Why You Should Avoid Exercise (7 page)

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Many alternative medicine practitioners promote various types of detoxification such as detoxification diets. Scientists have described these as a waste of time and money. 'Sense About Science', a UK-based charitable trust determined that most commercial detox products make claims that lack any supporting evidence
". Wikipedia

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There's little evidence that detox diets actually remove toxins from the body. Indeed, the kidneys and liver effectively filter and eliminate most ingested toxins. The benefits from a detox diet may actually come from avoiding highly processed foods that have solid fats and added sugar
". Source: Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D. certified in dietetics and editor of the Nutrition and Healthy Eating Guide, Do detox diets offer any health benefits?, article posted on Mayo Clinic website http://www.mayoclinic.org.

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The term 'Detox' has no meaning outside of the clinical treatment for drug addiction or poisoning. In January 2009 VoYS released 'The Detox Dossier' a report of their hunt for evidence behind the claims made about detox products and diets. Fifteen products that were sold in a range of mainstream supermarkets and pharmacies.... were investigated. They found that no two companies use the same definition of ‘detox’, and [neglible] evidence was offered to back up the detox claims. Most admitted they are re-naming mundane things, like cleaning or brushing, as a ‘detox’ remedy
". Source: Debunking Detox, www.senseaboutscience.org.

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The term detox is meaningless as the body is perfectly capable of clearing out harmful substances. Detox products are a waste money and sow confusion about how our bodies, nutrition and chemistry actually work. The gut prevents bacteria and many toxins from entering the body, while the liver contributes to breaking down harmful chemicals which are then excreted by the kidneys
". Source: Scientists dismiss detox schemes, www.news.bbc.co.uk, January 2006.

Here is an extract from Randy Shaw's blog, The Green Man:

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Does your body require periodic detoxification to function at its best? There’s a whole industry built on this idea and many millions of dollars spent on products to aid the process, including herbs, vitamins and enema equipment.

Your body does require detoxification and waste removal. In fact, a good deal of your standard equipment — the liver, kidneys and intestines — are designed for just that purpose.

They operate 24/7, ridding your body of noxious substances, purifying your body’s fuel and fluids, and then disposing of the resulting waste.

It’s a remarkable system, evolved over millions of years to keep you functioning at peak performance. Even when we poison our bodies with drugs and alcohol it does a remarkable job of filtering, converting and disposing of those toxins.

Commercial detox systems claim to stimulate the liver, get the body’s natural systems revved up, and flush away sticky waste — usually with a fast, vitamins and herbs (which you have to buy) and colonic cleansing. The theories promoted by the people who sell these products vary enormously and none have a stitch of legitimate science to back their claims.

The underlying premise is that our bodies are static and fat, and tissues are inert and need to be stimulated when waste builds up. The truth is far different. Body fat is mobile, constantly being burned, converted and redistributed. Our cells are constantly being sloughed away and replaced, even in the intestines. Our body’s filters are always on.

This fad drives the scientific community crazy. A lot of the so-called treatments are fairly harmless. A week of fasting won’t kill you and you might drop a few pounds, but probably not permanently. The vitamins will be flushed away by your body’s natural systems. They won’t do much harm, but they don’t do you any good either.

As for performing a home enema or having one done by an alternative therapist: don’t. Your intestine is not dirty. It’s a finely tuned instrument with an important job to do, not one you want to interfere with. You risk vomiting, headaches, infection, cramping and even bowel perforation. You could even trigger a form of water intoxication or a heart attack, according to the Mayo Clinic".

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Source: The cleansing and detoxification myth: Have a glass of water, not an enema. Article posted by Randy Shaw, 'The Green Man', at http://blogs.vancouversun.com, Feb. 2013.

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The theory behind [detoxification] is that it gives your overworked organs and digestive system a break, helps flush out these terrible toxins and will leave you with a clean temple of a body. The body actually has a massive overcapacity to dispose of toxins. As for the need to cleanse the colon, it is constantly cleansing itself by renewing the mucus layer that protects the colon wall from being exposed to toxins. So, flushing pints of water through it with things like colonic irrigation is one of the more damaging things you can do to it
." Source: Claire Coleman, The Daily Mail, The great detox myth: Millions of women swear by detoxing - but is it just an expensive waste of time? 2010.

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When it comes to what most of us want from detoxing (a way to get to rid of the potentially toxic synthetic chemicals we take in to our bodies through eating, drinking, and breathing in a polluted world), there’s little evidence that sweating helps at all. In 2010, the journal, Public Health, reported on the detoxing potential of sweating out PFCs (synthetic chemicals we pick up from household chemicals, clothing, carpets and food packaging). They’re implicated in liver toxicity, reproductive problems and nervous system dysfunction. It’s too bad the authors found that you can’t detox from these environmental toxins by turning up the perspiration. Sweating through an intense workout at 110 degrees may be the hipsters obsession right now, but it doesn’t help much with detoxification
." Source: Dr. Kathleen Summers, M.D., Ph.D. The Dangers & Delusions of Sweating to Detox. http://www.elephantjournal.com.

