Gabrielle Reece, the 6-foot-3 volleyball player and fashion model has a body that conveys athleticism and feminine beauty.  As a professional athlete she surely has strenuous workouts, fortunately, we can learn how she gets that body because she has a new job as contributing fitness expert to Yahoo! Health.  Recently, she wrote about the benefits of doing a yearly cleanse, in particular, she practices the Master Cleanse method.  She explained,

“I go on a soft food only diet for about 2 or 3 days: overly steamed veggies, sweet potatoes and soup broths. Then for five or six days I drink a series of juices: watermelon and lime for energy in the morning; lemon, cayenne pepper, water, and maple syrup to curb my appetite (this is the Master Cleanse drink); cucumber and strawberry for inflammation; and finally, a pineapple juice. All are made fresh and are full of fiber.”

Gabrielle goes on to explain that she does loose a few pounds but she actually sees many other benefits that outweigh the weight loss.  She wrote,

1.  I respect food more.

2.  I notice what and how I am eating

3.  My sensitivity to smell and flavor are elevated.

4.  I am more selective about what I put in my body.

5. I appreciate that I do have such abundance around me.

6.  My mind and mood feel balanced.

7.  I think about other things.

8.  My pants are looser and my knees hurt less.

9.  I’m just happy to eat anything, even sprouts!

Gabrielle emphasizes that this is not a weight loss diet but a yearly body renewal.  Other celebrity detox cleansers include Anne Hathaway and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Celeb Diet Doc weigh in…
While celebs continue to damage their health with the Master Cleanser.. readers of this blog know better.  Gabrielle appears to be doing a modified Master Cleanse and has incorporated veggies into her cleanse. The Master Cleanser alone however is far from a “renewal” therapy, unless of course you consider something like smoking cigarettes a “renewal.” Eating less unprocessed foods is the best and healthiest way to renew your body. Stay healthy…

Source

One would think that the lovely Anne Hathaway doesn’t even need to do a detox diet.  She always looks picture-perfect any time we see here whether on the big screen or parading across the red carpet.  She does workout regularly, but according to People Magazine she will still do the occasional detox when preparing for a big event such as the Golden Globes.  

David Kirsch, her New York based trainer, will have her do a 48-hour detox that involves drinking his own LemonAid recipe.  The concoction consists of a concentrate of lemon, maple syrup and cayenne pepper and a person is to drink it four times a day and consume absolutely nothing else.  According to David it helps to,

“lighten it up a little bit.  Her arms were so well-sculpted, she wore a sleeveless dress that night.”

Celebrity Diet Doctor Weigh In…
Don’t do this at home. This lemonade recipe sounds awfully similar to the Master Cleanse and any benefits are an illusion. This supposed detox diet will actually increase toxins as well as cause you to be “skinny fat.”  You lose a lot of muscle on a very calorie restricted diet crashing your metabolism setting you up for weight gain when you’re off the detox. Frankly, it’s amazing a lot of celebrities fall for this nonsense…

Source

Gwyneth Paltrow started off 2009 by starting a post-holiday cleanse diet, for which she shares instructions, complete with menus and recipes, on her website GOOP.com.

“I need to lose a few pounds of holiday excess,” Gwyneth wrote to subscribers. “Anyone else? I like to do fasts and detoxes a couple of times during the year, the most hardcore one being the Master Cleanse I did last spring. It was not what you would characterize as pretty. Or easy. It did work, however.”

Paltrow is doing an easier cleanse this time around. “As I do not wish to subsist on lemon water in the middle of winter, I asked my doctor, a detox diet specialist, for the guidelines he uses to achieve a good detox.”

The cleanse menu includes items such as smoothies and oatmeal for breakfast, chicken teriyaki and steamed salmon for dinner, and plenty of fruit.  Fans of  gluten, dairy, processed foods, shellfish, condiments, and sugar will be hard pressed to find their favorite foods on this plan though.  Day One starts off with lemon water and herbal tea, then it’s on to a Blueberry Almond Smoothie for breakfast and Carrot Salad with Ginger Dressing for lunch.  Don’t like carrots?  Well eat up anyway because a snack of pumpkin and sunflower seeds is all you’ll get to hold you over until a dinner of Broccoli and Arugula soup.

