Clean up your diet
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You should never go hungry when you are detoxing. Eat as much as you like. Have between-meal snacks. The only rule is that you stick to detox foods and drinks. If you have stocked your kitchen in advance, it should not be too hard. |
What is the point of going to a lot of trouble to cleanse the toxins from your system if you are simultaneously reintroducing new ones with every morsel you eat? By choosing organically grown foods, you can avoid the most harmful pesticides. The ones that are used on organic crops are strictly regulated and natural farming methods are used to control pests, such as crops rotation and the planting of anti-pest plants alongside crops.
Harmful Chemicals
Some fruits and vegetable crops are treated with more harmful chemicals than others:
- Non-organic strawberries are covered in captan, a fungicide that has been linked to cancer, damage to the immune, nervous and reproductive systems, and birth defects.
- Non-organic apples contain diphenylamine, which some experts believe causes brain and nervous system damage, and thiabendazole, which may damage the reproductive system.
- Non-organic celery contains permethrin, chlorothalonil and acephate, all linked to cancer.
- Non-organic spinach will often have up to 40 harmful pesticides on its leaves.
Preparing Fruit and Vegetables No amount of washing or peeling will shift these chemicals because the soil they were grown in, which has nurtured them, is replete with toxins. You should still wash and peel them but do not kid yourself that you are solving the problem.
Is Organic More Nutritious? |
Researchers at John Hopkins University looked at the results of 41 studies over a 50-year period and concluded that on average organic food contained 30 per cent more vitamin C, over 20 per cent more iron, 30 per cent more magnesium and 14 per cent more phosphorus than conventionally grown foods, as well as 15 per cent fewer harmful nitrates.
Although you will not eat meat on your detox, it is worth knowing that organically reared animals cannot be fed the growth enhancers and parasiticides that non-organic animals receive. Antibiotics are not given preventively and, if the animal gets ill and requires antibiotic treatment, it is removed from the organic herd. Their feed must be 100 per cent organic, with no genetically modified ingredients and no animal by-products. Finally, when the meat is sold, it should contain no artificial ingredients, food colourings or chemical preservatives.
Without going into gruesome details, pork is probably the most toxic of non-organic meats because pigs don't sweat out toxins in the way that some other animals can; and non-organic chicken can be seriously bad for your health with more than 60 per cent of factory-farmed birds infected with campylobacter from their own faeces, and more than 30 per cent infected with salmonella. |
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Money tight
If you cannot afford to buy all organic, at the very least avoid the fruits and vegetables with the biggest toxin load when they are grown conventionally: strawberries, apples, cherries, apricots, blackberries, pears, raspberries, peaches, imported grapes, spinach, peppers, celery and potatoes. |
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Brown rice
As well as being a great source of B vitamins, brown rice is good on a detox as a kind of 'pipe cleaner'. It travels through the gut, absorbing waste and then flushing it out at the other end. Try to choose short-grain rice for the best cleansing properties. |
Washing vegetables removes the external layer of pesticides. |
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