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Sweat does contain trace amounts of toxins, but sweat has only one function: Cooling you down when you overheat. Sweating for the sake of sweating has no benefits. Sweating heavily is not going to release a lot of toxins. In fact heavy sweating can impair your body's natural detoxification system. The liver and kidneys -- not the sweat glands -- are the organs we count on to filter toxins from our blood. If you're not careful, heavy sweating can be a bad thing
". Source: Dr. Dee Anna Glaser, a professor of dermatology at St. Louis University and founding member of the International Hyperhidrosis Society, a medical group dedicated to the study and treatment of heavy sweating: You Sweat, But Toxins Likely Stay, published in the Los Angeles Times, 2008.

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If you really want to detoxify your system, you'd be better served by making sure your liver and kidneys are operating in tip-top shape, since it's these key organs -- not your sweat glands -- that are mainly responsible for filtering any toxins from your blood. For example, according to a Los Angeles Times interview with Donald Smith, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, sweating eliminates less than 1 percent of toxic metals like mercury -- your body gets rid of these substances primarily through urine or feces. Though you might see claims stating otherwise, going overboard with a heavy sweat in the name of detox might actually do you more harm than good.
" Source: Sarah Grace McCandless, Does Sweating Cleanse Your System?, http://health.howstuffworks.com.

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When it comes to what most of us want from detoxing (a way to get to rid of the potentially toxic synthetic chemicals we take in to our bodies through eating, drinking, and breathing in a polluted world), there’s little evidence that sweating helps at all. In 2010, the journal, Public Health, reported on the detoxing potential of sweating out PFCs (synthetic chemicals we pick up from household chemicals, clothing, carpets and food packaging). They’re implicated in liver toxicity, reproductive problems and nervous system dysfunction. It’s too bad the authors found that you can’t detox from these environmental toxins by turning up the perspiration. Sweating through an intense workout at 110 degrees may be the hipsters obsession right now, but it doesn’t help much with detoxification
." Source: Dr. Kathleen Summers, M.D., Ph.D. The Dangers & Delusions of Sweating to Detox. http://www.elephantjournal.com.

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Sweating definitely won't help clear the body of mercury or other metals. Almost all toxic metals in the body are excreted through urine or feces. And less than 1 percent are lost through sweat. In other words, you'll do far more detoxifying in the bathroom than you ever could in a sauna
". Source: Donald Smith: Professor of Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology, University of Santa Cruz, Calif. USA.

The evidence, then, is unequivocal: you simply cannot remove toxins from the body through sweat, exercise, dieting or fasting (or by using harmful gimmicks such as enemas, starvation diets, over-drinking water, or using snake-oil potions). In fact, the body already has nature's most effective detoxification system. It's called the liver. The liver changes the chemical structure of foreign compounds, so they can be filtered out of the blood by the kidneys, which then excrete them in the urine.

However, sweat has another dark secret which has a devastating effect on good health: sweat serves to greatly rob the body of a wide range of vitamins and minerals that are essential for good health. The human body is permanently 'sweating' in the sense that the skin is always kept a little moist and is therefore always losing a little moisture (and minerals) as part of the process of being alive.

But when you do exercise, the amount of sweat (and minerals) lost through the skin is greatly increased to another level of magnitude. Sweating is an emergency response, which the body is forced to do but does not like - it is not a health-promoting response. The body has to sweat when it senses it is overheating, otherwise life is at risk. So do not kid yourself that sweating is somehow "good for you" - it never is.

As mentioned in other parts of this book, sweat is not pure water; it contains a rich mix of many minerals, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, chromium, and nickel, plus many other less-abundant trace minerals. You also lose the B vitamins and vitamin C in sweat because these are water soluble vitamins.

Note that in the tropics or in hot climates the body quickly adapts (within a week or so) by reducing the amount of sweat lost in the heat and by reducing the amount of minerals lost in the sweat. After all, humans evolved in the tropics, so tropical heat does not damage health. Nevertheless, sweating in the tropics (or in any kind of weather) is bad for health.

You are urged to see the following YouTube video:

In the above video Dr. Peter Glidden describes why athletes die young as a result of mineral depletion through exercise.

Now we come to a crucial point in terms of obesity: deficiency of vitamins and minerals causes obesity. Many studies clearly show that a lack of minerals in particular prevents the body from losing weight and staying slim.