Penn & Teller did a show about this topic this season and if you've ever seen the show you know their opinion is its BULLsh*t!!!

If it's the beginning of a new diet/lifestyle that's low on "toxins", then sure, why not get that feeling like you're starting with a clean slate. If it's just an attempt at a quick fix I can't imagine it would be worth the suffering that process normally involves.

Some of the guys I work with do it every couple of years and seem to like the results. I believe the go with the more natural approach. As someone who's done it the fast way (for colonoscopies), I can't really endorse it...it's annoying as all hell.

What Cannibal said. There is no such thing as "residue" in your intestines. No crevices for stuff to hide. Also, it should be noted that "flushing" the body will not get rid of those pesky Platyhelminthes.

but seriously, drink lots of water and given an otherwise normal/healthy body you should "detox" quite rapidly, throw in a good amount of fiber/bulk in your diet and the inside of your colon will be as clean as its ever going to be short of taking it physically out of the body and scrubbing it down. Stuff doesn't hide in your colon, as there are no crevices for it to lodge into, since it moves and stretches. Ever seen them make sausages? that casing is basically like your gut, if you fill it up it becomes a smooth tube eliminating corners. I mean people have passed doll heads for gods sakes, If Barbies empty noggin can make it out safely just about anything can.

Don't waste your money or time. "Detox" plans rely mostly on the placebo effect, because as others have said, your colon isn't exactly a craggy, cavernous place. If there were "residue" in your system, even if you managed to flush it out, you'll just put it back in a few days anyway.

A more effective method of "detox" - by which I mean making yourself feel lighter, more energetic and healthier overall - is a two-fold prescription of more water and more fiber in your diet. That will get everything moving promptly through. So drink plenty of liquids (try to stay away from acidic drinks, coffee and alcohol if you're having stomach pains), eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and get lots of whole grains like oatmeal, barley, bulgher, brown rice, etc.

I would say go for it if you aren't looking so much for health benefits but are really more interested in the experience of having water laced with herbs pumped up your pooper and then drained out again.

That depends. Are you using the American flag as toilet paper?

If you clean your colon the terrorists have already won.

try being a vegetarian?

I'm changing up my diet a little bit. The heavy part of college is over, and now all I'm doing basically are projects with my major that I want to be doing anyway, so the stress is gone.

First off, I'm cutting out most of my soda intake. I don't bring it home anymore. If I'm fooding it up in a restaurant, maybe I'll have a Coke/Pepsi, but even then, I think about it. Just today, I was eating with the parents, ordered a coke, but my mother ordered a strawberry lemonade. I immediately changed my mind and ordered that instead. It's still tasty, still got some sugar, but it's better for you.

I'm also drinking Propel. Basically tastes like Gatorade, has a small percentage of the calories of even Gatorade. Good stuff, because I just can't bring myself to drink water only.

Plus, snacks are switched out. I bought different fruits. I started getting the reduced fat Cheez-Its instead of the normal ones, and eating less of them. Cereal became a nice and easy late night snack, as I sleep at very odd hours. Soup as well. Canned peaches. Stuff that I like and eat anyway, y'know? I just now make a point of choosing those items instead of the 3:00am Taco Bell runs.

Not to mention that I'm exercising again. I'm getting back into competitive tennis, and after a long round of serving, I'm hungry. That feeling of hunger, not just, "oh, my stomach's empty," but your body screaming, "dude, we are depleted" is a great feeling. Those are the best meals ever, because you know that you did something other than sit and breathe. Like you earned that meal, y'know?

My cousin worked as an X-ray tech for many years, and said her weirdest patient was the guy with seven Ken doll heads at various locations throughout his intestinal tract. He was there because the newest one had lodged at the pyloric sphincter, and stopped him up. They had to surgically remove it. She said it was the oddest thing to see seven little plastic heads scattered thoughout his abdomen. She didn't ask him why...

Logan, you might try doing what I had to do to get myself to drink water. I hated drinking plain water, but I gradually trained myself into it by mixing it with some juice (such as cranberry juice, grape juice, etc.), gradually cutting back the ratio of juice to water over several weeks. I also used a squeeze of lemon or lime in the water when I stopped mixing in juice. After a while, I stopped using anything in it. I love drinking plain water now, but I have to say it helps for it to have lots of ice, or be very, very cold from the fridge.

A good rule of thumb is to regard anything seen on an infomercial or with a red "As Seen on TV" sticker as summarily dismissible.

Obviously there are a lot of opinions here, and since scientists themselves can't seem to agree on this topic, I personally don't believe any single post on here can be taken as gospel. So I'll abstain from commenting on anyone else's post and post only what I know from first hand experience detoxing and fasting many times over the past years.

There were and are many, many things that I've consumed over the years that were a) not found in nature and b) not meant to be consumed in the quantities in which I've consumed them. The human digestive system was not meant to digest large amounts of meat in the absence of even larger amounts of fiber. Compare the digestive tract of a true carnivore to that of a human and you'll see that one was meant to deal with meat quickly and efficiently, and one was meant to break down highly fibrous materials. It also wasn't built to digest highly processed foods in a really effective manner - wheat products, refined sugars, etc. Much of the modern diet is made up of these types of foods, and what's more, there are an increasing number of toxins in said foods.

The existence of mucoid plaque is contested in scientific circles - let alone a Goodjer web forum. I can only say that when I did my first detox - a 5 day juice fast - things came out of my body that had no business being there. That was when I first transitioned from being lacto-ovo vegetarian to vegan. Since then I've gone back to eating some dairy and eggs, because I found myself eating more refined and processed foods as a vegan than when I was just lacto-ovo-veggie. But I digress - I've since done several more juice fasts and liver cleanses, and every time my general health and wellness - both in terms of 'feeling' and actual bodily functions - are improved.

I should also mention that whether or not anything remains in the colon or not, the fact is that toxins DO remain in the body - they live in your fat cells - and unless you do something to specifically help your body get rid of them, they'll remain there and cause you, and your liver, a lot of problems over the span of your lifetime.

There are many, many ways to cleanse or detox. The simplest way has already been mentioned: drink a LOT more liquid (in the order of 128oz a day or more - feel free to add lemon juice or cranberry juice for added benefit), and increase your raw vegetable intake, particularly foods high in fiber.

You could also do a 3 or 5 day juice fast - fresh juice is best, but I've done some where I'll just do apple juice and water for 5 days, and maybe add some 'green mix' to the one in the morning to give a little extra fiber and nutrients.

Anyway - I'd steer clear of most of the detox 'systems' that claim a detox can come from taking a couple of magic pills daily. A change of diet over an extended period will have more thorough and lasting effects.