The detox diets that matter

Forget the fads, these are the detox diets that matter

Looking for a way to detox that doesn’t involve ridiculous diet fads that leave you feeling hungry and fatigued? When done properly, embarking on a cleanse will help to reset your health so that you feel energised, lighter and more focussed, and here are our favourite five detox diets.

Juice cleanse

Short-term juice cleanses that involve drinking several fresh fruit and vegetable juices per day allow your digestive system to recuperate while opening up the opportunity to experiment with different flavour combinations that fuel your body with an array of super nutrients. In order to maximise the benefits, make sure that juices are freshly made and based around a higher vegetable-to-fruit ratio.

Intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting plans such as the 5:2 diet, which involves limited your calorie intake to 500 calories a day twice a week and sticking to the recommended 2,000 calories a day the rest of the time, sends your body into repair mode, healing damaged cells so that your organs can work to their optimal function once again.

Raw-food diet

Banning all processed foods, refined sugar and animal products, a raw-food diet is centred around fresh ingredients that mustn’t be heated above 40ºC – the temperature at which certain food enzymes are destroyed and nutritional properties diminished. The diet packs in healthy ingredients, such as fresh plant foods, cold-pressed oils, raw sprouts, nuts and seeds. Although it’s difficult to follow a raw-food diet for the long haul, going raw for a week or two will still provide some great health perks.

Fermented foods diet

There’s a good reason that fermented foods are all the rage in health circles. From kimchi to kombucha, these exotic goodies are rich in probiotics, the healthy bacteria that helps to improve gut health. Since good digestion is fundamental for weight management and immunity, eating a diet rich in probiotics could help to switch your health status up a gear.

Alkaline diet

Centred around the pH scale (essentially the body’s level of alkaline to acid). The pH diet involves eating primarily alkaline foods such as fruit, vegetables and nuts and avoiding caffeine and processed foods to get to the neutral level of seven, which is the number at which it’s thought will achieve improved health and vitality.