MSNBC’s Toxic Advice About Detox

We all know our food chain is full of toxic contaminants. In fact, a robust industry has developed to peddle de-toxification advice. Much of this advice is wrong.

Case in point: MSNBC’s recent piece about the dangers of detox diets. The article, by columnist Susan Moores, R.D., focuses on quotes from nutrition experts warning of risks such as vitamin deficiencies, muscle breakdown, fatigue, lethargy, blood sugar problems, frequent bowel movements and dependency on laxatives (notice that the latter two are a complete contradiction all on their own).

Ms. Moores wraps up the rant of paranoia with the advice to cut on fat and eat in moderation instead of "starving yourself like a celebrity for days."

Starvation is Not Detox

Ms. Moores has a point. But it is a point that is in no way related to the practice of detoxification! Celebrities like Nicole Ritchie or Victoria "Posh" Beckham do not practice detoxification. They practice starvation. And in this case, practice does not make perfect.

Detoxification is a historically sound health practice evidenced in Native American sweat lodges, Tibetan monks in search of spiritual enlightenment and Chinese martial arts masters training. It has been practiced in many forms throughout the ages to include the simple elimination of certain food types (refined flour, processed sugar, alcohol and salt, for example) to significant dietary restrictions such as The Master Cleanse Diet and juice fasting. It is NOT a wholesale elimination of food for an unlimited amount of time. We have to have food to live.

Detoxification is not starvation.

The expert’s focus on one end of the spectrum and make the generalization that all detox methods involve severe fasting, ergo, all fasting is dangerous. Ms. Moores was on to something with the use of the word moderation, but not in the way she used it. Warning people of detox is like warning people of exercising. Exercise indeed involves side effects including muscle soreness and exhaustion, but nevertheless there’s no doubt that exercise is beneficial for us. However, if you take exercise to the extreme, particularly without conditioning, you can harm the body. The same holds true with detoxification. You wouldn’t attempt to run a marathon if you’d never so much as jogged a single step would you? No. You also wouldn’t embark on a 30-day juice detox if you had never engaged in any form of dietary restriction.

What The Experts Forgot

One expert (an MD) quotes: “Your body does a perfectly good job of getting rid of toxins on its own.” In other words, you don’t need to worry about a thing – the body will take care of itself.

Of course, in real life things aren’t that simple. Quite the contrary, some of the most prevalent disorders and diseases today have been correlated with exposure to toxins.

In spite of an ever-growing legion of health experts, doctors and medications, people are getting sicker than ever.

The body may do a perfectly good job of getting rid of the toxins that occur naturally but with each passing year we put more and more unnatural chemicals, preservatives, artificial ingredients, pesticides and even medications that can cause more harm than good into our bodies. We cannot purge this unnatural chemical burden nor can we continue to overload our system with these chemicals without consequence.

Coming next: Part 2: Clawing our way to the bottom of the food chain