In a world saturated with wellness trends, detoxification (detox) diets have gained immense popularity. Marketed as a way to cleanse your blood, eliminate harmful toxins, boost metabolism, and improve overall health, these diets often promise quick weight loss and a revitalized sense of well-being. But what exactly is a cleansing diet, and is it a sustainable and healthy approach to weight loss? This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of cleansing diets, examining their potential benefits, risks, and the science behind them.
Understanding Cleansing Diets
Detox diets are generally short-term dietary interventions designed to eliminate toxins from your body. A typical detox diet involves a period of fasting, followed by a strict diet of fruit, vegetables, fruit juices, and water. Sometimes a detox also includes herbs, teas, supplements, and colon cleanses or enemas.
These diets claim to:
- Rest your organs by fasting
- Stimulate your liver to get rid of toxins
- Promote toxin elimination through feces, urine, and sweat
- Improve circulation
- Provide your body with healthy nutrients
Detox therapies are most commonly recommended because of potential exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment or your diet. These include pollutants, synthetic chemicals, heavy metals, and other harmful compounds.
The Body's Natural Detoxification System
Before delving into the specifics of detox diets, it's crucial to understand that your body is already equipped with a sophisticated detoxification system. The digestive tract, liver, kidneys, and lungs work efficiently to keep out harmful toxins. Your liver makes toxic substances harmless, then ensures that they’re released from your body through feces, urine, and sweat.
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Toxins are chemicals that don’t have a place in our diets. Your body usually gets rid of toxins itself. As a wellness dietitian, when I talk about weight loss, I’m referring to actual body fat. Most of the time, what you’re “losing” on these fasts and cleanses is water weight - the natural water stored in your body’s tissue. For example, the loss of water might make you feel a little lighter, but you’re not getting rid of belly fat.
Types of Cleansing Diets
There are many ways to do a detox diet - ranging from total starvation fasts to simpler food modifications. Detox diets can vary in intensity and duration.
Examples include:
- Fasting
- Only drinking juices
- Using dietary supplements
- Using enemas or laxatives to cleanse the colon
- Using herbs
- Avoiding all allergenic foods, then slowly reintroducing them
- Using a sauna
The Claimed Benefits of Detox Diets
Detox diets also claim to help improve your immune system, digestion, energy levels, and aide in weight loss. Some people report feeling more focused and energetic during and after detox diets. However, this improved well-being may simply be due to eliminating processed foods, alcohol, and other unhealthy substances from your diet. You may also be getting vitamins and minerals that were lacking before. A few aspects of detox diets may have health benefits, such as: avoiding dietary sources of heavy metals and POPs, avoiding processed foods, and drinking more water. However, these aspects are generally linked to improved health, regardless of whether you are on a detox diet.
The Reality: Lack of Scientific Evidence
Despite the popularity of detox diets, human research on them is lacking, and the handful of studies that exist are significantly flawed. Detox diets rarely identify the specific toxins they aim to remove. The mechanisms by which they work are also unclear. In fact, there is little to no evidence that detox diets remove any toxins from your body.
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While some chemicals, like persistent organic pollutants (POPs), phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and heavy metals, may not be as easily removed by bodily processes and tend to accumulate in fat tissue or blood, these compounds are generally removed from or limited in commercial products today. Overall, there is little evidence that detox diets help eliminate any of these compounds.
Detox Diets and Weight Loss
Very few scientific studies have investigated how detox diets impact weight loss. While some people may lose a lot of weight quickly, this effect seems to be due to loss of fluid and carb stores rather than fat. This weight is usually regained quickly once you go off the cleanse.
An older 2015 study examined Korean women who had overweight while on the lemon detox diet. This diet limits you to a mixture of organic maple or palm syrups and lemon juice for seven days. The results showed that the diet significantly reduced body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, markers of inflammation, insulin resistance, and circulating leptin levels.
If a detox diet involves severe calorie restriction, it will typically cause weight loss and improve metabolic health. However, it is important to remember that it is unlikely to help you keep weight off in the long term.
Potential Risks and Side Effects
Before doing any sort of detox, it is important to consider the possible side effects. Possible side effects of a detox diet include:
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- Severe Calorie Restriction: Short-term fasting and limited calorie intake can result in fatigue, irritability, and bad breath. Long-term fasting can result in energy, vitamin, and mineral deficiencies, electrolyte imbalance, and even death.
- Colon Cleansing: Colon cleansing methods, which are sometimes recommended during detoxes, can cause dehydration, cramping, bloating, nausea, and vomiting.
- Overdosing: Some detox diets may pose the risk of overdosing on supplements, laxatives, diuretics, and even water. There is a lack of regulation and monitoring in the detox industry, and many detox foods and supplements may not have any scientific basis. In the worst cases, the ingredient labels of detox products may be inaccurate. This can increase your risk of overdosing, potentially resulting in serious and even fatal effects.
Certain people should not begin any detox or calorie-restricting regimens without consulting a doctor first. This includes at-risk populations, such as adolescents, older adults, those who are malnourished, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding or chestfeeding, those who have blood sugar issues, such as diabetes, and those with an eating disorder.
