Try these alternatives instead of doing a detox

Now we all know that New Year’s “detox” and “reboots” don’t detox or reinitialize anything. Depending on which one you choose, they are unsustainable diets or pure pseudoscience– often a mixture of both. And yet, they still appeal.

A “detox” in 2021 can be worth a week of smoothies and juices, usually guided by a guru who makes great promises about how amazing you will feel after spending a week drinking what you bought from them. Or it can be a challenge to eliminate certain foods from your diet – without sugar, for example. Whatever the mechanics, all of these restrictive diets are considered self-care.

So, let’s take a look at the reasons why people keep coming back for diet restarts and vitamin cleanings. Their marketing (even if it doesn’t look like marketing) definitely fulfills some requirements for the things we want in our life: a sense of control, for example, or an antidote to the end of the holiday season. But there are ways to work towards these goals without starving.

If you want more energy

The increase in “energy” is often presented as an effect of detox diets, and it is true that some people experience a feeling of greater concentration when they have not eaten in a while. (People who practice intermittent fasting love to talk about it.) But it is a temporary state, if it occurs, and it goes hand in hand with less pleasant states of mind. People who undergo a detox or reboot usually say that they felt good, but on the next breath, they will say things like “it was very difficult, but I got over it”.

For a more realistic way to get more energy, see what may be making you feel tired. Extreme fatigue must be checked by a medical professional, but “low energy” can often be corrected with one of the following:

• Sleep more and sleep better. Give yourself an early bedtime, a consistent time to wake up, and practice good sleep hygiene, such as without screens or alcohol before bed.
• Make sure you eat enough. If you are constantly on a diet, or if the foods you eat do not eat a well-balanced diet, just eating better (more protein, more vegetables) can help you perceive energy levels.
• Check your mental health. Depression, anxiety and other conditions can cause what appears to be a lack of energy. Have you been under a lot of stress lately? You finally need find a therapist?

If you feel disgusting or guilty for what you’ve been eating lately

All December celebrations usually leave us entering January ready to fix our food and habits. If you have been drinking a lot, reducing may seem very attractive; and if you’ve been eating a lot of Christmas treats, a minimalist diet probably appeals just as well.

But the truth is that some indulgent meals are no big deal in the long run. You do not have to swing the pendulum in the other direction by cutting whole groups of food. Try one of these instead:

• Just get back to normal. The Christmas cookies are gone (or you can feed them to your dog and freeze them for later, whatever you want). You don’t have to eat anything you don’t want.
• Find a sustainable way to eat better. What is the small change you could make to improve your diet? Perhaps this is to guarantee an extra serving of vegetables at each meal or find some recipes that you enjoy cooking.

If you want to hydrate better

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

The cool thing is that you can drink more water – or get more fluids however you want –without depriving yourself of food. Just add the liquids.

• Drink more water. That’s it, this is the hack.
• Hydrate your skin. Do you know how people say your skin looks amazing when you are well hydrated? A moisturizer also does this and does an even better job of moisturizing the outer layers of the skin.

If you like the idea that someone else is making the decisions

Ready-made detox kits are popular in part because you get a box of everything you need to eat that week. Letting someone else make your decisions and make your purchases is admittedly an enormous amount of mental work taken from your plate.

But you can also do this with real food.

• Learn to plan and prepare your meals. Yes, it takes more work on a weekday, but you can take your meals out of the fridge all week without thinking about them. If you live with a partner or roommate, you can even negotiate the task every week.
• Place your order at a meal delivery service. Homemade chef, Trifectaand Recently, to name a few, will send you real food for a week for less than the cost of many fresh fruit detox.

If you desperately want to be thin

It is a pity that many people who say that a detox is just to “feel better” still take pictures of before and after or write down their weight on the scale. If you expect to lose weight during a short-term diet reset, you can. But it will backfire.

Rapid weight loss, caused by a large caloric deficit, is not just fat loss. One part is muscle loss, which affects your health. And a good part of that, especially on a low-carb diet, is usually the weight of water. The amount of water we keep in our bodies varies from day to day and is partly determined by the 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 weight; but as soon as you eat a carbohydrate-rich meal or two, it comes right back.

Even though there is a little excitement about losing weight in the short term, it is more than compensated (for most people) by the immediate recovery. So a detox isn’t really helping you here. Better to try one of these:

• Find a diet that allows for slow, steady weight loss. there is no “better” diet for that, but you can choose one of the many eating patterns that make it easier to eat a little less calories than you burn. If you have health problems, talk to your doctor or nutritionist about the best way to deal with them through your diet.
• Or just not. There is no law saying that you need to lose weight just because it is January, or really for any reason.

If you just want a ritual that gives you a sense of control

Often, the most worthy part of Instagram for a detox is a dose of a glass of juice, smoothie or lemon near a window on a quiet morning. Don’t you see that and want to be there, in that moment, enjoying a small ritual of self-care?

Well, like hydration, this 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: on here and on here and on here, for starters.
• Build a ritual that doesn’t revolve around food. Maybe you can take journaling, meditating, or other activity that is meaningful to you.

If all your friends are doing this

Honestly, I think that sometimes we do a self-improvement project not because of an inner desire, but because our friends or favorite celebrities are doing it. I myself admit that I fell into that trap, and I am not even convinced that it is a trap. I did things under pressure from colleagues that I might not have tried otherwise; sometimes I am happy to have done this, and other times I have learned the hard way that something is not for me.

Again, you can find a community without getting involved in the specific act of restricting your diet. Try an exercise-based challenge or find an online community that revolves around a hobby you already enjoy or want to learn.

The bottom line is that replacing food with smoothies is not the only way, not even the best, to get in touch with your body and mental health. It can actually be quite a terrible way. So find out what you really you want and take smart steps to get the experience you really want.