Some More Toxins
Saturated (And Other Bad) Fats
Detox purists will tell you that red meat is a toxin, because it's hard for the body to digest and therefore causes toxic build-up in the colon. It's even said that up to 2.2-4.5kg (5-1 Olb) of our body weight could be putrefied meat left in our colons. As yet, this has not been scientifically proven, so you can decide for yourself whether or not it's a good enough reason for you to cut red meat out of your diet.
What is true, however, is that many red meats (as well as a whole host of other foods such as full-fat dairy products, margarine and butter, cakes, biscuits and pastries) are high in saturated fat. This is bad news for your body, since the fats found in food need to be processed through the liver, and if it's doing this it can't spend as much time tackling true toxins like pesticides. What's more, saturated and other bad fats, such as trans fats or hydrogenated fats, increase the level of free radicals in the body.
However, even taking all of this into consideration, not all fat is bad - even the American Heart Association says that consuming up to 20g (3Aoz) of saturated fat a day causes no harm to your body.
Sugar
When most of us look at why sugar can be bad for us, we look at its effects on our waistline or teeth - but there's a bit more to it than that. When researchers at New York State University in Buffalo, USA, recently studied which foods produced the highest intake of free radicals in the body, sugar scored top. Within two hours of eating 300kcals of sugar (the equivalent of a can of fizzy drink and some chocolate), the number of free radicals increased by 140 per cent. Sugar also increases the levels of so-called 'bad' bacteria in the bowel, which can boost fermentation and increase the risk of more dangerous toxins being reabsorbed. For ultimate health, the US Department of Agriculture says we shouldn't eat more than 40g (11/?oz) of sugar a day.
Stress
You may not think of it as a toxin because stress isn't something you ingest (and it's probably not as dangerous as cigarettes) but it is still toxic to your body. When we get stressed, we produce a variety of chemicals in the body that put our system on alert. Our blood pressure increases and circulation speeds up, helping more dangerous toxins to circulate more freely throughout the system. When you become stressed, you're more likely to indulge in other toxins like alcohol, cigarettes and sugary or fatty comfort foods. Beating stress is an important part of detox - and it's also one of the nicest. No one has ever encountered a relaxation method they didn't like.