How to Stick to A Detox - Battling Temptation

If your like me, when you first begin a detox, fear of failure is already starring you in the face, in the form of chocolate cake donuts you so conveniently see your co-workers eating, or a family size supreme pizza laid out on the kitchen table that someone at home so conveniently ordered so that as soon as you walk in the door, you would see it!

Prepare yourself for the Battle of the Foods!

The temptation of food is always around us, and isn't going anywhere just because you are on a detox. Many of us don't even realize that we have food addictions. This is what you need to realize before you begin. If you've ever started something and didn't finish, it means you weren't prepared to deal with whatever it was that made you give up. In this case, you need to be prepared for the temptation of the foods that you are not allowed to eat on your detox! Do what you need to do in order to minimize temptation. You definitely can't control what other people eat, but, it might help to tell those that you live with what you are doing. It might also help to explain why you are detoxing. If they can understand your health concerns and goals and see how important they are to you, and, they are generous enough, they might agree to kindly hide certain things from you, particularly those things that you have a weakness for, or they might even opt to join you on some level and incorporate more healthy foods into their diet. This would be especially helpful if you typically eat together with the people you live with.

If this method doesn't work in terms of minimizing your temptation, just prepare yourself on a mental level to avoid it or reject it. This definitely takes strength and practice, especially if this is something fairly new to you. By strength I mean you need to be telling yourself to stay strong! You need to remind yourself of why you’re doing it and how that purpose will never be accomplished unless you follow through!

Here are some positive affirmations that might help you do this:

I am capable of doing this.

I am taking very good care of my body.

I value my body

I value the results of my effort.

While doing this, my digestive system is getting the rest it has been asking for.

I appreciate my body's ability to heal.

I respect my body.

I am strong enough, I have plenty of will.

I am worth this much.

If others can do it, I can too.


These are just some things that you can tell yourself throughout the process to keep you strong and focused until the end.


I also mentioned that it takes practice. Once you get through one detox, even if you get through it half way :), you are that much more capable of having success the next time around.  In addition, you need to train yourself during the course of a detox by practicing to resist temptation, and also, diligently eating or drinking the things that you are required to have throughout your detox whether it is a juicing that you are doing, a fasting, a raw food detox, or if you are taking herbal detox pills, and, whether you are doing it for a day or a month.  If you have a hard time resisting a particular type of food, or something that you should not do while on a detox, such as drinking coffee or consuming alcohol, then you need to practice not giving in to that weakness. For example, if you are doing everything right, but, you just can't seem to give up coffee, or you just can't seem to resist that free drink at the bar on a night out with your friends. Don't do it!  It's easy to understand that you are used to doing something, but, if you are on a strict detox then resisting those things that have the strongest temptation will give you the best discipline to carry on successfully.  Part of good discipline is learning how to say no to yourself and to others.  This is important for achieving the goal that you are setting for yourself.  For example, when you finally say no to something you could not seem to say no to before, even if you have to just build up the spontaneous strength do so, you will be proud of yourself and find it much easier the next time the opportunity comes around.  You have to make up your mind that you will reach your goal, no matter what.  If you can help your surroundings that's great, but, you never know what you might be faced with.  I decided once to detox during Memorial Day weekend surrounded by food!  However, I had my mind set on what I was doing, so I didn't give in to all of the temptation!

As always, you should be learning to practice a certain amount of maintenance in between your detoxes.  The more you learn about your body, the more you are willing to help it.  Becoming mindful of what you put into your body helps you to not always "over do it" and to start gaining control over some of your food addictions... When you kick some eating habits, you might realize that that's exactly what they were; addictions.  Remember, you don't have to live to eat, but you should definitely eat to live.