Have you ever completed a cleanse that made you feel fantastic, but after finishing it, you thought: “I don’t want to do that again!” I have. I recently participated in a 4-day cleanse event co-led by Tony Robbins and Anthony William, popularly known as the celery juice guy or medical medium. My friend (cleansing partner-in-crime) and I headed north to the family’s lakehouse with her minivan jammed full. We stuffed in rebounders, yoga mats, juicer, blender, spiralizer, steamer, loads of produce from Costco and Whole Foods, plus a few odds and ends from Amazon like Epsom salt and dry skin body brushes.
It was a lot. A lot of time, effort, money, and stuff to get the job done. If you’d like detox disciplined into your lifestyle without all the hassle of escaping to a lakehouse for four days, keep reading! I’m excited to share the problem with most cleanses and how you can incorporate regular detox into your busy lifestyle with ease.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF CLEANSES
Before I dive into the problems with most cleanses, perhaps you’re thinking, “Why should I put myself through such torture?” I hear ya. I, too, love food! Yet, health is balance – a balance of eating (working our digestive systems) and fasting (resting our digestive systems.) Fasting has been used therapeutically since Hippocrates in the 5th-century BCE. Though science is just catching up to measuring all its health benefits, including:
1. Fat Burning
Without accessible food, your body burns fat for energy.
2. Detoxification
As you burn fat, the fat cells release stored toxins – allowing your liver, kidneys, and other vital organs to finish up the detoxification process.
3. Cellular Renewal
Fasting kick-starts a process of cleaning up cellular debris and damaged cells to make way for newer, healthier cells.
health is balance – a balance of eating (working our digestive systems) and fasting (resting our digestive systems.)
MOST CLEANSES ARE ATTAINABLE, NOT SUSTAINABLE
To reap the health benefits of cleansing over the long run, you must do it regularly. The problem with most cleanses is they’re attainable but not sustainable. Yes, I can set aside four days. Yes, I can head into isolation, so I’m not around my regular eating friends and family. Yes, I can squeeze a lemon into my morning water, juice celery, blend fruit into a smoothie, and raw veggies into a soup. I can even spiralize cucumbers and squash for side dishes. But how often can I commit to cleansing this way? Every month? Once a quarter? Or just once a year? Everybody’s answer differs.
Multi-day cleanses give me great short-term results – energy, digestive ease, and restful sleep. I’m grateful they’re such a lifestyle interrupt, as they’ve provided great insight into my daily blindspots like caffeine dependency. But I struggle to repeat this style of detoxification frequently enough to sustain the health benefits over the long run. So instead, I rely on nutritionally supported intermittent fasting to cleanse my body.
To reap the health benefits of cleansing over the long run, you must do it regularly. The problem with most cleanses is they’re attainable but not sustainable.
CLEANSING AS A LIFESTYLE
If you’re not familiar with the term intermittent fasting, it’s simply an eating model where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. The two most common ways to practice intermittent fasting are Time-Restricted Feeding and Whole-Day Fasting.
With Time-Restricted Feeding, you eat eight hours a day and fast for the remaining 16 hours. So, for example, you’d break your fast with breakfast around 11 AM and finish dinner around 7 PM. For most people, that’s no big deal. You could start tomorrow (hint, hint!)
With Whole-Day Fasting, instead of breaking your fast with breakfast, you significantly reduce your caloric intake for one or two days back-to-back – up to four days a month. If you’re curious about whole-day fasting, join my next Live FREE 7-Day Reset. You’ll not only learn the proven strategy I follow, but I’ll also share the exact products I use. In addition, I’ll show you how to discipline detox into your lifestyle even when you’d rather go eat a bowl of ice cream or a bag of chips.
So there you have it! The problem with most cleanses are they’re attainable but not sustainable. You have to practice cleansing regularly to routinely burn fat, clean, and renew your cells. Tip-toe in with time-restricted feeding, then dive into deeper cleansing with whole-day fasting.
#WeAreInThisTogether for #HealthyChange
P.S. If you’re feeling resistance, know most people do. They lean into the discomfort fasting may bring and, therefore, never get started. Don’t let fear stop you! Discover 3 Reasons Most People Fail with Intermittent Fasting. You can do this! Allow me to guide you to the vibrant health results you desire.
About the Author: Dr. Sue
Sue McCreadie, MD (aka Dr. Sue), is a Pediatric Physician and Breakthrough Coach for Midlife Mamas. For over two decades, she’s helped thousands achieve vibrant health as a wellness expert. Bringing three daughters into this world, she lost four along the way, and crossed the pregnancy finish line a digestive–hormonal–emotional mess. But, over the following decade, she found a deeper meaning for miscarriages, reclaimed vibrant health, and grew emotional resiliency. Dr. Sue is obsessed with living her soulFULL purpose and helping other growth-minded Mamas do the same. She believes we are in this together to rise up, realize our dreams, and feel fulfilled in every facet of our lives.