Is this totally ridiculous or what?
I keep seeing articles about detoxing before Thanksgiving so you can go all out on the day without guilt.
That’s sheer lunacy. What a way to treat your poor body! People who suggest detoxing so you can retox give detox a bad name.
That’s the sort of thing you see model Kate Moss doing after she’s been to the Turkish detox spa that she seems to visit regularly. She always seems to get caught downing alcohol at the airport on her way home!
The whole idea of detoxing is to get rid of toxic chemicals from your body so your cells can function better. You aim to flood your body with the nutrients needed by the detox system to function efficiently.
We keep hearing the quack busters saying that our bodies don’t need any help to detox because we have a liver and kidneys that do it every day.
Well, that’s true to a certain extent. They can probably cope with the day to day toxins that our cells produce as a result of normal function but our livers can become overloaded with the sheer amount of chemicals that we are bombarded with every day from the air we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat to the products we put on our skins.
Scientists have shown that when the detox system can’t cope the toxic chemicals get stored in our tissues where they can damage cells and cause disease. These are the toxins we want to encourage to leave our bodies by boosting liver detox.
Not everyone has efficient detox pathways. If you lack certain nutrients or have a genetic variation your detox system may be sluggish.
Doing a detox so you can go and pigout afterwards is just sheer madness. People who suggest this are just showing their ignorance about what detox is and have no respect for their bodies or health.
Many people do a detox to kickstart a healthy eating plan and there is nothing wrong with that. Starting a gentle detox now can help you stay on track during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
I say gentle because I saw on article about starting Post-Thanksgiving Detox before Thankgiving ( work that one out!) and the advice was no dairy, gluten, or sugar, with a diet consisting of 75% plants, 25% protein. Coffee was allowed and so was alcohol but only 2 glasses a week.
I don’t advise doing this when there is just a week to go before Thanksgiving. If your normal diet includes a lot of gluten and sugar and you go cold turkey you will very likely get bad withdrawal symptoms just in time for Thanksgiving. You don’t want that do you?
By all means start to cut down on sugar but only very gradually. Drinking green smoothies in the mornings can help with cravings. If you are getting stressed with the lead up to the holidays try these Anti-Stress Green Smoothies.
For something more filling try a smoothie bowl.
Adding nutrient-rich items like green smoothies and smoothie bowls to your daily routine in the days leading up to Thanksgiving can help you stay on track during the holidays.
My post about How To Eat Healthy Over The Holidays will give you some more tips.
And for some healthy Thankgiving recipes see this post.
According to one nutritionist when you start a cleanse or detox you start to prime your brain so that by the time Thanksgiving comes around, it’s simply a meal.
The infographic below compares a typical Thanksgiving dinner of nearly 2200 calories to a more health-conscious version that is less than 900 calories. A bit of an eye opener isn’t it?
So, what do you think? Will you be detoxing before Thanksgiving?
Book by Jennifer & Victoria Traig
Hey Sandy,
I don’t celebrate Thanks Giving, but this would be good advice for over Christmas as well. I have to say I get really annoyed when so called experts are selling themselves short by telling people what they want to hear rather than the truth. The credibility is shot as far as I am concerned.
When reading the infographics I was I really happy with the alternative. However I do I have just one complaint and may one compromise. Can I give up the glass of wine and add the cream. I will walk in the morning, stand, do dishes and even wrestle with the kids, but I know that pie is coming with cream. Great post Sandy.
Can I just say Sandy something is happening to me since I have started reading your posts. I have really started thinking about food. I have cut down dramatically on meat and fish (in fact I am having a crisis even thinking about putting them on my shopping list). So whatever it is you are doing Sandy keep it up – because I am benefiting – I kid you not.
Rachel.
Hey Rachel,
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK of course either but you are right, the advice goes for Christmas as well. I don’t see why you couldn’t trade a glass of wine for cream. Organic cream is best of course because cream made from milk from intensively reared cattle can contain pesticide and other chemical residues.
So glad to hear you are benefitting from my posts. That sort of comment is what makes it worthwhile for me.
Good health.
Sandy