The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body's Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast (24 page)

Note:
Remember, when you are pressed for time or just want an ultraquick and easy option, you can always prepare a simple protein and vegetable for lunch or dinner from the “Cooking the Basics” section in
Chapter 20
.

Most of us have felt the urge—that unstoppable craving—that drives us to seek out something sweet and devour it in a flash. It’s that uncontrollable yen for cookies, cake, or ice cream, or that whole basket of bread calling to you to finish it off. Why does that cookie have such power over you, even though you know it will make you fat and sick?

Because most of us don’t control food—it controls us. And as you now know, it is not a sign of moral weakness or lack of willpower. Science shows it is a powerfully hardwired brain response that has us reaching for the bread or cookies. Fortunately, it is a response that can be rewired, and today you’ve taken the first important step to make that happen.

On Day 1, controlling your appetite and cravings is probably front and center in your mind. It may seem inconceivable to you right now that your cravings can ever subside, or that you can navigate between hunger and satisfaction with balance and grace, because you’ve never experienced that. You’ve likely been trying to “conquer” your cravings, but cravings can’t be wrestled to the ground with willpower. You really can’t let go of your cravings. But you can rewire your biological and neural pathways so that your cravings let go of you, and that is exactly what you are doing with this detox.

There is a real science to being satisfied. Swings in insulin drive your cravings. Sugar or anything that turns to sugar is what drives your cravings.
Addictive foods that contain heroin-like molecules from sugar and flour and chemicals (like chips, cookies, candy, fast food, soda, and even diet soda) drive your cravings. If you can throw a wrench into that biological cycle of addiction, all of a sudden, you’re free. You no longer have to fight to control your cravings, because they simply aren’t there. Your appetite is controlled by hormones and neurotransmitters, and those in turn are controlled by what you eat. So creating big shifts in your diet can create big shifts in your brain chemistry and, by extension, your appetite. And the good news is that this shift happens very quickly.

For some of you, cravings will go away immediately. Many of the 10-Day Detoxers wrote in to tell me that they were stunned by how quickly that automatic urge for sugar disappeared. For others, it will take a day or two. How fast your cravings vanish depends on how out of balance your biochemistry and metabolism were to begin with. But if you follow the program, the brain chemistry reset will absolutely happen in a matter of days. This program is scientifically and nutritionally engineered to liberate you.

Besides the biochemical component of addiction, there is an emotional component that can run very deep. For some of us, eating is a powerfully charged activity. This shows up in our relationship to food, in our beliefs and attitudes about food, and in how we use it: as comfort, as drugs, as a way to cope, fit in, reward ourselves, or numb our feelings. These deeper explorations are part of the 10-Day Detox that we’ll talk about on Day 5, but feel free to read ahead (see
here
) if the emotional aspect is coming up for you right now.

You’ll know if you’re having an emotional reaction along with the physical one if you feel overly agitated, panicky, or unable to divert your attention from the foods you’re not eating. For extra support with this, I recommend two wonderful books by renowned nutritional psychologist Marc David.
Nourishing Wisdom
addresses the emotional underpinnings of some of our difficulties with food, and
The Slow Down Diet
provides a road map out of the maze of emotional eating. You can also
get support from his Institute for the Psychology of Eating (www.psychologyofeating.com).

Regardless of your relationship to food, just stick with this “drug holiday,” and see what happens. It might be hard to believe, but one day soon you will be able to stand in a donut or pastry shop and look at the treats with no desire to eat them. They simply stop being attractive. That is when you know you own your body again.

I know it’s hard to trust that if you make a few simple changes in when, what, and how you eat, your body will respond without struggle. I’m asking you to jump off a cliff without knowing what’s at the bottom. But I have seen the proof of these results in thousands of patients and 10-Day Detox Diet participants. It works. So please have faith in your body’s capacity to heal. You have nothing to lose but your cravings! The worst place you can end up is right where you started.

If you haven’t already, now would be a great time to check in with the 10-Day Detox community. Read what other people are experiencing so you can see for yourself the miraculous and swift changes that can happen. And in “Strategies for Curbing Cravings” below, you’ll find some helpful tips to get you through.