Is detoxing healthy? The sense and nonsense of juice cures

Detoxing through a juice cure has been around for a long time. Health gurus swear by purifying every cell of the body on a regular basis. For others, it’s a way to wash away the party or holiday hangover. It would reset and balance your body. But what exactly is detoxing? Is it good for you? And is a juice cure really the best way to purify your body?

What is detox?

The most common method of detoxing is to drink only cold-pressed vegetable and/or fruit juices for 3 to 7 days. During this time you do not eat solid food, but you only drink juices, sometimes in combination with soup. Drink water and herbal tea as much as you want.

With a high-quality detox cure, the vegetable and fruit juices are cold-pressed and organic. In this way, almost no harmful substances are absorbed. One juice sometimes contains up to one kilo of vegetables! This way you get an enormous amount of vitamins and minerals that you could not just take during a meal.

Because you only drink fruit and vegetables, you also get a lot less calories in total. In most cases, this will allow you to lose a few pounds.

Is detoxing good for you?

In today’s society, our body has to endure a lot. By eating processed food you get a lot of toxins that the liver has to process. But even if you do your best to eat and live healthy, you cannot avoid all toxins. This includes:

• Pesticides from non-organic food
• Preservatives
• Additives
• Medicines and contraception
• Chemicals such as BPAs from plastic packaging.
• Heavy metals
• Air pollution
• Contaminated tap water that is difficult to purify.

Fortunately, humans have their own purification station: the liver. A small amount of harmful substances can be easily processed by the liver, but when the liver is overloaded it cannot remove all substances from the body quickly enough.

In order to protect the body in the short term, some of these substances are stored in the fat cells to limit their harmful effects. Unfortunately, this has a negative effect in the long term because it disrupts all kinds of processes, and especially the hormone balance, in the body.

With a large exposure to toxins, you increase the risk in the long term of all kinds of health problems such as autoimmune diseases, food intolerances, allergies, lack of energy, pain, insomnia, digestive problems and concentration problems.

When you follow a detox treatment, the liver gets the chance to repair itself and perform its tasks properly. In this way, stored toxins can also be removed from the body. Many people feel healthy, clean and energetic after a detox cure . Digestion works again without problems and you often lose a few kilos. If you do detox well and you use quality products, it can really be good for you. But is a juice cure really necessary to purify your body?

How do I best detox my body?

There is nothing wrong with a detox cure. But a juice cure of a few days a year cannot compensate for unhealthy eating habits. If you are really concerned about your own health and that of your liver, it is much more important to eat as healthy as possible all year round. With this you achieve much more than with a juice cure of a week. If you adhere to a few basic rules, your liver will not be unnecessarily burdened and it will be continuously available for you. The most important guidelines for a healthy liver and body are:

• Eat healthy:  Limit alcohol, fast foods, fried foods, and processed foods.
• Eat a varied diet: If you eat a varied diet, you don’t have to worry about vitamin deficiencies.
• Eat according to your energy needs: One of the secrets of the people of Okinawa, a place in the world where most people over 100 live, is to stop eating before you are full. Eating according to your energy needs is an important factor in the prevention of lifestyle diseases.

In addition to a healthy diet, you can do a few other things to reduce your body’s exposure to toxins and to get rid of waste products more easily. Some of the most important tools are:

• Only use natural cosmetics: When you apply chemical products to your skin, they pass through the bloodstream throughout your body. Therefore, only put on your skin whatever you could eat.
• Exercise enough: Exercise is essential for the proper functioning of our blood vessels and lymphatic system. Movement stimulates these systems and makes the removal of harmful substances much easier.
• Take care of your breathing: When you are tense, you breathe too much from the chest and neck instead of from the abdomen and diaphragm. In this way, not all CO2 is excreted, which makes you more acidic.
• Visit a Sauna: Sweating is the best way to remove aluminum from your body.
• Get into nature: The air is purest by the sea or in the forest. A walk in nature works wonders for body and soul.

Summary: Is Detoxing Good For You?

Yes, detoxing is good for you. But a juice cure of a few days cannot compete with a healthy diet throughout the year. If you really want to be and stay healthy, you will have to do your best all year round. Fortunately, we at Foodstrend have the tools to make this as easy and practical as possible for you. If your daily diet is in order, you can add the icing on the cake with a detox cure once a year. In a manner of speaking then.