Detox dieting

Question
Hi. I was hoping you could give me your opinion on detox dieting/fasting and
explain any positive or negative health effects. I am not interested in any
spiritual or psychological benefits. I am not concerned with weight loss, but
rather just general health. The specific diet I am referring to is drinking fruit
juice/smoothies and not eating any solid food for seven days. I know this is
not technically a low-carb diet, but you also mentioned in your description
that you have done research on metabolism and I am wondering how a detox
diet like this one would affect one's metabolism. Can this really be healthy? It
is dangerous? I'd love to hear your thoughts?

Answer
Lindsay,
Most of the danger of juice/smoothie detoxing comes from not getting enough calories, not getting enough protein, or both. They also don't contain essential fatty acids, but it takes several months for a fatty acid deficiency to appear. Juice diets also tend to cause horrible constipation because they don't contain any fiber. A smoothie diet would be just fine if you do a few things-first, add fresh fruit or veggies to get some fiber. If you throw in celery, trust me, you will NOT be able to taste it underneath the fruit. You also need to make sure the smoothies have enough protein-make them with milk, and try adding in some cottage cheese, yogurt, tofu, or protein powder. To get essential fatty acids, you can buy flaxseed oil gel caps, cut them, and add at least 3 grams of flaxseed oil to the smoothie. Finally, make sure you're eating at least 1,200 calories a day (if you weigh more than 140) or at least 1,000 calories (if you weigh less than 140), and at least 50 grams of protein daily.
Of course, even though it's possible to "detox" like that without any negative health consequences, there are no health benefits, either, and you won't lose any more weight than you would following a normal diet with the same number of calories.
In general, though, trust your body and Mother Nature. You have literally thousands of detoxing systems built right in. Unless you work in a nuclear coal/asbestos mine, there's absolutely no reason you would need to "detox".

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