How To Deal With Detoxification!

It’s become the new buzzword among influencers and health addicts, but very few of us understand its core.

- Anuradha Withanachchi

The concept of detox diets is nothing new to the masses jumping on the trend to lose weight and achieve the ‘perfect body.’ To detox is to abstain from, or get rid of, unhealthy substances (toxins) from the body. But as the hype around detoxing increases – thanks to the likes of kendall Jenner posting products that have contributed to her runway-ready body – the actual purpose of detoxing is lost in the fad. So, what exactly does a detox diet do, does it really work, and is it as vital to life as celebs and influencers make it seem?

WHAT ARE TOXINS AND HOW DO THEY GET INTO OUR SYSTEMS?

Toxins are harmful agents in the environment that we come into contact with or consume on a daily basis. Speaking to Medical Daily, Dr. Smith of the University of California Santa Cruz, who studies the response of organisms to toxins, believes there’s a heavy list of 689 toxins ranging from the widely-known Bisphenol-A (BPA) found in food packaging and other consumer plastics to the lesser-known pesticide residues in the vegetables we eat. So, popular media propositions that suggest most toxins enter our system through the foods we consume is valid, and all the hype about refraining from certain foods or even restricting oneself to certain liquids seems logical enough. According to research published in the U.S. National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine journal, the concept of detoxing, while often seen as a rather aggressive sales pitch, is rooted in health science. Increasing amounts of industrial chemicals, radioactive elements, pesticides and other harmful substances being released into the environment worldwide, together with bioaccumulation (the increase in the number and intensity of toxins as they work their way through the food chain), means we are more susceptible than ever to their over consumption.