3-Day Detox Diet – A Helpful Tool Or A Trouble-Maker?

The web space is full of detox diets and commercial offers – with the help of magic pills or food rituals, you will get an endless list of health benefits. After reading the detox diet prescriptions, you may be under the impression that your body is nothing but a massive package of toxins, and your weight loss is only a matter of a carefully planned 3 day detox cleanse diet. However, that is a big delusion. While 3 day detox diet might be a helpful tool to enrich your body with vitamins, it fails to be an adequate substitution for a healthy dietary regimen. Let’s look into the benefits of a 3-day cleanse diet and check the results you will get when following it.

What Is The 3-Day Detox Diet?

The detoxication diet is a nutritional program that helps you get rid of toxins from the body. It is a popular way to rejuvenate your functional system. The 3-day cleanse diet is believed to work great for everyone, reducing inflammations, improving your skin, stimulating weight loss, and decreasing free radicals.

How a 3 day cleanse works?

This 3-day meal plan includes low-calorie but highly nutritious meals. It focuses on foods that are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, and complex carbs. They help you boost the metabolism and induce weight loss [1]

The basis of a 3 day detox is built on the higher consumption of fruit and vegetables. That’s why an important rule to remember – the less time you spend cooking, the more vitamins you preserve.

According to the American Society for Nutrition, a 3-day cleanse diet may stimulate weight loss and decrease the level of cardiovascular diseases. [2]

How To Do A 3-Day Detox Diet For Weight Loss?

Detoxing is fasting for a short period consuming only smoothies from greens, raw vegetables, fruits, and gluten – free products; avoiding animal products, and drinking lots of water.

A 3 day detox cleanse for weight loss is a nutritional plan which is supposed to target your problematic zones. While having a rather dubious influence on body fat, some of the basic rules of a detox diet may be included in your daily routine. They are helpful regarding your health and well-being.

Basic rules

1. Start your day with a glass of warm water. It will help your body wake up and signal your digestive system to prepare digestive juices. If you add a spoon of freshly-squeezed lemon juice, you’ll enrich your body with vitamin C – the shield of your immune system against viruses and colds.
2. Stay well hydrated by drinking 8 glasses of water daily on average. Your needs may be correlated by the weather and health condition [3].
3. Avoid highly – processed food. It’s deprived of nutrients and works as a stomach filler, not an energy provider. Give preference to fresh ingredients or frozen ones.
4. Replace simple salt with sea salt – it will bring more benefits to your thyroid.
5. Add ginger to your menu, which is believed to make your digestion more productive.
6. Enrich your menu with whole-grain foods to get enough fiber, which maintains a healthy performance of your bowel. Apart from grains and cereal, fiber can be found in baked sweet potato (a lot), fruit, and vegetables. Everyone should consume at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables daily.
7. Add herbal tea to your beverages list. They can stimulate the proper work of your kidneys and liver, helping them deal with toxins. Chamomile, mint, and lemon balm will make a refreshing and health-benefiting tea.
8. Taking the probiotic supplement on an empty stomach with a glass of water will improve your digesting process.
9. Daily exercise is part and parcel of any detox program. It’s not necessary to spend hours in the gym or outside. Probably any person can find 30 minutes of time for a brisk walk, jogging, set of HIIT exercises, etc.
10. Get plenty of sleep. When you are constantly deprived of quality sleep, your body doesn’t have enough time to regain its power and energy. In the long run, it leads to fatigue, inability to concentrate, and immune system failures.

 Grapefruit Smoothie 🥤🥤🥤

Grapefruit takes its honorable place in most detox recipes; its flavors range from bitter-sweet to sour [4]. This fruit is a treasure trove of essential vitamins and minerals, combining the benefits of pomelo and orange. Its nutrients help promote healthy skin and protect against various health conditions.

Grapefruit is low in calories yet rich in nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and antioxidants. Besides, it has a low – glycemic impact – it enriches you with vitamins but doesn’t increase the level of sugar in the blood.

Grapefruit makes the basis of a smoothie; all the supplementary berries and fruits are up to your taste.

Grapefruit Smoothy ingredients include:

• 1 ⅓ cup fresh grapefruit juice
• 10 large strawberries
• 2 medium bananas, sliced
• 1 (8 ounces) container of yogurt
• 2 tablespoons honey
• Crushed ice (individual choice)

Place everything into the mixer container, press the button and get your magical energizing drink.

A word of caution!

This type of smoothie is not recommended for people with hyperacidity and those who use any kind of medication (grapefruit can influence the drug absorption dramatically – lowering or increasing its сontent in the blood).

Keto Avocado Smoothie 🥑🥑🥑

This avocado smoothie recipe has only 4 ingredients; however, the benefits go far beyond what you can imagine.

Basic ingredients include:

1. Avocado – a source of vitamins C, E, K, and B6, riboflavin, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, magnesium, and potassium. They also provide healthy fats – omega-3 fatty acids. Avocados make a perfect creamy texture.

