Okay, I'll admit it, I've done the cayenne pepper, syrup and lemon juice one. BUT, it was only for three days and it was not to loose weight, but to try to clear my system before I started journaling what foods I was getting allergic reactions to (I didn't want to eliminate everything down to only water). I had a friend suggest it to me.

She said it would also clear brain fog, or something. Uh, that wasn't my experience (by the way, if anyone wants to know what it feels like to be a human juice master festooned to a toilet - try this diet). Oh, and remember there's cayenne too!

My experience (mind you, this was only for three days)can be summarized in one word: HOMICIDAL.

No more juice diets for moi, ever.

I've always wondered about that cleansing business. If your bowel isn't cleansed regularly, you have a more serious problem than that you ran out of maple syrup and cayenne. Funny side note: there was a great episode of Supernatural set in a parallel universe (well, not really, but you have to see it to get it) where Dean goes on the Master Cleanse. It was used as a joke because this is a guy who eats bacon double cheeseburgers for breakfast. That's the only good use I can see for the cleanse.

This is like that crap about red meat staying in your gut for weeks or months at a time. My grandmother's doctor actually told her that. See above re: serious problem if you still have something in your intestines after about three days.

My experience (mind you, this was only for three days)can be summarized in one word: HOMICIDAL.

Hee. I'm with you on that, and I've never done a juice fast. I get cranky after going all day without eating. I can understand the three days thing for you, Feebie, because that's about the amount of time it would take to get everything out of your system, which sounds like a good idea when you're figuring out food allergies. But not eating for ten days? Nuh-uh. That can't be good for the body. That's nothing except sugar, citric acid and vitamin C. Sounds like a good way to start losing hair and getting flaky skin at the very least.

If I were writing a blog detailing the most annoying people in the world, somewhere around #4 would be: "People Who Go On a Cleanse Diet and Then Complain About How Tired/Sick/Hungry It's Making Them"

I work in an office that's about 75% female, most no more than a few years out of college. They do a lot of "cleanses." And they inevitably spend days telling you how much of a martyr they are. What the F did you think was going to happen, you numbskull?

I blame this on public schooling. We no longer get a health class, or nutrition class. Stupidity like this is allowed to fly about when people are no longer taught how our bodies are biologically designed to function.

In re: evils of red meat: red meat provides more calcium than dairy products. Calcium is needed for muscle function, especially cardiac function. You truly are what you eat.

I've been following the diet of this guy, Jay Robb, and he has a "fruit flush" cleanse. I haven't tried it yet though. I went to his site because I read on some low-carb message boards that he has the best, all natural, low carb protein shakes (which he does - they are yummy!).

I will say that his carb-cycling approach is working for me. I've been stalled for quite awhile, unable to drop those last 5-10 pds, and apparently, the problem may have been that I was too low carb. He recommends a diet of low carb all day, then smart carbs (whole grains, etc) in the evening meal, for the body to replenish glycogen levels. Otherwise, the body wants to hold onto the fat, thinking it may need it.

I've lost about 3 pds in a week of doing this, but I wonder what Eades thinks of carb cycling.

Jay Robb's fruit flush is basically carb-cycling too. One whole day of protein shakes, and salad w/protein, followed by 2 days of mainly fruit. Supposedly, you can lose up to 5-10 pds in 3 days.

I want to try it, but as an avid low carber, I'm afraid to eat that much fruit.

Well, gee. Go see your proctologist. He might be the most feared man on the planet, but he'll tell you what your diet ought to be: stuff you could catch yourself. Not much meat, but some, and all the green you can stuff into you. Sure, there's a lot to read about, but it doesn't get much more complicated for real than that. Practically everything Amy's been talking about fits this description.

But the diet of idiots? Here's a solution, sort of.

I've been stalled for quite awhile,

I haven't been trying to lose weight, but I started using coconut oil, and I've found that I eat WAY less and I'm hungry way less (and I wasn't that hungry before).

Grains are not "smart carbs." They are just carbs.

And sorry, but this sounds like hooey to me:

"He recommends a diet of low carb all day, then smart carbs (whole grains, etc) in the evening meal, for the body to replenish glycogen levels. Otherwise, the body wants to hold onto the fat, thinking it may need it."

Here's Eades from a while ago on that, from an interview:

Dr. Chales Gray at the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Diego has done extensive research on endurance and the low carbohydrate diet, using both lab animals (primarily swine) and naval recruits. He has found that performance and endurance on a low carbohdyrate diet are impaired until a period of low carb adaptation has taken place (usually about a week). Once adapted, the subjects' performance and endurance actually increase and surpass that recorded prior to the low carb diet (i.e. on a high carb one). He has also found that the enzymatic activity involved in the synthesis of glycogen increases with adaptation to a low carb diet--in other words, people who are low carb adapted make and store glycogen more easily even in the absence of much dietary carbohydrate. (Carbohdyrate can also be made from protein, and a small amount from the glycerol backbone of triglycerides, so even in the absence of dietary carbohydrate, glycogen sythesis goes on.)

