I absolutely CAN NOT stand these companies who sell these silly little shakes and pills to "cleanse" and "detoxify" your body. Yea, I used to be on the cleanse-train but I quickly found it that it's a bunch of crap, literally.
You want to know what cleansing REALLY is? Cleansing is pooping out all that built up crap inside you. Yea, you'll lose weight fast, BUT it's just water weight and all that excess poop. You're not really going to lose fat. Which let's be honest, women (and men) don't really care about losing just WEIGHT. They want to lose MASS or FAT. If you're really honest with yourself it's not about the number; it's about how well you fit into your clothes and how good you look.
Take a look at all the stories and testimonies you see about people on these cleanses. Compare their pictures. You'll notice that they've lost the most amount of inches in the waist, which is where most water weight is stored and which is where your intestines are (aka: where your poop is). You will see some legit weight loss for some people who do the cleanse program but that is most likely a result from their exercise and diet changes that go along with these cleanses. Yea, you heard me right, they exercised and dieted as well. See, these companies package it as just a cleanse but then they'll also mention down at the bottom "get the best results with a diet and exercise program". They use that initial hook of getting you to crap out all your water weight and built up poop which gets you motivated to eat better and workout when you see the number on the scale dropping. So, when people lose weight they think it was the cleanse that did it but really it was because they WORKED OUT and ATE BETTER.....wow, who would've thought? (sarcasm)
LET ME TELL YOU MY STORY before you write me off as someone who hasn't actually tried or experienced cleanses, and you think I'm just being mean.
I've struggled with bulimia since I was in my early teens. I used to sneak the senna tablets (which are "all natural" laxatives) from my parents medicine cabinet and take them if I felt like I ate too much. I usually took them before bed and the next morning I'd wake up to that awful feeling that you had diarrhea. I'd poop a whole lot and jump on the scale and either I wouldn't have gained any weight from my binge OR I'd actually lose a pound or two. My stomach would look so nice and thin and even though it was a painful and quite disgusting process, I thought it was worth it. Well, once my parents got rid of the senna because they caught onto me, I started stealing laxatives from the store and once I got my own money I started buying laxatives and weight loss teas. Both the simple pill laxatives that are meant for people with constipation AND the weight loss tea which you can find in the FITNESS section had the SAME affect; diarrhea. Yet one was considered a medicine and the other was considered a weight loss aid. Hmmmmm, what's wrong with that now?
The "weight loss tea" aka herbal laxative tea, claimed to help you shed pounds and lose inches. I saw advertisements about it in fitness magazines and thought "oh, this is good for you"! Hah, yea right. Well, my body started relying on these laxatives and teas and eventually I couldn't poop unless I had taken a laxative. Yuck. I got so blocked up and sick and so I realized that I should stop; especially with the history my family has had with stomach and intestinal issues.
SO, I weaned myself off of them and a couple years down the road I'm seeing all these things about SHAKES that do the same thing. They promise that they'll cleanse your system and reduce belly bloat. I'm actually seeing an ad on TV right now about a shake. Hah, that's funny.
Anyway, so these shakes are supposed to be full of greens, protein, digestive enzymes, etc. so they sound so good and healthy! And don't get me wrong, some are healthier than others...but in the end their claim to "cleanse" your body is a bunch of lies. Your body naturally cleanses itself if you're eating right and getting in enough water.
I've tried some shakes, and I'm not rude enough to throw names and companies under the bus because this isn't a shake review, but let me tell you, THEY'RE A WASTE OF MONEY. Good for a quick meal if you're running late and need a quick breakfast or snack? Yes, but not for an entire diet. You really want to live off of just shakes for the rest of your life? Nah, not me.
These companies who sell "fit" teas, juice cleanses, pill cleanses, weight loss shakes, and whatever else they've come up with are only interested in one thing: YOUR MONEY! They sell overpriced protein shakes and overpriced laxative tea and people are dumb enough to buy it. I was dumb enough to buy it. Don't be like me; be smarter than I was.
Think about this: there are SO many programs and diets and cleanses and shakes....and yet America and the WORLD is fatter than ever. We're not getting any skinnier following all these fads! In fact, if you participate in these cleanses and detoxes you're actually harming your body and killing your metabolism and you'll end up gaining weight in the end!
If you want more scientific info other than my personal experience seriously just Goodle "why cleanses are bad for you". There's TONS of articles out there explaining how they end up killing your metabolism! Two articles I recently read are from
Today.com and
Shape.com so go ahead and read those as well, don't just take my word for it!
We all know I'm vegan so here's my time to preach: GO VEGAN! It's the only 100% effective way to not only lose weight BUT get healthy! Vegans have been proven to be skinnier and healthier than the average omnivore. Just google studies about it! But see, the problem is nobody wants to work hard and make dietary sacrifices to lose weight. We all want a fast easy fix. We think "Ooooo a chocolate shake EVERYDAY and I'll lose weight! HOW AMAZING!" and we fall into this money trap where the only thing we really end up losing at the end of the day is our money......and that's not what you want. You want to REALLY lose weight and experience and better, happier, healthier life? Go vegan. Seriously...just go vegan.
Have a good day!
