You have seen influencers such as Kylie Jenner or Gwyneth Paltrow draped in space blankets , sipping exotic teas, and covering their faces with the best new products being developed to detox your body. Or so they claim. But do these products work? Or is this just another form of capitalism preying on the consumers fears to make another dollar. I will introduce a few fab cleanses as well as dive into the debate about if these cleanses are worth the money.
The Juice
No, I am not talking about the same juice associated with Mark McGuire and Jose Canseco. Over the past year “juicing” is the new fab cleanse that everyone has heard of and wanting to try. Celebrities such as Simon Cowell have sworn juice detox’s work, but is this just a short-term effect?
Most juice cleanses are a break from all solid food, usually lasting between three and ten days. Most juices are comprised of low calories and jam packed full of vitamins and minerals. Most believe the juice cleanse to be a purging of your bad eating habits and kind of a reset for the body. Juicing is a great way to incorporate healthy aspects into your diet, but expecting the juice to be a “be all, fix all” is a bit far fetched. You can check out one of our previous blogs “6 Ways to Develop Healthy Habits” where I dive deeper into ways to start developing healthy habits and a week juice detox is not recommended for long term results. Juicing may be a good way to lose weight and improve your wellness in the short-term, but eventually you will have to modify your diet to incorporate protein and other essential nutrients.
The problem with juice cleanses is not the composition of the juice, it’s the failure to properly change someone’s eating habits. A lot of people revert to their bad eating habits and end up buying one, two, maybe even three more juice cleanses down the road because they don’t see any long-term results. Something the juice companies are thankful for.
Beyoncé’s Maple Syrup Drink Cleanse
This drink cleanse became very popular when Beyoncé reported she lost 20 pounds with this drink prior to her filming of Dreamgirls. When Beyoncé says something, you can expect her fans and others to listen. The cleanse took off and even was tested on a television program “How to Lose Weight Well.” The cleanse seems very simple. All you do is: mix Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup with water, lemon juice and cayenne pepper, then drink the concoction instead of eating meals. When I first saw this, I questioned if a human could live off maple syrup and cayenne pepper without passing out everyday? At least the juice drinks had vegetables and other minerals. The extreme nature of this cleanse seems the reason Beyoncé was able to lose weight fast, but just like the juice, sooner or later you are going to need to eat protein. It seems like most of these cleanses so far have one common theme, Drink instead of eat. The composition of the drinks may be different due to varying opinions about what works, but really, you’re just not eating crappy food anymore.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop
If you haven’t heard of Gwyneth Paltrow or her multimillion-dollar health website Goop, then you probably don’t have many female friends. Goop has become one of the most popular digital lifestyle and health websites in the U.S. and coins itself as a “modern lifestyle brand.” Goop tries to separate themselves from the typical juice cleanse by offering content centered around making a complete lifestyle change as well as providing detox and beauty supplements. From food recipes, to meditation tips and even a podcast on wellness.
They seem to not just shove a product down your face. It is true, they offer more than just a product, but a business doesn’t survive without sales and Goop offers a wide range of products. Some examples of the products Goop sell are bee venom face masks, fruit acid face cleansers, and detox kits. I don’t have the scientific studies in front of me to tell you that bee venom actually helps your skin, but is it that much better than the other hundred skin products out there? Does the skin product or your form of a detox drink really differ from all the others? Recently, Goop came under fire for comments Paltrow made stating that everyone should strive for their “leanest livable weight.” Many medical professionals have discredited her statement and criticized her recommendations saying she is misleading her audience and promoting unhealthy habits. Which brings me to my next question. Can we really believe what these health websites and celebrities are telling us?
According to a NY Post article, all these cleanses could be a load of crap! “Your liver and kidneys are the best detox systems known to humans,” says Dr. Ryan Marino, an emergency room physician and medical toxicologist at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Companies that hawk detox products “prey on fears” and “are trying to profit from people’s lack of truthful information” about what’s happening in their own bodies, Marino says.
It makes sense! I have always wondered if these detox supplements or cleansing products worked, why isn\’t every doctor telling their patients to do them? When someone finally wants to make a change in their diet, juicing healthy foods would in fact make you feel better and even lose weight. The problem is, when you finally do go back to a normal diet, you will gain all the weight back. The only way to counteract falling back into the bad habits is make a permanent change. If you can\’t do it by yourself, you may want to consider teaming up with a personal trainer to help.
Each one of these fab new trends has something in common. They want you to buy \”all in\” on the product because you have failed so many times to lose weight or change your unhealthy habits. They know you can’t live off the juice drink or magically make you younger with a new face cream, so they know you will be back a second time. Do we really want to make a lifestyle change for the better? Or do we just want to look like Brad Pitt without doing any work?
If you are having trouble obtaining the right mentality to make a change, you may want to consider working with a personal trainer!
Come in to Iron Orr Fitness Center today to receive a FREE Complimentary Consultation. We will give you a medical grade body composition test, a 20min workout/evaluation with one of our certified personal trainers and develop a plan to help you reach your fitness goals.
Iron Orr Fitness was voted Top 5 Best Personal Trainers in La Jolla. Call (858) 255-0367