A Sustainable Approach to Cleansing and Weight Loss
Instead of relying on extreme detox diets, a more sustainable approach to cleansing and weight loss involves adopting long-term healthy eating habits. This means:
- Eating more whole, unprocessed foods
- Drinking plenty of water
- Getting enough fiber for digestion
- Reducing added sugar and processed foods
- Incorporating lean proteins and healthy fats
- Exercising regularly
Foods to Include in a Healthy Cleansing Diet
When focusing on a healthy cleansing diet, it is typically suggested to eat foods such as vegetables, fruits, lean protein, seeds, and nuts. A detox diet may also involve avoiding highly processed foods.
Here are some examples of healthy detox meals that are cheap and simple to make:
- Warm Porridge Oats: Combine 50mg of steel cut oats with 250ml of water in a medium pan. Bring to the boil slowly and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Spoon into your bowl and add your favourite toppings.
- Power-Boosting Breakfast: Add three dessert spoons of Greek yoghurt to a bowl and top with fruit of your choice. Add honey for added sweetness if needed.
- Crisp and Cool Chicken Salad: Slice 1 cooked skinless chicken breast and combine with 80mg of cooked brown rice, 1 dollop of hummus, 2 spring onions, ½ red bell pepper, juice of ½ lemon, and seasoning.
- Healthy Detox Smoothie: Blend together 2 apples, 1 handful watercress, 1 celery stalk, ½ bunch spinach, juice of ½ lemon, and a slice of ginger. Pour into a glass and enjoy.
- Colourful and Tasty Lunch: Finely shred lettuce, purple cabbage, and red pepper and toss in olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Add ½ a sliced avocado and sprinkle with sesame seeds and fresh parsley.
- Shrimp and Grapefruit Salad: Heat a large skillet with 1 teaspoon of oil. Add shrimp for 3 minutes until cooked, stirring frequently. Peel and section 1 grapefruit and add to a bowl with 3 avocado wedges, lettuce, 1 diced shallot, and cooked shrimp.
- Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Bowl: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Combine 2 chopped sweet potatoes, olive oil, paprika and salt, place on a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes. Toast ¼ cup of quinoa in a pan for 2 minutes before adding 1 cup of water, covering and simmering for 20 minutes. In a bowl, combine 200 grams black beans, 1 chopped bell pepper, a handful of cherry tomatoes, fresh coriander and juice of 1 lime. Add the sweet potato and quinoa once cooked. Serve and enjoy.
- Salmon with Fennel and Herb Dressing: Add 2 salmon fillets and fennel wedges to a steamer for around 6 minutes. Meanwhile, make a dressing by combining chopped parsley and dill with diced shallots and a splash of lemon juice. Once to salmon is cooked, move to a plate and pour over the dressing.
- Chicken and Vegetable Casserole: In a casserole dish, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add 2 chopped skinless chicken breasts. Cook for 3 minutes on each side then remove from the pot. Then add the 2 sliced carrots, 1 diced celery stick, 1 sliced leek, 1 diced onion, and 1 chopped garlic clove to the dish and cook for 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan, add 2 cups of chicken stock, cover and simmer for approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lemon juice, season and serve.
- Fruit: Simple, quick and requires no messing about. Fruit is packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.
- Kale Chips: A handful of crunchy kale chips offers a low-calorie, low-fat and nutrient-dense snack. Toss kale leaves in olive oil and bake for 15 minutes until crisp.
A Sample 1-Day Detox Meal Plan
Not ready for a full 7-day detox? Try this balanced 1-day detox meal plan for a reset:
- Breakfast: Green Detox Smoothie: Blend a handful of fresh spinach with half a banana, half a cup of frozen berries, and a tablespoon of chia seeds for a fiber boost. Add one cup of almond milk to create a creamy texture, and blend until smooth.
- Snack: Fresh Fruit + Nuts: Enjoy a crisp apple paired with ten almonds.
- Lunch: Quinoa & Roasted Veggie Bowl: Start with half a cup of cooked quinoa, add roasted sweet potatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and lemon dressing.
- Snack: Carrot & Cucumber Sticks With Hummus: Enjoy fresh carrot and cucumber sticks paired with hummus.
- Dinner: Grilled Salmon With Steamed Greens: Enjoy a four-ounce portion of grilled salmon (or tofu for a plant-based option) with steamed broccoli and kale. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Throughout the day, sip on herbal teas like ginger, peppermint, or green tea for added antioxidants. Aim for at least eight glasses of water to keep the body energized and properly hydrated.
The Mayo Clinic Diet: A Lifestyle Approach
The Mayo Clinic Diet is the official weight-loss program developed by Mayo Clinic experts. The program focuses on eating delicious healthy foods and increasing physical activity. It emphasizes that the best way to keep weight off for good is to change your lifestyle and adopt new habits that you enjoy and can stick with. The program has been updated and is designed to help you reshape your lifestyle by adopting healthy new habits and breaking unhealthy old ones. It focuses on changing your daily routine by adding and breaking habits that can affect your weight. Simple habits, such as eating more fruits and vegetables, not eating while you watch TV, and moving your body for 30 minutes a day, can help you lose weight.
The Mayo Clinic Diet makes healthy eating easy by teaching you how to estimate portion sizes and plan meals. The program doesn't require you to be precise about counting calories. Mayo Clinic experts designed the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid to help you eat foods that are filling but low in calories. Each of the food groups in the pyramid emphasizes health-promoting choices.
The program recommends getting at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day and even more exercise for further health benefits and weight loss. It provides an exercise plan with easy-to-follow walking and resistance exercises that will help maximize fat loss and boost mental well-being.