The Clean 9 is a diet and detox plan that promises to help you lose weight quickly. Diets that promise fast weight loss can be very popular. However, many people who try them are unable to keep the weight off.
The Clean 9 diet may be useful to some people who want to lose weight quickly for a special occasion, but it's not a solution for long-term health.
This is an objective review of the Clean 9 diet.
What is The Clean 9 Diet?
The Clean 9 diet is a nine-day detox diet for fast weight loss.
It's a low-calorie plan that focuses on the use of meal replacement drinks and weight loss supplements.
Proponents of the diet claim that it helps cleanse your body and make you feel lighter, look better and lose weight in just nine days.
To do the diet, you need to purchase a Clean 9 diet pack from the Forever Living company or one of their distributors.
Bottom Line: The Clean 9 diet program is a nine-day, very-low-calorie diet designed to help you lose weight quickly.
How to Do The Clean 9 Diet
The Clean 9 diet pack includes:
- Two 1-liter (34 oz) bottles of Forever Aloe Vera Gel.
- One Forever Lite Ultra meal replacement drink powder (15 servings).
- One Forever Therm herbal supplement (18 tablets).
- One Forever Garcinia Plus herbal supplement (54 softgels).
- One Forever Fiber (9 packets).
- One shaker.
- One tape measure.
- One information booklet, including an exercise plan.
The diet pack varies in cost between countries and distributors. It currently costs around $96 in the U.S. and £100 in the UK.
The Clean 9 diet is broken into three parts.
Part One: Days 1–2
- Breakfast: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels and 1/2 a cup (120 ml) of aloe vera gel with a glass of water.
- Snack: 1 Forever Fiber stick with water.
- Lunch: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels, 1/2 a cup (120 ml) of aloe vera gel with a glass of water, 1 Forever Therm tablet and 1 meal replacement drink (made with 1.25 cups of skimmed milk).
- Dinner: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels, 1/2 a cup of aloe vera gel with a glass of water.
- Evening: 1/2 a cup of aloe vera gel with a glass of water.
Part Two: Days 3–8
- Breakfast: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels, 1/2 a cup of aloe vera gel with a glass of water, 1 Forever Therm tablet and 1 meal replacement drink (made with 1.25 cups of skimmed milk).
- Workout: Follow breakfast with 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.
- Snack: 1 Forever Fiber stick with water.
- Lunch: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels, 1 Forever Therm tablet and 1 meal replacement drink (made with 1.25 cups of skimmed milk).
- Dinner: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels and a 600-calorie meal. Men can have an additional 200 calories or an extra meal replacement shake.
Part Three: Day 9
- Breakfast: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels, 1/2 cup of aloe vera gel with a glass of water, 1 Forever Therm tablet and 1 meal replacement drink (made with 1.25 cups of skimmed milk).
- Workout: Follow breakfast with 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.
- Snack: 1 Forever Fiber stick with water.
- Lunch: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels, 1 Forever Therm tablet and a low-sugar, 300-calorie meal.
- Dinner: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels and a 600-calorie meal. Men can have an additional 200 calories or an extra meal replacement shake.
Throughout the Diet
- Drink plenty of water.
- Avoid fizzy and carbonated drinks.
- Avoid using salt, use herbs and spices instead.
- Eat as many “free foods" (see next section) as you need to.
- Weigh yourself on days 1, 3, 6 and 9.
Bottom Line: Days 1 and 2 of the Clean 9 diet allow aloe vera drinks, herbal supplements and one meal replacement drink. Days 3 to 9 also allow one 600-calorie meal per day.
Free Foods You Can Eat
The Clean 9 diet allows some foods to be eaten freely, including:
Fruits
- Apricots
- Apples
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Boysenberries
- Cherries
- Red or purple grapes
- Grapefruit
- Kiwifruit
- Oranges
- Peaches
- Pears
- Plums
- Prunes
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
Vegetables
- Artichokes
- Rocket/arugula
- Asparagus
- Belgian endive
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Eggplant
- Spring onions
- Kale
- Leeks
- Lettuce (all varieties)
- Peppers (all varieties)
- Snow peas
- Sugar snap peas
- Soybeans
- Spinach
- String beans
- Tomatoes
Vegetables (except artichokes or soy) should be eaten raw or lightly steamed and without oil or dressing.
Bottom Line: You can eat as much as you want of certain fruits and vegetables, termed “free" foods.
Evidence Behind The Supplements
The Clean 9 diet includes three supplements that are claimed to help you detox and lose weight.
Aloe Vera Gel
The main supplement in the Clean 9 diet is aloe vera gel.
Aloe vera gel is made up of the inner gel and pulp of the aloe leaf. The rind and outer leaf are removed during processing.
The inner part of the leaf is made up of 98.5–99.5 percent water. The remaining part contains some soluble fiber and sugars.
It also contains small amounts of amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, some organic acids and anthraquinone, a known laxative.
