What Dr. Michael Smith Says:

Does It Work?

If your goal is weight loss, a detox diet might help you drop a few pounds, but youll likely just gain it back. In the end, you havent accomplished anything, and its certainly not a healthy approach.

If your goal is to detox your system, dont waste your time or money. Your body is an expert at getting rid of toxins no matter what you eat. Toxins dont build up in your liver, kidneys, or any other part of your body, and youre not going to get rid of them with the latest detox wonder. Especially avoid diets that promise to detox your liver with supplements or cleanse whatever the diet determines needs washing out.

The only type of detox diet that is worthwhile is one that limits processed, high-fat, and sugary foods, and replaces them with more fruits and vegetables. That clean-eating approach is your best bet to getting your body in tip-top shape.

Is It Good for Certain Conditions?

Not only are detox diets not good for people with certain medical conditions, they could be harmful. They dont improve blood pressure or cholesterol. Detox diets have no positive effect on the heart. For people with diabetes, they may be quite dangerous. Any diet that severely restricts what you eat could lead to dangerously low blood sugar if you take medicine for diabetes.

The exception would be a detox diet that just focuses on clean-eating. This approach would be great for anyone living with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even heart disease.

The Final Word

Weve heard a great deal about detox diets in recent years. But its all hype with no health benefits. There are many ways to get your body clean and healthy. This isnt one of them.

SOURCES:

Frank Sacks, MD, professor of cardiovascular disease prevention, Harvard School of Public Health.

Christine Gerbstadt, MD, RD, spokeswoman, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; author, Doctors Detox Diet.

Connie Diekman, MEd, RD, nutrition director, Washington University, St. Louis; author, The Everything Mediterranean Diet Book; past president, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

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Detox Diets: Do They Work? Are They Healthy? - WebMD

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Nutrition Disclaimer Fried foods may be cooked in the same oils as menu items that contain wheat. Therefore these foods are not safe for a gluten-free diet.

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If you are looking to learn more about the paleo lifestyle and what it is all about then youve come to the right place!

The paleo diet/lifestyle/movement, whatever you want to call it is a way of eating for your lifestyle. Delicious, highest nutrient, easy eating foods are chosen above commercialised, modified or hard to process options.

The premise of the movement is that we are more suited to eating certain foods which havent been the product of big business or agriculture. Grains, sugary foods and modified fats are all guilty of causing harm to our bodies, and the aim is to get back on track by eating foods our bodies recognise and know what to do with.

We should be eating morehealthy fats, nutrient rich vegetablesand should be eatinglessgrains (wheat, rice, gluten based foods), carbohydrates and genetically modified or processed foods.

Paleo shouldnt be thought of as a diet but more as a lifestyle blueprint for health. There is no point in making changes to your eating habits with the goal of getting rid of some weight, only to revert to bad eating habits and put it all back on again. This is the difference between diet and lifestyle decisions, and Paleo is best used long term. Crash diets dont work because they dont allow you to really benefit from healthy dietary changes. They leave you wondering exactly why you are eating the foods you are eating and end up working against you, ultimatelyhurting your body and preventing you from losing weight.

Ultimately, you should approach weight loss as a side effect of getting your diet on track because there are so many benefitsto be enjoyed such as improved energy, sleep, mood, disease prevention and injury recovery. Crash diets dont allow your body to get to the point where it is healthy enough to recover from decades of eating the wrong foods, living a sedentary lifestyle and coping with medicines, drugs and treatments. Paleo is a low stress, low carb diet lifestyle that works for anyone who tries it and can be tailored to every family member.

More:
The Paleo Diet: Low Carb Diet Lifestyle - ThePaleoDiet.co.za

Spring is right around the corner, and as I glance around my home, I see that a thorough cleaning is in order. Dust bunnies are multiplying under my bed, spider webs are glistening on my chandelier, and a layer of dust has settled on all places too difficult to comfortably reach.

As I strategically plan my upcoming cleaning project, I start to wonder if my body is also in need of a cleaning, so to speak.

