Blood Sugar Solution 10 Day Detox Diet by Dr. Mark Hyman

I’ll put the summary upfront: using the principles and plans in the 10-Day Detox Diet, I lost 12 lbs in the first 10 days, a total of 21 lbs in the first 30 days and now 30 lbs total in the first 50 days. (Update: as of August 2015 I’ve lost 60 lbs total). In addition, my overall feeling of health and my energy levels increased greatly.

A little about me: I’m in my mid-fifties and am a relatively big-framed guy who stands 6’1″ and weighed 310 pounds when I started this plan. That was about 110 lbs overweight as my ideal weight is about 200 pounds (it’s been a long time since I’ve been there so I’ll let you know for sure when I get there).

This book was recommended to me by a life coach I was seeing. I purchased the 10-Day Detox Diet, read it thoroughly and loved the sound science and principles behind the ideas. Following the plans in the book, I prepped my refrigerator and pantry, purchased vitamin supplements and fiber pills, tapered back on Dove dark chocolates (my main addictive habit), picked the day I would start and jumped in.

I haven’t felt hungry since.

Good things that have happened in the first 50 days: I lost 30 pounds and 1.5 inches off my neck and 3 inches off my waist (just a representative sample; I slimmed down in other places on my body as well). My cravings for fatty foods and sugar disappeared. I’m sleeping better, some nagging inflammation in my knees cleared up and my digestive elimination challenges cleared up. My patience increased for handling both my interpersonal relationships and life’s little problems. I have more energy for work and throughout the day. My overall feeling of health improved greatly. I feel like, after all the efforts I have made to lose weight over the years and after all the ups and downs my weight has been through, I’ve finally found the right set of intellectual tools to approach eating. Feeling this good is motivation enough to keep me eating healthy for the rest of my life.

After about 20 days on the plan I also went back to Amazon and purchased Dr. Hyman’s Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook to expand my access to additional recipes. Once I got the hang of how Dr. Hyman combines the ingredients for dishes and meals, I started experimenting with carefully modifying some recipes to tweak them for my own particular culinary preferences. If you use good common sense it’s easy to mix and match ingredients and spices to tailor dishes and meals to your liking. I enjoy cooking and like to experiment in the kitchen. Your mileage may vary and the provided recipes are just fine the way they are presented. I’ll keep doing this as long as my weight loss continues apace and my overall feeling of health stays strong. If I go too far afield, I’ll just move back closer to the original recipes.
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The real trick now is making sure I eat healthy over the long term. I already passed my first big test: a long overdue vacation at an ocean-side resort with lots of social interaction and eating out at restaurants. During the short trip I managed to lose 5 lbs instead of gaining weight as I likely would have in the past. Once again, I feel like I have the tools I need in Dr. Hyman’s program to handle all situations.

Side note: I did a sleep study three months ago and was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Many overweight people who snore loudly like me have sleep apnea and don’t know it. Since I was tested, and prior to starting the 10-Day Detox diet, I started on a CPAP machine and have been diligent about using it so I credit this with also helping me to have the energy to face up to my dietary challenges. I think it would have been much more difficult to lose weight without also dealing with this condition first.

I believe good health is a combination of restful sleep, breathing fresh air, drinking lots of fresh water, eating healthy food of high quality, mitigating stress and exercising regularly. I feel I have the other items in order and now I will tackle the stress and regular exercise portions.

Best of luck on your particular journey toward health. The 10-Day Detox Diet continues to work well for me, perhaps it will work for you too. Highly recommended.

Update July 2014: In the first 100 days I have lost 44 lbs and feel great. I’m sticking with the principles laid out in Dr. Hyman’s books as they are working well for me.

Update September 2014: I hit my halfway point and I’m now down 55 lbs. This feels great as I’ve struggled with my weight most of my adult life. Best of all, others around me have taken inspiration. One person I know has lost over 40 pounds in the last three months just by utilizing information from Dr. Hyman’s books that we talked about and is now at his ultimate goal weight and is very trim! I’ll get there too. The key for me is that I don’t feel deprived. I eat plenty of good food but now just the food that is good for me. The rate of my weight loss has slowed but is still steady. I now need to concentrate on making regular exercise a part of my life.

