It isn’t often that we stumble upon literature which is accurate, witty and hard-hitting all at the same time. But when we do, we ensure that we share it with you multiple times! So just incase you missed it in our monthly newsletter, here it is again.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/05/detox-myth-health-diet-science-ignorance

You MUST read through all of it but incase you didn’t, below are some excerpts from the article itself:

WHAT IS IT?

  1. “Detoxing – the idea that you can flush your system of impurities and leave your organs squeaky clean and raring to go – is a scam. It’s a pseudo-medical concept designed to sell you things”
  2. “It is a word being hijacked by entrepreneurs, quacks and charlatans to sell a bogus treatment that allegedly detoxifies your body of toxins you’re supposed to have accumulated”

WE DON'T NEED IT BECAUSE:

“The healthy body has kidneys, a liver, skin, even lungs that are detoxifying as we speak”. “There is no known way – certainly not through detox treatments – to make something that works perfectly well in a healthy body work better”

DETOX GIMMICKS:

  1. “Then there’s colonic irrigation. Its proponents will tell you that mischievous plaques of impacted poo can lurk in your colon for months or years and pump disease - causing toxins back into your system. Pay them a small fee, though, and they’ll insert a hose up your bottom and wash them all away. Unfortunately for them – and possibly fortunately for you – no doctor has ever seen one of these mythical plaques, and many warn against having the procedure done, saying that it can perforate your bowel”
  2. “Some colon - cleansing tablets contain a polymerising agent that turns your faeces into something like a plastic, so that when a massive rubbery poo snake slithers into your toilet you can stare back at it and feel vindicated in your purchase”

WHY DO WE LEAN TOWARD IT?

  1. “When most of us utter the word detox, it’s usually when we’re bleary eyed and stumbling out of the wrong end of a heavy weekend”
  2. “Many of our consumer decisions are made in ignorance and supposition, which is rarely challenged or informed. A lot of marketing drip-feeds that idea, surreptitiously”
  3. “It sort of keys into something that we all would love to have – a simple remedy that frees us of our sins, so to speak. It’s nice to think that it could exist but unfortunately it doesn’t”

TAKE - HOME MESSAGE:

“The ultimate lifestyle ‘detox’ is not smoking, exercising and enjoying a healthy balanced diet”