Detox! Cleanse! Lose weight!!!

Two (or three) days of Shabbos and Yom Tov can sometimes feel like we’ve GOT to do something QUICK to fit back into our clothes and feel better about ourselves. We’ve all heard of detoxes and cleanses that promise that you’ll lose inches in no time.

Are you excited to hear which detox I’ve decided to do? I can’t wait to share the details with you.

A detox or cleanse may indeed be a way to lose some weight quickly.

But at what expense?

There’s something that gets overlooked with detoxes and the like.

They’re just another form of dieting.

And dieting just leads to: more stress, binge-eating, and the seemingly never ending guilt.

They’re stressful because they force you to be preoccupied with measurements, weights, and rules.

They lead to binge-eating, because when they’re finished or no one’s looking, you indulge in your favorite treats because you feel deprived.

Then you feel guilty because you did something “wrong” or ate the “wrong” thing or wonder if there’s something wrong with you because you bounced back up to your “regular” weight.

And that’s supposed to be good for you?!

What if there was a better way? A way that didn’t come with all those costs to your physical and emotional health.

What if…you could just…

Slide back into your normal routine?

I mean things like…

Going to sleep on time. Eating regularly throughout the day. Moving your body through exercise in a way that feels good to you.

These are the sorts of things that are fall out of balance during Yom Tov, especially on these long summer days. We start off with a late meal, and then have some family members staying up all night. This somehow throws everyone off schedule, with sleeping on an erratic schedule. Meals aren’t “on time”, and they tend to be heavier for that extra bit of Oneg. Once we’re finished eating, we’re ready for another nap! And the cycle continues.

But you know what? In between all that “off scheduled-ness”, we have the potential to reach amazing spiritual heights. To bond with our families. To create lasting memories.

So we overeat for a few days. And we don’t sleep as we should. And we certainly aren’t moving our bodies to our favorite yoga workout or Zumba-ing.

And it’s soooo worth it.

When it’s over, that’s it. It’s behind us. The spiritual part of it keeps going, and the physical starts to fall back into place.

We go back to our regular routines. We slowly work our way back to sleeping when we’re supposed to (more or less!), eating regular food, and moving our bodies.

With an attitude like this, there’s no need for special “detox programs” or “cleanses”. It’s naturally built in to the cycle of the year. When we go back to what we’re supposed to be doing, everything starts to fall into place.

So what detox am I doing? I’m doing the “non-detox-detox”. The best part is that it doesn’t cost anything extra.

With that, I’m off to bed. It’s getting late here. I’ve got a schedule to get back into, after all!