When Robbi Mermel went on an extreme “detox” juice fast, she had lots of reasons. She was experiencing blood-sugar highs and lows, her menstrual cycle was irregular and she was in a stress-filled roller-coaster relationship. “I felt out of control and thought that a detoxing regimen would give my entire body a rest,” explains 31-year-old Mermel, a Los Angeles resident who existed on nothing but juice, broth and tea for several weeks. “I wanted a fresh start.”

There are many experts who question whether anyone should do a juice fast for more than a few days—let alone a few weeks, as Mermel did. Nevertheless, skepticism hasn’t derailed the detox industry or dampened the devotion of people who believe the body needs periodic help cleansing itself. And you’ll find believers everywhere. It’s not unusual, for instance, to be told by yoga teachers that certain exercises will “detoxify your internal organs.” Or to find spas offering several “detoxifying” treatments, ranging from a massage to flush out your lymphatic system to a mud wrap designed to draw out impurities from your skin. Some places even aim to help detoxify your colon (via enema-like colonics) as well as cleanse your digestive tract with a juice fast.

Debating Detoxing Are you really harboring poisons inside you and, if so, does your body need help eliminating them? Both questions are open to debate. It’s true that the body regularly manufactures waste products, ranging from the obvious post-digestion ones we all excrete to less blatant types, such as lactic acid, which is a byproduct of muscle exertion. Proponents of detoxification—mainly those people who are particularly open to alternative types of health care—believe the body does not always do a good job of ridding itself of wastes, and that certain treatments and diets will help it along. By doing so, the theory goes, these remedies may head off anything as benign as gas or as extreme as immune suppression. But since there is no scientific evidence linking specific diseases (like cancer) to an inefficient self-cleansing system, detoxing devotees are reluctant to say exactly what things like fasting and colonics can cure. What they will say is that people who detox simply feel better.

What’s more, believers add, detoxing is also necessary because our environment is so contaminated. People breathe in various chemicals, take medications, use illicit drugs, eat too many sugary, refined foods and abuse stimulants and sedatives. “No matter where you live, you’re exposed to pollutants on a daily basis,” maintains Filip Vanzhov, N.D., the supervising naturopathic doctor at Mountain Trek Fitness Retreat and Health Spa in British Columbia, Canada, which offers week-long detoxifying programs that include fasting, lymphatic massage, colonics and yoga.

Those who take the opposing view—generally followers of mainstream Western medicine—contend that the body is a perfectly effective self-cleaning machine and that “de-toxification” is complete nonsense. They take issue, too, with the notion that our natural wastes are in any way toxic. “We have lived for thousands of years without dying of toxic poisoning,” says James Cooper, M.D., professor of medicine at Georgetown University and chairman of the
department of medicine at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. “There is no evidence that our natural wastes adversely affect our physiology.”

For his part, Samuel Epstein, M.D., professor of occupational and environmental medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health in Chicago, believes the term detoxification is an extraordinarily misleading one. “Except under special circumstances—for instance, a case of food poisoning—there are no natural toxins found in the human body,” he says. Epstein also believes that since detoxing treatments haven’t been proven to help prevent disease, it’s a disservice to promote them as such. (At best, he says, anyone duped into trying them may be wasting money; at worst, there may be potential for harm.) However, he does agree that pollutants pose a threat to our health. “A better approach [than detoxifying] is to avoid ingesting known toxic agents, like pesticides.”

Drawing Toxins

Out of the Skin What if you have already ingested
pesticide-laden food, walked polluted city streets and consumed not-so-pure water? Most mainstream health experts will suggest that you simply avoid those contaminants from here on out. But detox proponents will give you a range of options, starting with arguably the most benign—and most pleasurable—of them: face and body treatments. Many spas and salons offer services such as seaweed facial masks and herbal body wraps (in which you’re swaddled in a sheet soaked in warm, herb-infused water) that are billed as skin detoxifiers. The thinking is that these treatments work in much the same way as mud does when you put it on a bee sting: The minerals draw out toxins left in the skin. But there also seems to be something internal going on, says Lynn Vertrees, spa director at Lake Austin Spa Resort in Texas, which offers such detoxifiers as a Deep Sea Body Masque and an Indian Clay Purification Treatment. “One reason we believe that treatments like masks and body wraps may flush toxins through the kidneys is that everyone who has them has increased urination afterward,” reports Vertrees. Whether or not people seem to need more bathroom breaks afterward, their skin appears to look fresher and brighter. That may be enough evidence for some who want to try a detoxing skin treatment, but the truth is that,
as with many forms of detoxification, there’s simply no evidence to back up the idea that any kind of deep clean-
sing is actually taking place. Furthermore, Deborah S. Sarnoff, M.D., associate clinical professor of dermatology at NYU Medical Center in New York City, isn’t so sure that
salon treatments are as purifying as they seem. “I won’t say that it’s all nonsense—some home remedies, like using mud to soothe a bee sting, are based on things that make sense,” she says. “But I don’t believe that healthy skin has toxins. The skin produces sebum (the oil around hair follicles) and sweat, but I consider these normal waste products that can be washed away, not toxins.” On the other hand, Sarnoff doesn’t see anything wrong with having one of these skin treatments, provided you’re not allergic
to any of the products or herbs that are being used. “These treatments are not harmful, so if you find them relaxing and pampering, go for it.”

