The Detox Diet Deceit

I just received a copy of the latest "Detox Diet". And like the countless other 'Detox Diets', it contained the exact same emotive language and pseudo-scientific, non-specific justifications and prescriptions.

The basic premise is always the same: if you ever feel less than amazing its because your system is bogged down with toxins which need to be removed by specific fruits and/or veggies in a highly specific pattern.

To prove you need 'detoxing' they provide a broad list of toxic 'things' that ensure you MUST be doing/eating/drinking something bad. Things like 'breathing air', 'drinking water', 'absorbing invisible radiation' or 'having bills to pay'. They use trigger points that everybody has so we feel a connection with their argument. Its the most basic form of NLP - get the audience to agree with something - ANYTHING - and you open them to agreeing with the rest of your arguments.

And the arguments for Detox Diets aren't necessarily wrong. Many people look and feel awful primarily because they are both overfed and malnourished all at the same time. The popular diet of convenient, high-sugar foods - completely lacking in essential nutrients - is causing myriad, well-documented health problems.

The thing is, the solution to the malnourishment of a poor diet is NOURISHMENT! In fact, a richly nourishing diet should form the foundation of any attempt towards helping the body heal itself from any sort of stress or ill-health. And the foundation of a nourishing diet is the provision of a rich supply of the essential amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals that your body unarguably needs. Anything else is, by definition, inadequate and malnourishing!

But despite the emotive language, detox diets don't believe in nourishing the body. They don't see the body as self-resorative and therefore needing the resources essential to self-repair. Detox diets see the body as a clogged sewer in need of a thorough scouring. They ignore that their completely unfounded prescriptions are always completely void of the critical quantities of essential amino acids and fatty acids required by our bodies. They believe they can fix malnourishment with brutal starvation.

Detox diets have no basis in science or common sense. They are like cults; of biblical stupidity. Don't be fooled.