Detox diet: menu, food recipes

Thanks to advertising, short-term detoxification or detox diets have become popular, various versions of which, as their supporters promise, help cleanse the body of accumulated harmful substances - toxins.

However, it is not specified what toxins these diets can rid the body of, and experts have questions about the mechanism and the very possibility of achieving this in a matter of days.

Indications

In clinical medicine, detoxification means a set of measures to neutralize toxic substances in the body, bind them to form non-toxic compounds and eliminate them. Not a single detox diet for cleansing the body - from all the many similar variations - refers to these measures and is not therapeutic. Therefore, most domestic specialists consider the definition - cleansing diet - to be more correct from a medical point of view.

The main indications for prescribing a detox diet, or rather, recommendations for its use, include excess body weight; digestive system disorders (with constipation and bloating due to increased gas formation in the intestines); metabolic disorders caused by metabolic syndrome; allergic reactions, including those with dermatological manifestations; frequent joint and muscle pain; a tendency to edema and an unhealthy complexion; the appearance of an unpleasant body odor; lethargy, apathy and increased fatigue; decreased memory and ability to concentrate; poor quality of sleep.

In addition, a detox diet is recommended for weight loss at the initial stage of obesity, since its diet is limited in calories and includes many fat-burning foods, primarily fiber-rich vegetables and whole grains. But, as experience shows, a significant reduction in calorie intake for a short period of time does not provide long-term relief from excess kilograms without burning fat reserves (breaking down triacylglycerol in adipose tissue cells) through physical activity. And for most people, after short-term weight loss, returning to their usual diet leads to a rapid "eating" of the lost kilograms - due to increased production of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin, which not only slows down metabolism, but also reduces the burning of fat reserves. [ 1 ]

More useful information about the principles of diets for weight loss in the publication - Dietary correction of obesity and overweight

General information detox diets

To maintain biochemical and oxidation-reduction homeostasis, our body is initially endowed with a complex system for cleaning from metabolic products and toxic compounds coming from outside. It includes all links of the immune system, the liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, as well as many specific enzymes that ensure the transformation of harmful substances and facilitate their excretion with natural secretions.

However, not everyone has this system working properly, which is connected not only with ecology, genetics, lifestyle and existing pathologies, but also with an irrational nutrition system: too much meat, animal fats, sugar, processed foods and fast food; lack of plant fiber and water. Improper nutrition is a source of chemical compounds that are far from beneficial for the body, which accumulate and negatively affect health.

Based on this, it can be said that the essence of this diet is to support the organs of the natural detoxification system and, possibly, to motivate people to change their eating habits and switch to healthier foods.

It should be noted that a strict list of specific products and dishes consumed daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner during a detox diet, that is, a detailed menu for each day, in most cases has only a recommendatory nature of creativity. And the recipes for dishes - vegetable stew or lean soup, porridge or salad - are known to almost everyone.

Detox diet for 3 days

Every morning (half an hour before meals) you should drink a glass of warm water with a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. And the main drinks during the day and after meals are green tea and water (naturally, still).

On the first day, for breakfast you can eat an apple and an orange or a fruit salad with low-fat yogurt dressing, and drink a cup of green tea.

Lunch can consist of vegetable soup or a small portion of grain porridge with a salad of fresh vegetables with greens (dressed with vegetable oil and apple cider vinegar). And for dinner you can prepare a fruit or vegetable salad. Drink - green tea (if there are no obvious liver diseases) or herbal tea, for brewing which they use medicinal plants such as dandelion root, peppermint leaves, lemon balm and nettle, red clover, yarrow, calendula and chamomile flowers, ginger root, sand immortelle, horsetail, echinacea.

On the second day, you can have a fruit smoothie with flaxseed or the same fruit platter for breakfast; have a vegetable stew with boiled beans or a cereal soup with vegetables for lunch; for dinner, you can cook brown rice and prepare a salad of fresh vegetables.

On the third day (which also starts with lemon water), breakfast can be buckwheat, rice or oatmeal on water and something fruity (in natural form). For lunch - the menu of the first or second day, and for dinner fresh fruits, cabbage and carrot salad, baked vegetables are suitable.

Have you noticed that this diet does not contain any animal proteins? Apparently, the developers of the vegetarian version of the super-short detox diet remembered that some of the undigested meat in the stomach decomposes in the large intestine, releasing potentially toxic substances.

Without a doubt, in this case you can use the three-day menu offered by the slag-free diet.

Detox diet for 5 days

A five-day detox diet is two days more than a three-day diet, with the addition to all of the above (including warm water with lemon juice) of one small piece of lean meat or fish (every other day); two boiled eggs (one each on the second and fourth days); 400 g of low-fat cottage cheese (200 g each on the third and fifth days).

And this is already a significant help in overcoming the growing feeling of hunger.

Detox diet for 7 days

Requires drinking a glass of water with lemon juice before breakfast - every morning - and a detox diet for 7 days.

In the first two days, breakfast consists of vegetable juice with flax seeds added to it. For lunch, there are also vegetables: raw carrots and cabbage; spinach, broccoli and pumpkin - slightly steamed. For dinner - a stew of any vegetables.

The desire to snack (and this applies to the entire duration of the diet) is limited to such products as walnuts, almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, apples, pears, apricots and peaches, plums and oranges.

On the third day, breakfast includes a glass of kefir or yogurt with berries/fruits; lunch – a quarter of a boiled chicken breast with lentils and vegetables; dinner – a salad of fresh vegetables.

Day four: for breakfast – fruit smoothie, for lunch – vegetable lean soup with cereals; for dinner – vegetable stew.

Day five: breakfast consists of vegetable juice with flaxseed added; lunch – stewed vegetables and a piece of steamed sea fish; dinner – vegetable salad and one boiled egg.

