This is how my green tea detox week went by

Detox has been all the rage these past few years. With celebrities such as Beyonce, Oprah, Kim Kardashian and many more actively endorsing the benefits of a good detox regimen, people are becoming more and more curious as to what exactly a detox is.

So first, let’s get some questions out of the way.

A detox diet is a way to eliminate toxins from your body and release the supposed load on the liver that comes from eating unhealthy fats, excessive alcohol and sugar. It is also advertised by many weight loss companies as an easy way to drop a few pounds and boost your immune system.

It can make you more conscious about what you put in your body and helps you cut down on processed foods, caffeine, excessive salty and fatty foods. It is also believed that a good routine detox helps reduce your appetite.

On the other hand many reject the ideology behind detox and have gone as far as to call it a form of starvation. There has been no scientific study to support the science behind body detox. Our body works as a well-oiled machine, getting rid of any toxins that enter it via the kidneys through urine, sweat through skin and feces through the digestive tract. The body doesn’t need an external stimulus to clean itself.

Some apparent side effects noted in people undergoing detox are headache, nausea and tiredness. It is especially harmful for teenagers who require a balance diet with proper nutritional value in their growing age.

In the midst of this ongoing debate, I was unable to come to a decision. On one hand, a lack of scientific proof did make me skeptic of the entire idea. Many people had shared horror stories following detox about how it made them lethargic and more prone to getting breakouts on their face. Some even claimed it had made them gain weight as opposed to losing it and increased their craving for eating.

On the other side, people claimed that it changed their lives for the better. It made them more health conscious, helped them lose weight and was an overall pleasant experience for them. So I did what any curious, impressionable twenty something would do.

I decided to try it for myself!

Going for the easy route, I opted to go for a green tea detox as opposed to vegetable or fruit juice. I bought a couple of boxes of different flavors of green tea such as mint, elaichi, jasmine and lemon for variety.

Disclaimer: I did eat a handful of nuts everyday at noon because the idea of not eating anything even for a week terrifies me.

DAY 1

This was the worst day of the entire week. I was constantly hungry every hour. My headache was unbelievable, which made me nauseous. I had five cups this day just because I was trying to reduce my constant craving.

DAY 2

This day wasn’t as bad as the first one, which could be because of the nuts I had at noon. I had four cups this day and didn’t feel anything amazing happening to my immune system.

DAY 3

My headache was a dull lull in the back of my head and I did not feel much different.

DAY 4

This day, I really felt a change. I was active and wasn’t as hungry as I was before. This day, I also discovered my favorite flavor… jasmine! Score!

DAY 5

This day, I discovered that I was very dehydrated and my eyes were starting to dry up a bit. Naturally, I started drinking twice as much water as I was previously consuming.

DAY 6

This day, my eyes were extra dry and I was really starting to get annoyed by it. Other than that, I wasn’t exceptionally hungry or lazy or cranky.

DAY 7

The day had finally come where I could eat what I wanted and be a free woman again. Weirdly enough, I didn’t feel like eating all that much and I kind of missed my piping hot mug of jasmine tea. I also discovered that I had lost four pounds! Although I’m not too sure whether it was because of me starving myself or the tea.

In the end, I realized that I should have opted for a healthier detox like a vegetable juice instead of green tea and I discovered that a week wasn’t long enough for me to judge to effectiveness of a detox cleanse. Personally, I believe opting for a healthier diet and exercise would have been more comfortable if not as quick as my green tea detox.