What Questions to Ask Yourself Before Any Cleanse

Six questions worth answering honestly first: what is my intention, can I actually clear the time, where am I in my cycle, have I spoken to my doctor, do I have a history of disordered eating, and what happens the week afterwards. The answers matter more than which cleanse you pick.

I have done many cleanses over the years. Some were deeply restorative. With others I chose the wrong point in my cycle and they left me exhausted. And there was one I wish I could completely undo, because it made me really sick.

So now I always ask myself these questions first, to make sure it is the right time to detox. I never push my way through.

What is my intention?

Sit with this one properly, because the answer tends to predict how the cleanse goes.

If your intention is to support your body, you are already in the right place. Curiosity counts too, and so does simply wanting a stretch of plainer food and earlier nights. Those are the cleanses that go well, because you are moving towards something rather than away from yourself.

If the intention is punishment, it is worth stopping here for a moment. January guilt, a photograph you did not like, something a friend said. I have started cleanses from that place and they were miserable, because the whole thing was built on being annoyed with myself rather than on wanting to feel well.

And if you are unhappy with how your body looks, a cleanse will not fix that. Your body is not a problem to be solved, and she does not have to earn your kindness by getting smaller first. That is a different and gentler conversation, and usually one to have with a person rather than a protocol.

The way I hold it now is simple. I do this because I love my body, not because I am cross with her.

Can I clear my schedule?

Not optimistically. Actually.

The single biggest difference between a cleanse that works and one that does not is whether you had anywhere to be. So much of what makes a cleanse feel good is simply the rest. If you are doing this around a full workload, school pick-ups and a deadline, you are not really resting, you are only eating less while your body stays braced.

And it can cost you more than a disappointing few days. Going without while your body is already stretched thin is a great deal to ask of her, and you can come out the other side more depleted than when you began. This is the part I would take seriously. At the wrong time, something meant to restore you can quietly take more than it gives.

The first time I tried, I left three small things in the diary. All three landed on the hardest day and I spent the whole thing quietly furious.

If you cannot clear it, move it. Nothing about this is urgent.

When in my cycle should I cleanse?

This is the question almost nobody asks, and for a cyclical body it matters more than which product is in the cupboard.

I choose my follicular phase, the stretch after my period when energy is naturally climbing. A gentler stretch of days sits comfortably inside that. If the phases are new to you, the four phases of your cycle walks through what each one asks for, and Jean Hailes has the plain clinical version if you would like it from a doctor rather than from me.

In my luteal phase, the week or so before bleeding, my body wants warmth and food and rest. Asking it to go without in that window has never once gone well for me, and I have stopped treating that as a discipline problem. What to eat in your luteal phase covers what she is actually asking for instead.

Most cleanse protocols were built around a twenty four hour rhythm and then handed to bodies running a twenty eight day one. You are allowed to adapt the timing. It is free, and it is the piece I would keep if I could only keep one. You cannot time it without knowing where you are, which is why I keep coming back to tracking your cycle.

Have I talked to my doctor?

If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to conceive, taking any medication, or living with a diagnosed condition, this is not optional and I am not going to soften it. Talk to your doctor first.

The same goes if something has changed in your body that worries you. A cleanse is not a substitute for being looked at, and I have watched women spend months on food and rest while quietly avoiding an appointment they needed to make. I have been that woman.

Do I have a history of disordered eating?

Please be honest with yourself here, including about things you have never called by that name.

A stretch of restricted or simplified eating is not neutral for every body. For some people it is restorative. For others it is a door back into something that took years to leave. If you have any history there, talk to someone who knows you before you start, and be willing to hear a no.

There is no bravery prize here. I would far rather you were honest with someone qualified than brave on your own. If restriction is the part that worries you, intuitive eating is the gentler road.

And if any of this has touched something tender, please talk to someone. Here in Australia, the Butterfly Foundation is on 1800 33 4673, seven days a week, and you can reach them by phone, webchat or email. They are lovely.

If you are reading from somewhere else, searching for "eating disorder helpline" alongside your own country will bring up the national one, and most of them offer a phone line, a webchat and support for the people who love you as well.

What happens afterwards?

The part nobody plans, and where most of the benefit is won or lost.

If you finish a cleanse and go straight back to exactly what you were doing before, you have had a pleasant few days and not much else. What has actually changed things for me is the tail: staying with plainer food a while longer because I want it, rather than because a protocol says so.

Coming out too quickly is also where you can do yourself real harm. Your digestion has been resting, and asking it to take everything at once can leave you feeling worse than before you started. Ease out gently, more gently than feels necessary, and give yourself as long coming out as you spent going in.

This is where someone qualified is worth their weight. Depending on what you are doing, having a practitioner who knows your history walk you into it and back out again changes the whole experience. Please do not build a cleanse out of something you saw on Instagram. Get a clear protocol from someone who knows what they are doing, take your questions to them rather than to a comments section, and let them tell you how to finish as well as how to begin.

Decide in advance, roughly. Not a rigid plan. Just some idea of what the first day back looks like.

A few more questions worth asking

How long should a cleanse last?

There is no single right answer, because it depends on you and on what you are using. What I would say is that length is not the part that matters most. A shorter stretch you can actually rest through will do more for you than a longer one you push through around a full diary. If you want to see what a longer one actually asks of you before you commit to it, my week with the seven day Rainbow kit is written out day by day. Whatever you are using will have its own directions, and those are the ones to follow.

Can I cleanse while I have my period?

You can, and I would rather you were gentle with yourself if you do. Bleeding is already asking something of your body, and it is the point in the month when it wants food and warmth rather than less of both. If you have a choice about the timing, the stretch after your period is the kinder window. And if the timing is not yours to choose, please eat.

What should I eat after a cleanse?

Plainly, and for longer than you think. Coming out too fast is the most common way to undo it: back to everything at once and your digestion is startled. Soft, simple food first, then build. This is the part most people skip, and it is where a lot of the benefit either lands or does not. What to eat before, during and after a longer cleanse sets out all three stages if you want the detail.

Who should not do a cleanse?

If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to conceive, taking any medication, or living with a diagnosed condition, this is a conversation for your doctor before it is a decision for you. The same if you have any history of disordered eating, or if something in your body has changed and you do not know why.

What matters most

The clearing of the calendar. The earlier nights. The simpler food. The permission to do less. That is most of what makes a cleanse work, and all of it is free.

If you do go ahead, start gently in the days before, so day one is not a shock. Follow the directions that come with whatever you are using rather than a stranger's blog, mine included. And tell someone what you are doing.

If it turns out to be the wrong time, stop. Stopping is allowed and it is not a failure. Your body is not a project with a deadline.

And whenever you do come back to it, come back for the same reason you would run a warm bath. Not because you are cross with her, but because you would like to be kind to her.

Where to go next

• •Digestion and emotions, the gentle everyday version that asks nothing of your calendar
• •How to track your cycle, if you are still working out where you are in your month
• •Intuitive eating, for the softer way in when restriction is not for you
• •My female intuition is my superpower, because the answer to most of the questions above is already in you

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