The reason for following a healthy detox diet is to help improve your body’s natural detox system by reducing its workload. A whole body detox diet is naturally low or even free from toxins like pesticides on our food and pollutants in the air we breathe – which means if you’re a smoker you need to stop smoking at least while you follow your detox diet.

A detox diet in itself isn’t going to actually detox your body – what happens is that by eating foods that are free from (or very low in) toxins, pesticides and man made chemicals, you are reducing the workload on your body’s natural detox system. What this means is that instead of having to concentrate all its efforts on removing the toxins from the food you eat every day, it can work on flushing the toxins which have been stored in your body’s fat reserves. This flushing process means that should also drink lots of (preferably filtered) water when following a detox diet.

The idea learning how to detox your body is all about understanding what foods are going to make your body’s natural detox system work harder, because they contain toxins of some kind, and which foods will actually help boost your detox system.

Fresh foods are always better than processed, and if you can afford it, go for the organic equivalent where possible. The reason for eating organic foods on a detox diet is that these foods are grown (or reared in the case of meats) without the use commercial “growth enhancing” chemicals and fertilizers and without pesticides.

A healthy detox diet should also be low in caffeinated drinks like normal tea and coffee. There’s lots of refreshing alternatives like herbal and flavoured teas – my own personal favourite is green tea with ginseng. I’ll admit that if you’re not used to these types of teas, the taste does take some getting used to, but it’s well worth persevering with. Green tea is also very good for in lots of other ways as it’s very high in antioxidants and has even been linked with weight loss.

So the only restrictions with a detox diet are the ways the food has been grown. If you select fresh foods and organic where possible, cut out caffeine and drink lots of pure water, you’re well on your way to a healthy body detox.