In the New Year, people often think about doing a detox. After the parties and indulgence over Christmas, they feel that their body needs a 'spring clean'. However, detoxing isn't considered by experts to have any genuine medical basis, and is seen as unnecessary. Detox products and services can be expensive, so before you waste your money read why you don't need to do a detox …
Your body is already equipped for removing any unwanted substances. That's precisely what the kidneys and liver are designed to do. You'll even lose toxins through your skin. So why do you need to make an extra effort? The simple answer is that you don't. Let your body do the job it's designed for.
There's no science behind detoxing. Medically speaking, detoxing only works in the sense of treating drug or alcohol addiction. Medically trained people say that removing these vaguely defined toxins from the body doesn't happen. And while conventional medicine isn't always right, there's nothing to prove that the detox industry has any sound basis behind it.
Detoxing may just be a con. There's a lot of money to be made in convincing people that they should buy detox products and have a series of treatments. It's a very vague term that could well be an excuse to charge lots of money to people who want to counteract the effects of a poor diet and indulging in an unhealthy lifestyle. There are also products designed to fool you into thinking that they're working.
It's possible that detoxing may even be harmful. Take the popular treatment of colonic irrigation, for example. Doctors consider that there is no medical reason for this treatment, which is supposed to remove waste that has built up. But the body is pretty good at removing waste on its own. Besides, there is a risk that the treatment could actually perforate the bowel.
Even if a detox worked, it would only be a quick fix solution. It's not dealing with the bad habits that made you unhealthy in the first place, and the risk would be that you'd have to repeatedly do detoxes or think that you could get away with a poor diet. It's far more productive to work on improving your health and eating a better diet, which will have tangible results.
Given all the above, detoxing seems to be little more than a fad. People read detox plans in magazines and want to think that within a few days they can counteract the effects of overindulgence, rather than avoiding harmful habits. Instead, spend your money on better quality food, and limit your alcohol intake.
If you do a detox diet to lose weight, you may convince yourself that it works when you drop some pounds. But if you lose any weight it's because you've been taking in far fewer calories. It's much better to work on improving your overall diet.
Certainly it will do you good to look at your diet and exercise regime (or lack of). What you should not do is think that there are any quick fixes to counteract poor lifestyle habits and nutrition. How do you intend to look after your health this year?