The ABCs of Detoxing & Choosing the Right Detox for You

What is a Detox?

Detoxing has come to be such a romantic word, despite connections with purging, excretion, and withdrawl. As a 123FeelBetter advisor, I have to say, the romantic moments of detoxification stem from the amazing clarity you can experience while detoxing. The less your body relies on the toxic and addictive the more your thoughts switch from erratic anxiety monkey to light and limber bird. A friend describes it in her detoxing blog as follows: “The world moves quickly around me, and I watch it from a place of light and joyous stillness.”

A detox fast or a detox diet attempts to help eliminate toxins from our lives. Toxic things or activities are easy to spot, here’s how: They cause harm! The goal of a detoxing is to eliminate these toxins and toxic habits. Detoxing can be a valuable emotional and spiritual wellness tool, as they have the capacity to reset our bodies and can help us get back on the right path.

This article will talk about important things to consider when choosing a detox plan, highlight benefits of detoxification, and give some helpful hints about choosing the right detoxification plan for you.

Motivations for Detoxing:

Before you go on to read about what we think your motivations should be, take a minute and think about yours actually are. Why are you thinking about detoxing? Take a second and think about this. This is perhaps the most important part of the whole process.

Did your motivation sound like one of these:

- “I want to lose weight.”
- “I want a fast way to slim down before I fit into my bathing suit.”
- “I’m deciding whether or not to finish the pizza box.”
- “I’m afraid of an infomercial that told me I was filled with toxins!”

If you are saying one of these things to yourself, consider whether or not you are reinforcing positive or negative patterns of thought. Weight loss can be a great thing for your body and self-esteem, but when controlling your weight becomes an obsession, it becomes yet another toxic activity. Does your decision about detox imply that you are for some reason inadequate right now?

A detox shouldn’t be a punishment. Detoxing is attempting to rid ourselves of toxic foods and toxic behavior. Detoxing to make up for a cupcake binge, therefore, is simply reinforcing toxic yo-yo dieting and punishing behavior. Don’t feel bad. We all think about it when we over do it, but instead of putting your body through a shocking and metabolism slowing process, consider some alternatives.

Life is about balance and about moderation. You are an amazing soul no matter where you are on your journey. Be kind to yourself, and if you pursue a detox, ensure there is a self-affirmation or a humbling goal behind your motivations.

1) Write your uncensored motivations.
2) Review and assess these motivations.
3) Reword and restructure any negative statements that reinforce toxic behavior.

The Emotional and Spiritual Value of Detoxing & Fasting:

Detoxes can be valuable parts of our yearly lives, especially if surrounded by healthy eating patterns and exercise choices. Two of the most important detoxing lessons are self- discipline and a better understanding of self. These are facets of a spiritual and emotional wellness.

Detoxes can also be excellent ways to engage in healthy self-discipline, if your motivations are healthy. If you are someone who wakes up at 6am to run, and thus has a fair share of self-discipline, you don't need the detox to help you with this aspect of your life. In fact, I'd vote for less planning. If, however, you practice very little self-discipline, this can be an excellent way to strengthen your will power.

When we change our daily food intake, or restrict ourselves from indulging certain habits, we begin to see the source of the habit. How many of us eat when we are thirsty? Eat when others are eating even though we aren’t hungry? Eat when we are depressed or bored? These can be toxic habits. Detoxes help us identify our bodies signals, see where we are mixing up the process. This is a better understanding of self.

Detoxing for Weight Loss:

Detoxing is not for everyone, and it is not a sustainable method of weight loss. Long term fasting actually slows metabolic activity, making it more likely you will gain the weight back once you stop.

For those who want to lose weight, detoxing has helped many decrease in size, but not alone. Temporarily, most detoxes include a rapid decrease in water weight and often a decrease in metabolic rates, which will decrease weight during the detox. A detox can help us recognize the difference in our bodies signals, helping us to change our life patterns. Unless we learn to change our toxic habits, we will not make the changes in our lifestyle that will result in weight loss.

As all the experts say, being active and lowering caloric intake are the two ways to lose weight and keep it off. They aren’t lying. If you are looking for a quick way to loose weight, try eating less and working out more.

Health Concerns with Detoxing

There are also chances that long-term detoxing can harm your heart, liver and kidneys, due to the lack of protein ingested. Contact your doctor before starting a detox treatment.

Here are some things to watch out for:

- Detoxing can deplete the body of valuable nutrients, so for those under 25, whose bone mass is still growing and changing, carefully consider how restriction of these foods might affect your body for the rest of your life.

- Detoxing may be unsafe for people with certain health conditions.

- Detoxing can relapse people who have survived eating disorders. It can also encourage eating disorders or laxative abuse for some. If you consider this a risk you fit into, consider not detoxing. If you feel you must, keep your detoxes very short, never over three days, and try to do detoxes that are full of caloric intake, insuring that it is not about weight loss, but about healthy de-toxifying practices.

What types of Detoxes are there?

There are many types of detox diets. At 123FeelBetter we don’t advocate any one, as we know each body is different, and not all people should engage in supplemental detoxes at all.

If you do chose to detox, your style choice should correlate to your personal goals we mentioned before. If your goal is to stop drinking caffeine, simply detox by cutting caffeine out of your diet. Give yourself a time period to help make it through the cravings (e.g. five days). Notice the changes in your body over these days.

If you goal is to give your intestines a much needed break, consider fasting for one day. In many religions, fasting is a powerful way to reconnect with your spiritual self. Fasting for one day a week or month can be an active way to invigorate your desire for food and to remind you of you body’s physical messages.

For those who want a more long term flush, perhaps a mono-diet will better suit you. An example of one mono-diet would be eating only rice and drinking only water for 10 days. This process relaxes the stomach and intestines from secreting various chemicals to break down different foods.

Popular detox options include the cabbage soup detox, the fruit and vegetable juice detox, and the lemonade diet, aka the Master Cleanse. There are also detoxes that use supplements and teas alongside your normal diet. Pre-created detoxing plans provide a road map for us to follow as we figure our own bodies out. They are not suitable for everyone, however, so be open to changing some of the rules to better fit your motivations.

Remember detoxes are meant to be short term programs to help you examine and potentially re-balance your intake choices. Unless your spiritual path requires you detox for a long period of time, make it a short-term endeavors. Make sure to contact your physician if you have health concerns or conditions. Feel free to ask and contribute to our forums as well.