For a clinical dietitian like me, the end of November through New Year’s Day is the annual calm before the storm. As you might imagine, not too many people are eager to talk to a nutritionist about their eating habits during this time. But health and weight-related New Year’s resolutions are as predictable as the rising sun, and come January 2, my schedule will be packed solid once again.
Just as predictable is talk about “detoxing.” And to be honest, that word makes me cringe.
There are very few legitimate uses for the term “detox,” and unless you overdosed on Tylenol or are checking in to a substance abuse clinic to address a drug or alcohol problem, chances are, you need not be using it. I get that many people don’t use the term literally, but rather as shorthand for a desire to clean up their inner act, but the word underlies a mentality that I see as fueling a national eating disorder that surely does more harm than good.
[See: 8 Resolutions Health Professionals Want You to Make.]
For one, the concept of “detoxing” with punishing, restrictive diet regimens fuels food fear-mongering by characterizing imbalanced diets as acutely poisonous. To be sure, a diet heavily based on white bread and cheese isn’t going to promote good health outcomes, but that’s a far cry from saying that gluten and dairy themselves are somehow “toxic” — as in, poisonous to your cells and causing them to die.
Words matter. I’ve seen this careless characterization of regular foods as “toxins” infiltrate the psyche of countless patients and, in some cases, it has caused serious and lasting damage. You may look at a diet regimen like, say, the Whole 30, and think there couldn’t possibly be any harm in promoting home-cooked, unprocessed foods and avoiding sugar. But when a fad diet lumps entire categories of nutrient-dense, whole foods like whole grains, beans, dairy and peanuts into the “inflammatory” bucket, it does not necessarily have a healthy impact on one’s relationship with food. I’ve seen more than one patient emerge from this particular “clean eating” program — and others similar to it — with full-blown eating disorders. The plan destroyed their once-comfortable relationship with food and turned it into one fraught with guilt, fear and excessive restriction.
[See: 6 Darn Good Reasons to Eat Sugar and Not Apologize for It.]
Then, there are the downright dangerous “detox” supplement regimens — expensive protocols involving up to dozens of poorly-regulated herbals, high-dose minerals and vitamins, and plant extracts with no established safety testing. These regimens promise to “detox” your liver, “purify your blood,” provide “adrenal support” and “heal your gut” from the purported damage of holiday indulgences. With this purifying positioning, it can be hard to reconcile the reality that dietary supplements themselves are far more likely to damage your liver than a month-long bender of pumpkin spice drinks and Christmas cookies. One in every 5 cases of acute liver toxicity — or, ironically, poisoning your body’s most essential detoxification organ — is caused by dietary supplements. I’ve seen it happen to many previously healthy patients who’ve come to me on regimens of dozens of medically unnecessary supplements prescribed by alternative health practitioners.
The best way to support your body’s built-in detoxification organs is to lay off the alcohol, avoid taking any medically unnecessary pills, eat a high-fiber diet and drink plenty of water.
If January 1 is a time when we all naturally start focusing on our health goals for the year, why not try to detoxify your relationship with food as a path to long-term health? By doing so, you may find you’re able to improve your eating habits for the long term, and weather the holiday season with less wear and tear in years to come.
Instead of an extreme fad diet or risky supplement regimen, I suggest you consider adopting one of the following mentally detoxifying New Year’s resolutions instead:
— I resolve to shift away from ricocheting between all-or-nothing diet regimens, and relearn how to eat like a sane person. Instead of buying into a fad diet, I’ll read a well-researched book like “Intuitive Eating,” “The Blue Zones” or “Disease-Proof” that helps me understand what it looks like to approach eating in a sensible, balanced way.
— I resolve to stop seeking salvation in sketchy pills, powders and potions, and to nourish my body with nutrient-dense plant foods instead. To do so, my goal is to eat at least 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables per day in the new year. If any individual tries to tell me that eating fruit isn’t healthy because it has too much sugar, I resolve to stick my fingers in my ears and start shouting “la la la la la” repeatedly until he or she goes away.
[See: 8 Food Trends Nutrition Experts Pray Will Never Return.]
— I resolve not to scapegoat any single food, ingredient or naturally-occurring food compound as the source of all health ills because I understand that optimal health results from eating a diverse diet rich in a variety of nutrients, not a highly restrictive diet based on a narrow subset of them. I promise to run screaming from any bookstore, website, colleague or friend in whose presence I am assaulted with fear-mongering “facts” related to any of (but not limited to) the following: gluten, dairy, grains, carbs, legumes, “lectins,” “phytates,” “nightshades,” soy or GMOs.
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The Only Detox You Really Need This Season originally appeared on usnews.com
