The Master Cleanse

My gf is going to start this program called the "Master Cleanse" soon. I'm wondering if anybody has ever heard of it and can give me information wrt its safety and what not.The diet: She plans on doing it for a full ten days, but I don't think it seems safe (she's already 110 lbs and you can lose up to 10 lbs on this). I also don't know if its effective and what it cleanses and how its supposed to make you healthier.It seems like a bunch of homeopathic all natural garbage. That said, I really don't know anything about it so I'm not going to prejudge.Coffee House probably

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

JustinC At a body weight of 110 lbs what the heck is she doing trying to lose weight?

My personal thought is only a 10 day fast due to her weight. I'm not versed in fasting but believe she runs the risk of depleting her fatty acids. Perhaps others here will have more understanding of a proper fast from experience. It appears to me that fasting of itself is a good thing but an extended fast too me raises the bar to high for someone of her weight and determination, to one without proper monitoring of minerals, fats, etc....When people run extended fasts I believe it should be done with an integrated medical professional thats a MD and holistic minded.Two suggestions if shes going forward is to include two supplements liquid chlorophyll and at the very least the essential fatty acids.The only basis is that she will be releasing fats into her system and supplementing the essential fatty acids should help the brain which is high in fatty acids. The chlorophyll will help to purify the blood of fat deposits being released in the fast, it should help the brain thru the fast.I'm just not sure if fatty acids supplementation will be enough in an extended fast of a determined person of questionable weight. This is why an integrated doctor would monitor the fatty acid, minerals and other situation that are all affected in an extended fast.---------------------------------Chlorophyll also helps to promote the elimination of toxins from the body
Page not found - The Herbs PlaceDr. Barry Sears is a research scientist and author of the best selling Zone Diet books. After twenty years of research he released the book "The Omega Rx Zone - The Miracle of the New High-Dose Fish Oil". It is loaded with information about the benefits of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids of the type found in fish oils. It was Dr. Sears who created pharmaceutical grade fish oil. OmegaRx is a highly refined nutritional supplement containing generous quantities of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.http://www.ordernatural.com/ultra-refined-fish-oil.aspChlorophyll the Power Cleanser
Chlorophyll served as both disinfectant and antibiotic in the Civil War, before drugs were developed. Still today we use it to treat sewage waste.
Chlorophyll cleans out diseased tissue and wastes, and the parasites and bacteria feeding on them. My book shows you (in pictures) how chlorophyll's unique chemical properties clean you out inside.Chlorophyll removes toxic synthetic chemicals. It gives you a bath inside. The chlorophyll molecule has a hydrophobic (water-hating) tail that it digs into the hydrocarbons stuck to your cell walls, and pulls them away from the wall - in the same way that soap washes oil off our hands. Hydrocarbons are pesticides, old drugs, food flavorings - anything that was synthesized in a laboratory from petroleum.Your liver’s job is to dismantle these synthetic chemicals and keep them out of your bloodstream. Chlorophyll helps to heal your liver - to lighten its load. If you have liver problems, you must stop eating pesticides! Grow organic greens at home in an automatic Sprouter.Chlorophyll makes short work of heavy metals. The adhesive cellulose in its cell wall sticks to the metal atoms so they're carried out as waste.Chlorophyll is the Grand Sweeper. It throws out catarrh and mucus from the lungs, acid crystals and inorganic minerals from your joints, cholesterol and saturated fat deposits from arteries.http://www.eatsprouts.com/eat/chlorophyll.htmlEdited by Charley, : No reason given.

Sounds insane. I weigh a little over than 120lbs and recently was nill by mouth for a little over three days. I fail to see what laxatives, pepper and lemon juice would have done to offset the effects from just three days. Ten days sounds massively inappropriate.But, hey, I'm not dietician. It sounds like this is something to discuss with a professional. The Master Cleanser idea seems to have originated over 60 years ago. I don't generally trust 1940s hints and tips on 'cleansing' the body.Edited by Modulous, : No reason given.

Are there really people that this fools?Also - which chlorophyll are they talking about? There are at least 5 different forms of chlorophyll pigment that occur naturally. And how does a pigment molecule contain a cell wall?

I couldn't have phrased it better. Sounds dangerous as hell, too.

The other link explains the chlorophyll molecule is separated from the cell wall to give you the liquid stuff, etc...I believe its the natural path people that are more into chlorophyll than the integrated holistic medicine folks. I'd think the natural path people might be more into the homeopathy than the holistic crowd which I agree their approach is likely all totally different in how we percieve alternative or traditional medicine.----------------------------------------In 1913, Dr. Richard Willstatter, a German chemist, discovered the functions of chlorophyll, though scientists had separated the pigment from plants a few decades earlier. He made the above observations and also found that "the chlorophyll molecule bears a striking resemblance to hemoglobin, the red pigment in human blood. The red blood pigment is a web of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen atoms grouped around a single atom of iron. Nature's green pigment is a similar web of the same atoms, except that its centerpiece is a single atom of magnesium."2Page not found - The Herbs Place

All of which has absofrigginlutely NOTHING to do with whether chlorophyll is of any nutritional or other benefit to humans or cows or guinea pigs. Silly mumbo-jumbo made to fool the gullible by using a couple of "scientific" words.

I'm a health nut... and I find your wife absolutely nut thinking about doing it. Sorry if I've offended you.

