Can You Detoxify Your Body With Food? (2024)

There are often trendy diets or eating plans touted for their benefits of “detoxing” and “cleansing” the body. However, many of these claims are not based on scientific research and can be harmful.

In fact, one review concluded there was no compelling research to support the use of detox diets for weight management or eliminating toxins from the body. Meanwhile, another review said juicing and detox diets cause initial weight loss due to low intake of calories but they tend to lead to weight gain once a person resumes a normal diet.

While the concept of a detox or cleanse is not inherently unhealthy, the results claim to offer are typically misleading. Plus, following detox diets or crash dieting to achieve weight loss can lead to gaining additional weight or trigger disordered eating.

What Is a Detox Food?

There isn’t one food that can magically detox your body. Instead, many types of foods contribute to your overall health. Here is what you need to know about detox food.

Foods With Antioxidants

Antioxidants are substances that may protect cells in your body from free radical damage that can occur from exposure to certain chemicals, smoking, pollution, radiation, and as a byproduct of normal metabolism. Dietary antioxidants include selenium, vitamin A, related carotenoids, vitamins C and E, plus various phytochemicals such as lycopene, lutein, and quercetin.

Natural sources of antioxidants are an excellent choice for their anti-inflammatory properties. Many studies have confirmed their success in this area, and they’re being recommended more and more in place of medicinal offerings due to the lack of negative side effects.

Foods With Prebiotics

Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients often added to "functional foods." These ingredients are believed to promote the growth of helpful gut bacteria—thereby increasing gastrointestinal health and potentially providing other health benefits.

Ongoing research has shown that prebiotics may benefit the general population. These benefits include improved calcium absorption, decreased allergy risk, immune system defense, and other positive effects on metabolism.

Foods With Fiber

Fiber is known for its role in digestion, but that’s not the only health benefit. Dietary fiber promotes several additional health benefits, including better control of cholesterol and blood sugar, and lowering the risk of diabetes or heart disease. Fiber also aids in weight loss, preventing obesity, and even reducing the risk of cancer.

Heart-Healthy Foods

Foods that are good for your heart can help your body detox by lowering your levels of “bad” cholesterol. High levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol can cause plaque in your arteries.

In turn, this can lead to a range of serious conditions, such as coronary artery disease (CAD) and peripheral artery disease (PAD), among others. These diseases are the leading causes of heart attack and stroke.

Hydrating Foods

Hydration is important for your body. Drinking enough water is key to all health pursuits, including any detoxifying efforts. It’s also important to monitor your salt intake.

Excess sodium (above the recommended maximum of 2,300mg a day) can negatively impact your health. Additionally, food high in sodium is often unhealthy in other ways.

Vegetables

Vegetables are rich in phytochemicals (naturally occurring plant chemicals) that are being explored for their potential to regulate hormones, stimulate the immune system, and prevent damage to the body's cells. It's helpful and healthy to incorporate vegetables into most meals to get the recommended 2 to 4 cups per day.

Vegetables for a liver detox include onions, garlic, beets, artichokes, and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens, kale, and Brussels sprouts.

Other healthy vegetables to incorporate into your diet to maintain an overall healthy and detoxifying diet include asparagus, carrots, celery, cucumbers, endives, jicama, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, okra, parsnips, radishes, rutabaga, snow peas, spinach, sprouts, squash, sweet potatoes, turnips, watercress, yams, yucca, zucchini, and sea vegetables includingarame, dulse, hijiki, kelp, nori sheets, and wakame.

Fruits

Like vegetables, fruits contain phytonutrients that may provide health benefits. The USDA dietary guidelines recommend healthy adults incorporate at least 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups of fruit per day.

Choose whole fruit (fresh or frozen), such as apples, apricots, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, cherries, cranberries, grapefruit, figs, grapes, guava, kiwi, lemon, lime, loganberries, mango, melon, nectarines, oranges, papaya, peaches, pears, pineapple,plums, pomegranate, prunes, raspberries, strawberries, tangerines, and watermelon.

Whole Grains and Complex Carbs

Carbs are often thought of as the enemy, but there are many carbs beyond bread and pasta. Experiment and try other sources of whole grains and complex carbs, such as:

• Amaranth
• Arrowroot
• Barley
• Buckwheat
• Farro
• Freekeh
• Millet
• Oats
• Quinoa
• Rice
• Sweet potato
• Tapioca
• Teff
• Wild rice
• Winter squash

Unrefined whole grains are preferred, but also try products made from the above ingredients, includingbrown rice pasta, buckwheat soba noodles, glass noodles, kelp noodles, mung bean noodles, shirataki noodles, rice crackers, quinoa flakes, gluten-free bread, and rice bran.

