Detoxification of Heavy Metals

[thesummerqueen]

I clicked on Rayaan's links.

From Science Daily -

"The confirmation among a new set of patients that fasting is associated with lower risk of these common diseases raises new questions about how fasting itself reduces risk or if it simply indicates a healthy lifestyle."

Bolding mine. Correlation is not causation.

"Fasting causes hunger or stress. In response, the body releases more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel, instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body," says Dr. Horne. "This is important because the fewer fat cells a body has, the less likely it will experience insulin resistance, or diabetes."

A condition which could also be achieved with proper diet and exercise in an otherwise healthy body.

While the results were surprising to researchers, it's not time to start a fasting diet just yet. It will take more studies like these to fully determine the body's reaction to fasting and its effect on human health. Dr. Horne believes that fasting could one day be prescribed as a treatment for preventing diabetes and coronary heart disease.

Bolding also mine, my assumption being that it would be suggested to patients with a very high risk of these problems if it were found to be a legitimate solution, not something the population as a whole should do.

His google link seemed mostly come back to articles about the heart health study. Mind you, none of this is related to "toxins", but specific problems, and none of it related to heavy metals.

And then there's this link, which also popped up in the list: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/is_fasting_healthy

It sounds so simple - no choices, no counting calories, no cooking. Just say 'no' to food, and start fasting for quick weight loss and other health benefits.

After all, Beyonce did it. She said she lost 20 pounds by fasting (and using a concoction of syrup, lemon juice, water and cayenne pepper) for her role in Dreamgirls.

But what about the rest of us mortals? We wonder:

Is fasting an effective way to lose weight?
Can fasting really help with medical conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, arthritis and other auto-immune disorders?
Will fasting help you live longer?
And finally, is fasting healthy? Although fasting has been practiced for thousands of years, the question is still a subject of intense medical debate. WebMD consulted experts on weight loss and fasting for some answers.

If you weed through all the controversy, you'll find that most medical experts agree on one thing: fasting is not a healthy weight loss tool.
...
Even some proponents of fasting for other medical purposes do not support fasting for weight loss. Some say it can actually make weight problems worse.

Even worse for dieters is that fasting for weight loss "distracts people from the real message of how to lose weight: lower fat intake, eat five fruits and vegetables a day, drink water and stop drinking other liquids, walk 30 minutes a day, and get more sleep," says Fernstrom, an associate professor of psychiatry, epidemiology, and surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

In addition, other practices that are often combined with fasting for weight loss, such as colon cleansing, carry their own risks.

"Fasts are sometimes accompanied with enemas to cleanse your intestinal tract, and that can be very dangerous," says Fernstrom. "The intestinal tract has a lot of good bacteria. When you are changing that balance, the good bacteria are affected, too."

"There is no scientific evidence it will detox the body. The issue of fasting to cleanse the body has no biological basis because the body is real good at that by itself," says Fernstrom. "The liver is a natural detox center; the lungs, the colon, the kidneys, [the lymph glands] and the skin get rid of toxins."

And then of course they have a guy who seems to have all the right credentials...and a little poking around also shows he has something to sell - his "cure". What was that great quote off the movie "Ray"? "Scratch a lie, find a thief." Guess who also features in SBM? Yup. Joel Fuhrman - the guy webMD cites as being in support of fasting as a cure for just about anything.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/inde...our-fault/

My father owns a juicer. He likes getting his fruits and vegetables that way - much as several of my friends prefer to also do so by making protein smoothies with fruits. If that's how you get around eating your greens, go for it. But juicing - juice fasting - doesn't have any certified benefits except as a temporary yoyo weightloss approach akin to only eating cucumbers (or apples or what have you) for a given length of time.

Fallen, get to a doctor and get tested for what the doctor and you think you might have. When you get your answer, discuss possible solutions with your GP.

Please remember that when treatments have been properly tested and found to have efficacy, they stop getting the label of pseudo-science and become simply part of science. That's how it works. They are not labeled "pseudo-science" because the doctors can't make money off of it. Drug companies make money off their drugs - not doctors in general, unless specifically paid off by those companies. Meanwhile I notice that all these woo-promoters always have a book to sell, accessories to sell, a cure to sell...and a lot of it doesn't fall under insurance. Who is robbing whom?