Detox and cleanse diets are very popular and many include drinking special juices, teas or taking supplements. When I talk about a detox, I’m referring to following a clean, unprocessed, wholefood diet and removing the main antinutrients we consume in our daily diets.
These antinutrients prevent the good nutrients in our food from doing their job properly, for example, by affecting absorption of certain vitamins or minerals. This interruption can then lead to effects such as low energy or poor sleep.
So, every now and again, it’s a good thing to remove these substances and eat in a clean way, to give your body an opportunity to heal and to and benefit from all the nutrients you're eating, giving your health a great boost.
Here are my 5 top reasons to detox regularly:
1. To boost your energy: caffeine and sugar both provide a temporary high, which is then followed by a crash. This leads to a rollercoaster of highs and lows throughout the day, whereas without these substances in our bodies, our energy levels and blood sugar levels will be much more even throughout the day.
2. Better quality of sleep: its well known that alcohol and caffeine affect our quality and quantity of sleep, but did you know that sugar is bad for your sleep too? Sugar interrupts the absorption of various vitamins and minerals including magnesium which we need for a good night’s sleep.
3. Clearer skin: when you’re eating lots of healthy non-processed foods, your diet is full of lean protein, healthy oils, fruit, veg and fibre, all of which contain high quality amino acids, which are building blocks for firm skin. Couple this with better sleep as a result of removing antinutrients, and improved dehydration and your skin will start to take on a glow of its own.
4. Weight loss: as a result of eating good quality wholefoods which provide natural energy and cutting out sugar, your blood sugar levels will be more even throughout the day, which reduces your appetite. You will also be cutting out all the unnecessary ingredients in processed foods which can lead to weight gain, including sugar and trans fats, alongside many other unwanted additives and preservatives. Cutting out alcohol and other sugary drinks also means you won’t be drinking your calories which can also aid weight loss.
5. It might just change your way of eating for life!: when you intentionally remove something from your diet for a period of time, your body starts to adjust and will crave it less. So, as you see the benefits of removing sugar, alcohol and caffeine, you may decide you prefer life without them, or certainly with less of them! Similarly, as you see the benefits of consuming a diet rich in unprocessed wholefoods this may also also lead to a change in the way you eat.
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