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Detox

12:45 / 26.02.04

According to a Times article today, Detoxing can be bad for your health
The popular perception is that a detox will probably do some good, and it can’t do us any harm. Or can it? Some experts believe that detoxing is at best a waste of time, effort and money, and at worst it can be dangerous.

I was wondering if this affects anyone here? Will people who detox be put off by this? Are they already aware of the risks? Is detoxing a modern day sham dressed up to please health conscious folks or is there any merit to it at all? Is the article taking a too narrow definition of detox?

I've done one in the past (for three days) and now I feel cheated!

whothehell@where?

13:11 / 26.02.04

"a 23-year-old man who had been rushed to accident and emergency after slipping into a coma. Doctors reported that his serum sodium levels had plummeted to a dangerous level, causing his brain to swell. Constricted by the skull, the brain has little leeway for expansion and once it has enlarged by 6 per cent it hits bone and starts to compress against the hard surface. This can be serious; the patient remained in a coma for four days. It was not alcohol or drugs, nor a mystery illness or reaction to medication that was to blame, but almost certainly a detox diet."

priceless

here's a safe, non-life threatening detox diet for you all:

one pint of coffee, 2 gallons of water and 144 ounces of beer day, for 730 days

that oughta clean you all out

14:05 / 26.02.04

I can't take this sort of article seriously because the cycle is always the same:

1. media report latest fad diet with breathless excitement and pictures of Kate Winslet looking slightly thinner, recipe sections full of recipes for diet as helps to pad out weekend magazine, interviews with gurus for that particular diet etc etc
2. diet stops being news but is tacitly accepted as okay
3. diet is slagged off for being dangerous in "god why are these people so stupid" terms

I could never really take the detox thing seriously in the first place. Journalists telling us we should detoxify ourselves? Yuh.

If people want to waste time, money and health on successive fad diets, let 'em. I don't really care. If they stop detoxing it'll be because it's not trendy any more rather than because it's dangerous, and they'll just go onto the next one.

14:24 / 26.02.04

A mate of mine got into detoxing, working from Jane Scrivener's books - he got really positive results. He said in the third week of his first detox he started to feel amazing, just glowing with health, good feelings etc. Also, his sleeping patterns changed. He would start yawning at about 11 and sleep like a LOG through till six. It's quite a hardcore detox though - no caffeine, refined sugar, nicotine, red meat - just lots of steamed fish, brown rice and veggies for a month.

21:52 / 26.02.04

I've sort of done a detox due being really sick post new year. But it was just no alcohol and caffeine, early nights, more water and no crazed drug outings. I feel better for it. I've saved lots of money too...

22:36 / 26.02.04

Hmm. Im just a bit not sure about the whole thing. Like it said, though it was hugely melodramatic in an oh-look-you're-gonna-die-detoxing kind of way, but your body is designed to spit out the bad bits.

A friend went on a week detox, of fruit, vegetables and water only. This pissed me off to no end, seeing as last year she went on Atkins, and told us all how we were making ourselves fat by eating so many fruit and veg. Fad dieting? Never. Makes me want to kick her in the teeth, to be honest.

So in moderation; fine. But when it gets to the stage of cutting out everything non fruit-and-vegical, then it's getting silly. As well, such a rule doesnt differentiate between different vegetable types, and gives no guidance on which give what nutrients. So unless you're eating watercress or spinach; where's your iron? And where's your protein? Oh yes, its great, we're getting lots of vitamin C, you know. Woo fucking hoo, what about the rest? I think a lot of fad dieters are just looking for a quick and easy fix, and probably dont want to have presise instructions about exactly which vegetables to eat in what quantities, and would much prefer the single mantra of "Fruit and vegetables- everything else is baaaddd."

So yeah, its great that they're eating lots and fruit and veg. They may never want to look at another again. The Fools kind of detoxing to me sounds about right. Taking out ooze, fags, coffee, pot noodles, crisps and biscuits. But why fish?

