Debunking Detox Diets
“Lose 21 pounds in 21 days!”
“Jump Start Your Weight Loss!”
“Recharge and Rejuvenate Your Body in JUST 7 Days!”
“Clearer Skin in One Week!”
“Get More Energy in Just 48 Hours!”
Everyone you talk to lately is beginning, currently on, or just finishing the latest fad detox diet plan. Maybe it’s the urge we all get this time of year to get into spring cleaning and renewing everything in our lives...bodies included? I don’t know, but it definitely seems to be a trend at the moment.
But what are they really and do they work?
There are a whole heap of different detox plans from which to choose. All differ in one way or another but basically all come with their own set of strict rules, instructions and specific combination of foods and/or smoothies and other concoctions that you may or may not need to purchase. They’re all incredibly strict on what you can and cannot consume during the “detoxing” phase, generally have very few calories and only last a short period of time; usually 3-7 days. They also all claim to cleanse the body of built up toxins which they claim will make you feel and look better in a number of ways. Upon completing these types of diets users may actually report feeling better, having more energy, being less bloated, losing weight, etc. And then they go back to eating/doing whatever they were doing pre-detox...you know, the stuff that made them feel like they needed the detox in the first place. ;)
Let’s take a quick look at a few that I’
ve been hearing most about recently.
The Lemon Detox
This one has been dubbed “Hollywood’s Master Cleanse” and took off after Beyonce spoke of doing it. I mean come on, who DOESN’T want to look like Beyonce? Ahhh, if only it were as easy as consuming lemon.
The Lemon Detox diet is, in my opinion, so completely absurd that I cannot believe people would put themselves through this. Basically it involves having ONLY a liquid mixture of lemonade made lemons, pure maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water for ten days. Seriously, y’all? People CHOOSE to stop eating entirely for over a full week? Whyyyyy would you do this to yourself instead of just eating right everyday? ...sorry, I digress.
You’re instructed to mix the ingredients in specified amounts and drink a minimum of at least six to twelve glasses of the concoction daily; basically whenever hunger pangs strike. A laxative must be taken in the morning and then in the evening.
Ok, so let me get this straight. You’re going to live on nothing but a sugar (which is poison, btw but that’s a subject for another time) laden lemonade for over a week AND take a laxative twice a day. Does anyone else realllly not see this as ridiculous? Of course you’re going to lose weight. But much, if not most of it will be from water stores and lean tissue...like muscle. We’ll talk about that more in a bit.
The Fruit Flush Diet
I can lose weight by consuming sugar every two hours?! Great, sign me up!!
Ugh. Hardly. This one revolves around eating fruit every few hours for three days and some lean protein and vegetables with supper.
“During the 3-Day Fruit Flush, your system is relieved of the digestive burden of eating other foods and can clean out its system while burning fat because fruit is nature’s perfect cleansing food," says personal trainer and certified clinical nutritionist Jay Robb, author of the Fruit Flush 3 Day Detox.
Um. Yeah. Sounds great and all but exactly how does eating nothing but fruit “relieve digestive burden”? What the heck is digestive burden? And WHO says fruit is nature’s perfect cleansing food? Please. Let me see the studies that prove any of that. Digesting is what the digestive system is FOR...making it do it’s job and digest things doesn’t “burden” it. On top of the fact that IF it were true and eating “other foods” were a burden, isn’t he then defeating the purpose of his own diet by instructing that a meal a day include protein and vegetables?
This, like the lemon detox is ridiculously low in calories; providing only around 900-1000 per day. It won’t even meet your base metabolic rate; that is, the amount of calories you need to just keep your body alive while doing nothing.
Lose 21lbs in 21 days
This comes with your choice of a two-day weekend plan, a seven-day plan, or the full 21-day plan, all with a similar schedule of drinking every two hours. The author recommends a 21-day detox yearly, a seven-day cleanup each calendar season, and a weekend detox each week.
Supplements including enzyme capsules, an herb cleansing formula, and aloe vera, as well as services like lymph drainage massages, cellulite treatment, liver flushes, kidney cleanses, body wraps, detoxifying baths, and weekly coffee enemas and colonics are part of the plan.
