Jillian Michaels Cleanse and Burn: We're Trying It!

After eating what seems like your body weight in cookies, treats and snacks over the holiday season (and maybe a teeny bit into January as well, ahem), doing some sort of cleanse or detox seems like a great option during the post-holiday January stretch. That's why I've signed up to do the Jillian Michaels Cleanse and Burn program. It's a 14-day program that involves seven days of detoxing and cleansing, then seven days of replenishing nutrients and burning fat. It's designed to reduce belly bloat, increase energy, and make people feel lighter overall. I can definitely do with all of those things.

A little about me? I'm in my late 20s, 5-foot, 7 inches, and 146 pounds at my last weigh-in. That gives me a healthy BMI of around 23. Still, I wouldn't mind losing a few -- I've just returned from a year abroad and while tearing up the streets of London was great exercise, my favorite jeans are feeling a bit tight. I eat well (most of time), get my five to 10 daily servings of fruit and veggies (usually), and exercise regularly (always). My weaknesses are cheese, pasta, chocolate and wine, all of which I intend on avoiding while I'm on the cleanse.

My only experience with cleansing thus far has been an ill-fated few days on the Master Cleanse, which I abruptly halted after feeling dizzy and imagining myself fainting, cracking my head open, bleeding to death and being devoured by my cat. Oh, and there was also a 7-day supplement cleanse I did on the last week of a trip to Europe in my early 20s, which I did to avoid the horrors of coming home 10 pounds heavier than when I left. Unfortunately, those things don't really work when you pair them with croissants, brie and crème brulée.

So what makes this cleanse different from others on the market? Jillian herself thinks it's safer than most cleanses. "Many contain harsh chemical laxatives, require fasting, or fail to provide the necessary probiotic replenishment to restore beneficial intestinal flora ... I wanted to make sure there was a high-quality product on the market that was natural, didn't require fasting, and included a probiotic component," she said in a press release.

But, Jillian's no doctor. Is this actually a safe and effective way to clean out your system? I spoke with Dr. Brent Bauer, the director of complementary and integrative medicine at the Mayo Clinic, and while he didn't comment on this specific program per se, he did give me some insight into "natural" cleanses on a whole. "I would take claims of detoxification with a grain of salt," he said. "The body is already pretty good at cleaning itself. A lot of these detoxification programs claims to do magical things but there's just no good evidence to support this."

OK, point taken. Nonetheless, is it safe? Most likely, according to Dr. Bauer. "Probiotics can have a favorable influence in the gut," he said. All the same, he pointed out that while the natural ingredients may seem harmless, you shouldn't necessarily make that assumption. "Most natural cleanses have multiple herbs, and while each might have had scientific studies on them, it's hard to know what the interaction between them will be," he said.

What's more, "cleanses and detoxes are not a magic solution if you don't have a healthy lifestyle," he said. So, brie and croissants are out then? Right. Interestingly, while the program advises you to combine it with "a sensible diet and exercise program" (in very tiny print, I might add), they don't actually give you any guidelines for what this means. Being a healthy living writer, I'd like to think I have a pretty good grasp on this already, but I'm sure there are some people who will rationalize a cheeseburger every day as a "sensible diet." It will also be interesting to see how my current five-days-a-week fitness regime holds out -- will my energy levels be waning or increasing during this time?

Nevertheless, I'm going to take my chances. I'll be tweeting my progress and giving a final update at the end of the program. In the meantime, wish me luck!

Still working up to a full-out cleanse? Nosh on these five foods to make you feel skinnier.