The Master Cleanse
/ Courtesy: NBC News
Who doesn't want to feel energized, physically fit and happy? If it could happen in ten days, would you be game or insane? The cleansing craze may be hard to swallow, but it is harmful to swallow too?
Celebrities have done it. Non celebs have done it too. No meat, no sweets, no booze, no caffeine. It's a ritual that's been followed by religions and cultures for hundreds of years. Think of it as a fast of sorts.
"Once they get past day 3, life is glorious," said Peter Glickman, author of "The Master Cleanse."
Cleansing or detox diets have become all the rage. I lost 23 pounds and had just unbelievable energy," Glickman said.
The Master Cleanse was developed back in the 1950's. It's a liquid diet, a concoction of maple syrup, lemon juice, a bit of cayenne pepper and water. That's essentially all you drink for 10 days. "The purpose of the detoxification is to get out the toxins and other substances that make people tired, old irritable, unhappy and not function well and zap their energy," Glickman said.
But some doctors aren't buying it and have serious concerns about it's impact on your body. "When we look to find the toxins in the blood or colon, we can't find them they're not really there, so it's a little tough, you're trying to remove something that's not there," said Dr. Ken Fujioka, Medical Director of the Scripps Center for Weight Management.
Dr. Fujioka says your kidneys and liver do the job of removing toxins. As for weight loss, he says it's mostly water weight. He says there's not a lot of benefit and hard core cleanses can actually be dangerous. "There are caffeine enemas or coffee enemas different things that are stimulants to the bowel so they're trying to really get things moving along," Dr. Fujioka said. "If somebody is healthy, they're doing it for three days or less and they're getting adequate fluid and in particular adequate calories, they're probably going to be ok."
John Lenz, a fitness professional and health adviser, uses the cleanse diet. He says it incorporates adequate calories and lots of nourishment. He drinks a vegetable juice for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, he eats a piece of fish and steamed vegetables. The cleanse, he says, should not be about losing weight, but it can be about kick starting better nutrition decisions. "Bottom line is it's a lifestyle thing, you have to learn how to eat right, if it means to go through a cleanse to jump start that, then do it, it might help you," Lenz said.
While these highly restrictive diets may not be particularly harmful for the majority of people who try them, experts say some groups may suffer adverse effects. That includes children, pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding, seniors and people with heart disease, diabetes or other chronic conditions.
Have you ever tried a cleanse diet? Did it give you more energy? Are you concerned about its potentially harmful effect? Leave your thoughts below.
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Information courtesy of NBC News.
