To Cleanse or Not to Cleanse

Jen over at Prior Fat Girl is debating whether or not to embark on a cleanse. Check it out here: http://www.priorfatgirl.com/

As those of you know who have been following my blog for a while, I'm a huge fan of cleanses to detoxify and help control weight. While I've never done anything as extreme as the Master Cleanse, I have done juice fasts for up to five days, and have gone completely raw vegan for up to three weeks.

I've also done milder cleanses that involved nothing more then eliminating alcohol, and caffeine and severely limiting my intake of meat, wheat and non-whole grains. Usually when I go this route I supplement it with a colon cleaning product.

I naturally piped in over at the discussion at Prior Fat Girl to discuss the positive results I've seen from embarking on cleanses. After all, why deny yourself solid food for 2 or 3 days time and time again if you don't see any benefits?

What surprised me was that the majority of comments, other than mine, were positively hostile to the idea of a cleanse. Even more amazing, not one of the hostile commentators had apparently ever done a cleanse. At least no one ever owned up to it.

The other interesting fact was that the few commentators who had done cleanses (like me), all praised them.

It's a reaction I've seen before. Whenever Gwyneth Paltrow discusses her cleanses on her website, GOOP, it always seems to draw a lot of criticism. But, why would a big movie star like Paltrow put herself through the ridicule if she didn't think the cleanse worked?

I guess you have to put this in the don't knock it until you've tried it category.

There are all types of cleanses, if you can find one that works for you, I say at least try it.