So you want to do a cleanse?

So it's definitely not as popular as it used to be but I still have clients ask me about cleanses at least weekly. So here we go I will try to clear up this murky water a bit. My knee jerk reaction is to tell people "don't waste your money or stress." There are a few good reasons to partake in this nonsense though, but first let's blow some crap out of the water.

If you already are eating mostly whole clean foods and are taking probiotics then a cleanse is going to do exactly jack for you. If you have been eating total crap like most people do then a cleanse may be a great way to start some new beneficial habits or it will do exactly jack for you. Here's the problem from my own personal observations: People who consistently eat like crap tend to be the folks who want to try a cleanse to lose some lbs. The advertising is tailor made for these people in a damn near predatory manner. Lose up to 15 pounds in 10 days! Drop a dress size in 3 days! While this may be true if you do what the fine print says and drop all fried foods, processed carbs or carbs altogether, eat only quality low fat meats, and rock some vegetables, I know a much larger number of folks who just pop the pills lose maybe a pound of water weight and wonder what happened. Look at what you are doing on this type of cleanse if done properly. Typically you are taking probiotics which will replace the bad bacteria in your gut with good bacteria which can pull more nutrients out of the food you consume. There is also usually some sort of water pill that will make you pee out one orifice or another more than normal thus dropping some water weight and making you feel like you are "getting rid of toxins." The bigger changes are coming from your diet though. If you are used to eating a ton of fat and carbs and you basically take those out of your diet you will drop weight. The high fat fried foods coming out will drop you daily calorie intake substantially and if you drop all non fibrous carbs you will drop about 10 lbs of water in the first week. So what did you actually pay for? Really just the probiotic, assuming the cleanse you bought even had one in it which many don't. Now bear in mind this is an example of the kind of cleanse that is better than the more common cleanse fads.

Most commonly you see a 3-5 day juice cleanse. It is marketed as a juice cleanse but really it's a fast combined with soiling yourself multiple times a day if you aren't within arm's reach of a bathroom. You will lose a substantial amount of weight on this type of cleanse. You will also feel like death. But hey, you will fit into that damn dress until you decide to stop being anorexic and eat some food. Think back to the last time you had the flu. You sweated out a ton of water, puked and pooped your brains out, and didn't eat for multiple days. How many pounds did you lose? A bunch right? So with these kinds of cleanses you basically are choosing to do to your body what we take vaccines for to prevent. Worse yet you paid money for this privilege and probably made 2 of your friends do it with you! That right there is messed up.

Alright .... sorry about that. My rant is over for a moment. I promise. The good thing about cleanses though, is they force you to put your wallet where your desires are. Do not underestimate this. Even if it was a sugar pill. If you dropped $10,000.00 you would make sure you get the results you were supposed to get just out of the fear of embarrassment.

Here's what is the actual solution is though:
1. Clean up your diet pretty much in line with the first example's recommendations.
2. If you want to consume carbs try to center them around your workouts within a few hours.
3. Take a probiotic when you are getting started for the first month or so.

And that's it. Bad gut bacteria which prevent your body from getting all the nutrients from your food come about as a result of a high sugar high calorie diet. If you rectify that then the bad bacteria die off and the probiotics load  you up with the good little guys. You will now get the benefits of your body absorbing the nutrients from all of the high quality foods you are eating and you drop weight. Real weight. As in fat. Not just water and muscle.

The only product rivaling the level of shenanigans found within the juice cleanse is the It Works crowd. Oh gosh I need to stop writing. I feel another rant coming on.

Talk Soon

Dan Mason

 Dan is a nationally ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb

and 275lb classes. He holds instructor

level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai,

and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He as been

training people for strength and martial

arts since 2004.

RoninSTR@gmail.com

Instagram: @RoninSTR
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVA3x_kvPOFMsxouGjhYRnQ