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Penance for gluttony

DETOX DIETS No surprise, they are pure bunkum

Can you eat stuff to purge yourself of bodily toxins? One regular reader wondered in an email, “I see so much on the Internet about detoxing. For example, Gwyneth Paltrow went through some crazy Master Cleanse’ detox diet, where she drank only lemon juice with maple syrup for five days. The idea, apparently, is to get the body rid itself of toxins by starving it. Aren’t the liver and kidneys supposed to do that?”

The fad of detox diets just refuses to die because deep down many of us view illness as a punishment for the sins of gluttony and detox diets, lead to absolution via purgation.

A typical detox diet comprises a few days of starvation followed by a few days of eating only raw veggies and fresh fruit, and drinking plenty of water and fruit/vegetable juices. Many people claim to feel ‘lighter’ and more energetic after such a process. There are two reasons for this very real feeling: detox diets cause rapid, albeit temporary, weight loss, and starvation, in the medium-term, brings with it its own high. Here is the non-surprise: detox diets are pure bunk. There is no evidence that toxins accumulate in the bodies of those with functioning kidneys and liver, and there is even less evidence that starvation followed by a macrobiotic diet will rid one of these chemicals. Moreover, it is not as if the body can do without its daily balanced diet for its cellular processes of repair and renewal. Starvation has it own potential side effects, including headache, hypoglycaemia, disturbances of heart rhythm and so on.

In those with pre-existing ailments, superimposed starvation and detox diets can cause serious harm. One cannot improve upon a balanced diet, exercise, sufficient sleep and a stress-free lifestyle for a healthy life. Leave starvation and detox diets to self-absorbed cuckoos.

DR. RAJIV. M

(The writer is a specialist in Internal Medicine).

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