Go easy on your body during a cleanse. You don't have to stop working out altogether, just make sure you're doing gentle, low-impact movements to help your lymphatic system expel toxins.

Try walking, stretching, or light not hot yoga , but avoid any intense workouts like weight lifting and running. Yes, a 3-day detox can be beneficial for your health since it flushes toxins from the body and resupplies it with vital nutrients.

The short duration of a 3-day detox is easier to follow and offers the same benefits as longer cleanses. However, any detox diet should be approved by your doctor first.

A successful 3-day detox jumpstarts healthier habits that should be continued after the detox. For example, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and incorporating more exercise into your daily routine. It's worth reinforcing that detox diets aren't for everyone, and you should consult your doctor before beginning a detox diet; this is especially true if you take medication or have any ongoing medical conditions.

Your physician will be able to tell you if a detox is right for you, making sure that the diet won't aggravate any underlying medical conditions. Cleansing diets can cause unwanted side effects such as headaches, nausea, chills, skin rashes, and even bad breath.

Side effects typically mean your detox is working, since they can often be the unfortunate result of your body releasing built-up toxins. Sure, we've touched on boosted metabolism and weight loss, but you're probably wondering if there are any other health benefits. And the answer is yes!

Here are just a few of the benefits of starting a detox. Now that all the cleansing facts are out of the way, let's shift focus and talk about all the details of your 3-day detox, starting with what to eat and drink and what to avoid.

Changing your diet overnight is challenging enough, so why make it any harder by eating food you don't enjoy? To be clear - great weight loss detox diets don't have to taste terrible - in fact, with the right combination of fruits and veggies they can be delicious.

You can be prescriptive with beetroot juice recipes or smoothies for weight loss , but for some variety, remembering just a few simple combinations of ingredients will make sure your detox is tasty and never boring.

The best part of juicing is how easy it is to prep. Simply throw the ingredients in your blender, power it on, then pour. If you're looking for a more holistic recipe for your juicer, try both of these recipes during your detox - oh, and in case you're looking for directions on either of these, just follow the instructions above.

For those keeping count, you've just hit detox juice gold! You're now the proud owner of 12 completely different juice ideas, including 8 new combinations of ingredients and 4 recipes that taste so good you'll forget you're on a cleanse. When it comes to a detox diet, not all foods and drinks are created equally.

Here are common things to avoid during your detox - this list is full of temptation, so do your best to look the other way throughout your detox and even a few days before. It's time to map out your entire detox diet. If this is your first detox, go slowly. Even though this specific plan was inspired by the great Dr.

Christina Scott-Moncrieff and her book Complete Detox Workbook , it's always best to ease into your first cleanse. That's the reason this plan starts the night before your first big day. Doing so helps avoid severe detox symptoms. Day 3 looks different than the first two days, and that's by design.

It's meant to bridge your diet back to something more normal. This will ease your transition into something healthier, but also maintainable once the detox ends.

A 3-day detox diet is a great way to help you lose a few pounds, but remember that it's the kickstarter to better habits and not the start and end of good behavior.

You've worked hard to get where you are, so do your best to continue your new clean-eating routine. As you know, completing a detox diet leaves you feeling instantly healthier, lighter, and dare we say cleansed. And since you've completed a challenging task, overcoming a truly taxing 72 hours, why not reward yourself with some great workout gear while you're at it?

But other aspects of cleanses may have benefits, including eating nutritious whole foods. Detox diets are generally short-term dietary interventions designed to eliminate toxins from your body.

A typical detox diet involves a period of fasting, followed by a strict diet of fruit, vegetables, fruit juices, and water. Sometimes a detox also includes herbs, teas, supplements, and colon cleanses or enemas. Detox therapies are most commonly recommended because of potential exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment or your diet.

These include pollutants, synthetic chemicals, heavy metals, and other harmful compounds. These diets are also claimed to help with various health problems, including obesity , digestive issues, autoimmune diseases, inflammation, allergies, bloating, and chronic fatigue 1.

However, human research on detox diets is lacking, and the handful of studies that exist are significantly flawed 2 , 3. Detoxes are short-term interventions designed to eliminate toxins from your body.

There are many ways to do a detox diet — ranging from total starvation fasts to simpler food modifications. Most detox diets involve at least one of the following 1 :.

There are many kinds of detoxes. Detox diets rarely identify the specific toxins they aim to remove. The mechanisms by which they work are also unclear. Despite this, there are a few chemicals that may not be as easily removed by these processes, including persistent organic pollutants POPs , phthalates, bisphenol A BPA , and heavy metals 3 , 8 , 9 , 10 , These tend to accumulate in fat tissue or blood and can take a very long time — even years — for your body to flush 12 , 13 , However, these compounds generally are removed from or limited in commercial products today Your body can clear itself of most toxins through the liver, feces, urine, and sweat.

However, this improved well-being may simply be due to eliminating processed foods, alcohol, and other unhealthy substances from your diet.

Very few scientific studies have investigated how detox diets impact weight loss 2. While some people may lose a lot of weight quickly , this effect seems to be due to loss of fluid and carb stores rather than fat.

This weight is usually regained quickly once you go off the cleanse. One study in overweight Korean women examined the lemon detox diet , which limits you to a mixture of organic maple or palm syrups and lemon juice for seven days.

This diet significantly reduced body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, markers of inflammation, insulin resistance, and circulating leptin levels Several varieties of detox diets may have effects similar to those of short-term or intermittent fasting.

Short-term fasting may improve various disease markers in some people, including improved leptin and insulin sensitivity 17 , However, these effects do not apply to everyone.

Studies in women show that both a hour fast and a 3-week period of reduced calorie intake may increase your stress hormone levels 19 , On top of that, crash diets can be a stressful experience , as they involve resisting temptations and feeling extreme hunger 21 , Detox diets may help with short-term weight loss, though more studies are needed.

