It is finally spring! This time of year, many people start thinking about taking off the sweatpants and pulling out their bathing suits. With this wardrobe change tends to come crazy fad diets, cleanses, and multiple trips to the gym. Women search Pinterest, their favorite magazine, or their favorite celebrity’s blog to see how to get slim, trim, and how to do it fast. Oh and men, we see you looking at Men’s Health and hitting up the supplement stores as well! Unfortunately, diet tricks or fads that work quick don’t seem to work for long. So, the question is: Do you cleanse?  Do you jump on the fad to get a quick fix? As a registered dietitian I say no! Why???

1. You’ll feel ridiculously hungry: Many jump on a cleanse with little to no calories and they are starving all day! It all starts great until the end of the day when you feel famished and could eat everything in sight. Taking out meals and or food groups removes lots of calories leaving you feeling extra hungry, and likely very cranky with a headache.
2. Lack of energy: No calories = no energy. End of story. Food is what gives our bodies energy and the lack of food leaves you feeling tired and fatigued. It is likely that on a cleanse or a fad diet, your workouts will also be weak, and you won’t feel great over the course of the day, thus becoming less productive. 
3. Little to no protein: Most cleanses are protein-free or least provide limited amounts.  Protein slows down digestion and helps us feel full faster and stay full longer while also stabilizing blood sugar. So, the lack of protein leaves you feeling hungry. In addition, reduced protein intake amidst extreme calorie reduction, for a consistent period of time, can contribute to muscle loss. You might be losing weight, but it might be muscle instead of fat actually raising your body fat percentage!
4. You gain the weight back: Many people do in fact lose weight on cleanses and fad diets, but most of the time that weight comes from muscle and water, not always fat. And typically people gain the weight back because one cannot live on a cleanse or restrict calories forever. In addition, caloric restriction often leads to people wanting to binge on the foods in which they were depriving themselves. So, if you gain the weight back, why do it in the first place?
5. The body has a natural cleansing system: The body is an amazing machine, and it is made to filter and cleanse the body of toxins, free radicals, and things that can cause harm. The liver and kidneys might be the best “cleansers” a body can ever have! In addition, your large intestine has good bacteria that fight the bad bacteria to maintain good health. So, the thought that you need to drink cayenne pepper and lemon juice, only eat 500 calories a day, or avoid all animal foods is a marketing-driven device to get people to spend money and buy supplements unfortunately. Nutrition is all about science, and scientifically cleanses and fads don’t make since.

So, what works? Let me be the Debbie-downer to tell you that it is old school clean eating and exercise that gets your body bikini-ready from sweat pant-sluggish. Not entertaining or flashy I know. It doesn’t come in a pill, cleanse, or special drink you buy; it comes from moving more and eating less…and making that eating clean.  If you really want to cleanse try eating only whole foods for a week or two: vegetables, whole fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, avocado, eggs, plain Greek yogurt, whole grains like quinoa, faro, and brown rice.  Combining these whole foods will not only give you vitamins and minerals, but they will provide you with fiber and protein to help you feel a little more satisfied and stabilize blood sugar even with a calorie reduction. Eggs and oats for breakfast, Greek yogurt with berries and nuts for a snack, beans and a whole grain at a meal are just examples of how to eat cleaner with proper nutrition, not a crazy cleanse!