Are detox diets scams?

Are detox diets scams?

By: Jade Teta

I got asked this question the other day by a family member. They said that a friend of theirs was selling some supplement that only needed to be taken twice per day. 

The supplement was specially designed to “flush toxins” and burn fat because “toxins” are the real reason people store fat, not calories. 

Let me see if I can put this in perspective for you so you can understand how something like this sounds to my ears. 

Imagine you are an expert mechanic and one of your clients tells you that a friend of theirs said all they need to do is add a special bottle of barbecue sauce to their fuel tank to triple the fuel efficiency of their car. 

As silly as it sounds, this is what some of this detoxification and fat loss rhetoric sounds like to those of us who have expertise in the natural health and weight loss fields. 

How to really detox 

First of all, the vast majority of the “toxins” the body has to deal with day to day are internally generated. And taking some sugar laden product to help you detox will likely, you guessed it, increase the body’s internally generated body burden. 

Second, detoxification is one of the most natural processes of the body.  It does it day in a day out and does not require any help from some magical elixir that costs $40 every single month. 

Give the body plenty of fiber so the bowels move regularly, eat adequate protein so your detoxification enzymes can be made and get adequate sleep, movement, and rest time. Do that and you have won the detox battle. 

A real detox requires one other thing, but it is not something you add in. It is something you take away.  For the body to adequately detox it needs times away from food especially junk food. Simply not eating, or eating only easy to digest liquid based foods, for a period of time is one of the best detox medicine you can "buy". Eating lightly shifts more of the body's resources to recovery, repair and regeneration versus digestion and assimilation. 

So, a good detox comes from eating lightly, dramatically increasing fruit and vegetable intake and drinking plenty of water.  Oh, and relaxing movement and sweating aid the process along greatly. 

In other words, the best detox on the market is a bucket load of produce, a gallon of water and time resting instead of eating.

 

Sorry, I know it is not quite as sexy as a magical rain forest juice that you sprinkle on your head, turn counter clockwise and then have a perfectly clean liver. 

A quick spring detox 

Since I know it is going to come up now that spring is here, let me give you one of the best detoxes you can do and all it takes is a long weekend.  Start thursday night and here is what you need: 

• Make up several big jugs of lemon water. Add some ginger if you have a juicer.
• Go to the store and buy a ton of celery, cucumbers, and any other vegetables
• Add these veggies into a chicken broth and cook until the veggies are soft.
• Set aside 4 liters of water a day.

Now all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday do the following:

 

• Drink 1-2 liters of your lemon ginger tea
• Eat three large servings of the vegetable soup
• Drink 4 liters of water a day.
• Eat nothing else.
• Take a few hot baths or do a sauna to make yourself sweat.  
• Go for as many long, but non-strenuous walks as you can
• Sleep as much as you can and rest
• Do not do any strenuous exercise

Simple, powerful and effective detox.  And you are likely to lose 3-5 pounds of water in the process. Repeat this for 2-4 weekends if you want and you have a perfect healthy, cheap detox minus the magical elixir.