Cleansing diets prove popular

Published 5:00 am Thursday, May 24, 2012

Cleansing diets are touted as a way to rid the body of toxins, to cleanse the colon and the liver. Many who cleanse say they feel revitalized and energized after.

However, medical research has not verified that cleanse diets truly rid the body of toxins, and a local dietitian says in some cases they’re unnecessary and even potentially unhealthy.

Specific diet plans vary, and can run from a few days to several weeks. The basic plans eliminate caffeine, alcohol, processed sugar, wheat and dairy. Others include regimens of raw vegetables, herbs and supplements. Many involve fasting.

How a person approaches a cleansing diet depends on one’s individual goals, health and lifestyle. Some do it for weight loss. Some do it for mental clarity or improved energy. Some do it to jump-start a better diet.

An ancient tradition

Dr. Ron Rosen, of Open Paths Integrative Medicine in Bend, is a medical doctor who has studied holistic and Chinese medicine, nutrition and detoxification. He believes some variation of a cleansing diet can benefit everyone.

This season of renewal — spring — is a popular time to try a cleanse, as indicated by a recent uptick in guided cleansing programs advertised by naturopathic offices and yoga studios.

Spring is also associated with the liver in Chinese medicine, Rosen said. The liver is an organ that’s involved with immune system responses, removing bacteria and toxins from the blood, and processing nutrients, medications and hormones.

Many cleansing diets include herbal formulas intended to detoxify the liver. Most herbs haven’t been clinically proven to have detoxification powers, but many have been used for thousands of years for that purpose, Rosen said. Modern naturopathic health care has adapted the practice of cleansing from traditional ancient cultures where detoxing has been done for centuries, said Rosen.

More modern evidence suggests that supplements including gluthathione, which is also naturally produced in the liver, N-acetyl cysteine, milk thistle and turmeric are all involved with liver health, he said.

It’s helpful to cleanse and detox occasionally, Rosen said, because our bodies come in contact with many chemicals in our environment. Some toxins are stored in fat tissue, and fasting — often a staple of cleansing diets — breaks up fat tissue and helps the process of excreting those toxins.

How to do it

A cleansing diet can be as simple as cutting one’s diet down to fruits and vegetables and cooked rice for a couple of days. Then maybe try a couple of days of consuming only organic fruit juices. Some people might want to add milk thistle supplements, according to dosages on the bottle. Milk thistle is believed to protect and improve liver health. Any cleanse should include lots of water, he said.

Someone who is in good health, has a high-quality diet and is mentally and physically fit can probably try a cleanse on their own, he said. Reading about cleansing diets can help a person find the right fit. (He recommends writings by Elson Haas and Bernard Jensen.)

Anyone with health problems or diseases should be monitored by a health care professional if they plan to cleanse. People who have diabetes or heart disease or are taking medications could get weak, have blood sugar drops and, under some circumstances, even suffer seizures, Rosen said.

Joshua Phillips, a naturopath at Hawthorn Healing Arts Center in Bend, said his practice recently wrapped up a two-week group cleanse. The leader provided instruction, supplements and dietary recommendations, and offered advice about how to handle the hardships that can accompany a cleanse, such as constipation or headaches.

The group cleanse started with an “anti-inflamatory diet,” which excludes wheat and dairy in addition to alcohol and caffeine. It includes supplements such as psyllium husk, a soluble fiber that helps scrub the colon, and bentonite, which is thought to bind to toxins in the gut so they are eliminated. The office also supplies an herbal tea intended to help detox the liver.

For short periods of time during the second week, participants excluded meat and then grains. The cleanse included a one-day, water-only fast.

An experience like this is meant to help participants understand which foods make them feel good, and which do not, Phillips said.

He added, “It can be an emotional and spiritual experience for people.”

One man’s experience

Mike Arrera, a healthy, 26-year-old “cable guy” for BendBroadband, joined the group this spring for his first cleansing experience. He already ate lots of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, he said, but he wanted to try it to jump-start an even better diet.

“I thought the best way to do it would be with a cleanse,” he said. “It opened my mind to new ideas and new ways to cook things and to mix things. It gave me alternatives to things that were bad for me.”

For example: Making smoothies out of any combination of avocado, strawberries, mangoes, kale, carrots, almond butter and coconut milk can provide a satisfying, quick, nutritious meal. Or, carrying nuts around allows him to have a filling, healthy snack that can be taken anywhere and eaten anytime.

While calories weren’t restricted and there were plenty of things he could eat, the cleanse was tough for the first three days, Arrera said. His fall-back snack of carrots was unsatisfying.

“They didn’t want us to eat bread at all. It was tough not to make a peanut butter-jelly sandwich,” Arrera said. Avoiding cheese was challenging at first, too. Drinking 70 ounces of water a day was almost impossible some days.

“I wasn’t 100 percent faithful,” he said. “Everyone cheated here and there. I needed something hearty. My middle ground was almond butter and Dave’s Killer Bagels.”

Shopping became more arduous. He couldn’t find all the recommended ingredients — organic foods, including grains such as quinoa and grass-fed meat — in one store.

The day of the water-only fast he joined friends at Goodlife Brewing in Bend and watched them drink beer and eat cream cheese- and bacon-stuffed jalapenos. That was borderline torturous, he said.

“I drank one cup after another of water,” he said. But he’s too social to stay home and watch TV alone, and his friends told him what he was doing was awesome, he said.

Losing weight wasn’t his goal, but he lost five pounds in two weeks.

He had plenty of energy, he said. He never stopped bike commuting or mountain biking for recreation.

In the first few days he had a couple of minor headaches but after that, he said, “It was easy and felt awesome.”

Skepticism

Not everyone applauds the idea.

Detoxification diets are not necessary and in some cases, even dangerous, said Eris Craven, a registered dietitian and fitness specialist who works for her own private practice as well as for MyMD Personal Medicine.

Our bodies are already equipped with toxin-fighting abilities.

“Our liver, kidneys, immune system and skin are designed to help rid our bodies of toxins without the assistance of a detoxification diet,” she wrote in an email.

“To date, there is no research to support health benefits or that detoxification actually occurs after partaking in a detoxification diet,” she said.

Following a detoxification diet that involves extreme calorie restriction, elimination of food groups, supplements, and “unusual liquid concoctions or laxatives” is probably not harmful for most healthy individuals for a short period. “However, to follow such a restrictive diet for more than a few days can be downright dangerous,” she said.

Eliminating vitamins, minerals, protein, dietary fiber and calories can cause malnutrition, gastrointestinal issues, low blood glucose, difficulty concentrating, low energy levels, impaired immune function and muscle wasting, she warned. People with diseases or compromised immune systems, growing children, pregnant women and older individuals shouldn’t consider cleansing, she said.

That’s not to say there aren’t elements of the cleanse that are wise and healthy for anyone.

“If you want to eliminate caffeine, alcohol and foods with added sugar from your diet, then eliminate those foods and beverages,” she said.

A healthy lifestyle habit, she said, would be to replace those choices with nutrient-rich foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, oils, lean proteins, nonfat or low-fat dairy, and to make water the main beverage choice.