2. Milk products – every smoothie needs liquid, and ideally, some kind of milk. You can use almond or coconut milk if you follow vegetarian nutrition; cow milk, lactose-free milk, nut milk, hemp-seed milk – the choice is immense. Choose the option which is the most suitable.

By the way, yogurt is a type of natural probiotics (stimulus of digestion), so it’s a double benefit.

3. Berries – low-carb fruit supplement. Apart from giving you fiber and nutrients, they work as sweeteners.

4. Sweetener – can be added if you what to feel the sweet flavor. Stevia is a natural sweetener, in case you avoid artificial ones.

5. Protein powder – is a great option to make your smoothie more filling. Typically a serving of protein powder is15-30 grams of protein.

Does Your Body Need A Detox?

Before rushing into the detox program, you must understand if it’s the right time to detox your body. If you often experience these symptoms, then you need to consider some changes in your lifestyle:

1. You have non-stop acne, rashes, dry skin.
2. You have a hard time focusing on the subject.
3. You wake up feeling sluggish even after a good sleep.
4. You can’t keep going without another cup of coffee.
5. You often feel bloated or gassy.

If the statements mentioned above concern you, you need to dedicate time to your body and mind.

❗❗❗ As with any new dietary program, consult a doctor before you begin the detox diet. Ensure it doesn’t contradict your medication or ongoing medical treatment.

The best time to start a detox program is summer and autumn. The reasons are pretty obvious:

• Better choice of freshly-picked fruit, vegetables, and berries; besides, they are more affordable for 3 day detox cleanse at home.
• As long the weather is mainly warm and hot, you don’t have a craving for rich in calories food, like in winter.
• With high temperatures, we tend to sweat more, letting more toxins go through our skin.
• In summer, we are typically less tense, enjoy our life, and take everything easier, including weight goals – less psychological tense.
• With warm and hot weather, we are less hungry and can easily make do with a salad, not a bowl of baked sweet potato as in the cold season.
• Summer is typically a more active season, with longer days and more time outside. Move movement – more health.

How Does Your Body Get Rid Of Toxins?

Although the internet space is filled with promising and miraculous headlines about commercial detox programs, scientists still struggle to give a clear definition of a toxin. Most people think of toxins as chemicals that are bad for the body and the environment.

Theoretically, we can divide the toxins into 2 categories:

1. Body-produced toxins – like carbon dioxide [5] – a waste product your body makes when it uses food for energy. Your blood carries carbon dioxide to your lungs. When you exhale, you breathe out carbon dioxide. Too much or too little carbon dioxide in your blood can signify a health problem.
2. External pollutants – come from pesticides, herbicides, smoke, and flame. We are exposed to chemicals or toxins through household products, non-organic foods, cleaning products, food additives, plastic food wraps and containers, and non-stick surfaces.

Our body is a very complex and self-regulating system. If everything works smoothly, it gets rid of toxins using different organs:

1. Kidneys

The paired bean-shaped kidneys are considered the principal organs of excretion. They are made of many structural and functional subunits called nephrons, which perform the primary task of filtering blood and removing excess water and wastes from the bloodstream. The result is a liquid waste known as urine.

2. Skin

Our skin is a secondary excretory organ and one of the major components of the body’s antioxidant defense system.[6] It is represented by 3 to 4 million eccrine sweat glands, which are distributed over almost the entire human body surface. The result is our sweat.

3. Respiratory System

Our lungs help us get rid of carbon dioxide – which is created in the cells as we perform aerobic exercises. This waste product is removed from the cells and transferred to the bloodstream. When the blood reaches the lungs, carbon dioxide is exchanged for oxygen and released into the atmosphere.

4. Immune System

The immune system is our primary shield and protection. It’s a complex network of organs, cells, and proteins that defends the body against infection while protecting the body’s cells. It keeps track of every germ killed in the body. When the same microbe enters our body, the immune system alarms the appropriate helpers and kills it.

5. Liver

The liver mainly deals with nitrogenous wastes. The cells of the liver host biochemical processes that create ammonia from amino acids. As long as ammonia is extremely toxic, the liver quickly converts it to urea before it is transported into the blood. The liver also removes the decomposed hemoglobin, some drugs, excess vitamins, sterols, and other substances. These are secreted along with bile and finally removed from the body through feces.

6. Urinary bladder

A bladder is a temporary reservoir for urine. The urinary bladder is under the control of the Central Nervous System. When our brain signals, the urinary bladder contracts and releases the urine, which contains the wastes.

7. Colon

The large intestine turns food waste into a stool and passes it from the body. Its primary function is to absorb water and salts from undigested food, ferment indigestible food by bacteria and produce feces.

What Does The Research Say About The Detox Diet?

A detox diet is typically a commercial plan or program deeply incorporated into the health industry. It is claimed to have significant and healing health benefits when taken regularly. [7]

Although little research was held with small focus groups, it’s still a controversial topic with doubtful benefits.

