Hands up if you've tried a detox diet?
Ok now hands up if you're still on it.
Yep, didn't think so.
Detox diets have become a bit of a craze over time. Recently I've been hearing the Lemon Detox ads on the radio, the one where the two girls are chatting and one tells the other not to waste her time going to the gym or on diets, but instead to try the Lemon Detox Diet. But hang on, isn't the Lemon Detox Diet, a diet?
Why you shouldn't detox
Detox diets such as the Lemon Detox Diet are based around severe calorie restriction. The Lemon Detox Diet restricts your entire calorie intake to 1/4 of your average kilojoule requirement, or 1/2 of the kilojoules that someone would consume if they were to go on a strict weight loss diet. So because you consume so little calories, of course weight loss is going to occur.
The body is not silly though, and here's where the problems begin. The body realises that it's had such a reduction in calories, that it actually goes into starvation mode. Your metabolic rate crashes to a low as your body tries to conserve as much energy as possbile. A lot of 'weight' that you will lose will be water, as well as lean muscle, as the body is starving so it clings to its fat stores. Now lean muscle is not what you want to lose, fat is what you want to lose.
After your detox is over, you return to your regular intake and your body, once again, not silly, thinks Ok, I'd better bloody hurry up and create myself some more fat stores, just in case I have to go into starvation mode again!
So instead of burning fat, you'll actually gain more fat and lose lean muscle (which helps to burn fat!).
Matt O'Neill, APD from Metabolic Jumpstart has produced a fantastic video on the Lemon Detox Diet - worth watching. See for yourself the enjoyment of drinking 9 glasses of lemon juice, syrup, cayenne pepper and water for 10 - 14 days. That's right, no food allowed for 2 weeks. Which means that disclaimer they add on the end of the Lemon Detox Diet radio ad about using in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise... well clearly that's just for legalities, as there is no food allowed whilst on this diet. It'll also set you back over $100.
The bottom line
Although detox diets sound natural and enticing as a quick weight loss solution, they really are far from it. You'll also have to turn down any social activities for 2 weeks, and no doubt you'll get a few strange looks from your work colleagues in the lunch room, let alone family and friends. Detox diets also don't provide adequate nutrition in terms of meeting your carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamin and mineral requirements. But I think the worst part about these diets is that they strip you of your muscle and reduce your metabolic rate so significantly that your body won't be able to help itself but stack on the kilos to prepare for the next time it gets starved.
Cheers.
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