Your body takes in toxins from a variety of sources including the air, medications and the foods you eat. The idea that your body cannot efficiently process these toxins and that they lead to numerous health problems is a matter of debate in the medical community. Detoxification diets vary widely in what items they permit you to consume and for how long. Work with a qualified health care professional for guidance.
Purpose
Regardless of the type of diet, they usually share a common aim of helping your liver and other organs involved in detoxification function optimally. They also purport to “clean” your body of stored toxins.
Commonly Eliminated Foods
While detoxification diets that allow for solid foods that can vary greatly, they usually stand in agreement on what types of foods to eliminate. Naturopathic physician Ronald Steriti, who has designed a five-day cleanse for the liver and gallbladder, as well as Oriental Detox, a website that advocates a detoxification menu rich in a variety of foods, both suggest eliminating foods like animal proteins, processed foods, sugar, alcohol and coffee.
Suggested Foods
When it comes to what to eat on a detoxification diet, you can find enough suggestions to make your head spin. Generally, fruits and vegetables will make their way into every diet and in some of these plans, will be the only foods.
Steriti, for example, suggests eating only raw fruits and vegetables for lunch and dinner along with a breakfast cocktail consisting of garlic, olive oil and lemon juice.
Naturopathic physician Wendy Hodson, writing for the Diet Channel, offers a detoxification menu plan specifically aimed at improving the detoxification ability of the liver -- the most important organ in the detoxification process. She advocates eating lots of foods rich in fiber to help absorb toxins in the gastrointestinal tract. When it comes to promoting liver health specifically, she suggests eating foods rich in vitamins C, E, the B-vitamins as well as the nutrients choline, methionine and cysteine. Some foods that will help you get all of these nutrients include almonds, peppers, soybeans, sunflower seeds, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, whole grains and sesame seeds.
Oriental Detox suggests items bean, lentils, tofu, oats, brown rice, unsalted nuts and seeds, yogurt and herbal teas.
Adequate Nutrient Intake
Severely-limited detoxification diets can pose nutritional risks. The Diet Channel notes many diets often call for a month or more of strictly eating raw foods, mostly a variety of fruits. While fruits offer rich stores of many important nutrients, this type of diet will lack protein, healthy fats and certain vitamins and minerals. In the long run, this diet will harm your health, rather than enhance it.
Hydration
Detoxification diets also call for drinking adequate amounts of fluids to aid the removal of toxins from the body. Oriental Detox suggests at least two liters of water a day while Steriti advises at least six glasses of water, herbal tea or fruit and vegetable juices.
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