The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body's Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast (8 page)

A recent analysis of weight loss research by the
New England Journal of Medicine
, entitled
Myths, Presumptions and Facts about Obesity
, attempts to bust some of the myths about weight loss and explains why many common strategies fail. One of the wrongheaded ideas it addresses that has pervaded the weight loss world is this idea that you need to be “ready to change” in order to succeed.

While there is some truth to that (certainly, if you refuse to even
try
something new, you’re not going to get very far), based on my experience in treating tens of thousands of patients over the decades, I see it a little differently.

What I’ve seen over and over again is that once people embark on a program that actually
works
, they get immediate positive feedback that makes them inclined to continue. Even if they didn’t start out feeling particularly ready or committed to make lasting changes, those results inspire them to get ready—fast.

So even if you don’t feel inspired or excited or motivated to start taking care of yourself, do it anyway. You are just as likely to succeed as someone who is highly motivated. Simply give this program a few days and you’ll start seeing results that will not only increase your readiness to change, but will also deliver the change you’ve been hoping for.

This is another myth tackled in the
New England Journal of Medicine
analysis. We have been taught to make small changes in our diet and lifestyle to create the most success. If the small change is cutting out the daily sixty-four-ounce Double Gulp, then yes, that will make a difference. But most need to make big changes to see big results.

For example, most of us have learned that if we just cut our intake
by 100 calories a day, or increase our exercise a little bit over the long haul, we will lose weight. We’re continually told that it’s all about the calories in, calories out. But as you saw earlier in the broccoli vs. soda comparison, biology and metabolism are far more complex than that.

Just going with the math, if you burned an extra 100 calories a day (walking one mile) or consumed 100 calories less per day over thirty-five days, you would lose a pound (3,500 calories = 1 pound). So, in theory, over five years you would lose fifty pounds. Yet studies show that in reality you’re more likely to lose only ten pounds in five years, not fifty. Why? Because of changes in your metabolism and caloric needs that occur as you lose weight. You’ll need to consume even fewer calories, or burn even more of them, just to keep losing at the same rate. For most people, this pace of progress is totally demotivating, which is why they generally abandon their small-scale diet and exercise attempts early on.

Bottom line: Big changes are needed to create big weight loss. That is why the Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet creates big, high-impact changes right from the start. The program will jump-start the process and unhook you from the cycle of failure and frustration that comes from making small changes that lead to small or no results.

This is another wrongheaded idea that the
New England Journal of Medicine
’s report burst open. We have (incorrectly) learned that rapid weight loss always backfires. We have been taught that if you go for the quick fix, you won’t lose as much in the long run as if you take the slow, gradual approach. But that is not necessarily true. Studies show that if you drop weight quickly, you end up with more weight loss in the end. When I give my patients a big jump start with weight loss, they do better and lose more weight over the long run. They learn how to own their bodies and feel empowered. The studies back up the results I see with my patients.

The key is to use a healthy, sustainable strategy for weight loss that balances your hormones and brain chemistry and doesn’t put you in a starvation response. The truth is that you can and should kick-start significant weight loss with dramatic (but healthy) shifts in your diet. That is why the Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet is so effective. It gives you fast, safe, powerful results that set you up for long-term, sustained weight loss when supported by the transition programs you’ll find in
Part V
of this book or the program outlined in
The Blood Sugar Solution.

Now that you understand the biology of food addiction and the means by which sugar takes hold of your taste buds, your hormones, your brain chemistry, and your waistline, and now that you know what controls hunger and fat storage, you can use that knowledge to achieve a healthy weight and metabolism not by willpower but by detoxification. It’s time for rehab!

Once you take back control of your biochemistry and body, you can be more flexible, but at the beginning you have to think about this as you would any other addiction. You must unhook from the biology that drives your behavior.

It takes dramatic change to reset your biology when it is in a state of chaos. You know how when your computer freezes, you need to reboot the whole system? You can’t just shut down one program and hope it will right itself. Well, you need to do something similar to regain control of your health.

Remember, biochemistry drives your behavior, not willpower. So you’ll have to use some biochemical science to reset your hormones and neurotransmitters—and by extension, to effortlessly end your cravings, lose weight, and reverse disease. That science is the foundation of the Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet.

Here’s what the detox will do for you:

1. Shut down the insulin surges
   —and thereby arrest belly fat storage and cravings.
   
2. Improve your cells’ sensitivity to insulin
   so you need less to balance your blood sugar, resulting in weight loss and health.
   
3. Reduce cortisol
   —the stress hormone that increases cravings for sugar, promotes belly fat storage, and shrinks your brain.
   
4. Lower ghrelin
   , the hunger hormone.
   
5. Improve leptin sensitivity
   in the brain, allowing your natural appetite-regulating system to begin to work again.
   
6. Increase the brake on appetite called PYY
   (peptide YY), the intestinal hormone that makes you feel full after a meal.
   
7. Increase dopamine naturally
   and reset your brain’s reward pathways so you can feel pleasure from eating real food.
   
8. Reset your taste buds
   so real food tastes good again.
   
9. Reduce inflammation
   (the problem at the root of almost all weight gain and chronic disease) by eliminating common food sensitivities, processed foods, and sugar and by including anti-inflammatory foods.
   