Aloe vera gel has been linked to benefits such as improved digestive health and weight loss. It's also thought to have anti-diabetic, anti-bacterial, antioxidant and anti-tumor properties (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Yet the evidence for these effects is mostly anecdotal or based on animal studies. There are very few quality studies in humans to back this up.
One study in rats found that aloe vera may show promise as a weight loss agent (7).
One human study has also been conducted. It followed 136 obese people with untreated type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes and found that those taking aloe vera capsules lost 4 percent more body fat than those taking a placebo (8).
Nonetheless, the study had some flaws that make it unclear if the fat loss was caused by the aloe vera.
Garcinia Plus
Garcinia Plus capsules contain garcinia cambogia extract.
This is a weight loss supplement processed from a fruit of the same name.
Garcinia cambogia contains high levels of hydroxycitric acid, which is the main active ingredient (9).
Some claim it helps you burn more fat when taken as part of a diet and exercise program and that it helps keep hunger at bay by reducing your appetite.
Animal and human studies investigating these claims have found mixed results (10).
One recent review found that people who took garcinia cambogia lost 2 lbs (0.88 kg) more weight than those taking a placebo. There was no difference in weight when they only looked at the most reliable studies (11).
Overall, it's not clear if garcinia cambogia reduces appetite and helps you burn fat. The evidence is mixed (9, 12).
Forever Therm
The Forever Therm herbal supplement in the Clean 9 diet is claimed to give you an energy boost and increase your metabolism.
The main active ingredients in this supplement are raspberry ketones and green tea extract.
Drinking green tea has been linked with an increase in metabolism (13, 14, 15).
However, its impact on fat burning is thought to be minor and may not apply to all people, especially if you regularly drink beverages with caffeine.
Raspberry ketones are natural compounds found in red raspberries, which have been investigated as a weight loss agent.
To date, nearly all the studies on raspberry ketones have been carried out in animals or test tubes. In these studies, they have been linked with fat burning, but only at very high doses (16, 17, 18, 19).
It would be impossible to reach an equivalent dose in human cells without taking 100 times the maximum safe dose, which is not recommended.
Only one clinical trial has investigated the effects of raspberry ketones in humans. This study did show some weight loss (20).
However, this study can't be used to claim anything about raspberry ketones because it also used diet, exercise and other supplements (20).
Bottom Line: It's not clear whether the supplements included in the Clean 9 diet will help you lose weight or reduce your appetite. The evidence is mixed.
Does The Clean 9 Diet Work?
As with all commercial diet programs, there are many anecdotal reports of both success and failure with the Clean 9 diet.
However, at the moment, there are very few scientific studies investigating the effectiveness of these types of diets.
Although the Clean 9 diet hasn't been formally studied, the plan is very low in calories, so you are likely to lose weight in the short-term (21, 22, 23).
Yet some of the weight lost is likely to be due to a loss of water weight and stored carbs, rather than body fat.
Unless if you make long-term changes to your diet, you will likely regain all the weight you lost as soon as you start eating normally (24, 25, 26, 27).
As for the detox aspect of this diet, many people report an energy boost and feeling better after a period of detoxing. This is most likely due to the elimination of alcohol and other unhealthy foods from your diet, rather than from any special “detox" effects.
Bottom Line: If you stick to the diet, you will lose some weight in the short-term. Whether you maintain the weight loss over time will depend on your lifestyle.
Safety and Side Effects
There are a few side effects and safety concerns to be aware of if you decide to try out the Clean 9 diet.
People who go on very-low-calorie diets may suffer from tiredness, irritability, headaches, nausea and dizziness (28).
Although aloe vera is generally well tolerated and considered safe, it can cause a few unwanted side effects in some people (29).
Some of the side effects of aloe vera reported to the Food and Drug Administration include stomach problems, nausea, dizziness and tiredness. In rare cases, there have been reports of allergic reactions and also liver toxicity with sustained use (30).
It's also not advised in pregnancy or breastfeeding as it can cause early contractions in pregnant women and stomach upset in breastfeeding babies (31).
The Clean 9 diet should also be used with caution in people who have diabetes due to its very low calorie and carb content, coupled with the potential of aloe vera gels to lower blood sugar (32, 33, 34).
The other supplements have no reported side effects. However, side effects and safe doses in these herbs are not very well studied either.
Bottom Line: The Clean 9 diet should be safe for most people. However, some people should avoid it, including pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Take Home Message
If you stick to them, very-low-calorie diets will help you lose weight in the short-term.
The Clean 9 diet is no different. Its structured plan and rules may help some people kick-start a healthy eating plan.
However, this plan is expensive and there is little evidence to support the use of the supplement package.
Additionally, most people who go on diets like this end up re-gaining the weight.
Personally, considering the limited evidence and high cost, I would save my money.
The Clean 9 diet may be useful to some people who want to lose weight quickly for a special occasion, but it's not a solution for long-term health.
This article was reposted from our media associate Authority Nutrition.
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