Toxic Problems, Detox Solutions

Excerpted from
The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet: Boost metabolism, get rid of fattening toxins, safely lose up to 8 pounds overnight and keep them off for good
By Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D., C.N.S.

If environmental toxins are the problem, you'd think detoxification would be the solution. But again, medical and scientific evidence is lacking. One of the most severe frustrations I've felt over the years is over the resistance the medical establishment has to acknowledging the benefits of detox. Although any physician would readily admit the need to pump a person's stomach to remove poison or to chelate lead from the blood of someone with lead poisoning, few conventional doctors take the logical next step-recognizing the need to remove other toxic elements from our bodies. Indeed, many doctors pooh- pooh the notion of detoxification so vigorously, you might think that scientific studies have actually shown it to be without value.

But the truth is not so simple. In fact, the scientific establishment has done virtually no research into detox at all, except where alcohol or drugs are concerned. Far from establishing that detoxification won't work, mainstream science has largely ignored the topic.

Of course, detox isn't the only subject medical science has foiled to test. Did you realize that there are no double-blind studies on whether aspirin relieves headache? People simply started using it before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ever required testing. It seemed to work, so they kept using it. But there's no evidence that they should.

Likewise, there are no double-blind studies on coronary artery surgery. How could there her A double-blind study requires that no one-neither doctor nor patient-know which group got the real treatment and which got the placebo. Doctors could hardly give coronary patients placebo surgery, so they simply use a treatment they know and trust. In fact, only 30 percent of medical procedures are supported by double-blind studies, but we'd never expect our physicians to stop using the other 70 percent.

Fortunately, a few detox studies have been conducted, primarily by scientists committed to alternative medicine. A study reported in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine tested twenty-five otherwise healthy people before and then seven days after they'd undergone a liver detox program. Participants filled out questionnaires and underwent drug challenge tests, procedures whereby they were given small amounts of drugs, including caffeine, to see how quickly the liver could perform its detoxifying function of clearing the foreign substance from the bloodstream.

Based on a caffeine clearance test, subjects' liver detox capacities improved by 23 percent; based on the questionnaires, their liver functions rose by 47 percent. Lab tests also showed an improved ratio of sulfate to creatinine in the subjects' urine, a medical indicator that points to improved liver function. The researchers concluded, "Symptoms of poor health in people free from diagnosed disease may be related to toxic buildup," which certainly implies that reducing toxic buildup might improve our health.

If detoxification is so helpful to healthy individuals, how might it benefit those of us who are chronically ill? An earlier study in Alternative Therapies suggests that once again, detox can make a dramatic difference in our health. For ten weeks, twenty-two chronically ill participants in the study were given a special diet, while eighty-four subjects were given that diet along with a detox program. Both groups did better on the diet, but the detox groups progress was markedly better, showing a 52 percent reduction in symptoms, compared to only 22 percent in the control group. The detox patients likewise enjoyed improved liver functions, increased sulfate-to-creatinine ratios, and better absorption of nutrients.

The Alternative Medicine Review has likewise suggested that a toxic system has been associated with a number of chronic diseases, including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, Parkinson's disease, and cancer. The conclusion seems obvious: Low-level toxicity is behind many of today's illnesses, which makes detoxing essential for our health.

Although it's always dangerous to cite personal experience alongside scientific studies-after all, we all have our biases-I'd be irresponsible if I didn't add that in my twenty years of nutritional practice, I've witnessed numerous near-miracle cures of people suffering from toxicity whose health improved dramatically from detox programs. I've seen how many of my family members, friends, and patients have enjoyed remarkable benefits from fasting and detox.

I've also had my own personal chance to observe the benefits of internal cleansing. Although for years I recommended against water fasting and even against prolonged juice fasts, I've always practiced short-term juice fasts, in which the liver and colon get the proper support before, during, and after the fast. I do my own fasts at least three or four times a year, usually around the fall and spring equinoxes, and whenever I feel myself to be on overload, whether physically, mentally, or spiritually.

My own experience with fasting has convinced me of the myriad benefits of this ancient tradition. Fasting serves as a kind of Sabbath on which I take a day of rest from eating but also from working-an essential aspect of healing for a workaholic like me! Fasting is my time to "be" instead of "do," and I put all work and household chores aside to focus on contemplation and journal writing. I've noticed over the years how wonderfully a fast day helps me slow down, clarifying my thinking even as my thoughts become more peaceful. For me, a fast day is a time for reflection on all areas of my life, a time to connect with my inner self. I always end my fasts feeling renewed, buoyed by the fresh sense of potential for my life.

And, of course, fasting helps jump-start your weight loss! Properly done fasting not only frees us from the fattening toxins that overload our environment but is also a quick, safe, and easy way to break through our dieting plateaus; to overcome the weight gain that often follows vacations and holidays; or to get ourselves back on track when we've found ourselves overindulging in sweets, starches, or other unhealthy foods. Just make sure you follow the protocol: the Seven-Day Prequel, the One-Day Detox, and the Three-Day Sequel. Otherwise, what started out as a weight-loss and health benefit could end up having just the opposite effect.