10 Day Bloody Sugar Detox - anyone done it?

[lechatnoir]

I'm following the principles of the Dr Mark Hyman programme The Short Guide to The 10-Day Detox Diet – Mark Hyman, MD but created my own meal plan & recipes (thanks ChatGPT). I'm on day 3 and aside from a bit of a headache feeling OK but interested to hear from anyone who has done it and whether you went back to your old ways. I'm doing it as a kick-start to better eating and also to try & identify whether certain foods impact my moods & energy levels - any weight loss and general health benefits a bonus but not the main focus.

I'm doing it with DH & teen DC (albeit they are eating dairy) and the meals have been delicious so far but do take more time prepping and thinking ahead when you can't grad convenience food or a piece of fruit. Also very happy with the evening phone detox & earlier bedtime as we had got into an awful habit of watching TV & doom scrolling for hours and hopefully this is the reset we need.

Anyone?

A brief update at the Midway point in case anybody looks for this in the future: 5lbs down and feeling less sluggish but that could just be to do with going to bed a bit earlier and moving more. We have discovered some really lovely super healthy meals, definitely don’t like cauliflower mash, rediscovered a million ways to cook an egg and various vegetables for breakfast and loving the mega salads we have for lunch. Will post at the end and decide then if it was worth it.

Well done on your 5lbs!

I haven't followed that particular detox but had to do my own a couple of years ago after having chemo and stupidly followed advice about 'being kind to yourself'; I ended up eating 200g bars of chocolate some days and piling on loads of weight (steroids didn't help as gave me a ferocious appetite). I had to go cold turkey and the first week was horrendous, from the moment I woke up all I could think about was sweet food and carbs 😖

After a week I was fine, I guess my blood sugar stabilised and the cravings went away. It's scary how addictive sugar is, I found giving up alcohol much easier!

@lechatnoir, well done on the weight loss. Could you post some of the meals you’re having please?

@YelramBobfunny you should say that about sugar cravings as I’ve only just realised that mine have pretty much gone too and far less ‘food noise’ - I think this is possibly because there’s very little if any snacking so as long as you can hold fast on that for a few days you do then get used to it plus this detox has zero sugar or processed food, which is basically all I used to snack on.

@Florencesndzebedee breakfast would typically be eggs so spinach and mushroom omelette, fried eggs with cherry tomatoes and courgette cooked in olive oil, seasoned and lemon and garlic. There were options for Chia seed and almond milk concoctions with berries, but they just don’t appeal to me And I’m trying to get away from the constant sweet cravings.
Lunch is usually a soup - Broccoli & tofu, chicken & veg, or a salad. I make sure I’ve got at least two proteins such as boiled egg, prawns or fish, chicken etc & really mix them up so it’s not just lettuce - the one I’ve got today, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, radish, pepper, a boiled egg, piece of smoked mackerel, grated carrot, kimchi, toasted seeds, black olives dressed with olive oil & lemon.

evening meals pretty much followed the same pattern of protein and veg, but I prefer something hot and favourites are a chicken vegetable and coconut curry - Garlic, onion, pepper, mushroom & spinach plus chicken cooked in tin of coconut milk, tinned of chopped tomatoes then lots of spices such as cumin, coriander, turmeric.

A big stirfry is good. You need to use lots of vegetables because you won’t be having noodles or rice with it flavoured with chilli garlic ginger you can use vinegar’s, tamari But not things like soy sauce, fish sauce or premade sauces as they’ve all got sugar in. You really have to read everything even things like some brands of coconut milk or a cooked chicken might contain sugar or preservatives/additives. I have a small bowl of berries after my evening meal and in the morning a cup of coffee with unsweetened almond milk. Happy to send you my full meal plan if you want to give it a go or you can create one yourself using ChatGPT and just keep feeding in prompts for things you do and don’t like that follow the plan - for example mine doesn’t include chia puddings or smoothies as I don’t like either.

I did this years ago. I really struggled with it. Felt tired and low energy and never got the energy boost my other group members did.
It this it’s good a realizing how high sugar/processed food affect you. But I needed more starchy carbs.

Your menu sounds amazing. I haven't delved into it as far as you but find that old MN chestnut of 'cooking from scratch' really works. And spicy food + loads of veg is so easy and filling - I still have curries and chillis but with extra veg instead of rice.

Agree with you about snacking, it's completely unnecessary. I find it just makes me hungrier, like warming up your stomach for the main event. My mum is one of those people who gets hangry; she has a biscuit or a Kit Kat then five minutes later she's fine so it's obviously a blood sugar dip rather than actual hunger.

Just finished the full 10 days 100% on plan . Another 2 lbs off so half a stone in the 10 days which I’m very happy about but main takeaways:

Day 1 & 2 - initial enthusiasm made it easy and enjoyed eating lots of oily fish, healthy fats after a lifetime following low fat diets
Day 3-4 Got into a nice rhythm and all going well
day 5-7 HARD!! really lacking energy and need more variety in my meals.
Days 8-10 upped fat & protein and researched some tasty meals so much better and actually feel good about it. All cravings and the food noise seem to have disappeared, I’ve completely stopped even thinking about snacking so clearly can manage with just 3 meals and nothing else. My skin looks great, my stomach is about half the size it was as zero bloat.

I thought I’d be desperate to go back to usual diet but I’m actually quite enjoying it now so whilst I will do the reintroduction, hope I can keep some of the basic principles. I won’t be so rigid as it is quite restrictive - I’ve not been out as eating and drinking out is tricky but it’s definitely something I’ll revisit if I feel I need a boost or after an over indulgent holiday etc.

Reintroduction is a new food group at a time to see if there’s any adverse reaction so adding 2 small portions of dairy tomorrow (Parmesan on my salad and some Greek yogurt for breakfast which is the one of the main things I’ve really missed)