Like many of you, I tend to go into hibernation mode during the winter months. With less daylight hours and physical work to do outside, along with an influx of sugary treats and comfort foods, my body has been insulated by an added layer of fat. I'm surely not alone in feeling this way, judging from the number of questions we field on the site about detox diets this time of year.

While the idea of cleaning out harmful toxins in your body or removing body fat quickly may sound tempting and even beneficial, is a detox the answer?

What is a detox? Around since the 1970s, the Master Cleanse, also known as the Lemonade Diet, is probably the most popular detox diet. Followers of this detox spend 10 days drinking a concoction of lemon juice, maple syrup, water and cayenne pepper. Side effects include tiredness, irritability, hot bowel movements, and headaches, but those are touted as signs of the beneficial detoxification process. Other detox programs can last for several days to weeks and involve drinking little more than fruit and vegetable juices. Still other programs involve drinking water and consuming no food for several days at a time.

But does the body need detoxification? If you've been exposed to high amounts of heavy metals, poisons, or radiation, you might require an actual medical detoxification. However, typical day-to-day living does not bring about a need to detox with concoctions and laxatives. The body is perfectly capable of cleaning itself. Think about all your wonderfully complex body systems involved in the removal of toxins: your circulatory (blood) system, respiratory (lungs) system, urinary (kidneys) system, and digestive (liver and intestines) system. It makes no sense that a little lemon juice, vegetable juice, or gut rest is actually going to make a difference in your health. There are no published, peer-reviewed, or well-designed research studies on detoxing that indicate any health benefit or weight loss.

Detoxing and weight loss Of course you will usually lose weight when following a detox program. The diet is very restrictive, and the daily calorie intake is much less than what you would typically consume. A person could lose several pounds weekly while detoxing. Some of the weight will be body fat, but most will be water loss and some muscle tissue loss. Since the detoxer has not learned to change his or her eating habits and food environment, the weight will quickly be regained. Overall, there is no sustainable benefitand the loss of muscle mass due to fast weight loss is harmful.

Detoxing and increased energy Many people who "detox" report a decrease in food cravings, increased energy, and a feeling of overall well-being. "Whats up with that?" you might be asking.

I definitely do not spring clean with a detox! Instead, I have a simple, 2-step plan that will work for anyone:

Read this article:
Do Detox Diets Work? Are They Safe? | SparkPeople

Photo Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Do low-carb diets work? Anyone embarking on a new way of eating wants the answer to this question. And although we can usually find "success stories" associated with almost any diet, that doesn't really tell us what we want to know, which is the facts. (We've all seen those ads for a weight-loss miracle cure, with the tiny words at the bottom which say "results not typical".)

First, be clear on what you mean by a diet "working".

What are your goals? We tend to think of weight loss first, but reduced-carb diets are now being used to treat a number of conditions, as well as for prevention of diseases like diabetes. Weight loss will be the focus of this article, but there are lots of other health benefits that are associated with low-carb diets.

Forms of low-carb diets are some of the most popular weight-loss diets, and science bears out that in general they are at least as effective, and usually more effective, when compared to other weight-loss diets (which mainly focus on controlling calories). For example, a 2012 journal article reviewed the science and found 17 high-quality well-controlled randomized diet studies which included a low-carb group. In analyzing these studies, they found that the people on the low-carb diets lost weight (and usually more than the other diet groups), had lowered blood pressure, lower blood glucose, lower insulin, lower triglycerides, higher HDL ("good cholesterol"), and lower C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation.

If the people in a study are more carefully chosen (NOT entirely random), so that people who are likely to benefit the most from low-carb eating are assigned to that diet, people tend to lose more weight. For example, here I describe a randomized study where the researchers went back and analyzed the data to see who did best on which diet.

The results were dramatic: even though the average weight loss was modest for the groups as a whole, people who had signs of insulin resistance (one sign of "sugar sensitivity") lost the most weight on the low-carb diet, and did very poorly on the high-carb diet. The people who were insulin sensitive (the opposite of insulin resistant) did well on either diet. So while randomized studies can give us valuable information, they often don't give us a strong indication of how much weight any one person is likely to lose.

