Detox diets have been gaining popularity as a few celebrities have reported going on
them. And with the new year fast approaching, many people will seek short cuts to health and fitness. To keep your
nonsense detectors finely tuned and help you protect those around you, I'll explain why detox diets really are for dummies.
The concept of a detox diet is this: Due to the ingestion of many toxins and the
exposure to them in our environment, we need to periodically do something drastic to allow our bowels, liver, or other organs
a chance to detoxify themselves. Many of the regimens call for abstaining from nicotine,
alcohol, caffeine, sugar, meats, and some even go so far as to recommend a period of starvation. Theoretically, this
gives the liver and other organs a "break" from doing their normal work and allows them to clear built up
toxins.
I have an idea. Call me
crazy, but what if we eliminated our ingestion of and exposure to toxins?
What if we stopped eating and drinking junk, and limited our exposure to environmental
toxins?
If you limit your intake of toxins, there is no need to
detoxify. A desire and a need to "detox" illustrates that something is wrong with
the lifestyle that supposedly builds up the toxins.
Limiting nicotine, alcohol, and sugar is a good general idea all the time, not just
during a detox phase. But when this concept is taken too far, it becomes silly. For example, one popular detox regimen features a
14-day period of starvation with a diet of saltwater flushes and a concoction of maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne
pepper. Anyone following a regimen like this must have also taken something to flush the
smarts from their brains.
What must people think in other parts of the world struggling to get enough food
day-to-day when they hear of stories like this? People living in plentiful supply of food willfully denying their own
biology and choosing not to eat the nutritious food available to them? Insanity. Biologically, we are not meant to starve ourselves - ever. Our bodies can
temporarily adapt to starvation, but it is never an ideal situation to do so.
Another problem with detox diets is that your organs just don't work that way! You can't
flush your liver like you flush a toilet. The liver always works to detoxify the blood. If there are toxins
present, it removes them. If there aren't, it doesn't. It's that simple. For example, consider alcohol -
the most commonly ingested toxin. If you drink too much, you feel awful the next day because you have a massive
build-up of toxic products in your body. The liver clears them out over the course of many hours.
Detox diets fail the test of common sense. Our bodies are not designed
to go for long periods of time without a mix of a variety of foods. We are meant to consume healthy foods and be active. This
should not shock you. Once again, healthy living beats pseudo-scientific nonsense that is designed to rob people of money they
can ill-afford to spend on bad diets.
Enjoy the convivial atmosphere of any holiday parties you attend - and then return to healthy living in your every
day life. Your body is a reflection of your habits. If you're not in the habit of ingesting toxins, there will be no need
for drastic measures.
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