Detox Cleansing Soup

Don’t believe the marketing gimmick of “drinking it in 7 days will eliminate toxins in 10 years and lose 5 pounds”. The so-called detoxification intestine soup is essentially a liquid meal composed of high dietary fiber/medicine and food ingredients. It can only relieve dietary stagnation, mild constipation and reduce intestinal burden in the short term. It has no special effect of “clearing toxins”, nor can it replace daily diet and clinical intestinal treatment. The formulas suitable for people with different physical constitutions are very different, and blind drinking may damage intestinal function.

Last week, the little girl next to my desk ate late-night barbecue for three days and was constipated for two days. She came across the "Powerful Colon Cleansing Soup" recommended by a certain blogger while browsing a short video. It added senna leaves and aloe vera. After drinking it, she had three bowel movements that day. She was so happy that she excreted two pounds of toxins. As a result, she started to have colic on the third day. The emergency doctor at the hospital said it was intestinal spasm caused by stimulant laxatives, and it took two days to heal. Speaking of which, I went through a similar trap a few years ago. At that time, I drank the Lotus Leaf and Winter Melon Intestinal Cleansing Soup online for a week. I lost 3 pounds in weight, but I broke out in cold sweats every day and was out of breath even when I climbed the fourth floor. Later, I asked my friends in the nutrition department and found out that the product was extremely diuretic, and all I lost was water, not fat at all. In addition, my spleen and stomach were weak, and the coldness directly delayed my aunt for half a month.

An old Chinese doctor I know said that there is no such thing as "detoxification" in their system. This kind of soup is called "Qingzhiyin" in Chinese medicine. It targets food accumulation and qi stagnation caused by improper diet. It uses mild medicinal and food ingredients. Source ingredients: Fried hawthorn eliminates accumulation of meat, fried malt eliminates accumulation of staple food, tangerine peel regulates qi, and poria strengthens the spleen. Drink it for 1-2 days. Once the accumulation is gone, stop without bloating. You will not drink it every day, and you will not add strong medicine like senna leaves. During the Chinese New Year, I ate elbows all the time, and my stomach was so bloated that I couldn't sit still, so I cooked this and drank it. I burped several times in the afternoon and felt much better.

Friends from the nutrition department have another theory: the vegetable and fruit soups currently popular on the market are essentially supplements of soluble dietary fiber, such as those made from kale, apples, chia seeds, and those boiled with pumpkin and corn silk. Enough dietary fiber can promote bowel movement. Intestinal peristalsis helps eliminate food residues. The so-called "toxins" are purely a marketing concept. The metabolic waste of the human body is originally filtered by the liver and kidneys and the residues excreted by the intestines. There is no such thing as feces hidden in the folds of the intestinal wall for more than ten years. It is all made up by businesses to scare people.

It’s no wonder that people have polarized opinions on this product. Some people say that drinking it is particularly effective, while others say that drinking it hurts the stomach. In fact, the essence is that the formula is different. If you drink the "powerful version" with stimulant laxatives added, the weight you lose in the short term will be all water and intestinal contents, and you will regain it if you stop drinking. Long-term drinking will also cause the intestinal mucosa to darken and the peristalsis function to deteriorate. My distant cousin drank intestinal cleansing tea with cassia seeds for three months in a row in order to lose weight. Later, she could no longer defecate on her own without drinking it. After a colonoscopy, she was diagnosed with mild black bowel disease, which took almost a year to recover. If you drink mild vegetable and fruit soup or Qingzhi drink, it will at most help you reduce the burden of eating too much. If you want to lose ten pounds through it, it is better to eat less milk tea and fried chicken.

The two recipes I usually use have been tried many times without any problems, and I would like to share them with you: One is the traditional Chinese medicine Qingzhi Decoction just mentioned, 3 slices of fried hawthorn, 10g of fried malt, 2 cloves of tangerine peel, 3 pieces of poria, add 500ml of water and boil for 20 minutes. Drink it warmly. It is suitable for eating too much meat, flatulence, burping and sour smell. People with a weak spleen and stomach can add two slices of ginger. Do not drink it on an empty stomach. The other is the fruit and vegetable version, which contains 100g of steamed pumpkin, 50g of blanched spinach, and 100ml of sugar-free yogurt. Beat it up and drink it directly. It has enough dietary fiber and probiotics. It is suitable for people who eat less vegetables and have dry stools recently. It also has a strong feeling of fullness. It is no problem to drink it with a modern meal.

By the way, there are a few types of people who really shouldn’t join in the fun: People with gastric ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome will most likely suffer from diarrhea and dehydration after drinking it.； Pregnant women, children, and those with particularly weak spleen and stomach may cause problems if they drink cold intestine clearing soup. ； Some people drink this stuff as a daily drink, but that’s not okay. Don’t drink it for more than 3 days in a row. Otherwise, too much dietary fiber will cause flatulence, affect the absorption of protein and minerals, and lead to malnutrition.

Anyway, my current attitude towards this thing is that it is useful, but not as impressive as the merchants say. If you are hungry and eat too much one day, boil a pot and drink it for one or two meals, which will make your stomach comfortable. If you really have constipation for more than a week, or have frequent gastrointestinal pain, don't make soup at home, go to the hospital quickly, it will be more effective than any other folk prescription.