OT: Has anyone done a cleanse?

Steph

I know I have seen at least one person here mention doing a cleanse, and I was hoping that those of you who have done this could share with me what cleanse you followed. Basically, I am a healthy person--I work out five days a week, I am a vegetarian, I am a reasonable weight--but over the past few months my eating habits have become less-than-stellar, and I feel like I have fallen into a bad pattern. I have been strongly considering doing a cleanse, but I'm not sure which one to do. I have read about the lemon water and cayenne pepper cleanse, but that doesn't sound all that appealing.

So for those of you who have done a cleanse can you tell me which one you followed, how you felt during it (are you able to work out while doing a cleanse?), and how you felt afterward? I would really appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

15 years ago

General

12 replies

Latest reply was from biscuitsmom

Kate

Veteran

I've never done a cleanse, in part because my parents (dad's a doctor and mom's a nurse) have advised against them. Here's an article on cleanses from WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/diet/feat.....nsing-body

15 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I have friends who swear by the one Gwyneth Paltrow has on her site. They do it every January and loose 10 pounds in a week! I have no idea if this is good or bad, but it works for them and they have good heads on their shoulders - so I don't want to judge them.

I don't think I've been much help at all

15 years ago

Dashrashi

Veteran

I've never done a cleanse (I get so, so deeply cranky when I don't eat, e.g. for holidays, etc.), but last year I did a Vegan Week to kick my diet back into shape. I was falling back on a major, major dairy crutch and it was making me feel logy and gross. Maybe a vegan raw-food "cleanse" or something similar that splits the difference between regular diet and a full-on cleanse?

15 years ago

biscuitsmom

Veteran

Angie, or anyone else, where can I find the GP website link to the cleanse?

15 years ago

Kate

Veteran

Here's the info from GP: http://goop.com/newsletter/111/en/

And there is a link there to this guy's website: http://www.cleanprogram.com/

15 years ago

peanutbutter

Active Member

http://www.goop.com

I did do the CLEAN program (Gwennyth's suggestion) but wouldn't do it again.
However, I did learn alot about food and have changed my eating habits for the better because of it ---major coffee addict, here... quit cold turkey. I don't eat sweets or "bad" carbs like I used to -so, that was another benefit. There IS an "elimination diet" which they suggest you do before starting the cleanse. It's all on the CLEAN program website. It's pretty straightforward/easy to follow and I found that, in itself, was very helpful to the body.

15 years ago

Heather

Veteran

I don't recommend a cleanse, but simply to change your eating.

http://whole9life.com/

This website is SUPER helpful and provides some tough love, ideas and personal accounts from others.

Good luck to you.

15 years ago

Beth

Veteran

Agreed. Change your eating, but your body doesn't need a cleanse. It cleanses itself in the way nature intended it to:)

15 years ago

Anonymous

Every January I do an Anti-Candida diet which is to kill all the bad bacteria in your digestive tract and replace it with good bacteria. I am doing it under the guidance of my naturopath. It takes 21 days to complete the cleanse. In addition to the recommended supplements, you eliminate sugars, yeasts and vinegars from the diet. I've done this every January the past 3 years. Afterwards I do feel more energetic and it is apparently good for the immune system.

15 years ago

Lisa

Veteran

I've never done a specific cleanse, but have done a raw food detox previously. You eat only raw foods (which means no cooking at all and no meat, fish or chicken, really hard for a meat eater like me though) for 3 weeks and drink a cleansing tea as well. It has gotten me to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables than I ever used too, because after a while you are forced to branch out or go nuts eating the same foods for 3 weeks. Best to do this during the summer months when there's the best and greatest selection of produce.

15 years ago

wilson

Active Member

Hello Steph, I've done cleanses throughout the years, including the Master Cleanse which is the cayenne and lemon. I have some thoughts about cleanses that I'll share (I am not a doctor or nurse or anything at all so keep that in mind

One thing I've always done is to make sure my doctor knows what I'm doing. It sounds like you are healthy so it probably isn't vital you get your dr's direct supervision but if you've taken any medications in the past few months or had anything funky going on it might not be a bad idea to go in and talk to her about it first.

If you are healthy and just want to pretty much push a reset button there isn't much reason to do a harsh cleanse that includes a lot of fasting. Some great gentle cleanses that do a lot for your body can include a variety of foods and smoothies (these are easiest for me to stay committed to for the entire time period). The cayanne and lemon cleanse is very harsh (a lot of bm's) but my dr ok'd it for me for that particular time when I had been sick for quite a while. I loved the results after it was completed but felt horrible most of the time I was on it. I think if I hadn't been so desperate to feel better I wouldn't have stayed committed to it the two weeks.

When I do a cleanse I do not work out at all, in fact I purposely schedule a cleanse for a time when I can rest a lot and don't have to put too much mind power into anything. Usually I feel pretty lousy the first several days into it and get headaches and feel irritable (even on the ones that don't require fasting) so I try to take it easy. I have always felt incredible after cleansing and usually adopt certain components of a cleanse if I feel they really speak to my body (for example, I drink lemon in my water a lot now after the Master Cleanse because if felt so good to me). One thing I have learned is that any weight that has come off because of a cleanse always returns afterwards so I don't even pay attention to that aspect. I hope this is useful to you.

15 years ago

biscuitsmom

Veteran

Thank you, Kate!

15 years ago

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