Can You Eat Carbs On A Detox Diet?

Detoxification centers on the idea that toxic substances, or toxins, accumulate in your body, eventually leading to illness. Eliminating these toxins and avoiding new ones can begin a healing process in the body. The liver, according to Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., is your detox ground zero. When you incorporate a detox diet, you want to give this organ optimal nutrients and minimal stress. Talk with your health-care practitioner before you begin any detox diet, and find an experienced nutritionist who can help you properly detox.

Detoxing and Carbs

Detoxification diets vary tremendously. Some allow and others restrict grains, meat and dairy. Since you commit a certain amount of time to a detoxing diet, find one you can easily stick to. Most detox diets allow organic whole-food carbohydrates such as vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. On the other hand, you want to avoid processed carbs when you detox. Fructose, the main sugar in high-fructose corn syrup, particularly stresses the liver. If you follow a lower-carb diet, however, you probably don't consume many processed carbs anyway.

Vegetables and Fruits

With their rich array of nutrients and antioxidants, a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables provides the foundation for most detoxification programs to improve liver health. If you're watching carbs, make low-glycemic choices like leafy green vegetables and berries. Starchier vegetables and fruits like grapes are higher in carbs. A 1997 study in the journal "The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences," for instance, concluded that cruciferous vegetables, especially broccoli, can induce phase 2 detoxication enzymes such as glutathione transferases. With their abundance of nutrients, phenols and anthocyanidins, blueberries also make a lower-carb detox food. Gerald Don Wootan and Matthew Brittain Phillips, authors of "Detox Diets for Dummies," call blueberries "one of the 'super foods'" and "king of the antioxidant-rich foods."

Nuts and Seeds

Detoxifying enzymes require minerals such as magnesium, selenium and zinc. According to Joseph Mercola, D.O., when you are deficient in these minerals, your body holds on to toxic metals. Organic nuts and seeds provide excellent, low-carb sources of these minerals. One cup of pumpkin seeds, for instance, contains almost half your daily value for zinc and magnesium. Combine that with just four Brazil nuts, and you'll also get your daily value of selenium.

Sulfurous Foods

Among its many roles in your body, sulfur helps make proteins that form hair, muscles and skin. This mineral also plays an important role in detoxification. Without sulfur, your body can't detoxify certain substances, some of which can be toxic, says Brenda Watson, author of "The Detox Strategy." Wild salmon, organic poultry and eggs provide excellent sources of sulfur via their amino acids methionine and cysteine, with few carbs. Asparagus, cabbage, garlic and onions are excellent lower-carb vegetable sulfur sources.