Do Detox Diets Work? Your Liver Already Has a Plan

Share your thoughts Juice cleanses, liver flushes and foot pads that turn brown overnight — versus the 24/7 detox system you already own, and the foods that genuinely help it. Co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a quick chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic. This week: the detox industry, and the question it never answers. So they ask the question the detox industry never answers: what exactly is a detox diet detoxing? Then they meet the real thing. The liver — a kilo and a half of a chemical processing plant — works in two steps: tweak the molecule, then attach a little molecular handle (conjugation) so it dissolves in water. Grab it, tag it, ship it. The kidneys filter around 180 litres of fluid a day and ask for nothing more exotic than water. Then the cleanse goes on trial. A 2015 review found no compelling evidence that commercial detox diets remove any toxins at all. Worse, the liver’s ‘handles’ are built largely from protein — so a juice-only cleanse sends the cleaning crew home without lunch. And heavy green-juice cleanses, loaded with oxalate, have landed some people with kidney damage. Finally, the kitchen pharmacy: cabbage-family vegetables that switch on the liver’s own enzymes; a carefully measured study in Qidong, China, that shows the difference between feeding the liver and ‘cleansing’ it; fibre that stops the liver’s work from being ‘returned to sender’; and the grapefruit warning on medicine labels — proof that food genuinely talks to your liver. In this episode ● Which toxin? The question detox marketing never answers ● Your liver’s two-step system: grab it, tag it, ship it ● Kidneys: your entire plasma, filtered about sixty times a day ● What the evidence says about juice cleanses — and why they can backfire ● Cabbage family, fibre and water: feeding the cleaning crew ● Grapefruit and the medicine label: food is chemistry ● The real detox: take less in — and a teaser for our fatty-liver episode Listen & follow Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube: Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy · Contact: ashok@csaw.co Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V