Cleanses

[velogirl]

unfortunately, unless you eat "raw" you're putting all sorts of chemicals and preservatives and artificial substances into your body with every bite at every meal. just look at the contents of a typical sports bar. how many of those ingredients are not naturally occurring substances? many of us also over-ingest certain vitamins and minerals which simply accumulate in our body.

completely anecdotally and from my own experience, after a cleanse my metabolism seems to behave "normally," I experience less fatigue and stress, I don't bloat or get gassy, I have regular bowel movements, and I can sleep without taking sleeping pills. for me, it works (even if it's only a psychological effect).

[Pedal Wench]

I asked because I do fast once a year for religious purposes, and I always get a low-blood sugar headache, and come close to passing out. However, that fast restricts water too, so it's probably dehydration-related. I feel my metabolism slowing throughout the day, and can't imagine continuing past the 24-hour mark.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

oooh...dehydration is bad for you!

[SadieKate]

unfortunately, unless you eat "raw" you're putting all sorts of chemicals and preservatives and artificial substances into your body with every bite at every meal. just look at the contents of a typical sports bar. how many of those ingredients are not naturally occurring substances? many of us also over-ingest certain vitamins and minerals which simply accumulate in our body.

completely anecdotally and from my own experience, after a cleanse my metabolism seems to behave "normally," I experience less fatigue and stress, I don't bloat or get gassy, I have regular bowel movements, and I can sleep without taking sleeping pills. for me, it works (even if it's only a psychological effect).

Um, you don't have to eat "raw" to not ingest preservatives, etc.. You just need to stay away from processed foods with additives by reading the label and buying organic as much as possible. Even a Nectar Bar would be safe.

It is incredibly hard to absorb all the nutrients in foods by not cooking some of them. My system perks along fine if I just eat plenty of high fiber fresh fruits and veggies, cooked when necessary for palatability, and an overall low fat menu.

[kelownagirl]

I found that I was able to feel many of the positive 'effects' of a cleanse by cutting out most of the processed foods, and eating more veg and fruit and whole grains and water. Personally, and in my fairly uneducated opinion, I think the biggest 'toxic' issue is the toxic effects of constipation. If you do a cleanse, or if you change to a more fresh-food-based, higher fibre diet, you get things moving and feel better over all.

[OakLeaf]

From an evolutionary standpoint (addressing what our kidneys and liver are "for"), our hominid ancestors didn't evolve to eat every single day. That just wasn't an option, and still isn't for wild things. Traditions of fasting arose in primitive religions long before we started eating highly processed foods.

Even if you eat reasonably clean, you're still inhaling toxins, ingesting them in your water (via additives, pollutants, naturally occurring contaminants and leaching from containers), and absorbing them through your skin. Reducing the load on your kidneys and liver for a day, or a few days, on a regular basis, might not be enough to eliminate everything that's built up in your body, but it's got to help.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I found that I was able to feel many of the positive 'effects' of a cleanse by cutting out most of the processed foods, and eating more veg and fruit and whole grains and water. Personally, and in my fairly uneducated opinion, I think the biggest 'toxic' issue is the toxic effects of constipation. If you do a cleanse, or if you change to a more fresh-food-based, higher fibre diet, you get things moving and feel better over all.

I strongly agree with this. People don't get nearly enough natural fiber in general, and fiber I think is the greatest natural health "cleanser" of all.

Even if you eat reasonably clean, you're still inhaling toxins, ingesting them in your water (via additives, pollutants, naturally occurring contaminants and leaching from containers), and absorbing them through your skin. Reducing the load on your kidneys and liver for a day, or a few days, on a regular basis, might not be enough to eliminate everything that's built up in your body, but it's got to help.

The only way we won't ingest toxins is by being dead. Even cavemen ingested toxins- smoke, volcanic ash and fumes, sulpher, rotting meat or rotting fruit, heavy metals, insect borne diseases and parasites, poison fungi and other toxic plants, contaminated water and bacteria....
My own opinion: The toxins that are easily eliminated enough to get eliminated during 3 days of fasting would probably be eliminated anyway during those 3 days whether we ate or not. Nastier stuff like lead, dioxins, DDT, or mercury is not going to budge even if we starve ourselves to death.
I'm not saying it's bad to just drink juice or tea for a day- most of us ingest way too much fat and calories anyway, and a day long juice or water fast would likely make anyone feel better! I just don't believe it accelerates the natural toxin elimination functions our healthy bodies have already.