There’s a lot of balony trotted out about how detox is a waste of time or really bad for us. Yes, we agree it’s not great to go (excuse the pun!) completely cold turkey and not eat for a week in the New Year, or substitute sachets for real food. But we reckon a good detox is very beneficial from time to time given the levels of toxins our bodies contend with, and after we’ve blasted ourselves with gluttony, lack of activity and excess over the festive season we’d say it should be a three-line whip to treat your system to a New Year cleanse or detox.

Think of it like a springclean at home – sometimes it’s good to clear out the cupboards and get rid of the filth and clutter. More often than not it’s a shock to discover just how much muck and rubbish you’ve been storing up in there.

Here are some reasons to detox…

Our bodies are bombarded by toxins daily. Whether it’s chemicals in crops grown in over-farmed soil, or drug residues in our meat, or heavy metals in fish; or pollutants in everything from the air to our water; or industrial chemicals; or radiation from our phones, computers and wi fi, it’s impossible to live a toxin-free life.

On top of this bombardment, we operate at such a fast pace that stress depletes our body of the nutrients we put into it.

Here are just five reasons toxicity will, whatever your levels of daily saintliness, be harboured in your system – or why, however much you try, our modern-day life will be depleting you.

That’s why we recommend you do a cleanse come January to purify your system and lighten the toxic load on your body…

  1. Chemical toxicity

Over the past half century industry has unleashed an array of new chemicals into our environment: dry cleaning fluids, fire-retardant chemicals (in mattresses and sofas), pesticides, perfumes, toiletries, synthetic building materials, paints, Teflon, food additives, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), xenoestrogens (in plastic packaging), the herbicide glyphosphate, bisphenol A (the synthetic plasticiser found in the lining of tins), mercury in fish, household cleaning products… and on and on.

2. Polluted air

Air pollution is not just a Chinese problem, people’s health in the UK is being affected by poor air quality too. 9,000 Londoners are dying every year due to toxic air, and one in six deaths could be prevented if people walked or cycled 20 minutes each day.

3. Toxic drinking water

Tapwater is heavily chemicalised – which is why we filter our water at The Hub. Chemicals include fluoride, added with the intention of improving dental health, which is a neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor so it can affect thyroid function and calcify the pineal gland. Chlorine, used to purify the water of contaminants, damages our cells and has been linked to respiratory problems, memory issues and impaired balance.

Despite best efforts, industry leaches numerous harmful chemicals into the water table, including mercury, PCBs and pesticides such as DDT and HCB. Dioxins, released into the air by fires, cigarette smoke and burning oil and coal, affect the immune, endocrine and reproductive systems, and are known to be carcinogenic.

4. Toxic beauty products and toiletries

The average woman in the US puts 515 synthetic chemicals onto her body every day without knowing it – and 60% of what we put on our skin is absorbed into our bodies, according to research by Jessica Assaf, an American who has been on a crusade to change the beauty industry for 10 years.

5. Electronic pollution

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs), the radiation emitted by our mobiles and wi fi, is another source of ambient toxicity. In the BioInitiative Report of July 2007, into the relationship between powerlines and wireless devices and our health, it was suggested that EMFs could be linked to multiple health conditions, from Alzheimer’s to cardiovascular disease to insomnia, infertility and ‘brain fog’. Though this report was self-published and not recognised by the scientific and government establishment, we have no doubt that future generations will look back at EMF damage in a similar way we now consider the toxicity of smoking.

Bottom line is life is toxic. Added to which the average person eats twice their regular calorie intake over the festive season, putting on 4lb – with the fat quotient in Christmas dinner topping the scales at two to three times what is recommended in a day.

Give your body a break! Start 2019 with a purifying New Year detox

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