Weight Loss: Is Detox a Thing?
I’ve been having the detox argument with people for eight years now and I do not think it will stop anytime soon. Many people believe that “detox” is only for things like drugs and alcohol. They do not believe that we have toxic substances in our food that hurt us.
I know from my own experience and from that of people I coach, that we do have toxic substance in our systems. If we stop ingesting them, our bodies perk up and heal. The main substances I am talking about are:
- colors
- flavors
- hfcs
- artificial sweeteners
- artificial fats
- pesticides
- gmos
- hormones
- fluoride
- other chemical additives
Our bodies are not developed in a manner to be able to process these additives. If you are not paying attention, you are eating these things all day, every day.
Detox is most dramatic when I have lived-in and cooked for people who want to improve their diets. I have had a few experiences like this. In these cases, families turned over their food budget to me and I started preparing all or most of their food. Within days, they are having detox symptoms as follows:
- headaches
- flu-like symptoms
- trouble sleeping
- increased urination
- softer and more frequent stools, possibly diarrhea
- profuse sweating
- runny nose, ears, eyes
- loss of inches in their gut (especially men)
- heightened sense of smell
During this initial stage of dietary change, I am not cutting calories. I am simply cleaning up their diets. I've learned over time that is better to go slow in the beginning, especially if the old diet is very high in toxins.
Here are a couple of examples:
Old Diet
Regular cheap canned soup, baby carrots, and regular boxed crackers for lunch. This meal is full of toxic ingredients.
New Diet
Soup I made with healthy ingredients, organic carrots trimmed, organic boxed crackers for lunch. This is almost the exact same meal, but does not have the toxins.
Old Diet
Fast food combo meal for dinner – cheeseburger, fries, and diet soda
New Diet
Cheeseburger I made with organic ingredients, organic baked potato with organic butter and sour cream, organic non-diet soda
As you can tell, this is not diet food. I’m simply trying to get the chemical additives out of the diet.
When we first get going, people really feel the difference. After a couple of weeks of this, the people feel better, the detox symptoms are mostly gone, and then we can move on to healthier choices.
This post is inspired be a freewrite I read today while doing my own nomination for my favorite freewrite of the week. @wonderwop nominated a post by @improv which discussed a very yummy looking and sounding potato dish he made.
It might surprise everyone to know that I would eat some of that dish in @improv's post (maybe not the cornflakes though lol). As long as the potatoes and other ingredients were organic I would be on board for a serving or two. My current diet is high fat and I am still at my goal weight after losing “half my size” eight years ago.
However, potatoes are one of the “most sprayed” foods in the US and I stopped eating the regular version long before I lost weight or even tried to.
I read a post somewhere long ago that said produce managers in grocery stores will not eat regular potatoes. I asked a few of them myself and – no - produce managers in grocery stores will not eat regular potatoes in the us. So why would you?
Here is a good post to read up on all the yuck-i-tude on regular potatoes in the us. And a screenshot of give you an idea of what you are up against when you eat them.
When you realize that every single french fry that most people eat every single day has this junk in it, them maybe you can believe that detox is a thing.
I never knew this about potatoes. Very eye opening. Thanks for the heads up on detoxing @fitinfun you are doing amazing things for people that are trying to turn their life around. 🙏
Hey @fitnfun! We do seem to often fall on the opposite side of subjects, and I certainly mean you no ill will. You, because you've been having this conversation for 8 years, have surely seen articles like the one I'm about to post, and still reject science-based medicine. So this isn't, then, to convince you, though I'd love if it did, but rather to make sure @wonderwop and your other readers are exposed to science. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-one-thing-you-need-to-know-before-you-detox/
That being said, as you'll note in the article, there's certainly nothing wrong with eating more vegetables, so we can agree about that!
Posted using Partiko Android
I stopped looking a "science-based" anything a long time ago when I realized they were in bed with, and funded by, big pharma, big agro, big bio-tech, etc. They don't want us doing anything cheap that helps our health, so I ignore them.
Who is "they" that is in bed with big pharma? Everyone who uses the scientific method?
You have to look at the funding source for studies you choose to believe in. The vast majority of universities and research hospitals are funded by the big guys. They do not fund anything that is not going to lead to a patent or high return on their investment. For example - telling people to avoid the toxins in the food supply is a money loser for those who create the additives.
The great thing about science is that anyone can do it! I hope, before you go telling people about detox routines, that you'll run a double blind study! I'd be happy to design one for you. It should be fairly simple. Serve both groups meals with identical nutritional content, but put an additive that you think causes a particular symptom in one group's foods. See after a few months if one group reports more or less of that symptom. Of course you need to make sure that the people they're interacting with don't know which group is which.
Posted using Partiko Android
I do not have to do any studies. I already have the experience of hundreds if not thousands of people in various fb groups who try reducing toxins, show almost immediate health changes, and go on to improved health. Everyone knows who everyone is and support each other through the process. The detox symptoms are dramatic enough that no one needs to be blind on top of that.
These fb groups are for people with chronic illnesses who have given up on, or have been excluded from traditional health care. The main groups I belong to are for any of the 200+ auto-immune diseases, migraines, ptsd, obesity, and depression/anxiety. All are in the category of "natural" remedies and treatments and all show the same good results.
