Okay, so who doesn't know that Wikipedia is written by anyone?
The point of a cleanse isn't to loose weight, it is to rid the digestive system of all the caked on goodies that we have been indulging in for the last few months or years.
People who expect to loose weight by dieting should first do a cleanse. It just makes a lot of sense to get your system cleaned out and efficient first.
Would you paint your car without riding the body of rust and without sanding and then priming first? Bad analogy but you get the point.
I take six large herbal supplements prior to each meal for 20 days. At day six my gut already feels way better. I usually get a headache only on the first or second day. During the cleanse I avoid alcohol, coffee, sugar, fried foods and mostly dairy and wheat. But the first four for sure. If one can't go without bread best to eat a bread made without yeast, and to eat sparingly. Milk is a definite no, no. But a little bit of cheese or yogart probably isn't too detrimental.