You On A Cleanse

by Kris Pitcher

People wonder if they should go on liquid cleanses, to "detox" their bodies. For those of you who have been around for a while, you know how I feel about these types of things. But I thought you should know why I take the position I do.

Many cleanses are juice based, or some version there of. Whether it's fruit or vegetable based the reaction in your system is similar. As you begin your cleanse, you signal your body by drinking the juice. The signal sent is one of hunger. It's hunger due to the insulin response.

The insulin surge moves the juice from your blood stream into your cells to be stored as glycogen. Once your blood sugar level has been reduced, you get hungry. The cycle begins.

Cleanses are typically very low calorie as well. This is set up so that we can use the glycogen stores in the muscles and liver. OK. But it only takes a few days at this rate to run out of these stores. We then go into a state called ketosis. We begin to burn fat for fuel.

But without the right nutrients coming into our body (protein), our brain is lacking amino acids. We begin to rob from our muscle to get the necessary fuel for our not so clear brain. At this point we're not burning fat efficiently, and we've taken to catabolizing our muscle mass to get what we need.

After all, juice is all we're getting in, right? Without solid food our intestines are struggling, we get diarrhea and although we're on a liquid diet...we're getting dehydrated.

And after the cleanse you are left with less muscle mass meaning a decrease in metabolism. You've been in a perceived starvation mode leading to fat storage, and muscle loss. This is not a good scenario. Not to mention you've been in a depressed mental fog for a week.

All in the name of detoxification. If we think about it, our liver detoxifies our body. Lots of insoluble fiber and a healthy colon is one of our best methods of keeping things regularly cleaned out. If you're having regular bowel movements, you're good. Additionally, flushing our system with water and keeping our cells hydrated literally perks us up.

Eating clean, exercising regularly and getting plenty of rest are all we need to stay "cleansed". Leave the liquid diet to someone who doesn't know any better. You're smarter than that!