Juices!
Okay now that I've got all of LA's
attention, I'm here to answer the burning
question that all millennials have,
do juices and cleanses work?
And to give you all of the expert info,
I'm joined by run-of-the-mill 68-year-old
doctor from the Bronx, Dr. Saper...
wait, you're not Dr. Saperstein?
- No, I'm Dr. Mikhail Varshavski,
some people know me better as Dr. Mike.
And today, I'm here to tell you all about
juicing and detoxes.
- Well, this isn't threatening.
For a little background,
the idea of detoxing and
cleansing has been around for millenia.
Of course, the recent boom in juicing and
tea cleanses has created a new market for
companies to tout benefits like curing
hangovers, making you skinny and
even caring illnesses.
Well since you're here, tell me,
what even are toxins?
- Well, toxins are more of a philosophical
term because toxins are substances that
are bad for the body, right?
But if you think about it,
it's even substances that you need to live
every single day, if you have too much
of those substances like take water for
example, if you take too much water,
you can actually harm yourself.
And I think that the whole culture around
the word toxins has been really formulated
by marketers more than it has
been shaped by doctors.
- How does the body remove these
philosophical toxins naturally?
- Whenever your body wants to get rid of
these, it focuses mainly on two organs.
The liver and the kidney.
Also, you have other systems
in play like the lymphatic system.
Even the skin does a great job at removing
some of these toxins.
The way that the liver and
kidney work together in removing
these toxins is by the liver working on
the toxins to make them easily excretable
through your urine and feces.
Yeah, it's not something
most people think about.
But it happens every single day,
every single minute,
your body is getting rid of those toxins.
- Mmm, feces.
What are these juices, or fastings, or
enemas, or
charcoal things even doing then?
- There is some, some very light evidence
showing that some of these supplements can
assist your body in detoxing.
But what that's doing is it's helping your
body detox itself.
Those supplements are not directly
responsible for it.
So if you're eating a healthy diet rich in
fruits and vegetables and proteins, your
body would already be doing a detox work.
You don't need those
supplements to function.
All of that is addition.
All of that is unnecessary.
And unless you've gotten a specific
indication to take some of these things,
they're totally unnecessary.
- A lot of people go on this to go and
lose 10 pounds like you said.
Is this possible and is it good for you?
- There are certain benefits and
I say that with a grain of salt but
there are certain benefits to going on
a juice cleanse.
For example, if normally you are eating
McDonald's three times a day and
you are eating fatty burgers, and then you
suddenly stopped that, and eliminate that
and just drink healthy vegetable juice.
Yes, in a way, that's healthier than
eating the McDonald's and
you'll probably lose some weight because
you're going to be eating less calories,
but there's a much better way to do that,
a much healthier way.
The key is to get on a sustainable diet
with limited rules, limited regulations,
one that you can try out certain foods,
have a sweet here and there without
compromising the totality of the diet.
Crash diets do not work.
- But Doctor Mike what about all those
things that these juices tell me
will happen to me?
- Well, tell me what they say,
maybe we can figure out together.
- Okay, it says it will stimulate your
digestive system and
help flush out bacteria and toxins.
- What the promise is there,
the marketing behind that,
that's what kills me,
because what they're saying is it'll start
up your digestive system, well guess what?
If you have any kind of food,
that will start up your digestive system.
Bacteria in your gut,
it's supposed to be there.
So getting rid of all your bacteria and
saying you'll remove it is
totally unnecessary.
Marketing claim that it's supposed to get
you excited only if you
don't know the truth about medicine.
- Well, what about this one?
It says,
this tonic is designed to hydrate skin,
increase elasticity, reduce wrinkles, and
trigger new collagen production.
- This drink
here is clearly living in fantasy land.
Because if that was the case,
people wouldn't be spending $100 on
creams, thousands of dollars on
medical procedures and surgical procedures
to make their skin look good.
But what the bottom line is of
all of these things is, they try and
take the supplements, they try and isolate
the ingredients that your body uses for
the repair, and says, if you have more,
you'll get more benefits.
You'll get better skin.
But in reality,
your body already probably has
most of these nutrients at a normal level.
More is not necessarily better.
So drinking this will not
have any effect on your skin outside of
the fact that there's water in there and
it'll hydrate you.
And when your skin is well hydrated,
it looks great.
- You got it.
Sorry for ruining your office.
(Laugh) - Well, Dr. Mike,
you have thoroughly ruined juices for me.
What is the bottom line here?
- The bottom line is that juices
aren't necessarily evil.
Having a juice every now and
then is perfectly fine.
It'll give you some vitamins.
I'll give you some minerals, that's cool.
But don't expect it to do anything life
changing.
It's not going to cure diseases, it's not
going to prevent you from feeling tired.
It's not going to
help you in losing weight.
The only way that it'll do all
those things
is if you're completely eating trash.
Have a healthy relationship with your
doctor, ask these questions, and
make sure that you don't subscribe to
the marketing hype.
- But will these juices help me get closer
to my dad?
- Unfortunately, no.
- Aw, man.
Thank you for being here and
answering my juicy questions.
- Of course.
- Get it?
This was Tony for
all things science with Doctor Mike.
See you all next time.
Bye!