The BEST detox on the planet!

There’s so much talk about detoxing these days.

It seems like every time you turn around there’s a new 3-day cleanse, 21-day detox or some other such juice-fast nonsense. And we are totally enamored with them because we think they are the magic pill that will finally help us shed those stubborn few pounds, break our sugar addiction, or reset our eating habits so we can finally, finally adhere to the perfect diet and have the body we want.

Not to mention they promise to purge the rampant toxicity that apparently lives in our bodies and preys on our health like a pack of tiny vindictive gnomes. Seriously, sometimes I think these cleanses are about a step away from a good old-fashioned 19th century bloodletting – I mean, it’s about as pleasurable as one to exist on cayenne water and pressed cucumbers for days on end.

Do these things work? Sure, sometimes. Do they have value? It depends on your reason for doing it. But do they last? You tell me.

So many of the women I work with are enticed by these offers because they are desperate for a solution to their eating challenges. They are overwhelmed by all the conflicting nutritional information and they just want someone to tell them what to do. They want at least one experience of success. So they do the cleanse, they muscle through the deprivation, and then they end up right back where they started.

I’ve even done it myself! Once, after adhering to a strict cleanse of juicing, vegetable broths and chia seed pudding for several days, I celebrated with a huge Teppan-yaki steak dinner and 2 huge glasses of wine. Ever been there? Kinda cancels it all out, doesn’t it?

What many women don’t realize is that the REAL source of a great deal of our toxicity around diet, nutrition and weight is actually our THOUGHTS. And a lot of those thoughts come from some BIG FAT LIES that have been fed to us by the nutrition industry and by our culture in general, around what’s OK to eat and not to eat. Add to that the fact that when it comes to our nourishment, we give so much of our power to the “experts” rather than listening to our own innate body wisdom. (Cue the inner rebel who takes over and eats the whole bag of chips with her “damn the man” flag flying!)

Here’s where I really struggle to get on board with this cleanse craze: Anything that promotes stress, fear, rules, guilt, judgement and shame is toxic. (There’s actually physiologic evidence that this makes your body store weight!)

Anything that suggests you need to take desperate measures to “fix” something wrong about your body or your eating is toxic. Any strategy that is void of pleasure, based on deprivation and leaves you feeling like a willpower weakling is toxic. We do enough of that to ourselves already.

Here’s the deal: Eating should be fun. Eating should be pleasurable. And we should get to CHOOSE what we put in our bodies without shame, guilt or fear. We shouldn’t have to ask anyone else for permission.

The most important detox that needs to happen is around your RELATIONSHIP with food. It’s a lifelong relationship after all.

When you release the toxicity surrounding your relationship with food, not only does your body breathe a sigh of relief, you get to stop making promises to yourself that you can’t keep. You get to relax and be in charge of your own nourishment, you are able to tune into the wisdom of your body and naturally and effortlessly choose food and movement that supports you. You get to have pleasure. You no longer feel so damn hungry all the time. And you know what? You don’t need crazy cleanses because your body is already balanced. (Hint: You find that you mostly eat clean by choice because you value yourself!)

I think it’s time to get REAL about food and eating. It’s time to get REAL about the effects of stress and disempowerment on our metabolism. It’s time to get REAL about pleasure and our worthiness to enjoy it.

How cool would it be if you were free of struggle around food and in charge of your own nourishment in a totally empowered way? Leave a comment below and let me know what that would do for you.