Do Detox Pills and Products Work For Weight Loss?
‘Fast Fat Flush’ and ‘detox yourself thin’, just a few ads I’ve seen for some products that look pretty convincing if you are looking to lose weight. Plenty of celebrities have jumped on the detox bandwagon so it must be good right?
Marketers have done a brilliant job of jamming it into our minds that we can drink a certain tea, or take a few tablets in order to detoxify yourself and shed pounds easily. So is it really that simple? Is detoxing the way forward for healthy weight loss?
Let’s just consider a few things. There is no magic detox drink or pill that will cleanse your body completely, or magically raise your metabolism to rid you of toxins faster. (Although they could make you feel better, the placebo effect is a real thing). Many of these products may contain extracts of ingredients that could help, but they could also contain a bunch of other things you don’t need. Avoid any email offers of detoxing pills and products from companies you don’t personally know or know someone who has had a good experience. The majority of these products have not been tested properly or approved. If you can’t see some product background info easily, I would stay clear. We will go into buying supplements online in another post.
Anyway back to detox. Toxins sneak into the body regularly in many ways, including food and food packaging like tins, air pollution, and synthetic personal care products. If we overload on toxins, or they can’t be released properly, they can end up being stored in our fat cells along with fat, causing inflammation and goodness knows what else, more research needs to be done. The more toxins you have in your body and fat cells, the harder it is to lose weight and the unhealthier you will feel.
Don’t stress though, our beautiful bodies come with a detox system built in as standard! Toxins and waste are released all the time through the lungs, kidneys, liver, bowels and skin. All we have to do is aid that process by looking after each of those organs for optimum detoxing action.
Here are just a few examples of foods that will aid your body’s natural detox process along with plenty of water;
Blueberries
Lemon
Red grapes
Cherries
Oranges
Limes
Kiwi fruit
Dark chocolate
Spinach & kale
Wheatgrass
Garlic
Apart from these foods, a natural form of detoxing is fibre (from food containing other vitamins and minerals) and plenty of water. Staying away from processed and tinned foods as much as possible is a good idea to lessen the amount of new toxins. Fibre is not the prettiest subject in the world but it’s absolutely crucial for the body and many people don’t get enough.
Some fibre rich foods our body would love us to eat regularly;
- Oats, barley and rye
- Fruit, such as apples (skin on), figs, ripe bananas, avocado, raspberries, blackberries, pears, mango, guava
- Vegetables, such as carrots and potatoes (skins on), artichoke, peas, broccoli,
- Wholegrain bread/whole meal rolls
- Bran/cereals
- Nuts, seeds (chia are great), beans, lentils and pulses (especially flaxseeds! Flax contain a large amount of fibre making it an ideal tool to aid your body’s natural detox process. Only use ground flaxseeds though as the whole seeds just pass through the digestive system and we take nothing from it).
Most importantly, fibre needs water to do its job properly!
Another great way to assist detoxification through the skin is dry body brushing and of course exfoliating.
Happy detoxing!