Children and Detox Diets

• Most detox diets are short-term periods of heavy caloric restriction which are theoretically designed to flush harmful "toxins" from your system. While this is a noble goal, there is no real scientific evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of these detox programs, nor is there any real evidence demonstrating their safety. That said, while you, an autonomous and capable adult, can rationally make the decision to risk your own health on one of these as-yet-unproven programs, it would be irresponsible to make that same decision for your child and force him into a course of action that may result in dubious benefit at best.
  
  

A Healthy, Natural Detox

• However, there is a median solution that can provide all the purported benefits of a detox, is safe for a child and is backed up by science. That solution is to "detox" your child by exchanging her poor nutritional habits with sound, time-tested principles. So consider "detoxing" your child by removing all the processed, artificial foods from her diet in favor of healthy and natural alternatives. We suggest following the 7 Habits of Canadian nutritionist Dr. John Berardi. The 7 Habits are:
  
  1. Consume small meals every two to three hours for a total of five to eight meals a day. Children can be more relaxed with this, as it is hard enough to get them to eat in the first place. It is enough if they get three solid meals with a couple of healthy snacks every day.
  2. Consume lean protein with every meal: chicken, meat, fish or eggs.
  3. Consume fruits and vegetables with every meal.
  4. Consume most of your carbohydrates from fruit and vegetables. Children can be more liberal here as well. While that is not a license to feed your children green pepper pizza as a "healthy" carb and veggie meal, children can benefit from consuming natural carbohydrates such as oats, sweet potatoes, rice and whole grains.
  5. Consume at least 25 percent of your daily calories from fats, including animal fats, oils (fish, flax and olive) and natural fats in foods such as coconuts and avocados.
  6. Consume only zero-calorie beverages. Dr. Berardi suggests only water and green tea, but children should not have the caffeine from green tea, so keep their intake to natural filtered water wherever possible.
  7. Eat mostly solid meals--no liquid nutrition
  
  Of course, this is a safe and healthy detox that the entire family can perform together. In fact, that is often best, as children look up to parents as an example and will balk at sticking to a stringent nutritional plan while the rest of the family indulges in unhealthy junk food. To eliminate the possibility of the child cheating on their 7 Habits "mini-detox," simply remove all noncompliant foodstuffs from the home entirely. Do not worry, you will survive a few weeks without your sugary comfort food, and your body and mind will thank you for it.