Food for Thought by Daphne Oz

With the end of my three-week cleanse in sight, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on why any of us should bother to take inventory and do a little cleansing — in mind, body or spirit — every now and then.

I'm a firm believer in treating the person as a whole rather than as any one specific condition or isolated area of struggle. For instance, my own weight loss success only came after I stopped seeing myself purely as "fat" and came to understand how complex my relationship with food really was. It was not about the specific overeating or dieting; it was about filling the gaps I was currently relying on food to fix.

The love, affirmation and connection that food provided me was at the root of my struggle to overcome my dependence on it and my resultant overeating. I associated constant eating with the way I felt when helping my mother make dinner in the kitchen or celebrating a special occasion with friends and family. The social-emotional aspect of this relationship was what I craved, not the food itself. Recognizing and fulfilling these areas of need in other ways allowed me to finally get my weight on track, but that was only a fringe benefit of treating myself as a whole — and becoming a more complete person as a result.

Cleansing at its core is about getting back to center. Removing external toxins, giving ourselves guidelines, doing good things for ourselves, meeting a goal — these cleanse objectives give each of us an opportunity to get reacquainted with our whole self, the self that is not dependent on caffeine, eating out of a box, an afternoon sweet fix and so on.

On a cleanse, we are necessarily taking better care of ourselves, because we have to pay attention. Half the battle is being mindful — mindful of our choices, mindful of our impact, mindful of what we need and what we can give.

On a cleanse, we can't casually scarf a carton of ice cream or a bag of potato chips. Forcing ourselves to be conscious of what we're eating reminds us to be conscious when we're choosing whether to make time to work out, sleep enough, relax and rejuvenate, do things that make us happy. Rather than being a casual bystander, we are training our brains to make active decisions. We all have choices to make; why not make great ones?

When we start to take care of ourselves in one area of life, it has the wonderful effect of reminding us to take care of ourselves in all aspects. When we feel better, we do better. Overcoming challenges propels us to take on new ones so we can grow, which is the endgame, after all.

Being on a cleanse is definitely a challenge. But it's one you can succeed at, so it's a great place to start.

For those of you looking to try the Whole Living cleanse I did, the basic guidelines are all laid out on my official Facebook page, along with some of the recipes I liked best. Knock yourself out (of the park)!

Daphne Oz is a co-host of ABC's "The Chew." To find out more about Daphne Oz and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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