As summer approaches, many students are thinking about slimming down with cleanse diets before they suit up.
However, Boston University specialists in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Services said extreme dieting can be very similar to crash dieting or fasting as the diets do not give the users enough nutrients to sustain healthy functioning.
A cleanse is a diet that people use to detoxify their systems to prepare for a more long-term plan of weight loss. One type of cleanse diet, the Raw Food Cleanse, directs dieters to only eat uncooked produce for about 10 days.
Some people said they prefer a more liquefied diet, such as the Master Cleanse, which consists exclusively of lemon juice, cayenne pepper, water and maple syrup accompanied by laxatives and salt water.
Others said they drink four to six cups of green tea each day to lose weight with the Green Tea Diet.
Stephanie Meyers, a SAR coordinating senior clinical nutritionist, does not advise the use of cleanse diets.
“While a person may ‘shed a few pounds’ when initially starting one of these fad diets, any weight lost would almost certainly be extra ‘water weight,’ and not represent a loss of fat mass,” Meyers said in an email.
“These types of diets are not sustainable over a period of time and therefore they tend to just contribute to yo-yo dieting.”
Laura Judd, a SAR registered dietician, did not promote cleansing diets.
“It’s definitely not a healthy choice. There is no reason to cleanse our bodies. They have enough detoxification systems on their own,” Judd said. “Our liver is one of the most cleansing organs we have, as well as our kidneys. There’s no reason to take anything or drink anything to cleanse.”
Many cleanses do not provide people with key nutrients, Judd said.
“We know that we need nutrients every day, like proteins, carbohydrates, fats and micronutrients. None of these cleanses can meet all our need,” she said.
Judd added that any claims dieters might have that they feel refreshed after a cleansing diet is psychological.
“It’s totally mental. In general, those measures don’t work. When we’ve gone too long without eating, we don’t feel very good.”
Weight loss is a more gradual process than a 10-day cleanse, Judd said.
“The people who are most successful with weight loss have a moderate calorie restriction,” Judd said. “It’s a combination of both exercise and healthy eating. We consider healthy weight loss one to two pounds per week.”
Contrary to Judd and Meyers’ insistence that cleansing diets are detrimental to physical health, some BU students said they believe that cleanses are beneficial.
“I think it’s healthy. You need to cleanse out your body,” said SAR freshman Nerry François. “It’s good to clean out your system. You could do the fruit and vegetable cleanse and just drink a lot of water.”
“Green tea might be good because you need to clean out your system,” said Sammie Lau, a freshman in the School of Management
However, students also said they think the body needs a variety of food groups that cleansing diets do not provide.
“Your body needs other nutrients besides maple syrup and lemonade,” Francois said. “I think you could lose weight that way, but you’d be weaker because you wouldn’t have protein in your system. I’d be too weak. I’d give in,” said Linda Le, a freshman in the School of Education.
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