Another common spa/salon regimen aimed at purging toxins is lymphatic massage (sometimes called lymphatic drainage massage). The idea behind this Swedish-style rubdown is that impurities can be flushed from the system by increasing circulation in the body’s lymphatic system—the glands that help remove waste as well as produce and transport a fluid (lymph), which contains infection-fighting cells throughout the body. “Every massage moves lymph along in the body, but lymphatic massages are specifically designed to move the lymph toward the organs where wastes are filtered out,” explains Vanzhov. Without much research to back it up, it’s difficult to determine whether this kind of massage has a direct effect on waste elimination or the immune system. There is, however, research from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo showing that Swedish massage both decreases stress hormones and increases the kinds of cells that attack cancerous tumors. Still, it’s difficult to say if this happens because of the physiological or the psychological effects of a massage. “The placebo effect is well recognized,” says Epstein. “So regardless of whether something is substantiated by scientific evidence or is just a lot of mumbo jumbo, it can have beneficial effects.”

A Fast Solution?

Fasting, still another form of body cleansing, is nothing new—people have been doing it for thousands of years. But some experts believe that’s just an indication of its outdatedness. To others, though, that’s a sign of its enduring effectiveness. “People have been fasting since the beginning of time, so I think it’s funny that some say there’s nothing to it,” points out Jeffrey Migdow, M.D., who has a holistic medical practice at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, in Lenox, Mass.

Migdow looks at the fasting process this way: “Every day, we take in nutrients that are broken down by bacteria and fungi in the digestive tract and turned into toxins. When you fast, your digestive system gets a break, allowing its energy to switch to the job of clearing out leftover toxins. You can see the effects of this in the urine, which becomes more concentrated, and in bowel movements, which become tarlike.” More conventional doctors say these changes merely reflect the fact that fewer nutrients are being taken into the system, not that poisons are coming out of it.

People who join in the Kripalu Center’s fasting program do so for either three or seven days. During that time, they usually subsist on two servings of organic juice and one serving of potassium broth a day, though two daily servings of grains are optional. Despite the lack of calories fasters receive, Alison Shore Gaines, director of Kripalu’s fasting program, believes the fasts are less about deprivation than about receiving potent nutrients like vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. “The fruits and vegetables in the juices have high healing and detoxifying properties,” believes Gaines. While she’s not averse to the idea that some people—like those who are very fatigued, have allergies or neuromuscular problems—may indeed need some kind of diet “detoxification,” Kathie Swift, R.D., the nutrition director at Canyon Ranch Fitness Resort in the Berkshires, thinks extended (more than a day or two) juice fasts aren’t the way to go. Lack of food, she says, can put stress on the digestive system, creating extra free radicals, unstable molecules associated with disease and aging. “Usually what people need instead is to just clean up their diets by getting rid of things like caffeine, alcohol and foods laden with preservatives and pesticides,” says Swift.

There is, however, some common ground here. Both Gaines and Swift agree that a short fast can be a good way to kick off healthy dietary changes and break a cycle of overeating—say, when you’ve gone overboard during the holidays or spent an emotional few weeks soothing yourself with food. The two also believe that fasting, contrary to what is sometimes advertised, is not a good way to lose weight. In fact, within a couple of days it can be counterproductive. “After a while, the fasting body starts using its own muscle for protein,” explains Swift. Ultimately, that can cause the rate at which you burn calories to slow (the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism) and thus weight loss to slow, too. Plus, “people lose about a pound a day on a fast, but they usually gain it right back,” reports Gaines, who devotes part of Kripalu’s fasting program to helping guests learn how to transition into eating habits that will help them slim down.

Helping

Nature Along Among the oldest detoxifying practices—even the early Egyptians may have been practitioners—are “colonics,” therapist-administered rectal treatments, similar to enemas, that use warm water, sometimes infused with herbs, to flush out the upper region of the colon. (For this reason, they’re also known as high colonics.) The water softens any material that hasn’t been
excreted so it’s easier for the body to
remove it naturally. Part of the theory behind colonics is that the body doesn’t always eliminate all of the toxins contained in waste material and that those toxins can be absorbed back through the colon wall and into the body. Some people, though, undergo colonic treatments simply because it makes them feel “lighter” and increases their regularity. That, at least, is what helped win over A.R. Hoenninger, N.D., who is now executive director of the International Association for Colon Hydrotherapy. Hoenninger was an Air Force pilot who, because he was rarely in the vicinity of bathroom facilities, trained his body to have only a few bowel movements a week. Needless to say, he often felt bloated and uncomfortable. Then Hoenninger discovered colonics. He admits, however, that he doesn’t have the evidence to back up what seems commonsensical to him. “There are no studies showing that colonics assist the body in detoxification, so
we can’t make claims about them.” Lack of evidence, though, is exactly what worries gastroenterologist Cooper, who thinks people are being sold a bill of goods that may be risky. As with laxatives that depend on chemical stimulants (versus fiber-based formulas), regular use can make the body dependent on them. “It becomes difficult to have a normal bowel movement without one,” he says, which is why even most advocates say their use should be limited to no more than once every few months. Worse is the potential for perforation of the colon, salmonella poisoning (which can occur if the colonic is contaminated) and the spread of bacterial infections (which can happen if the equipment is improperly cleaned). “There’s been a fairly significant problem with regard to contamination at some locations in the past,” explains Cooper. “If constipation is a problem, try the proven treatment: more fiber, more fluid, more exercise.”