“I created this menu plan for a seven-day elimination diet. The shakes and juices are meant to be liquid meals that help decrease the amount of work your digestive system has to do. I will be suffering along with you to kick start my year a bit lighter. Good luck to us all!”

Paltrow uses the book Clean, by Dr. Alejandro Junger, to share some basic principles of detoxification.  Dr. Junger, whose book will be published in May is her “Detox Specialist”.  Here’s what he has to say about getting started on a detox diet……………

• Do deep breathing or gentle yoga.
• Take a couple of spoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil at night to help stimulate your liver to eliminate bile and keep its circulation flowing. If your bowel movements get sluggish, you can accelerate things by drinking half a cup of castor oil or using a mild herbal laxative. Bowel elimination is paramount for correct detoxification.
• The skin gets rid of many toxins so it is important to sweat, either by exercising or taking a sauna.
• Finally, make sure you eat whole organic foods, which have the best chance of having all the nutrients needed for liver and general detoxification.

The academy award winner even gives some advice on bowel movements on the site: “If your bowel movements get sluggish, you can accelerate things by drinking half a cup of castor oil or using a mild herbal laxative.  Bowel elimination is paramount for correct detoxification.”

Other celebrities that use detoxification diets as a way to jump start weight loss are Victoria Beckham and Oprah Winfrey.

Celeb Diet Doctor Weigh in..
I’ve discussed the dangers of the Master Cleanse and despite claims to the contrary the Master Cleanse will cause a build up of toxins. If you want to “detox” your body it’s really quite simple; eat more unprocessed fruits and veggies. The most potent detoxifying foods you can eat are cruciferous veggies such as broccoli, arugula, cabbage, bok choy, radish, etc. That peppery taste you find in these veggies are the good stuff, namely the organosulfur compounds that help rev up your liver. Other foods that also contain these beneficial compounds include oninons and garlic. These compounds help create the most important antioxidant in your body, glutathione. It is this super antioxidant that is responsible for the major liver de-toxification duties. So remember the best way to detox and cleanse is to eat more veggies and fruits. Save your bowels and use the cayenne pepper and lemon juice for your next recipe.

http://goop.com/

The Biggest Loser has become a monster hit with over 100,000 applying for the fourth season now in production. The show creates a huge incentive for contestants to lose weight with a $250,000 prize going to the “Biggest Loser.” Season one winner of the Biggest Loser, Ryan Benson, lost an amazing 122 lbs back in 2005. How did he do it?  Was he able to keep the weight off?

On his myspace blog he candidly reveals how he won:

“I wanted to win so bad that the last ten days before the final weigh-in I didn’t eat one piece of solid food! If you’ve heard of “The Master Cleanse” that’s what I did. Its basically drinking lemonade made with water, fresh squeezed lemon juice, pure maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. The rules of the show said we couldn’t use any weight-loss drugs, well I didn’t take any drugs, I just starved myself! Twenty-four hours before the final weigh-in I stopped putting ANYTHING in my body, liquid or solid, then I started using some old high school wrestling tricks. I wore a rubber suit while jogging on the treadmill, and then spent a lot of time in the steam room. In the final 24 hours I probably dropped 10-13 lbs in just pure water weight. By the time of the final weigh-in I was peeing blood.”

It’s no surprise that he won with this crash diet. Now two and half years after winning the Biggest Loser with a weigh in of 208 lbs, it’s equally not surprising that he has regained most of his weight back.

Celebrity Diet Doctor Weigh in
Extreme dieting methods and crash diets do not work in the long term… they will wreak havoc on your metabolism and make you more prone to weight gain later. This will cause a yo-yo dieting pattern with periods of weight loss followed by weight gain. Weight loss TV shows, such as the Biggest Loser, promote drastic weight loss to get great ratings but do not teach participants, such as Ryan, how to lose weight for the long term. Short term loss, long term gain. Now weighing about 300lbs, Ryan Benson tells Time Magazine “No one sees me get an apple pie in the drive-through.”