6 Detox Tips that Won't Make You Crazy
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It’s January. Congratulate yourself. You’ve weathered another gut-busting season of Christmas tree-shaped sugar cookies, endless Champagne toasts, and fatty roasts. You may feel awful, but at least you’re still standing. Time for a detox!
We spoke with Christy Harrison, MPH, RD—a registered dietitian nutritionist, former editor of Gourmet.com, and creator of food and psychology podcast “Food Psych"—about ways to start feeling like your un-bloated self again.
"I do think people tend to overeat during the holidays, and maybe they get bloated and constipated and feel a little off," she told us. "Maybe they’ve been eating foods that leave their blood sugar spiked, like sweets or alcohol." However, Harrison warned that eating a lot of a single food—a ton of kale, or a juice "cleanse," for instance—isn’t just an unsustainable diet, it’s one apt to turn you into a seriously grumpy person.
Turns out Harrison isn’t a fan of the word “detox” at all. “[It’s] thrown around a lot, and that word, ‘toxins,’ really gets under my skin,” she said. There’s a lot of debate about what is and isn’t a toxin, and Harrison thinks some “detox” diets are misguided.
Instead, she suggested adhering to the following set of rules for year-long healthy living. And if you want a “detox,” only be militant about them for a month. No exercise belt required.
1. Eat the colors of the rainbow.
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You already know we’re into colorful food. The principle is especially valuable when applied to fruits and veggie; different colors signify different antioxidants and nutrients. Eating the rainbow not only ensures you’re consuming a good mix of foods, it also prevents the likelihood of you going bananas from eating grapefruit all the time.
"I think people look for ‘super foods’ and magic foods to detox," Harrison said. "But looking for a few specific foods that are going to help is kind of missing the point."
2. Go easy on the salt, but not too easy.
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If you’re bloated, it might be because of all the sodium in Aunt Selma’s famous cornbread and oyster stuffing. Lighten up on salt, but don’t banish the stuff entirely.
"That’s a whole other can of worms because it gets psychological," Harrison warned. "It makes food less palatable," and that makes sticking to a healthy diet less likely. She recommends that people consume around 1500 mg of sodium a day.
3. Reduce added sugars.
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We’re not just talking one spoonful of sugar in your morning coffee instead of two. Added sugar can lurk in unexpected places, like in the corn syrup sometimes added to deli meats (blech). Harrison suggested checking ingredient labels before chucking something in your shopping cart. Women should stick to fewer than 100 calories of added sugar a day, and men, fewer than 150.
4. Cut down on processed foods.
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Avoid the corn syrup–deli meat debacle entirely by steering clear of processed foods in general. Which leads us to our next suggestion…
5. Cook more at home.
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"The more you cook at home the better," Harrison stressed. "You’re never going to use as much butter as someone might in a restaurant."
6. Allow yourself some carbs.
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Ignore everyone telling you carbs are the devil, Harrison said. “That psychology component is an essential part of every diet,” she explained. “Carbohydrates help you produce serotonin,” the stuff that makes us feel good! “If you cut carbs, your serotonin levels can drop.”
Instead, Harrison suggested subbing in whole grains for white bread—although she’s cool with eating half a baguette now and then. “It’s so much more sustainable to eat that way,” she told us. “I am pro carb.”
Amen to that, sister. Amen to that.