The Ultimate Detoxer:

Fresh Air
Many of the spas and retreats that offer detox programs don’t rely only on what might be considered extreme forms of cleansing (such as colonics). They also include gentle, pleasurable and widely accepted healthy body balancers. At Mountain Trek Retreat, for instance, they consider the most important cleanser to be fresh air. “We get everyone out hiking in nature so that they can experience what it’s like to inhale fresh air and breathe naturally,” says Vanzhov. Also on the list: drinking lots of water, one of the best tools we have to flush out the body’s own wastes. (To avoid dehydration, drinking a lot of water—at least eight glasses a day—is especially important while fasting.) At Canyon Ranch, members of the nutrition staff introduce people who want to detox to healing foods such as yogurt, with its friendly bacteria; high-fiber cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, which are known to deter cancer; and foods like avocado and acorn squash, which are high in disease-fighting antioxidants. Like Mountain Trek’s program, Kripalu’s retreat stresses yoga. Participants at both places also go for walks, practice breathing exercises and meditate. In short, they do things that “detox” the mind and soul—a concept that in these stress-filled days seems plausible, even if you don’t buy into the concept that we are all just one step short of turning into walking toxic landfills, or if you think that going on a long fast, as Robbi Mermel did, is crazy. Mermel, though, stands by her decision. She says she feels great, is not as susceptible to blood sugar swings and is now committed to eating organic foods to help her maintain a “cleaner” body. “I’m glad I did it.”

Daryn Eller is a freelance health and lifestyle writer in Venice, Calif.

One-Day juice fast

While fasting more than a day or two is controversial, most experts agree that living on juice for a day isn’t likely to hurt—and may help. “Fasting for a day can give you a psychological and perhaps even physiological signal that it’s time to eat in a different, healthier way,” says Kathie Swift, R.D., nutrition director at Canyon Ranch Fitness Resort in the Berkshires. You can shore up a juice fast, she says, by adding protein powder and oils that contain protective omega 3 and omega 6 oils, nutrients that help ensure your body gets what it needs.

The following recipes are from Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Mass. Alison Shore Gaines, director of its fasting program, recommends using a hydraulic or masticater juicer (one that doesn’t spin around) that extracts the pulp. If possible, use well-scrubbed organic ingredients. If you’re not using organic, peel vegetables and fruit. And if you have low blood sugar, Gaines recommends adding a rounded teaspoon of spirulina to a fruit juice to balance out your blood sugar.

The Recipes
Lemon Spring Water 01-NOV-01 p. 58

• 2 qts. spring water
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 1⁄4 tsp. stevia (optional)

Place water in a pitcher. Stir in lemon juice; add stevia for sweetness.

PER : CAL; G PROT; TOTAL FAT ( SAT. FAT); G CARB.; CHOL; MG SOD.; FIBER


Apple-Cranberry Juice 01-NOV-01 p. 58

• 1 apple (everything but the stem)
• 1/4 cup cranberries

Place ingredients in a juicer, process until pureed.

PER : CAL; G PROT; TOTAL FAT ( SAT. FAT); G CARB.; CHOL; MG SOD.; FIBER


Carrot-Ginger Juice 01-NOV-01 p. 58

 

• 3 large carrots
• 1⁄2 tablespoon fresh ginger

Place ingredients in a juicer, process until pureed.

PER : CAL; G PROT; TOTAL FAT ( SAT. FAT); G CARB.; CHOL; MG SOD.; FIBER


Cucumber-Apple Juice 01-NOV-01 p. 58

 

• 1 cucumber
• 1/4 green apple (including skin and seeds)
• Handful parsley

Place ingredients in a juicer, process until pureed.

PER : CAL; G PROT; TOTAL FAT ( SAT. FAT); G CARB.; CHOL; MG SOD.; FIBER


Vegetable Broth 01-NOV-01 p. 58

• 3 cups spring water
• 1 large potato, chopped
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup grated beets
• 1/2 cup sliced onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• pinch thyme
• pinch cayenne pepper

Place all the ingredients in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer soup for one hour. Strain vegetables and discard.

PER : CAL; G PROT; TOTAL FAT ( SAT. FAT); G CARB.; CHOL; MG SOD.; FIBER