by Mark Hyman
Tips for Easing Your Detox
Take a sauna, get a massage, or do gentle stretching or yoga to flush out your circulation and lymphatic system.
Make sure your elimination system is running smoothly! If you are backed up, so, too, will be the toxins you’re trying to flush out. See here for how to combat constipation.
Drink plenty of water to flush out the toxins.
Get up and get going! Light exercise gets everything circulating and flushes out the lymphatic fluid that transports the toxins out of your body. Your lymph system works only through the contraction of your muscles. So get contracting!
Take 1,000 to 2,000 milligrams of buffered vitamin C once or twice daily.
Get plenty of rest. Even naps or ten minutes of lying down are good.
Trust the process. These symptoms are a sign that your detox is working, and you’re only days away from feeling lighter, cleaner, and more energized than ever before.
Take E-lyte, 1 capful in 8 ounces of water twice a day, to make sure you are fully hydrated.
PROBLEM: Digestive issues such as bloating and gas, feeling abnormally stuffed after a moderate meal, diarrhea, or constipation.
LIKELY CAUSES: Some people are not used to eating fat and it can cause loose stools. It may take a little time to adjust or you may need some digestive enzymes. Changing your diet can also sometimes cause constipation, as can not drinking enough water, especially if you increase fiber such as PGX. Without water, fiber turns to cement in your intestinal tract. If you have bacterial overgrowth and add resistant starch, it can cause bloating or gas. As your bacteria change in your gut from optimizing your diet, your body will eventually adjust.
SOLUTION: Take a comprehensive digestive enzyme to help break down fats (lipase), proteins (proteases), and carbohydrates (amylases). Plant- or animal-based enzymes are both okay; just make sure they’re ones that don’t contain fillers, gluten, dairy, dyes, or binders. I like Pure Encapsulations Digestive Enzymes Ultra, 2 capsules with each meal. They help you digest fats and alleviate bloating and gas. (Find out where to get it at www.eatfatgetthin.com.) If you are constipated, see here for tips on how to safely and easily get your elimination system in gear.
If you are still having problems after a few weeks, see my free e-book Beyond Food: Other Causes of Obesity and Damaged Metabolism and follow the section titled “How to Tend Your Inner Garden.” You can download it at www.eatfatgetthin.com. If your problems continue, see a Functional Medicine practitioner.
Tips to Combat Constipation
First and foremost, be sure you are drinking enough water to clean out your bowels. The PGX fiber can cause constipation if it is not taken with enough water! Be sure to drink at least one full glass of water with each dose of PGX.
Sprinkle ground flaxseeds into your salads or smoothies. They are high in fiber, absorb a lot of water, and help relieve constipation.
Increase the amount of daily magnesium citrate to 600 to 1,000 milligrams until the constipation resolves. If you take too much you will get loose stools, so you may need to adjust to find the right level. If you have kidney failure check with your doctor before taking magnesium.
Take 1,000 to 2,000 milligrams of buffered vitamin C once or twice a day. You can even increase it to 2,000 to 4,000 milligrams once or twice a day to help you go. As with magnesium, ease up on the amount if you get loose stools.
Get up and get moving! Exercise is one of the best ways to jump-start your elimination system.
If none of these strategies work, you can take an herbal laxative such as cascara, senna, or rhubarb at bedtime for short-term help. I like LaxaBlend, 2 to 3 tablets at night, if you are constipated, which you can find at www.eatfatgetthin.com. If these don’t work, try liquid magnesium citrate or use a glycerin or bisacodyl suppository or a Fleet enema. If still nothing, it’s time to check in with your doctor, as something else is likely going on.
PROBLEM: Fatigue
LIKELY CAUSES: Inadequate sleep, or not enough carbohydrates or protein
SOLUTIONS: First, and most obviously, be sure you are getting enough sleep each night. Poor-quality or inadequate sleep will sabotage your efforts at weight loss and health. It will alter your appetite signals, making you crave carbs and sugar, and will slow your metabolism. If you’re sleeping well and enough and are still fatigued, it may be a signal that your body needs additional carbohydrates or protein (especially if you are exercising often or vigorously). If you aren’t already eating a starchy carbohydrate like sweet potato or winter squash with dinner (see here), consider adding that in now. You can also increase your protein intake throughout the day. Keep track in a journal of how you feel as you increase carbs and/or protein to help you land on the optimal amount for your body.
PROBLEM: You hit a weight loss plateau or are otherwise not getting results.
LIKELY CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS: There could be a few reasons for this that may require further evaluation for hormonal, inflammatory, gut, or toxin problems, genetics, or other issues. To learn more about why you may have hit a plateau and how to address it, check out my free e-book Beyond Food: Other Causes of Obesity and Damaged Metabolism at www.eatfatgetthin.com. But first, let’s start with the easy and often most common causes:
Gluten, dairy, sugar or sugar substitutes, peanuts, hidden additives, preservatives, or other chemicals are slipping into your diet. I encourage you to read labels carefully and/or just cook at home for a while, to minimize exposure to these.
