6 Answers
There are many that certainly are not, but there are also many that can be healthy and of great benefit to the patient.
Always check with a health professional before embarking on such an endeavor. There can be many variables from person to person depending on current health conditions. Someone with an existing digestive disorder will require a less extreme cleans than others for example.
Most of use can use some form of detoxification, but it is important to understand how each individual can safely and effectively go through this process. For this reason, I suggest working with a practitioner who can assess your overall health and create a program that has the proper balance of supporting your system and helping you to detox.
An example may help clarify what I mean. A young, robust individual who has been on a partying binge for a month would require a very different sort of detoxification than someone with cancer who is greatly weakened by a course of chemotherapy. If the strong detoxification program created for the robust individual were used on the person undergoing chemo, it would only cause harm, further weakening and exhausting them.
Conversely, if the supportive and strengthening detoxification program needed for the latter individual were used on the robust individual with acute accumulation of toxins, it would likely be ineffective in terms of detoxification, and it would probably make them irritable and restless.
For these reasons, I do not suggest doing an out-of-the-box detox program unless you are basically healthy and are wanting a basic cleanse but aren't really looking to profoundly impact your health. If you actually have an issue you are trying to address, work with a professional who can support you through the process.
I believe so, as a holistic health and wellness coach I coach my clients through a 28 day whole food detox to remove any food causing inflammation and putting in whole food nutrition and lifestyle changes. My clients see great results through this program and its safe and food based not product based.
As with anything, there can be good safe products and others that could be dangerous to you; so thoroughly vet a company and its products. I prefer to use foods and have found a few organizations I trust who lead periodic detox programs using foods.
I agree with Amanda's post and appreciate her distinguishing cleanse from detox plus identifying how important to address a variety of the body's organs. So many 'cleanse products' are just for colon, but it's important to help kidney, liver, gallbladder, small intestine, lymph system, etc. So consult appropriate healthcare professional who can guide you with a safe helpful approach that'll actually work for you.
As a detoxification specialist, I can answer this. Detoxification has become a buzzword and new products are all over the shelves to attract our interest. Our bodies are meant to detoxify on their own. Because of the world we live in, are bombarded with more toxins than ever in previous generations and certain habits and genetic predispositions decrease our body's ability to take care of the junk. As Pooja mentioned, bowel and liver health is crucial, but so is the kidneys' ability to fully filter toxins. You can increase your kidneys' health and filtering ability with certain foods and herbs. Please read my article: "take out the trash please" for a brief explanation of the lymphatic system. If the lymphatic system is not part of a detoxification plan, it is only a digestive "cleanse". Cleanse and detoxification are not the same thing, though many people use these terms interchangeably.
I followed my first detox programme three years ago and it turned my health around. It was not to quick or aggressive though