Fad diets, workout habits and wellness tricks you should ditch

Forget the activated charcoal and don't go crazy at the gym, says Insider's wellness columnist Sarah Ann Macklin 
Sarah Ann Macklin2 January 2020

It's January, which usually means all but the most disciplined are dragging themselves into a painful New Year health drive after eating too much stollen.

But are there some habits and trends which aren't actually worth your time? Harley Street nutritionist Sarah Ann Macklin busts a few myths.

Charcoal lattes and juices

I bang on about the charcoal a lot, and I will keep doing so until I see it off our shelves and out of products.

Charcoal will not detox your body, or help you excrete any excess alcohol you feel you’ve consumed over the festive period, any faster than your body will naturally.

Charcoal can cling to certain drugs and poisons in our stomach, with medical professionals using it in bulk to help reduce the absorption in extreme poisoning cases. Charcoal cannot bind to alcohol’s chemical structure. Charcoal also cannot bind to metals, and therefore it will not remove toxins from our body.

There has been no scientific evidence to prove that charcoal is in any way a health benefit. Our liver does a fantastic job of detoxifying the body. Charcoal can, however, bind to prescription drugs, so anybody on medication or prescription drugs should not be taking any form of charcoal, as it might make the medication less effective.

Stay away from those charcoal lattes and increase your hydration with water instead!

Any diet which includes the word "detox"

There is no diet which can detox our body: FACT. Our livers do a fine job of this alone. Many people forget and underestimate just how finely-tuned our bodies are to deal with excreting toxins.

It’s hard to search for a diet or product today which doesn't claim to detox our bodies. Detox diets promise to rid your body of toxins, detox your liver (sounds pleasing to the ear after Christmas) and cleanse your body, alongside speeding up weight loss. People selling these products or diets are usually business savvy people aiming to make a buck. In fact, many of these detox diets can cut out nutritious food groups and easily lead to micronutrient deficiencies, meaning the people who source detox diets to improve their health could be doing the exact opposite.

I’d stick to eating real, unprocessed food, cutting back on the alcohol and increasing your fruit, vegetable and water content. Much more enjoyable!

Killing yourself at the gym

Someone once told me "you can’t out-run a bad diet", and this is most certainly true. In the New Year many people make a commitment to get fit and "smash" the gym. Or for January anyway, then the momentum dwindles. Many people become frustrated that they may not being seeing the effects they hoped for, but have not thought much about their food choices. Food and exercise go hand in hand. If you're ramping up your training regime, nutrition is import to help your muscles recover and fuel your body. Not refuelling in the correct way can cause havoc with blood sugar crashes and binges.

It is important to make sure you increase your heart rate 3-4 days a week through exercise for around 30 minutes a day. Yet us Londoners do not like to do things by halves. Many of us will inflict 5am call times to make a 6am boot camp class 5 days a week, pushing ourselves to the limits. Over-exercising can lead to adrenal fatigue, due to the increased release of our stress hormone cortisol, leaving us feeling exhausted and affecting our mood. If our stress hormones are constantly elevated this can lead to a weakened immune system and a much higher risk of catching that dreaded flu or cold.

My advice would be stick to classes or gym routines you enjoy, when you're not sleep deprived or over stressed. Exercise is important, but just like food too much of anything isn’t healthy! Mix in some long walks, yoga or stretch to help your muscles recover from the sudden increased physically activity, and allow your mind to rest.

IV drips

An expensive way to hydrate in my opinion. This money-making initiative to play on a quick fix for a hangover, gives two very worrying messages. One, its acceptable to go out and get wasted, insert a needle and connect yourself to an IV drip and go out and do it all over again. Kidneys will flush out the excess toxins from alcohol rapidly, but our cells need time to recover. Filling yourself with more fluid from an IV will not rid these toxins any quicker. However, if you do have severe sickness or diarrhoea you will benefit from the hydration these offer.

Secondly, IV vitamin drips may be administered to people before they are given a pre-consultation if they truly need it. Unless you have been found to have a true vitamin deficiency, which is when they can be helpful, you could be doing more harm than good.

However, if you have no true deficiencies (I am not aware of any IV drips which offer this beforehand), you do not need an IV drip to gain nutrients. Surely, food is the answer here? In 2019, we need to understand quick fixes are not a sustainable way to maintain our health.

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