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A Detoxing Program Is Not Always Safe

26th September, 2010 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Popular detox diets promise to flush poisons from your body, purge pounds of excess fat, clear your complexion and bolster your immune system, but experts say there’s little evidence that extreme regimens such as the Master Cleanse or Fruit Flush do anything more than lead to unpleasant, unhealthy side effects.
Still, these super-restrictive eating plans are hotter than ever. It has been a popular diet at many times in the world’s history and seems to make a comeback into the mainstream at different times. No one knows for sure the amount of dieters who use one of these detox program, but it is a huge industry so there must be some market for them.
Medical professionals are quick to warn the public that they do not know what the long term risks of these programs are. Because of the very restrictive nature of these programs and the fact that they include drugs to eliminate waste products a person is not getting all of the nutrition they need. The lack of the nutrients may allow a person to be more susceptible to many other conditions that could make them sick or worse.
The scores of detox diet books and kits out there each have their own take on how to cleanse the body, one calls for spices and fruit juices, another for only vegetable purees, and many of them claim to help a person lose fat naturally, but most of them boil down to extremely low-calorie, primarily liquid diets.
The idea behind a detox diet, which can last anywhere from three days to about a month, is to rid the body of toxins absorbed from the environment and the less than healthy foods we eat, and this cleansing is supposed to leave you feeling energized.
The restrictive nature of some programs is so extreme that a person will only take in fluids and supplements for a period of time to cleanse their body. Many intestinal experts say we don’t need an extreme diet to cleanse our insides. Unless a person has other health problems that prevent it, they can use their natural systems to remove the unwanted chemicals and keep them from being built up in them selves. Another problem that is created with the detox programs is that they do not always discriminate the bad toxins from the good stuff in our body’s and remove it all.
The side effects from prolonged, severe calorie restriction can include headache, fatigue, irritability, aches and pains.
Because many rely on aggressive laxatives, these diets can also get pretty messy. Constant bouts of diarrhea will lead a person to many other unpleasant symptoms that might not be worth the effort.
One of the claims that is made by the makers of these programs is that they will boost the amount of energy a person has and this has not been shown to happen to everyone. If your body is not taking in enough calories for an extended period of time, it will go into a conservation mode that actually makes you feel less energized. The fact that a body is not getting the nutrition it needs also makes it take whatever it can from any source, which means it doe not just burn fat to create energy.
The restrictive nature of these programs will cause a person to shed some pounds in a hurry, however, the pounds will be put back on easily once the program is over. The more radical the program, the more likely this is to occur. The detox plans are a great way for a person to get into a weight loss plan, but if they don’t change their unhealthy habits they will regain the weight and probably more over the long term.
It may sound great that you can change the way you look overnight if you follow one of these cleansing systems, and the advertising makes it look attractive, but in the end it is better for a person to learn how to make the right food choices and get regular physical activity if they want to get healthy and stay that way.