What is it about the winter that makes everyone feel like they need to get healthier?
Well, let me rephrase - what is it about the winter that makes everyone really feel like they want to eat cookies and sleep all day, and then violently fight that urge by joining gyms and crowding the equipment, buy co-op memberships to eat organic, visit Amazon.com to purchase workout DVDs by Jillian Michaels?
As a card-carrying member of the winter-over-achieving club (i.e. someone who, at one point or another, has done all of the above), I'm here to tell you that people do this because of a city- or suburb- induced survival mechanism. People aren't meant to get in their cars, shuffle to the office while our nostrils freeze together, sit and stare at a computer monitor, shuffle back to cars, sit in traffic, shuffle to the house/apartment/mother's basement from whence he or she came, watch television and pass right out only to repeat again. Without a little effort, many Americans become these sort of conveyor-belt people in the winter, dragging themselves from one predictable end to another, only to avoid going outside to get frostbitten or slip on the ice and fall.
The truth is, we should be getting outside and absorbing the sun, even when it's ridiculously cold. Even science will tell you that 10-20 minutes of sunshine will make you feel like winter isn't so bad or so long. But because of our schedules, our jobs, and our societal movements, sometimes even the best intended winter-over-achieving-club members can't make this happen. The truth is, even though it's cold, you still need to move your body and collect all the endorfins you can from a little sweat and mileage. The truth is, you should always be eating produce even when it gets expensive to purchase in off-season times. The truth is, you need to drink water even when you'd rather have a beer or a hot chocolate - your disgestion and cell-health is nothing without it. The truth is, all of these things are very very difficult to accomplish consistently any time of year, but during the winter especially.
For me, all of those truthful things above are totally necessary to being a functional adult in the world I live in. Though I'd love to say that I get outside everyday to work horses (Carhartt, bless you), I eat only the best organic produce and all kinds of protein and whole grains, I get 8 hours of sleep nightly, and I visit the yoga studio every morning, this is simply not the case. Like everyone else, sometimes my schedule overwhelms my ability to take care of myself, or, sometimes I would just much rather sit with my boyfriend on the couch and watch Teen Mom. Regardless, I do my best to follow all my own advice, and this winter more than any other, I've felt very healthy, for the most part.
Then a week ago, I got in a car accident. I was rear-ended by a texting driver at somewhere between 30 and 40 mph. I was "fine", but my whiplash left me sore, attempting to process vicodin, and without a full range of motion in my head and neck. Now, my trips to the gym to sweat out some yoga poses are infrequent and my sleep even more infrequent. So, to counter my feelings of helpless immobility and insomnia, I countered with lots of expensive produce, green tea, and the best support pillows money can buy. Oh, and a really fabulous chiropractor/massage therapist/physical therapist, paid for by my auto insurance, never hurts.
While strolling through Whole Foods one day, a "Complete Body Cleanse" stared me right in the face on my way to the checkout. My mental accountant is always telling me things like, "16 dollars? Well, hell, for $16 I could get a lot of stuff, what makes this so great?" Though today, my inner injured, desperate winter-over-achieving-club member voice screamed, "TRY IT. Why the hell not. And if you feel better than you do now, it's a win!"
So I bought it. To my surprise, this cleanse doesn't have a series of meal plans or even suggested foods that come with it. It's just 3 pill bottles with directions on how many to take and when. It's supposed to last me 2 weeks, and then, according to the box, I'll feel "lighter, cleaner, and more focused." I like all of those things! But I'm skeptical, of course. I read through the ingredients in the pills I'd be taking - things like an "Herbal Regularity Laxative Formula" filled with things like Cellulose and Vegetable Glycerin, or a "Cleansing Fiber Blend" with Magnesium Stearate and Silicon Dioxide, or the "Milk Thistle Liver Cleanse" ...which has all the same ingredients as the Fiber Blend and Laxative Formula.
I decided, as an injured and partially fallen off the track winter-over-achieving-club member, I should probably track my progress with my cleanse. Today is day 1, and I've officially taken 4 capsules of the Fiber Blend. So far, I don't feel drastically different, or like I need to make a rush to the bathroom - so, so far, so good, I guess. I'll let you know how the rest of this goes, and if it's worth going to your local Whole Foods to try it out yourself.
