5 things you need to know about detox diets

Detox diets and cleanses are very popular today. However, there are opposing views to these. There are views that no such thing as detoxification exists, which is just not true. Your body has systems and organs of detoxification that include the urinary system, liver, lymphatic system, skin, and the intestine.

Suboptimal detoxification is a big reason for healthy conditions and weight loss resistance. On the other hand, there are people who are on long term detox diets, which become very restrictive and can in themselves induce nutrient deficiencies. It is very important that they are only done strategically and with monitoring.

The need for a detox diet

Detox diets are targeted at giving a short term break to the systems or organs of detoxification, wherein your body can help those to improve their function.

They help to eliminate the body of a build-up of toxins in order to improve health, energy, resistance to disease, mental clarity, digestion, detoxification and weight loss.

Based on the intention behind which system you want to detoxify, you would need to restrict certain foods. These foods can include alcohol, caffeine, processed foods, salt, sugar, wheat, red meat, pork, cheese, fried foods, cream, oil, fats, and specific vegetables.

The liver and the lymphatic system do well with a fat free diet. Intake of specific vegetables or fruits may be advised. As part of any detox diet, it is encouraged that you eat organic.

What should you consider with a detox diet?

Most detox diets are best done with monitoring by a qualified nutritionist, who can understand the systems and navigate how to manage nutrient requirements and any detoxification symptoms that can arise.

1. A detox diet is not targeted at weight loss, and it should not be. Many popular detox diets do restrict calories, and when people experience weight loss, they tend to continue it long term. The weight loss that happens with detox diets usually leads to loss of cellular fluids and emptying of glycogen stores from the liver. When they are continued long term, they can impact muscles leading to loss of protein stores. Many people who continue detox diets long term can lose weight and muscle. They can also regain more weight after they go back to normal eating. This can result in lowering of a basal metabolic rate and decreased health status. This does not mean you should not include a detox diet. The intention is to improve functioning of the detoxification systems, which can then improve your tendency to lose weight once you go back to a regular diet.

2. Do not start a detox diet because it is a fad, or someone has told you to do so. Every body type is different and needs different approaches. Find someone who can guide you with what is required for you specifically based on your symptoms, body type, and even lab markers. Avoid beginning with a juice cleanse, which can be popular. However, many people who need a detox diet cannot handle the blood sugar fluctuation that happens from a juice cleanse. Begin with just removing foods that are hard to digest. Giving your digestive system a break can be a great detox diet.

3. Never ever do a detox diet as a purge for eating bad food. This happens very often where people constantly oscillate between binge drinking or eating, and green juice cleanses. Some cleanses even use this as their marketing tool to suggest that you can fix your weekend of binge drinking with a juice cleanse. This is dangerous and ineffective. It can just end up shocking the system and impacting the health of the gut microbiome.

A detox diet is about resetting your body’s internal harmony and reducing the suboptimal functioning of detoxification organs.

Neither is a detox diet a way to correct course after overeating desserts or sweets with a festival. This mindset can slowly trigger the mindset that you can eat anything and correct it with a cleanse, which falls into an area of eating disorders. This can also happen if you restrict foods for too long and then become scared to eat them.

ALSO READ

Do you want a plant-based diet? Here are the benefits and concerns

4. Do a detox diet only when you are physically and mentally ready. It takes a lot of preparation to put together meals based on specific intentions and recommendations. Many people jump enthusiastically into a detox diet only to find that they cannot sustain it after a day or two because it requires a different eating methodology. If you are prepping food yourself, take a day or two to understand what is necessary, source the ingredients and plan how you will put them together. If you rely on someone else to prepare your food, make sure they are on board. Many people also end up struggling because of this reason, and it can cause emotional friction at home. It is also important to prepare mentally. Detox diets can trigger an emotional purging, where you feel more angry, overwhelmed, or weepy. Unless you know that it can occur, you will end up struggling wondering why!  

5. While you can do a simple detox diet yourself, such as removing alcohol, caffeine, fried foods, sugar, or processed foods, implementing more challenging detox diets should be under guidance.

If you are considering a detox diet that removes fats to support the liver, it must be only done short term. Long term removal of fats can be the root cause of mental health symptoms, as your brain needs fats.

Be very cautious with juice cleanses that are more than a day. If you get intense cravings headaches, or dizziness, your body probably has blood sugar imbalances, and a juice cleanse is not the place to start.

As a final takeaway, the main things to remember are that a detox diet is not meant to be long term. A detox diet is not a farce. It can be very effective. However, neither is it a solution to bingeing and excess eating. Oscillating between these two can create havoc with blood sugar. A great detox diet is simply to remove alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fried foods!