When Did Detox Become a Dirty Word?

I’ve just come off a ten day detox and I have to say, I feel amazing. It’s easier to get up in the morning, I feel less bloated and my mind feels a lot clearer. However over the last week I’ve been getting this reaction from quite a few people “Oh, you’re not doing one of those lemon detox things are you?”

Let me just clarify one thing, in my opinion the lemon detox diet is a fast not a detox. It came to fame after Beyonce apparently used it to drop a bucket load of weight for her role in dream girls, but let me reiterate, it is a fast, there is no food and your only nutrients come from squeezed lemons and maple syrup. Hardly a balanced or nutritious diet, me thinks. Warm water with lemon juice is a great way to start the morning, it cleanses the liver and is alkalising however sustaining your entire body on just water, lemons and sugar is definitely not something I would undertake.

I’m a big advocate for detoxing but to me this means eating super-healthy with loads of fresh fruit and veg, which essentially gives your body a whole bunch of extra nutrients to work with. The main things that I cut out of my diet are:

• No caffeine (this includes no chocolate)
• No alcohol
• No gluten
• No red meat (this one is pretty easy being a vegetarian)
• No sugar (a small amount of natural sweetners ie honey is OK)
• No dairy (yoghurt with acidophilus bifidus is also OK, just don’t over do it)

Giving up my morning coffee has been the hardest for me this time, I’ve given up coffee before but I was definitely feeling it this time around. Apart from that a detox just requires a little bit more ogranisation, you can’t fall back on takeaway when you are doing a detox but the pay off is well worth it. Tip: Rice paper rolls are perfect detox food if you forget your lunch ;)

Lastly, it’s important to drink a tonne of water, this will help your body flush out all the toxins. If you want more information you should check out The Detox Cookbook, it’s sub-title is ‘Cleansing for Food Lovers’ so you know you won’t starve ;)

Are you yay or nay on the humble detox?

L xx

• Detox
• Food
• Health
• Nutrition