After the excesses of the holiday season people’s thoughts often turn towards a weight loss detox. January is a time for New Year’s resolutions and going on a detox to lose weight is often one of them.
Popular magazines are usually full of weight loss detox diets but at the same time we read that doctors are ridiculing the idea of detox and cleansing.
Do we need to detox?
Detoxification is something our bodies do naturally every minute of every day so why do we need to give it a helping hand with detox diets and cleanses?
Many doctors say that detox diets are dangerous and can lead to weight gain and not weight loss.
Yet, many naturopaths and functional medicine doctors say that our health can be improved with a detox. They say that toxic chemicals cause our bodies to store fat and that they interfere with the weight loss mechanism.
Who is right and who is wrong?
It’s a fact that our bodies have a very sophisticated detox system which does its best to eliminate the toxins that are produced by our cells as well as the toxins that we take in through food, water and the environment.
But, these days our detox system is so overloaded with all the toxins that we are bombarded with every day that it simply cannot cope.
It’s a frightening fact that we all have numerous chemicals stored in our tissues. Toxic chemicals that damage our DNA, our cells, our tissues, our organs.
It’s also known that some people have better detox systems than others. It’s known too that our detox system needs certain nutrients to function efficiently.
It makes sense then that if you are deficient in these nutrients then your detox system cannot work as it should and toxins build up in your body.
Food boosts the detox system 
Scientists have discovered that certain foods contain the very nutrients that are needed for your detox system to work. It follows that if these foods are eaten your detox system will work better.
So you see your body’s ability to cleanse, purify, and purge toxins is either helped or hindered by your diet. A good weight loss detox diet will be based on the foods that help the detox process.
A good detox diet will also introduce rebuilding material to repair the damage done to organ tissues by the toxins. It should help to restore function to the body.
A weight loss detox that simply restricts food can end up causing you to gain weight as it can slow your metabolism. Any weight lost from not eating will go straight back on once you start eating more food.
Best Time To Detox?
Traditional Chinese medicine and the older traditional naturopaths consider that Springtime is the best time to detox.
You can of course detox at any time you like and many argue that January is the time when most people feel motivated to do it.
If you have eaten a lot of sugar and fat laden food and drunk a lot of alcohol and over the holidays then a detox can help your liver and kick start a healthy eating plan.
How to detox your body
Simply cutting out red meat, sugar, processed food, caffeine and alcohol and increasing fresh fruit and vegetables, pure water and green or herbal teas could have a dramatic detoxifying effect on your body.
If you want to go a step further you can avoid wheat and dairy products for a week or two. Remember you are not going to restrict food, you are going to find healthier replacements.
Wheat based foods such as breads, pasta and breakfast cereals can easily be replaced with wheat-free alternatives: try wheat free muesli, oat based cereals (not instant), brown rice, buckwheat, oat, millet or quinoa porridge. Try wheat-free sprouted grain bread.
Dairy products can be replaced with oat milk, rice milk, almond milk or coconut milk. Make sure they don’t contain added sugar.
Start your day with one of these Detox Green Smoothies and try these delicious Detox Soups . Spicing up your meals with Turmeric will also help your liver detox.
So you see the best January Weight Loss Detox is not an extreme diet that lacks the balance of nutrients we need to be healthy but one that gives your detox system a vital boost.
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