subject: Organic Detox And Weight Loss: Do Detox Diets Lower Your Metabolism? [print this page] People who want to lose weigh tthrough a detox program for weight loss are especially concerned about how the detox period is going to affect their metabolism. It seems that there's a pre-conceived notion that detox programs for weight loss disrupt your metabolism. So, is this true?
But to answer the question, detox diets per se do NOT lower your metabolis. What lowers your metabolism are the hunger pangs that happen during the fasting period. Weight loss experts have always warned against skipping meals to lose weight; the hunger pangs that are incidental to habitually not eating proper meals makes your body go on "starvation mode".
And during starvation mode, the body will keep all the calories in your body instead of burning them (thus lowering your metabolism. Since detox diets are "restrictive", meaning you won't be eating anything SOLID for a period of ten days, the trick to maintaining your metabolic rate is to drink plenty of water during detoxification (aside from drinking the lemonade recipe, for example), and to eat some foods that won't jeopardize the detoxification process.
How Detoxification Works To Jumpstart Weight Loss
Detoxification diets should NOT in any way be used for long-term weight loss. What detox diets for weight loss can do is to jump start your weight loss by ridding your body of accumulated toxins and to condition your body to eat healthier.
During my time at a naturopathy center, I fasted for ten days using a packet mix of Selium Husk Bentonyte clay, apple pectin, ginger and pineapple juice. The mixture was to prevent me from feeling any hunger pangs. I also took several herbal detox capsules everyday. (This type of detox diet should only be done with a naturopathy professional.)
Although weight loss was NOT my primary goal, at the end of the fasting period, I lost some inches around my waist area, and lost some pounds as well.
Never Use Detox Diets For Long Term Weight Loss
There has been a lot of misconceptions about what detoxification diets can do about weight loss. Based on what I learned at the wellness center, nothing can ever replace a well-balanced vegetarian (alkaline) diet to maintain the body's health and its normal weight. Overdoing detox diets will starve your body of the necessary nutrients in the long term. (Make sure your detoxification diet has a nutritious ingredient in the meantime.)
What detoxification diets can do is to rid your body of the toxins in your body, which have accumulated over the years. You can easily lose 20 pounds just by removing all the accumulated phlegm, intestinal plaque and other wastes from your colon. (Watch your feces become more colorful as you successfully completing your detox diet.)
Detox diets also remove water weight, or the water that's accumulated around the cells of your body. People who are overweight or are bloated usually have water retention problems as a result of eating too much sodium in the diet.
In all, you can use detoxification diets to jump start your main weight loss diet program - one psychological effect of these diets is that they make you want to eat healthy.
