My friend was in her mid fifties as she rambled on about cleansing diets and detoxification. Out of respect for the fact she was older than I, my initial ridicule was stuffed back down my throat and I politely listened. She began to talk about these cleansing processes that initially I thought sounded rather barbaric. Milk thistle just sounded like something prickly to drink. But apparently it was part of this cleansing diet she was speaking about, so again, I nodded politely.

The detox diet has come under harsh scrutiny over the past few months. There are ample claims that the only weight lost is the water weight form the initial fast and the natural weight loss occurs from cutting caloric intake. The detox diet is quite restrictive, to the point where some people are calling it a starvation diet. There have been countless articles written by “experts” that state that the detox diet endangers people, stating that it creates yo-yo dieting, an unhealthy relationship with food, and even can contribute to the development of an eating disorder.

It seems like the latest craze in dieting and health, everywhere you turn there are commercials, infomercials, magazine articles, and of course, sales pitches regarding the Detox diet. So how is one to decipher whether detoxification is a relative need or a simple promotion to assist the diet industrys billion dollar a year sales?