Authors: Mark Hyman
Tags: #Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Diets, #Health & Fitness / Body Cleansing & Detoxification
The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body's Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast (58 page)
Fruit: 1 medium piece, ½ cup berries, ½ cup mixed fresh fruit, ¼ cup dried fruit (avoid, high in sugar)
Starchy vegetables: 1 cup winter squash, ½ sweet potato
Protein: 4 to 6 ounces
Whole grains: ⅓ cup cooked
Beans: ⅓ cup cooked or canned
Nuts or seeds: ¼ cup or one small handful
This is a wonderful way to live your life. The combination of healthy, tasty, satisfying food along with daily exercise and learning to center and relax myself, journaling, and hot baths has been powerful to me. I look forward to continuing this with my boyfriend and to being an example to my kids and friends of how easy and rewarding this way of living is. I look forward to “paying this experience forward”!
—ROBIN SEELEY
The final transition option is the one I recommend choosing after you have cycled through a six-week period or more on any of the above three plans. The Blood Sugar Solution Plan for Life follows the same protocol as the Basic Plan, but it reintroduces gluten and dairy (for those who can tolerate them), as well as the occasional treat. This is indeed a plan meant for life; it proves that health and weight management are easy, doable, and most of all, enjoyable.
Here is the protocol for the Blood Sugar Solution Plan for Life:
Stay away from liquid sugar calories such as soda or juices, unless you are making fresh-squeezed green vegetable juices, which are fabulous.
Continue to eliminate all artificial sweeteners.
Minimize all forms of sugar, but especially avoid foods with added sugars. You can always add a little bit of sugar, maple syrup, or honey to the food you cook yourself. That way you know exactly how much you are getting. Note that you should watch to see if any sweetener (sugar, maple syrup, honey, etc.) triggers an addictive pattern of eating. If so, like some alcoholics or addicts, you may have zero tolerance; I’d encourage you to stay away from any type of sugar or sweetener and get your “sugar” exclusively from whole fresh fruit.
Minimize inflammatory beverages (regular and decaf coffee and alcohol). One cup of coffee and one glass of wine or alcohol three to four times a week can eventually be well tolerated by most people. Just pay attention and notice how they make you feel.
Continue to avoid processed foods.
Include as many nonstarchy vegetables as you want in all meals or snacks. Get in the habit of filling 50 to 75 percent of your plate with nonstarchy veggies (see box
here
for a full list of unlimited nonstarchy vegetables).
Include 4 to 6 ounces of lean protein in each meal.
Include gluten-free grains in their whole-kernel form: quinoa; black, brown, or red rice; buckwheat; 1 to 2 servings per day (see
here
for portion sizes).
Avoid all processed grains or flours (with the exception of the pasta you will use to test gluten according to the instructions
here
).
Include nutrient-dense starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes and winter squash, up to 2 servings per day (see
here
for portion sizes).
Include low-glycemic fruit such as apples, pears, berries, or pomegranate, 1 to 2 servings per day (see
here
for portion sizes).
Include a moderate amount of beans and legumes, 1 to 2 servings per day (see
here
for portion sizes).
Have one serving of a healthy fat (e.g., ¼ avocado or 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, walnut oil, or sesame oil, extra virgin coconut butter, or nut or seed butter such as almond or cashew) with each meal.