Cleansing Your Body Before Dieting

If you are considering starting a diet, you will probably wonder whether or not you need to cleanse or detox your body before beginning the diet. Many different types of diet call for a few days of fasting (consuming only water or specially formulated diet drinks like the lemonade diet powder) before the diet actually begins.

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Our bodies are naturally in the process of detoxification all the time, through the liver and colon, however, some people feel that toxins build up in these areas and that they should be “flushed out” from time to time. There are many people who participate in fasting rituals yearly or monthly. Some of these are for religious reasons, but the majority of the time, the people who participate in these fasts do it because they feel better and more refreshed after the fast ends.

Some people participate in diet cleanses in order to lose weight, but simply fasting for a few days is not a good method for weight loss. You are essentially getting rid of all excess water weight, and possibly a little fat, but as soon as you start eating again, your body will cling to any fat that it can find because it has been deprived.

The problem with detoxing is that there is no scientific evidence to support the need for it. In fact, most research conducted says that fasting for a period of several days will cause the body to go into ketosis.  This is a state in which the body can’t get energy elsewhere, so it starts burning off its fat stores. When this happens, the body starts giving off the smell of acetone through the breath, skin, and urine. Nearly all low carb diets result in the user entering ketosis, and if you detox for too long, you will surely end up there. The risks of putting your body in this state by eating a high protein, low carbohydrate diet include kidney failure, high cholesterol, cancer, and osteoporosis.

While some people are able to be successful with a  low carb  or cleansing diet, others may not do so well. We advise people to just rise and exercise, but we know that in some cases, a major diet change will be needed to get to a healthy state. Talk to your doctor before you begin any diet, and before you detox or cleanse your body. This way you can hear it from a medical professional and you will have a better idea of the potential risks and benefits of doing this type of program.

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