What is the Lemon Detox Diet?
Detox and Body Clense (2015)
describes the Lemon detox diet as a cleansing program that aims to flush
out toxins and free radicals that kill healthy
cells, out of the body. With the hype and focus being on the rapid
reduction in body weight, which is identified as an added bonus to expelling
toxins and cleansing the body.
The drink consists of “a mix of 20mls of syrup, 20mls of lemon juice, a pinch of cayenne pepper
and 250ml of water” (Health Direct Australia, 2013). Throughout each day an
individual will drink six to nine glasses each day, consume a laxative senna
tea at night and a sea salt drink in the morning. In addition to this,
participants are advised to accompany this with the consumption of 2 litres of
water a day, as identified by Health Direct Australia (2013).
Does it meet the
Australian Dietary Guidelines?
Guideline 1: Achieve and Maintain a healthy weight,
be physically active and choose amounts of nutritious foods
and drinks to meet your energy needs. (National Health and Medical
Research Council, 2013)
“No
other meals, snacks or foods are allowed, and the general suggestion is that
exercise should be avoided.”
(Health Direct Australia, 2013). Without any extra foods being consumed to
accompany this detox, participants would not be able to attain the recommended
dietary intake of some nutrients. Also, if exercise is discouraged from this
detox as well, it obviously shows that it is not promoting physical activity
among people. As outlined above,
this lemon detox predominately consists of drinking liquids that do not contain
a vast majority of carbohydrates or proteins. Berry (2013) reports that
this lemon detox cuts outs all the core nutrients.
Guideline 2: Enjoy a variety of nutritious foods
from these 5 food groups every day (National Health and Medical Research Council,
2013)
The only food group being addressed with this detox
diet is fruit. There is no variety in this diet that lasts approximately 2 weeks.
The guideline recommended to eat a range of foods from 5 food groups, whilst this diet
only pertains to 1.
Guideline 3: Limit intake of foods containing
saturated fat, added salt, added sugar and alcohol (National Health and
Medical Research Council, 2013)
The lemon detox diet does follow this guideline. It
does not involve any added salts or sugars and does not state that alcohol is
to be consumed in accompany with it.
Therefore, the lemon detox diet abides to 1 out of
3 Australian Dietary guidelines.
Recommendations about the Lemon Detox Diet
Personally,
I would make the focus of the diet about getting rid of the toxins in the body.
There has been a lot of hype about rapid weight loss in regards to taking part
in the lemon detox diet however, the weight loss has been said to be
short-lived. Health Australia Direct note that the weight loss is through the
lack of carbohydrates, thus it is likely to be gained again once your normal
diet commences. the downfalls evidently outweigh the benefits. Without the
consumption of a sufficient amount of carbohydrate and proteins, the body may
slowly begin to function less efficiently. "the body will go into starvation mode stripping
your carbohydrate and fluid stores, and stripping muscle" (Health
Australia Direct, 2013)
“No other meals, snacks or foods are allowed, and the general suggestion is that exercise should be avoided.” (Health Direct Australia, 2013). Without any extra foods being consumed to accompany this detox, participants would not be able to attain the recommended dietary intake of some nutrients. Also, if exercise is discouraged from this detox as well, it obviously shows that it is not promoting physical activity among people. As outlined above, this lemon detox predominately consists of drinking liquids that do not contain a vast majority of carbohydrates or proteins. Berry (2013) reports that this lemon detox cuts outs all the core nutrients.
References
Berry, S. (2013,
January 10). What made these three diets the biggest lemons of the year,
according to dietitians around Australia? The
Sydney Morning Herld [Sydney]. Retrieved from
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/worst-diets-of-2012-20130110-2cidk.html
Detox and Body Clense.
(2015). Lemon detox diet recipe | Detox & Body Cleanse. Retrieved from
http://www.detoxandbodycleanse.com/detox-diets/lemon-detox-diet-recipe/
Health Direct
Australia. (2013, February). healthdirect | Healthdirect. Retrieved from
http://www.healthdirect.gov.au/diet-reviews
National Health and
Medical Research Council. (2013). Australian
Dietary Guideline Summary [PDF]. Retrieved from
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/n55a_australian_dietary_guidelines_summary_131014.pdf
