I got the science from biology textbooks and lectures, and developed the general opinion over the past 10 years from conversations with physicians and from listening to interviews with physicians, scientists, or other specialists.

"Personal experience" is very rarely something that can be upheld as scientific evidence in any regard. Scientists have presented a theory that a lack of nutrients is bad for you, and have developed numerous repeatable experiments whose results consistently agree with those expected by the theory.

When you begin to talk about things going on within your body, based solely on how you "experience", you begin to cut out significant amounts of scientific knowledge.

What you "experience" is only what makes it to consciousness, which in turn is heavily skewed to your perceptions. Some people might feel really good after an evening run with a garbage bag on, and attribute it to the fact that they've "sweated out all of the day's toxins". Is it really because of the toxins? Or is it the endorphins released when you put your body under stress? Is it a delerium brought on my dehydration? Is it just a placebo effect?

What's to say these "toxins" are even what made you feel bad in the first place - maybe there was just too much air moving around your body, and the airproof garbage bag kept the air stationary around your body? I've yet to find peer reviewed papers that explain what toxins are actually being removed, what the effect of the toxins are, or even why they would be removed through the sweat glands? And why aren't fat sweaty people super healthy? And is the damage of these toxins worth the stress on your liver and kidneys - or nearly every cell in your body, for that matter, since you're fucking with your body's ability to regulate its temperature?

I know you're not running with garbage bags, but similar questions should be asked regarding the benefits. What exactly is being flushed out? Why would not eating solid foods be the means to flush them out? Will your body somehow function differently in removing waste, if there is no solid food coming in? Will the body decide "oh good, the GI is finally empty. I can finally start taking all these toxins from the cells throughout the body, and channel them into the GI for explusion. Thank god this guy finally stopped eating, so that there's room in his bowels to put all this crap. If he starts eating again, though, these toxins will just build right back up again."

On the other hand, questions should be asked regarding the negative effects. By restricting certain chemicals from entering your body, what will happen to your body? Are there important chemicals that your body needs, that are not being supplied? If these essential chemicals are not being supplied from an external source, where will they come from? Will there be any damage from not having these chemicals? And so on.

So in short, I got it from critical thinking, and looking for answers to these questions in science, rather than from peoples' experiences.

Fixed that for you. :P

But it's a pet peeve of mine for multiple reasons. First I should point out that my pet peeve is general health pseudosciences. Including certain aspects of homeopathy, and religious healing. The first reason is that it can be dangerous. Will prayer heal your child's appendicitis before he dies? Will Gambian President Yahya Jammeh's three day AIDS cure make it safe for people that were "once" afflicted with AIDS to donate blood? Will telling people that vaccines not only do not work, but that they cause autism, and that the only reason that no scientific study has actually shown this is because drug companies paid for them, help to create a generation of children who understand social cues better, while diseases magically wipe themselves out?

What about telling someone that there's toxins in their body, and the only way to get them out, is to remove it with the body's supply of water on a daily basis? Sure you could urinate a lot, but you can't wring your body dry of those toxins. You have to put your body under stress so that it sweats, and you need to sweat as much as you can. If you force your body to heat up, you sweat more, thus removing more toxins. In the end you'll be the healthiest person alive.

What if you told someone that there's toxins in their body, which the body is unable to remove while you you are putting more of those same toxins in their body, and the only way to balance it out, is to flush your system every month? You eat fine for 20 days, and then at the end of the month you fast for 10 days, and deprive your body of as much nourishment as possible.

The other reason it's a pet peeve, is because biology and chemistry are very complex topics, and your body gives your consciousness very little information about what's going on. Most people parroting the virtues of cleanses, and denouncing toxins, based solely on how they felt while cleansing, or how solid or soft their stool ways at the end of the cleanse, or how much energy they felt afterwards, can't even interpret the macrofeedback that their body gives them, much less understand what's actually happening in their body.

People are so fanatical about homeopathy, cleanses and toxins, "eastern medicine", "spiritual medicine" and the like, that it's irritating and frustrating. They cannot be reasoned with. They ignore evidence. Some even believe in a global conspiracy that pharmaceutical companies are out to hurt you in the name of profit. It's fucking ridiculous, and I feel it is a far more pressing danger to the public health than creationism vs evolution.

Dogs wag their tail when they eat dog food, and will often jump around with tons of energy and happiness. Clearly the dogs are happy, and feel good. Why doesn't everyone eat dog food?

People drink alcohol, and feel great while they're on it. It even dulls pain! Imagine that - a substance that makes it so that nothing can damage you! (that's what a reduced perception of pain naturally equates to, right?)

Cocaine is an amazing drug. It can even cure you of heroin addiction. It's a topical anaesthetic. When you inject it, your senses are heightened, you're more creative, you have more energy.

Fasting leaves me feeling great. I feel like I'm at one with everything. I reach spiritual planes that few people experience. I see things that no one else can see. I come out of it feeling deleriously euphoric. Food feels so good when you eat it.

Deciding to do things to your body that have been shown by experts in the field (I should clarify - experts that practice science in the literal sense of science) to be damaging, based on how you feel and what you experience, is ridiculous.

Fuck you, dabridge. You found the saddle for my high horse again.

Also, that whole comment was meant as an attack on pseudoscience in general, not against you or your girlfriend, or what you two think.

One of my favourite quotes is "I respect that you have an opinion, but I don't have to respect you or your opinion". :P

Oooh, you got FSX to post a wall of text again. Good job. :P

I've been wanting to get my hands on it too, but I need a 3DS/2DS first. For which I need quite a bit of money (I hate how much DS/3DS games cost, especially the Pokemon games :<)

I liked it better when kevin malone would do that shit.

You mean playing music, right?