The only thing I’m going to even say about this one is to remind everyone what it takes to burn one pound of fat; a deficit of 3500 calories. So, in order to lose twenty one pounds of fat in twenty one days you will need to burn 3500 calories more than you consume... every single day. To put that into perspective an average hour of cardio might burn 450-600 calories. So yes, perhaps like with the other “detoxes” the scale may go down a substantial amount sure but not even half of it is likely to come from actual fat.
Time For The Debunking...
Ok so, is following a special detox regime that may or may not include purchasing books with instructions or special drinks and potions really essential or even a good idea for good health?
Tim Crowe, Associate Professor in Nutrition at Deakin University says no. “A lot of things they recommend cutting out are actually not a bad idea. If you cut out alcohol, stop smoking and eat less junk food, you will feel better. But that's not because you're eliminating toxins. You're just putting less rubbish in your body."
There’s no argument, many of the lifestyle adjustments most of these programs promote are without a doubt, all excellent ideas. Boosting intake of whole foods including fruits and veggies while cutting out processed food, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, etc are all things that will make you feel better, look better and give you more energy. And if you cut your calories THAT dramatically you WILL lose weight and quickly. But there’s a big difference between losing fat and making a healthy, positive change in your body composition and merely losing “weight”.
Most of the weight lost on programs like these will not only be lean tissue that you do NOT want to lose but it will be water weight and it will come back with a vengeance when you start eating normally again...well, all but the lean tissue. The only way to ever get that back is to earn it, in the gym.
So what does all that mean? That means you end up in an even worse place than you started. Now you have less lean tissue/muscle than before you dropped the weight AND because you so dramatically decreased your calories your metabolism is absolutely crawling at turtle speed. When (not if but WHEN) you put the weight back on, more of it will almost certainly be fat and you’ll likely even add a few extra pounds because of the slow metabolism. Imagine what will happen to your body composition if you repeat that cycle often? Jiggle much?
Further, the idea that our bodies need to be "cleansed" of toxins built up from our lifestyle is just quite simply NOT supported by medical science. "We encounter toxic substances all the time, but our body does a perfectly good job of removing them." Crowe says.
Our bodies have these wonderful organs designed to handle eliminating waste. The kidneys, liver, stomach, lungs, skin and immune system are ALL detoxifying organs. They naturally eliminate or neutralise toxic substances and there is just no science to support any claim that they need ANY assistance from ANY special herbs, juices, foods, or diets. On top of that, exactly WHAT toxins are these programs supposed to eliminate? Companies pushing these cleanses can’t even tell you what they’re supposed to be removing.
"You won't find any evidence that following any of these programs means you will eliminate more toxins full stop." says Crowe.
Frank Sacks, MD, a leading epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, says, "There is no basis in human biology that indicates we need fasting or any other detox formula to detoxify the body because we have our own internal organs and immune system that take care of excreting toxins."
Listen, the bottom line is that detox diets are NOT quick fixes for years of abusing your body and the minute you finish it and go back to doing the things you were doing that made you feel like you needed the detox in the first place, you’re in an even worse spot than when you started.
If you want a true “detox” the only way to accomplish that is to eliminate processed junk and stick to a balanced diet of real, whole, clean food all the time. It’s not quick and exciting but the only TRUE way to achieve a healthy, lean body that enjoys all the benefits that detox diets are supposed to provide is to eat right all the time and get regular exercise.
R
oni Davis
Nationally Qualified NPC Figure Athlete
Personal Trainer
Online Coach
Nutrition Consultant
www.facebook.com/RoniDavisFigureAthlete
Resources
Dixon B.‘Detox’, a mass delusion. Lancet Infect Dis 2005;5:261.
Cohen M. ‘Detox’: science or sales pitch. Aust Fam Phys 2007;36:1009-10.
Allen J, Montalto MS, Lovejoy J, et al. Detoxification in naturopathic medicine: a survey. J Alt Comp Med 2011;17:1-6
http://www.health.harvard.edu
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