Recently the Detox diet has become very fashionable, with celebrities such as Carol Vordeman and Kim Wilde adopting its diet meal plans. The Detox diet claims it can help you lose a stone in 10 days, get rid of cellulite, and acquire glowing skin. Our diet plan review examines the truth behind these claims.

According to the Detox diet, your body is constantly assaulted by toxins from pollution, pesticides, food additives, alcohol, cigarette smoke and caffeine. These toxins build up in your system and cause health problems such as weight gain, cellulite, headaches, lowered immunity, fatigue, bloatedness, and dull skin. Removing these toxins from your body can help you recover from a whole range of minor ongoing health problems, and increase your feeling of wellbeing.

Alongside an eating programme, a range of other methods is recommended for removing toxins from your body. Some are pleasant, such as saunas and massages. Others, such as colonic irrigation, bowel enemas and fasting, are extremely unpleasant. There are also herbal supplements designed to remove toxins from the body, such as milk thistle and liver tonics.

Diet meal plans for anyone wishing to remove the toxins from their body generally include fruit, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, herbal seeds and lots of water. But banned from your recipes are wheat, dairy, meat, fish, eggs, caffeine, alcohol, salt, sugar and processed foods.

There is little hard medical evidence to suggest that this very extreme eating programme actually works. If we are healthy, our bodies should not need help to get rid of waste products, and most doctors and nutritionists point out that our liver, lungs, kidneys and skin are all specifically designed to excrete different waste products from our system. Following such a restrictive eating regime long-term could actually lead to nutritional deficiencies and health problems.