Watch CBS News

Scene In Detroit: Santa Has Left The Building, Time To Clean Up Your Act

By Amelia Kanan, CBS Detroit Blogger

Thank goodness! Don't get me wrong, I am a sucker for holiday cheer like no other however all those extra cookies and cocktails can really begin to take a toll. If you're anything like me Christmas Eve is just a gateway for a week's worth of "Oh, what the heck"s and "Aunt Mitzy's cookies only come once a year"s. Mix in that with the extra hours of celebrations, the lack of sleep and the holiday cocktails because so-and-so's in town and you feel a responsibility to show them a good time and you are sure to feel well below par. Things can get pretty exhausting and not to mention, downright sickening. It's a wonderful thing that the mirror doesn't reflect our insides during this "magical" time of year or else we probably wouldn't leave the house.

As much as I am a non believer in the whole "New Year's Resolution" thing (if you want to make a change, you should make it today rather than wait for a date that comes once every 365th day), it happens to be a time of the year where I am ready to detox. I find myself back in the yoga circuit more frequently, stretching and sweating out all those toxins and refraining from social situations in order to obtain my healthy internal feeling. You don't need to shoulder a weighty expectation like a New Year's Resolution in order to get your body into a clean feeling place. Here's just a few easy things you can do:

  • Go for a walk once a day. Whether it's during the day or night and inside or outside, just by taking a brisk jaunt for even just 30 minutes will release a calm and healthy feeling within you.
  • Eat a good breakfast.
  • Get into your bed at a decent hour and don't watch TV for 30 minutes before falling asleep. Television, no matter how mindless can create horrible stimulation for our brains and lead to restlessness.
  • Cook your own meals and cut the sugars (including carbs). Even if you're not trying to lose weight, sugars do horrible things to you.

Amelia Kanan is freelance writer/photographer and a returning native of Detroit. A graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, she wrote for an Emmy nominated sketch comedy show and pursued her passion for documentary filmmaking in Los Angeles. An incomplete list of her loves: books, human rights, improv, the smell of new shoes, talking to strangers, libraries, France, yoga, furniture, music, sociology and pushing the limits. 

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.