Detox Diet Redux

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Detox Diet Redux

Postby jay kaye » Fri Aug 24, 2018 6:59 am

Jeff,

I know that you have written about the fallacy of juicing in regards to the idea of the body will suddenly "detoxify", releasing stored up toxins from the liver, intestines and adipose tissue.

But in the same vein, I am continually reading about people, who after they start the McDougall plan, complain about various and sundry aches, pains, tiredness, fogginess, headaches, etc, all of which are being explained by the participant's themselves and others as the body "detoxing."

Is there any truth at all that there is (or could possible be) a detoxing effect after starting the McDougall program?

As far as I can find; your prior answers were to the subject of juicing alone.

TIA,
Jay
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Re: Detox Diet Redux

Postby JeffN » Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:34 am

Hey Jay

It is an issue of semantics.

As stated back in one of the original threads on the topic.

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5852&p=39746&#p39746

[quote]“Juice fasting can not "cleanse" or "detox" your colon or your liver. The liver, and the colon, along with the kidneys, bowels, skin, lungs, are all organs of detoxification. Your body does an excellent job of it and is at work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

What you can do to help it is to make sure you stop the intake of excess calories, animal products, high fat products, dairy products, eggs, cheese, milk, salt, sugar, refined processed flours, alcohol, caffeine, junk food., etc “[/quote]

So to be clear, We produce toxins (cellular waste products) all day, 24 hours a day as the result of our metabolic processes of the body (respiration, digestion, etc). Our body is also removing them all day long too through the lung, skin, urine, feces, etc. As such, your body is always detoxing. That is the one of the main (if not main) function of many of our vital organs.

You could say as a result of life, even if you consume nothing but pure food, water and air, we are both toxifying and detoxifying all day long,

Some things we consume that are not in the best interest of our health can cause some symptoms when we stop using them. Some of them also caused some symptom when we start using them and then we get used to them because we like some of those symptoms. For instance, consume coffee and you get some symptoms including increased pulse, heart rate, respiration and alertness (all of which people like). However, we can also get insomnia, nervousness and restlessness, stomach upset, and in some, nausea and vomiting. For those very sensitive it might also cause headache, anxiety, agitation, ringing in the ears, and irregular heartbeats (all of which people don’t like). There are physiological reasons for all of these. When you stop the coffee, you get another set up symptoms.

Is one set of symptoms we like upon ingestion “toxifying” and “poisoning” and the other set we don't like when we stop, “detoxifying?”

The process of ingestion and cessation happens to everyone who indulges and then stops but the symptoms do not happen to everyone or with every substance. So, if two people consume coffee and then stop and one gets headaches, lethargy, diarrhea, and one doesn’t, is one detoxifying and one not?

If two people eat the American diet and go on McDougall and by doing so, increase their fiber intake 4 fold (from 15 grams to 60 grams) and one gets gas and bloating and one doesnt’, what do you call that? Toxifying? Detoxifying? A physiogical adjustment?

Some people get violent reactions from otherwise healthy foods (wheat, corn, soy, etc). Are these symptoms toxifying? When one stops the offending (otherwise normal and healthy food) are the symptoms detoxifying? Or are we discussing allergies, sensitivities and just individual biological repsonses?

So as you can see, the words used to describe much of the above is really just semantics and at some level, individual.

The important thing that I try and address is that there is (almost) nothing out there that will detox you (herbs, juices, supplements, drugs, diets, etc) as long as you continue the consumption. The main thing one must do is to just stop the consumption of thing that are harmful, toxic or cause individual reactions. That happens regardless of whether one uses special herbs, supplements, juices, drugs, diets etc. A coffee hangover happens to most people regardless of their diet. The thing that triggers the symptom is the cessation of coffee.

What we can do is ease the burden on our body y stopping the ingestion of all things known to be toxic and/or in toxic amounts and let the body do what it does best.

When you rest and reduce the intake of all and everything to just pure water and pure air and stop the ingestion of all food, you reduce the process of producing metabolic cellular debris (toxins) and allow the process to speed up. This is called fasting. It doesnt do anything your body wasn’t already doing but may allow the process to “speed up.” Fasting is just the ultimate physiological rest.

Make sense?

The reason I say “almost” is there are are some examples where in heavy metal poisoning, they can give a chemical that will bind to the heavy metal in a process cause chelation and help remove it from the body. Now, many supplements and products are sold as chelating agents and chelating agents are promoted to be of value in heart disease to remove plaques, but few if any have any evidence for them.

In Health
Jeff
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Re: Detox Diet Redux

Postby JeffN » Wed Nov 28, 2018 4:21 pm

This is a great mainstream article, with links to the research on detox.

Holiday detoxes promise to cleanse our bodies of toxins — but this wellness trend sells more snake oil than science - There is no solid science to support the idea that we need to detox our bodies in the way the purveyors of detoxification suggest.
Nov. 25, 2018 / 4:37 AM EST
By Timothy Caulfield,
Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy
University of Alberta

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/h ... ncna939761

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