I had no idea it's been 7 months since I posted.
So lets do some updates.
After I finished my Drop 2 sizes challenge I ran into a snag with my thyroid treatment. During the months of September, October and the first half of November my body went haywire. I hadn't changed anything with my prescription, supplements, diet or anything when I just started feeling kind of bad. And then bad changed to horrible. My hair started thinning/shedding, I required at least 2 naps a day just to make it to 8pm for bedtime, and my ears were ringing all the time. Fun times right?
So mid November my doctor made some changes to my protocol. I switched to a new brand of thyroid with a new dose, added high doses of certain vitamins and (knock on wood) by December I felt great. Fast forward to February and while I was still feeling pretty good, I had ZERO weight loss and for the first time, the letters PCOS became apart of the conversation. So we have now added progesterone cream to see if that will help improve things (I'm low).
Now, while most of my numbers are now ok, my blood glucose is not. And with the PCOS conversation comes insulin resistance and all of the fun things that comes with that.
So I've been working on trying to get those numbers down with diet and exercise in order to avoid going on any other medication because I don't want any more pills.
Enter Dr. Mark Hyman and the Blood Sugar Solution.
In a nutshell, I'm doing a 10 day detox to see if I can get my blood sugar under control. That's all. And while he calls it a detox it's really unlike any detox I've done.
Basically you drink a "detox shake" for breakfast (aka a whole foods smoothie), eat a whole foods lunch and then a whole foods dinner. So basically you're just supposed to nourish yourself with lots and lots of vegetables, healthy fats, and proteins because there's no grains, no starchy vegetables (potatoes), no sugar (obv) and no dairy (hello Paleo). The detox part I think comes from the other things he wants you to do: detox bath every night (Epsom salt bath), writing in a journal, breathing exercises, walking 30 minutes every day, and taking supplements to support your body. So by detox, it's clear he means detoxing from stress which I like. I'm not a fan of those detox juice cleanses or fasts or anything.
Before I started I was already gluten free and refined sugar free (I still used coconut sugar or 100% maple syrup on occasion) but other than that I WAS still eating gluten free grains, dairy, and starchy vegetables, so I didn't have to make too many changes. I'm usually dairy free anyways.
How's it going you ask?
Today is Day 5 so I'm actually already halfway done. The first 5 days were just fine. I avoided the usual withdrawal symptoms like headache and crazy fatigue because I had already cut out sugar and my body had already done that. The only thing I experienced was just a TINY bit of fatigue. But it wasn't anything that stopped me from doing anything.
How's the food?
Well, I'm not a fan of the recipes he offers up in his book, but I'm quite satisfied with what I've been making (which meet all of the requirements). Like I said before, it's pretty much just a strict version of Paleo. I HAVE been drinking one of his recipes for the detox shake because it's pretty good AND it keeps me full all the way til lunch. It's just a bunch of seeds, nuts, almond milk, coconut oil, and fruit. Nothing too fancy. Now look, it's NOT the most delicious smoothie I've ever had in my life (my fave used to be the orange dream machine from Jamba Juice - delicious!) but I LOVE that when I drink it I FEEL like I'm being nourished AND it keeps me full. Lunches have been a big salad with protein and olive oil and vinegar for dressing or soup (I made 2 of his and honestly, I did not like them either). Dinner has been chicken curry (he also has a recipe for this but I used my own which only differs in the spices), breakfast (eggs and such), or chicken/steak with vegetables. Basically, everything tastes fine, I always have enough to eat and I'm not really experiencing any hunger. All pluses if you ask me.
Any results so far?
Well, my stomach feels flatter, my energy is good and I'm sleeping well. All good things in my book. And in four days I've lost 2.6 pounds which is nice. What I find interesting is that in the month before I started, I had already cut out sugar AND had been limiting my carb intake to under 100g/day per my doctors orders, and I feel like I'm getting better/faster results doing this. The crazy part is that I'm eating the SAME amount of calories and the SAME amount of carbs, protein, and fat. Interesting right?
and finally ....
Will I continue past 10 days?
Probably. I did this for my blood sugar and I'm not scheduled to get my blood taken for another 3 weeks and I REALLY want to see what kind of effect this way of eating has on my blood sugar. At the end of the book, he gives you options for what to do when you come to the close of the 10 days. There are 4 options but they are only minimally different. My gut says it's best to just stay the course and see what happens. Either way, come day 10, I'll report back and let you know what kind of results I got!
