Miracle Pills & Magic Shakes

Detoxing the bullshit and cleansing the crap away

Look, this read is going to be pretty direct and straight-to-the-point.

It seems like every second social media post that comes though these days on news-feeds and the like, has someone hocking a herbal crap-shake of this, a “natural” magic pill of that, all the while guaranteeing to cleanse and detox away all the apparent shit nutritional decisions you’ve been making. Plus with little to no actual physical activity supposedly needed, wow, it’s just a freaking miracle!

Well, not so much.

“They’re the new-age snake oil salesman…self-imposed health know-it-all’s with little genuine knowledge or experience, peddling unneeded & unproven products…but they’ve got some sweet stock motivational quotes to help seal the deal!”

You may ask what my main issue with these type of products and the people hocking them off is? They’re just another form of supplementation aren’t they? Are they really harming anyone? There’s a number of issues that are concerning, but without breaking them all down to the micro level, here are two to muse over.

  1. The continuous false claims around detoxing & cleansing
  2. The usually zero legitimate knowledge, experience or training/qualifications from said peddlers

Firstly detoxing & cleansing. From a purely genuine, scientifically-proven standpoint, the continued claims and use of the terms “detox” and “cleanse” in regards to one’s health & well-being are 100% misleading and simply rubbish. As Edzard Ernest, Professor of Complementary Medicine at Exeter University states, “there are two types of detox: one is respectable and the other isn’t. The respectable one is the medical treatment of people with life-threatening drug addictions. The other is the word being hijacked by entrepreneurs, quacks and charlatans to sell bogus treatments that allegedly detoxify your body of toxins you’re supposed to have accumulated.”

Whether you know it or not, our bodies are provided with all the detoxifying systems you’ll ever need i.e. the kidneys, liver, skin, and lungs. Professor Ernest continues “there is no known way — certainly not through detox treatments — to make something that works perfectly well in a healthy body, work better.” Further more he explains that “if toxins did build up in a way your body couldn’t excrete, you’d likely be dead or in need of serious medical intervention”.

Quite simply, a little bit of research and a whole heap of commonsense will save you being duped into purchasing unneeded products with a false-front; where bogus claims, predictable “motivational & inspirational” marketing messages and sales pitches are spewed forth with such glee.

Secondly, those actually pushing these products and messages. In so many cases, these individuals often have zero practical experience, knowledge or any relevant training / qualifications. Quite simply, what business do they have to be instructing, recommending or worst of all, providing advice of any kind in regards to health and fitness?

Again, implement a few strokes of commonsense here. How much “weight” (oh yeah, had to do it!) are you giving to someone who’s usually admitting to their own ongoing poor nutritional misgivings, and lack of general fitness practices over a number of years. But the obligatory before & after pictures from the last year are supposed to provide comfort? Quite obviously to get themselves in that position to start with they haven’t been following, or actually have, any genuine lifelong healthy practices and seemingly little application of any basic fitness know-how. Yet here they are with their corporate, multi-level marketing driven templates, off-the-shelf motivational quotes, and the absolute must-have “shadowy, arms out wide at the beach while I stare longingly at the waves contemplating life” pictures hocking you a lie. And when they start telling you it’s all done with very little physical activity, literally you need to run for the hills! (which would be far more beneficial for you than anything they are usually offering).

So where does this leave you? Exactly where you started from but hopefully with a truth pill you should actually swallow, because it will clear up the bullshititis you may have contracted from the detox hock-off crowd.

Seriously though, please do your best to resist the common human instinct that often comes sneaking around, and that’s to try and find the easiest path of least resistance and the magic bullet cure, which involves little to no hard work required on our part. I call absolute bullshit on this premise.

Here is an absolute truth you need to suck in — hard work, consistency and commonsense are the only things you’ll ever need. You may not like this, as it’s not instant gratification or hyped up bullocks, but it’s a guaranteed formula to LIFELONG health & fitness success. Should I put that on a “motivational” quote poster for you?

Remember, you can have all the fad diets, cutting-edge training techniques and the must-have apparel etc. etc. but unless it’s things that you’re able to make a NORMAL daily/weekly/lifelong habit, consistently undertake and actually find some enjoyment and interest in, then like any good fad, they’ll come and go and you’ll keep going around the vicious cycle of finding the next greatest thing to move onto.

Here’s a tagline you can tweet out - “F*ck the Fads!”

Take the approach you know you need to — drop some of the crap from your diet, get out and exercise 3–4 times a week (walk, run, swim, whatever get’s you going!), do a little bit of basic resistance training and some useful mobility, and things will be just fine. And all without any miracle pills or magic shakes which just become expensive bodily waste. That’s just legit!

If you feel you do need further support, advice or that extra “push”, then do your research and seek it from those in the industry that are able to legitimately provide this; not the social-media news-feed snake-oil sales types.

Now get intentionally-action focused and go smash it!


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