Baldness becoming more common?

[Boondock]

You are indeed pretty mad! As far as I know the concept of a 'cleanse' has been completely discredited by the medical community. It's actually a pre-Medieval concept of health, which still lingers on in some people's minds. What does it actually mean, and what effects does it have? No alternative health practitioners have ever been able to state this in clear, non-abstract language, and no studies have ever been able to show anything either.

Still, the quacks without any qualifications and who can't be arsed to learn about how the body works keep putting out misinformation and raking in their fees.

The problem is that alternative health is at least - if not more - deceptive and sly than Big Pharma. This is another reason why I think CS is a moron; he attacks Pharma to the point where he thinks all medications are evil and refuses to take any of them ever, and yet thinks the alternative health providers are God's gift to the world, and treats their messages as so authoritative as to not need criticism.

Something odd going on here, no?

If you want an honest man talking about the detox concept, listen to Ben Goldacre, and witness the dishonesty of alternative health, here:

http://www.badscience.net/2009/01/the-b ... elight-me/

 

[dougfunny]

:agree:

 

[Jacob]

.

 

[Hoppi]

I think we may be misunderstanding one another a little bit here! There are a couple of points I would like to bring up.

First of all, this term "alternative health" is all well and good and I usually have no issues with it, but in this context I feel it is a bit too vague. There are forms of alternative health that I give very little time too, such as iridology and hemeopathy. I'm not totally closed off to them, but at present I don't really give them much credit. However, I have no issues with holistic healthcare, such as that forwarded by CS and many practitioners worldwide, looking at the WHOLE body as opposed to just an isolated problem. I also give a fair bit of attention to CS's health approach of choice orthomolecular medicine, I certainly believe there is good logic to targeted, accurate, intelligent nutrition.

Principally though I want to say that I think you are misunderstanding my use of the word "cleanse" or detox. I can't quite see how there can be doubt that it is possible to detox specific parts of the body or cleanse the body against certain things. If you take a lot of antioxidants, you will be largely "cleansing" your body against free radicals, if you take some good anti-inflammatories I consider that a kind of cleanse, if you drink a lot of water it's a kind of liver detox, aloe vera is good at removing bacterial and fungal activity in general, I think it's also anti-inflammatory and does a lot of people a lot of good.

I also consider a large change in diet a cleanse.

I also consider cutting out toxic heavy metals and/or chemicals a kind of cleanse or detox.

In trying to solve my thyroid problem, I don't merely reach for thyroxine or whatever, I try to investigate WHY my thyroid might be suppressed. Is it mercury? Fluoride? Chemicals? Oxalates? All the soy I was eating? Stress? ... what is it?

By ruling out all these things and gradually moving my body into a purer, healthier state, I class that too as a detox or "cleanse"

If I'm using the wrong word then... I don't much care lol ^_^

 

[Boondock]

"Cleanse" is just a nonesense term made up to sell expensive therapies and detoxifiers.

Your body cleanses itself. The only thing you can do is to stop giving it crap, so that it doesn't have a constant intake of that which is bad for you. Most heavy metal problems are simply myths.

Also, antioxidants were a big thing in the medical community in the 1990s, but were since found not to be all that effective. The alternative health community, as always, seems to lag behind the actual research literature by several decades here. Yes, they supress free radicals; but no, they don't really help by that much.

I agree that you need to look at different branches of alternative health on an individual basis. And there are elements of it which I buy into. For example, I think there's good evidence that the wheat intake of most of the West can have negative effects. I also think vitamin D supplementation is worthwhile in many people in the northern hemisphere.

I just think a lot of alternative health is tarnished by poor research, sloppy presentation, and the use of complete gobbledegook. As soon as someone starts going on about 'body cleansing' you should challenge them to ask exactly what they mean. Usually, it's complete nonesense. And usually, they haven't even bothered to study the subject beyond their 1-year alternative therapy medical course.

There's a reason why people with a decade of medical training reject most of this stuff, and it's not just because they're all slaves to Big Pharma.

 

[Jacob]

bump for Hoppi..see my previous post.

On Candida etc..check out monolaurin.

Bulk sources:

http://www.inspirednutrition.com/2/..._An_INTERNAL_Bacterial_Defense_-_21_oz.html#1

http://www.lauricidin.com/

That latter one also has a page on "microorganisms inactivated": http://www.lauricidin.com/micro.asp

Does Lauricidin® kill friendly bacteria?
Lauricidin® to the best of our knowledge DOES NOT affect friendly bacteria. Probiotics however should routinely be taken.

 

[Jacob]

And I see you're now drinking coconut milk.. :bravo:

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

Being in Miami I often simply grab coconuts off the tree and suck the juice outta them but in that case you're mainly dealing with hydrophilic components. Coconut kefir on the other hand, is one of the most delicious things I've ever consumed and full of yummy fat. If you haven't tried it yet, go out and get some now.