New Years Detox: A Rethink

January 15th 2007

The new year is always welcomed in by two things - resolutions and the detox. There is very little to add to the former that hasn’t already been covered before in every form of media out there. So, in this post I would like to talk about detoxing, which has taken an increased role over recent years as health and dieting has had increased coverage. While detoxing can obviously be done at any time, it seems to be quite common for people to make a determined effort during the new year, when no doubt the effects of an extravagant festive period are kicking in.

However, to get straight to the point there is little scientific evidence to suggest that detoxing really does what the name suggests, with the arguament being that the human body is a highly sophisticated detoxing system anyway. With that in mind detoxing for the start of the year, or for any small period of time, is not likely to yield any real benefits. In fact it could actually be harmful.

I hope to provide an alternative viewpoint in this post on how to adapt your life to a more managable detox plan as part of a long term health drive. If you have read my previous post about getting into the habit of something, you may understand that a sudden and sharp attempt to be more healthy and alter your diet will not likely yield long term results. For instance, you may have to immediately ditch certain unhealthy meals and snacks. As a result you will also have to make changes to the food in your fridge/freezer and perhaps even learn to cook something entirely different to what you are practiced at. That is so much immediate and unnecessary pressure to achieve your goal. You don’t have to be a martyr to healthy eating.

The alternative is a much more gradual approach with no particular time scale, thus bringing less pressure on yourself and giving you a chance to come to terms and adapt your life to it. With the new year, have an agreement (not a resolution) with yourself to make a conscious effort to start eating more healthily.

So what sort of action am I suggesting you take here? As an example I will use what you drink to emphasise the points. A lot of health solutions, in particular detoxes, often suggest cutting out tea, coffee and fizzy drinks. With aisles of teabags in every shop and Starbucks on every street corner is this really practical? Is it really desired? I know I like a good cup of tea after a hard day at work. So whats the alternative? Consider your other healthier choices such as water, fruit juices and smoothies; there is bound to be something there that you enjoy drinking. Make a conscious effort to choose something like that over the less healthy option. Alternatively give yourself a mini target. For instance, agree with yourself that rather than having that traditional coffee in the morning have some orange or apple juice. That may only be one less cup of coffee per day now, but as you come to terms with it and most importantly get into the habit of it, you can increase your personal targets. Eventually choosing healthy juices over coffee will seem the norm to you. It’s all about the small steps.

Junk food and drink is easy and readily available, hense it quickly becomes a habit to have it. You naturally end up going for those choices on the menu and you instinctively pick them up at the shops. But once you make these little steps towards a healthier diet it’s that process that starts to become your new habit and it instead becomes natural to choose a salad over a plate of chips or an orange juice over a coca cola.

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