Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagel and you're listening to the nutrition

diva quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous this week I'm going to be talking about colon cleansing and detox

regimens something many of you have written to me about. Do you need to

detox and if so what's the best way to go about it? If you spend any time at all online, you've probably

seen ads for various detox and cleansing programs. If you've clicked on any of these ads, you may have

read some really scary stuff about all the toxic sludge that's lurking in

your body, and some really amazing stories about how fantastic you'll feel when you cleanse your

body of all these poisons.

But many of you are appropriately skeptical. Tiffany is

wondering whether colon cleansing is healthy and Kristen wants to know how often one

should do it. Melissa wonders is detoxing really necessary.

Frank is suspicious of all the claims he's seen for products and late-night infomercials

and James wants to know how to separate the facts from the marketing hype.

Let's take a closer look at colon cleansing first,

and next week I'll talk about more general detox programs.

Advocates of colon cleansing claim

that left to its own devices, the large intestine tends to fill up with sludge,

sort of like a clogged drain pipe.

That sludge supposedly contains toxins which can leak out and poison your body.

They claim that most people are carrying around several pounds of this toxic

buildup which can be eliminated with colon cleansing, bringing about a dramatic improvement in your

health and well-being.

...