Says dietician Maneesha Angal, “Pollutants from the environment, found in the air, water and foods that we eat, as well as wastes produced from normal bodily process, can tend to accumulate within the body and lead to a state of congestion. One should maintain a healthy balance of assimilation and elimination but when it’s New Year and to top it all holidays people eat a lot without thinking of the consequences and that’s where the problem arises.”

According to the dieticians, the organs of elimination in the body should be cleansed of the toxins accumulated. And especially when people after an eating spree go on de-toxic diets for a week which can serve as a boon to the body system. Namrata Pandya, dietician with Abs says, “You cannot just go on a de-tox diet all of a sudden completely leaving your normal diet because de-tox diets comprise mainly of liquid food and fresh fruits. So going on a de-tox should be a gradual process.” Starting from taking an extra quarter of water in your regular diet to going on complete fasts or even being only on liquids, the de-tox diets gradually cleanse the organs of elimination in your body releasing it from the toxins that accumulate as result of taking in more than it can utilize and eliminate.

As Angal adds, “Going by the Indian tradition if I define a de-tox diet then I would say it comprises of saatvik aahar. The fruits and the vegetable that are rich in water content are included in detox diets. The idea is to move from more congesting or complex food to less congesting and simpler food. It’s like moving from the red meat, meat, yellow of egg to green leafy vegetables, fresh fruits, juices and then water.” Apart from the diet, dieticians also suggest that unwinding compliments de-tox diets to a large extent. Relaxing and meditating are the two activities that the dieticians advise to people opting for de-tox diet.