over 40 looking to lose 8lbs? cleansing diets

ever since I hit 42  and changed careers I've started packing on the pounds it's soo hard to take them off. I stick to it for 24 hours then head right for the chocolate. I'm really small 4"10 and my bet only getting shorter from here. I've noticed I just can't take the weight off it seems so tough.Any suggestions? Any thoughts on cleansing diets?

Double post.

jhealynyad, i may be reading your posts wrong, sometimes it's hard to judge online. however, it seems to me that your responses seem to lack a certain level of tact. your first response was basically a hurl of insults to anyone who feels that a cleanse may be beneficial to them.

i speak only for the master cleanse and for my experience in saying that it was beneficial for me and that i would recommend it to a responsible adult who read the book and thought they might benefit from it. i have made no magical claims on it's behalf.

we can sit and argue about how many toxins and what kind of toxins the body stores etc. really the bottom line is that we agree that the body stores some level of toxins.

i think that calling it laxative abuse and saying that anyone who does it is gullible and credulous, well, i guess that's your disrespectful way of stating your opinion. no wonder people don't like to debate on this thing.

hkellick, i agree with your response. and it was respectuful. the master cleanse definitely does not access the fat and it is not a diet to lose weight. one of the causes of digestive disorders is said to be toxins in the intestinal tract from chemicals or contaminates in unnatural foods and substances. and people without proper nutrition are less likely to detoxify and eliminate these various toxins. so to this effect, i feel the master cleanse to be positive. not to eiminate toxins in fat but to cleanse the intestines of stored toxins. can it be done naturally over time with a change of diet and added fiber, i don't doubt it for a second.

I guess that makes me disrespectful, then.  Oh well.  Respect is earned, not a right.  Civility and courtesy are due, yes.  And in that aspect I may fall short.  I apologise.

I'd have to say that pseudoscience and quackery is one of my hot-buttons in life.  It makes me irritated to see the same unfounded statements repeated as though they were well-tested hypotheses with loads of peer-reviewed evidence.  People who believe things without checking sources and applying critical thinking are gullible and credulous.  It's the classic definition.

There's also the added factor of the Placebo effect.  People believe using XYZ will help them, and they feel better when they do use XYZ because they believe they should.  It's a well documented phenomenon and a fascinating study in and of itself.

Again, I'm not standing in anyone's way from doing what they want to their bodies.  But I have the right and I think the responsibility to point out possibly harmful or just plain false health claims.  If you have documented evidence that what I say is not true, I'd love to read it.  Link me to Pub-med!  I've been wrong before, I'll be wrong many times again.

One more point, and then I'll hop off this soap box. 

Laxative abuse.  Yes.  Taking laxatives for days to cleanse your body is abusing laxatives. Using them in a manner which they are not intended to be used and causing possible harm.  It's not an insult, it's a proper term.

Weighing in on the "cleansing diet" debate...it's my understanding that the most dangerous toxins in your body are free radicals.  Free radicals have been implicated in cancer, heart disease, aging and arthritis.  And the best strategy for mopping up these toxins is not fasting (which is essentially what you're doing by only giving your body spicy maple syrup lemonade for a week) but rather the consumption of fruits and vegetables containing antioxidants. 

On that note, I think the one greatest downfall of calorie-count.com is that food is only analyzed on the basis of calories, fat, protein and carbs, and, as a result, the grades assigned to food don't take into account all of the important biochemical components (too numerous and varied to mention) of fruits and veggies. 

I love the idea of having an "antioxidant score" attached to foods!  That would provide a way to measure an important aspect of healthy eating, yeah?

That's true... I wish that there were more ways to measure the value of foods and a percentages pie chart for vitamins and minerals, etc.

I don't want to take away from the fabulous work Eric and Igor have done here. They'll probably get to that eventually!

In the meantime, NutritionData is a great resource for just that sort of information. 

Before CC had the recipe tool, I went there to figure out homecooked meals.  They have tools for finding foods by nutrients, breakdowns of amino acid content, all kinds of goodies.  Check 'em out!

