How To Detox Your Body To Lose Weight
Fact checked by Ievgeniia Dobrynina
Ievgeniia Dobrynina is the Head of Nutrition and a fact checker at Unimeal.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Olena Avdiievska, MD, RDN
Dr. Olena Avdiievska is a nutritional and medical expert at Unimeal. She is an MD and RDN in Dietology and nutrition and a university professor with 76 scientific publications.
Detox is a reset button for your body. Depending on the program, a detox diet can last from a few days to a month. Still, the main benefits will be the same: cleansing the body from toxins, restoring the processes and regular activity of the organism, and, of course, weight loss.
What is a detox or cleanse?
Nowadays, the term "detox" has become very popular. In other words, it is a cleansing process of your body of any toxins. You can also find the use of the word "cleanse" in the same meaning. All three options: cleanse, detoxification or just detox are short-term safe diet programs scheduled from a few days to a month. A detox diet promotes various health benefits that can deal with such problems as chronic tiredness, obesity, digestive issues, bloat belly, general cleansing medicine, gastrointestinal disorders, and autoimmune disease. A natural detox includes several steps. Firstly, it is the stage of fasting. The second phase is consuming fruit and vegetable beverages to enrich your body with beneficial nutrients.
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What happens when you detox your body
The accumulation of toxins plays a significant role in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity2Hodges RE, Minich DM. 16 June 2015. Modulation of Metabolic Detoxification Pathways Using Foods and Food-Derived Components: A Scientific Review with Clinical Application. J Nutr Metab. DOI:10.1155/2015/760689. The detox programs with a particular set of products help the body enhance the natural self-detoxification system and eliminate toxins. Furthermore, a detox diet includes some benefits:
- Loss of extra weight
- Improvements in sleep quality
- Skin cleansing
- Purification of blood
Signs that you need a detox
Initially, your body does not need a detox diet. It detoxifies itself; it is the feature of the organism, programmed to survive. But sometimes, when your body is overrun with toxins, the natural process of detoxification slows down. Here are symptoms that your body needs a detox:
Constant tiredness. If you get enough rest and sleep but still experience low energy and general weakness for a long time, it could indicate adrenal fatigue. This problem occurs when you have a high cortisol level from toxins, and your adrenal glands are not functioning correctly.
Bad breath. The same excess of toxins in the body can be the cause of unpleasant smell from the mouth or even bad body odor. Otherwise, chewing gum and new deodorant will not help. Your body calls for an urgent need for detoxification to normalize processes and work healthily.
Insomnia. Cortisol imbalance also leads to chronic insomnia and sleep loss. When you are healthy, the cortisol level, also called the stress hormone, is higher in the morning and lower at night. The lowest indicators are usually around midnight. The increased cortisol level makes you feel more active and energetic, preventing you from falling asleep.
Weight fluctuation. The inability to lose weight despite dieting and sports or oscillations between weight loss and subsequent weight gain are the signs that you need to detox. Fat cells have the property to accumulate toxins. As a result, the body doesn't function properly and keeps weight.
Skin problems. The overabundance of toxins affects your skin: rashes, breakouts or acne. To improve skin condition, you have to use not only special cosmetics but include a healthy diet and detox program as well.
How to detox for weight loss naturally?
You can add to your daily schedule healthy habits, apart from specific diets, consisting of fruit or vegetable juices and beverages. Here are easy tips to detox your body naturally:
Start your day with a glass of warm water with a slice of lemon. It is a good diuretic that removes toxins, prevents kidney stones and boosts weight loss.
Adequate water intake. Take the rule to drink a glass of warm water after you wake up. Regulate water intake during a day as well (6-8 glasses of pure water per day, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, coffee and tea do not count). It is very crucial for eliminating toxins.
Give up alcohol. Alcoholic drinks disrupt the liver and make it challenging to detox your body.
Reduce sugar and salt intake. Salt retains water in the body, and sweets, in their turn, lead to obesity and diabetes. A 2019 study showed that a high consumption of sugary beverages can cause fatty liver3Lu FB, Hu ED, Xu LM, Chen L, Wu JL, Li H, Chen DZ, Chen YP. 2 April 2018. The relationship between obesity and the severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: systematic review and meta-analysis. Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. DOI:10.1080/17474124.2018.1460202.