Your body may require more carbohydrates. For some people, a very low-carbohydrate diet may not be optimal. If you have hit a weight loss plateau and are not doing so already, try adding a starchy veggie at dinner.
Your body requires even fewer carbohydrates. Some people are carbohydrate intolerant and need to cut way down on carbs in order to reset their body systems. If you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, have high triglycerides or very low HDL, and have extra belly fat, you are mostly likely very carbohydrate intolerant. Cut out the starchy veggie at dinner and all fruit, and record how you feel (energy level, mental sharpness, digestive functioning, etc.) and your weight loss over the next few days. You may need to experiment to get to the right level of carb intake, and the best way to do this is to track it closely.
If you are drinking coffee, it may be having a negative effect on your system. Try going off coffee and continue on the program to see if this is the case. (See the following box for tips on minimizing discomfort from caffeine withdrawal.)
Not adhering closely to the program. The meal recommendations, supplements, and practices are all scientifically designed to work in tandem, which is why I encourage you to follow the program to the letter. Record your meals, exercise, and sleep to make sure you are staying on track. If you need extra support, seek out a health coach or a life coach. I recommend you work with the Handel Group (www.handelgroup.com).
If none of this helps, it may be useful to see a Functional Medicine doctor to evaluate other causes of weight loss resistance, such as low thyroid function (or check out my e-book The UltraThyroid Solution at www.eatfatgetthin.com), adrenal dysfunction, intestinal bacterial overgrowth and leaky gut, overload of toxins, latent infections, mitochondrial dysfunction, or more. Go to the website for the Institute for Functional Medicine (www.functionalmedicine.org) to find a practitioner in your area. You can also come see me or another doctor on my team at The UltraWellness Center, in Lenox, Massachusetts (www.ultrawellnesscenter.com) or the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio (my.clevelandclinic.org/services/center-for-functional-medicine).
Tips to Ease Caffeine Withdrawal
Kicking caffeine to the curb is easier than you might think… if you follow the right protocol. Here’s how to make it as painless as possible:
Do it slowly. Reduce your caffeine intake by half on the first day, then by another half on the second day, and then down to zero.
To reduce headaches, drink lots of water, do gentle exercise, and take 1,000 milligra
ms of vitamin C twice a day. If needed, try 400 milligrams of ibuprofen. I don’t believe in unnecessary suffering!
If you’re tired, nap. Ideally you can quit caffeine on a weekend to allow yourself some extra rest as needed.
With your prep days done and your Eat Fat, Get Thin guidelines in hand, you’re now ready to embark on the twenty-one days that will change everything about how you relate to food and how you look and feel. I’m so excited for you to experience the revitalization and renewal that await you!
14
Stage 3: Your Transition Plan
So what happens now that you’ve gotten the toxic, health-robbing, waistline-sabotaging foods and substances out of your system and replaced them with whole, real, and fresh food with a healthy dose of good fats? Where do you go from here to continue your health and weight loss journey?
Before we get to that, I want to ask you a question: How do you feel? What’s changed for you over the past twenty-one days? As I’ve said all the way through, you are your own best judge of what works for your body. My aim with this book is to empower you not only with knowledge about fats and free you from “fat fear,” but with the tools you need to be able to answer for yourself—now and forever—the question, “What should I eat to achieve (or maintain) my healthiest, happiest, and slim self?”
YOUR PERSONAL “EXIT INTERVIEW”
Let’s start with a little self-assessment, to give you a full picture of how far you’ve come.
Retake the Feel Like Crap Quiz
Now that you’ve finished the twenty-one day Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan, go back and complete the “after” section in the FLC Quiz here. I think you’re going to be amazed by the changes! That is the power of food, and the power of the body to recover and heal.
Recheck Your Numbers
Redo your numbers. Record your weight, waist size (around your belly button), hip circumference (around the widest point), blood pressure, and fasting blood sugar, and compare them to where you started.
Recheck Your Lab Tests
If you did basic lab tests before beginning the Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan, it is well worth repeating those same tests to see the changes.
Review Your Journal Questions
Remember the journal questions you answered before beginning the program? Well, now is the time to look back and ask yourself the questions again. What’s changed? What’s improved? What areas do you still feel you want to work on?
It is important to track your progress and see where you are. That is how you’ll know which transition plan you should be on. If you still have diabetes or want to lose a lot more weight and get off your medications, then continue with the Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan. Just because it was a jump-start doesn’t mean you can’t continue past the twenty-one days! If you have gotten most of the way toward your goals, you might choose to transition to the Pegan Diet, which has more flexibility and can easily be your long-term eating plan for life. To know exactly what plan you should be on, follow the guidelines in the next few sections.
I have done other elimination-type diets in the past and as soon as they were over I was very excited to get back to “regular eating.” I feel like this is the first time I’ve been excited to keep going and see where I will end up if I continue on the program.
