A detox diet, or detox cleanse, is a popular dieting strategy that promises to help you lose weight quickly, remove so-called toxins from your body, boost your metabolism, and improve your health. However, like any other quick fix, detox diets don’t always work and can be dangerous to your health.
Understanding Detox Diets
Detox diets are short-term dietary plans that claim to remove toxins from your body, help you lose weight, and improve your health. The general idea behind detox diets is that you may take in harmful toxins from the air, water, and food, which may affect your health. These toxins may include pollutants, heavy metals, chemicals, and pesticides, which can be stored in your body’s tissues, fat cells, and bone. Some people claim that they lead to weight gain and health issues, such as headaches, fatigue, and bloating. Detox diets are meant to rid your body of these toxins and restore your health. They’re also supposed to give your digestive system a break so that it can heal and work better.
These diets often involve restrictive eating, such as fasting or drinking only juices, along with the use of supplements, herbs, and sometimes colon cleanses. While many people report feeling better and losing weight after a detox, it's most likely due to temporarily cutting out unhealthy foods and reducing calorie intake. There’s limited scientific evidence to support their effectiveness in removing toxins from the body. Experts also argue that your liver and kidneys naturally filter out harmful toxins, so there’s no need for a detox diet.
Types of Detox Diets
There are many types of detox diets, including:
- Fasting: You stop eating for a set period. This is meant to give your organs a break, allowing them to heal and function better. The claim is that fasting can help remove more toxins and absorb extra nutrients. Fasting is often paired with other detox methods as part of a plan.
- Restricted Diet: You cut out food groups thought to introduce toxins or slow digestion, such as processed foods, red meat, dairy, and grains. Instead, you focus on eating organic fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats.
- Juice Cleanse: For several days, you skip food and only drink juices made from fruits and vegetables. Supporters say this allows your digestive system to rest, and you get plenty of vitamins and antioxidants.
- Liquid Cleanse: Like a juice cleanse, this involves swapping meals for drinks. But these plans include other options, such as broth, smoothies, or soups. They’re often sold as prepackaged drinks or powders or may follow a certain recipe. The popular Master Cleanse used a “lemonade” made of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.
- Raw Diet: Fans of this plan argue that raw, uncooked foods are healthier because cooking destroys nutrients and creates harmful substances. This diet allows you to eat mostly fresh produce, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains and beans. Anything heated above 118 F is off the menu.
- Supplements and Herbs: Over-the-counter supplements and herbs may help your body remove toxins. For example, some supplements, such as green tea, milk thistle, and turmeric, help your liver better filter out toxins. Dandelion root is supposed to support the kidneys and gallbladder, while activated charcoal is meant to bind to gut toxins. These supplements are available as pills, powders, and teas.
Foods to Eat and Avoid on a Detox Diet
What you can eat or drink depends on the type of detox diet you’re following. On a juice cleanse, you don’t eat any solid foods. Your meals and snacks consist of fresh fruit or vegetable juice. The menu for a raw food diet features only uncooked foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. On a fasting plan, there’s no food allowed for a certain period.
Read also: Explore the pros and cons of fruit juice detoxes.
But, in general, these are the kinds of foods and drinks that are allowed and avoided on a detox diet.
Foods allowed on a detox diet:
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Herbal teas
- Fresh juices
Foods to avoid on a detox diet:
- Refined sugars
- Artificial sweeteners
- Caffeinated drinks and foods, such as coffee and chocolate
- Alcohol
- Meat
- Eggs
- Dairy
- Gluten
Preparing for a Detox Diet
Going on a detox diet takes effort. You can only eat and drink certain things, so you’ll need to spend some time preparing before you start. The following steps can help the diet go smoothly.
- Do your research: There are no specific rules on what makes a detox diet, so research the diet you want to try. See if there’s any proof showing that it works, and learn about the potential risks.
- Talk to your doctor: Some detox diets aren’t safe. The FDA has found that some detox products contain illegal and potentially harmful ingredients. Other plans are risky for certain people, especially those with health problems, eating disorders, or who are pregnant or nursing. For instance, a big change in eating habits may cause blood sugar levels to become too high or low for someone with diabetes. Before you start any detox diet, talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits.