A detox diet can bring diversity into your diet, as long as it contains fresh and organic products. Simply saying, you fill your menu with micro and macronutrients, as advised for every healthy menu.

Is The Detox Diet Safe?

A 3 day detox cleanse to lose weight is safe when used as an additional component to your daily menu. If you decide to make it the main and only source of nutrients, you’ll get a sack of problems instead of long-awaiting benefits and miraculous changes. A detox diet is almost the same as lose-weight-quickly-and-easily diets, which are pretty delusional regarding health benefits.

1. Sudden Weight Regain

3-day detox to lose weight will paradoxically bring more weight afterward. This is one of the typical side effects of any short-term dietary regimen. It contributes significantly to weight loss at the initial stage and makes you happy. But, what’s the next step? You get back to the typical lifestyle and foods; after being stressed with changes, your body will regain everything back and even more in case of the next food shortage and stress. As a result, you welcome all the kilos back.

2. Weakened Immunity

A strong immune system is our 24/7 protection. Its complex mechanism is always on the alert. Your main task is to provide the immune system with a weapon – enough nutrients and components that make up its strength and endurance. If you deprive your body of essential elements, as in 3 day detox weight loss programs, your systems unravel, making you susceptible even to minor diseases.

When planning considerable food limitations, it’s necessary to think through many times if extra weight and ‘toxins’ are equal to weakened immune systems.

3. People With Health Conditions

People with health conditions must avoid 3 day detox cleanse to lose weight at any cost if the doctor does not prescribe it. All the medications require special conditions for proper absorption. Going for detox on juices or smoothies or vegetables only may lead to unwanted results.

For instance:

• Dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cheese can interfere with certain medications, like antibiotics (tetracycline, doxycycline, and ciprofloxacin). These antibiotics may bind to the calcium in milk, forming an insoluble substance in the stomach and upper small intestine that the body is unable to absorb.
• Grapefruit increases the level of the medicine in your blood, which can increase the risk of side effects or alter the treatment’s effect.
• Green tea is a delicious antioxidant beverage that brings many health benefits. However, it may cause iron deficiency when taken in large quantities for long periods. Iron, on the other hand, can decrease the efficacy of green tea.
• Green and leafy vegetables, which are high in vitamin K, can decrease how well the blood absorbs aspirin.

4. Electrolyte Imbalance

3-day detox diet plan can cause an electrolyte imbalance. Electrolytes include sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, and phosphate. If their levels become too low (as in very low-calorie and detox diets), there can be severe health consequences.

1. Low potassium, or hypokalemia, can cause increased blood sugar, fatigue, confusion, muscle weakness, and cramps.
2. Low sodium, or hyponatremia, can lead to confusion, drowsiness, muscle weakness, and seizures.
3. Low calcium, or hypocalcemia, leads to weak bones, teeth, nails, hair, and poor skin turgor.
4. Low chloride, or hypochloremia, may lead to fever, difficult breathing, confusion, and swelling‌.
5. Low phosphate, or hypophosphatemia,causes muscle weakness, respiratory or heart failure, seizures, or comas.

Some people refill the electrolyte levels with supplements. However, food always works better.

The Bottom Line

Everyone wants to feel refreshed, strong, healthy, and fit. However, not everyone wants to build a lifestyle that can provide and maintain this state. Instead, we look for quick and easy ways, like detox diets, to lose weight, eliminate toxins, and improve digestion and well-being. That’s a precarious way to regain your strength. Instead of health benefits, you just have a deficiency of nutrients in the long run. Smoothies, vegetable salads, and green juices are the main components of detox diets. However, they can’t work as meal substitutions.

If you really need and want changes – change your mindset; that’s the main thing that needs a detox. Forget about endless diets, weight loss herbal teas, greens mono diets, cucumber or broccoli, or magic pills – change your lifestyle and attitude toward activities.

Work on your daily routine:

1. Make a meal plan instead of a detox plan. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner must cover your daily caloric needs to replenish your energy levels.
2. Avoid drinking alcohol, as its impact is harmful when health – related.
3. Make your days physically active, avoiding long sit-ins with friends – a walk in the park will be a better substitution.
4. Add cardio exercises – at least 3 times a week performance will help to strengthen your body and make a better detox than any green smoothy with celery and avocado.
5. Eat when you want to, not when your emotions tell you to.

If you follow this simple yet helpful advice, the positive changes will not keep you waiting, and losing weight will no longer be an issue.

FAQ

Sources:

1. Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables

2. Health Effects of 3-Day Fruit and Vegetable Juice Fasting

3. Nutrition and healthy eating

4. Why is grapefruit good for you?

5. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in Blood
6. Decreased Skin-Mediated Detoxification Contributes to Oxidative Stress and Insulin Resistance

7. Detox diets for toxin elimination and weight management: a critical review of the evidence.