To Cleanse or Not To Cleanse

Copyright (c) 2008 At Peace With Food

Today in class we talked about digestion. We discussed how our bodies are uniquely designed to handle whole food products, fruits, vegetables, meats, sweets, you name it. We are designed to handle whole foods, not isolated nutrients, like protein powders and amino acid supplements. My goal is to teach theses students how to make healthy choices (as well as the occasional high fat sweet), how to make their decisions based on science, not on advertising. My goal is to create nutrition ambassadors to send out into the world and spread the good words-eat food, not pills (no small mission for me).

After having spent a few weeks building up to this topic, and managing to complete most of it with the class still awake, a student, right before class ends, asks "what about those master cleanses? The honey and vinegar combinations that help get rid of all the toxins in your body."

I wanted to shoot him-I am hoping he was one of the folks who wasn't paying attention.

But maybe he was. Perhaps he was listening, and just wasn't able to comprehend the complexity of how our bodies operate. When one can't manage to understand complexity, one goes to the easy fix, right? These "magic" fixes seem easy (preferable) to understand-just look at their advertising: "drink this for 24 hours and you'll feel like a new person." Or,"take this pill every 3 hours along with our specially patented drink and you will remove all the toxins you're body has accumulated over the last ten years."

We all want a quick fix, whether it is for our finances, our bodies, our diets. But quick doesn't mean correct. When you pause to think, all these popular diets are around because they make promises for quick weight loss, quick life changes. No one will promise you a permanent weight loss (which surprises me, considering what else you are promised), because diets don't work. Wait, let me put that in a different way-all diets work, while you are following them. Eventually (which is the problem), you go OFF the diet, and all that weight comes right back.

It is important to realize making healthy, permanent changes for our diets, and our bodies takes time. Little steps we easily incorporate into our lives will stay with us. Half a bagel instead of a whole bagel, a small latte instead of a large mocha, walking up two flights of steps and then getting on the elevator. Slow, progressive, realistic changes will be the ones we can keep adding to our routines.

As for cleansing our bodies? The best way you can keep your body healthy is to eat well, exercise and enjoy life. You know the basics about the fruits and vegetables, lean meats and poultry. What you may not know is that quality of life is also up there on the top of the list. Having your occasional dessert, glass of wine or beer-these are also important. These are not toxic choices. However, not being able to trust yourself to make the right decisions, not knowing who you need to find to ask the right questions-well, that might kill you.

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