You may have heard the term “detoxing” or “cleansing” before, but never really knew what it meant. Detoxing is a cleaning process that gets the harmful substances out of your body’s blood stream and tissues. It helps to ween you off the toxic substances you’ve been consuming all your life like sugar, caffeine and preservatives that are very common in an American diet.
Arianna Neikrug, a student at Hamilton High, has tried detoxing. She said she asked Karen, the founder of O2 MAX about it and described it to me as, “really just a cleanse, because the weight that you lose when detoxing is just water weight, and you’ll gain it back when you’re back on your regular diet. Basically, while detoxing, you must eat all organic foods. I have heard from others that you just drink tons and tons of water. Karen said something about drinking miracle greens and chlorophyll on a regular basis, and I’ve heard that you eat basically lettuce and greens.”
You can detoxify your body in many different ways. There are pills, teas, and shakes, made to help someone detox. However, some people prefer to only eat cabbage for a week, or drink fruit or vegetable juice. In general, liquid cleansing is NOT encouraged by medical professionals especially for teens.
“I haven’t ever followed a strict detoxing diet,” Arianna says. “But I have done what I like to call push days. I eat small portions of lean proteins and lots of vegatables. I also drink lots of water.”

If you are serious about losing weight, there are healthier ways to do it that are more effective and will actually help you keep the weight off. Exercise, eat healthy and drinks lots of water.

Rahel Abebe is a senior at Venice High School in Los Angeles, CA.