"tsum" is also (I believe) the base of the word "tsuris", meaning "trouble", but usually used in the sense of "pain in the ass". As in "He gives me such tsuris"

Ben Goldacre's(MD) book 'Bad Science' talks about detox and the fact that it is a marketing scheme invented by marketers, lifestyle gurus and alternative therapists.

"In terms of basic human biochemistry, detox is a meaningless concept...that burgers and beer can have negative effects on your body is certainly true, for a numbers of reasons; but the notion that they leave a specific residue, which can be extruded by a specific process, a physiological system call detox, is a marketing invention."

"Because it has no scientific meaning, detox is much better understood as a cultural product...it blends useful common sense [eat well feel healthy] with outlandish, medicalized fantasy."

The book is quite interesting and deals with how society is being sold nonsense by making it sound scientific. You cannot make money telling people to eat healthy foods but you can make money if you dress it up with sciency language and pretend to have come up with a special new diet.

As I tweeted late last night:

I "cleanse" myself daily with three strips of bacon.

"Grains are not "smart carbs." They are just carbs."

They are carbs with proteins like gliadin and wheat germ agglutinin that damage your small intestinal wall giving you "leaky gut", allow immunogenic compounds to enter your blood stream, provoke autoimmunity and inflammation, damaging blood vessel walls (contributing to atherosclerosis) and distant organs like your kidneys over time besides making one gain visceral fat.

All I know is that it's working for me, Amy. Some other low carbers also have had success with it.

I was basically living in ketosis. It gets pretty boring and unpleasurable, so I'm glad to be able to add some carbs back into my diet and still see a weight loss. Yes, whole grains are just carbs, but I believe they spike insulin less, being slower to digest.

My weight loss may stall again in a few weeks. But I was definitely stalled before, even eating virtually no carbs, so I think it's worth a try. On the message boards, a lot of low-carbers lost a great amount of weight at first, then find themselves in a stall. It's a big topic of discussion...what may be causing it, etc. For most, it's ingredients like malitol, which is a sugar alcohol in a lot of supposed low carb products, like Atkin's bars. I can't touch those.

I've done it, I like it. Those who don't or can't (no will power) typically condemn those who can and do.

Lovelysoul: I will say that his carb-cycling approach is working for me. I've been stalled for quite awhile, unable to drop those last 5-10 pds, and apparently, the problem may have been that I was too low carb. He recommends a diet of low carb all day, then smart carbs (whole grains, etc) in the evening meal, for the body to replenish glycogen levels. Otherwise, the body wants to hold onto the fat, thinking it may need it.

I've lost about 3 pds in a week of doing this, but I wonder what Eades thinks of carb cycling.

Does it matter?

No disrespect intended to Dr. Eades, who is a very nice and knowledgeable person, but why ask anyone's opinion about what's obviously working for you and working well?

Once during these discussions, I described a diet that worked well for me, and the demands came for scientific evidence.

Proof is in the pudding. Fortunately, Taubes himself injected some much needed common sense into the discussion, pointing out that I don't need scientific studies to know what works for me.

I distrust Amy's recommendation of all-meat for an entire month. There is nothing and I do mean nothing in human anatomy that suggests we should eat that way. We simply don't have the digestive apparatus of carnivores. I'm not convinced that we won't discover that eating like that has its own dangers.

And I agree. Atkins Bars are disgusting!

My artificial sweetener of choice, by the way, is Stevia.

Yeah, mine too, Patrick. That's why I ordered the Jay Robb protein shakes because they have stevia and no artificial ingredients. Highly recommended.

I've done it, I like it. Those who don't or can't (no will power) typically condemn those who can and do. Frederick Graf
---------------
Or perhaps people who don't do it eat well regularly.
Or perhaps people who don't do it have done their research and have a basic understanding of how the body works.
Or perhaps people who don't do it know better than to burn their gums, bladder and intestines with large amounts of acid.
Or perhaps people who don't do it are already aware that their bodies can only absorb a certain amount of vitimins and minerals in a day and everything above that number is flushed out of the body. And that starving your body of nutrients is a good way to weaken your immune system.

I blame this on public schooling. We no longer get a health class, or nutrition class. Stupidity like this is allowed to fly about when people are no longer taught how our bodies are biologically designed to function.
Posted by: Juliana

Well Juliana, who needs to know about biology, or balancing a check book, or anything for that matter - dont you know the millenium is nigh and soon all the christians will be living in paradise while the sinners burn?

