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Hi everyone, I'm just curious, has anyone heard of this diet or had any success with it? It seems like a solid plan to kick start weightloss. Please share any information you have thanks!
I've never tried this diet...but anytime I see the words "fast" and "detox" my BS detector goes WAY up.
I see it's a book by Ann Gittleman - the entire title is The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet: Boost metabolism, get rid of fattening toxins, safely lose up to 8 pounds overnight and keep them off for good
Warning sign: "Lose up to 8 pounds overnight"? Sorry - not possible - unless that's 8 pounds of WATER, which of course comes back once you rehydrate. Short of chopping off an arm or leg, there's no way you can lose 8 lbs of fat overnight.
Another warning sign: "get rid of 'fattening toxins'"? WTF is a "fattening toxin"?
In reading the synopsis at Amazon, I see that this is actually an ELEVEN day crash diet, with the first day set as a juice fast drinking what the author calls a 'miracle juice'.
And okay, I'm sure Gittleman has a ton of admirers who will probably jump on this saying how great fat flush is and how she's a certified nutritionist and all that (after all, according to her own website - where she markets a dizzying array of books and products including a 7 day Fat Flush cruise and "Fat Flush Tortillas" - she is the self-described "first lady of nutrition", so who am I to say otherwise? ). To me, however, she is essentially a profiteer - she takes some factual information and wraps it up in a lot of hooey, using her credentials as a 'certified nutritionist' to do the hard sell.
Here's a portion of the Amazon book synopsis as to what the diet entails:
Quote:
THE PREQUEL: Seven days of adding detox support foods to your diet to prepare your body for the one-day Fast
THE FAST: One day of sipping Gittleman’s “Miracle Juice,” a deliciously spiced mixture of herbs and spices specially designed to stave off hunger, balance blood sugar, boost metabolism, and replenish nutrients (no kidding, the juice is completely delicious)
THE SEQUEL: Three days of reintroducing supportive and immune-boosting foods into your diet to seal in the results
That’s all. There’s no need for a strict maintenance plan or more dieting because the Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet purges your body of fattening toxins so that you’ll keep losing weight once you’re finished.
That I find VERY hard to believe - after you do the detox you just keep magically losing weight. Hmmmmmmrrrrriiigght.
On the bright side, since it's a book, you can probably check it out from your library for free.
Basically, this appears to be nothing more than a crash diet.
I've never really understood what a "detox diet" is. Why do people want to "detox" all the time and what does it have to do with weight loss? Why (in the absence of a medical problem) is it necessary to go on juice fasts to "detox" when the body is perfectly designed to digest solid food?
I guess the (twisted) logic is that if one were addicted to drugs or alcohol, they would go through a 'detox'. So taking that another step...if you're 'addicted' to food, then you would go through a 'food detox'.
The products and programs I've seen that push the 'detox' route generally include some sort of juice fast involving 'natural' laxatives and diuretics.
Just as an example - Suzanne wrote this response last year to another 'detox' diet product that a member inquired about:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzanne 3FC
I It's easy to get sucked into the fabulous claims, the glitter of semi-celebrity endorsements, and to ignore that little voice inside that makes us want to question the claims. The fact that it is pyramid marketing is a HUGE red flag as to the quality of the product. Their focus is sales, not your health. They train people to make it sound like a miracle product, and it's your lucky day when you have the chance to buy it. It's a well designed sales pitch, and they generally learn techniques of high pressure sales.
One of the biggest scams today is the idea of cleansing, or detox. The body naturally cleanses itself, and is very well designed for it It's all a marketing gimmick. If you really did have toxins in your system, you'd better get yourself to a doctor or hospital, fast! Instead, they use the generic term "toxins" as a scare tactic, but they never tell what those mysterious toxins are, what they do, or provide ANY scientific tests or peer reviewed clinical studies to prove these claims.
As for the rest of their products, I don't see anything listed which would be useful, and their claims do not appear to be valid. Some ingredients have been shown not to be effective, others have been shown to be dangerous. Others have nothing to do with weight loss anyway.
Upon closer scrutiny of Gittleman's site, I see that she is selling quite a few products I would consider laxatives/diuretics - and high-priced ones at that, with ingredients that are in products you can get at any drugstore for a LOT less $$ (along with other products sporting dubious claims). Some of the products she sells purport to 'help clear the body of worms such as tapeworm, roundworm, pinworm, flukes and threadworm'. I'm not a doctor, but I think it's safe to say that if you think you have worms in your body, then you'd be best served by going to your PCP - see this link regarding diagnosis and treatment of tapeworm infestations for example.
She also sells 'test kits' - how about a Parasite Test Kit for *$175.00* that suggests you repeat the test every 2-3 months?? Or saliva tests for $80 - $220??