- Crunch the costs: Some detox plans are sold through companies. You may need to buy certain items, such as supplements, juices, or herbs, or pay a fee for the plan. These can come with a hefty price tag.
- Make a shopping list: You’ll probably need to buy specific groceries, such as organic fruits and vegetables and sprouted grains. Some diets also require specific spices, oils, and sweeteners.
- Plan your meals and drinks: Having your meals and snacks ready can help you stick with your detox diet. Chances are you won’t find a detox-friendly meal at most restaurants or convenience stores. Some diets offer recipes and suggestions for smoothies, broths, and soups. Preparing these in advance can help you have food on hand when you need it.
- Consider your daily activities: Many detox diets slash your calorie intake. You may feel tired, which can make focusing and exercising more difficult.
Each detox diet has its own strengths and weaknesses. The key is finding the plan that best suits your lifestyle and personality. Hate feeling hungry? Chances are you won’t enjoy fasting. Don’t have time to cook and prepare meals? You may prefer a juice cleanse.
Potential Benefits of Detox Diets
While the idea of “flushing toxins” may be misleading, some aspects of a detox diet can be beneficial:
- You’ll get more of some nutrients: This depends on the diet, of course. Raw diets and juice diets can help you get more vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables.
- It can highlight food sensitivities: If cutting out certain items, such as dairy or gluten, makes you feel better, you may have a food sensitivity. Talk to your doctor about it.
- You can reset your eating: A detox diet can help you break unhealthy eating habits, such as relying on processed or sugary foods.
- You may feel better: Fans say that they have more energy and fewer headaches after detox diets. It's highly individual and not necessarily because you’ve removed toxins from your body. But you may have removed some unhealthy foods from your diet, which can make you feel better.
- Encourages Whole Food Consumption: Fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins naturally support digestion and overall health.
- May Improve Digestion: Removing processed foods and increasing fiber can support gut health.
- Can Reduce Bloating: Cutting back on excess sodium and sugar can help with water retention.
- Increases Hydration: Most detox plans emphasize drinking more water, which helps with energy and digestion.
- Resets Unhealthy Eating Habit: A short-term detox can help you transition away from processed foods and cravings.
- Adding vitamins and minerals to your diet: If the cleanse involves a lot of fruits and veggies - and you don’t typically eat much produce - you’ll benefit from the boost of vitamins and minerals.
- Breaking the habit of eating sugar and processed foods: Even a few days away from unhealthy food and sugar can help you instill better eating habits.
- Identifying food sensitivities: Eliminating certain foods from your diet can make you feel better if you have food sensitivities. After the cleanse, add foods back in one at a time to identify any possible sensitivities.
Potential Risks of Detox Diets
- Vitamin deficiency:
- Anemia:
- Muscle loss: Restrictive diets eventually put your body in starvation mode.
- Heart palpitations: Crash diets often cause an irregular heartbeat due to a dangerous electrolyte imbalance. Electrolyte imbalances can lead to a disturbance in heart rhythm called arrhythmia.
- Abdominal and digestive pain: Liquid diets that don’t factor in enough zinc, protein, vitamin A and vitamin B will often result in diarrhea, dehydration, abdominal swelling and pain.
- Weakened immune system: As your body grows accustomed to a lack of vitamin and calories, it will naturally shut down certain systems - including the immune system - leaving you exposed to bacteria and viruses, infections and illnesses.
- You may not get enough nutrients: Because you’re cutting out a lot of food groups, you can fall short on essential nutrients such as protein, iron, B vitamins, and electrolyte minerals.
- You may feel bad: Fasting or a very low-calorie diet may cause unpleasant side effects, such as low energy, low blood sugar, muscle aches, fatigue, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and nausea. You may have a tough time with your daily tasks and activities.
- Detox diets can lead to stomach and digestion issues: A big change to your usual diet and certain herbs and supplements can lead to stomach and digestive problems.
- Some products aren’t safe: The FDA has found that certain detox products are made with illegal and potentially harmful ingredients. What’s more, some fresh juices aren’t pasteurized or treated in a way that kills bacteria. This is risky for children, pregnant and nursing women, elderly people, and those with compromised immune systems.
