Avoid a 'Cleanse' Diet This January…(and every other day)
Article by Aoibhínn Connolly
Diet books and wellness brands make us believe that our bodies experience a backlog in efficiency due to our dietary patterns over the festive period.
Cleanse programs tell us that we should purge our bodies of the ‘bad’ stuff and make up for the overindulgences of the holidays.
By restricting calories and giving inflammatory foods the boot, a cleanse will claim to hit ‘restart’ on your body.
‘Cleanse’ or ‘detox’ diets may involve a single, or a variety, of approaches including:
Fasting,
Drinking only juices or similar beverages,
Eating only certain foods,
Using dietary supplements or other commercial products.
Do These Diets Work?
Scientifically, no kind of juice regime or radical diet will cause the body to ‘detox’ or ‘cleanse’, and the evidence to support the possible benefits tend to be anecdotal.
Yes, toxins accumulate from food and the environment. The trouble is that no supplement or juice program can expedite what a healthy digestive tract, liver, and kidneys already do for free.
What we’re saying is… don’t waste your money.
While an occasional fresh juice is delicious, you can only draw in so many water-soluble vitamins in a day.
Any unabsorbed vitamin B and C gets excreted from the body through urine.
So unless you’re severely deficient in these nutrients, (which is rare), you will excrete much more of these nutrients than you absorb from these juices because the body just doesn't need it.
The Cost of a Cleanse
‘Cleanse’ Diets Can Be Pricey
Despite the appealing marketing most of these diets offer, there is usually no scientific backing to their health claims.
This means that the money you spend on a cleanse (which is usually a pretty large amount), is going to waste.
While the initial days of a juice cleanse might make you feel good, this is usually down to a placebo effect.
Any positive effects may also be due to increased hydration levels, misleading us into believing that our bodies are undergoing a beneficial transformation.
In reality, this may merely be a consequence of rehydration, especially following the holiday season when water intake tends to take the back seat, and we often indulge in dehydrating food and drink such as alcohol and rich desserts.
Ultimately, juice cleanses are not as beneficial as they may seem
Gut Microbes
Our gut microbiome is made up of trillions of bacteria.
These microbes rely on fibres in plant foods, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and whole grains for fuel to thrive and carry out essential functions that contribute to our digestive health, support the immune system, and help regulate various metabolic processes in our body.
Cleanses that cut out solid foods or certain food groups will eliminate the variety in fibre that our microbes need, and limit their food supply, making it harder for your digestion to function properly.
The diversity and abundance of bacteria in your gut can decrease when they don’t have an adequate supply of fibre.
Unhealthy Eating Patterns
Cleanses that severely limit calories promise quick results, but also unsustainable results.
The inherently restrictive nature of a 'cleanse' may encourage an 'all or nothing' approach to dieting, potentially triggering episodes of binge eating.
This kind of dieting can lead to a cycle of dietary extremes, wreaking havoc on your metabolism and fostering unhealthy eating habits.
This cycle of flopping back and forth between calorie deprivation and excess disrupts metabolic processes, slowing down metabolism and complicating efforts to maintain a healthy body composition.
This mindset can also cause guilt and anxiety surrounding eating, making it difficult to maintain a balanced and sustainable approach to nutrition.
Too Much of a Good Thing
Excessive juicing with foods high in oxalates, such as beetroot or spinach, can cause kidney stress and damage, supplying potentially toxic concentrations of oxalates to the body.
People living with chronic kidney disease may be at risk of oxalate nephropathy, and in rare cases, healthy people may also be at risk of this.
Oxalate nephropathy is a condition in which the body cannot excrete enough oxalate, causing it to build up in kidney tissue.
In extreme cases, this can cause kidney failure.
What to do instead?
Fresh, whole food will always beat a meal of supplements or juice.
A sustainable approach is the best approach, and healthy eating doesn’t have to be so costly or restrictive.
Focus on maintaining a well-balanced diet containing a variety of fresh produce and food from all food groups, and yes, this can even include your favourite treats from time to time.
A health reset shouldn’t feel like punishment or perfection. It should feel like something you can do for the rest of your life.
If you feel like you’re stuck in the cycle of extreme dieting, or struggle with food restriction, we’re here to help.
At Rhitrition, we have a team of dietitians specially trained to support you and your journey.
Book a 1-to-1 session with one of our clinicians today at rhitrition.com and eliminate harmful juice cleanses forever.
This blog post was written by Aoibhínn Connolly. Aoibhínn is a Registered Associate Nutritionist (ANutr) with the Association for Nutrition and has a first class degree in Honours Nutrition.