Some detox diets may resemble intermittent fasting regimes, which can improve some biomarkers of health. A few aspects of detox diets may have health benefits, such as 4 :. Several aspects of detox diets may aid your health.

These include avoiding environmental toxins, exercising, eating nutritious food, drinking water, limiting stress, and relaxing. Detox diets are often said to help you lose weight, too.

However, this is likely because they tend to be restrictive. If you are advised to avoid multiple food groups, you'll likely cut out many calories.

Additionally, many detox protocols advise avoiding alcohol and processed or fast foods, which tend to be sources of excess calories in the American diet.

It's important to note, though, that while you may lose weight during a detox diet, most of it is probably water weight or even muscle, especially if you're restricting calories too much or overexercising.

Furthermore, a review, published in Frontiers in Nutrition , shows that detox diets can generate stress, raise your cortisol levels and increase your appetite.

The combination of these factors can make losing weight more difficult and can increase your risk of binge eating and weight gain. Detoxing might seem like an attractive idea in a health-conscious world.

But, there is good cause for the controversy surrounding it and understandable debate among health professionals about its validity. Detox diets claim to help you lose weight, clear out toxins and boost your energy. However, there is not enough scientific evidence to prove these claims.

In fact, there are significant risks associated with detoxing, and it's important to look out for fad diets that promise dramatic results and are overly restrictive.

The best thing to do if you are concerned about your toxin load is to eat a healthy balanced diet, exercise regularly and stay hydrated. This will support your body's natural detoxification processes carried out by your kidneys, liver and digestive system.

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You may be limited to drinking only juices or liquids. Some include dietary supplements or herbs. They can involve cleansing the colon, or lower intestinal tract, with enemas and laxatives.

Are they effective? There may be early weight loss because you start out consuming fewer calories. But detox diets tend to lead to weight gain once you resume a normal diet.

Detox diets can also have risks. Learn more about detoxes and cleanses. Dejunking Your Diet. Breaking Down Food. Show Your Heart Some Love! Healthy Weight Control. NIH Office of Communications and Public Liaison Building 31, Room 5B52 Bethesda, MD nihnewsinhealth od.

gov Tel: Editor: Harrison Wein, Ph. Managing Editor: Tianna Hicklin, Ph. Drinking a glass of lemon water with either cold or warm water can help with digestion, as lemon contains pectin, a type of soluble fiber, which makes it a detoxifying addition to any drink or meal.

Choosing warm water over cold may also make you feel more full. After water, fuel yourself with food. Eating breakfast will benefit your metabolism after a night of sleep. Plus, taking time out of your morning to fuel your body intentionally is a great way to build trust with yourself when it comes to your health.

The only way to prove to yourself that you are ready and willing to take care of yourself is to, well, actually take care of yourself. When doing a mini-cleanse, the advice I give to clients is to skip the bread, cereal or any version of them at breakfast as they will cause your body to retain more water, and instead focus your attention on protein, which will provide satiety.

An egg -and-salmon scramble is a perfect combo of protein and metabolism-boosting omega-3s to start the day. Increasing your heart rate will mean an increase in blood flow. This, in turn, will help your body to flush out toxins all on its own.

The takeaway here is to rev up your heart rate, break a sweat and get in a better mindset to kick it up a notch again tomorrow. Make sure to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and at least one snack —absolutely no skipping meals! Eating consistently throughout the day will help you lay the foundation for ongoing healthy eating.

This will ensure you are taking out excess sodium, artificial ingredients and sugar from your diet. Also, ditch the salt shaker and instead use only herbs and spices to flavor your food. If it feels hard to avoid snacking on over-processed packaged foods or to forego sweets, try to remember that you don't have to do it forever.

Start with a day. If you can handle a whole day without the promise of Cheez-Its, take it one meal at a time. Tell yourself that you will eat healthy for just one meal and then try to repeat that when it's mealtime again.

Meal planning and prepping in advance — it's easier than you think! It is a lot harder to justify waiting in the fast food drive-thru, after all, if you have a gorgeous and delicious salad already made.

Drink a cup of dandelion root tea with your afternoon snack. Trust me, this one is important. Dandelion can help improve digestion , and being properly hydrated is linked to everything from a healthy metabolism to energy and good skin health.

Try not to hurry through any part of tea making or drinking. You don't have to make it fancy, but try to make room for the extra few seconds it will take to pick out a tea cup you love and savor the aroma and flavor.

Tea time is a ritual in many cultures and making space for personal self-care rituals is a great way to brush away some mental and emotional cobwebs. Most Americans spend a lot of time leaning forward.

We hold our phones in front of our faces and reach forward towards steering wheels and computers. Basically, we don't do a lot of twisting in our everyday lives.

And since our spines were made to twist, the result can be tension in the spinal muscles — and sluggish digestion.

You might be wondering what twisting your spine has to do with digestion. Well, a lot of the organs we use to digest food are in the abdomen — like the intestines — and twisting movements help them work efficiently.

Basically, twisting can literally help move things along the intestinal tract. So if you want what you've eaten to move out of your body efficiently, twists are a good way to start. Feeling overly full — or like you haven't been treating your body like you wish you had — can be stressful.

One of the quickest ways to relax is by using breathing exercises. A recent study followed participants of a breathing workshop.

What they found was that learning calming breathing techniques helped people immediately reduce feelings of anxiety. Not only that, but those same participants reported feeling more social connectedness after 3 months. That's a lot of benefit for something you're doing anyways!

We have some cool guided breathing instructions , but if you want to do it on your own that's totally fine. You are definitely a breathing expert! An easy way to use your breath to calm your body and mind is to simply slow it down.