Most weight-loss diets are based on the idea that we cannot trust our bodies' signals about hunger and satiety. Instead, we must ignore those signals and carefully and consciously regulate the amount of food we eat. (This works for awhile, but often not for long, which is a whole other topic.) Carbohydrate reduction works differently (especially for people who are senstive to carbohydrate), in that it helps regulate our appetite system so we naturally want to eat less. How it does this is not yet fully understood, but we do know that foods which raise blood sugar more make people hungrier. In addition, a low-carb diet lowers insulin levels in people who have high insulin. Since insulin regulates fat storage, many experts think that it makes it easier for the body to access stored body fat for energy.

When I ask people what they like best about following a low-carb diet, they will often mention not feeling hungry, not having food cravings, and having more stable energy levels compared to other types of diets. This seems to be true even after the weight loss phase of a diet.

OK, now you have the facts! But being successful on a diet isn't just about knowing the science. How about hearing some encouraging stories from people who have had success with low-carb eating? And then go on to find tips, recipes, and lots of information to help you try out a lower-carb life.

Sources:

Lennerz BS, Alsop DC, et al. Effects of dietary glycemic index on brain regions related to reward and craving in men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 98:3 (2013) 641-7.

McClain AD, Otten JJ, et. al. Adherence to a low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate diet differs by insulin resistance status. Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism. Jan;15(1) (2013) 87-90

Santos FL, Esteves, SS, et al. Systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials of the effects of low carbohydrate diets on cardiovascular risk factors. Obesity Review. 13:11 (2012) 1048-66.

Link:
Do Low-Carb Diets Work?

One of the best ways to improve your digestion and general health is to take some good quality probiotics. But how can you be sure that those little pills you take, each containing billions of good bacteria, actually make it through to your intestines? After all, they have to get through the acidic environment in your stomach first, right?

Luckily, theres no reason to be concerned. Probiotic bacteria, whether in a commercial form or in probiotic yogurt, are perfectly capable of making it all the way through your digestive system. The evidence shows that oral probiotics can colonize your intestines and even pass all the way through your digestive system without any problem at all.

If you read my earlier post on the acid/alkaline balance in your gut, you already know that your intestines need to be slightly acidic for optimal digestion and a strong immune system. The good bacteria in your intestines play a large part in this.

Lactic acid bacteria, for example lactobacillus acidophilus, are a good example. As part of their metabolism they secrete small amounts of lactic acid and acetic acid, lowering the pH of their immediate environment and making it more acidic. In fact, the word acidophilus literally means acid-loving in Latin, and they are well-suited to surviving an acidic environment.

Another factor to remember is that these bacteria usually spend very little time in your stomach. If you take your probiotics after eating, they will mix together with the liquids and saliva in your stomach. And around 50% of this liquid will pass through to your intestines within 30 minutes of your meal, taking many of the probiotics with it.

Lastly, your stomach may also be less acidic than you think. For example, immediately after eating your stomach pH typically rises to a level of around 6.0. This is only mildly acidic, and should be reasonably easy to survive for most of the bacteria in your capsule. In fact, something like 75% of probiotic bacteria will survive a short exposure to this kind of mild acidity.

This is not all theory. There is actually lots of research demonstrating that probiotic bacteria can make it safely though your stomach. Here are a few of the research papers, along with a quotation from each one.

Recovery of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG from human colonic biopsies (Alander, 2003) The colonization of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (L.GG) in five human colonoscopy patients was studied In all patients L.GG was the dominant faecal lactic acid bacterium as a result of the administration.

Analysis of the Fecal Microflora of Human Subjects Consuming a Probiotic Product Containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus DR20 (Tannock, 2000) The composition of the fecal microflora of 10 healthy subjects was monitored before (6-month control period), during (6-month test period), and after (3-month posttest period) the administration of a milk product containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus DR20 DR20 was detected in the feces of all of the subjects during the test period, but at different frequencies.

Intestinal transit of an orally administered streptomycinrifampicin-resistant variant of Bifidobacterium longum (Fujiwara, 2001) It is clarified that BL2928SR [a strain of Bifidobacterium longum] has the ability for long-term survival in the human gastrointestinal tract, and alters the composition and metabolism of the intestinal microflora.

