The danger of weight loss fads

If you were to believe all that you see and hear on the TV and internet, you could achieve a beautiful, lean and healthy body in just a matter of weeks. But do these quick-fix plans really bring true health benefits or is it simply clever marketing designed to suck us all in to the amazing and rapid results they promise?

Here at the Detox Bible, we’ve taken a look at three of the most popular detox fads to help you decide.

The first fad that comes to mind is the juice diet craze. Whilst juicing is a fantastic way to give your body a shot of nutrients, a juice diet is very similar to a fast, restricting your intake solely to the nutrients from the juice.

In the short term, this is a great way to cleanse your system, however if you continue any longer than just a few days you will be depriving your body of vital vitamins and minerals. If your goal is to lose weight whilst feeling healthy and invigorated, a juice detox should be kept to a short kick start to a longer term health plan.

Speaking of fasting, what about purging? If you’re unfamiliar with what purging involves, it basically requires you to fill up on fibre whilst also taking laxatives or supplements to help clear out your system. This is one detox you really must avoid. Firstly, you’ll spend the best part of your detox in the bathroom, which won’t be fun, but secondly, purging really doesn’t do much at all in terms of cleaning your body of toxins.

When you purge, your body doesn’t only get rid of the toxins, you also lose the healthy stuff. You’re left feeling sick and weak. While these can be normal side effects of a healthy body detox program, don’t fool yourself into thinking that purging is the way to go. And if that hasn’t convinced you, perhaps the risk of bulimia or damage to your colon will help you to decide.

Lastly, there’s the foot detox. Yes, really. Many people who are embarking on a detox will help draw toxins from their body by having a detoxifying foot bath. This isn’t simply a case of sticking your feet in that plastic foot massager that you got for Christmas which has been collecting dust in the attic ever since. A detoxifying foot bath involves using a metal container that puts an electrical charge in the water. Whilst the current in the water doesn’t hurt you, it helps to bind toxins together and draw them out through the pores of your feet.

The problem with the detoxifying foot bath is that removing toxins is pointless if you are just going to put them back into your body. So yes, you may remove toxins through the hundreds of pores in your feet but if you put them back in you are kind of defeating the object.

So the lesson in all this is to do your research. Don’t fall for the gimmicks that promise miracles whilst doing nothing to enhance or protect your health and wellbeing in the long term.

A healthy detox should be a treat for your body so it’s vital that you don’t jeopardise your health by embarking on a detox fad. And remember, the goal is to love your body and nourish it well, not to punish it.