Lemonade Diet Detox Thoughts

Forget the “Detox” and “Diet” in “Lemonade Diet Detox.” Focus on Health.

Several pundits recently suggested Americans must stop declaring war on their antagonists, using changes of vocabulary to guide changes of mind, mood, and purpose. They argued calling off the so-called “war on terror” and declaring an initiative toward worldwide peace and prosperity would make the United States far less bellicose and belligerent. Similarly, calling off the “war on drugs” and declaring an initiative toward psychological health and unshakable self-efficacy would cost fewer dollars and lives, achieving much better results.

Finally, looking at the staggering cost of Americans’ obesity, the toll it takes on workers’ productivity and its impact on soaring health care costs, the pundits confessed their temptation to declare war on fat. Instead, however, they suggested declaring an all-out full-on high-powered non-stop initiative toward health and fitness.

Promote pure over poisonous.

You poison your lungs with every breath you take; you poison your belly with the stuff you chow-down at every meal. Every time you receive change from a dollar bill, you put yourself at risk of contracting swine flu. The water you drink contains thousands of know carcinogens; the soda you guzzle has more artificial ingredients than your Barbie Doll. After a while, though, the alarms become just so much white noise. Carrots and sticks apply here, and common sense recommends more carrots, because people have grown immune to sticks.

Body image matters little. In order to get fit and healthy, you must learn to love the skin you are in. Even if you have skipped your regular warranty work, your body deserves care. You do, after all, have to drive it around all day, and you would appreciate better mileage and performance. Stop asking and answering what you must sacrifice for the sake of greater endurance and better performance; instead, relentlessly ask and answer, “What truly will taste good and make me feel terrific?” “Truly” stands out as the operative word in the question, because it forecloses on sugars, fats, additives, preservatives, artificial ingredients, high fructose corn syrup, and FD&C red and yellow dyes. “Truly” holds a place for flavor, energy, antioxidants, cholesterol cleansers, and all kinds of vital nutrients.

The more you say “diet,” the more you feel deprived. The more you say “good food,” the more you crave sweet fresh fruits, crisp fresh vegetables, and refreshing juices squeezed from fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden. Add a little cayenne to make mas piquante, and wonder what happened to the sacrifice. The more you say “detox,” the more you focus on elimination, isolation, alienation, and bad habits ingrained so deep in your psyche you believe they were built-in at the factory.

Solve Hamlet’s Dilemma

The average high school freshman, equipped with Spark’s Notes and an outline from an old lecture, believes when Hamlet posed the question, “To be, or not to be,” delectably iambic as a heartbeat, he pondered suicide. Not even close, poor Yorick. In Hamlet’s world, “to be” described passive, inert existence-just sitting there being, doing nothing, risking nothing, accomplishing nothing. “Not to be” negated inaction. In Hamlet’s vernacular, “not to be” means “get busy!” By the time he finishes his soliloquy, Hamlet has resolved to get busy.

If you focus on how you look, you just go on being. If, however, you emphasize what you want to do, you will get busy. When you discover the unbreakable link between eating well and doing a million fun and wonderful things, your so-called “diet” looks more like a tantalizing, taste-tempting menu, and the garden and orchards become your buffet tables.

Instead of staying intrepidly focused on all that is wrong with your body, promoting “cognitive dissonance,” the clash between what you see and what you wish, start waging health. Start waging fitness. Make “Move!” your motto. Restore hope in this moment and joy in the next. Give up lemonade, insisting on cranberry-pomegranate cocktail-the epitome of healthy and delicious, just as you wish and deserve.