The sixth day menu is the same as the third day, but for lunch - boiled brown rice and vegetable soup. And on the seventh day, buckwheat or oatmeal is cooked for breakfast, a quarter of a boiled chicken breast and a vegetable salad for lunch, and yogurt with fruit and a boiled egg for dinner.

The 7-day detox diet also includes Vysotskaya's (the permanent host of the culinary program "Eat at Home" on one of the Russian TV channels). In her interpretation, on the first day you only need to drink: fruit juice, water and herbal tea (chamomile).

On the second day, you should eat fresh fruit and water; on the third, raw vegetables and water; on the fourth, rice and boiled vegetables; on the fifth, fresh fruit and vegetables and a few walnuts; on the sixth day, low-fat yogurt and whole-grain porridge. On the final day, boiled or steamed fish is eaten in combination with rice and a salad of fresh vegetables.

How does a 10-day detox diet differ from a 7-day one? In terms of the set of products - nothing, in terms of the menu for each day - practically nothing. Therefore, just add 7 + 3, and what to eat in these three days is your choice from the menu of the same 7-day diet.

Detox Juice Diet

Drinking only freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices for three to five days for weight loss is considered a detox diet on juices with very low calorie content (about 600 calories per day). So, in addition to general weakness, lethargy and thoughts about food, such a diet, despite the powerful vitamin component, is recognized by leading nutritionists as the least healthy form of cleansing nutrition systems, will lead to constipation and flatulence.

However, a drinking detox diet based on fruit and vegetable juices allows you to slightly reduce weight. However, this result does not last very long and is not achieved by reducing fat deposits: the intestines are simply emptied and diuresis increases.

Ginger Detox Diet

Considering the multifaceted, including general strengthening, immunostimulating and cleansing effect of ginger root on the body, the ginger detox diet has received the status of perhaps the most effective.

This is a detox diet based on ginger tea, which is drunk for two weeks, two to three cups a day - while simultaneously giving up harmful products and eating healthy ones (which were discussed above). Read:

• Tea with ginger
• How to cook ginger
• Healthy Ginger Drinks for Weight Loss

It should be borne in mind that ginger root impairs the absorption of iron and can have a laxative effect.

Benefits

It is claimed that a home detox diet can help to naturally cleanse the body, strengthen its defenses, maintain optimal health and improve well-being. However, these claims have not been clinically proven to be true, and the effectiveness of a detox diet continues to be a subject of debate.

The undeniable benefit of the diet is in giving up harmful products and consuming healthy ones, as well as in temporarily reducing the load on the digestive system and a kind of “reboot” of the overall metabolism.

What can and what can not?

Some detox diets begin with a short-term complete exclusion of food and the use of only vegetable and fruit juices and water. There are also options that involve preliminary cleansing of the intestines with an enema. Both are controversial recommendations, and not all professionals in the field of dietetics welcome them. In fact, even the lists of permitted and prohibited products have some differences, especially regarding the possibility of consuming animal proteins.

• What can you eat?

You can and should eat vegetables and fruits rich in antioxidant vitamins (A, C and E) and flavonoids with a low glycemic index. Any kind of cabbage (including pickled white cabbage), onions and garlic are very useful, and for cleansing the kidneys - green vegetables, asparagus, carrots, beets, sweet peppers, tomatoes, pumpkin, dark berries (cherries, cranberries, lingonberries).

The second most important component of the diet is porridge from whole grains (brown rice, buckwheat, oatmeal, barley) containing vegetable proteins, fiber and B vitamins. And the third is water, which you need to drink 6-8 glasses a day.

Vegetable oils containing omega-3 fatty acids, low-fat dairy products, eggs, as well as ginger, turmeric, rosemary and other products for cleansing the liver are used.

To ensure that the body does not experience a deficiency of glutathione (a peptide compound that helps liver enzymes bind and remove hydrophobic toxins), you need to eat lean white meat and fish, vegetable proteins of legumes. By the way, vitamin C promotes the synthesis of endogenous glutathione.

Many nutrition consultants recommend eating dried fruits, nuts and seeds in small quantities (as a "snack"), but some nuances should be taken into account. Thus, despite the unique biochemical composition and benefits of nuts and seeds, they take a long time to digest and slow down the metabolism. And dried fruits - to keep them from spoiling longer - are treated with sulfur dioxide, which, when ingested, destroys vitamins B1 and B12.

• What shouldn't you eat?

The detox diet completely excludes: processed foods with preservatives, colorings, synthetic flavors and sweeteners, flavor enhancers (in particular, monosodium glutamate); table salt and sugar; white bread and pastries; red and fatty meat; fatty dairy products and cheese; animal fats; pasta and confectionery; convenience foods and fast food; sweet carbonated drinks, coffee and alcohol.

A categorical “no” to everything fried and smoked: this method of cooking leads to the formation of heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are harmful to the body.

Contraindications

In the presence of gastrointestinal and cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis and cancer, chronic degenerative diseases, diabetes and hypoglycemia, as well as eating disorders, detoxification diets are not recommended.

Absolute contraindications include being under 18 and over 65 years of age, pregnancy, lactation and the need for regular medication intake.

Complications

Most detox diets exclude or significantly limit the consumption of many healthy foods, and the risks associated with the diet are seen in the violation of generally accepted norms for nutrient consumption. For more information, see - Weight Loss: What is the Danger of Refusing Fats, Proteins, or Carbs?

Possible complications include general weakness and fatigue (due to a lack of calories and energy deficiency); depression, irritability and anxiety (as a result of increased synthesis of the stress hormone cortisol due to a low-calorie diet); headache (caused by blood pressure surges), nausea, abdominal pain and bloating, diarrhea, and a drop in blood glucose levels.