This is the time of year where I hear the word Detox a lot.  There is the understandable versions.  I indulge over the holidays as do a lot of people.  Each January I hear that people are giving up alcohol, sugar, caffeine and a host of other things.  This desire for a new year detox seems to be a part of the same impulse that causes New Year’s Resolutions.  And I get that, I want to be better in the coming year than I was in the year past.  Every year that is my goal.  Some years I make it, others I don’t, but it is an ongoing goal.

One of the things I noticed since I started trying to lose weight is that there are a lot of quick fixes out there.  I honestly didn’t realize it until I started looking for elements to include in my own weight loss.  My plan, if you are curious is to monitor my caloric intake and to include more exercises so that I can burn more calories than I consume.  It sounds easy but there is a balance to it, even though the concept is simple.

And while it sounds simple, it is actually rather hard to do day in and day out.  There are hidden pitfalls and one thing you really learn about along the way is yourself.  There is far more introspection to weight loss than I actually expected.  Motivating myself alone requires that I know myself to know what it is I would consider an acceptable reward if I will just get my butt up and do the required exercise. 

And every step along the way it seems that someone is offering a short cut.  And the short cut is always attractive.  Why do a lot of hard work and mental evaluation when you can take one easy pill before bedtime and let your fat float away on the night taken away by magic fat stealing elves?

Although to be honest if you are seeing magical fat stealing elves, you might want to double check what sort of pill you actually took.

The same holds true for items like the Detox Foot Patches.  Oh I would love if slapping an herb filled packet on the bottom of my foot pulled out all of the harmful toxins in my body and left my innards factory fresh. But I don’t really believe it.  It sounds too good to be true.  And usually that is the clue that it probably isn’t true.  And when I looked into this Detox Foot Patch, the Mayo Clinic agreed with me.

…There’s no reliable evidence that detox foot pads work…no scientific studies have been published that show that detox foot pads work…As with anything that sounds too good to be true, your best bet is to wait for scientific evidence that proves a claim before investing your time and money…

Mayo Clinic website

The link will take you to the full post on the Mayo Clinic site if you are interested in reading it.  So why would I try the Detox Foot Patches? 

Curiosity and as a reminder to myself. 

I added this to my cart a while ago when I picked up a bunch of things from the Shop Miss A site.  So it was only a dollar and I can waste a single dollar on an amusement and mental reminder for myself. And honestly Shop Miss A has a lot of items that I may have seen in more expensive formats and want to try out but don’t know if they will work for me.  Sometimes it is to try it out in an expensive way before I commit to something pricier.  Sometimes the inexpensive item just proves fantastic so I don’t go back for a more expensive one.  For example the silicone scalp massager (super fantastic and worth way more than a dollar).  But I am getting off track.

I figured I could try this Detox Foot Patch out without spending a lot of money.  The concept is simple.  You attach it to your clean foot by peeling off the stickers and then go to sleep.  When you wake up the patch has absorbed all of the toxins from your body and can be peeled off and discarded.  Not exactly like magical fat stealing elves, but close enough.

The package suggests that you add socks over the patches to keep it in place.  I had to add them to keep the patches from peeling off and the stickers getting caught in the bed sheets. And boy did they look impressive. In the morning the clean looking patch was filled with dark green gunk.  And it was damp so it looked very impressive.  Until I realized that with socks on over the patches it was a pretty sure bet that the dampness on the patches was simple sweat. 

And while the dark patches looked impressive, so do mood rings and color changing lipstick if you don’t look at the formula.  I am sure that the combination of oxygen, sweat and body heat activate whatever is in the packet overnight.  The main reason being that the packet is exactly the same size as it was when I went to bed.  If it absorbed anything in the night I think it would have grown just a little bit larger.  It didn’t, there was just a color change.

Now I tried these as just a little bit of fun.  I didn’t expect a magical purification of my body.  And I only spend $1 on it.  But for me it also serves as a reminder going into the new year.  This year I am still working on getting myself to a healthy weight and I am sure there will be many short cuts to weight loss advertised to me in various ways. That is inevitable. 

And they will be attractive as losing weight is hard work.  Having this reminder that many of those short cuts are smoke and mirrors and even if they provide some benefits in the short term, they are not long term fixes really helps me out.  Their benefits are ephemeral. Once I stop taking the magic pill the weight will come back. And I will have to take it off again.  It is the same with any other internal change you want to make.  There are quick fixes galore out there and all most of them do is take your money. In the end there is no substitute for putting in the work. 

While using this Detox foot patch was fun, for me it is a reminder to pay attention and not fall for gimmicks in an effort to see big results fast.  If you are looking at starting a healthier you in the new year program, I hope you too will remember this not only when you are putting your plan together but moving forward.  And if you are going to try out a gimmick, do it for fun and don’t get discouraged when the magic as seen on television results don’t manifest in your old home.