The words “detox diet” or “cleanse” often make us dietitians cringe. There’s a lot of confusion surrounding detox diets and how they work.
The goal of a detox is to completely rid the body of toxins in a short period of time. The belief is that cleansing the body will resolve many problems and that the results will be systemic – more energy, better sleep, clearer skin, less bloating, fat loss, a winning lottery ticket, etc.
Remember that when things seem too good to be true, they often are.
Detox diets range from complete starvation to juice fasting to eating only raw produce while taking various herbs or supplements. The detox period is thought to give your organs rest and stimulate the liver to filter out and eliminate toxins. Sadly, there is little to no evidence that a detox diet removes any toxins from the body.
A detox can actually do more harm than good. Extreme restriction can lead to fatigue, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, dehydration, cramping and bloating.
Toxins come from normal processes in the body, such as lactic acid and urea. Toxins also come from outside the body, such as pesticides we eat, alcohol we drink or car exhaust we inhale.
Toxins are a normal part of life, so we’ve got a pretty evolved system for eliminating them. The liver takes these toxic substances, makes them harmless and releases them in pee, poo, or sweat.
Over time, if the toxins we produce or take in from the environment exceed the body’s ability to excrete them, they are stored in bones and tissues. Fortunately, the liver will continually cleanse itself and there is no evidence that starving or juice fasting has any impact on speeding up that process.
As an RD, I believe the right way to approach a detox effort is to reduce the amount of toxins you take in while also providing your body with nutrients to optimize the natural detox process.
The focus should be on whole, unprocessed foods that nurture the body.