Meme Watch - Detox

It seems in the past five years, almost everyone I know has become very interested in fasting, cleansing, and detoxing. Even people who seemingly eat well, live well, and avoid drugs and drinking seem obsessed with this idea of cleaning out their systems. At first, I thought some of this cleansing fad was a guise under which people could fad diet. I think it still is for some, but I recently I've observed a mass proliferation of the detox meme.

The biggest spike in the cultural consciousness of this meme seemed to be when Beyonce did the master cleanse (otherwise known as the lemonade diet). She acted as the tipping point, bringing the cleanse to the mainstream.

After a mildly disturbing jaunt on the master cleanse community board, I began to wonder whether there was a name for some of these men and women who were doing the cleanse for up to 40 days, desperately wondering why they hadn't yet achieved "pink tongue status."

Dr. Steven Bratman of Colorado coined the term Orthoexia nervosa to describe a new type of eating disorder distinguished by a compulsion to eat only foods that are "pure."

He writes:

"The act of eating pure food begins to carry pseudo-spiritual connotations. As Orthorexia progresses, a day filled with sprouts, umeboshi plums and amaranth biscuits comes to feel as holy as one spent serving the poor and homeless. When an orthorexic slips up, (which, depending on the pertinent theory, may involve anything from devouring a single raisin in violation of the law to consuming a gallon of Haagen [Daaz] ice cream and a supreme pizza), he experiences a fall from grace, and must take on numerous acts of penitence. These usually involve ever stricter diets and fasts."

Now I can't vouch for this Steven Brandt character, as I'm not in the psychological community (and he spelled Haagen Dazaz wrong - wtf?), but the idea of Orthoexia has spread across the blogosphere.

I'm not suggesting this meme is sinister - in fact, it could be a great trend in a culture that until recently has valued "convenience" and "value" more than health or wellness; however, it does speak to the meme's prevalence that it is spawning a new eating disorder of it's very own.

Beyond detoxing in the diet, I've seen "detox" become a new marketing buzzword. Bath & Body Works recently started carrying a lotion called Detoxify, a product that promises to "detoxify over night." You can buy detox shampoo, tea, lotion, oil; you can find products that specifically detox different parts of your body: your colon, your lungs, your skin, your hair, your blood. A quick jaunt to GMC is basically waiting to become a detox/cleanse party.

The meme is clear. It says: Your colon is nasty. Your skin is nasty. Your lifestyle is filthy. There's all kinds of "free radicals" and "toxins" and other crud floating around. Whether or not you understand these toxins, you need to understand that you need to "de-" them.

Maybe as a result to growing secularism, people are finding non-religious ways of fasting. Maybe there is some intrinsic need to punish/cleanse ourselves. To start anew.

I know that I live in California, so my perspective might be skewed, but surely this qualifies as a meme. Thoughts?