What Is Detox Water?
Detox water is plain water containing an assortment of sliced fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and even spices added to it. Due to the presence of such detox water ingredients, the water acquires its flavor. Sometimes, detox water is also referred to as fruit-flavored water. Depending on the types of ingredients you add, your detox water can have a variety of flavors. Since detox water contains just the infused flavor of the fruits and vegetables, and they are not added in their juiced or blended form, such water has very few calories. This is what makes this liquid a preferred drink for certain detox diets.
Is Detox Water Good?
Water is free of calories and serves to keep the body hydrated. It is essential for maintaining good health. Water helps the body to gain back the fluids lost due to several reasons, such as sweating, metabolic activities, removal of waste, and even breathing. This liquid also protects the body from overheating, ensures healthy skin, lubricates joints, and boosts digestion (2), (3). However, everyone does not like the taste of plain water. Many people like to drink water when it has a nice flavor. In other words, detoxing water can help people drink more liquids, remain hydrated, and keep themselves healthy. Drinking detox water improves your overall health. This, in turn, enhances your skin and gives you a radiant glow. Check out the benefits of detox water in the next section.
Benefits Of Drinking Detox Water For Skin And Health
Drinking detox water can offer many benefits for your skin and health. Among the major benefits of detox water are the following:
Keeps Your Skin Hydrated
When you drink detox water, it helps to keep your skin hydrated. Due to proper hydration, your skin becomes healthy and looks youthful (1). By maintaining skin hydration, you can keep your skin plump, supple, and soft to touch.
Reduces Liquid Calorie Intake
To stay healthy, you need to consume an adequate amount of fluids every day. Many people include carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks, artificially sweetened juices, squashes with added sugar, and other such beverages as part of their daily fluid intake. These fluids are often high in calories and low in nutrients and are not considered to be beneficial for the body (4). By replacing such beverages with detox water, you can fulfill your daily fluid needs without worrying about loading up on unwanted calories. This is because detox water has no added sugar and contains very few calories. This low-calorie beverage can help to reduce your liquid calorie intake while keeping you hydrated.
Prevents Skin Issues And Disorders
Drinking less water can cause many problems for your skin. Your skin can become vulnerable to skin issues such as dryness, psoriasis, eczema, etc. Increasing your water intake can improve your skin physiology. It can increase skin elasticity, the loss of which can result in the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and signs of premature aging (4), (5). By drinking detox water, you can increase your water intake and help to keep all such skin problems at bay.
Improves Digestion
This list of detox water benefits also includes good digestive health. When you keep your body well-hydrated, it helps to digest the consumed food and increase its metabolism. Water aids the movement of food through the intestines and ensures regular bowel movements. This prevents constipation and other health issues that arise when your food is not well-digested (6), (7). This, in turn, makes your skin look dull and tired. By drinking detox water and keeping your body hydrated, you can protect your body from such issues.
Helps To Reduce Weight
Detox water can help you lose weight. When you drink water, your metabolic rate rises temporarily. As a result, it helps you to burn more calories (8), (9). This stands true for detox water as well. When you drink about half a liter of water, your metabolic rate can increase by 30% and remain at the increased rate for around one hour (8), (9). When people drink sufficient water as part of their weight loss diet, they get better results in losing weight than those who do not do so (10), (11), (12). An increase in your metabolic rate is not the only reason due to which drinking water can help you to reduce weight. When you drink water before you take your meal, you can reduce or control your hunger pangs (13). Since many people do not like drinking plain water frequently, detox water can help them to continue with their water intake plan.
Uplifts Mood And Enhances Energy Levels
Dehydration, even when it is not very severe, can impact your mood and energy levels. You may also experience headaches, fatigue, sleepiness, and confusion due to dehydration (14), (15), (16), (17), (18). When your mood is not okay or your energy is low, you may feel irritated and frustrated. Lack of sleep and fatigue can also have a negative impact on your skin. Drink enough detox water may help protect your mind and body from the impacts of dehydration. This can uplift your mood and increase your energy. This, in turn, can make your skin glow.
Boosts Brain Functioning
When your body is subjected to dehydration, it can have a considerable impact on your brain functioning. Due to poor fluid regulation, your brain can suffer a decrease in alertness and an increase in confusion. In such a state, the perception of task difficulty increases in your brain. You may also experience lower concentration (15), (16), (17), (18). Even mild dehydration of just 2% can impact your mental performance in tasks that need you to be attentive and apply your memory skills immediately (19). Your mental performance is positively influenced when you drink enough water to prevent dehydration in your body (14). By drinking enough detox water, you can ensure that the cognitive abilities of your brain are not impacted.