Like I said, I'm sure she's making quite a profit, with people who think she's 'all that' due to the fact that Gittleman portrays herself in the media as an expert (if not THE expert - "First Lady of Nutrition" - maybe she should get together with Tony Little "America's Personal Trainer" and run for office or something. ).
And if you feel you need to be tested for "parasites" then go to your personal physician - who KNOWS you personally - and have a PROPER test done, rather than order it from some Ph.D's website who doesn't know you from Adam. After all, if you DO order the tests and they DO come out positive, wouldn't you go to your doctor ANYWAY?
Like I said previously...IMO she's using her 'professional' creds, along with SOME valid information, to sell her overpriced, dubious products to a gullible public. (I'm sure that there will be posts in response testifying how they lost x number of pounds on Fat Flush or even this fast, which wouldn't surprise me...if you reduce your calories enough (or take enough laxatives and diruetics while fasting) the scale will go down. It's being able to make lifestyle changes that you can maintain for a LIFETIME that count in the long run - to keep the weight off permanently is what MATTERS.
Re Tony Little, I had some of his very earliest exercise tapes a number of years ago ... they seemed ok, he was calm and everything ... have seen him on infomercials in recent years touting all sorts of things ... seems like a gym membership would be less expensive than spending money on this stuff.
Lately I've just seen his Geico Insurance commercials.
Thanks for all of your advice, next time I find myself in barnes and nobles, I might look at it, but not buy it .. I just thought it sounded interesting and wondered if anyone actually tried it. I was just hopeful I guess. The thing is, I guess I read about the fast track diet with a certain mind set because whenever I try to lose weight, even with healthy eating and exercising, the weight does not come off unless I literally do not eat... of course that's not healthy at all and I liked the idea of doing something to KICK START the weightloss as the fast track detox diet claimed, I guess it just stuck. But thanks for the reality check, I'm thinking more rationally now hehe. Well I will be sticking to my exercising and healthy eating
I'm not sure about the detox you are talking about, but recently my boyfriend got the news that his liver enzymes are 1485, where they should be below 100. They weren't too sure what caused it, could have been anything from Hepatitis to Mono, the doctor suggested a detox/cleanse to lower them (basically if he took tylenol, ibuprofen or drank any alcohol he could end up with permanent damage). He was on a detox/cleanse for 2 weeks, and we just got his liver enzymes back and they are almost back to normal. In this day and age most people put nasty things into their body, and it's hard to find cheap, organic foods, so all those pesticides have to be filtered through your liver, combined with eating fatty foods, not exercising enough, taking OTC drugs, it's extremely hard on your body. I think it's nice to strive to eat all organic foods, and nothing processed, but in absense of that, I do think your body needs a break. If it's in the form of a cleanse (definitely doctor approved), or eating only veggies and fruit for a few days, thats really your choice.
Quite a few people who are overweight get sinus problems, myself included, while taking 2-3 sinus pills helps get rid of them there is definitely an underlying problem. And since my liver enzymes have recently been discovered to be too high as well, I'm going to try a cleanse and see if I can kill two birds with one stone!
BTW - The doctor warned my bf that doing a cleanse that requires you to buy their products isn't safe, so she suggested one that doesn't.
Thats just my 2 cents! Everyone believes something different!
I thought I might toss in this as a point of reference. I didn't write it - it's from the news show 20/20
Quote:
April 8, 2005 — Diane Amidon, a nurse from upstate New York, shrunk from 218 pounds to 130 by faithfully following the Fat Flush Plan, one of the big crazes of 2003 created by diet guru Ann Louise Gittleman.
"I started with a size 22 to 24, and now I'm between a size 6 and an 8. And I never thought I would tell on public television my size," Amidon said.
Her husband, Doug, wanted to shed some pounds too. Trouble is, he lacked his wife's discipline.
"We were going in different directions. I was getting bigger, she was getting smaller," he said.
But now Gittleman has a brand new diet that even Doug Amidon could stick to. It's called the Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet. For Amidon, it's the way to jumpstart weight loss. And see results fast. "I lost 13 pounds in the first 11 days, which was a real good feeling," he said.
Gittleman says her "One-Day Detox Diet" is a new twist on crash diets.
"This was my opportunity to use a crash diet, but turn it around as a healthy crash diet," she said.
Is there such a thing as a healthy crash diet?
Gittleman says she thinks so. "Because what we've seen with individuals that are going on the program," she said, "is that they start to incorporate some very interesting and new techniques into their lives."
