To Cleanse, or not to Cleanse...

It is a well known medical fact that the normal digestive tract is always on the move. A series of muscle fibers is constantly squeezing everything from the mouth end to the, well, other end. As such, the bowels do a pretty good job emptying itself. And the whole process even includes regular shedding of the cells that line the intestinal tract. This WHOLE process of course depends on you having "normal" digestive function. What do I mean by normal.

Several diagnosable health issues impact how your gut absorbs nutrients from food, how fast and how thoroughly the digestive tract empties and how your gut reacts to different food products. For example: diabetes, especially when uncontrolled over time, causes the digestive system muscles to not contract as much leading to what's called "gastoparesis" or non-movement of the gut. Cancers of the stomach, small intestine and large intestine can also cause the system to slow down or even get stopped up. Some people have diverticulosis (diverticulitis is they are having active inflammation), which means pockets develop in the large intestine that can trap undigested food items, like seeds.

Even still, some patients have celiac disease where the whole digestive tract has a violent inflammatory reaction to certain food components, such as wheat, gluten, lactose, milk protein, etc. The series of inflammation and swelling can cause portion of the digestive tract to not move as well.

BUT, and this is a big but, these diseases have other symptoms and are diagnosable. The chances of you and I walking around with these illnesses and not knowing it is unlikely. So, what's the deal then with a cleanse?

First, let's get one thing straight: Cleanse can refer to many things. A decade or so ago, the popular "cleanse" was a bowel cleanse. Similar to what a proctologist or gastroenterologist has a patient do before they stick a camera on a wire to check things out internally. Some folks would go have vast amounts of water pumped up there colon to "clean out" the tract. Others would essentially use stimulant or osmotic laxatives to essentially cause diarrhea. The American College of Gastroenterology has a firm stance that such "bowel cleanses" have no role in routine health. In fact, in some cases, serious harm can come of it. Why? Because as I said above, the body normally sheds both food and cell lining frequently.

The other type of cleanse one may hear about is the "detoxifying cleanse" or the just another term for changing up your eating rut. Let's get another thing straight: your LIVER (and spleen and lymph system) so the detoxifying in your body. There are indeed medicines prescribed by doctors that if you have actual toxic chemicals in your body, they can give to you through your veins (IV) or to swallow (pills) that will absorb through the gut and have an effect on your liver or other organs. But, unless you've swallowed a bottle of Tylenol recently, are going yellow from alcoholic jaundice, or similar, then your body does a good job detoxifying itself.

So here's the real meat of the situation. If by "cleanse" you mean eating better, then YEA! That's wonderful. Eating more fruits, veggies, hydrating more, cutting out processed foods, adding more fiber....what that will do is: 1) give your body the nutrients it needs to heal, think, perform 2) prevent illnesses from deficiency or dehydration 3) give your gut the stuff it needs (fiber) to clear it's contents efficiently aka regularity of bowel movements 4) give you energy and improve your mood. Yeah, eating healthy does that. Calling it a cleanse is just, well, catchy.