HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU REALLY DETOX?
Spring is in the air and you’re ready for that fresh start. You’ve finally decided to make your health a priority… detox time! You fill your shopping cart with fresh fruits and vegetables and re-start your gym membership.
You are ready. It’s going to work this time. Aaand chances are it’s probably not.
That annual week-long juice cleanse and 1-2 months of sparse gym attendance are not going to reverse a year of sedentary lifestyle and give you enough energy to last the next 10+ months. This is because juice cleanses and forced gym memberships are not sustainable ways to detox.
If you want to support the detoxification of your body there are 4 things you need to focus on, the most important being timing. So how often should you really be detoxing? Quick answer: DAILY.
Does this mean that all short-term detoxes are a waste of time? No! Those 10-day healthy living challenges, 30 day whole foods programs or 2-week no sugar detoxes are actually really useful. This is because they create SMART goals, which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant/Realistic, and Timely and can help increase your likelihood of success!
The key with any short-term detox is to take something you learned and apply it after the detox ends – because it is what you do DAILY that matters.
These takeaways may be: removing sugar from your morning coffee, switching from cow to almond milk, or discovering 2-3 new nutrient-rich recipes to add to the rotation. The point is to keep doing it (even if its just one or two small changes). 7 days of clean eating followed by 358 days of sugar and sitting still will not create a less toxic life. It is the small, sustainable changes that will make a difference. When you detox daily you are constantly reducing the intake and supporting the elimination of toxins – creating a sustainably healthier life! So next time you do a detox pick at least one thing to continue. If not, you’ll likely be at the same place next spring.
