The word “diet” has been so overused over the years, that I feel I want to clarify its meaning, before going further with my point:

“Diet” actually means the sum of food consumed by an individual, which is different from “dieting” or “getting on a diet” – which is something most people do temporarily, with the intention of losing weight but never works in the long term.

There’s a clear distinction between a detox diet and a real maintenance diet.
A detox diet is a short cleanse program you follow to achieve a specific purpose, such as overcoming stressful situations, or losing weight.

I’m a supporter of certain cleansing diets, if done properly. You can achieve some good results without having to fast or go on a very restrictive diet.

Meanwhile, a maintenance diet is the diet you follow for the rest of your life.

A lot of people start out on a cleansing diet when they first get into a raw food program, and that works out great, for a while. They have 50 pounds to shed, so the detox diet enables them to get rid of that weight faster.

Most people, however, are not able to maintain a detox diet in the long run, as they start experiencing cravings and deficiencies – this is because a detox diet isnot a maintenance diet.

Know the difference. A detox diet is a low-calorie diet. This is important to understand, as there’s a limited variety of foods you consume on a detox program.

There just aren’t enough calories in a detox program to stick to it in the long term, though, but enough for a specific purpose, such as losing weight, like I stated before.

What I see happening in the wider healthy vegan and raw food movement, in general, is that a lot of people stay on a cleansing diet for too long, try to become ultra-pure and then try to refine their diet over time.

As a result, they become too sensitive and find it difficult to easily go back to a sustainable diet.

You should ask yourself what your purpose is in doing a specific diet. Is it to thrive in the long-term, or is it just to achieve a specific result?

If you realize you’re on a detox diet, that’s perfectly fine. You should have in mind a specific number of days or even weeks of a program that you want to follow.

Then be clear about when you’re going to go on a maintenance diet, which means consuming more quantities and variety of foods, to make it sustainable on the long term.

A maintenance diet needs to have a sufficient amount of calories and diversity of foods in order to bring you enough nutrients.