Can Detox Make You Gain Weight?
Currently, talks of juice, cleansing
Detoxing diets usually last for a few weeks and normally involves eating nothing but plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits and drinking water only.
Here is the thing. Detoxing diets are needless, lessen the essential nutrients of the body and can actually result
Let’s begin with this needless thing. The evidence available suggesting that detox actually works is very little. Our bodies naturally do detoxification without any specific plan or specific diet- all day, daily, our bodies work and interact with other body organs to transform, neutralize and get rid of toxins. It’s what our kidneys, liver, lungs
And while we are at it, it is only a
Why then put yourself through detox if you are putting on clothes that are washed in detergents, breathing in pollutants the whole day and moisturizing, deodorizing, shampooing and spraying chemicals every morning into your body?
Okay, what about the proof that detox diet helps you lose weight? Well, this one is so obvious. If you are eating nothing but vegetables/ juice/ fruits, you are restricting calories massively, so yes
- Fat is our body’s preferred source of energy. When we severely limit our calories, it alarms and begins to adhere to the fat stores. This comes about because it has been deceived into thinking that there is famine hence conserving the fat for using later. Instead, it begins using muscles for energy. Muscles are very essential to metabolism, hence the less we got, the little calories we burn.
- Detoxing diet don’t reset or boost metabolism they rather slow it down. So, once you start eating normally, you will burn
less calories daily than you were doing before. This means that you will pile on the lost weight during the detox diet plus extra.
There is an argument that one feels better on this diet which is probably because you’re drinking plenty water and having more fluids through juice or fruits hence your skin will improve, cellulite will lessen and you will be less bloated. This is due to better hydration level and pretty much empty stomach rather than an absence of toxins.
Toxic diets add needless strains on the liver and kidneys. Avoid this by taking a diet comprising of unprocessed natural foods and taking organic when possible to reduce the toxins. The right diet and exercise will give you a sustainable, healthy weight loss.
What is Detox and How it Works?
Basically, detoxification is cleansing of blood. It is achieved by getting rid of impurities from the blood present in the liver, where processing toxins for elimination takes place. The body eliminates these harmful substances too through the lungs, kidneys, skin, intestines and lymphatic system.
Detox diets are temporary dietary interventions made to get rid of toxins from the body. There are a number of lifestyle interventions to assist improve our pathways of detoxification including cleansing foods, exercise, healthy diet, juicing vegetables, deep breathing, intermittent fasting, infrared sauna, super hydration among others. This is said to:
- Relax your body organs by fasting.
- Enhance circulation.
- Stimulate the liver to remove toxins.
- Supply healthy nutrients to your body.
- Enhance toxin elimination through sweat, urine and feces.
It is normally recommended due to potential exposure to harmful substances in your diet or environment. Among them heavy metals, synthetic chemicals and pollutants. You can use suppliments like Detoxic to get rid of all that stuff.
The diet is also said to assist with a number of health problems including autoimmune diseases, bloating, inflammation, obesity, chronic fatigue, allergies and digestive issues.
How detox works
The body is designed to perform detoxification through multiple pathways which include the colon, the kidneys and the skin. The skin absorbs toxins in the body and gets rid of them through sweat. The kidneys filter blood and eliminate toxin through urine. The colon helps eliminate toxins which are metabolized inside the body in form of waste.
How does the Colon Detox work?
By taking supplements, changing our food, dinking drinks rich in minerals and vitamins that our body requires in the liver and giving the coffee and wine a break, we support our bodies’ everyday battle with toxins. Providing your body with a bid extra to perform with, while decreasing substances that slows our systems down is very important.
If these exit doors are blocked, the toxins can no longer be eliminated and they go back inside the body. hence, water and fiber are essential to flush out the system in any trial at detoxification. This process is nutrient dependent hence, if done wrongly, it actually does more harm than good.
The three-phase detoxification process
- Phase 1: the liver checks each and every molecule that moves in the body and renders the harmful ones harmless, biodegradable materials. Key nutrients needed here include; calcium, folate and vitamins A, B12, B6, B3, C and E. Their best sources are organ meat, soaked whole grains, vegies and fruits.
- Phase 2: binding of the intermediate compounds to molecules such as sulfate, glycine and glutathione, producing nontoxic materials that can be removed. Free radicals are produced too as byproducts which can be neutralized if you take healthy amounts of antioxidants. It needs the amino acids cysteine, taurine, glycine and glutamine that comes from protein.
After this, toxins that are neutralized are bound to more proteins to be eliminated. This best explains why proteins are important in this process. If proteins required to make amino acids are less, the body steals them from the muscle tissue resulting to weight loss.
Best Detox Diet Plan for Weight Loss
Instead of following the extreme detox plans that limit almost every food except veg and fruits while at the same time pulling you into a nasty detox drink each day, the best detox diet plan should be safe and more sensible. In fact, it shouldn’t leave you short of nutrients if you stick to it.
Foods to include in the best detox diet plan for weight loss
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Fruits and fruit juice: You can include any fruit in your detox diet plan including, frozen, dried, fresh or canned in natural fruit juice. This should include oranges, apples, strawberries, satsumas, nectarines, peaches, melons, raisins, kiwi fruit, raspberries etc. For fruit juices, you can either have homemade ones or smoothies from fresh fruit or take ready-made ones. Ensure that ready-made ones are pure and unsweetened.
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Vegetables: You can include any vegetable be it frozen, fresh or canned without any added salt. Vegetables to include are carrots, turnip, swede, sprouts, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn, tomatoes, spring onions, cucumber leeks, broccoli etc.
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Beans and lentils: You should eat any beans, including those dried or canned in water. These are the beans you should include in your detox diet plan: green lentils, brown lentils, butter, red kidney, haricot, pinto, cannellini, black eye, and red lentils.
Best detox plan breakfasts
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Banana porridge: Take porridge prepared with water and banana, raisins, and natural yogurt as toppings. You can sweeten it with honey.
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Fruit smoothie: Prepare fruit smoothie made with frozen or fresh fruit. Also, you can take fruit smoothie from fresh fruits, yogurt and honey to sweeten it.
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Muesli and yogurt: Home-made muesli from nuts, seeds, oats, and dried fruits served with natural yogurt will be perfect for breakfast.
Detox plan lunches
- Oatcakes and vegetable soup: Include a large bowl of supermarket fresh or home-made lentil or vegetable soup.
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Sweetcorn Jacket potato and tuna: Take jacket potato with tuna toppings mixed with natural yogurt and sweetcorn. You can serve this with salad.
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Rice cakes with Mediterranean salad: You should consider rice cakes served with fresh basil, avocado, pepper, rocket, black pepper, and tomatoes. Also, take a handful of unsalted nuts.
Best Detox Plan Dinners
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Chinese vegetable stir fry: Stir fry is an assortment of vegetables including spring onions, bamboo shoots, bok choi, mushrooms, and bean sprouts in a small amount of olive oil with ginger and garlic.
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Prawns and tuna with noodles: Fry a few vegetables, such as mushrooms, onions, courgette, leeks, and peppers in a little olive oil. Add a handful of prawns when lightly browned. Let them cook for a few minutes before adding canned tomatoes, tomato puree, and tuna canned in water. Simmer until the sauce thickens, then serve with rice noodles.
Coming up with your own detox diet plan can be daunting, particularly if you have a chronic health condition, such as diabetes, kidney disease , or an eating disorder. This is why it’s important to consult your doctor before changing your diet. If you don’t have any of these health complications, coming up with your detox diet plan will be seamless, but either way, consulting your doctor isn’t harmful.
