Have started a 10 day detox to deal with my prednisone fueled rises in sugar and A1C levels. It is a tough road….but I am down 6 pounds during my 4 day modified version and three day full-on version. Works out to be a half pound a day on the modified version and about a pound a day with the full-on version. Lots of folks have been asking questions about the detox. Here are some tips from someone in the trenches.
The diet is good for most people, not just diabetics or pre-diabetics. We ALL get too much sugar – one of the biggest offenders being packaged convenience foods and fast foods. It is doing a number on our health. It can cause inflammation throughout the body that can bring on or worsen all kinds of problems. Good luck if you decide to give it a try!
1. You can find info online by searching Dr. Mark Hyman 10 day detox. He has some books that you can purchase or borrow from a library in print or ebook format. Two of his books are “Blood Sugar Solution” and “Blood sugar Solution Cookbook”.
2. I would recommend taking a week before starting full-on to ease out of grains, sugar and dairy. Cut it back a little each day. It is tough! Remember – it is NO grains, not even oats or gluten-free.
3. NO PACKAGED FOODS. Most have added sugar.
4. Make large batches of soup to keep in the fridge and the freezer. It is HARD to eat enough to keep you going on this diet. I have not been able to physically get down more than 700 calories per day. Soup has been my salvation. We cooked up a bunch of clams for dinner and made a clear broth with veggies. I then made a hearty vegetable soup, and combined the left over clams and broth with it – as well as keeping some plain. That gets me through the evenings when I am hungry. Chicken soup is up next.
5. Here is a very weird tip. Peanut butter is not allowed on the diet because peanuts are not nuts – they are legumes. Cashew butter and almond butter ARE allowed. But what do you spread it on? No crackers or bread. In desperation, I discovered that it tastes very good on slices of zucchini or yellow summer squash. Really!
6. Also having trouble with no coffee or tea. I tried herbal tea. Not for me. Water is so boring. Solution? I cut up a strawberry and put it in with my water.
7. Stock up on blueberries and raspberries. And kiwi fruit is good.
I am WAY late commenting on this one too. Sorry for not keeping up in your blog. I will try to do better! I also know that you have posted results and conclusions of this whole process on FB and I’ve read those.
Kudos to you for taking on this detox diet! I seriously am not sure I could do it. I don’t know whether or not you have read my blog, but this past summer…I finally acknowledged to myself and to my husband that I have some sort of mood disorder. I finally admitted to myself (and I can be very stubborn) that I need help with it. I also know that this disorder has been a BIG reason that I had been unsuccessful for so long in getting a job in my field. After getting on medication, the difference in my outlook on life, my moods, and how I interact socially with others became very apparent to me. It has also become apparent to others…especially those closest to me. I also got two job offers and you know the end of that story.
This seems like a big rabbit trail that I just went down, but there really is a point to this. I have been doing some research and discovered that some doctors and scientists believe that mood disorders actually originate in the gut. According to them, gut health is the factor to look at. That being said, I need to go to the public library to pick up a book I ordered through ILL regarding this.
It’s hard work to make such drastic changes to diet to gain health. I am in such admiration of you for doing this. I’m so sorry for the health problems you struggle with. Hope you are feeling terrific again soon.
P.S. Thank you for sharing your SAT scores in the next post. My scores were similar…although they were flipped. My verbal score was only a little higher than your math. I never told anyone my scores because I was so ashamed of them. There was so much emphasis on the importance of them back then. At the time of testing, I was dating the salutatorian of our class…who almost got a perfect score. My scores were mortifying to me. I remember him asking me what they were and I refused to tell him because I was so afraid he would think I was stupid and break up with me. I was the typical insecure teenage girl. As an adult, I realized that the SATs are a load of crap for many of us. I had gotten excellent grades all around and I new that those scores did not portray my academic abilities accurately….but even so, it is nice to hear from someone who I know is smart and capable who had a similar experience with that awful test!
That was a blessing to me albeit 30+ years later.
I guess I should have mentioned that your verbal score was a little higher than my math.