Holdiday Cleansing? ...Mmm nope.

Disclaimer: I have no real background in the subject of diets and health, only my own experience and observations. These are my thoughts:

Somewhat ironically, I suppose, following the rant I posted last week I was taking my lunch break at work. Sitting in the lunchroom, not only eating the lunch I brought plus a side of the leftover bagels from the breakfast meeting that day, and feeling pretty good, I might add. Well the conversation inevitably turned to the holidays coming up. One coworker mentioned that she would be at the beach over the New Year and therefore wanted to diet before heading out in her bikini. All right legitimate, however—unable to keep my mouth shut, I still said my two cents, going on about the absurdity of dieting during the holidays. Okay, shut up.

Anyway, another girl chimed in to the conversation asking if we had ever done a cleanse diet. Here I am, thinking that she means eating maybe whole foods or raw foods, even possibly cutting out (here’s the reason why I could never do this) alcohol. But, no, she is talking about that cleanse that I had only heard rumors of—or seen something similar on Glee, perhaps—the water, lemon juice, honey, and cayenne pepper (Or something to that effect). This girl apparently had consumed that and only that for an entire 10 days (she mentioned she was supposed to do it for 40 but decided 10 would be enough). I’m sorry, excuse me—how did you not keel over at some point? Seriously? That can’t be good for your body.

Yes, I agree with her point that we can confuse hunger and thirst—so when we think we are hungry it often means we are thirsty. All right, drink a class of water with a snack. And I even agree (hope you’re not eating here) that everyone needs a good flush every now and again. Great. Eating some Fiber One or drinking a large cup of coffee often does the trick.

I will be the first one to say that we, as Americans, put a whole lot of CRAP in our bodies. Considering the processed, packaged, and preserved food that we consume on a daily basis—no, that is not going to do wonders for our hearts or blood pressure. However, eating this way with a periodic “cleanse” of a cayenne pepper-maple syrup infused drink, and then right back to the same diet, well, let’s just say, from a health stand point (with no scientific background, I may add) it seems a little … terrible for you.

Wouldn’t it be better to make a transition to eating more healthfully, switching to fresh foods rather than frozen dinners, for example? Or better yet, don’t WORRY about dieting and do that thing we call enjoy yourself in moderation and exercise. I don’t recommend eating only Big-Macs and running for miles after to make up for it—your body may or may not deteriorate after a while. You know though, if you really crave a Big-Mac at some point in time, I am a firm believer in indulging every once in while, for the sake of psychological health.

Do me a favor, one the holiday indulgence is done, please just go back to the regular diet–don’t cleanse for the month of January. By the time the spring rolls around, it will be as if the holiday binge never happened.