Should you detox to get more energy?
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet, Seasonal Health and Q & A Thursday
Imagine if you stopped drinking alcohol, ate well balanced meals, cut out junk food, drank lots of water and went to bed early.
Hands up who doesn’t think they’d feel better and have more energy?
If you eat well and look after yourself, you will feel better. You will have more energy. Those black circles under your eyes will disappear. Your skin will be clearer.
But feeling good and having lots of energy, is not rocket science. It’s not magic. And you don’t need a detox to attain it.
I’m a huge fan of eating and living well, but I hate detoxes.
There are no quick-fixes
Detoxes promise much. The rationale is, if you follow the strict diet, drink certain liquids and take specific supplements, your body will be cleansed of it’s toxicity. Plus you’ll lose kilos of weight.
Most people are struggling with too little energy and feeling below par. Detoxes are attractive, because they offer a quick-fix. They promise much, for only a short period of commitment – it seems perfect for our modern lives. Moreover, most people do feel better after a detox.
However, the effect of most detox plans are rarely long-lasting. After the five or ten day programme, you return to your normal way of eating. The weight goes back on and you feel like rubbish again.
A five or ten day programme is not the answer. It’s not going to cure your lack of energy, keep you at a healthy weight, or cure your tiredness. Health is just not like that. Health rarely has quick-fixes that work.
The truth is much more boring
The real answer to the question of how to have more energy and feel good, is much more simple. It’s also much more boring and much less spectacular. Eating well, getting plenty of sleep, cutting back on alcohol, managing your stress – these are the guaranteed ways to feel better long-term.
These are not quick-fixes. It’s harder to do this long-term. However, if you want more energy and better health long-term, this is what you need to do.
You don’t need a detox, but you do need a healthy diet.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a weekly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered, then leave a comment or send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
25 October, 2007
Comments
Thankyou for the sanity!
No worries Joanne – keep on doing your normal good diet work and ditch the detoxes.
Well, there goes that theory!
I was just thinking about detoxes today; how they are a buzz-word and all too easy to be conned into. As Joanne said, thank you for the sanity! (Exactly why I come here anyway…).
Great post! I looked into detoxes a while back, but just couldn’t find any info I deemed credible in support of them. Perhaps it’s because they’re just not particularly useful…
Detoxes are everywhere. Celebrities endorse them, there are books about them, they’re all over the internet. As I said, it’s an attractive solution. We all love quick-fixes. I’ve been guilty of that myself, having done a couple of detoxes many years ago.
You’re much better to concentrate on what you’re doing every day. Forget the 10 day answer to all your problems, it’s an illusion. Work on your daily diet, making that better and better.
Glad to hear you’re all resisting the call to detox!
Great post as always, Kathryn.
Is it a personal preference? Because I thought most naturopaths were in favour of short, supervised detoxes (followed by a longer term plan of healthy eating). Any thoughts on this?
Fiona, I think the naturopathic community is split on this one. You’re right, some do use short, supervised detoxes as part of the treatment plan. Fasts are rarely used. The detoxes tend to include basic foodstuffs, along with a herbal and supplement regime.
I can see the value of this approach. You get the client on a specific eating plan, that includes lots of vegetables and water. The herbs and supplements can improve nutrition, digestion and so on. It means the client starts feeling better quickly.
However, I still don’t see that as being down to a big detoxificaiton process. The client is eating better food and they’re taking more care of themselves. The supplement regime makes up for nutritional deficiencys, while the herbal medicines are acting in a number of other ways. Of course the person is going to feel better.
The long-term trick is of course, still to get that person eating and living well long-term.
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