Few people eat as many vegetables as they should, and quite a few overindulge in fatty, sugary and processed foods that make them sluggish and overweight. If you want to undo the damage from an unhealthy diet while at the same time boosting your intake of vitamins and minerals, a vegetable detoxification diet might appeal to you. Check with your physician before starting any type of cleansing program.
Theories/Speculation
The theory behind detoxification diets is that they help clean out your colon, liver or kidney --- sometimes all three --- to eliminate unwanted bacteria and accumulated wastes that may make you sick. The theory behind a vegetable detoxification plan is that, while eliminating toxins, you add vitamins and antioxidants that can help keep you well. A vegetable detoxification plan is healthier than ones that include laxatives and lemonade, but experts disagree about whether any kind of system cleansing is necessary.
Meeting Your Need for Vegetables
You should be eating at least five servings --- 2½ cups --- of vegetable daily, according to recommendations by the United States Department of Agriculture. Just slightly more than one in four American adults manages to eat three servings a day, depriving themselves of vital nutrients unavailable in other foods. On a vegetable detoxification diet, you are encouraged to eat copious amounts of broccoli, carrots, cabbage, onions and other plant life. Some detoxification plans suggest you liquefy all of your vegetables to give your colon a break, while others say you can eat veggies raw, steamed or boiled or in soups and broths.
Benefits
No one argues about the health benefits of vegetables. Broccoli, for instance, contains immune-boosting vitamin C and also helps speed your metabolism, according to Leslie Beck, a registered dietitian. Carrots, burdock, cauliflower, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and kale consistently rank high on lists for vitamins and antioxidants. Even celery, usually dismissed as a bland vegetable with little nutritional value, contains antioxidants that can detoxify your lymphatic system and relieve the symptoms of eczema.
Expert Insight
The debate is whether you should be eating nothing but vegetables and, if so, for how long. A vegetable juice cleanse that removes toxins from your body can relieve indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome, according to Linda Bates, a director of the National Herbalists Association Australia. Barbie Casselman, a nutritionist based in Toronto, Canada, says it's wonderful for people to add vegetables to their meal plans but that limiting your diet to any single food is unhealthy. Samuel Klein, the director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis, says that staying on a vegetable detoxification diet for more than three days could harm your metabolism and deplete muscle tissue, including muscle in your heart and other vital organs. And Klein agrees with Dr. Michael Pico, a gastroenterologist for the Mayo Clinic, who says your body does a fine job of eliminating toxins on its own and doesn't benefit from a fast or cleanse.
Considerations
If you decide to try a vegetable detoxification diet, keep yourself properly hydrated. When you eliminate carbohydrates you lose water weight and, because of the colon cleansing aspect of the diet, you will also lose water when you eliminate bowel wastes. According to MayoClinic.com, you should drink at least eight glasses of water a day when your diet, living conditions or health put you at risk of dehydration.
References
- USDA: My Pyramid
- USA Today; U.S. Diets Short on Fruit, Vegetables; Lindsey Anderson; Sept. 30, 2009
- The Daily Telegraph; The Big Squeeze --- Exotic Juices May Be the Key to Curing Winter Ills; Anastasia Stephens; July 29, 2002
- "Newsweek"; Diet Trick; Stop Eating; Karen Springen and Anna Kuchment; Nov. 3 2008
- Sydney Morning Herald; Straight Flush; Bronwyn McNulty; Feb. 12 2009
- The Washington Post; We'll Pass, Thanks; Lawrence Lindner; Jan. 9, 2001
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