Drink lemon water first thing in the morning
Said to ‘wake up your liver’ or ‘kickstart your digestion’, lemon water actually does pretty much the same thing as just water. It hydrates you. It doesn’t ‘alkalise’ your body because that’s biologically impossible – you can’t change the pH of your blood – and lemons also contain citric acid. Yep, the same kind of acid that can damage your teeth if you have too much of it.
Plantbased Pixie
Avoid gluten
If you have coeliac disease then avoiding gluten is a must. But for the general population there’s no evidence that avoiding gluten is necessary or healthier than enjoying gluten as part of a balanced diet. Often digestive symptoms after eating gluten come about as a result of eating too quickly, too much, not chewing properly, or a combination of all three. So nothing to do with the gluten itself, yet it’s an ingredient that’s at the forefront of our minds thanks to misinformation spread online.
Take superfood powders
There is absolutely nothing in superfood powders that you can’t find more easily, cheaply, and better-tasting. They’re expensive and exotic and completely unnecessary, not to mention the claims they make are often unsubstantiated. Maca doesn’t give you energy, but coffee sure does. Baobab might give you a tiny bit of vitamin C, but eating some fruit will give you way more. And spirulina isn’t even a source of B12, despite it’s claims.
Avoid refined sugar
…yet maple syrup is totally fine. Biochemically, the difference between refined and unrefined sugars is negligible. At most you’re talking about 1% micronutrients, which is only significant if you’re eating over 100g of the stuff a day, and I would argue if you’re eating 100g of sugar a day that’s a bit much. Any benefits you would get from the micronutrients in maple syrup would be negated by the effects of too much sugar. We shouldn’t be looking to sweeteners to obtain our micronutrients. All sugars, both ‘refined’ and ‘unrefined’ fall under the same umbrella of free sugars, and all shouldn’t be consumed in excess.
Detox your body
You have a liver and kidneys. They work 24/7. You don’t need anything else to detox. The only thing you really can do is make sure not to ingest too many toxins (for example alcohol) and eat a varied balanced diet. If you’re eating your vegetables then I can pretty much guarantee you’re just fine and don’t need to ‘detox’.
