SUNDAY SHUTDOWN #23 THE DETOX⠀
Hands up, I’ve used this term before, I’m pretty sure most of us have. However the truth is that #detoxingyour body from food simply does not work. Humans have these organs called kidneys and a liver and their main functions are to remove toxins from the body. They basically filter out all the nasty stuff that our bodies don’t need. They are our detoxing system.⠀
Yet, we still buy into claims of detox teas, shakes, meal plans, juices and diets. Detox is a fancy marketing term used to play on our emotions and make us feel guilty about eating normal food. It makes us feel that by consuming this product we will be doing the right thing by our body, it will make us healthier and may even result in weight loss. Ideally we don’t want to detox our gut as it contains millions of bacteria which actually enhance our digestion, we need those little critters in there to keep us in good shape.⠀
A lot of the time when you do a detox cleanse or diet, yes you will lose weight and you may even feel great, but I can assure you it has nothing to do with the so called detox. You’ll lose weight because you won’t be eating, and therefore aren’t consuming calories. However you won’t just lose fat you’ll also lose muscle mass which isn’t a good thing. Especially as we age when maintaining muscle mass becomes even more difficult. You will also lose any excess water that may be stored in your body. Many of these products also don’t contain the magical herbal ingredients they claim to, they actually contain laxatives. So, the scales may tell you you’ve lost 7 pounds in 7 days, but not all of that will be fat, and when you go back to eating the scales will go back up.⠀
By law, the term detox is not allowed to be used to describe a food or beverage, a very well know tea company have just had to remove a product of theirs from sale because it breaks advertising laws. .
So please don’t do a detox. If you’ve had a few days or weeks of unusual eating patterns try increasing your fruit and veg intake for a while and drink some more water, that’s a good place to start. Don’t invest your money is these expensive fad products that will do little for your health in the long term.
