Debunking Detox Diets and Embracing the Body’s Natural Cleansing Processes

Thrive • July 14, 2022
By Thrive Wellness Reno Registered Dietitian Laura Oberg, RDN, RYT, MFA

Coinciding with the clean eating movement, “detoxes” or “cleanses” are diets that have garnered popularity as a way to reset and refresh the body after eating “bad” or “unhealthy” foods. Neither “good” nor “bad,” food is fuel for the body and mind, and these diets can be detrimental as they encourage disordered eating behaviors while also disrupting a person’s relationship with food and their body. Truthfully, the body is adept at removing waste products on its own. Thus cleanses seem to be yet another ploy by the diet industry to exploit the body image struggles that many experience while also providing a quick and costly “fix.”

WHAT ARE DETOX AND CLEANSE DIETS?

Detoxes are popular eating strategies that claim to eliminate unwanted food by-products in the body. They usually involve restricting solid food, drinking juices and other liquids, and sometimes using laxatives or other means of “cleansing the colon.” 

The intentions of those who embark on cleanses vary. Some might be persuaded to believe that the diets give the digestive system a chance to rest and allow the body to deep-clean on a cellular level. Other common motivators include losing weight, increasing energy, and feeling healthier. Individuals may also be attracted to the short-term nature of a detox diet as they generally last only a few days, but typically promise fast results. 

THE DOWNSIDES OF DETOX AND CLEANSE DIETS

Despite the alleged benefits, research shows that cleanses don’t actually result in toxin elimination or weight loss. Instead, detoxes often exclude vital nutrients from a person’s diet that are necessary for bodily processes and optimal functioning. For instance, drinking only juice can reduce an individual’s fiber intake, a substance that is required for healthy digestion. Additionally, cleanses can confuse individuals’ natural hunger and fullness cues, disrupting their ability to intuitively nourish their bodies in the most effective ways.

The harmful effects of detox and cleanse diets include:

  • Cyclical fasting and binging: Detox diets promote a restrictive mentality that can lead to deprivation behavior. When this occurs, the mind believes that the body is deprived of adequate nourishment, and individuals are more likely to engage in overeating followed by compensatory food restriction, which can develop into a toxic cycle and even an eating disorder .
  • Rebound effect and risk: Upon finishing a cleanse, a person can quickly regain any weight lost while dieting. Often this weight regathers around vital organs which heightens the risk for many chronic diseases.
  • Slower metabolism or starvation response: When malnourished , the body attempts to conserve energy by slowing the metabolism and burning fewer calories. A severe starvation response can cause the body’s tissues to atrophy and organs to stop functioning properly, eventually resulting in death.
  • Yo-yo dieting: The intense and quick nature of detoxes can be addicting to some, causing them to continually engage in rounds of cleanse diets followed by returns to normal eating patterns. With each change in eating patterns, a person can become increasingly disconnected from their body. 

THE BODY’S NATURAL CLEANSING PROCESSES

Fortunately, the body already has natural cleansing processes in place. For instance, in the kidneys, toxins in the blood are filtered regularly. Toxin elimination also occurs in the liver where waste is prepared for excretion from the body. 

Some healthy ways to promote natural cleansing and foster a sense of rejuvenation include:

  • Eat intuitively : When you’re able, take time to prepare foods that you enjoy, eat enough food consistently according to your hunger and fullness cues, and choose foods from a variety of food groups. 
  • Plan a day of rest and self-care : Say no to requests for your time, keep your obligations minimal, and slow down. In doing so, you can give yourself a reset, reduce stress levels, and feel refreshed.
  • Practice self-kindness: Speak to yourself kindly, so that negative self-talk doesn’t cloud your perspective. By treating yourself with self-compassion , you’re less likely to feel less stressed, anxious , and depressed . Instead, you’ll feel energized and ready to embrace life authentically. 
  • Prioritize sleep : Sleep has so many benefits to mental and physical health, including enhancing the body’s toxin elimination mechanisms. While sleeping, the liver works diligently to remove contaminants from the body.
  • Stay hydrated: Water allows toxins to move out of the body through urination, sweat, and breathing. 
  • Engage in mindful movement : Physical activity reduces inflammation that can interfere with the body’s detoxification system. When choosing your movement activity, be sure it brings you joy and makes you feel good. 

