Scottish nutritionist, writer and TV personality Gillian McKeith is a proponent of detox diets, which restrict or even eliminate certain types of food with the goal of releasing toxins that are ingested through unhealthful food and are stored in the body. According to McKeith, a detox diet will cause these toxins to exit the body through the blood, breath, skin, urine and feces.
Gillian McKeith
Born in Scotland, McKeith claims to have suffered an array of health problems brought on by a diet of junk food until she healed herself through healthful eating. After spending several years in the U.S., McKeith returned to the U.K. and became a television presenter. In 2004, she hosted her own British TV series, "You Are What You Eat," in which she placed obese people on her detox diet. She soon gained national fame, partly because of her method of diagnosing patients' medical problems by examining their feces.
'You Are What You Eat'
In her best-selling book "You Are What You Eat," McKeith lays out a detox diet that permits dieters to eat as much as they want -- provided these are the specific foods outlined in the book, prepared in the proper way. McKeith's detox diet takes the focus off weight loss with the understanding that losing weight will be one of many benefits. McKeith advises dieters to avoid processed foods and junk foods entirely, and try to eat fresh, raw food whenever possible. She also recommends caffeine-free herbal tea that can cleanse as well as comfort, such as ginger, mint, nettle, dandelion and lemon.
The Diet
A typical day on the "You Are What You Eat" detox diet begins with a glass of water with fresh lemon or lime juice. This is followed by breakfast, which is typically a fresh vegetable juice or fruit smoothie. A typical lunch could be a raw beetroot soup and a mung bean casserole, while dinner could consist of a piece of baked salmon accompanied by steamed vegetables or lettuce and cashew wraps. Beverages would include plenty of water, herbal tea and vegetable juice. McKeith also recommends eating healthful snacks throughout the day, such as blueberries, rice cakes, almonds, carrot sticks, celery sticks and grapes.
Criticism
Both detox diets in general and McKeith in particular have been criticized for exaggerated claims. In an interview with the U.K. Sunday Times, Catherine Collins, chief dietician at St. George's Hospital Medical School in London, said, "The concept of 'detox' is a marketing myth rather than a physiological entity." Added John Emsley of the Royal Society of Chemistry, "There is a popular notion that we can speed up the elimination process by drinking fancy bottled water or sipping herbal teas, but this is just nonsense." In addition, McKeith has been taken to task by numerous medical professionals, including University of London nutrition specialist John Garrow, who called McKeith a "charlatan" and offered her $1,650 to allow one of her detox methods to be subjected to clinical testing. McKeith declined.
References
- Gillian McKeith: About
- "The Independent;" Rumbled in the Jungle; November 2010
- "Times Online;" Detox Diets Are a Waste of Time and Money, Say Scientists; Mark Henderson and Fran Yeoman; January 2006
- Gillian McKeith: You Are What You Eat
- Gillian McKeith: Detoxification
- Energise for Life: The Gillian McKeith 'You Are What You Eat' Detox
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