Detoxing is having a moment right now. Everywhere you go online and in your daily life, someone is talking about detoxing or cleansing. Instagram is inundated with pretty pictures of sliced fruit floating in bottled water, fancy bags of tea and horrifyingly green glasses of fresh juice. All of these are supposed to aid in detoxifying your body and balancing your system … whatever that means.
Here’s the thing about detoxing though — it isn’t real. It is a brilliant bit of marketing that has helped sell incredible amounts of juices and teas and even strange plastic wraps and footpads. But the idea that your body is filled with mysterious toxins and drinking a gallon of cold-pressed cucumber juice will cure you is absolutely ridiculous.
“I just feel so much better after drinking only beet juice for seven straight days.”
Your body knows what it’s doing. It’s an extremely complex and efficient machine that has evolved over millions of years. Humans have only apparently required assistance with cleansing our insides for the last 10 or so years (according to trends). Unless you routinely lick lead paint off your walls, the only toxins your system is dealing with are alcohol and other types of drugs.
Ever wonder why a night of drinking has you taking multiple trips to the bathroom? That is your body doing its job. Your kidneys and liver are busy sorting out the bad stuff and quickly expelling it from your body in an automated process that requires no special tea.
The best thing you can do if you’re really concerned about cleansing yourself is to drink more water. Water helps your organs run even more efficiently and will allow your body to bounce back a little better after a hangover or illness. Adding a lemon to your water will make it taste nicer, but that’s about it.