NUTRITION SUPPORT AT THRIVE

At Thrive Wellness, we empower clients to dismantle restrictive food rules and embrace gentle nutrition using intuitive eating principles . Through evidence-based nutrition counseling, our registered dietitians help clients understand their unique nourishment needs, establish personalized sustainable eating behaviors, and adopt a body positivity mentality based in self-love , so they can ultimately flourish. If you’re in need of support in overcoming harmful cultural conditioning and enhancing your relationship with food and your body, reach out to learn more about our nutrition counseling services. 

About the Author

Thrive Wellness Reno Registered Dietitian Laura Oberg, RDN, RYT, MFA

With a bachelor’s of science in dietetics from Brigham Young University and having graduated from the Sodexo Dietetic Internship program in New York with honors, Laura Oberg built her career as a dietitian upon strong foundations. Early in her career, she provided critical care and pediatric nutrition services at both Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York and St. Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan, New York. Later, her journey brought her to Intermountain Medical Center in Utah where she joined a nutrition support team with an exclusive concentration on parental and enteral nutrition (also known as tube feeding) for severely malnourished patients and those unable to obtain nutrition via traditional means. Along the way, Laura also spent time working as a care technician at a residential center for eating disorder recovery, where her passion for promoting holistic eating disorder healing grew stronger. 

At Thrive Wellness Reno, Laura works with clients struggling with a variety of eating and feeding disorders. She finds the relationship each individual has with food and their body to be fascinating and encourages the concept of intuitive eating. As a registered yoga instructor, she also integrates mindful movement into her approach as she feels the mind-body connection that it offers can be extremely effective. She believes that together, nutrition and movement therapies can provide connection with and integration of the self.

Additionally, Laura has a master’s degree in fine arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City with a focus on visual effects resulting from racism and generational trauma. She is captivated by artistic expressions of all kinds. When she’s not busy changing lives, she enjoys spending time at the lake, reading, playing with her kids, and taking road trips to her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