The change in health does not take months - it takes only days to see results. A good example is with people who give up diet sodas. They remove colors, flavors, pesticides, artificial sweeteners and various other toxins in one fell swoop.
Some of those people who drink a lot of diet soda get noticeable results in hours. The biggest issue in that case is that the substances are addictive, so often giving them up is very difficult. Therefore many healthy foods and drinks are recommended to get through this difficult time.
Americans currently ingesting over 900 additives from the fda list that are Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS). Once you get your chemical on this list - you can add it to anything in combination with any other additives from the same list. Trying to remove just one of them would be pretty much impossible.
The vast majority of these additives are not allowed in other country's food supplies at all. They have not been tested in combination and so therefore, the general public serves as lab rats. The cdc warnings are enough to make you wonder why anyone would put them in the food supply at all. Of course the answer is "money".
If you feel the need to prove this to yourself here is the suggestion I have given others. It is the same way I got started down this path.
Those are the big ones to start with, but you will find much more if you look. When I did this I stopped after checking several of GRAS products and decided to stop eating them all as best I could. At the same time, I boosted my nutrition intake from almost nothing to very high which was additional help in my healing.
Later:
Just remember: "They are blinding you with science" and you have the power to overcome.
... your example is diet soda and there many scientific studies linking diet sodas with health problems. Don't let your social group blind you to the usefulness of science.
Posted using Partiko Android
I'd also like to mention that you don't hear from the people who aren't having good results. A sweet friend of mine who had cancer and believed believed believed that doing all these things would help her. It didn't. One counter-example doesn't make you wrong. Cancer is an asshole. Maybe there's truth to some of what you assert and maybe there isn't. But the presence of anecdotes in your FB groups is not sufficient evidence to make the strength of the claims you're making. It is sufficient to begin studies. Studies are done. Science is not an enemy. It is a tool. Capitalism is the enemy.
It is honestly not that hard once you get going on it. Ten percent less toxins and ten percent more nutrition does a lot. And then keep going bit by bit. Soon you are a new person. Just don't eat the fries!
When I went on my carb stripping fast - It was absolutely horrible!
Did you get the detox symptoms?
oh yeah! - full on carb flu - headaches, muscle aches, flu symptoms...
Dang! I'm glad to hear your testimonial, but sorry you went through that. I am fighting with a vegan on fb right now. I think the carb overdose is much worse than eating animal products. I'm sure you know how he feels :)
I would think so - carbs are unnecessary, but protein and fats are not...
I see carbs as a drug of not much positive use..and I know what I'm talking about...lol
lol - So many people do better when they reduce carbs. It's quite amazing. Back in the 1980's a doctor had me on a cereal diet - high fiber was its only good point as I look back. I hated that diet and lost nothing.
Now I am pretty much meat, fish, and veggies and much happier and healthier. I still eat carbs, but in much much smaller amounts. You can't get away from the rice here - unless you want noodles!
When I first heard fluoride wasn't good, I was like aiaiai... and the kids put this in their mouth and will swallow some in the process
When younger I tried to get them toothpaste without
But now not so much, but yes I will need to look at that list and be a bit more vigilant
Toothpaste with fluoride has warnings on it, so that is a good sign to maybe not use it. At this point, anything mixed with water such as reconstituted juice and soda has fluoride in there. It's fairly hard to avoid now as it is not a substance that is required to be listed. All I can say is just do your best to learn and avoid as you can. The last few years I was there, I was only drinking distilled water and organic drinks. The countries in SE Asia don't have it for the most part, so I drink what I want with relief.
Oh
You learn something new everyday
Thank you 😊
It's very, very real. I'm living it right now. This is why so many people quit dieting -- they feel awful and don't feel like they are getting healthier because the scale still reads the same. Feeling awful is the body healing (as I understand it). The worse your system is off, the more healing you need. I've been feeling like crap for months while eating as clean as possible. I still have more repair to do to my body.
Wow - that is a long time to be feeling bad. But a lot of the garbage is stored in your cells - especially fat cells and takes a long time to dissipate.
My best suggestion is to get a nutrition tracker and make sure you are getting an abundance of magnesium, iodine, potassium, and vitamin C. Most of us do not get enough of those and they are healing. Both magnesium (oil) and iodine (lugol's) can be applied to your skin so you don't have to get as much by food. Both are cheap at amazon and health food stores locally.
I also do dry skin brushing and wrote two books on it. That caused another big flood of detox for me. I thought I was dying for about 10 days! My books help you avoid such trauma hopefully.
Don't give up! This is so worth it.
Yes! Let's take that crap out of our food.
Thank you for consistently reminding us to love our bodies.
You're welcome and I will not stop!
Good post, I am actually detoxing this weekend.
What are you planning to do for that?
Great one. People are addicted to toxic food. You are doing help to society by promoting this. kcherukuri from kryptonia.
Thank you very much. Your comment means a lot to me.
thanks for this great information maam.
Wherever we look everywhere now are those toxins. Thanks for sharing valuable info.
You're welcome :)
nice post i upvoted you