DIET | DETECTIVE^®

It always amazes me when celebs go on detox diets. I mean, when you subsist on frappuccinos and do two hours of yoga a day, how many toxins can you really be harboring? Probably not enough to warrant eating cabbage for a week straight. Come to think of it, I’m not sure there’s any reason to eat cabbage soup, ever.

But that’s what Jamie Pressley did this summer when she needed to lose her baby weight. Except she didn’t really need to lose it. Her next big movie role is a voiceover, and her character on My Name is Earl is still preggers, so a little extra weight would help with credibility. But there are always paparazzi lurking, and apparently that was enough motivation. (Although, let’s not give cabbage all the credit here. It didn’t hurt that she hit the gym ten days after delivering and works out for two hours a day, five days a week.)

The idea behind detox diets—cabbage soup included—is that your body does a lackluster job of flushing out impurities. You, in turn, help it along by eating nothing but veggies and fruits for a week. It sounds organic and pure, but it’s pretty pointless for anyone with a liver and kidneys. So let’s call a spade a spade—these purifying regimens are just starvation diets in disguise.

But that hasn’t stopped other Hollywood types from jumping on the bandwagon. Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, and Christy Turlington are among the celebs who occasionally purify themselves with a juice fast—the V8 version of cabbage soup. Beyonce and Angelina have both tried their own variations. But despite the Hollywood stamp of approval, most doctors agree that they’re not actually beneficial. It can't be sustained over the long term, and any initial weight loss will probably be null and void the second you re-introduce solid foods. Plus, the calorie deprivation will leave you in a decidedly un-Zen mood. A better bet: adding plenty of fruits and veggies to a high-fiber diet. Unless, of course, you have to be on the red carpet tomorrow.

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