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By Erin McGinty Fort, MS, MHA, CPC, LPC-S, CEDS-C December 18, 2025
Sometimes, people need more support, structure, and monitoring than the typical outpatient setting can provide. When this happens, the treatment team will usually recommend that someone be "stepped up" to a different level of care, or program, that can better meet their needs. I like to think of it as being similar to medication dosages; people need different strengths of medications, or dosages, to get better when they're sick. Stepping someone up to a higher level of care is like increasing the dosage of a medication to match the severity of their symptoms. How Are Higher Levels of Care Different from Standard Outpatient Care? At the core of differentiating higher levels of care from standard outpatient care is the intensity and structure of the treatment. Higher level of care programs tend to offer more days of treatment each week and more hours of treatment per day than in the outpatient setting. Those in higher level of care programs may also meet with their treatment team members more frequently each week. There are more staff present to support someone at or after meals and snacks, or to help those who are having urges to engage in compulsions or other harmful behaviors. Clients in our HLOC programs get access to an assortment of treatment modalities tailored to their individual needs, including personalized therapy sessions, group support, medication management, medical nutrition therapy with a dietitian, and check-ins with our primary care providers. We support clients with personalized treatment plans and regular assessments to monitor and tweak interventions as needed. Higher levels of care also offer increased peer interaction and support. Intensive programs incorporate additional group therapy sessions, which can help those in treatment feel less alone as well as create a greater sense of community. For some people, it can be difficult to devote the time and energy needed to recover while also balancing other responsibilities like school or work. Stepping up to more intensive levels of care allows people to fully dedicate themselves to recovery. As they get better and make progress, a person may be stepped back down to a less intensive level of care to start practicing their recovery in their usual home, school, or work settings while also receiving professional support from their treatment team. What Levels of Care are Available? At Thrive Wellness, we offer four different levels of care to help clients step up (or down) in their treatment when needed: -  Outpatient Treatment - weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly meetings with a therapist, psychiatrist, primary care provider, and/or dietitian. - Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) - A minimum of three hours per day, three days per week. - Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) - A minimum of six hours per day, five days per week. - Residential Treatment - Coming soon in 2026, The Greenhouse at Thrive will offer residential treatment for eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This level of care offers 24-hour support for those aged 12-24 living in our residential treatment center. How To Decide Which Level of Care is Right for You If you're unsure which option is right for you or your loved one, we offer a free assessment that can be completed with our admissions team. In this initial assessment, we'll gather information from you about what you're struggling with, speak with our team of providers, and then make a recommendation for what level of care we feel is the best fit for you and your needs. If you’re experiencing symptoms of an eating disorder, anxiety disorder, or other behavioral or mental health challenges, don’t hesitate to reach out. To get started with our intake process, give us a call at 775-525-8103 or fill out this form . We can’t wait to help you Thrive.
December 2, 2025
Like the fir tree, a symbol of endurance rooted in hope, our Family Inclusive Recovery (FIR) approach reflects the strength that grows when families face challenges together. At our new residential center “The Greenhouse”, FIR is more than a treatment model, it’s a philosophy of healing that places families at the heart of recovery for adolescents and young adults navigating eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We believe lasting healing doesn’t happen in isolation; it’s built with the support of families through perseverance, hope, and compassionate care. What Is Family Inclusive Recovery (FIR)? Family Intensive Recovery (FIR) is a specialized and immersive approach that actively engages caregivers as central agents in their child’s healing process. Rather than seeing families as contributors to a problem, we view them as essential partners in recovery. Drawing from two evidence-based frameworks, Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) and Family-Based Treatment (FBT), FIR helps families cultivate resilience, confidence, and connection throughout the journey to recovery. Grounded in SPACE and FBT Through the SPACE model, parents learn how to recognize and reduce well-intentioned but unhelpful behaviors known as accommodations that can reinforce anxiety and OCD symptoms. By shifting from rescuing to supporting and challenging, parents develop the confidence to guide their child through discomfort, helping them build distress tolerance and self-trust. Simultaneously, Family-Based Treatment (FBT) empowers families to take an active, compassionate role in their child’s nutritional and emotional recovery. Parents learn how to support weight and nutritional restoration, disrupt the eating disorder’s patterns, and reestablish boundaries that promote health and growing autonomy. Together, these approaches strengthen both the individual and family system, allowing recovery to take root within an environment of empathy and optimism. From Blame to Collaboration A cornerstone of the FIR model is removing blame. At Thrive, parents are not viewed as the cause of their child’s struggles, but rather as key partners in recovery. Treatment focuses on joining forces to create a safe, supportive environment where: Families learn to sit with their child's discomfort alongside them without rushing to fix or control it. Parents practice compassionate firmness, setting boundaries grounded in care and safety. Teens and caregivers rebuild trust through open, honest communication. This collaborative framework helps families reestablish a sense of connection and confidence, fostering long-term resilience and open communication that extends beyond the treatment setting. Why Family Matters in Recovery Recovery from eating disorders, OCD, or anxiety isn’t a one-person job, it requires integrated care including the family. When families learn to navigate challenges together, they can model emotional regulation, reinforce healthy boundaries, and create conditions for sustained recovery. Through FIR, we aim to strengthen attachment bonds, reshape family interactions, and empower every member of the family to grow. The result is not only symptom reduction but also a deeper sense of unity, hope, and shared endurance, just like the steadfast fir tree that stands resilient through every season. Moving Toward Hope Family Inclusive Recovery invites caregivers and loved ones to become active participants in change. It’s a journey of learning, letting go, and leaning into love and acceptance. Together, families and clinicians can cultivate the courage in clients to face uncertainty, and in doing so, help them discover that recovery is not just possible, but enduring. If you’d like to learn more about Family Intensive Recovery at The Greenhouse or how we support families in eating disorder and OCD treatment, reach out to our team today.
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The Greenhouse at Thrive Wellness A New Chapter of Hope and Healing in Nevada On Friday, November 14 , we gathered with our partners at Molina Healthcare to share an important moment for our community. Together, we celebrated Molina’s generous $50,000 grant , an investment that is helping bring The Greenhouse to life. Their support is not only a financial contribution—it’s a statement of belief in the young people and families of Nevada who deserve access to compassionate, evidence-based mental healthcare close to home. This gathering marked the beginning of something we’ve dreamed about for years: a place designed specifically for adolescents and emerging adults to receive the care, connection, and support they need during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Something New Is Growing In early 2026 , Thrive Wellness will open The Greenhouse , Nevada’s first residential treatment center devoted to adolescents and emerging adults navigating eating disorders, anxiety, and OCD . For too long, families have faced a heartbreaking dilemma—send their child far from home for treatment or go without the specialized care they need. The Greenhouse is our answer to that gap. It will be a place where young people can settle into an environment built for healing, where they are understood, supported, and surrounded by a team that believes in their capacity to recover. The Greenhouse represents a natural extension of our mission. It’s a living expression of our belief that recovery is possible—and that with the right support, families can find their footing again. 
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