During a busy week, dinner often becomes a giant question mark. Once dinnertime arrives, we’re tempted to rely on easy solutions, like pizza delivery or precooked meals. If you’re trying to lose weight and cleanse your body, you need to avoid ultra-processed foods and meals whose preparation you have no control over. Do some research beforehand and create a list of healthy detox foods to make for dinner during the week. Don’t forget to allow yourself the time to prepare them.
Most detox foods are those that contribute to liver and kidney health. If you need some ideas, here are 10 healthy detox foods you can make for dinner in the next few days.
1. Guacamole
Avocados are full of fiber and important antioxidants. In the past, they were shunned because of their fat levels, but we now know that there are such things as good fat and bad fat. Avocados are rich in good fats and don’t carry many calories. Look for organic avocados from the store to make your own guacamole. Make sure your guacamole is low in salt and sugar, but don’t hold back on the cilantro. Cilantro is full of important phytonutrients.
2. Asparagus
Asparagus can be steamed or baked in the oven with some spices. Aside from being full of nutrients, asparagus is one of the best healthy detox foods because it is rich in the amino acid asparagine. Asparagine is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Asparagus is also a diuretic, which means it can help you ride the body of unwanted fluids and salts.
3. Wild Caught Salmon
Salmon is full of anti-inflammatory omega-3 acids, which help to increase blood flow and purge the body of toxicity. Ask your grocer for fresh, non-frozen, wild caught salmon rather than prepackaged or farm-raised salmon. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the farm-raised kind, but you can never be sure of the conditions the salmon were raised in or what they were fed. When raised in poor conditions, this healthy detox food can become toxic.
4. Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are full of vitamins, nutrients, complex carbohydrates, and antioxidants. Eating them cleans up your skin and improves your liver and kidney function. They are the perfect addition to any detox diet. You can bake them like regular potatoes, mash them, or serve them in soups. You can even cool them after baking and eat them in salads.
5. Cold Potatoes
Mashed and baked potatoes are two of the most popular dishes in the country, but they aren’t always healthy. They are usually made worse with the addition of butter, salt, sour cream and other toppings, but it’s the starch in the potatoes that cause the immediate problem. Your body digests starch fresh from the oven very quickly. When you cool your potatoes after cooking them, the starches become more resilient and take more time for your body to break down. Eating resilient starches can promote fat oxidation and reduce belly fat. Try including cold potatoes in salads.
6. Artichoke
Like many other vegetables, artichokes are rich in regular nutrients, but it’s the phytonutrients they contain that make them one of the most popular healthy detox foods. Artichokes contain cynarine, which helps the liver produce the bile that is necessary for fat digestion. Other phytonutrients within artichokes protect the liver against toxicity.
7. Lentils
This legume is high in fiber and low in calories. It also takes the body a long time to digest lentils, which means they are easy on your stomach and can leave you satisfied after you eat them. Try them in lentil soups or on their own. Lentils are full of antioxidants and can be useful when attempting to balance your body’s pH.
8. Garlic
Garlic has wondrous benefits for the body. It is widely celebrated for its ability to reduce blood pressure and hypertension, but garlic can also be used as a detox food. Garlic supports the production of your liver enzymes and can act as an anti-microbial agent. Use garlic liberally on your foods (as long as it isn’t mixed with too much salt or sugar) and consider taking garlic supplements regularly.
9. Beets
Beets are one of the healthy detox foods that often get overlooked (or avoided), but they are one of your liver’s best friends. They are packed full of the nutrients your liver loves, such as vitamin B, iron, calcium, and various antioxidants. When cooking with beets, make sure you always buy them fresh and prepare them yourself. Canned beets may seem like an easy option, but they are often ultra-processed and lacking in essential nutrients.
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