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Cleansing without fasting
Written by Michael Asu   
Cleansing diets often get a lot of criticism from mainstream medical professionals because many of them require dieters to fast or only consume a very limited form of sustenance over the course of the diet, causing nutritional deficiencies as dieters are not getting some essential nutrients.

The critics make a good point, but there is a way you can enjoy the benefits of a cleansing diet without missing out on the nutrients and vitamins your body needs. Not all detoxification programs require fasting or severely limited food intake. There are a variety of cleansing programs that allow dieters to eat a balanced diet while purging themselves of toxins at the same time.

Detox diets are a highly controversial subject in the medical community. While there's lots of anecdotal evidence that suggests cleansing diets are effective in helping dieters lose weight and enjoy better health thanks to the elimination of toxins that accumulate in the body. very little scientific evidence exists to support cleansing diet advocates' theories.

What is a cleansing diet

Cleansing diets are intended to help rid the body of toxins that accumulate through everyday consumption of food and exposure to pollutants such as cigarette smoke. Advocates of cleansing diets believe that these toxins can significantly impair health, resulting in headaches, fatigue, digestive problems and obesity, among other problems.

The body naturally purges itself of waste and toxins via the kidneys and liver, among other organs. The liver filters waste and converts it into bile or processes it into the blood. The bile is excreted as feces, the blood goes to the kidneys where it is filtered and waste products are excreted as urine. Advocates of cleansing diets say cutting out toxin-bearing foods and flushing out the system with a water, fruit or vegetable juice or other specialized diet will help the liver and kidneys clear out accumulated toxins that have built up over a long period of time.

The most common detox diets require dieters to fast for a day and then follow up with several days of consuming only a very limited amount of raw vegetables and fruits or other concoctions for sustenance. Many mainstream medical professionals have criticized this approach, saying that it keeps dieters from receiving the nutrients their bodies need and can result in other health problems. It's also believed that fasting can cause the metabolism to slow down, resulting in dieters gaining back weight quickly after they complete the cleansing diet.

Detox without losing nutrients

Luckily, there are a number of cleansing diets that are less severe than some of the more rigid diets that require fasting. Here's a few guidelines that will allow you to cleanse without suffering some of the negative impacts of fasting.
  • Reduce or eliminate meat, fish and dairy products for several days. Substitute tofu or meat alternatives.
  • Avoid processed foods or simple carbs, sticking instead to raw vegetables and organic fruits. Make sure any juice you drink is freshly squeezed and not a bottled fruit drink.
  • If you need to eat cooked food, eat brown rice. It has lots of fiber, aiding you to purge toxins, and it will help you feel fuller and less hungry.
  • When you're ready to move back to a regular diet, take it slow, gradually reintroducing cooked foods. To keep the weight loss you earned during your diet, eat a more healthy selection of foods and exercise more often.
One example of a "detox-lite" diet is the grapefruit diet. In the grapefruit diet, dieters drink about four ounces of grapefruit juice or eat half a grapefruit with every meal. Meals are planned to reduce calories. A 2006 Florida Department of Citrus study found that participants in the grape fruit diet had an average weight loss of more than three pounds in 12 weeks. Researchers believe the addition of grapefruit resulted in lower insulin levels which helped provide the weight loss.

Also, to further prevent nutritional deficiencies during a detox diet, you may want to consider taking dietary supplements or vitamins. A good multi-vitamin can help head off some of the nutritional deficiencies that may arise from a cleansing diet.

Many people believe they have benefited from undergoing a cleansing regimen. You too can reap these benefits if you diet responsibly. Consult with a medical professional before trying a detox diet, and avoid the diet if you have heart or liver problems or are pregnant or nursing.

With a moderate and sensible detoxification program, you can enjoy the benefits of body cleansing without running some of the risks involved with more severe detoxification plans.
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