Detox diet plans typically last from 3 to 21 days. Some restrict you to drinking liquids throughout the detoxification period, while others allow you a limited amount of solid foods. You can expect to lose some weight due to the low calories in the plan and more by expelling water and waste material. You may become dehydrated during a detox diet and should consult a physician before embarking on one.
Lack of Nutrition
One of the most enduring --- and least nutritious --- detox diet plans is the Master Cleanse, a 3 to 28 day diet. Developed in the 1940s by health guru Stanley Burroughs, the diet includes drinking spicy lemonade, salt water and laxative teas. The diet provides about 800 calories, almost all of them from the sugar in the maple syrup used to sweeten the lemonade. You get some vitamin C in the lemons and a few minerals in the maple syrup, but no other nutrition. The ingredients in the tea, including cayenne pepper, are designed to clean your colon. The salt water and laxative tea boosts the purgative effect.
Broths and Juices
Some detox diet plans provide greater nutrition in the form of broths and pureed fruits and vegetables. Broths contain few calories --- about 15 to 40 per 8 oz. serving --- and small amounts of protein. Homemade chicken broth and commercial beef broth each contain about 5 g of protein. You'd need to drink 16 cups of broth to meet your daily protein needs. You could meet your vitamin needs by pureeing 6 to 9 cups of vegetables. Nutrient-rich choices include broccoli, strawberries, kale, papaya, citrus fruits, blueberries and spinach, according to Leslie Beck, a nutritionist who writes for "The Globe and Mail" in Toronto, Canada.
Solid Food Detox Diet
Elson M. Haas, M.D., director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Rafael, California, suggests a 7-day plan that lets you eat fruit, vegetables and grains but no meat, dairy products, refined flour, sugar or caffeine. He says you can lose 10 lbs, largely from water weight, and improve energy by following a diet that includes drinking two glasses of purified water in the morning --- one with the juice of ½ lemon --- and at least four more glasses throughout the day. For breakfast you eat fresh fruit followed 30 minutes later by 1 to 2 cups of cooked whole grains such as buckwheat, brown rice or quinoa. You eat 4 cups of cooked vegetables for lunch and another 4 cups for dinner. Save the leftover liquid for mid-afternoon and mid-morning snacks. Hass's plan also calls for taking vitamin E, vitamin C and selinium supplements and laxative teas as needed to produce one to two bowel movements daily.
Weight Loss
You lose weight in two ways by following detox plans: from loss of fluids and waste material from the diuretic and laxative effects of the diet and from consuming a reduced number of calories. Some detox diet followers, including Beyonce, say they've lost 2 lbs a day on the plan. The amount of actual fat lost will depend on the number of calories you consume during the detox plan. If you consume 800 calories a day on a detox diet plan, you would lose 1 lb of fat for every 3 days you stayed on the diet. This calculation assumes you are a woman who needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain her normal weight. If you are a man who requires 2,300 calories, you would lose 1 lb every 2.5 days.
Considerations
Much, if not all, of the weight loss will be temporary. If you resume normal eating at the end of the diet, you will begin storing weight from water and waste material. If you stay on a detox diet for more than 3 days, you are also likely to regain lost fat, according to the "New York Times." The reason is that your metabolism slows down to protect you from starving yourself and remains sluggish after you return to your regular habits. Hass says you can avoid this yo-yo effect by gradually increasing calorie consumption at the end of the detox period. He also says you can keep off the water weight by staying away from refined foods and sugar.
References
- "Natural Health"; Detox in 7 Days; Judy Bass; April 2003
- My Fitness Pal: Chicken Broth Calories
- Nutrient Facts: Beef Broth Nutrition Facts
- "The Globe and Mail"; It's Nutrition Month: Know Your Nutrients; Leslie Beck; March 10 2010
- "The New York Times"; I Heard it Through the Diet Grapevine; Lola Ogunnaike; Dec. 10 2006
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