “turbo-charge your metabolism, increase energy and kick-start weight loss.” (A 32-ounce bottle of his “one of a kind supplement” costs $24.99 on his Web site.)
According to Lynne McNees, president of the International Spa Association, almost all of the roughly 15,000 day and destination spas nationwide offer some kind of detoxifying treatment. For instance, Le Jardin Day Spa near Philadelphia has a 30-minute “foot detox,” which involves placing feet in a saltwater bath; it can, the spa claims, energize red blood cells and circulation, aid kidney and liver function and boost the immune system."


Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll land amongst the stars. - Anonymous