Being a registered nurse, and Rolfing(R) practitioner I am an advocate for healthy weight maintenance and healthy habits in general. However, I am always skeptical of practitioners promoting "detox" as a quick way to get healthy. It seems "detox" is a catch-all phrase for making a sudden healthy shift in eating, or doing a low calorie fast (like the popularized lemon juice/maple syrup one). However, it has very little basis in the Western medical approach.
Detox is really a misnomer. We all posses kidneys, intestines, and a liver. When these organs function properly, our body rids itself of waste. The idea that adipose tissue (fat) holds onto all these creepy, garbage-like chemicals offends my critical thinking abilities. Nothing I've read in my studies of medicine has convinced me I should jump on board the "detox" wagon - largely promoted in the yogic and naturopathic community. Until someone can inform me otherwise, I'm calling detox diets a magical way of describing the real positive benefits felt when one fasts for a time or changes dietary habits to ones that fit into the traditional food pyramid (no new news there). Can you measure the toxins leaving the system? Have heavy metals really eaten away inside you for years? Is your body in dire need of alkalizing agents? Is your colon REALLY packed with layers upon layers of caked-on feces?
Bah! Why don't we just fess up and call it eating healthy and getting exercise?
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