Try these alternatives instead of detox

By now, we all know that New Years’ detoxes and “resets” don’t detox or reset anything. Depending on what you choose, they are either unsustainable diets or pure pseudoscience– often a mixture of both. And yet, they still please.

A “detox” in 2021 can be a week of smoothies and juices, often guided by a guru who makes big promises of how amazing you’ll feel after spending a week drinking what you bought them. It can also be difficult to eliminate certain foods from your diet, without sugar, for example. Whatever the mechanisms, they are all restrictive diets referred to as personal care.

So let’s take a look at why people keep coming back to diet reboots and smoothie cleanses. Their marketing (even if it doesn’t sound like marketing) definitely ticks some boxes for what we want in our lives: a sense of control, for example, or an antidote to holiday burnout. But there are ways to work on those goals without starving yourself.

If you want more energy

Increased “energy” is often touted as an effect of detox diets, and it is true that some people experience a sense of heightened focus when they haven’t eaten for some time. (People who practice intermittent fasting love to talk about it.) But it is a temporary state, if it occurs at all, and it goes along with less pleasant mental states. People who complete a rehab or a reset will often say they felt great, but in the next breath they’ll say things like, “It was really hard, but I got over it.

For a more realistic way to get more energy, take a look at what might tire you out. Extreme fatigue should be checked by a healthcare professional, but often “low energy” can be corrected with one of the following:

• Sleep more and sleep better. Give yourself an early bedtime, a constant wake-up time, and have good sleep hygiene, like no screens or alcohol before bed.
• Make sure you are eating enough. If you are consistently on a diet, or if the foods you eat are not a well-balanced diet, eating better (more protein, more vegetables) may improve your perceived energy level.
• Check your mental health. Depression, anxiety, and other conditions can cause what looks like a lack of energy. Have you been under a lot of stress lately? Do you need finally find a therapist?

If you feel disgusted or guilty about what you have eaten recently

All the December celebrations often leave us as January approaches ready to clean up our diets and habits. If you’ve been drinking a lot, cutting back on it might sound pretty appealing; and if you’ve eaten a lot of holiday treats, a minimalist diet probably appeals the same way.

But the truth is that the value of a few indulgences meals is not much in the long run. You don’t need to swing the pendulum the other way while cutting whole food groups. Instead, try one of these:

• Just get back to normal. The Christmas cookies are gone (or you can give them to your dog, freeze them for later, however you like). You don’t have anything to eat that you don’t want.
• Find a sustainable way to eat better. What small change could you make to improve your diet? Maybe it allows you to get an extra serving of veg at every meal, or find recipes you love to cook.

If you want to be better hydrated

It is true that you will be very hydrated if you drink smoothies, juices, teas, and lemon water throughout the day. Your body works better when it’s well hydrated than when it’s dehydrated, it’s true. (Most of us probably already have a lot of water, but a little more won’t hurt.)

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

• Drink more water. There you go, that’s the hack.
• Hydrate your skin. Do you know how people say your skin looks great when you’re well hydrated? A moisturizer accomplishes that too, and it does an even better job of hydrating the outer layers of the skin.

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

Ready-to-use detox kits are popular in part because you get a box with everything you will need to eat this week. Letting someone else make your decisions and do your shopping is admittedly a huge mental job that takes you off the plate.

But you can also do it with real food.

• Learn how to plan and prepare your meals. Yes, it’s more work on a weekday, but then you can take your meals out of the fridge all week without thinking about it. If you live with a partner or roommate, you can even swap out the chore every week.
• Ordering from a meal delivery service. Home chef, Trifecta, and Freshly, to name a few, will send you a week of real food for less than the cost of many frilly detoxes.

If you desperately want to be skinny

It is unfortunate that many people who say that detox is all about “feeling better” still take before and after photos or put their weight on the scale. If you’re hoping to lose weight on a short-term diet reset, you might. But it will backfire on you.

Rapid weight loss, driven by a significant calorie deficit, is not just fat loss. Part of it is muscle loss, which impacts your health. And a good part of it, especially with a low-carb diet, is often water weight. The amount of water we retain in our bodies fluctuates from day to day and is in part determined by glycogen (stored carbohydrates) in our muscles and liver. If you eat low in carbohydrates, you will lose glycogen and therefore a few pounds of water; but as soon as you have a high carb meal or two, it comes right back.

Even though the short term weight loss is a little exciting, it is more than compensated (for most people) by the quick recovery. So drug rehab doesn’t really help you here. Better to try one of these:

• Find a diet that allows slow and 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 a little less calories than you burn. If you have any health problems, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian about the best way to manage them through diet.
• Or just not. There’s no law that says you need to lose weight just because it’s January, or really for some reason.

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

Often the most Instagram-worthy part of a detox is having a glass of juice or smoothie or lemon water out a window on a peaceful morning. Can’t you see it and want to be there, right now, enjoying a little ritual of self-care?

Well, just like hydration, it’s something you can do without starving yourself at the same time.

• Choose a morning routine that is meaningful to you. We have examples: here and here and here, to begin.
• Build a ritual that doesn’t focus on food. Maybe you can take logging, meditateor some other activity that is meaningful to you.

If all your friends do

Honestly, I think sometimes we do a personal development project not because of an inner desire but because our favorite friends or celebrities are doing it. I totally admit to having fallen into this trap myself, and I’m not even convinced that it is a trap. I have done things under pressure from my peers that I might not have tried otherwise; sometimes I’m glad I did, and other times I’ve learned the hard way that something isn’t for me.

Again, you can find community without committing to the specific act of restricting your eating. Try an exercise-based challenge or find an online community focused on a hobby you already love or want to learn.

Ultimately, replacing food with smoothies isn’t the only, or even the best, way to stay more in touch with your body and mental health. It can, in fact, be a pretty terrible way. So find out what you really want, and take smart steps to get the experience you’re actually looking for.