Detoxes Don’t Work, but the Food Environment is Toxic

Detoxing sounds like the perfect way to jumpstart your health, especially after indulging in processed foods or alcohol. But the truth is, your body is already an expert at detoxing on its own. Fancy juice cleanses and all-liquid diets don’t just fall short—they prey on your fears and insecurities. 

Some of these products will promise rapid weight loss within an absurdly short time frame (usually two weeks or less). This is a shady practice targeting the insecurities and fears of people looking to change their weight status for the better. A good portion of this proposed weight loss will actually occur, but it will be from the loss of water weight, with maybe 1-2 pounds of actual fat mass being lost. However, you will have lost these pounds without learning anything about how to eat, move, and live to keep it off.

That means that once the shakes run dry and you go back to your old food habits, you will almost certainly put the weight back on. One common claim from these products is that you need to detox from your “sugar addiction”. 

Why you don’t need to detox from sugar

Sugar is just another form of calories that you are taking in. It isn’t a toxic chemical, it’s certainly not the same as doing cocaine as some would have you believe. It’s true that it is easy to overeat with sugary foods like soda, cookies, and icecream, but that’s not because you are physically addicted to them or because they have a toxic chemical that is damaging your body. 

The truth is that things with sugar are just really, really tasty. Add to that they usually have an amazing texture and food feel in your mouth to make you want to eat more of them. All of these properties are rigorously tested in food studies before products are brought to market. They ask participants in these trials if they thought the product was too sweet, not sweet enough, did you like how chewy it was, what about the after taste? So on and so forth. 

The end result of this testing and re-design is a product that is immensely satisfying to the taste, smell, and texture making you want to eat (and buy) more and more of it. 

This is good news. It means that no, you’re not a victim of poisoning from your daily snickers bar. It also means that the only person who is in charge of your eating and lifestyle habits is you, which has always been the truth.

The Insidious Marketing of Detox Products

These products make their money off of the fear and insecurity of those looking to lose weight or get healthier. Emotional words like ‘cleanse’ and ‘detox’ resonate with those feeling shame or guilt over their habits. They also tap into the need to shift blame away from yourself for your current weight or health status. By saying “The food is poisoned with addictive sugar! It’s not your fault!” they have created your problem and can now sell you the convenient solution in the form of their detox shakes. Some of these products run over $200 for less than a week’s worth of product which amounts to mineral water in a plastic bottle.

It’s worth pointing out as well that the FDA doesn’t regulate dietary supplements in the same way they regulate prescription drugs. This allows supplement companies to market unfounded claims about their products’ success and safety, and even have inaccurate ingredients listed on the label. One study from May 2024 found that out of the 30 weight loss supplements they tested, 24 had ingredients listed on the label that were not found on the product, 7 had hidden ingredients in the product not listed on the label, and 10 contained ingredients that were on the Department of Defense prohibited substances list².

The Truth of our “Toxic” Food Environment

Essentially everything is set up in the United States to make you slowly become overweight and obese. Most people have no option but to sit in their cars for long commutes to their workplace where they then perform work sitting at a desk for eight hours. Almost all businesses and residential areas are spread out and separated by busy highways so the option to walk or bike is usually out of the picture as well. 

Americans also work more hours than most other industrialized countries. In particular, one study from 2004 concluded that we work about 50% more hours than the French⁴. That leaves us chronically stressed and low in spare time. Additionally, the instances of dual income couples more than doubled between 1960 and 2000, increasing from 25 to 60 percent of couples¹, which mirrors the rise in obesity during the same time period³. This is all pretty intuitive when you get down to it. If you have two parents or a couple, who both work long hours and work weeks, who is going to want to come home and cook a healthy meal? Takeout it is. 

So yes, those of us who choose a different path have a lot stacked against us. Those who want to live a healthy, fit, mobile life have to go out of our way to do so. But there are ways to do it. They are simple, but not easy. There are no quick fixes.

Key Takeaways

• Added sugar is a highly concentrated form of calories that when added to food makes it very easy to overeat and continue to do so over time. It’s not toxic, it’s not a drug. You should still certainly limit added sugar if you’re looking to lose fat. 

• Detox products prey on consumers’ emotions and their seeking of a quick fix for their weight status. Avoid these at all costs. 

• We do have a food environment in the United States that is geared to make you weak, overweight, and depressed. That doesn’t mean you can’t choose to do better.

• Take ownership and control of your current situation. You’re not broken, your body is working just fine. All you need to do now is start feeding it the right things it needs to make you your best.

If you have more questions about making the right choices in this food environment or anything else in the post you can contact me at brandon@brandonsemones.com

References

1. Avent-Holt, D., Henderson, A. D., & Tomaskovic-Devey, D. (2019). The two-income trap: Are two-earner households more financially vulnerable? U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2019/CES-WP-19-19.pdf

2. Crawford, C., Avula, B., Lindsey, A. T., Katragunta, K., Khan, I. A., & Deuster, P. A. (2024). Label accuracy of weight loss dietary supplements marketed online with military discounts. JAMA Network Open, 7(5), e249131. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.9131

3. Flegal, K. M., Carroll, M. D., Ogden, C. L., & Curtin, L. R. (2010). Prevalence of overweight, obesity, and extreme obesity among adults: United States, trends 1960–1962 through 2007–2008. National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity_adult_07_08/obesity_adult_07_08.pdf

4. Prescott, E. C. (2004). Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans? Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved from https://researchdatabase.minneapolisfed.org/downloads/7d278t17r