2019 fad diets, workout habits and wellness tricks you should ditch

Evening Standard

Forget the activated charcoal and don't go crazy at the gym, says Insider's wellness columnist Sarah Ann Macklin

It's mid-January, which usually means all but the most disciplined among you are finding that New Year health drive increasingly difficult to keep up.

But are there some habits and trends which aren't actually worth your time? Harley Street nutritionist Sarah Ann Macklin busts a few myths.

Charcoal lattes and juices  

I bang on about the charcoal a lot, and I will keep doing so until I see it off our shelves and out of products. 

Charcoal will not detox your body, or help you excrete any excess alcohol you feel you’ve consumed over the festive period, any faster than your body will naturally.

Charcoal can cling to certain drugs and poisons in our stomach, with medical professionals using it in bulk to help reduce the absorption in extreme poisoning cases. Charcoal cannot bind to alcohol’s chemical structure. Charcoal also cannot bind to metals, and therefore it will not remove toxins from our body.

There has been no scientific evidence to prove that charcoal is in any way a health benefit.  Our liver does a fantastic job of detoxifying the body. Charcoal can, however, bind to prescription drugs, so anybody on medication or prescription drugs should not be taking any form of charcoal, as it might make the medication less effective.

Stay away from those charcoal lattes and increase your hydration with water instead!

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