Detox and Cleansing – 100% Scam

As some of you know I had food poisoning a few days ago and I’m still not quite out of the woods. Head still isn’t right, and bagels and soup are the extent of what I can eat.

If you ate something toxic...you'd know!

This brings up an interesting point about detox diets and supplements.

Specifically that there is no such thing as a real ‘detox’ diet or supplement. Your liver and kidneys function to detoxify anything that is toxic to your body (alcohol is a good example)

If there is a ‘toxin’ in your body that your kidneys or liver can’t deal with you’ll know right away (as I did) because it’s going to be promptly purged from your system one way or the other.

If it’s a lethal toxin (serious poison) you might end up dead before you have a chance to puke it back out.

Fortunately we’re not foraging for berries any more so there is a very low risk of you ever eating something that is lethal. Most of us also have some access to acute medical care so if you do by accident ingest something that is truly toxic the doctors at a hospital have various tools at this disposal to help deal with the issue.

The point is there is no way to ‘detox’ with your diet or a supplement.

Most of the cleansing and detox promoters can never even name one ‘toxin’ that they are talking about or how it works, where it supposedly accumulates in your body and how you got it in the first place.

They stick to ambiguous claims like ‘toxin’ and ‘cleanse’ and allow you to fill in the gaps with your own fears and anxieties.

If you feel like you want to ‘cleanse’ or clear out for a while, just do a 24 hour fast. I guarantee that any feedback you get from a detox product is because it will likely require you to undertake some sort of fasting and not because of any supplement or juice it forces you to ingest.

John

Posted by johnbarban in Health
Tags: cleansing, detox |10 Comments

10 Responses to “Detox and Cleansing – 100% Scam”

  1. Cooper Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    So true. I’m actually embarrassed to say that I bought into that crap a while ago.

    It’s actually quite funny when you hear them talking about all the toxins clogging up your colon, yet gastroenterologists don’t see any of it when they’re doing colonoscopies.

  2. anthony Ramos Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    what about the diet that claims to cleanse gall stones.

    all this being said, I’m sure there are foods that you can eat that are harder on your body than others. for instance, even eating too much can make you sleepy, acidic foods, alcohol

  3. Andrew Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    I’d market a cleansing product myself if I knew I wouldn’t feel like complete scum of the earth for stealing people’s money from them.

  4. Yavor Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    Detox sounds like an MLM to me. I remember some 15 years ago someone had conned my poor aunt into an MLM to sell some powders that would flush “the toxins” from our bodies…

    Get better soon man!

  5. Girlwithnoname (Jackie) Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 4:30 pm

    THANK YOUUUU!!!

    Damn I’m sick of hearing friends, relatives and clients who should know better talk about whatever cleanse or detox they’re doing lately. And for those that believe, there’s no way to convince them otherwise. Insanely frustrating to say the least.

    thanks for a much-needed post. Hope you feel 100% again fast.

    J

  6. Nate Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    Detox and cleanse are the two terms that drive me the most nuts when I see them thrown around so liberally. Makes me cringe. I should sell a brick to the face as the latest “detox” method and see who sends me $19.99.

  7. Kirill Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    Totally agree! I was just watching a story on the news the other day: http://www.3news.co.nz/Lemon-Detox-Diet—Is-it-safe/tabid/367/articleID/146637/Default.aspx
    The “special detox syrup” you must buy is nothing but sugar…

  8. Wedward Says:
    March 19th, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    I tried the cleansing pills from Natrol and all they did is make me sit on the toilet so much I ended up with hemorrhoids!

    I did find an extended fast with water & juice amped up the internal cleansing process like you said. felt like a 103 degree fever and flu and I smelled horrible for a day or two.

  9. Sterling Rily Says:
    March 21st, 2010 at 8:38 pm

    Geez, everytime I see blogs this good I just want mine to be there already! :) Great work.

  10. San Jose Sean Says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    Thanks John, I was just wondering about this last week.

    Having following ESE and fasting at least once every week since July (save two weeks while recently in Germany & indulging in all the wonderful food knowing I’d be able to rid the 5 pounds I knew I’d gain w/in 2-4 weeks!) I suspected that the cleanse feeling came from the fast and not the product (yeah, I did follow, loosely, some detox/fasting program for a month or so a few years back, glad I stumbled across and interview w/Brad last summer!)

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