Best Detox Foods




Increase these foods in your diet and decrease your need for detox fasting or cleansing. A daily dose of detox foods will keep your body cleansed and energized.

As a rule, the more tart the fruit or pungent the vegetable, the more detoxifying it is in the body.

Lemons: Detox Powerhouse

Citrus fruits are powerful detoxifiers, especially for cleansing the liver. The more tart the fruit, the more intense its detox action. This makes lemons ideal for detox therapy. Limes and grapefruit are good too, orange not so much. Lemon juice flushes toxins from cells and tissues (did you know that toxins like to nestle themselves in our fat cells, making them fatter? learn about the detox weight loss connection).

Start every morning with a squeeze of 1/2 a lemon in hot water on an empty stomach to start your day with a gentle cleanse. Treat yourself to a lemon detox once or twice a year for additional deep detoxification.

Green Superfoods: Toxic Metal and General Detox

Chlorophyll assists the body detox from harmful environmental toxins from heavy metals, cleaning products, herbicides and pesticides. Chlorophyll is also an excellent liver detoxifier. You can drink chlorophyll out of the bottle, and it is an abundant ingredient of blue green algae, wheatgrass, spirulina, chlorella, barley, kale, spinach, alfalfa, chard, arugula and other leafy greens (organic, ideally!).

Spirulina and chlorella are excellent detox foods because they provide additional protein.



Garlic: Detox Delicious

Garlic is high in allicin and selenium, two awesome compounds that activate liver enzymes essential in helping the body flush out toxins. Garlic assists the liver in filtering toxic waste products from the digestive system. Garlic also strengthens the immune system, which is often stressed when we're toxed out or when we're doing a detox program.

Eat your garlic every day, or if you don't like the taste, you can take odorless garlic supplements.


Omega-3 Oils: Toxin Absorbants

Cold-pressed organic oils and avocado are friends to the liver when used in moderation. They lubricate the intestines with a lipid coating that can absorb harmful toxins, giving the liver less detoxing to do. Avocado, olive oil, hemp seed oil and flax seed oil are excellent oils to use while on a detox diet and every day to keep a gentle cleanse going.

Avocados are nutrient-dense and nutritionally balanced, providing protein, healthy fats, and minimal carbohydrate. They help the body produce glutathione, which is an essential compound in the liver's work of detoxing your body.

Don't forget to eat oils and fats in moderation, especially while you're on a detox program.

Cruciferous Vegetables: Eat Your Broccoli!

Broccoli and cauliflower add glucosinolate in the body, which supports detoxification functions in the liver and promotes liver enzyme production. These liver enzymes flush the body of carcinogens and other toxins. Broccoli sprouts are extremely high in antioxidants and more effective in stimulating detoxification enzymes in the digestive tract.


Green Tea: Detox and Live Long

Green tea cleanses toxins from the body with every cup. It contains an antioxidant known as catechins, which increase liver function. Enjoy green tea all through the year. Substitute is for juices, sodas and other teas so you can reap health benefits from your beverage.


Whole Grains: Detoxifying Fiber

Fiber cleanses and detoxifies the digestive tract because it scrubs the intestinal walls and speeds up transit time, preventing putrification of partially-digested foods and the accumulation of excessive waste material. It is important to introduce fiber slowly to your diet if you have tended to eat refined grain products like pasta and white bread. Also, you need to drink more water as your fiber intake increases. You can do more harm than good if you eat lots of fiber that just sits in your intestines like drying cement. So remember, more fiber and more water. Both are excellent detoxifiers.

Grains are rich in B-complex vitamins, which are known to improve liver function, reduce liver congestion and enhance fat metabolization. Best detox grains are brown rice, quinoa and millet. Brown rice is an excellent grain for detoxing. Have you ever had a brown rice detox?


Raw Fruits and Vegetables: Enzyme Detox

Be sure to include raw fruits and vegetables to your daily diet to keep an ongoing mild detox. Go for bright color for maximum nutrition (green leaf lettuce is more nutritious than iceberg lettuce), non-starchy vegetables (the juicier, the better), and low-glycemic fruit (to keep your blood sugar stable).

Best herbs and vegetables for detoxing include:



  • artichokes
  • asparagus
  • avocado
  • beets
  • broccoli and broccoli sprouts
  • brussel sprouts
  • cabbage
  • carrots
  • cauliflower
  • cayenne
  • celery
  • cilantro
  • cinnamon
  • cucumbers
  • cumin
  • dill
  • fennel
  • garlic
  • ginger
  • leafy greens
  • lemongrass
  • onion
  • radish
  • swiss chard
  • sprouts
  • tumeric
  • wheatgrass


Best fruits for detoxing are:

  • apples (the more tart, the more detoxifiying)
  • berries
  • cherries
  • citrus (the more tart, the more detoxifiying)
  • cranberries
  • figs
  • papaya
  • watermelon


When you can, always buy organic fruits and vegetables.