Active lifestyle. During sports training, the body releases sweat, which overlooks the toxins.
Get enough sleep. A night of good sleep promotes the restoration of tissues and brain cells. You have to sleep regularly, 7-8 hours a night.
Detox drinks for weight loss
Detox drinks help to prevent toxic overload until it is going to become a severe problem for the health. But beyond that, they effectively fight excess weight and melt belly fat. Detox drinks can be prepared by blending or juicing fruit and vegetables, or you can make them by adding some herbs into the pure water. Drinking only detox beverages is not obligatory; you can include a few of them in your diet to help your body cope with toxins and stress.Try these detox drinks, which you can easily include in your daily ratio:
Green tea - help to boost your metabolism and aids fat burning;
Ginger tea - ginger reduces hunger and helps you to lose weight;
Pure water - a 2010 study found that overweight adults who drank 500 ml of water before each main meal lost 40% more weight than those who didn't4Dennis EA, Dengo AL, Comber DL, Flack KD, Savla J, Davy KP, Davy BM. 6 August 2009. Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults. Obesity (Silver Spring). DOI:10.1038/oby.2009.235;
Kombucha - it is a low-calorie, lightly fermented tea beverage containing only 30 calories a cup. One animal study found that kombucha decreases appetite, aids weight loss and prolongs life5Anita M Hartmann, Laura E Burleson, Adam K Holmes, Charles R Geist. September 2009. Effects of chronic kombucha ingestion on open-field behaviors, longevity, appetitive behaviors, and organs in c57-bl/6 mice: a pilot study. Nutrition. DOI:10.1016/S0899-9007(00)00380-4;
Array - it is a source of antioxidants that help to delay cell damage;
Cinnamon tea with honey - honey speeds up the metabolism in the body and charges cells with extra energy. Cinnamon, in its turn, reduces the craving for food.
Detox tips
To support the natural detoxification process, you can add some products to your ratio and change your daily habits:
Include foods with sulfur - sulfur helps the body assimilate food more efficiently. Additionally, the skin is often exposed to inflammatory processes if there is not enough sulfur in the body. The list of sulfur-containing foods is highly varied so that you can find something to your own taste: chicken, turkey, eggs, shallots, broccoli, leeks, onions, garlic, etc.
Add chlorella and cilantro to your dishes - According to research, chlorella and cilantro can detoxify some neurotoxins such as heavy metals (e.g., mercury) and toxic chemicals (e.g., phthalates, plasticizers and insecticides6Rafati-Rahimzadeh M, Rafati-Rahimzadeh M, Kazemi S, Moghadamnia AA. 2 June 2014. Current approaches of the management of mercury poisoning: need of the hour. Daru. DOI:10.1186/2008-2231-22-46.
Use natural body care products - the main advantage of cosmetics with natural components is the absence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can harm your reproductive and endocrine systems.
Choose natural detergents - they are not harmful to your skin and don't cause allergies. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), some commercial cleaning products contain harsh synthetic ingredients. These cleaners can cause burns, lung damage, or accidental poisoning.
How to detox faster
As mentioned above, if you have a healthy functioning organism, your body already has a self-based mechanism to remove toxins. But you can help reduce the burden and speed up the detoxification process.
Go to the sauna - all kinds of toxins come out through the sweat; Thus, the sauna helps to eliminate toxins from your body.
Try intermittent fasting - calorie restriction lowers insulin levels and, according to research, contributes to weight loss7Hoddy KK, Gibbons C, Kroeger CM, Trepanowski JF, Barnosky A, Bhutani S, Gabel K, Finlayson G, Varady KA. 30 March 2016. Changes in hunger and fullness in relation to gut peptides before and after 8 weeks of alternate day fasting. Clin Nutr. DOI:10.1016/j.clnu.2016.03.011.
Limit stress - not so easy to do, but one of the most effective methods. Stress reduction limits the amount of cortisol in your blood, which provokes heart disease and obesity.
Unimeal does not diagnose or suggest treatments. Any description of the diet, training plan or supplement should be discussed with your current physician or nutritionist. This article does not address specific conditions and is simply meant to provide general information on healthcare topics. Following any advice is at your own initiative and does not impose any responsibility on the blog authors for your health and safety.
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