Eating great food is something most people enjoy and many would say that it’s the very purpose of their life. Food, after all, is one of the great pleasures of life. However, a lot of the food we love to binge on is not really good for the body but health usually gets sacrificed at the altar of taste. You can’t control what you eat but you can give your body a chance to recuperate from all the junk that you’ve been gorging on. This is why detox diets have become so famous but are these diets really living up to their claims?
What Is A Detox Diet?
Detox diets have been around since the 1990s when a diet is known as the Lemonade Diet or Master Cleanse became popular. People who followed this diet spent 10 days drinking a concoction of lemon juice, maple syrup, water and cayenne pepper. Such an extreme diet did have many side effects of course. You would experience tiredness, irritability, hot bowel movements, and headaches. However, these were promoted as signs that your body was detoxifying itself. Over the years, there have been other detox programs can last for several days to weeks and involve drinking little more than fruit and vegetable juices.
Does Your Body Need Detoxification?
A detox diet is not as easy as it looks. Living on the same kind of foods for days; sticking to only fluids; eating very small portions; doing all this while maintaining your regular lifestyle is surely not a cakewalk. But the big question is whether it’s worth putting your body through so much stress.
The good news is that typical day-to-day living does not bring about a need to detox with concoctions and laxatives. The body is perfectly capable of cleaning itself. Your body has several systems in place to cleanse itself of most toxins and waste.
Your Body Already Has A Detox System In Place
Your circulatory system, respiratory system, urinary system, and digestive system constant work towards keeping harmful compounds out of the body. Some lemon juice, vegetable juice, or gut rest is not actually going to make a big difference in your overall health.
From a medical perspective, there are no published, peer-reviewed, or well-designed research studies on detoxing that indicate any health benefit or weight loss. However, if you’ve been exposed to high amounts of heavy metals, poisons, or radiation, you might require a medical detoxification which needs to be prescribed by your doctor.
Detox And Weight Loss
There is also this myth that following a detox diet can help you lose weight fast. But if you take a good look at what detox diets make you do, it would be obvious that you’re going to lose some weight by going on this diet. Usually, a detox diet is very restrictive, and the daily calorie intake is much less than what you would typically consume. You will also be drinking a lot more fluid or juices.
While some of the weight you lose will be body fat, most will be water loss and some muscle tissue loss. Also, diets like the GM diet claim that you can lose 10 to 17 pounds of weight but not many people check how long this weight stays off once you get back to your normal routine.
Is Detoxing Harmful?
So here’s the deal. If you’re a reasonably healthy adult and want to restrict your diet for a few days and stick to juices and smoothies, it’s not going to put you in danger. In fact, taking a break from high-sugar, high-fat foods is actually a good thing and might even make you feel more energetic. But if you have a medical condition or are taking medications, a detox program could be dangerous or even fatal. So make sure you consult your doctor before going on extreme diets.
You might run into health issues every once in a while but don’t blame them on your body’s inefficiencies. The human body has been designed well and has all the detoxification systems it needs. If you really want to help your body, stick to a well-balanced diet plan, sleep and wake up on time, and try to stay happy.