Will do, nyad! Thanks!

for sure respect is earned. i just don't agree with hurling insults just because you don't agree. no worries though. i am not much for going in circles, i have stated my view on the subject and i respect your opinion.

i think an antioxidant measurement would be awesome as well. i have never been to that website, i will have to check it out.

oh yeah. greentomato, while i did enjoy the master cleanse when i did it, i def don;t recommend it as a diet or a way to lose weight. i know it's tough and some cleanses may make it sound as though the weight will just melt off, but it's mostly water weight and you will be equally frustrated when it comes back on.  since your new career, your lifestyle may have changed, it may take longer, but with hard work it will come off.

discussion of ideas and knowledge and opinions encouraged ~ it's how we all grow in our thinking :)

hopefully, calorie-count will remain a community where people can discuss ideas without being ridiculed or bashed.

disagreement is natural and is not the same as personal attacks, ridiculing or bashing other posters...

so courtesy, civility and all that is gr8tly appreciated...

cheers :)

Thanks for the heads up on the NutritionData website...I'll check it out!

I'm really surprised to see so many comments on a subject that it is obvious from the comments that no one has actually ever cleansed.

On the other hand, I did find at one of the links posted here, at the HPS site, HUNDREDS OF cleansing program reviews from actual cleansers at their live forums! Reviews and testimonials from people who not only cleansed with them once, but twice, three times, four times and more...

Now, if everything written in this post, by causal observers, was written by people who actually cleansed-detoxed, well, then, I would place some value on it... but they are not... so instead of us all just voicing baseless opinions, why don't we all listen to those who walk the talk... see here what I mean --> Close to 300 different program reviews at their forums!!!!

http://hpscleansing.com/group/forumdisplay.ph p?f=4

How can we argue with that?

lol

i beg to differ mike, i've done the master cleanse, and it worked wonders for me...until a couple days after i started and began feeling sick lol

Mike, following that logic, I can make the following analogy:

Have you ever tried the 10-day mud-pack cure?  It's totally awesome!  You get this special clay, mix in some tupelo honey and certain herbs, and apply it to your head for 10 days!  Sure your head gets hot and it gets in your eyes, but that just means it's removing all those scalp toxins.  Don't believe me?  I have a whole ton of people who swear by the 10-day mud pack cure!  It reduces the tendency towards baldness, and you can grow potatoes while you're at it.  People say that, and I feel it must be true.

You know, until someone does a controlled study of these claims, I'm just not buying it.  I don't have to pile mud on my head or drink cayenne-maple-lemon water for 10 days to be able to search the medical studies and ascertain that the claims being made have no actual, verifiable truth.  That's really all there is to it. 

There's a phrase that we should all remember when evalutating the claims of any health program:  " The Plural of Anecdote is not Data".

I tend to believe the reviews from places who are reputable like the MayoClinic in the link posted earlier.  Cleansing may have useful purposes for medical tests but not for weight loss.  All you lose is waterweight and the waste products that are replaced as soon as you start eating and drinking again.  Why go through the pain for a few lbs that zip right back on?

as far as i know, cleansing diets are not meant as a means of weight loss. i have only done the master cleanse and the purpose of that one is to shed some toxins from your intestinal track. granted over the course of 2 weeks, you will shed a few pounds, but they will come back on as you resume your diet.

Although I'm dubious about the ability of a cleansing diet to actually "detoxify" your body, I think that the tactic may work for some people with regard to weight loss.  By going on such a diet, you will certainly lose a lot of weight very quickly, and if this is the kick in the pants you need to start your diet and start thinking about healthy foods, then I say, hey, go for it. 

There also seems to be a sort of "starvation-induced euphoria" that some people experience during a fast, which may be why some people rave about cleansing diets.  My husband's secretary does a two-week fast once or twice a year ,and she claims that it makes her very creative and that she writes a lot of poetry during this time.  On the other hand, my husband says she's completely spacy while fasting, and anything that she does do workwise has to be repeated once she's gone off the diet and actually started fueling her brain again.

So I guess my point is, if you're looking for a peyote-type experience without having to consult your local drug dealer, maybe this is the thing for you. 

I'm off now to go look for my cayenne pepper and lemons....;-)