Try these alternatives instead of doing a detox

By now we all know that ‘detox’ and ‘resets’ do not detoxify or repair anything in the new year. Depending on the choice you make, this is one of them unsustainable diets or pure pseudoscience– Often a mixture of both. And yet they still appeal.

A ‘detox’ in 2021 can be a week of smoothies and juices, often led by a guru who makes big promises about how great you will feel after spending a week drinking what you bought from them. Or it can be a challenge to remove certain foods from your diet – for example no sugar. Regardless of the mechanics, these are all restrictive diets that are labeled as self-care.

So let’s look at the reasons why people are constantly returning to dieting and smoothie cleaning. Their marketing (even if it does not look like marketing) marks a few subjects for things we want in our lives: for example, a sense of control or an antidote to the exhaustion of the holiday season. But there are ways to work toward these goals without starving yourself.

If you want more energy

Elevated “energy” is often presented as an effect of detox diets, and it is true that some people experience a feeling of increased focus if they have not eaten for a while. (People who practice fasting alternately like to talk about it.) But if it occurs at all, it is a temporary condition, and it goes hand in hand with less pleasant mental states. People who do a detox or reset will often say they felt good, but then in the next breath they will say things like “it was really hard, but I went through it.”

For a more realistic way to get more energy, see what you can feel tired of. Extreme fatigue should be checked by a medical professional, but often ‘low energy’ can be resolved with one of the following:

• Sleep more, and sleep better. Give yourself an earlier bedtime, a constant waking time and practice good sleep hygiene, such as no screens or alcohol before bed.
• Make sure you eat enough. If you are constantly on a diet, or if the food you eat is not a well-balanced diet, it may be better to just eat better (more protein, more vegetables).
• Look at your mental health. Depression, anxiety and other conditions can cause a lack of energy. Have you been having a lot of stress lately? Should you finally find a therapist?

If you feel big or guilty about what you’ve been eating lately

All the celebrations in December regularly allow us to clean up our diet and habits in January. If you have drunk a lot, it may sound quite appealing; and if you’ve eaten a lot of holiday treats, a minimalist diet is probably just as enjoyable.

But the truth is: the indulgences of some meals are also in the long run not a big deal. You do not have to swing the pendulum in the other direction by cutting out whole food groups. Instead, try one of the following:

• Just go back to normal. The Christmas cookies are gone (or you can feed them to your dog, freeze for later, whatever you want). You do not have to eat anything you do not want.
• Find a sustainable way to eat better. What is one small change you can make to improve your diet? Maybe it’s sure to get you an extra serving of vegetables at every meal, or to find recipes you’d like to cook.

If you want to be better hydrated

It is true that you will be properly hydrated if you drink smoothies, juices, tea and lemon water all day. Your body works better when it’s well hydrated than when it’s dehydrated, that’s true. (Most of us probably already get a lot of water, but a little more will not hurt.)

The coolest thing is that you can drink more water – or get more fluids in whatever form you want –without to deprive yourself of food. Just add the liquids.

• Drink more water. This is it, this is the hack.
• Moisturizes your skin. Do you know how people say that your skin looks great when you are well hydrated? With a moisturizer, it is also better done to get moisture into the outer layers of the skin.

If you like the idea of ​​someone else making the decisions

Ready-made detox sets are partly popular because you get one box with everything you need to eat this week. Admittedly, letting someone else decide and go shopping is a huge amount of spiritual labor.

But you can also do it with real food.

• Learn to plan and prepare your meals. Yes, it’s more work on one day of the week, but then you can take meals out of the fridge all week without thinking about it. If you live with a partner or roommate, you can even swap jobs each week.
• Order at a delivery service. House Chef, Trifecta, en FreshTo name just a few, you will be sent a week’s real food for you for less than the cost of many wife’s detoxifications.

If you really want to be skinny

It is unfortunate that many people who say that a detox is just to ‘feel better’ will still take before and after photos, or take their weight on the scale. If you are hoping to lose weight during a short-term diet recovery, you can. But it’s going to fall back again.

Rapid weight loss, driven by a large calorie deficit, is not just fat loss. Some part is muscle loss, which affects your health. And a good portion of it, especially on a low-carb diet, is often watery. The amount of water we keep in our bodies varies from day to day and is determined in part by the glycogen (stored carbohydrates) in our muscles and liver. If you eat low carb, you will lose glycogen and thus a few kilograms of water weight; but as soon as you eat a high-carbohydrate meal, it comes back.

Even if there is a bit of excitement of weight loss in the short term, it is (for most people) more than outweighed by the rapid recovery. So a detox is not really helping you here. It is better to try one of the following:

• Find a diet that enables slow, steady weight loss. There is no “best” diet for this, but you can choose one of the many eating patterns that make it easy to eat slightly fewer calories than you burn. If you have health problems, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian about the best way to deal with it through diet.
• Or just not. There is no law that says you should lose weight just because it is January, or for any reason.

If you just want a ritual to give you a sense of control

Often the most Instagram-worthy part of a detox is shooting a glass of juice or smoothie or lemonade through some window on a quiet morning. Do you not see it and want to be there at that moment and enjoy a little ritual of self-care?

Just like hydration, it is something you can do without depriving yourself of food at the same time.

• Choose a morning routine that makes sense to you. We have examples: here and here and here, to begin with.
• Build a ritual that is not about food. Maybe you can take it journal, meditate, or another activity that is meaningful to you.

If all your friends do it

Honestly, I think sometimes we do a self-improvement project not because of an inner desire, but because our friends or favorite celebrities do it. I fully admit that I myself have fallen into this trap, and I am not even convinced that it is a trap. I did things under peer pressure that I might not have tried otherwise; sometimes I’m glad I did, and other times I’ve learned the hard way that something’s not for me.

You can find community again without restricting the specific act of restricting your diet. Try a practice-based challenge, or look for an online community that wants to learn a hobby you already love.

The bottom line is that replacing food with smoothies is not the only way to get even more in touch with your body and mental health. This can actually be a pretty awful way. So you need to find out what you are doing really want, and take smart steps to get the experience you are actually going for.