If you've been freebasing Oreos, here's your detox center

To me, this article about an $800 (for one month!) "Detox Cleanse" program only supports the myth that you have to be affluent to eat healthy and exercise. Essentially, what the writer did to lose weight was to substitute healthy food for processed food and sugar (cutting calories at the same time) and to exercise more often than she had been. She lost nine pounds in a month. This might be a little too rapid to maintain if she adds back in some of the draconian cutbacks like chicken and beef. She might regain a few pounds. She didn't say how hard she was working out--"cardio three days a week and yoga or Pilates at least three" as prescribed by the naturopath. Sounds pretty lackluster. Try combining the cardio with weight training for five or ten minutes a day and spend the rest of the time going for a nice walk outside. What else was included for $800? Counseling from a naturopath, support meetings, all supplements, mandatory saunas, a long list of foods to eliminate, a handbook, a recipe book, two "spa treatments," and unlimited exercise classes including yoga and Pilates. To me, the valuable part is the counseling. I think most people who want to accomplish the grindingly difficult task of losing weight need one-on-one help with specific ideas and role-modeling for making changes in their lives. But if a person can find that kind of support, which would not have to come from a professional, that could be half the battle toward long-lasting positive changes. A person with specific ideas and daily tools like a food diary could eat healthy, exercise, and lose weight without supplements and exercise classes. Besides the colossal amount of money for this program, at least two other things scream Yuppie Trap: "naturopath" and "supplements." Naturopathic medicine sounds suspiciously vague, and in any case I think a less expensive type of counselor could help just as much. And supplements bug me because they are marketed in two ways that are both dishonest: one, implying that merely eating a healthy diet and exercising isn't good enough, and two, implying that supplements are a shortcut to health and fitness, the magic pill that lets you avoid the hard work. A third Yuppie Trap Flag is the name "detox cleanse." Feel guilty... feel very guilty... if you've been eating Taco Bell you are not only unclean... you might as well have been freebasing!