Thats the unoffical 'offical' position of the Texas board of Education - a bunch of dumbass evengelical science haters voted into office by the morons in texas. And they set the tone for what is printed in school books as they place the largest orders and other school boards(and the voters who live in them) are too fucking cheap to insist their kids get a decent education.

These cleanses always remind me of the song by The Dead:

"Livin' on reds, vitamin C and cocaine"

Why would you do that to yourself?

With my bloodsugar issues, I will probably always be pudgy, even on my dedicated meat only diet...but that is better than trying to starve myself to death on sugar and pepper.

-Julie

In my teens, I once fasted for four days. Nothing but water. By then I'd had enough and, following the book I had on fasting, I spent the next day drinking diluted orange juice, which made the roof of my mouth feel raw.

I haven't fasted since, but I just count it as one more life experience, something I can say I tried. No big whoop.

I'm not saying I support cleanses, but I think one element is that they're designed to give the body, particularly the digestive system, a break. It's working all the time, so to calm things down and let it have a few days off, may be helpful and restorative, like resting any muscles would be. The idea is not so much that the fast itself cleanses, but that the digestive system isn't having to work so hard to dispose of all the toxins, artifical ingredients, etc, which make up a lot of our diet.

You should certainly be able to get the same effect just by eating better, but it's clear that many people don't know what to eat.

Lovelysoul, I looked up the Jay Robb protein powders. They look good. How many shakes do you get out of one container, and which size container do you order? They look reasonably priced and the drums look about the size of my Designer Protein containers.

Never do anything to yourself which could be applied to you in a dungeon to make you talk.

Patrick, they come in 12 oz and 24 oz. I ordered the 12 oz first, to see if I liked it, and I ordered through Amazon, just because it was easier than signing up on his site. Now, I have the 24 oz of both the chocolate and vanilla.

My artificial sweetener of choice, by the way, is Stevia.

Stevia isn't an artificial sweetner...it is as artificial as white sugar. It is a form of natural sweetner that is a sugar...just just like fructose or honey is natural and has sugars in it.

http://www.stevia.com/Stevia_Article.aspx?Id=2269

I get really tired of people talking about giving up sugar and using honey, stevia or fructose instead. That is like leaving Al Bundy for his co-worker...same job, slightly different food odor.

-JulieW

Except that Stevia has no calories, so it's better than sugar for those trying to lose weight. It's also very beneficial, according to your article.

Patrick obviously meant that it was his favorite sugar substitute.

But it depends on how the extract is prepared, etc. Most products that I have seen that claim to use Stevia show sugars on the FDA label, and are not calorically inert. Even if they show zero carbs/sugars, that just means that the serving size has fever than 1 gram of sugar. .999999 means no sugar, so many products reduce the serving size so that they can claim zero sugars. If it has a sugar containing item in it (Stevia, fruit juice, honey) then it has sugar in it...no matter what the FDA says.

If it works for you, great...but it isn't sugar free and as someone with sugar issues, I certainly couldn't eat it, no matter what the marketecture says.

-Julie

LOL. I almost typed my name as "LovelySoul." Crid would have had some fun with that.

Yes, I did mean that it was my favorite sugar substitute.

And stevia is sugar-free. Many products that do use stevia use it in addition to sugar. The Crystal Light Pure, for instance, uses pure cane juice (natural sugar) and Stevia. It's still 30 calories a glass, but it's still far better than what you'd get from an equal amount of soda, fruit juice or koolaid.

Stevia itself has no calories.

L.S., I wanted to know how many shakes you get with those containers. You buy the 24 oz. container. How many shakes do you get from it?

We were having a weight loss contest at work one time. The kind where everyone puts in twenty dollars and at the end the winner walks away with it all. Anyway, I can't stand not to win.

So I did the master cleanse. I lost close to twenty pounds in the first five days, which was awesome. But as soon as I started eating anything again I started gaining the weight back. So I'd do the master cleanse for three days, eat lightly three days, and so on and so forth for six weeks. Not to mention, my exercise routine... Needless to say, I won.

Unfortunately, while all the doctors tell you not to loose one to two pounds a week, they never tell you what happens when you loose more. In my case, I developed fatty polyps in my gallbladder. I was in pain for close to a year afterward.

Patrick, I can't tell how big the scoop is. Maybe 2 tablespoons? They last me quite awhile. I've had the 24 oz ones for at least a month and a half, drinking a shake pretty much every day.

Stevia doesn't cause me to gain weight, and I believe I also have insulin issues, Julie. I agree with Patrick that a lot of products mix the two, or also use sugar alcohols, like malitol, which causes weight gain in a lot of people. Unfortunately, it's used in many low carb products, so some people who try low carb, and eat the Akins bars or other products packaged as low carb, think the diet doesn't work, when it's really the sugar alcohols they're responding to.

