Anyone hear of 'Clean' detox?

roseagra

Hey folks just wondering if anyone has heard of or experienced this detox? I'm in the middle of it at the moment and while I'm having good experiences there are also draw backs (pros - weight loss and I'm hoping generally less crap in my system, cons - tiredness, cold most of the time and break outs, but I know they are par for the course)

so looking for perspectives from outside of the 'clean' world, there's a support forum and they are very cheer leader-y - not sure I could question much there

this is the book I'm talking about - http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Revolutionary-Program-Restore-Natural/dp/0061735329

I'm wondering about extending this for a bit longer or should I revert to a more normal diet as I want to start exercising again but I'm also nursing a sprained ankle so trying to balance it all up and don't really have enough energy on the detox for the gym

I will say I've lost about a stone on this in the last 3 weeks but I'm not sure that will continue and more exercise could help to strengthen my ankle (I'm back in to see my physio this Thur so will look for feedback there) - I'm currently at 12st 7lbs so have a few stone to go yet.

Thank in advance!

metamorphosis

What does it entail?You know, your kidneys and liver are what detox you, no need for crazy diets and marketing hype

Just eat whole foods most of the time - foods that are ingredients rather than foods that contain and endless list of them - meats, fish, eggs, real full dairy, fruits, veg, nuts, seeds etc

Rely less on frankenfoods. 80/20 rule is a good ratio to start off on if you are coming from a place of eating mostly frankenfood

Might be a good idea to read the stickied threads in this forum and in the nutrition forum

g.rose

Hey there fellow sufferer,
Sad to say it, but detox is a pseudo scientific term coined by the weight loss industry to part us from our cash. Mostly you lose weight because you eat less and drink a lot of fluids. These things can be dangerous and can set you back on your goals, mainly because once you finish you are famished and exhausted and eat more to make up the difference. Last poster has it right, healthy foods in moderate amounts, just drink water, and exercise minimum 30 minutes daily and your body will do what it is designed to do. I wish there was an easy out, but there just isn't.

roseagra

well it's not a mad 'fad' detox, which is why I decided to do it. The Doc that put it together said he wanted to removed as many toxins from the diet and let the gut heal.

So I'm eating plenty, rarely hungry. Have a smoothie made from fruit and veg in the morning with probiotics, garlic caps and milk thistle to aid the liver - then regular but clean meal for lunch, eg chicken breast, puree'd cauliflower and carrots (there's a list of foods you can't eat because either they are seen as toxic or they cause the gut to become more acidic) and then a soup in the evening, normally based on green veg, I've been adding lentils to most as I find it fills me up and for protein

I know they do a 'kit' you can buy with all the supplements but I just did if off my own bat. the kit was fairly pricey alright

I suppose all this detox really is, is eating lots of good natural foods and helping the liver to do it's job

I'm just trying to decide if I should finish it when I'm due to (next sunday) and get me to the gym or continue for another bit?

I'm am heading to the gym now but will be taking it easy as don't have the energy for much at the moment

c'est ca

metamorphosis

That doesn't sound like enough food tbh. Also the acid/alkaline thing is complete bolloxollogy im afraid. Id really read the stickies, that way you will work out how many cals you need to be at maintenance/weight loss etc It will also clarify a few things re. eating and food.

roseagra

well it's not a mad 'fad' detox, which is why I decided to do it. The Doc that put it together said he wanted to removed as many toxins from the diet and let the gut heal.

So I'm eating plenty, rarely hungry. Have a smoothie made from fruit and veg in the morning with probiotics, garlic caps and milk thistle to aid the liver - then regular but clean meal for lunch, eg chicken breast, puree'd cauliflower and carrots (there's a list of foods you can't eat because either they are seen as toxic or they cause the gut to become more acidic) and then a soup in the evening, normally based on green veg, I've been adding lentils to most as I find it fills me up and for protein

I know they do a 'kit' you can buy with all the supplements but I just did if off my own bat. the kit was fairly pricey alright

I suppose all this detox really is, is eating lots of good natural foods and helping the liver to do it's job

I'm just trying to decide if I should finish it when I'm due to (next sunday) and get me to the gym or continue for another bit?