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George Absolutely Stupid Bush the Younger

This sounds like a very very very very bad idea. I'm sorry to say it, but it is an incredibly stupid thing to put one's body through, especially for a 110 pound woman. She could hurt herself.Have you asked her why she wants to do it?Like, upon what evidence does she believe that her body needs to be "cleansed" in the first place?And, if she believes it does need to be cleansed, what makes her think that this program will clean anything?Edited by schrafinator, : No reason given.

Cholorphyll, if ingested, will be broken down just like any other biochemical.Is there any actual evidence that it can do all the things you say it can?

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This sounds like a very very very very bad idea. I'm sorry to say it, but it is an incredibly stupid thing to put one's body through, especially for a 110 pound woman. She could hurt herself.
Have you asked her why she wants to do it?

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Like, upon what evidence does she believe that her body needs to be "cleansed" in the first place?

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And, if she believes it does need to be cleansed, what makes her think that this program will clean anything?

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I basically asked her all these questions, to which I got no reply. She has no science education and I would say lacks some critical thinking skills (or atleast when it comes to stuff like this).I think everyone (most) people on this site have excellent critical thinking skills, and it is kindof a shock when you realize that we are the exception, not the rule.The problem is that I don't know enough about nutrition to explain to her exactly how negatively or dangerous this can be for her health. I'm also skeptical about homeopathic medicine just from the way its advertised (natural=good? How can someone possibly fall for that?).Anyway, she thinks I'm being closed minded because I'm already bad-mouthing it without giving her specific reasons. But that's not the point; the point is she hasn't been given specific reasons why it will benefit her. I keep saying to her:1.) What specific "toxins" and "poisons" is it supposed to "cleanse" your body of?and2.) What is the mechanism of removal?If you can't answer these, then don't do the program.Now she did mention that it is supposed to help clean out your intestines and colon. This seems like it can atleast be plausible, but laxatives (sp?) should do that without the intense fasting. Anyone know if there's any merit to gastrointestinal "cleansing".Thanks for replies.

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Now she did mention that it is supposed to help clean out your intestines and colon. This seems like it can atleast be plausible, but laxatives (sp?) should do that without the intense fasting. Anyone know if there's any merit to gastrointestinal "cleansing".

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But why would anyone need to "clean out" their intestines and colon?It would seem to me that if you wanted to "scrub" the walls of your intestines, you would eat lots of fiber, both soluble and insoluble.I would suggest having her call her general practitioner and have her ask them their advice on the fast and the "cleanse". I am willing to bet that they will advise against it.If she refuses to make the call, you call your own doctor and tell her what they tell you.Here's some info that may help you:http://www.quackwatch.org/...ackeryRelatedTopics/gastro.html

Wheatgrass juicers probably the way to go because you get the complete mix, chorophyll, b17, etc... I'm not sure of all the evidence supporting the natural path genesis diet.Personally I believe chorophyll of and only of itself probably has limited value. It would have to include a change in ones diet that that would include sprouts, fruit juicing, wheatgrass juicing, pulse vegetables as well as the vegetables. One should eat the seeds of some of the fruits for nutritional b17 something kind of foreign to our concept of normal nutrition.Normal nutrition is like white bread that is fortified with vitamens while all the holistics are taken out so the bread does not spoil.An old friend had arthritis and went off the deep end and went on a diet of only freshly picked grass seed and the yellow dandelion flowers. She drank a lot of pure well water to purge her body everyone thought she was nuts to not eat (upchucking real food) but she got stronger instead of weaker.She believed her arthritis was caused by toxins within her fats and thats why she felt the need to purge her body excessively. While on her diet the arthritis disappeared and never returned so can not say her diet was a bad thing but a good thing.I personally did her weird diet for a few days but noticed after a couple of days I was not hungry but satisfied(that surprised me). I did not need much grass seeds to chew but was surprised. I suspect it was the vitamen b17 and chlorophyll that caused my friends arthritis to leave was from her self directed starvation diet. When I noticed I was satisfied and not hungry (after walking only a mile in her many mile fast) I supported her instead of alienating myself so she wasn't upchucking as much.She now eats too much but no one is negatively excessively concerned with her fatness compared to their previously negative concern about her previous thinness. I wonder if she should upchuck a bit now (the Roman upchucking diet) but well don't want to press the issue because of my bias that eating is better than not eating.Eating normally is simply not good for ones health but normally better than not eating and the natural path approach to diet is simply better than the Roman diet of upchucking all you eat.Perhaps Justins gf would benefit from the plant enzymes in the chlorophyll that helps the bodys digestion(then she wouldn't feel the need to fast).The natural path diets are more in league with the genesis diet that includes juicing, eating the whole fruit, etc...-----------------------------------------------From the Ohio State studies, the researchers concluded that chlorophyll undergoes the same types of changes during digestion as when it's canned."The acidic conditions in the stomach cause the magnesium to be lost, and the chlorophyll becomes a pheophytin, the same as you'd get if you canned some green vegetables," Failla said. The artificial digestion system, known as the Coupled In Vitro Digestion and Caco-2 Human Cell Model, showed that absorptive cells lining the small intestine actually do uptake pheophytins formed during digestion of spinach puree.Site | OSU ExtensionAs in the case of many other vegetables, sprouts may contain 10 to 30 times as much vitamin B-17 as mature plants.ForbiddenEdited by Charley, : No reason given.Edited by Charley, : No reason given.