—Teri Dodds
TRANSITION OPTION #1: CONTINUE WITH THE EAT FAT, GET THIN PLAN
If you want to continue to lose weight at the same rate you have been for the past twenty-one days (or you just love how you feel), you can continue with the same protocol you’ve been following. You can do this for another twenty-one days, or however long you like, until you reach your goals. I suggest staying on the Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan if you:
Want to lose an additional twenty-five pounds or more
Still have diabetes and want to reverse it
Still are on diabetes medication or insulin and want to get off them
Still have high triglycerides and low HDL and want to get off statin medication
Still have high blood pressure and want to get off medication
Just feel so great and want to experience even greater levels of wellness
Review and follow the protocol below to continue with the Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan.
TRANSITION OPTION #2: THE PEGAN DIET
In Chapter 10, you learned about what I call the Pegan Diet, which I believe is the optimal long-term diet for us humans. The transition to the Pegan Diet happens in two stages. First, you’ll follow a basic version, as a way to keep the healing and weight loss going while reintroducing legumes (beans and lentils) and ½ cup per day of nongluten grains. Ideally, I encourage you to stay on this portion of the transition for at least three months.
After that, you can move on to the second stage, which allows for more flexibility. During this second stage, there are options to test and add back in small amounts of gluten, dairy, and treats. If, after testing, you determine you’re okay with gluten, dairy, and the occasional treat, I encourage you to incorporate those options only sparingly, for all the reasons you’ve learned throughout this program. In the pages that follow, I’ll walk you through exactly when and how to test these foods and the best ways to include them in your diet, if you choose, in a balanced, smart way. This is indeed a diet meant for life, as it allows for great flexibility and enjoyment of good food that supports your healthy new lifestyle.
The Pegan Diet: Stage 1
Transition to stage 1 of the Pegan Diet if you:
Want to continue to get the benefits of the Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan and add beans and/or nongluten grains back to your diet to see how you respond to them. (Some people with diabesity can’t tolerate beans and grains because they contain enough starch to spike blood sugar as well as lectins that create inflammation and weight gain.)
You have normal blood sugars and blood pressure but want to lose more weight and/or belly fat
You have any health conditions or inflammation or generally don’t feel fabulous
You don’t have a history of heart disease or diabetes
Your lab tests show you still have high triglycerides, low HDL, small LDL particles, high blood sugar, and insulin resistance
Here is the protocol for stage 1 of the Pegan Diet:
Continue to eliminate all gluten- and flour-based products (including gluten-free) and dairy (except grass-fed butter or ghee).
Continue to eliminate all forms of sugar and sweeteners.
Continue to avoid processed foods.
Avoid overdoing it on fruit (stick with ½ cup to 1 cup per day of berries, pomegranate seeds, watermelon, kiwi, lemon, or lime).
Avoid inflammatory beverages (alcohol, soda or sweetened drinks of any kind, and juice).
Include up to ½ cup per day of gluten-free grains in their whole-kernel form: quinoa; black, brown, or red rice; buckwheat.
Include as many nonstarchy vegetables as you want in all meals and snacks.
If you like, include one serving of a starchy vegetable at dinner.
Include 4 to 6 ounces of protein (eggs, fish, chicken, or animal protein) or ½ cup beans or legumes per meal.
Have four to five servings of healthy fats per day (e.g., ½ to 1 avocado, or 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed butter, clarified butter, walnut oil, sesame oil, extra virgin coconut butter or oil, or nut or seed butter such as almond or cashew). See here in Chapter 13 for a review of your good fat options.
Continue with your daily practices: thirty minutes of exercise, supplements, relaxation, and seven to eight hours’ sleep.
Use your favorite recipes from the Eat Fat, Get Thin recipes, or check out The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook or The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet Cookbook for more recipe ideas. Avoid the recipes with gluten or dairy and the desserts.
Continue to take the same supplements that you have been taking during the Eat Fat, Get Thin Plan. You can order them at www.eatfatgetthin.com.
As you reintroduce beans or nongluten grains, it is important to notice h
ow you feel. How is your digestion? Are you bloated? Are you tired? Are you gaining weight or still losing weight? Do you have any other inflammatory symptoms? Your body is the best feedback mechanism. It will tell you exactly what works and what doesn’t, what feels good and what doesn’t. If reintroducing these foods doesn’t work for you, then stay off them for three months and try again. Sometimes it takes a while to reset your body, and after a time you can broaden your diet without side effects.
The Pegan Diet: Stage 2
You’ve met your weight loss goals… your health is where you want it to be… you feel fabulous and scored well on the FLC Quiz. It’s time to become a lifelong Pegan!
Stage 2 of the Pegan Diet is similar to the basic Pegan Diet but allows for more flexibility. It introduces gluten and dairy (to see if you can tolerate a little bit) and, if you wish, some treats.