I'm am heading to the gym now but will be taking it easy as don't have the energy for much at the moment but I'm not exhausted either, probably as much to do with my lack of fitness as anything

it just seems to me that this is encouraging you to stay away from sugar, gluten, alcohol for a bit to let the gut heal and gives the body a better chance to process what food is coming in - there have been studies done that have shown the damage done to cells in body from the effort put into processing and digesting food, surely if it's more natural that's better and milk thistle is good for the liver....isn't it?? (or is this another story spun?)

c'est ca

roseagra

I appreciate the feed back but why would you say that the acid/alkaline thing is rubbish? the ph of the gut can change - I'm not hugely up on my human nutrition but I study equine nutrition and we feed to balance the environment of the gut out - and I haven't had nearly as much heartburn while doing this as before....

but the calories are worked out and I think you'd find most will recommend the 1200-1500 for a lady looking to loose weight, again correct me if I'm wrong here

I'd just like to know if people have real arguments, while I appreciate opinions I'd prefer to hear of actual solid knowledge

gracias

roseagra

g.rose wrote: »

Hey there fellow sufferer,
Sad to say it, but detox is a pseudo scientific term coined by the weight loss industry to part us from our cash. Mostly you lose weight because you eat less and drink a lot of fluids. These things can be dangerous and can set you back on your goals, mainly because once you finish you are famished and exhausted and eat more to make up the difference. Last poster has it right, healthy foods in moderate amounts, just drink water, and exercise minimum 30 minutes daily and your body will do what it is designed to do. I wish there was an easy out, but there just isn't.

Hey fellow Rose! thanks for the feed back, all this I know but to my mind this isn't based on 'take the little blue pill and ten gallons of water and nothing else...' I'm snacking on nuts and seeds during the day, everything I consume is something I would have eaten before but probably not as much, I was a pretty good veggie and fruit eater before but much better now and I'm not drinking much more water, I've always drank a lot of water

surely it's a good idea to give the body a break from processed foods, the only extra things I'm taking are the probiotics in the morning with garlic caps and the milk thistle? I'm dubious about the probiotics as I've read in some papers that few are designed to survive the stomach and actually make it to the gut

TommyKnocker

roseagra wrote: »

I appreciate the feed back but why would you say that the acid/alkaline thing is rubbish? the ph of the gut can change - I'm not hugely up on my human nutrition but I study equine nutrition and we feed to balance the environment of the gut out - and I haven't had nearly as much heartburn while doing this as before....

No expert here but I would suggest that the human digestive system is nothing like that of a horse.

The human stomach is an acidic environment. It is the stomach acid that breaks down the food you eat. Why would you need to regulate this. The human body is a remarkable thing and is designed to regulate itself.

I am afraid IMO this is how these scam artists work. First create a problem, "The need to manually regulate the alkaline/acid balance in the stomach" (something that the human body has been doing for thousands of years on its own).

Then create a "Cure" as in a special Detox Diet.

roseagra wrote: »

but the calories are worked out and I think you'd find most will recommend the 1200-1500 for a lady looking to loose weight, again correct me if I'm wrong here

The 2000 calories for maintenance for a woman is a generic ball park figure. However we are all individual and there is no one size fits all. The number of calories you require for maintenance (and as a knock on the number of calories you require for steady, sustainable and healthy weight loss) is based on your current weight, age and height and activity level.

So while you may meet the generic Jane Doe figure of 2000 cals for maintenance and 1200-1500 cals for weight loss, this could also be well wide of the mark and you could be either over or under eating.

roseagra wrote: »

I'd just like to know if people have real arguments, while I appreciate opinions I'd prefer to hear of actual solid knowledge

gracias

In fairness Meta is a qualified PT and knows what he is talking about. If you feed your body the foods it was designed to eat and stay away from the process junk, then there will be no need for scam detox diets. Or as Meta said, eat foods which are ingredients and not which contain a list of ingredients

roseagra

TK thank you for that but I'm not sure that everyone is hearing what I'm consuming on this 'detox' for want of a better word - it's natural food, nothing mental, I'm not drinking buckets of cabbage soup or maple syrup and pepper (or whatever that one was) - so I think in a way we agree with each other, I'm really just cutting out processed foods......doesn't this sound like two sides that agree but don't perhaps hear each other

and all I'm doing is hoping to aid the body by not eating crisps, drinking beer and eating bread for a bit - I'm just letting my body do it's thing - but you say the body has been doing this for a long time - a long time before we had all this processed food.....when we were hunter gathers and ate nuts and seeds and whatever else we caught/found

I'm not trying to create an alkaline state in the gut, that would be ridiculous but reduce the over acidic state that is caused by consuming too much sugar

and folks I appreciated all input but surely I can question peoples reasoning, just because someone is a PM or equine scientist doesn't mean they know all? we can all bring something to the table, can't we?