10. Boost detoxification
    by eliminating toxins from your diet and life and enhancing your body’s ability to get rid of stored toxins that make you fat.
    

Each of these important biological changes occurs automatically during the Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet. They happen as you detox from sugar and processed food… as you shift your eating patterns… as you flood your body with real, whole, fresh, anti-inflammatory foods… as you learn the simple, fundamental skills to help your body heal.

Keep in mind, though, that this program is designed not just for easy and rapid weight loss, but also to prepare you for long-term weight management and health improvement. So during each of the ten days, you will also focus on one aspect of whole-system healing. I will teach you how to:

1. Satisfy
   to cut your cravings for sugar and processed food.
   
2. Detox
   from all addictive substances and support your body’s detoxification system.
   
3. Empty
   and clean out your digestive system to help your body eliminate toxins.
   
4. Move
   your body so you improve your metabolism to create optimal health.
   
5. Listen
   to the changes happening in your body and become aware of the natural shifts toward health and wellness.
   
6. Think
   and examine the thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that get in the way of weight loss, and create new thought patterns for health and well-being.
   
7. Nurture
   yourself and calm your nervous system through simple techniques of breathing and relaxation.
   
8. Design
   your life through focused planning and attention and change your environment to create the automatic conditions for health.
   
9. Notice
   and track the changes happening in your body, including your food intake, movement, sleep patterns, and numbers (weight, waist size, blood pressure, blood sugar, lab tests, and medical symptoms).
   
10. Connect
    with others to get support to sustain and enhance the changes you have made, and to make changes in your community that can help us all heal.
    

As you progress through this learning experience, you will be simultaneously removing toxins, sugars, processed foods, and chemicals (like artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and MSG), plus foods (like gluten and dairy) that commonly cause allergies and sensitivities. You’ll be removing a lot of inflammatory, addictive, health-robbing things from your diet and your life. But what you’ll be adding is just as important, if not more so.

The food plan will introduce healing, anti-inflammatory, insulin-balancing, appetite-regulating, and detoxifying foods to your diet. You’ll be enjoying foods rich in phytochemicals—powerful, natural compounds that remove weight-producing toxins, including pesticides,
heavy metals, and other chemicals known as
obesogens.
You’ll also be indulging in some delightful stress-relieving, self-care activities. This program is not about deprivation, but about abundance. It is about new choices and a new experience of health.

You might wonder, “How is ten days enough to make a difference? Can I really accomplish anything in ten days that will make a lasting impact?” My answer is yes.

We have learned that if you have diabetes, you can reverse it in a few weeks with a gastric bypass, even if you are still morbidly obese. Why? Because when you rapidly shift your way of eating, you shift your hormones, brain chemistry, and biology very quickly.

Think of the Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet as a gastric bypass without the pain of surgery, vomiting, malnutrition, or weight regain. Research has shown that dramatic changes in diet,
without
gastric bypass, can very quickly normalize blood sugar in type 2 diabetics, getting them off medication in as little as a week. After twelve weeks, their liver, pancreas, and metabolism all return to normal. Your body is capable of amazing healing if you give it the chance.

But as I said, you don’t have to believe me. You just have to try it. You can do anything for ten days. The proof will be in the results.

Some may think this program extreme, or dismiss it by saying that if you eliminate any group of foods (like sugar or gluten or dairy), you will lose weight because you reduce overall calories. But this is not a calorie-restricted program, although it is possible that your net calories will naturally go down as the result of eating real food. That’s because real, whole foods are nutrient-rich and calorie-poor, whereas processed foods tend to be calorie-rich and nutrient-poor. As I explained in Myth #1, though, this really isn’t about calories. If you eat only real, whole, nutrient-dense foods (and stop obsessing about counting calories), you will win every time.

In just a few days you can literally reprogram your biology with the right foods, eaten at the right time with a few other simple lifestyle changes that can allow you to detox painlessly and experience how freeing it is to escape food addiction without struggle. There might be a moment of doubt, or even terror at the thought of giving up your Coke or Diet Coke, or your daily bread or cookies. You might wonder, “If I take away the things that make me feel good (however temporarily), what will I replace them with?”

What I’m offering you in exchange is a radical promise. It’s the promise that you will emerge after the first few days of this program feeling light, happy, energetic, and alive again—released from the grip of food addiction and in possession of a vitality you probably haven’t experienced in years. The joy you feel from being free of cravings and struggles with food will quickly replace any quick-hit high you get from sugar and junk. All you have to do is take that first step.

If you are looking to get into a special dress or suit for a big event, or to get ready for beach season, or just to do a quick reset on your overall health, it’s fine to use those goals as motivators. You will see fast results to get you to those goals. But I want you to understand that the impact of this program is far greater than the achievement of any short-term aspiration. Once you have used the program to reset your biology, you’ll see that it is really the beginning of an entirely new way of eating and living—one that will lead to optimal weight and long-term health and vitality.

In the next chapter, you’ll discover the potent combination of foods and lifestyle practices that make up the 10-Day Detox. You’ll learn everything you need to know, get, and do to radically change your body—and your life—from the inside out.