The holiday season always seems to be a joyous occasion where families gather and, well, eat. From turkey to stuffing, Americans stuff themselves, but when the calories seek revenge, Americans turn to the current trend—detoxification. But listen up ladies and gents, because redOrbit is about to debunk those fad detoxes and make you rethink that post-Thanksgiving turkey juice diet.
“But I heard detoxing is the perfect way to cleanse your body?”
Yes, but not in the ways you think. Our bodies are built to naturally detox, or cleanse the body of toxins which can build up over time. The intake of highly-processed foods, GMOs, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives causes our bodies to take on daily toxins, which, when not cleaned out properly due to the amount, can begin to build up along our digestive tract.
“Your natural detoxification process is an organ: the liver. It filters out of the bloodstream those things that are harmful and breaks those substances down into substances that the body can remove easily,” said Dr. Autumn Marshall, Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Kinesiology at Lipscomb University.
This natural process leads to a varied definition of the word detox for each person, mostly due to their dietary habits. “Detoxing for one person at one end of the spectrum who’s eating organic vegetables, nuts, seeds, and good quality proteins is totally different than getting rid of toxins for the average American who eats fast food and packaged foods throughout the day,” continued Dr. Mari-Chris Savage, registered dietitian and director of client operations and wellness at CareHere in Nashville. So, those fad detoxes might not even work for all different types of eaters!
“But isn’t it true that detoxing helps you lose weight?”
Yes, it will help you lose weight…but only water weight. According to both Savage and Marshall, the fad diet of juicing may begin burning some fat, but for the most part the only weight lost will be due to the loss of water.
“Your body’s going into starvation mode,” Savage continued when describing detoxes’ dehydration effects, “so everything you do hold on to and your insulin levels becoming so high…all are going to go into storage because your body’s freaking out.”
“Isn’t it true that detoxing helps you be healthier? That’s my goal for next year.”
While fad diets may seem like the perfect way to cleanse the body, in reality detoxing can cause more harm than good.
“The dangers lie in hormonal control,” Savage explained. “Your hormones are going to go crazy with that lack of calories. Your insulin will skyrocket, your cortisone will go out of control, your serotonin levels will duck, which means you won’t have energy. This then leads to energy loss and brain fog.” While she claims there’s little severe risk of irreversible damage, the detox may cause more hormonal damage than you need.
The juices also lack one special ingredient needed to actually detox the body: fiber. Working like a little sponge along the digestive track, fiber absorbs those lingering toxins and “detoxes” by removing them from the body. Huh, suddenly those yogurt commercials are beginning to make sense…
“But all over the place people are promoting these juices, shakes, and trendy diets as successful!”
“I have never seen a detox diet that would delineate the toxins that need to be removed,” Marshall argues. “Nor have I ever seen a detox diet tell me how to evaluate how much of the toxin has been removed.” Let’s really think about—how do we know the toxins are actually out of our bodies? How do we know how many we start with anyways?
“If it worked in a perfect world, you would consume something that would either attach to a toxin and pull it out of the body, or consume something that would change the chemical structure of a toxin into something that will come out of the body easily and harmlessly,” Marshall continued. However, in reality your body’s natural detox is still the best method to rely on for the best results we know will happen.
“So what should I do then?”
Never fear, there are multiple solutions to this holiday calorie catastrophe. Rather than vow off foods to start your holiday season, Savage suggests a much healthier and happier solution: “cycling patterns”. By cycling out some of the foods one at a time rather than stripping it all away and freaking out, the dieting process becomes an achievable goal.
Marshall’s advice is to eat more fruits and vegetables. By eating these, your body can intake all the wonderful health-promoting nutrients that are absent during these fad detox diets, she said.
Agreeing, Savage explains that by filling half your plate with these veggies, you’ll be taking in the vitamins, mineral intake, and fiber that your body needs. “It’s the best trick to use because it focuses your mind on the good and not on what you can’t have,” she concluded.
So, you want to save a little money but break that habit of bad food for a New Year’s Resolution? Don’t stress—you’ll be there by February. “While your hormones begin to reset naturally in 3 days, the 15-30 days suggested to break a habit is more for mentality than anything,” said Savage. “If you give your body a couple days without the junk, it’ll detox naturally. You don’t need these special pills or aids to detox.”
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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