Is colonic cleansing a marvellous therapy or a total con for fools?

[Spidermama]

My friend did the colonic cleanse with Blessed Herbs. Have a peak at the pictorial testimonials if you think you have the stomache for it.

Anyway my friend looks great and she says she feels great too. It could be because she fasted for a bit as she was only having the drinks on this regime, but she also had the horrendous ablutions.

I'm feeling generally very groggy and in need of something to break my unhealthy cycle of caffeine every morning. I have all sorts of aches and pains and a low level headache nearly all the time.

So I was thinking about giving this a go. Does anyone have any experience? Or am I just a naive sucker about to part with money for some quack psuedo scientific nonsense?

This is a total con. There is Benonite Clay in the cleanse - this essentially makes a plaster cast of the inside of your bowel which you then poo out. Presto long stringy poop.

Somehow psychologically this may seem satisfying but I dont think it can be good for you.

There are some other good ingredients in there like psylluim husk which are basically laxatives that work like linseed. But the 2 foot poops are a con. You are just pooping out what you are putting in, not cleaning out your gut. When people have surgery they dont have this stuff in them...

By all means eat loads of veggies and drink lots of water, go for a run, but this stuff is nonsense.

But firsttimer don't these long poos pull stuff out with them, like the crayon mentioned by mousemole?

TBH I dont know. I know people report this but I have never seen any of the contents analysed (could really be anything.) Maybe it scrubs you on the inside...

My logical brain is really skeptical that this could be good for you. But I do feel there is an immense psychological pull to this. Maybe its wanting the quick solution. Or the desire to empty out and start again or purify somehow. If you think about it broadly fasting/abstention is a very old part of human cultural religious practice all over the world. There is something there but I wonder if it really has a health benefit.

I have toyed with the idea many times, and did a detox once.Ate fruits and veg only for a few days with lots of water then a little rice and gently built back up. I didnt really feel good or lose weight and I actually feel it messed my body up in the sense that my digestive system and appetite felt freaked out for a long time after and not in a good way. But there is this fascination...what else maks people proudly post pictures of their poop ... that is odd behaviour isnt it?

you may find this interesting detox experiment featured in BBC's Truth about Food series.

By Firsttimer7259 on Mon 31-Aug-09 09:18:09
"There is Benonite Clay in the cleanse - this essentially makes a plaster cast of the inside of your bowel which you then poo out."

That explains why I was looking at those pictures (lord, knows why ) thinking "OMG they've shat out their intestines/bowel" .

Your colon is self-cleansing and if it isn't, there's something seriously wrong with you that won't be fixed with herbs and bentonite clay.

Spend your money on a nice hairdo instead.

THOSE PICTURES!!!!!! Have those people NO self respect??

ROFL at those nutters taking pictures of their poo and posting them on t'interweb for the world to point, larf and barf.

De-tox is just a modern word for crash diet. It's absolutely meaningless, our body detoxes us all the time, it's called weeing and pooing and like someone else said if you can't do that you've got health problems. We all know crash diets are for idiots, so we would never dream of having any truck with them, but if we use the word de-tox for our faddy crash diets, that makes them respectable.

Interesting post about the religious mania side of this - de-toxing/ crash dieting is a secular version of this ancient practice isn't it?