Master Cleanse Diet Myths
MYTH-Our bodies need to be cleansed?
Our body is very efficient at cleansing itself. We are detoxing every day just by virtue of our liver is filtering out toxins, our kidneys are filtering out toxins, our lungs, and our skin. We have a number of systems in our body that are constantly filtering out toxins. We don't need to go on a detox in order to do that.
MYTH-All the weight I'm losing on Master Cleanse is fat?
No, the majority of the weight that you're losing on the Master Cleanse, at the very beginning, is water weight. This is because you're depleting your glycogen storage, your carbohydrate storage, and a lot of that is carried with water, so you get rid of that. You also start to feed on your lean tissue, muscle tissue, and proteins in the blood. You will lose a little bit of fat, but mainly it's the water weight and your lean protein tissue in the body.
MYTH-The side effects I feel during the Master Cleanse mean the body is detoxing?
The side effects that you feel on the Master Cleanse are not a signal that you're detoxing, they're a signal that you're not getting enough nutrients and enough calories.
MYTH-A very low-calorie diet speeds up weight loss?
A very low-calorie diet will cause weight loss in the very beginning, quickly, but we don't want to be losing weight that quickly because our body wants to gain it back when we lose that quickly.
MYTH-It's good to take a laxative to help cleanse the body?
It's good to take a laxative if you're constipated. You don't need to take a laxative to cleanse the body. Again, the body has all systems in place to cleanse itself and a laxative just cleans out your colon. We don't want to be taking laxatives for a prolonged period of time if we can lose too many fluids that can cause electrolyte imbalances. So laxatives are really only to be used when you're constipated and you really need it. It's not something that we should be consuming on a regular basis.
MYTH-Salt water is good for flushing out toxins?
Well, salt water flush is another part of the Master Cleanse to detox. But actually what can happen with that type of salt water flush, you can actually get rid of some of the good bacteria in the gut that we need and that can again cause gastro-intestinal problems.
