What do you think about detoxing?

There is a lot of advice out there about detoxing.  I met someone recently who was proud to tell me that she was almost at the end of her two month detox where she was detoxing each organ individually.  I told her I thought it was a myth and she said her doctor had told her the same thing but she still went ahead and did it!!

There is no scientific evidence that toxins from bad food build up in our body.  Our body has its own way of dealing with any toxins we might ingest – the liver, kidneys, digestive system, lungs, skin, and gut bacteria will work efficiently to remove toxins.  But many people love the thought that they can live an unhealthy lifestyle then spend a few days purging their body of their bad habits.

Detox actually refers to removing harmful and addictive substances such as poisons, drugs and alcohol from the body but now we have a multi million dollar industry to detox our unhealthy lifestyle.  One detox web site said “Toxins are any substance that can be poisonous or cause negative health effects. “Toxin” refers to all the metals, chemicals, pollutants, artificial food ingredients, pesticides, and poisons that cause the body harm.”  Is anyone out there ingesting this stuff?

The claims are that if you do some strange detox procedure it will make your eyes sparkle, your skin healthy, boost your energy levels, you will lose weight and you will feel fit.  One web site I found said “The purpose of any detox plan is to take the load off the organs that detoxify the body – the liver, kidneys and bowel – while at the same time supporting and improving their performance.”  Really??

In 2009 Sense about Science, a UK charity, investigated 15 companies selling detox products to ask for scientific information but all the companies could not explain what they meant by ‘toxins’ or explain the science behind their method of detoxing.

This really is a huge industry of gimmicks.  Detox products include:  tea bags, aloe vera, face masks, various pills and potions and juices.

The idea of liquidising food is a massive fad that people think is healthy – but why?  The web sites say that it makes it easier to eat healthily for those with busy lifestyles.  But drinking juice is bad for our teeth and our body digests liquid food in a totally different way.  It is much healthier to eat whole food rather than juice it.  Juicing changes the structure and adversely affects the absorption of some nutrients, including sugar and fibre.  Some of the nutrient content of food is lost as soon as you cut it.   Antioxidants and other phytonutrients start to break down almost immediately once they are exposed to light and air and this is why some fruit discolours when it is cut.  And these effects will increase the longer you store it.

And there are several detox regimes where you limit normal food and carry out a strange regime with the aim of detoxing.  You can have:

• A Colon Cleanse. …
• A Liver Cleanse. …
• The Master Cleanse. …
• The 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse. …
• A Juice Cleanse. …
• Detox Cleanse. …
• Slendera Garcinia and Natural Cleanse. …
• Dherbs Full Body Cleanse
• Detox massage

And you can go on a detox retreat where you pop pills and do all sorts of strange practices in the hope of removing unknown toxins from your body.

I worry that some of these procedures could actually cause harm.

I checked out a few detox web sites and they all said that to detox you should avoid alcohol, cigarettes, processed food, sugar, coffee and enjoy fruits, vegetables, fresh foods and do exercise and meditation. This is how you should normally live – not eat junk all the time and then just eat healthy for a week!!  If you live a healthy lifestyle all the time you will feel great.

Professor Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, says: “Ask trading standards what they’re doing about it. Anyone who says, ‘I have a detox treatment’ is profiting from a false claim and is by definition a crook. And it shouldn’t be left to scientists and charities to go after crooks.”

What do you think?  Are you a detox addict?

Read More:  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/05/detox-myth-health-diet-science-ignorance

Image credit and read more:  https://www.psychologies.co.uk/detox-myth