I do have to say thank you all though, I don't think I could have bantered this out elsewhere, I'm sure I would have been shot down asap

TommyKnocker

Yep, the foods you listed are all foods that I eat myself. No process foods, everything home made (if I don't cook/prepare it, I don't eat it )

My point was that

• I did not have to make anybody richer paying for knowledge that is really common sense, packaged as a "detox diet"
• I do not have any of the symptoms you mentioned in your first post, so I am wondering if you are eating suifficient quantities of healthy fats, protein & carbs and getting the required mico nutrients also. If you have only recently started this regime then it could be just your body adjusting, but if you have been on it a few weeks, then the adjustment should have finished by now IMO.
• I am not a fan of smoothies tbh. Eating whole veg adds fiber to your diet. This helps your digestive system and makes you feel full which helps control over eating. Pureeing fruit and veg into smoothies to me means only getting half teh benefits of the fruit/veg. i.e. you are getting the vitamins and minerals, but not the full effect of the fiber. Same goes for pureeing you dinner veg.

I would advise stopping the "Detox" when you are scheduled to and then work out your specific daily/weekly calorie requirements using one of the online formulas. I use the Harris Benedict Formula if body fat % is unknown or the Katch McCardle formula if the body fat % is known.

Then keep up with the whole foods, little or no process foods. Make sure you are eating healthy fats and getting sufficient protein in.

A good read regarding eating a healthy diet which will keep your body working well is "The Primal Blueprint" by Mark Sisson and there is also a website with lots of information, and some tasty recipies you might like to try It can be found here

SanoVitae

Roseagra - I highly recommend you check out Ori Hofmekler and the Warrior Diet he advocates

http://www.warriordiet.com/content/view/24/35/

While it's very different from what you're currently doing, there is a detoxing aspect to it (The "Undereating Phase").

P.S. Personally I would stay well away from anything Gwyneth Paltrow endorses.....

noworries

roseagra wrote: »

I'm wondering about extending this for a bit longer or should I revert to a more normal diet as I want to start exercising again but I'm also nursing a sprained ankle so trying to balance it all up and don't really have enough energy on the detox for the gym

I will say I've lost about a stone on this in the last 3 weeks but I'm not sure that will continue and more exercise could help to strengthen my ankle (I'm back in to see my physio this Thur so will look for feedback there) - I'm currently at 12st 7lbs so have a few stone to go yet.

Getting to the nub of your OP - I think you should stop the detox now. After 3 weeks, whatever you were told/read it would do - it should have done it by now. Normal, unprocessed foods-small portions ,light exercise, plenty of water and you will regain the energy you don't have now as your glycogen stores are replenished.

You have been on a starvation diet for 3 weeks so you may gain back a bit of the stone you lost but as your body transitions to a more efficient engine that will burn off over time. You say you have a few more stone to loose.... that will take about 18 months if you are dilligent and keep up the effort required for such a substantial transformation but it is very doable. There are no quick fixes - otherwise there would not be a 'diet/detox industry' -

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - the part of the phrase that is not empahised though is that there are a million steps in the journey and you have to take each one , one at a time to get there.

g.rose

You sound like you know exactly what you're doing. Only thing is, you ought to have plenty of energy, cutting out processed food should boost your energy levels rather than the reverse. Sounds odd unless you were eating massive amounts of sugar before and your body has crashed, but after 3 weeks that should have sorted itself out. Probiotic capsules are far more worthwhile than those fancy pants yoghurts in the supermarket. Anyway, what you're doing isn't a detox, its just common sense application of well-researched nutritional science. If you want to stay off wheat, maybe try quinoa and spelt instead. Cutting out any food groups unless you have a diagnosed allergy to them is a bit reactionary, although admittedly we all eat too much meat, dairy and wheat in our Western diets. Do ask the doctor who helped you design your program why you may have so little get up and go though... could be thyroid related or point to an underlying condition.

roseagra

I figure it out! once I started back at the gym this week my energy levels went up - I think I was being too soft and 'minding' myself by taking it easy. But I was obviously taking it too easy! Energy levels were great again this week. Started back working too (waitressing, def need energy for that!). I've since finished the detox as of today but I'll be keeping to the clean stuff as much as possibly. lesson learned, I need to move to keep my energy levels up.

thanks all!