Considering a "juice fast" for a cleanse? Not so fast.... |
“Screw it, I can’t do this any more!” my friend snapped as
we drove to The Grove one unseasonably chilly day (at least for Los Angeles)
last January. “Let’s get chocolate chip pancakes and mimosas before we hit
Barneys.”
I sighed, bit my tongue, and gave her an I told you so look.
You see, my friend’s New Years resolution was to lose fat
fast, and a detox proved the perfect way to legitimately do that. Tell people
you’re on an 800-calorie starvation diet and they wince, but call it a detox or
cleanse and suddenly everything’s cool.
My friend was basically starving herself. A popular weekly
tabloid had promoted this new juice cleanse, endorsed by a famous waif-thin
actress, and so of course these juices became all the rage for people like my
friend who desperately wanted to shake her post-holiday weight gain.
But nearly three weeks later, my friend’s detox had finally
gotten to her. She lost some weight initially, her skin got a little better, but
constant fatigue and lightheadedness trumped any good coming out of this
near-starvation diet.
She also constantly struggled with hunger and cravings,
oscillating about whether to surrender to pancakes or stalwartly trudge on hungrily.
Sadly, none of her misery proved necessary. Not the cravings
and hunger, not the sluggishness and deprivation, and certainly not the
potentially irreparable damage this juice cleanse could do to her body.
Ultimately she was creating more damage than good.
I had a better way to detoxify. But first, let me explain
why her plan – as well as the plan you
might be considering or even doing – has it all wrong.
Why You’re Really
Detoxifying
Why are you looking for a detox plan? Dumping toxins is all
well and good, and too many nights becoming inebriated may have taken its toll
on your liver. You can develop some perfectly legitimate reasons to detoxify.
But be honest. You’re detoxifying to get into your skinny
jeans. If you’re like most people, countless holiday temptations took a serious
hit on your waistline. You want to shed those pounds fast.
So here’s the good news. You will lose weight on pretty much any detox or cleanse. No question
there. Just know most of that weight loss will come from muscle, not fat. Oh
yeah, that’s the bad news. You don’t want weight loss; you want fat loss.
Let me be clear. There is nothing wrong with detoxifying to
lose weight. In fact, excessive toxins could be the reason you’re not losing
weight. The key is to detoxify correctly.
Do the right plan and you’ll burn fat, build (or at least
preserve) muscle, and never be hungry. Unfortunately, most detox plans get it
entirely wrong with one and probably more of these seven problems:
1.
They
have way too much sugar. Most detoxes and cleanses are nothing more than
sugar water. Think about the master cleanse. You’re basically drinking maple
syrup, which is pure sugar. How can loading your body with sugar possibly aid
detoxification? (It can’t.) Worse still, excessive sugar drains many of the
nutrients your body needs to detoxify. Juice cleanses especially are high in
fructose, a sweetener that goes straight to your liver and ultimately creates
inflammation as it converts to fat. Rather than aid your liver, fructose just makes
your hardest-working organ work harder.
2.
They
offer way too little protein. Detoxification happens in two phases. Fat-soluble
toxins get converted to water-soluble toxins in phase one, and then those
toxins get excreted in phase two. Almost all of the seven pathways in phase two
detox demand amino acids. Most detoxes and cleanses provide little if any
protein. Without sufficient dietary protein, you can actually become more toxic.
3.
They
neglect vital nutrients. A wide array of nutrients contributes to
detoxification. Besides insufficient protein, most detoxes and cleanses provide
few if any nutrients like milk thistle and sulfur-rich lipoic acid and N-acetyl
cysteine that help your liver detoxify.
4.
They
contain too few calories. I have no idea when detoxifying became I’m going to become a starving, raging bitch
for three weeks, but like my friend’s juice cleanse, most plans put you in
near-starvation mode, setting the stage for hunger, cravings, and crankiness. Because
you’re replacing several meals – and on some plans, nearly all your meals – every day with juices or other meal replacements,
you’re dramatically cutting calories, sometimes to dangerously low levels.
5.
They’re
poorly designed. You don't need a PhD in nutrition to design an optimal
detox, but you do need a basic understanding about biochemistry and how your
body detoxifies. A smart plan provides optimal nutrients – protein, for instance, but also micronutrients – in correct,
efficacious doses so your body has the correct building blocks to detoxify.
Many commercial detoxes and cleanses overlook these and other details because
whoever designs them – usually a manufacturer that has money, not your health,
as the bottom line – has a poor understanding about how detoxification works.
6.
They’re
expensive. My friend was spending nearly $100 a day on freshly squeezed
juices. “You’ve spent over two grand to become miserable, cranky, and more
toxic,” I told her half jokingly. I get it: Having juices delivered to your
office daily is kind of cool, but you’re better off spending that money on food
and nutrients. After all, you can get a heck of a lot of organic broccoli for
$100!
7.
They
don’t address long-term issues. You’ve probably done a three-week crash
diet to prepare for a wedding or other special event. You likely lost weight
(note I said weight, not fat) but
then gained it all back and then some. Likewise, detoxing is not something you
do twice a year and otherwise return to your normal, probably horrendous eating
pattern. Your cells constantly detoxify, so you want to consistently get the
right foods and nutrients to help that process.
Like I said before, I’m all for detoxification. The New Year
makes a great time to get a jump on spring-cleaning to dump toxins, perform
better at the gym, feel your best, and shed that holiday fat.
Many of my esteemed colleagues promote detoxification, and a
substantial amount of science supports doing it. But there’s a correct way to
detoxify, and as I’ve shared, most plans get it entirely wrong.
This week I’ve discussed how not to detoxify. Next week I’ll give you my seven-step plan to
detoxify effectively and affordably. With this plan, you can have it all: Burn
fat, feel better, and ditch toxins without cravings, hunger, deprivation, and
other misery.
If you’ve ever done a detox or cleanse, what kind of results
did you get? Did you ever feel hungry, lightheaded, deprived, or struggle with
cravings?
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Fitness expert and strength coach Jini Cicero, CSCS, teaches intermediate exercisers how to blast through plateaus to create incredible transformations. Are you ready to take your fitness to a whole new level? Find out now! Take Jini's "Are you Ready?" Quiz at www.Jinifit.com. © 2011 Jinifit, Inc. |
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Thanks great info!!! Going to pass to my friends detoxing now lol
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading! Stayed tuned next week for HOW to detox correctly.
ReplyDelete