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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

DETOX products are a scam - or are they?

Paul Henry yesterday interviewed a doctor on The Breakfast Show who claimed that all DETOX products are a scam, that colonic irrigation is dangerous and that you should get your health information only from doctors and dieticians. Paul Henry concluded that they had "debunked the detox myth".

I used to be sceptical of detox programmes but decided to investigate further in response to increasing inquiries about them, including their safety. I settled on one programme developed by herbalist, Brett Elliot and have now had the benefit of several months of working with clients using his herbal detox programme. While it does not press all the right buttons for everyone, the detox programme does bring about consistent improvements for most participants with improved feelings and appearance of health and well-being. Weight losses can be surprising with up to 10kg being lost over a 10 day period. With weight losses of this kind of magnitude much of this has to be fluid and faecal matter.

I have found these programmes work best when combined with massage to shift any swelling in limbs and muscles, plus gentle exercise. Muscles and other tissues that are swollen, inflamed and extremely tender to pressure rapidly show signs of relief within about three sessions (three to four weeks).

The Dr in the TV interview is misinformed and makes a number of bold and sweeping statements. As a General Practitioner he is a well trained generalist who is, first and foremost, trained in the rapid dispensing of drugs as they appear on the Pharmac database. If he did not sleep or daydream his way through the couple of hours training about nutrition while at Medical School, he was doing well!

It is so ironic that a doctor who rubbishes detox diets probably enthusiastically prescribes drugs, such as those for blood pressure, depression and bone loss; these drugs are fast becoming the leading cause of toxic buildup, including serious damage to organs such as the liver!

I hope you enjoy Brett's rather more knowledgeable response to this debate.

First of all, please download and view the following television interview. Then view Brett Elliot's riposte below.



Here is his latest promotion due to go to air in the USA in a few weeks. It adds more information to help you decide for yourself if these programme are scams.


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1 comment:

Wayne said...

Paul Henry, he will be the first person to state he doesnt live a healthy life, lack of exercise and eating what he likes. he has no background at all to be able to accurately juge the opinion of a single GP, how many really healthy GP's have you seen that are middle aged? they have more than their share of overweight people in their profession, NEVER take professional advise from an overweight medical person, they dont know how to look after their own health, so don't let them advise you on yours. Do they look very pale? then they are ignorant of the importance of sunshine and vitamin D in health, avoid them too. doctors approach health from an academic standpoint, they are not always correct. ask your doctor exactly what they've eatn in the last 24 hours. if it contains fat reduced food, anything with white flour or sugar in it, (and most wholemeal bread is full of white flour) then they are not properly qualified to advise you on a healthy lifestyle.
if they can't average at LEAST 30 minutes of brisk exercise daily, they are not taking their health seriously enough. busy or not, time spent exercising is time invested in good long term health.