Detox?

Have you ever been on a detox program? I’m curious to hear about people’s understanding of this term and experiences with it.

My experience to date has been limited and negative. About ten years ago ( I was 14) my mum and I embarked on a popular ‘liver cleansing’ detox which basically involved eating no solid food for at least a week, rather to consume vegetable juice and various herbal teas.

Not really knowing much about it I jumped on the bandwagon and did not consume any food for seven days, I think on the seventh day I vomited purple (beetroot juice) all over our carpet… mmm! Now, I’ve read a lot of testimonies from people who claim to have cured themselves from various diseases, even cancer by going on such detoxes. However, for a healthy 14 year old girl what do you think was the greatest attraction? Yep, I lost 5kg in that week (mostly water and some muscle no doubt). Its so sad, I distinctly remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking wow, I’ll never eat again! Cue the yo yo dieting that commenced a few years later!

My mum’s biggest hobby is researching and spending lots of money on natural/alternative remedies and although I wouldn’t call her a ‘hypochondriac’ I don’t think I’ve ever asked her how she was and heard her reply ‘good or well’. (A “Bloody fantastic!” would be even better …one day perhaps!) She was a registered nurse for many years so is no stranger to conventional medicine but I guess prefers to use drugs etc as a last resort. I spoke to her recently and she was about to go on another liver cleansing program (she has probably done it a few times over the last decade) and insists that it is a great way to give the internal organs a break/recover from the stress we put on them.

I challenged this idea with the notion that, instead of bombarding our bodies with toxins such as sugar and alcohol and then periodically fasting; shouldn’t we seek to limit the amount of punishment we inflict on our livers/kidneys etc in the first place? When is starving yourself ever a good idea?

Most of the more general detox diets seem to require no caffeine, sugar or alcohol, less dairy, red meat, more vegetables etc for a certain period of time. Is this just code for a healthy diet? I guess I don’t like the way that detoxes imply a temporary change in eating habits rather than encouraging people to eat this way as consistently as possible. Its also a subjective term I guess as each person may need to 'detox' from something different than the next person. I would say my biggest challenges are caffeine and oversized portions when eating off plan/something I haven’t pre-prepared.