Beans and Legumes

Beans and legumes are high in fiber, protein, and iron. Try:

• Split yellow and green peas
• Lentils (red, brown, green, yellow, French, du Puy)
• Other beans and legumes, including adzuki, cannellini, chickpeas, black, black-eyed peas, kidney, and lima.

Fats

Many people avoid food with fat in it during a cleanse, but eating good fats from sources such as foods like avocado, raw nuts and seeds, and nut and seed butter is actually beneficial. Consider:

• Almonds
• Brazil nuts
• Cashews
• Chia
• Coconut
• Flax seeds
• Hazelnuts
• Hemp seeds, hemp nuts, hemp hearts
• Macadamia nuts
• Nut and seed butter, such as tahini, almond butter, cashew nut butter
• Pecans
• Pine nuts
• Pistachios
• Poppy Seeds
• Pumpkin
• Sesame seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Walnuts

If you're cooking with oil, try to use high-quality, cold-pressed, unrefined oils, such as:

• Almond oil
• Avocado oil
• Coconut oil
• Flax oil
• Hazelnut oil
• Hemp oil
• Olive oil
• Pumpkin oil
• Safflower oil
• Safflower, sesame, and sunflower oils in limited amounts
• Walnut oil

Dairy and Dairy Substitutes

Although cleanses often recommend you drop dairy, some include probiotic-rich organic yogurt and kefir. Instead of cow's milk, consider one of these plant-based milks:

• Avocado milk
• Coconut milk
• Hemp seed milk
• Nut milk, such as almond or cashew milk (unsweetened)
• Rice milk (unsweetened)

Beverages

In general, it's a good idea to use your thirst to guide how much you drink, although some people have conditions that may require them to drink more or less. While resetting your body through nutrition you may decide to limit your alcohol, coffee, and soda intake, swapping in herbal, green, or white tea. Here are some other beverage options:

• Coconut water
• Drinks or smoothies with healthful ingredients
• Herbal teas, such as rooibos tea, cinnamon tea, ginger tea
• Infused water (sometimes called "detox water")
• Kombucha (unsweetened)
• Lemon water
• Mineral or seltzer water
• Plant-based milks such as rice milk, almond milk, and hemp milk
• True tea such as green tea and white tea
• Unsweetened juice made from allowed fruits and vegetables

If you can't face the day without your morning cup of coffee, try limiting it to no more than one 8-ounce cup (and avoid dairy milk or creamer and added sweetener).

Condiments

Fresh and dried herbs and spices can make any meal more flavorful, without adding sugar or salt. Chop some fresh herbs such as basil, chives, cilantro, dill, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, or thyme.

Spices to cookwith include allspice, anise, caraway seeds, cardamom, celery seeds, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, saffron, tamarind, or turmeric. Fresh or raw ginger and garlic can instantly make meals more interesting. Here are some other condiments and ingredients to consider:

• Baking soda orbaking powder
• Cacao powder and cacao nibs
• Carob powder
• Coconut amino acids
• Fish sauce
• Lemons and limes
• Miso
• Mustard
• Nama shoyu
• Nutritional yeast
• Olives
• Sea salt
• Vinegar (e.g. apple cider vinegar, balsamic, coconut, red or white wine, rice vinegar)
• Wheat-free tamari

Sugar and Other Sweeteners

Limiting your overall intake of sweets and sugar from all sources will go a long way. If you are going to use a sweetener, choose natural sources such as the following:

• Blackstrap molasses
• Brown rice syrup
• Coconut nectar
• Dried fruit, sparingly
• Fruit jam
• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Monk fruit
• Stevia

For dessert, choose whole, fresh fruit, or frozen desserts or puddings made with nut milk (or yogurt) and fruit.

Animal Protein

Protein is an important macronutrient that your body needs for several functions. Some options for protein you may want to consider:

• Anchovies and sardines
• Organic turkey
• Organic chicken, preferably pastured
• Wild, cold-water fish, such as Alaskan salmon
• Wild game, such as bison, pheasant, quail, venison, buffalo, ostrich
• Eggs

A Word From Verywell

When resetting your body nutritionally, you should not deprive yourself, skip meals, or complete an overly restrictive juice cleanse. The ultimate goal is to make these healthful and tasty foods a part of your everyday routine and to make positive lifestyle changes that will last even after detoxing.

Use this time to experiment with new recipes and cooking methods. You may discover, for instance, that spaghetti squash isn't much harder to prepare than pasta. Likewise, roasted cauliflower can be a satisfying snack if seasoned with herbs or nut milk is a delicious alternative to cow's milk. Most importantly, look for healthy foods that you will enjoy eating.