Should You Spring Clean Your Colon?
Who doesn't love ice cream? It's synonymous with summer fun, carnivals and comfort, and there's rarely a negative thought surrounding the sweet treat. So would you ever associate the words ice cream with the word cleanse? I doubt it -- but someone has done just that.
The new hot (cold!) cleanse diet on the market today is the Ice Cream Cleanse, the creation of raw ice cream aficionado Kippy Miller and yogi Guru Jagat of Venice, Calif. The basic components of this plan are raw ice cream, coconuts from Mexico, raw honey and hot yoga. The consumption of five pints (yes, five pints!) of ice cream daily -- plus yoga -- will deliciously melt pounds away.
[Read: Healthy Homemade Ice Cream Recipes .]
So here's the real scoop: If you like ice cream, savor a small portion of your favorite brand, eat it with your eyes closed to boost the enjoyment level and try yoga, hot or traditional, whenever possible. If you want to lose weight, and never find it again after you lose it, a cleanse is not going to do the trick. It's clean eating, not cleansing, that lasts forever. Any diet that demonizes one food or one food group may help you lose weight, but that probably has more to do with the foods you're not eating rather than those you are consuming. You could also lose weight on the chocolate cake diet, but you'd probably lose some hair and a few teeth, too, so skip any diet that cuts out whole food groups.
The premise of the cleansing -- or detox -- diet is to rid your body of toxic or poisonous materials that accumulate from the environment or from your poor diet. Well, save yourself some time, money and gastrointestinal anguish: Your body already has the ability to excrete toxins naturally, without you going to any extreme measures. This natural process occurs every time you urinate or move your bowels, and cleansing diets just make this course of action happen more quickly. The intended basis for such diets, whether aiding indigestion, alleviating fatigue or creating weight loss, may actually create the problems you're looking to battle. Such programs are particularly harmful for children, pregnant or lactating women, the elderly, and those with preexisting conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, gastrointestinal disorders or kidney disease.
[Read: Why Juice 'Cleanses' Don't Deliver .]
If you're truly interested in clean eating, here's how to do it safely:
Royal flush. You can "flush" your system with a juice or smoothie made with an array of fruits and veggies. Powerful combinations of kale, parsley, ginger and apple, or spinach, carrots, banana and beets will give a jolt to your system if you're presently avoiding all the veggies your body has been missing. These juices provide a bounty of nutrients and should be consumed regularly as part of a decent diet -- and not make up the diet itself.
Bring balance. In most cases, a detox plan includes lots of fluid, along with a cocktail of lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. Some plans also embrace a combination of veggies and fruit or produce purees. These programs discourage protein, whole grains and healthy fats, which could lead to muscle weakness and gastrointestinal distress. The "euphoric" feeling described by a detox devotee is often the result of lightheadedness due to an inadequate caloric intake. These diets are not consistent with sound scientific recommendations and instead, they support improper eating habits, which could result in more harm than help.
[Read: In Pictures: 10 Healthy Desserts -- and They're Tasty, Too .]
Focus on fat. Pay close attention to the sources of fat in your diet, such as butter, margarine, spreads and oil. Although choices like olive oil and canola oil are healthier choices, they're not exactly low in calories if you're interested in shedding a few pounds. At around 2,000 calories a cup, these fats could be playing a major role in escalating the numbers on the scale. You can get more flavor and texture -- and probably fewer calories -- by adding sliced avocado or chopped nuts to your salad instead of using oil.
Slash sugar. Read labels to be sure you know where your sugar is coming from. While we wait for the new food labels to tell us whether the sugar in yogurt comes from milk or high fructose corn syrup, it's best to read the ingredient list on packages. Don't be fooled by items like "organic cane juice." That's just another way to spell sugar. Unless it's a delicate cake that you're baking, in most cases sugar can also be reduced in recipes. You can also tame the sweetness in sugared cereals by combining them with others that barely contain any sugar.
[Read: Ferreting Out the Hidden Sugar in Your Diet .]
Pick proper portions. Ditch family-style dining. If you're trying to cut calories, pre-plate meals for your family and leave the serving platters on the countertop instead of putting them in the middle of the table. It's fine to keep the veggies and salad bowl in front of you, but letting a steamy plate of pasta stare at you during dinner is dangerous.
Slim the sides. Try to make veggies take up at least half your plate. In all my years of practice, I've never counseled a patient who was overweight because they ate too many vegetables.
Take a minute to think about this -- the word "diet" means "way of life." It doesn't mean temporary, torture, fad or unbalanced. Choosing to embark upon a cleanse to help you ditch some bloat before squeezing into your wedding dress is not something I would recommend. If you choose to do so, hopefully it's a one-shot deal. Following a cleanse as a way of life will only have poor repercussions.
[Read: 2014 Food Trends: What's Hot at Restaurants .]
Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN, has been owner of BTD Nutrition Consultants, LLC, for more than three decades and she is the author of Read It Before You Eat It. As a renowned motivational speaker, author, media personality, and award-winning dietitian, Taub-Dix has found a way to communicate how to make sense of science. Her website is BetterThanDieting.com.
