Cleansing...What Up With That?

It seems that every site you go to on the internet these days has an ad for cleansing?  Especially Oprah's acai berry cleanse.  Well, I'm not so sure that it's working for her cuz she's back up to two hundred pounds.  But I'm also thinking that I may not know what the hell I'm talkin' bout, too!  

Could someone please explain what a cleanse is and why you need it?  And if they help with weight loss, is that permanent or temporary?

I seem to have an abundance of ignorance on the subject, so any knowledge would be appreciated.

Mary

Some mean it in regards to clearing the colon (ie a reeeeally good dump) , others mean it removing toxins from the body.  Either way, it's all a scam.... and there are many suckers.  If you know health science, you'll see the baloney for what it is.

From what I've heard about cleansing, I agree. I've asked my doctor, and she said that in the case of colon cleanses, the intestines do exactly what the product claims to do anyway. And with toxin cleansing you may loose weight, but it's all water weight and when you go back to eating normal food, the weight comes right back.

I've heard the same thing.  But with all of these adds bombarding me, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something new and different that I needed to make sure that I'm not full of sh*t!  Don't even go there, girlee!!!

Mary 

Hey Jerze, first I wanted to thank you for replying to Chris and I about our exercise motivation questions.  And you're right, the results make it all worth it.  I just wish I didn't have to beat myself up to MAKE me do it!

Well, I know about detoxification and probiotics and that makes sense to me to balance the flora in your intestines, but that's why I asked about 'cleansing' cuz it seems different and anytime it's something being sold on a site about Judy's weight loss blog, you know it has to be questionable!  

Mary

Wow, has Oprah put all the weight she dropped back on?

Girl, here in the U.S., Oprah's weight makes the news, not just the tabloids!  At her highest weight, years ago, she weighed 238, so technically, she hasn't put it ALL back on, but she is getting a li'l chunkee. 

I always used to say that if I had her money, and a chef, and a personal trainer who came to my house, that I could lose the weight, too.  But I guess that just goes to show that if you don't get your head straight about your own personal emotional issues with food, then all of that other stuff is never going to help you in the long run. 

And back in the day when I weighed 320 pounds, I NEVER would have guessed that there would come a time when I would be in better shape than Oprah!    I hope for her sake that she can get it all together and keep it off.  But in her defense, I'm finding out that maintenance is just as hard as losing...man, this just never ends!

Mary

I love Oprah's honesty - she represents most all of us, i think on this one:  she really is every woman in that when she does not concentrate on her health, she gets fat.

She got very defensive one time when an audience member said just what you said:  a chef, a trainer, blah blah blah, Oprah said it still is up to her - and each of us on whether those tools will get the job done and help it stay done. It could also be argued, fairly or not that she has more temptations to go off plan!  Look at her dance card!  Party after party.

That oughta be GREAT encourgaement to those here who cannot afford the gyms, the trainers, the pills, the bariatric visits. Weight loss takes soemthing else:  no mystery here, it's called work!

  Neece, I've been thinking about this long and hard because I don't think it's up to me to sit here and be in judgement of another person's weight loss efforts.  But I think I'm going to stick to my original assesment.  Yes she goes to parties, but those are mostly all business occassions and I doubt if she even eats at them.  For one, she rarely lets the press see her eat in public and Bob Greene has probably already dropped the bug in her ear about eating BEFORE you go to a social occassion. 

But good grief, if you had Bob Greene's brain to pick while he was working your ass off, well let's just say it's an advantage that you and I will never have.  And how many hours do we consume in a week planning diet meals, cooking diet meals and cleaning up after diet meals?  How great would it be not to ever go in the kitchen, just have someone serve you nutritional meals in the dining room.  And I won't even mention the stress of making it through the grocery store with all of the temptation going on up in there.  Now they have a restaurant in mine and I'm pretty sure I gain weight just smelling that pizza baking.

Oh, and let's not even mention having access to Dr. Phil to help you do the mind work!

I'm trying to be generous here, but I'm sorry if I'm having a hard time with her getting defensive.  The woman has a HUGE advantage over the average dieter!  She's made a lot of money promoting dieting and judging other people's methods, so I don't feel so bad about judging hers.

Mary   

Okay, I have Acai berry pill, and the colox cleansing and it did nothing for me. Not even the colon cleanser, All I had to pay was the shipping and handling for each item. It wasnt worth it, every website I found about so and so's blog it was for the acai, and colon cleanser and the people had the same wording, stories, etc. as the last person. Anyway Atkins is the only thing that has given me the results I want. You are right about oprah, it just shows that money can not buy everything. Just like all of the celebrities that have some sort of addiction problems, money only buys their addiction not the cure for it, you have to want to do and commit to it, I strongly beleive eating bad stuff can become an addiction. Only you can concure that addiction no one else.