This Is Your Body On A Cleanse

If you spent any part of this month on a cleanse or detox diet, at some point in the process you likely felt run-down, irritable, depressed, nauseous, or fixated on food. Maybe you also experienced headaches, diarrhea, or dizziness that was enough to make you want to give up. The makers of these programs often prepare you for some unpleasantness, of course: Since you’re cleansing your body of all the “toxic” substances you previously absorbed, they say, you’ll feel the nasty effects of those “impurities” leaving your system. That’s why you spent two days dry-heaving, right?Nope.You felt like crap because you likely weren’t eating enough — plain and simple. And now, despite what the pseudoscience-loving creators of these diet plans would like you to believe, you’re not in better shape. Perhaps you lost some weight, but it’s mostly water weight plus muscle loss — so now you're weaker than you were before, and you've changed your body composition for the worse. Because muscle burns energy even when you're at rest, muscle loss slows down your metabolic rate. And then on top of that, you might also still be feeling annoying symptoms like fatigue, headaches, nausea, and brain fog — some of the very same things these programs promise to cure — brought on by the diet itself.If that's not enough to make you toss those overpriced bottles straight into the recycling bin, read on to learn more about the real deal on cleanses.The terms “cleanse” and “detox” are used pretty much interchangeably, and the programs they refer to can take many forms. Some of the most popular ones are regimens centering around juices or smoothies with little or no solid food, or diets in which a wide range of supposedly toxic foods are eliminated. Marketers of detoxes and cleanses almost never provide any scientific rationale for why these foods are considered toxic, which is the first clue that there’s something fishy going on here. Given that there are millions of peer-reviewed studies of actual toxic substances, the fact that detox and cleanse companies can’t offer any sound science is a big red flag.The foods that are most commonly pinpointed for adding to the body’s “toxic load” include dairy, gluten containing grains, coffee, alcohol, and red meat. But even certain fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, are eliminated on some detox plans because they are (mistakenly) said to cause inflammation. Cleanses and detoxes often promise to “give your body a break” from processing all these "toxins."The main issue with these kinds of plans is that they essentially advocate starving the body of the fuel it needs. This leads to a drop in blood sugar, which the body attempts to correct by releasing a reserve of glucose called glycogen from the muscles . (Glycogen, by the way, is bound up with water, so releasing it causes the water weight losses typically seen on a cleanse or detox). But prolonged starvation can lead to hypoglycemia , which is potentially dangerous low blood sugar that can cause anxiety, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and confusion. If you have caffeine withdrawal on top of that, many of those symptoms will be compounded, and you might also have headaches and nausea.Makers of detox and cleanse programs attribute these symptoms to the toxins being eliminated from the body, which they say have accumulated in the digestive organs, liver, and kidneys from eating and drinking too many of the “wrong” things; some programs also promise to eliminate stored environmental toxins like pesticides and heavy metals. But this is a bunch of baloney.The organs in your body that process waste and filter out toxins don’t need to be “cleansed” — they are self-cleaning. Your liver and kidneys aren’t like filters in the sink that get clogged up with gunk; they’re more like a complex wastewater processing facility that uses chemicals to neutralize and clear out toxic compounds. Unless you have liver or kidney disease, or an acute case of poisoning, these organs function just fine without any outside intervention.