Colonization and Immunomodulation by Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC 55730 in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract (Valeur, 2004) Dietary supplementation with the probiotic L. reuteri ATCC 55730 induces significant colonization of the stomach, duodenum, and ileum of healthy humans, and this is associated with significant alterations of the immune response in the gastrointestinal mucosa.

Commercial probiotics can be expensive supplements, so you should make sure that you absolutely get the most value from them that you can! There are two simple tips that you should follow to achieve this.

First, take your probiotics with food. Eating a meal temporarily reduces the acidity of your stomach and makes it easier for the probiotics to pass through. This means that more will survive the journey through to your intestines.

Second, take a brand of probiotics that contains lots and lots of bacteria. You should be aiming for at least 10 million CFUs per capsule to start with, and then increase your dose even further when you feel ready. Some of these bacteria are bound to die during transit to your intestines, so the more that you ingest, the greater the chance of an effective colonization.

If you need more advice on how to choose a good probiotic, check out my Ultimate Candida Diet program. It tells you everything you need to know about the low-sugar diet, probiotics and antifungals that you need to beat Candida.

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Can Probiotics Make It Safely To Your Intestines? The ...

IMAGINE THAT YOU COULD solve most of your health problems AND lose up 10 pounds in just 7 days.

Thats an amazing claim but it IS possible.

For those of you who have been reading my blogs and books, you already know this is possible.

I have seen miracles occur so many times in my own patients, and from all the people who have visited my website, posted their stories, and completed this diet challenge.

My true goal is to help people feel better. Period.

I know what it is like to wake up every morning feeling like you cant go on. I know what its like to have seemingly endless minor complaints that lower the capacity to enjoy life. You see, I once was seriously ill with chronic fatigue syndrome. But I changed my life and got better and you can, too.

Of course, with more serious illnesses like this, it may take more than one week to find the cause and the cure. But dont give up.

Using the tools functional medicine provides, it is possible for people with chronic illness to get better over time.

In fact, I now believe that most people walk around just accepting feeling mediocre Once you know what its like to feel truly healthy, youll never go back.

How to Heal from Chronic Illness and Lose Weight

We now know that the ONLY way to truly address and heal weight problems and disease is to get to the ROOT of the problem. You need to find the cause and then get rid of it and help the body heal.

In previous blogs, I told you about two major root causes of illness toxicity and inflammation.

But can you address these root causes in just 7 days?

You bet!

The secret is to very quickly stop consuming the things that make you toxic and inflamed like sugar, caffeine, alcohol, junk food, and processed foods. Then you want to do things that help you detoxify and cool off inflammation like eating whole, real foods, eliminating all potential food allergens, cleaning out your bowels, and relaxing deeply. Thats when miracles can occur.

The scientific research supporting the role of inflammation and toxins in illness is overwhelming, but most doctors dont know how to help their patients deal with it. I used to be one of those doctors.

I was trained in conventional medicine, practiced it for 10 years, and helped many people using the tools I was trained to use namely, medications and surgery. While I worked in the emergency room, those tools worked amazingly well, bringing people back from the brink of death and relieving suffering.

But then I realized that I wasnt helping the some 125 million Americans who suffer from some type of chronic illness, or the millions more who just dont feel well.

In fact, I now believe that most people walk around just accepting feeling mediocre with symptoms like fatigue, aches, brain fog, memory problems, depression, headaches, congestion, allergies, digestive problems, joint pains, PMS, and skin problems. These people may not have an actual disease, but they certainly have problems that rob them from feeling great.

How many people do you know who can say that they feel fully alive, full of energy, and able to greet the day with joy and enthusiasm?

How many of us can really do that?

Well, I know that this is possible for most people.

But the sad thing is that most people dont know why they feel less than fully alive and healthy, and dont connect it to their behavior or habits. Ive said it before and Ill say it again. The key to creating health isnt taking another medication! It is figuring out the cause of the problem, and then providing the right conditions for the body and soul to thrive.

Im here to show you how to do just that.

