I was just introduced to blab – the new social media option for video chat sessions. It is actually really fun and I can have conversations with people I don’t know anywhere in the country! I did my first blab this week and I had the question asked “How often should I do a detox?” And it really depends on who you ask.
In Chinese Medicine and Aruyvedic medicine, it is suggested that one should cleanse or detox with every change of season. Now this sounds reasonable to me in a way. But if you are doing a detox or cleanse, shouldn’t you learn how to eat better each time, then not really need to keep doing a cleanse four times a year? At least that is my thought on the topic. I know I started to do the 2 Week Detox Plan 4 years ago and started in January – right after the holidays which is a great time for many. You spend a few weeks, maybe months eating a few more sweets and treats due to the holidays. You feel sluggish, bloated and foggy-brained. January is always a great time to do a detox. The second time I did the Detox Plan For Athletes having learned a few things from the first one I did, and being an athlete, I needed more protein and a proper recovery meal to make the plan work better. I did this second one in June. And I was training and racing at that time, so the plan did help me get down to race weight, but I had to modify the original 2 Week Detox Plan to what is now the Detox Plan for Athletes.
The second time I would suggest a cleanse if you did not do one in January is sometime in the spring – like April or May. Or maybe wait until June just before summer. The third time I would suggest starting a cleanse is in the fall, just after Labor Day. So that is really 3 times in a year I would suggest trying a cleanse. But I know for me, once I did the cleanse in January, then again in June, I basically had modified my diet from that point on to be on a modified detox plan. So I really don’t eat the things I once ate before the first detox plan I did.
I believe of a good detox plan changes the way you eat, so you don’t need to continue doing them several times a year. It should not be a 2 week program with just taking supplements, yet you do nothing else with your diet. This can be actually dangerous as you never really know how the body will react with the supplements! If you didn’t have to change anything in your diet, then how does this help you in the long run? You still eat junk, you still tax the liver and your whole digestive tract including the intestines. My Detox Plan suggests supplements, but it is a real food based program to help you add foods that help the body naturally detoxify, and help you stop putting in the junk food that is making your system run sluggishly. Kind of like a car that needs a tune-up – put in better fuel, the engine works better. I wrote a blog on that, too!
After that first year, I do the Detox Plan for Athletes maybe once a year. It becomes a choice for each person as to how they want to eat. But the Detox Plan for Athletes is designed to help jump start your eating into healthier options that you can do every day. There are sample menus, a grocery list, over 70 recipes including desserts! Anyone can do the Detox Plan for Athletes, not just athletes. It can be done any time of the year, and it can be done several times in a year. How often you do it a detox is up to you.
The Detox Plan for Athletes will change the way you eat, so you won’t have to do the detox plan several times per year. How often should you detox? At least once in your life!