Is detoxing the body mere nonsense?

People traveling on the healthy lifestyle and weight loss train might just be a little peeved to hear that the idea of detoxing the body is nothing more than mere “nonsense,” as Rick Miller, spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association (BDA), claims.

“It’s a complete fallacy that the body needs to detox. Removal of waste products antoxins is a continuous process and we don’t need to periodically flush them out. The body does a perfectly good job of eliminating any substances on its own,” said Miller.

Miller is not alone, as health experts on other well respected health websites such as WebMD also question the science underpinning this now popular practice, with some professionals actually suggesting that detox diets lack science to support their use. The general view by the health experts is that detox diets can be harmful, especially when not used with extra care, particularly because they can be nutritionally restrictive.

Detoxing usually involves drinking cleansing fruit and vegetable juices, drinking pure water and teas, taking pills, and abstaining from specific foods. The process of detoxing is supposed to purge the body of the harmful toxins ingested in foods such as red meat, impure water, sugar, caffeine, processed foods, alcohol, and from environmental sources such as pesticides and other chemicals and polluted air.

Once purged, “good” food should then be gradually reintroduced to body, in some instances, starting with liquid diets then moving into vegetables, fruits, and brown rice.

The “science” behind detoxing diets is based on an understanding that the body holds on to toxic substances and that these toxins should be removed to allow the body to function at its optimum and also to assist the body to maintain an ideal weight.

Miller states that most detoxing regimes deprive the body of critical vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and essential fatty acids. The crucial nutrient, protein, is also often missing from many juicing and detoxing regimes which actually defeats the purpose of detoxing if weight loss was one of the goals.

No protein means losing muscle mass, which means that the body is losing one of its major allies in speeding up body metabolism and burning calories, thus slowing down weight loss.

So, are you still into detoxing?

Sources

https://metro.co.uk/2014/03/24/the-detox-myth-trust-your-body-and-stop-wasting-money-on-juices-4675501/

https://www.webmd.com/balance/natural-liver-detox-diets-liver-cleansing