Over the last20 years of practicing at Canyon Ranch, founding The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, and working with dozens of other leaders in the emerging field of functional and systems medicine, I have learned the few simple things that make the most difference for the most people.

That is why I write the books I write.

When I wrote UltraMetabolism, my true goal wasnt to help people lose weight, but to deal with the causes of obesity and disease as a whole. And it has been remarkably effective.

Ive been pleasantly surprised with the feedback Ive received because I know I can help people one on one, but I didnt know just following my recommendations in a book would truly help people.

I have been overwhelmed by how peoples lives have changed. Here is an email someone sent to me after trying UltraMetabolism.

Through reading and following the eating plan in your book I have discovered I am gluten intolerant. Six weeks after starting your plan I had not only lost 13 pounds, but also the all-over bloated feeling, excess gas, stomach discomfort and thickening around the middle that I was experiencing. The puffiness and dark circles under my eyes are gone and I am no longer depressed.

I feel terrific, which is my motivation for staying with the plan (including 45 to 60 minutes a day of strength training and yoga). I have read the comments of others and like many of them, I no longer enjoy foods that are bad for me and crave the foods that are good for me.

Unfortunately, feeling terrific is not enough motivation for some people. And I am amazed and even saddened that there are so many other people out there with a defeatist attitude. Many of my friends told me the discomforts I was experiencing were a normal part of aging and that I needed to learn to accept it.

Wow, were they ever wrong!! Your book has shown me caring for my physical self is essential, especially as I age. I am 48 and thanks to your book I am not getting older, Im getting better, and growing old gracefully is not an option but a cop-out.

THANK YOU!!!!

PS: The only thing I am missing now is conversing with someone I can relate to.

Wow is right!

UltraMetabolism is a complete, comprehensive system dealing with ALL the causes of obesity (and most illnesses and aging).

But after I wrote it, I kept getting requests for something easy and simple to get started with.

I resisted because I dont believe in quick-fix diets, even though my readers and publisher were pushing me to do it.

Then I realized something.

I realized that I could share the same program I have been giving to my patients to help them feel great very quickly and lose weight immediately. I could share it without compromising my true goal of helping people get to the root of their health and weight problems.

And it occurred to me that what I do for nearly every patient who comes to see me is to give them a chance to see just how sick they have been and how powerful making a few simple changes can be in just one week.

Once they realize how their food choices and their behaviors make them feel sick and they experience a taste of UltraWellness they are empowered to make changes that can help them feel great and lose weight for the long term.

The most important things to address at the outset for weight loss and creating UltraWellness are inflammation and toxicity. These are among the two biggest causes of chronic disease and obesity.

So I created a simple, small, inexpensive paperback book called The UltraSimple Diet.

This book gives you all the tricks and tools I have used successfully with thousands of patients for so many years. In one short week, I teach you how to detoxify and to cool off chronic inflammation.

After I published the book, I realized we could take the experience to a whole other level using online tools and a support community. Thats when I developed The UltraSimple Diet Challenge. 500 people participated and the results were amazing. People tracked their medical symptoms things like headaches, fatigue, digestive problems, congestion, joint pain, depression, and more.

The results were dramatic. In just a week, they had an average of 51.15% reduction in their symptoms. And they lost an average of 5.53 pounds (many lost over 10 lbs) and lost an average of 1.37 inches from their waists and 0.94 inches from their hips! To me the weight loss is nice and happens automatically but it isnt the main objective.

The real benefit is the possibility of people experiencing UltraWellness a state of deep and true health and vitality. And it happens so quickly. You dont need to believe me just try it yourself foronly one week.

And tell your friends. Pass this along.

I believe that if enough people really get to experience the difference in their health in one week of The UltraSimple Diet, it will change them forever.

And if enough people have this positive change, this will create a cultural shift that may be able to counteract the powerful food and pharmaceutical industries that harm our health.

I have been shocked by how powerful this one-week program can be and hope to hear back from you on what your experience is like. In addition to the book, I have also created The Ultrasimple Diet Companion Guide which you can download for free here.

To your good health,

MarkHyman, MD

Read more here:
The UltraSimple Diet: Kick-Start Your Metabolism and ...