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

00:29 / 27.02.04

While I dislike the Detox Diet, I DO think we need to start figuring out a way to quit eating food that has so much worthless crap in it. So much of what we are eating now is pre-processed due to the demands on people's time that we are literally dying from it. I am trying to have less myself, but the time it takes to make a meal for just myself is time that takes away from all the other shite I have to do.

As for all the fad diets, I think it's great that people will do ANYTHING not to simply eat less and exercise more.

12:13 / 27.02.04

Actually, there is one good thing about the Atkins - a lot of "low carb" products are actually just normal food without all the added high fructose corn syrup.

Christ, I hate that stuff. It's evil. Why does every fucking food product have to be, you know, for kids? And it makes everything taste bland, too.

I refuse to accept low-carb bread.

12:25 / 27.02.04

Hey Gingerbop, I'm not going from first hand experience but the diet my friend was on does give lots of fruit and veg recommendations, some of which sounded a bit bonkers to me ie. no tomatos and no bananas!! How would I ever make my tomato and banana pasta sauce!? I agree with you insofar as I think people can get real faddy about the, but I'd still like to give it a try one day. Though I would have to probably have to eat my own bodyweight in brown rice, I need a lot of food to keep me going.

13:26 / 16.03.06

On Caffeine…

What’s the deal?? For the past few days I’ve not touched any tea of coffee or any soft drinks with caffeine in and I’ve become very lethargic. As someone who is pretty relaxed anyway, this is a bit of a problem since I don’t have any energy. Does it level out after a few days, or does it stay like this forever. Usually, if I ever felt this tried/disinterested/unmotivated I would have a pot of coffee, and everything would be back to neat.

Lastly (and I think this is partly me trying to talk myself out of the no caffeine phase), is there any point to cutting out caffeine whatsoever?

13:36 / 16.03.06

Yes. It’s a good way to make you more lethargic.

And seriously, the world would probably benefit from more lethargy.

13:53 / 16.03.06

Jub, the lethargy will most likely fade after a while. Your body is just used to getting a pick-up from the caffeine.

If you want to beat the lethargy whilst kicking coffee, do some light exercise. That ought to get your energy levels up a little.

13:55 / 16.03.06

my brain is far too addled to make sense of that SW.

13:56 / 16.03.06

is there any point to cutting out caffeine whatsoever?

There was a recent report in New Scientist that a lot of the fears regarding coffee were over-hyped.

Like most things though, it's a case of everything in moderation.

paranoidwriter waves hello

13:57 / 16.03.06

Jub, I think it's to do with your adrenal glands. If my memory serves me correctly, consuming sugar and caffeine regularly causes your adrenal glands to all but shut down, so your body comes to rely on these other stimulants. I've heard that when you quit taking caffeine and sugar, it can take a while before your adrenal glands start to kick in again, hence the lethargy.*

*Disclaimer: I'm not a Doctor, and I'm crap at biology, so...

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

14:17 / 16.03.06

"There is this fixation with the notion that we can detoxify the body through what we eat and drink, but the whole idea has no scientific basis and anything that promises to help you to detox is a rip-off,”

This is hilarious, or would be if it wasn't so sinister. If she really is 'chief dietitian at St. George's Hospital' then I pity the poor fuckers on the wards who are placing their trust in allopathic medicine and it's Very Expensive Treatments.

I can't even be arsed to go into this subject properly, it's something of a major hobby of mine as it goes, but Catherine Collins is so full of shit she may as well be a duodenum.

How does a body become full of toxins? Ergo, how can it be rid of toxins? My four year old can answer that one, and I am frankly stunned to read that quote from that source...I hope for her patients' sakes it is entirely fabricated or out of context somehow.

Fad diets are probably very stupid, I don't pay attention to them. Eating natural food and drinking plenty of natural water, avoiding processed foods and acid forming and mucus forming foods, eating uncooked foods for the enzyme content, and basically considering diet from a standpoint of 'I am a creature of this Planet, what has this Planet provided for me to eat? How can I avoid interfering in this perfect system while still eating plenty of tasty and nutritous food? How is my digestive system constructed to function with relation to various food groups?' (We are not carnivores, folks)...will see your body strong, healthy and with a powerhouse immune system, which is the only thing on Earth which can fight dis-ease or eliminate toxic matter, organic or otherwise, from the body, impressive sounding technology and drugs notwithstanding.

