"Oh my goodness! I think I'm dying!"
Those were the exact words I uttered to my best friend 2 days into my caffeine detox.
My head was pounding, my joints were aching, my stomach was queasy and all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch Netflix (actually, I think that's exactly what I did).
If you've ever tried to give up coffee, sugar, or artificial sweeteners, you can completely relate. This stuff is so addictive to our bodies, we literally go into "detox" mode when we decide to give them up.
This is exactly what has happened to several members in our 7-Day Sugar Detox Facebook group. Once they finish the detox, they feel absolutely amazing. But it doesn’t always feel that way in the beginning.
On days 1,2, and sometimes 3 of the detox, members told me they had headaches, nausea, fatigue, and a pretty grumpy outlook on life.
Why would you feel so bad, when you’re eating so right?
I know it’s discouraging to start eating healthy and feel worse!
It’s a simple answer:
You’re going through withdrawal.
Let’s say you’re cutting out coffee during the detox. Well, caffeine is a drug... and it's addictive. Now, being addicted to caffeine has a lot fewer side effects than any other drug, but your body does become dependent on it. So, when you take it away, your body has to re-learn how to function without it. And during that time, you’ll have headaches, and feel a little sick, tired, and grumpy.
Even if you don’t drink a lot of caffeine, other foods also cause withdrawal symptoms. And one of the worst is probably one of your favorites — sugar.
Sugar causes your brain to release dopamine (the happy hormone). Your brain connects sugar with happiness, so it craves more. Over time, your brain stops releasing as much dopamine with every dose of sugar, which makes you crave more sugar to try to get more dopamine. Long story short — you become addicted.
Some studies have sugar to be more addictive than cocaine! It sounds a little crazy, but sure explains why it’s so hard to stay away from those office donuts.
So, when you detox and take all that sugar away (even if you don’t think you eat that many sweets, there’s sugar hidden in almost all processed foods), your body doesn’t know what to do. You get all those awful withdrawal symptoms and your dopamine levels plummet.
If you feel a little grouchy or sad on the first days of the detox, it’s because your brain is actually not producing the right amount of happiness hormones to make you your cheery, normal self.
Now, I know words like addiction and withdrawal all sound pretty dramatic, but it’s important to know why you’re feeling this way.
I know I used to feel like I was silly, weak, or just plain lazy for not being able to stick to a healthy eating plan. But I was none of those things. And neither are you.
If you feel bad during a detox, it’s not you. It’s just biology! And if you keep the cleanse going, you’ll get all those addictive chemicals out of your body…for good.
Time for some good news! I’ve got a few tips that will make the first few days of a cleanse feel much better.
I always recommend drinking water with lemon, but it’s even more important during a detox.
Just a squeeze of lemon in your morning glass of water helps alkalize the body. Lemon juice works by mimicking your digestive fluids and tricking the liver into producing more bile. Now, I know bile sounds like a bad thing, but bile actually helps the body flush out toxins. So, with more bile, you get rid of the bad stuff even faster and start feeling good again.
Have a wedding coming up or a big birthday bash? Don’t start your detox the day before! That’s a recipe for misery and you want to set yourself up for success.
Since you might feel a little under the weather during the first days, plan for that. Start your detox on a Friday, so by Monday you’ll feel great and start a wonderful, productive week at work.
By planning and being aware of obstacles the detox may bring, you’ll be able to get through it all so much more easily. Be prepared and you’re set up for success.
During a detox it’s easy to think, “Oh, I can’t have ice cream. Or pizza. Or my favorite chips.”
Sure, that’s true. But think of all the things you can eat.
“Oh, I can have oven roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, black bean salsa, guacamole, perfectly ripe strawberries, fajitas…”
I could list everything, but this article would be at least 10 pages long!
There are still so many wonderful, delicious things you CAN have. If you focus on the abundance of food you can choose from, the few foods you can’t have will seem much less important.
These little tricks help those rocky first days go by smoothly.
The path to health is not always easy. But anything worth doing in life has its ups and downs. After you get through those first few days, I promise you’ll be glad you stuck to a plan and accomplished a goal (and all that weight loss and boosted energy isn’t bad either!).
