Carrot, spinach and ginger juice, anyone?


Have you ever done a full body detox to cleanse it of toxins? Do you think it's a must or a scam? 

Irina Tikhonova shares her experience in this awesome post written in my "Write for Real: Blogging in English" course. 

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Whether it’s a piece of lemon splashing into water or a model holding a bowl of veggies, it’s tough not to take the bait of the detox industry. You drink some juice, you take some pills, you stick some pads to the bottoms of your feet and that - oh, miracle – sucks all the evil right out of you. By “evil” I mean “toxins” that the modern era is spewing and that need to be flushed out of our bodies. Who doesn’t fantasize about it? I do. Or rather I did. Until one day, I heard Konstantin Prokhorov, a lead scientist in the local university, say: “Detox is utter bullshit. The real thing it cleanses is the money right out of your wallet.”

I did the full detox: not of the body, but of the shelf. Cleansing the space, I was wondering how come an educated person (as I thought I was) could spend a fortune on these “magical” boxes and bottles. Well, it seems to be hard not to spend when we are constantly bombarded with information about lead in toys, mercury in fish, smog in air, pollutants in rivers, H2O in water. Who wants this nastiness in our bodies? But here’s the rub – our body is so well designed that it has its own in-built detoxing system which includes kidneys, liver, skin and even lungs. And they do a really great job eliminating toxins and wastes from the body.

Carrot, spinach and ginger juice sounds nice and healthy, doesn’t it? Enjoying it – yes, cleansing with it – hell, no! The idea that it leaves your organs squeaky clean and your body forever young is a scam. And how are we supposed to stay healthy if our life has us running ragged? Surprise, surprise – the good old balanced diet is still good advice. Stick to it and steer clear of anything labelled “detox.”

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I've never done a detox and I'm happy to know I don't have to. 

PS: Make sure to check out two more awesome blog posts written by my students: 

- "At the risk of incurring the curse from polyglots and other magicians" - a post about the hardships of learnings three languages at the same time;

- "A finger-licking dinner dish. No unicorn tears required." - a recipe of a finger-licking dish out of broccoli or cauliflower told through the lens of the author's sweet personality.


Image credit: Photo by Jugoslocos on Unsplash 

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