Page 96 - Time Special Edition Alternative Medicine (January 2020)
P. 96
Secrets
About Dietary
Cleanses
From fasts to flushes, many of us will do
whatever it takes to cleanse our body of toxins.
But what if we don’t have to do anything at all?
BY PEG ROSEN
“i juST finiShed a deTox, and i feel amazing.” from seeping back into our system. And while some
Many of us have heard some version of that sen- toxins are absorbed by fat cells—where they can take
timent from friends, family or someone at work. up permanent residence—there’s scant evidence to
Or maybe we’ve read about a celebrity touting the suggest that we can forcibly flush them out.
benefits of a cleanse, the practice of subsisting for Cleansing, though, is no fad. Versions of the prac-
days on green shakes, highly restrictive diets or even tice have been championed for millennia. Ancient
plain water to rid the body of impurities. We can Egyptians purged their colons at specific times dur-
certainly understand the motivation, and we might ing the lunar cycle. The Greeks believed that eat-
even believe that a person who has undergone such ing allowed “demonic forces” to enter the body
a regimen does indeed feel amazing. But the reality and embraced fasting as an antidote. A vast array
is that there is little research that endorses the no- of religions and spiritual traditions have also incor-
tion that attempts to “detox”—unless the toxins, are, porated fasting into various ceremonies and rites.
say, addictive substances like drugs or alcohol—are Twentieth-century guru Paramahansa Yogananda,
effective. Or even necessary. who was born in India and died in Los Angeles, said
That’s because the human body does a decent simply, “Fasting is a natural method of healing.” Per-
job of scrubbing itself clean all on its own. Our liver, haps it’s no surprise, then, that today, therapeutic
kidneys, lungs and skin exist in large part to filter cleansing basks in a continuous cultural limelight,
out impurities, eliminating them in sweat, urine, thanks to an ever-changing but endless parade of
breath and feces. Bacteria in the colon neutralize A-list celebrity enthusiasts.
food waste, and that organ’s mucous lining prevents All hype aside, the idea that dramatically restrict-
potentially harmful organisms and waste products ing what goes into the body, at least for a limited
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