In defense of detox.

Most of the detox programs do not say you must fast ("The Fast Track," Your Health, May/June 2007). If you can handle fasting, it's fine. But I still wouldn't recommend it during detoxing because your body is already working hard. Detox means using the right ingredients to help the body get rid of the unwanted chemicals from the five organs that already eliminate toxins--the kidneys, bowels, lungs, liver and skin. If you choose not to fast, you must eliminate the inorganic substances (food with a label). Eat only vegetables, fruits, legumes and complex carbohydrates (no white flour or sugar).

People practice fasting to heal their bodies, not for a "crash" program of losing weight. When you fast correctly, you use small amounts of honey and apple cider vinegar so there is plenty of glucose for the brain. I have practiced fasting since 2000, and it has given me only positive results. Of course, being a "guest of the federal government" now for 12 years (doing 15 big ones for sleeping on a pot farm; I'll be home next May) doesn't help. Still, I manage to fast one day a week, seven to 10 days every three months and once a year 14- to 32-day fasts. Honey, lemon, water and vitamin C. There is no apple cider vinegar here, although I have had it at other prisons in the past.

Just reading Dr. [Paul C.] Bragg's book [The Miracle of Fasting] will explain it. Fasting is not for everybody, and Bragg explains that in his book. His daughter, Patricia, is in her late 70s and is going strong and looks great.

Doug McCarroll

Rye Brook, NY

Melissa Knopper replies: Fasting and detox diets might be good .for your health, but they also may send harmful surges of chemicals through your body. People on both sides agree we need better research on how the body gets rid of toxins. Until we know more about this process, the health experts I interviewed say it's best to avoid extreme diets.