SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) Cleanses, detox, whatever you want to call it, it’s all the rage in Hollywood from Angelina to Oprah. A myriad of drinks, powders, pills and colonics that are meant to flush impurities such as pollution, old medication, and even food, out of the body are being used in an attempt to lose weight and have more energy.
Connie Carbary believes in detoxing. Every few months she visits a detox center where a certified colon hydro-therapist trickles warm water slowly into the six feet of her lower intestine and the flushes is out…along with digested food that never made it out on its own. She says “you feel less bloated, your stomach feels flatter, and the scales go down. I’ve dropped as much as like seven to eight pounds in just one day.”
That’s just one way to cleanse. There are drinkable cleanses, including lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper, which is very popular with celebrities. You drink it and nothing else for a week. Oprah made the Acai berry cleanse popular when she talked it about it on her show. Jeffrey Jucha owns a specialty store that deals specifically with weight loss and detox. He says” We have hundreds that come in because physicians sent them here to get either detox or other supplements we carry.”
But, gastroenterologist, Kevin Olden says the body doesn’t really need to help moving things along, and detoxing isn’t necessary. “The body was designed to prevent toxins form getting into your liver, your kidneys and parts of your intestinal tract.” He says detoxing can also cause problems. Dr. Olden says side effects like diarrhea are common and he is concerned the process can remove the good bacteria lining the walls of the colon. “The natural barrier that exists between the outside environment and the inside of your body is disrupted and actually make you more vulnerable.”
