It is not a secret that I am not a huge fan detox diets. In fact, I think that most detox diets are basically useless. Why? Because they are unnecessarily complicated to follow and also because they only work by severely restricting the calorie intake, which can be done with any other diet that uses familiar foods. One exception is the sugar detox, of course.
Why does the sugar detox work? Because its purpose is to restrict or completely eliminate your consumption of simple carbohydrates (think sugar), which has very little nutritional value, but it does contain calories. To lose weight, you do not need detox diets. What do you need? Three things; first, you need to eat breakfast every morning. If you do not know what to eat in the morning, the weight loss breakfast is a good start.
Second, you need to know what to eat to lose weight and why. If you do not follow any diet right now, and have no idea what you should be eating to maximize your chances of losing weight successfully, read the what to eat on a diet post. Third, you need to be physically active. It does not really matter what you do to be physically active, but the best workout to lose weight fast is walking. If walking is a little too boring for you, try swimming, rollerblading, hiking, etc.
But what about detox diets? Do they work at all? Detox diets sort of work. Let’s take a closer look at some of them. Three detox diets have been recently tested by Life and Style and here is what they have found.
Organic Avenue requires drinking more than five bottles of some strange vegan liquid a day. Does Organic Avenue work? The verdict: “The juices and cold bottled “soups” went down easily, and the mint-chips smoothie was yummy. We dropped 4 pounds in three days.”
Blueprint consists of six liquid meals a day. These so-called meals supply your body with a lot of chlorophyll, which allegedly aids weight loss and helps cleanse your system. The verdict: “The green-veggie juices and the tasty raw-cashew milk left us with clearer skin and 5 pounds slimmer in five days.”
David Kirsch’s LemonAid sounds very similar to The Master Cleanse diet. It calls for drinking concentrated lemon juice with maple syrup and cayenne pepper four times a day. The verdict: “This two-day detox gave us an energy boost and hunger control. We lost 2 pounds and kick-started a diet plan.” [source: Life and Style]