Patrick, it says serving size is one scoop = 30 grams, with 23 servings in a 24 oz tub.

"while all the doctors tell you not to loose one to two pounds a week,"

This is something you read repeatedly in articles...that any more than 2 or 3 pds a week isn't true weight loss, it's muscle loss. But I would imagine most low-carbers, especially those who've lost substantial amounts of weight in relatively short periods, would dispute that.

Never do anything to yourself which could be applied to you in a dungeon to make you talk.

Not even if it's loads of fun?

I've been told the same things about sugar substitutes Amy. I also recently read some information on Stevia not being a safe sugar alternative because it falls into the category of endocrine disrupter (as does soy) which means it affects multiple hormone funtions throughout the body. The aryicle was actually geared more toward it causing fertility issues (it was a reproductive endocrinology article) but also mentioned links to thyroid and pancreatic dysfunction. This is the first time I've heard anything about Stevia being anything other than a miracle sugar substitute so I'll have to do more reading. I do know Stevia is on my list of foods to avoid this pregnancy from my perinatologist because of potential hormone level alterations.

I follow the traditional Weston A. Price Foundation manner of eating, which fits in with Amy's style of eating. They do not recommend grains as part of the diet, no soy, no added sugars or substitutes, just what is found naturally like using a little juice from fresh fruit or honey (or unprocessed evaporated cane juice if you must use sugars).

Look, if you really want to "cleanse", schedule yourself for an colonoscopy. The prep you drink 12 hours prior clears you out so well, by the end you're pooping crystal clear water. Really. It's a hell of a lot safer than that cayenne pepper crap, and everyone should have a baseline colonoscopy once they hit 40.

What UW Girl said. I had that experience a few weeks ago. It was one of the most singularly unpleasant things I've ever been through. It will make you regret every single thing you've ever eaten.

" I'm not convinced that we won't discover that eating like that has its own dangers."
I'm with you Patrick I think it's like saying eat nothing but leafy greens yeah you'll loose weight......
I think carbs are good for some people nobody has still been able to explain to me why Asians in Asia are soo thin. I've been there multiple times so I know what they eat.

Anyways that is not to say low carbing doesn't work it works GREAT for me. I love it

"We simply don't have the digestive apparatus of carnivores."

Yes we do. Did you ever take Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy? Humans and other carnivores like cats and dogs have the same type of digestive system. Compare that with a ruminant like a cow that just eats grass.

We simply don't have the digestive apparatus of carnivores.

Really you want to go down that road? Try eating grass Patrick. The "fruit and vegtables" we eat these days has been engineered to what it is today over more that 12 to 15 THOUSAND YEARS.

Its softer, it tastes better, you think a tomato plant that requires a wire mesh to support it own weight and constant protection from grazers evolved like that NATURALLY?

Do you have any idea the kind of natural defenses non domesticated plants have to ward off predation by herbavores?

For that matter do you have any idea the kind of natural defenses domesticated plants have which make harvesting them a challange?

I cant tell you how many puncture wond I got from my great grandmothers lemon and grapefruit orchards.

You know what the funniest thing is though?

Were it not for our ancestors eating meat we never would have evolved to the point that idiots would even be capable of being dumb enough to cliam we shouldnt eat meat

I went through a similar experience myself, except I tried the "raw food cleanse." On the last day, I threw in the towel, and I don't feel bad about it. I wrote about the experience, which was featured on Wordpress' "Freshly Pressed." You can read about it here: http://teamawesomesquared.wordpress.com/2010/09/25/sacrilege-why-the-raw-food-diet-sucks/

A co-worker did a modified form of the this cleansing diet. He said the worst part was the first couple of days was the worst and after that it was fine. One time he was on it for like a month and lost 50lbs or so. He seemed healthy to me and was in good spirits. The only odd thing was he constantly had lemons in his cube so it had a lemony fresh scent.

I don't know what the modifications were. I do remember him saying that something was added to add some amino acids.

This reminds me of a series done by the BBC called the truth about food. An experiment done on a group of girls had half on a specially designed detox diet for a week while the rest ate normally. Tests before and after showed no difference in 'toxicity' levels for either of the groups. Apparently our livers and kidneys don't need help from garlic, beetroot and cucumber smoothies..

I did the lemon-cayenne-syrup thing once for ten days. I actually felt great while doing it, but it got kind of boring.

I did it before Taubes even had the idea for his book, let alone write it, let alone me read it.

No way I could ever commit to this program. I know a lot of people that used this method of cleansing to lose weight. Just not for me.
Blessings,
Ron

Hello everyone how are you? I like this blog.

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I really thing all the attention around The governators love child lately is insane. Please leave the little guy alone..maybe The Governator should answer questions, but leave the kid alone.