Thinking about doing a detox of the first time? Read this before you decide detox is a good idea.
When a friend suggested I join her on a 10-day detox, it sounded so simple and good for me. Drink two shakes each day and eat one meal. Avoid sugar (which included my beloved dark chocolate), cheese and dairy, and alcohol. My husband is importing wines from small boutique vineyards in other countries. You can imagine that wine is a staple in our diet. It was only ten days and it would be good for me.
It’s true. A detox is generally considered good for your body. It’s what I didn’t know about the experience of detox that made my husband insist that I never do it again. And it wasn’t until during my detox that I finally studied the pros and cons. Here’s what I now know is important to consider before: Could NO or NOT RIGHT NOW be the right answer?
1)First of all, check with your doctor. A dietary detox has side effects. Make sure you and your body are ready for this. In my case, my doctor had been recommending a detox for me so I knew it was a good thing to do.
2) If this your first experience with a detox? If so, make sure you ‘know before you go’. Now Google and the internet can scare you about just about anything. However, reading a few articles about symptoms associated with a dietary detox before you begin is beneficial. If you’re like me I did not; I simply wasn’t prepared for the shock, the almost devastating impact. It’s not that we shouldn’t detox; it’s that it’s good to be prepared.And I didn’t because I consider myself a pretty healthy 65-year-old. I’ve been drinking green juice for years. I start each day with hot lemon water. I do yoga, have acupuncture treatments, get massages; I work out. My husband says I could retire on what I’ve spent on supplements and he’s probably right. I don’t drink soda. My husband and I normally eat a Paleo-oriented diet. I thought I was doing so many right things that this 10-day period would not be much of a challenge
Admittedly, I have some food challenges. Red wine (which is sort of good for you) and dark chocolate to which I have had an addiction for years. I eat it if something bad is happening; I use it to celebrate when good things are going on. There’s no time when chocolate is not called for. I wonder if the inordinate amounts I can eat have any historical components. My mother would take the four of us children (all of whom she had born in less than six years) in a shopping cart to the grocery store and head straight to the candy aisle which she would pick up a box of chocolate-covered peanuts and chocolate stars and consume them during the shopping excursion. I don’t blame her; but I do think my relationship with chocolate as a soothing food is very old.
In summary if you’ve never gone through a detox before, I’d say study before you begin. Know what happens during a detox. (Of course, be sure to consult with your doctor—mine had recommended it)
3) Clear your calendar as much as possible for about double the time of the detox. In my case that would have been twenty days because after the ten-day detox, I needed time to recover. Make sure these are not going to be busy, hectic days because you might not feel up to much. If you have a job and must be working, fine. Just know what you are about to experience. If you can take a few days off, even better.
About four days into the detox which until then had felt so easy and good for me, I suddenly felt like I had the flu—and I never get the flu. Everyone around me can drop like flies in flu season—I don’t—or didn’t. I give my ‘healthy’ diet the credit. So, I, who didn’t get sick; who never ran a fever or suffered through the flu was devastated. I started running a fever, I had chills and I hurt all over. I also developed a cold! Why was this happening to me? OK GOOGLE. That’s when I decided to study detox.
It was actually reassuring to learn that these were normal detox effects. It’s just that if I’d studied before starting the detox I would have been better prepared. And I might have considered my schedule more carefully. I’m a busy career woman and it was brutal trying to keep up with my work load. I’d suggest you cut yourself some slack because you might need it. If I ever do this again, I’m going to a detox facility where they pamper you while your body is releasing years of toxins.
Remember my detox was to release old and perhaps bad junk out of my diet. It had nothing to do with drugs or alcohol rehab, although giving up red wine for ten days surely contributed to my symptoms. As the book ‘Food As Medicine’ suggest, food influences the chemistry of your body so if you suddenly stop something, your body might get more than a little upset until it adjusts. And as one article I read explained, it’s not you that is detoxing—it’s your body doing what a body does when it’s deprived of something suddenly and gets marching orders for new eating habits.
In summary, if you’re like me and you think this is no big deal so you’re detoxing at home, think again. At least reassure those close to you that when you collapse into bed with body aches, chills, and fever or other issues that these are signs that your body is relieving itself of toxins or you’re extremely crabby, that it’s a good thing. They might not believe you so be sure you have a good support team as back-up. You might want lots of sympathy and sometime immediate family is not your go to.
4) We are body, mind and spirit so if we think we are only going to detox our physical selves, we might be surprised when emotional issues show up. That’s what happened to me. WHAMO. For instance, if you have tendencies toward low self-worth, anxiety, the need to control everything, unresolved anger, and so on during your normal life—if you are prone to this or that, it could flare up during detox. (If you’re on medication, follow doctor’s orders. This is not drug rehab). Irritability is a common symptom and other issues might show up. If you don’t think food affects your emotions, do a detox and see what happens. (Actually, don’t do that but I rest my case for myself.) Of course, you’re irritable and cranky.
But we can’t separate ourselves into neat little compartments. Here’s the most shocking thing I learned. Emotional issues are likely to take advantage of your weakened condition and break through otherwise strong defenses. Imagine my surprised when a long past issue came back to me with such force that I knew I had to deal with it and that’s no fun if your brain is foggy; you won’t be a sharp as you normally are and suddenly something becomes an issue that really isn’t normally an issue except that now that you’re feeling so poorly, there it is.
In my case, I was hit broadside by something that normally I could have ignored. Maybe it was actually a head-on collision. But oh, I so needed to see it and resolve it; sort of like a gift wrapped in razor blades. I could go into details here but suffice it to say that I had to work it on a much deeper level than I ever had in the past and now I believe it’s finally released.
I could have said, “Oh, I’m not really sensitive about that—it’s just this detox.” I choose not to take that approach. If it shows up, it wants my attention.
Allow whatever emotional issue you experience to be there and be very loving toward yourself because along with getting rid of body toxins, your inner being is dumping these types of feelings because it can. I believe that’s why so many of us feel like a million bucks after the detox—because we’ve gotten rid of the nasty stuff we’ve been carrying around, physical and emotional. (I’m not at the million bucks stage yet).
5) Have a good support system. During detox I saw a psychologist for the mental/emotional stuff. I had cranial sacral work. I visited my chiropractor and had a massage. All of this is helpful. Take care of yourself! I am not suggesting any of these practices for others. However, these have been helpful to me
6) Drink lots of water. Some resources suggest you drink half of your body weight in ounces of water daily. If you weigh 140 pounds, that’s 70 ounces of water each day. Water moves the toxins out of your system more quickly so that theoretically you won’t feel quite so bad for quite so long. Aren’t we advised to do that anyway? I am being much more conscientious about that now.
7) Once the detox period ended, it’s wasn’t like I could go right back to eating as I had in the past. I’m still drinking lots of water, using the same greens and smoothie recipes, sipping bone broth, and taking my whole food supplements. I’m not exactly sure how my diet will be affected in the long term. I’d love to celebrate with a glass of wine and a couple of pieces of chocolate but right now my body isn’t interested so apple cider vinegar tea with honey will have to do.
And at the end of this experience I care even more now about what I put into my body and I know what to expect if I choose to detox again. Will I go ever do that? Not if my husband has anything to say about it. Maybe an occasional fasting day will suffice but here’s what I’m sure of: if I do, I’m going to a spa and leaving my husband at home.
Vivian!
Vivian Probst is a national business consultant to the affordable housing industry, author of two books, and definitely not an expert in health care. She writes to share her experience in case it helps anyone else. Visit her at vivianprobst.com. And if you’re thinking of detoxing, talk to your doctor first.