Five Ways Detox Can Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

As the manufacturer of the IonCleanse detox foot bath system, we are very much aware of the pervasive influence of toxicity in daily life. And now, at the beginning of the New Year, we reflect on the kind of effect it might have on our goals and resolutions for self improvement.

The life spans of most New Year’s resolutions are short. One survey found that 65% are abandoned within the first month, and most surprisingly, most as early as the 12th day of January. Some New Year’s resolutions make it onto the most popular list most every year.  Not surprisingly, losing weight is virtually always near the top. Four others include: exercise more, eat healthier, take time to better care for self, and make or save more money. 

Living a new habit is challenging. It is made even harder if we are unaware of some of the factors that work against us. Consider here how toxicity might jeopardize your quest for self-betterment in the New Year.

1. Weight Loss 

Environmental toxins can be responsible for added weight. 

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, Founder and Director of The UltraWellness Center of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine:

“… toxins, which include plastics, pesticides, phthalates, bisphenol A, flame retardants, mercury, lead, arsenic or any one of the 80,000 chemicals introduced into our world since the industrial revolution, can interfere with your metabolism and cause weight gain even when you stick with a normal-calorie diet.”¹

Stress can be considered an emotional toxicity. The hormonal imbalances caused by stress can lead to weight gain.

“…chronic stress, or poorly managed stress, may lead to elevated cortisol levels that stimulate your appetite, with the end result being weight gain or difficulty losing unwanted pounds.”²

2. Exercise More

Do you have the energy to exercise more?

What the mind can imagine — workouts in the gym, daily walks, more physical movement — may go nowhere if you lack the energy or sense of wellness to follow through. Toxicity can be a factor here, as well. Heavy metal toxicity, for example, can prevent energy production in your cells and is also linked to hypothyroidism, insomnia, joint pain and chronic headaches. 

Mercury is a heavy metal that can be found in fish (especially those high on the food chain) and dental amalgams. Regularly eating fish with a high organic mercury content can lead to the symptoms of chronic mercury exposure. “Chronic exposure to organic mercury mainly damages the nervous system, which causes fatigue, weakness, headaches, poor concentration, and emotional disturbance.”³ A case study in the Korean Journal of Family Medicine is posted on the National Institutes of Health website. It describes how a man who ate raw tuna regularly for 5 years experienced chronic fatigue syndrome that was alleviated with heavy metal detoxification. 

3. Eat Healthier

Do food cravings interfere with your resolution to eat healthier?

Dr. Steve Gundry, noted heart surgeon, inventor, and author of The Plant Paradox says that what you do not eat is more important than what you do eat. AMD founder Dr. Bob Moroney ascribed to this idea. In his early nutrition practice, he encountered a client who loved peanut butter. This client would give up anything but peanut butter. Dr. Bob told him he could eat everything but peanut butter.

Consider the toxicity of eating allergenic foods. It may seem counterintuitive, but we often crave foods that we are allergic to. An allergenic food raises the blood sugar level in a manner similar to eating sugar, creating the same kind of high. Some common allergenic foods contain a protein-like substance (like gluten) that acts like an opioid. Studies reveal that reactivity to food varies from one person to the next. A good place to start might be an elimination diet to determine how you react to different foods.

Processed foods are often highly addictive.⁴ Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Hyman is adamant that detoxing will help reverse the food addictions (i.e., cravings) that hold us hostage. Detoxing can break the hold of the “well-advertised, hyper-processed, highly palatable, intensely addictive foods that sabotage your waistline, your health, and your brain chemistry.”⁵

4. Take Better Care of Self, Find Time For Self

Make time to Detox. 

One way to take better care of yourself is to spend time investigating the toxic possibilities in your lifestyle: food allergies, dental fillings, toxic environmental household products and personal care items, to name a few, and find ways to eliminate them. You will have more time and energy to enjoy your life with your family.

The IonCleanse by AMD ionic detox foot bath offers a noninvasive, safe and effective way to remove the toxins that inevitably accumulate in your body. Our ionic foot bath has the added benefit of creating the relaxation response, which has been shown to counteract the fight-or-flight stress response that increases cortisol levels and promotes weight gain. 

5. Make/Save More Money

Toxicity is associated with brain fog. 

According to Market Watch, a financial information website, subsidiary of Dow Jones, and a property of News Corp., which also owns the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, healthy people earn more money and accumulate more wealth over time, making about 28% more than unhealthy people over their lifetime.  The lower financial standing is partially due to increased medical bills and more non-working days, but it is also due to lower productivity while at work. ⁶ 

Toxicity creates havoc in our lives and sabotages our good intentions. This is one reason that we at AMD consider detoxification the third pillar of health, an integral part of a healthy life.