To Detox or Not To Detox?

Juice diets, shakes, smoothies, pills, elimination diets, detox diets are marketed in many different ways. All claim and promise to detoxify the body of built up toxins, reduce acidity levels, strengthen immunity, improve weight loss and many more, but do they actually deliver?

Cleanses have become a multi-million dollar industry, yet there is no scientific evidence showing they work. There's no evidence that they are even safe for everyone to try or even to show that we do have a toxin build up. Most supplements marketed as detox pills, shakes or diets are not regulated and therefore can make unsubstantiated claims.

The liver, lungs and kidneys are the body's detoxifiers.

Cleanse diets are viewed as fad diets, assuming they are meant for a set amount of time, e.g. 5 day cleanses, surely going back to your normal way of eating would just lead to the same result again (toxin build up, acidity etc)?

The problem with these diets comes in when you don't actually change your eating or food habits and behaviours or your lifestyle doesn't change, so no long term benefit, if any, will be seen.

You may lose some weight during the cleanse because your energy intake decreases, this is not sustainable, and chances are it isn't coming from fat loss, but rather from water and muscle loss. This is then quickly picked up again as you resume your normal eating routine.

These are not long term solutions. If you are worried about a toxin build up or the high levels of acidity in your body then consider:

Increasing anti-oxidant intake from fruits and vegetables

Reducing red meat intake to 1-2 times per week, focus on fish and chicken rather

Reduce processed foods like sweets, cool drinks, sausages, polony, viennas, processed cheese

Increase exercise

Stop smoking

If you do so, drink alcohol in moderation, 1 drink for women and 2 for men

Cut down on sugars and cool drinks

Think twice before going for a detox cleanse, rather look at the overall cleaning up of your dietary choices.