One of the best ways to supplement detox diets is to take kelp supplements every day. Kelp is good for speeding up your metabolic rate and will also help maintain a continuous process of detoxification – which is the ultimate goal of all detox diets.

Kelp tablets should usually be taken with meals, but follow the instructions provided with your chosen brand. Do not exceed the recommended dosage. If there is a choice, take the maintenance level.

Eat at least three meals every day

When following a detox diet you must eat a minimum of three meals and a maximum of five or six meals every day. It is all too easy to skip a meal due to lack of time or the unavailability of a particular food. But skipping meals will lead to much lower dips in energy and much higher surges that last just a few moments. Eating five or six smaller meals throughout the day is much better for our bodies.

Over the course of your 30 day detox you should never go longer than four hours without a small meal. Leaving yourself hungry or your stomach empty for long periods will result in your body being exposed to digestive acids. If your hunger becomes too strong you are more likely to crave fatty or sugary foods – none of which are recommended in any of the best detox diets.

Ideally, you should have breakfast before 9 a.m., lunch before 2 p.m. and your evening meal before 7 p.m. This gives your body sufficient time to digest and absorb the food before your next meal. It also allows your body to process all foods each day before the following day starts. (In a healthy body, foods should normally take less than 24 hours to go from eating to defecation but most people take more than twice that length of rime.)

You must have at least one portion of short-grain brown rice every day

Brown rice is a very powerful ingredient for detox diets, as it is one of the most absorbent carbohydrates we have on our shopping list. It also seems to avoid the problems of allergic reactions and intolerances that many wheat-based carbohydrates cause. Brown rice promotes good bowel health and keeps blood sugar levels balanced (bread and potatoes give a much sharper rise in blood sugar, resulting in an inevitable drop).

Its absorbency means that it can act as a plunger for our lower intestines, and the shorter-grain varieties seem to scour and clean the intestine more thoroughly. Imagine your household pipes after 20 years of use – it is likely that they have either corroded or you have had to call in a plumber to sort out all the minor and major blockages. Brown rice acts like a sponge that travels through your gut, collecting all the silt and waste on the way and then flushing it out.

As you are detoxing, each time waste is removed it is not replaced. This means chat each time you eat absorbent brown rice it will break away a little more of the waste until your gut is completely cleansed. Short-grain brown rice is the most absorbent and should be used throughout your detox diets.