5 foods to eat to aid detoxification

There are certain times of the year when you know your social media feeds are going to be flooded with the next latest and greatest way to detox and to "lose weight after the holiday season" or to "get that summer body in winter"

And with the Kim Kardashian Flat Tummy Co. lolllypop fiasco all over Instagram recently, there is definitely no shortage of products that are vying for a piece of the detox market.

But do you actually need these so called miracle products and what is the best way to detox?

So firstly, most of these (sorry not most, ALL of these) are just the result of clever marketing tactics and surprise surprise they don't actually work. And if by some fluke that you do lose weight it is generally water weight and as soon as you go off this "detoxifying miracle drink" and start eating food again, end up putting the weight straight back on again plus some.

Secondly, you don't actually need anything special to help your body detox. Your body has a perfectly good organ for it. It's called your Liver. If you have a perfectly good functioning Liver, your body is a detox machine. How simple is that. Well it is, but not really - the liver is a very complicated organ and the 2 detoxification pathways are complex and if one is working faster or slower than the other you can be over or under detoxing. But, in a nutshell it's simple - Have a liver, your body is capable of detoxing.

However, I do understand though that if you have been overindulging in alcohol, smoking, not exercising and eating lots of fatty and fried junk foods your liver might then be working to it's optimal capacity and be a bit sluggish so needs a bit of help to be pushed in the right direction.

But you do not need to do some skinny tea detox where all you drink is tea for a week straight, this will actually do the opposite of what is needed to help you get healthy. Yes I agree in the principal of this that your body sometimes needs a good flush out and can need a bit of a boost to get going. But at times like this, your body and liver needs good nourishing foods to help it perform it's job, not for you to be depriving it of nutrients and starving yourself.

5 foods to eat to aid detoxification

1. Dark green leafy vegetables - Such as Barley, Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, Alfalfa, Bok choy, Chinese cabbage help to rid the body of harmful environmental toxins and help to give your liver and digestive tract a boost.

2. Garlic - Helps to stimulate the liver into producing detoxing enzymes that help to filter toxic residue from the digestive system.

3. Citrus fruits such as lemons, oranges and limes - Help the digestive tract to start the cleansing process in the liver and kidneys.

4. Green tea - Helps to wash toxins from the system as it is loaded with antioxidants.

5. Omega 3 oils - Such as hemp, avocado or olive oil are there to allow the toxins to be absorbed by the oil and eliminated by the body.