detox diets

UK woman Dawn Page has been awarded £810,000 (1.6M USD) in damages from her nutritionist Barbara Nash.

Mrs Page started the "Amazing Hydration Diet" in order to lose weight. She ended up suffering a "massive epileptic fit and brain damage caused by severe sodium deficiency."

Oprah Winfrey frequently discusses dieting issues - often going as far as teaming up with particular weight loss regimes (such as YOU: on a diet, or the Best Life Diet).

Recently Oprah embarked on a 21 day vegan 'cleansing' regime and blogged about it. It makes interesting reading.

Detoxing and cleansing are big business. And why wouldn't it be? The promise of fast weight loss, removing toxins, improving digestion and fighting just about every ailment known to mankind is pretty enticing. I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of the phenomenon. I think that detox and cleansing promoters use deceptive and fear-based marketing to promote protocols that are unnecessary, ineffective over the long run and potentially dangerous.

Perhaps you or someone you know is faced with the "to detox or not" conundrum. Here are 4 rationalizations people tend to give for fasting, accompanied by a counter argument.

The title alone is enough to make even the most casual of skeptics cringe. It would appear the title is also enough to send people flocking in droves to their local bookstores (21 days debuted at #3 on the NY Times Bestseller list). Let's take a look at what people will find beyond the very alluring cover...

The UltraSimple Diet is a new book from Dr Mark Hyman, author of the bestseller UltraMetabolism.

UltraSimple is a 7 day program that seeks to address toxicity and inflammation. Hyman believes that these two factors are the reason why many people struggle with obesity.

Here is a rundown of the diet:

The Food Doctor Diet has been around in the UK for a number of years. Recently the diet has been promoted in an on-line format.

I purchased this book a while ago (from a bargain bin) - and found it to be quite an easy and helpful read.

Fads come and go - but this one just keeps on coming. Stanley Burrough's "Master Cleanser" (aka Lemonade Diet) continues to garner attention from all over the place.

Recently Beyoncé Knowles admitted to using a "Maple Syrup detox" (which led to a huge surge in popularity). Now the diet has even attracted the attention of the NY Times.