- Certain diets may be dangerous: Restricting food can be harmful for people with eating disorders and diabetes. Some juice cleanses are made with foods that are high in a natural substance called oxalate, such as spinach and beets. Too much oxalate is harmful for people with kidney issues.
- Nutrient Deficiencies: Many detox plans eliminate entire food groups, leading to imbalances.
- Energy Crashes: Extreme calorie restriction can cause fatigue, irritability, and dizziness.
- Muscle Loss: If protein intake is too low, your body may break down muscle for energy.
- Digestive Distress: Sudden changes in diet (like excessive fiber or laxative use) can cause bloating, diarrhea, or discomfort.
- Weight Regain: Most detox weight loss is water weight, which returns quickly once normal eating resumes.
- Low calorie intake due to dietary restrictions
- Higher sugar intake, since many fruits and vegetables are high in natural sugar
- Unbalanced macronutrients if the cleanse is restrictive
- Commercial detox diets and cleanses are not FDA-approved and may contain harmful ingredients.
- 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 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.
Before beginning any weight loss program - diet or exercise - talk to your doctor. Your doctor can explain the benefits and risks involved and work with you to establish safe weight loss goals. A registered dietitian can also help you evaluate your good and bad eating habits and give you tips for creating new ones along with developing a diet that will work for you in a healthy way.
Read also: Supporting Detoxification
Scientific Evidence and Expert Opinions
Although the detox industry is booming, there is very little clinical evidence to support the use of these diets. A handful of clinical studies have shown that commercial detox diets enhance liver detoxification and eliminate persistent organic pollutants from the body, although these studies are hampered by flawed methodologies and small sample sizes. There is preliminary evidence to suggest that certain foods such as coriander, nori and olestra have detoxification properties, although the majority of these studies have been performed in animals. To the best of our knowledge, no randomised controlled trials have been conducted to assess the effectiveness of commercial detox diets in humans. This is an area that deserves attention so that consumers can be informed of the potential benefits and risks of detox programmes.
Frank Sacks, a Professor of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, offers his expert take on detox diets:
- Does it work? If your goal is weight loss, a detox diet might help you drop a few pounds, but you’ll likely just gain it back. In the end, you haven’t accomplished anything, and it’s certainly not a healthy approach. If your goal is to detox your system, don’t waste your time or money. Your body is an expert at getting rid of toxins no matter what you eat. Toxins don’t build up in your liver, kidneys, or any other part of your body, and you’re not going to get rid of them with the latest detox wonder. Especially avoid diets that promise to detox your liver with supplements or “cleanse” whatever the diet determines needs washing out.
- Is it good for certain conditions? Not only are detox diets not good for people with certain medical conditions, but they could also be harmful. There is no research showing they improve blood pressure or cholesterol or have a positive effect on the heart. For people with diabetes, they may be quite dangerous. Any diet that severely restricts what you eat could lead to dangerously low blood sugar if you take medicine for diabetes. The exception would be a detox diet that just focuses on clean eating. This approach could be great for anyone living with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even heart disease.
A Smarter Approach to Cleansing
Detox diets aren’t needed to remove toxins from your body. But some can act as a kickstart to help you eat and feel better. Others can be risky, especially if you have a health condition. Before you start one, talk to your doctor to make sure it’s safe for you to try.
Rather than extreme detox plans, focus on long-term, sustainable 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
1-Day Detox Meal Plan Example
Here is a balanced 1-day detox meal plan for a reset:
Read also: Your guide to a 3-day detox meal plan.
- Breakfast: Green Detox Smoothie (spinach, banana, berries, chia seeds, almond milk)
- Snack: Fresh Fruit (apple) + Nuts (almonds)
- Lunch: Quinoa & Roasted Veggie Bowl (quinoa, sweet potatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, olive oil and lemon dressing)
- Snack: Carrot & Cucumber Sticks With Hummus
- Dinner: Grilled Salmon With Steamed Greens (broccoli and kale, olive oil, lemon juice)
- Hydration: Warm lemon water in the morning, herbal teas throughout the day, and at least eight glasses of water.