Update January 2015: My weight loss has plateaued at 55 lbs down for the last 4 months and I still have 55 lbs more to lose. I just saw my cardiologist and he is very happy with my progress and my blood work showed huge improvement from before I started this lifestyle change to now. To continue my weight loss I need to trim back my portion sizes a little and start exercising consistently. I’m confident I’ll get to my goal weight of 200 lbs or less in 2015. I’m sticking with Dr. Hyman’s program.

Update August 2015: This hasn’t been a linear and easy journey but I’m back on the right path. Earlier this year, I slowly put on 10 lbs to 265 lbs as a response to stress from challenges I experienced both professionally and personally. Also, I noticed Dr. Hyman’s program shared many similarities with the Paleo diet and I experimented with combining the two programs. I feel my main problem is portion control. I have the mistaken idea that if something is healthy to eat you can have as much of it as you want. This is not true for me particularly when it comes to animal proteins and nuts.

No excuses though. I started exercising regularly and have been briskly walking for about 40 minutes per day, 7 days per week for the last three months. The scale didn’t move for me though until I made some changes to my portions that were holding me back. I trimmed back on my animal protein portions at each meal, cut out the snacking on cheese that had crept in and reduced the portion size on nuts that are my go-to snack. Now, between the portion control and regular exercise, the scale is going down and I’ve lost 15 pounds in the last month. I’m now at 250 lbs for a total weight loss of 60 lbs. My goal weight remains 200 lbs so I have a ways to go but I’m feeling good about what I’m doing.

I have recommended the 10-day Detox Diet to several people who have asked me how I’ve lost weight. Those that have purchased the book, read it thoroughly and adopted Dr. Hyman’s principles have successfully lost weight and cleared up some health concerns as well. I continue to highly recommend this book and the info it contains. Be well!

I am finally loosing weight and not wanting sweet and carb loaded foods. I know this will be a way of life for me as the carbs are so addictive, it took months to break free from the effects of hot cross buns at Easter. Even when I knew better it was just a little. Not now I know these things are not serving me. All the best on your journey.

This book contains very simple step by step process to accomplish what the title says! And my husband and I both accomplished the process. Some of the menus were tedious b/c had so much prepping, but others were easy and it was my choice to do the difficult ones, so no complaints. But what he promised in the book as far as our experience was right on! We did stop having cravings after the first day! My husband an avid coffee drinker was able to quit coffee with only an occasional headache and Dr. Hyman gives you hints on what to do about that also. Everything is in the book to help you get through what could have been a horrible experience to what really turned out to be an enlightening experience with little discomfort. Of course, I was already familiar with Dr. Hyman’s other book The ultra wellness cookbook so I was very familiar with how he constructs his recipes. I really like how Dr. Hyman makes the case about our addictive sugar habits and how our brains are chemically induced to crave sugar. He constantly is doing research on the subject and I like how he now links so many of our health problems to over consumption of not just sugar but artificial sugar and processed foods. And what’s really different in this book is how he wants us to do something in our communities to start spreading this awesome information. I am always conscious now when I go to the store and I tell all my family & friends and the members that I teach Yoga to that we vote with our dollars. Don’t spend your money on stuff you think is not worth being on the shelf even if it’s convenient or cheaper in the long run you could be saving lives and the planet by buying something that is worthy of your humanity! My husband was really happy that we did this 10 day detox, I thought he would be the first to hate it but he loves the smoothies and does not want to go back to his cereal. This book can really change your emotional attachments about food and may save your life. I am very grateful to Dr. Hyman for writing this book! He has made me become aware of how attached I was to certain foods and that eating foods that raise your glycemic ratio can cause you to over eat and gain weight and cause you to feel achy and have fatigue. My husband and I totally stopped snacking after dinner. Somehow just eating more greens and staying away from all the carbs and hidden sugars in our processed food changed our brain chemistry. It’s really amazing! He no longer has that 2pm slump at work, he says. My thinking is so much clearer now & I feel my concentration is so sharp now. My energy feels more balanced and I wake up in the morning with energy! He even encourages journaling. This book is amazing!