To answer this question, potential users first need to be clear about what they think of when they hear the phrase “cleansing diets.” Cleansing is defined as “to free from dirt, defilement, or guilt; purge or clean.”
While diet actually means “food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health,” society often associates diet with weight loss. This is an important distinction to make because not all “cleanses” are intended to produce weight loss.
All cleansing diets that do result in weight loss are not necessarily offering safe weight loss and many users that do experience weight loss have reported it to be temporary once the cleansing diet was complete. That doesn’t mean that cleansing diets do not have many benefits or that sustainable weight loss isn’t one of the many benefits.
Cleansing diets can remove impurities and toxins built up in the body and have many long and short term benefits. Many of the short term benefits of a cleansing diet include: healthier digestion and metabolism; increased mental awareness; and increased energy. Many long term benefits of a cleansing diet are reduced risk of cancers and reduced risks of chronic illness.
When we think of cleansing our outer body, we may think of many products but we no doubt picture water as a major component. Our internal body also desperately needs water to function properly and any internal body cleanse should include lots of water in order to work.
A successful healthy cleansing diet should include: At least 4 liters of pure water. It may also include: Vegetable soups, Vegetable juices, Fruit juices, Raw fruits and vegetables, Yogurt, and Herbal Teas. Excellent vegetable choices (for soups, juices or raw foods) during cleansing may include: Cucumber, Broccoli, Celery, Lettuce, Wheat grass, Parsley, Cabbage, Spinach, and Alfalfa .
There are many varieties of cleansing diets and some information may be contradictory, but many cleansing diets that do work will eliminate these ingredients: Beans, Meats, Eggs, Fatty foods including butters and oils, Nuts. Seeds , Cheese, Milk, Starches such as rice or potatoes, Flour based products, Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners, Caffeine, Drugs, and Alcohol.
During a healthy cleansing diet, while we increase the amounts of cleansing ingredients, we are also eliminating unhealthy foods and drinks. Our bodies typically crave more of what we have already been offering it. (No doubt you can relate? Who can eat just one chip and how high is the temptation for a second cookie?) Therefore, a cleansing diet can be beneficial for reducing cravings for unhealthy foods and increasing cravings for of what our bodies really need. While some weight loss from cleanses may be temporary, this is one of the benefits of a cleanse that can offer long term weight loss if you continue to add cleansing diet foods like natural foods and reduce high-fat and processed foods to your regular diet.
For a cleansing diet to really work, it must remove toxins from the body. A cleanse that includes water-based and high-fiber ingredients like raw fruits and vegetables and juices and soups made from these ingredients work toward this goal. However, it is so important to remember to choose organic or homegrown without pesticides and other chemicals. Otherwise, you may be adding more harmful toxins, chemicals and added hormones while you’re trying to eliminate them.
The purpose of a cleansing diet is to improve your health and help your body to increase its ability to continue naturally eliminate toxins. Any cleanse that uses laxatives in place of the high-fiber natural foods the body prefers can increase the risk of unhealthy side effects including diarrhea and stomach pain and also the symptoms of dehydration that can include weakness, fatigue and headache. This is obviously not healthy or supporting your body ability to eliminate toxins.
Cleansing diets should be done for a minimum of two days, but some may be utilized for up to three to ten days. To maintain the benefits of a cleansing diet, it is often helpful to repeat the diet for example one weekend a month.
Potential cleansing diet users need to be clear on their goals and needs when choosing a cleansing diet and be able to evaluate either its potential to work or whether it has actually worked for them.
Proper cleansing diets do really work. For a cleansing diet to work it must; eliminate the “bad” foods, include water, and if it is a cleansing diet that includes foods, must increase those with high fiber and be all natural. Cleansing diets can not only work to remove harmful toxic build up but they can help users make lasting improved food and drink choices and that will continue the many short term and long term benefits of a cleansing diet.
