Recently I've read and heard many ideas on the subject of detoxing. While I believe that it's true (to a certain extent), I find it hard to believe completely. I am of the impression that our bodies tend to work as they are supposed to. Now when we abuse them, of course they won't work as well as they were made to.
Anyhow, a friend recently told me that when she's become consumed with eating her biggest weakness (which is also mine) of fast food, she stops eating for a couple of days and goes on a liquid diet consisting mainly of 100% fruit juice and water. She says that this helps her to re-set and stop eating the fast food. While I have to say this sounds a bit extreme, I also have to agree that it sounds like something that could work for some people. While I would never, ever condone not eating, I would say that some sort of something along these lines could be a good starting point for some people.

I wanted to throw this out here to get some feedback from you all. How do you break your bad pattern when you fall into it? Do you believe in detoxing? If so, to what extent?
Please feel free to share any other thoughts. And thanks for the feedback!

I think a period of eating nothing even remotely bad for you can do your body a lot of good, both physically and mentally (appetite and cravings). But I don't personally think that shocking the system does it any good. I don't even want to think about what suddenly and drastically reducing my fiber intake would do to me, or how fun it would be to build it back up to my high intake after a juice fast! I suppose the advantage is that it accomplishes cutting out the fast food while making your food choices extremely simple.

There are many, many studies out there that debunk the notion of "detoxing".

I have done juice fasts in the past, but it's more of a mental "cleansing" than anything. Recently, I've found that my body is at it's very best when I'm not depriving it of what it needs, whether by not eating or putting unhealthy foods into it.

Also, I wonder what the good of doing a fast would be if your friend just goes back to eating fast food all the time?

Really, eating whole foods is all your body needs to "cleanse itself. Promise

That sounds insane to me- why not just eat healthy? If you eat out one day spend the next 2-3 days making sure you eat healthy and it'll balance out.

OR just have small fast food meals. Like for me- if I have fast food I don't have soda, I get a small fry and enjoy the sandwhich- that's it. I got my fix and then go back to my diet. I still eat out 2-3 times a week but overall they are healthier meals, but once a month I'll have a chicken sandwhich or jr. burger or something.

I don't understand why she doesn't just stop eating fast food or at least drastically cut back rather than going on a liquid diet? I guess I don't understand how this would "re-set" you or your body. To me it almost sounds like a punishment for eating fast food. And then, once she's done with the liquid diet, does she go back to eating fast food? That seems counterproductive.

I took a nutrition class in college and it was VERY fascinating about how nutrients from your typical vegetable, fruit, protein and whole grain provides the complete nutrition that your body needs to function. Like Junebug said, eating clean, whole foods is all you really need to "detox."

apart from the obvious problems in "detoxing", wouldnt you actually be "cleaner" if you ate the fruit, rather than just drinking the juice? since juice is pretty sugar heavy, so with fruit you would have less sugar, feel fuller, and have more fibre?

Probably, Icon.

I have days when I just don't want to eat - last Thursday/Friday, for example. TOM was in full swing, I wasn't hungry, and the thought of food made me sick. However, I know that if I don't eat, my metabolism just stops, so I forced myself to eat some veggie burgers. Granted, both days I probably averaged 800 calories or so, but if you STOP eating, your body just shuts down, so I don't see how "cleansing" that is...

I also have a friend who believes in cleanses - she does these juice cleanses, 8 juices a day (different juices at different times) and she says she feels "energized" afterwards - I personally think its because she doesn't eat enough fruits/vegetables anyway, so the addition of all the vitamins makes her feel 100% better, and she thinks its because she's not actually eating anything.

The moral of the story is - detoxing is a myth - if you want to cleanse your body, just eat healthy, whole foods.