Photographed By Raven Ishak.When you hear the word "cleanse," what comes to your mind? Here at R29, we've learned to be very skeptical of anything that uses that shady little C-word. While we appreciate the idea of flushing out all the chemicals, additives, and processed junk that has accumulated in our bodies over time, "cleanse" to us denotes a diet regimen that is not only unlikely to be supported by any real medical evidence. And, in fact, is probably more akin to depriving yourself of nutrients than an actual healthy eating scenario.
However, this one was just too good to pass up — an "ice cream cleanse," people! You read that right! Har, har, har!
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Yes, this is a real thing that is really being offered to real humans (who, presumably, really like ice cream). Apparently, Kippy's, a Venice, CA shop that makes raw, organic, vegan, coconut-based ice cream, thinks their stuff is so healthy, everyone should eat it for breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert (of course!), and elevensies. For four days, anyone brave enough to subject their tastebuds and digestive tracts to non-stop sugar are recommended to eat one pint of Kippy's ice cream for each meal. Kippy's suggests five meals a day for best results. Twenty pints. To be fair, the "breakfast" pint has probiotics in it, so it's basically yogurt, right?
Perhaps unsurprisingly there are people who heard about this and thought, "Yes, I want to go to there!" Gizmodo writer Brent Rose and his girlfriend decided to take the plunge, plunking over $240 each for their four days' worth of creamy goodness. He talked to a doctor about the potential benefits of such a diet, who told him about the many health advantages of the saturated fats naturally present in coconut. And, as it turns out, although they did get a little shaky from all that sugar (and their bowel movements were all up in a bundle for days), Rose and his girlfriend actually did lose about six pounds each. Of course, as happens with most crash diets, they gained the weight back within a few days.
While Rose (and Kippy's) made a great point about the fact that saturated fat is actually a lot less unhealthy than most of us think, the truth is that eating only anything for any period of time, no matter how healthy it is, means you're not getting enough of all the other things that your body needs to properly function. Still, Rose should be commended for his bravery — it really sounds like quite the ordeal.
(Gizmodo)