Newspapers and the media generally have got a lot to answer for with their so-called 'nutrition' advice.

14:37 / 16.03.06

So, if I were to fall off the wagon and have a cup of coffee would it re-set my caffeine "addiction" in the same way as having a cigarette would re-addict me - or is it possible to gradually lower the dependency through weaning?

14:46 / 16.03.06

Catherine Collins is so full of shit she may as well be a duodenum.

I worry about you if you have shit in your duodenum. If you’re going to accuse people of not knowing their arse from their elbow…

Eating natural food and drinking plenty of natural water

What do you mean by ‘natural food’, Honey. And where can I get some unnatural water?

14:56 / 16.03.06

Oops. Suddenly occurred to me that Honey Pot’s post was a spoof. Sorry Honey, ignore me. I’m a bit slow and humourless today.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

14:57 / 16.03.06

Having a bad week, Smoothly?

I worry about you if you have shit in your duodenum. If you’re going to accuse people of not knowing their arse from their elbow…

Heh. I can spot a smartarse, though.

What do you mean by ‘natural food’, Honey.

Obtuse, much?

And where can I get some unnatural water?

Out of a tap, as if you didn't know.

Yawn.

kthxbye.

paranoidwriter waves hello

15:35 / 16.03.06

Jub, again I'm not sure, but I think (depending on how long caffeine has been out of your system) becoming "re-addicted" to caffeine after a detox would be more likely to come through the possible re-establishing of old psychological patterns/habits, rather than re-stimulating some kind of dormant physical addiction.

Therefore, as with nicotine it's about how long it's been since your last dose and then how likely you are psychologically to fall back into old coping routines should you feel the need/desire for (say) a nice cup of coffee. e.g. I know a particularly strong willed gentleman who stopped smoking fifteen years ago, but who still has a single cigarette every year on his birthday and hasn't become re-addicted (yet).

I imagine the affect on your adrenal glands (as mentioned previously) depends on a more prolonged and sustained intake of caffeine as well as your previous medical history. i.e. it really is a case of "Everything in moderation". (FYI: more info on coffee addiction and the damage it causes to our adrenal glands)

15:53 / 16.03.06

Oh Jub, just have a coffee. Coffee is nice. And you know you’ll really enjoy it. One of the best reasons to deny yourself something is so you’ll enjoy it all the more when you give in.

And anyway, even if coffee was bad for them, who really needs working adrenal glands these days? I think too many spurts of adrenaline are probably pretty bad for you, too.

14:18 / 20.03.06

Bedhead - oh wise and wonderful one - I relented and am pretty glad I did. Feel normal again. Ahhh!

Still part of me wishes I had stuck it out, but it was messing with my head too much!

Lilly Nowhere Late

19:44 / 20.03.06

My favourite thing, after pointing out that most of the people I know who Detox spend a hell of a lot of time and money RE-toxing afterwards, is that I recently saw an ad for Pre-toxing. While I do believe in the one ibuprophen and a pint of water before going to sleep drunk theory, can one seriously prepare the body to be slaughtered with drugs and alcohol and expect no hangover or long term damage? Honestly!
What is it about us humans that makes us do any of this crap. Why aren't we more like animals who eat and drink just what they need and don't worry about it all?

21:02 / 23.03.06

elephants like to get drunk by eating fermented fruit. they stumble around, then they fall asleep. and they seem to enjoy it, for they will seek out the fermented fruit again.

salt lake city, which has a huuuge number of mormons, who don't believe in consuming even coffee, much less anything else, has the highest per-capita consumption of sugar in the u.s.

we need our vices. hence, we need our detox diets. unless they make us die.

13:57 / 12.05.07

I'm sure caffeine can't be a good thing. Might try the brown rice diet.

14:18 / 12.05.07

What happened to moneyshot/Honey Pot? \

Was there a goodbye that i missed?