FACT: THE BEST NUTRITIONAL DETOX DOES NOT INVOLVE SOLID FOODS

Some very popular raw food restaurants are selling so-called detox packages that include solid foods. On the sample menus are the following: nut milks, dates, mixed green salads with avocado & beets, various melon salads, and fruit and vegetable juices. While eating cleaner foods will assist the body in eliminating waste — which I guess, in the loosest of terms, can be called a detox — this sort of menu hardly sticks to the true and proved, old-school methods of detoxing, which involves only elimination.

Digesting is one of the most arduous tasks we can ask our bodies to perform. Often called the second brain, the GI tract’s main function of digesting can operate completely independent of the brain itself. Detoxing by definition is synonymous with elimination.

It’s a fact that the body cannot eliminate while processing at the same time. So, while cleaner solid foods, such as green salads and fruit smoothies will assist in eliminating waste from the body, these foods still require processing. Therefore complete elimination cannot occur.

Now, let’s add foods that contain protein, fat and fiber, such as avocados, almonds and beets to the mix. All of these foods contain significant building elements, which is in direct contradiction to the very idea and philosophy of detoxing, which only functions to break down.

So, next time you oder a detox program consider how much you want to eliminate. Or if you cannot see yourself not eating solid foods, consider a herbal detox and not a nutritional detox. The herbs will cleanse the various organs and colon and the food stuff will help drag out the waste.