Improves Physical Performance
If your body is dehydrated, it can negatively impact your physiological function and performance. As a result of dehydration, your body movements tend to slow down and become less graceful. This happens due to a lack of lubrication in your joints. When this lubrication is decreased, your nimble, rapid movements are impacted. This is one of the reasons behind athletes and sportspersons keeping themselves hydrated. It enables them to remain swift in their movements and prevent feeling stiff when they are in action on the field or on the court. In other words, detox water can help you to stay hydrated and improve your performance during any physical activity or exercise. Getting sufficient physical exercise can improve your skin and make you look fresh.
Eliminates Waste
Your body eliminates wastes through various processes, such as urination, bowel movements, and perspiration. These wastes include the by-products of the metabolic activities carried out by your body, urea, and excess electrolytes. Water helps to remove these wastes from your body. When you drink water, it facilitates the production of urine and leads to waste elimination (3), (20). Additionally, adequate hydration helps to flush out any harmful bacteria present in the urinary tract. By keeping your body hydrated, you also boost kidney functioning (5), (21). By drinking detox water, you can easily ensure that your hydration level does not drop down and your body eliminates waste easily. This elimination of waste from your whole body including your skin refreshes and improves the appearance of your skin. Now that you know all about the benefits of detox water, let’s check out how to make it.
How To Make Detox Water At Home?
It is very easy to make detox water at home. All you need is some fruits and vegetables of your choice and water. If you wish, you can also include herbs and spices in your detox water recipes. You can chop up the required ingredients based on the combination you are using and then put them in water. For ingredients like fresh herbs and berries, you can add them whole. The infusion will be stronger if you put more ingredients into the water. You can use both hot and cold water for your detox water recipes. If you want to enjoy your detoxifying water cold, you can leave the infusion in your fridge for some hours. This will help your drink to cool down as well as the flavor to become strong since the ingredients will get time to infuse deeply. But, make sure not to keep your detox water in the fridge for more than 12 hours as the ingredients may start to decompose. If you are short on time, you can crush or muddle the fruits and herbs before adding them to water. This will enable the flavors to release quickly. Now, let, look at some easy recipes to make detox water at home.
7 Easy DIY Detox Water Recipes
Here are a few easy recipes for detox water that you can follow at home and make detoxifying drinks.
1. Lemon, Cucumber, And Basil Detox Water
You Will Need
10 slices of cucumber 1 slice of lemon (cut in half) 3-4 basil leaves Filtered water
Procedure
2. Ginger, Lime, And Pear Detox Water
You Will Need
2 slices of pear (chopped into small pieces) 1 slice of lime (cut in half) 1/4 inch of a thin ginger slice Filtered water
Procedure
3. Mint And Orange Detox Water
You Will Need
2 slices of peeled orange 2-3 fresh mint leaves Filtered water
Procedure
4: Raspberry, Strawberry, And Mint Detox Water
You Will Need
3 strawberries (cut into halves) 6 raspberries 3-4 small mint leaves Filtered water
Procedure
5. Orange, Rosemary, And Fennel Detox Water
You Will Need
1 slice of peeled orange 1 slice of fennel A small piece of rosemary (with about 8 to 10 leaves attached to the stem) Filtered water
Procedure
6. Mint And Blackberry Detox Water
You Will Need
10 to 12 blackberries 4-6 mint leaves Filtered water
Procedure
7. Lemon, Mint, And Cucumber Detox Water
You Will Need
6-8 slices of cucumber 1 slice of lemon (cut in half) A few fresh mint leaves
Procedure Here are a few tips that you need to keep in mind when preparing detox water at home.
Tips To Prepare Detox Water At Home
Wash the ingredients thoroughly before you add them to the water.
Make sure to remove the pith before you add any citrus fruit to the water. Otherwise, your drink may turn bitter.
You do not have to follow the exact measurements for the ingredients when making your detox drinks. You can adjust the quantities as per your taste.
If you do not feel like drinking the water with the fruit or vegetable still infused in it, you can strain them out.
Always make your detox drinks in small amounts so that you can finish them within a day. This way, you prevent the chance of the ingredients turning soggy in the water.
When Is The Best Time To Drink Detox Water?
You can drink your detox water throughout the day, at regular intervals. Since detox water is good for hydrating the body, you can start your day with a glass of detox water. If you are planning to lose weight, you can form a habit of drinking a glass of detox water before you sit down for your meals.
Infused Water Vs. Detox Water
Detox water and infused water mean the same thing. When preparing detox water, you need to add fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices to the water. Such water, which is flavored with fresh ingredients, is also known as infused water. Which drink is good for glowing skin? Check out the infographic below to learn what changes you need to make to detox your body along with drinking detox water. Cucumber detox water is usually preferred for imparting a radiant glow to the skin. It helps to flush out toxins and gives the skin a glowy look. Does detox cause pimples? Yes, detox may initially cause pimples. It is because of the body’s response to the new change. However, it is completely normal, and the pimples subside after a few days. Which detox water is best for acne? Lemon water and honey, coconut water, and cucumber detox water help in the effective management of acne.
