The Truth About Detox Diets
Two weeks ago, Filipinos all over the country celebrated Holy Week. As a predominantly Christian population, we observe the disciplines of fasting and abstinence, especially during the Lenten Season when Catholics reduce their food intake and abstain from what is good but not inherently sinful, like meat. We detox as a form of penance and participation in the sufferings of Christ. For those non-religious, this allows them to reset their bodies and rid them of toxins due to overindulgence.
Recently, the wellness industry has picked up on our compulsion to purge ourselves by creating costly treatments that will help cleanse our liver. But that begs the question, do detox treatments work?
For those in the healthcare sector, what may medically sound right to us is rooted in a lack of understanding of how our liver works. Our liver is a very dynamic and hard-working organ. It does a lot of jobs that help keep our bodies in balance, from assisting our immune system to creating proteins for blood clotting to sending out cholesterol we need to produce hormones. It is also a critical organ that neutralizes harmful substances that we consume. Food, drinks, and medicines are broken down into usable packages like cholesterol or protein or removed as waste like urine.
One cleansing drink popularized by Hollywood star, Beyonce is the cayenne, pepper, and lemon juice drink. According to this trend, drinking this juice helps flush out toxins from your body. But the truth of the matter is that our liver metabolizes the nutrients from this drink the same way it processes everything else. The nutrients from the lemon and pepper get circulated throughout the body, and the rest become waste. There’s nothing particularly magical or unique about this drink. You may lose a few extra pounds because you are not eating much and may feel momentarily good because you have cut down on your intake of highly processed food. However, drinking these purported miracle drink will not make our liver work better since it is efficient on their own.
Although the practice of fasting and abstinence, whether physically, emotionally, or mentally dispose us to free ourselves from worldly distractions and allow God to fill whatever void we have within us. We must remember that in the end, our body is meant to clean itself, and after all the research poured into the subject, it is all hype. Knowing how your body works, a balanced diet, and regular exercise are still key to keeping yourself healthy.
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