Those techniques include eating lots of fruits and leafy vegetables, and sprinkling it all with flaxseed and powdered psyllium husks commonly found in laxatives. It also calls for drinking what Gittleman calls "miracle juice" — a concoction of unsweetened cranberry juice, orange and lemon juice, all flavored with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
Yale Medical School's Dr. David Katz, an expert on nutrition, says Gittleman ignores the obvious: We're overweight because we eat too much and exercise too little. "You know it's not about cutting carbs and it's not about drinking miracle juice," he said. "It is about a healthful diet, and we have science to back that up. But that isn't sexy."
What is sexy? The lure of losing weight fast and easy.
"20/20" found four volunteers — all New York Daily News employees — who agreed to put Gittleman's One-Day Detox Diet to the test.
The News' editor in chief, Michael Cooke, agreed to give the diet a shot saying, "I once had a Canadian lumberjack physique and I want it back."
Cooke blamed his recent eight-pound weight gain on his move to New York and all its great cuisine.
Rookie reporter Veronika Belenkaya, who works the overnight shift, admitted to a love affair with the M&M dispenser. She wanted to lose 15 pounds.
The other volunteers are two buddies who work in ad sales, Kevin O'Brien and Joe Stella, who have found that wining and dining clients doesn't help the waistline.
At 312 pounds, O'Brien is a veteran dieter. He lost 40 pounds on a Weight Watchers program but gained 20 back. He was looking for a quick fix to get back on track.
It doesn't take long before the team hit its first snag. The diet isn't as simple as it sounds.
What's so confusing about a one-day diet? For starters, the diet actually takes 11 days. It kicks off with a week of eating a low-carb diet of fruits, vegetables, proteins and fats. The one-day part comes on Day 8 of the diet — a 24-hour "miracle juice" fast. This is followed by three more days of dieting.
Katz is skeptical about the plan. "This is very gimmicky and I think there is a lot of pseudo-science in the book. I think it preys on people's desperation," he said.
The "20/20" dieters weren't exactly desperate — but they became a little cranky when they had to give up coffee and other daily necessities. The diet calls for no caffeine, no dairy, no wheat, no sugar, no alcohol.
But the dieters hung in there.
Are We Toxic Time Bombs?
Finally, Day 8 arrived and it was time for the one-day fast Gittleman claims will flush out up to eight pounds of fattening toxins. Our dieters sipped miracle juice every other hour.
"The reality is so many of us are walking around as toxic time bombs," Gittleman said.
Toxic time bombs? Could this be? Well, no. Actually it's junk science, according to the country's leading nutrition experts. They all slammed Gittleman on the notion that toxins make you fat.
"This is ridiculous," said Dr. Robert Kushner of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
"There's no scientific evidence for this at all," said Dr. Donald Hensrud of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
"How did a crackpot like this get through to you?" asked Yale's Dr. Harlan Krumholz.
"I think it reeks of charlatanism," said Katz.
But their comments don't weigh heavy on our team. Twenty-four hours after the fast. It's time for the big weigh-in.
The outcome?
Cooke lost 3 pounds
Belenkaya lost 2 pounds
Stella dropped 8 pounds
And O'Brien shed 13 pounds.
But the book boasts you can lose 3 to 8 pounds in one day. "That is absolutely ridiculous unless you want to lose 8 pounds of water, which by the way, you better gain back in a big hurry or welcome to the world of kidney stones," Katz said. And what about the book's other claims?
Will the diet "detoxify" you?
"The body does not require a fast to detoxify itself," Katz said.
As far as boosting metabolism, Katz said, "the only thing that does that reliably is physical activity."
But Gittleman was unfazed by the criticisms. "I believe we really need a different way of looking at weight loss and the concept of a one-day fast, of a one-day diet, is not that strange. And it may in fact really inspire people to make lifestyle changes that will keep them on the healthiest track to eating," she said.
As for our team, it's unclear whether the diet will lead them toward a life of healthier nutrition. Belenkaya hated what she called an unrealistic diet. Cooke couldn't even finish the fast. Stella hung in there, complaining all the way. But only O'Brien says he learned something that might have a lasting impact.
The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet
thanks!
). To me, however, she is essentially a profiteer - she takes some factual information and wraps it up in a lot of hooey, using her credentials as a 'certified nutritionist' to do the hard sell.
). 
.. I just thought it sounded interesting and wondered if anyone actually tried it. I was just hopeful I guess. The thing is, I guess I read about the fast track diet with a certain mind set because whenever I try to lose weight, even with healthy eating and exercising, the weight does not come off unless I literally do not eat... of course that's not healthy at all and I liked the idea of doing something to KICK START the weightloss as the fast track detox diet claimed, I guess it just stuck. But thanks for the reality check, I'm thinking more rationally now hehe. Well I will be sticking to my exercising and healthy eating 
