Detox Diet Plan for the New Year

Now that the food comas, sugar hangovers, and holiday binges are over, it’s a good time to “clean house” with a detox diet. A detox diet calms inflammation, stimulates repair and recovery, and boosts energy. A detox diet should never involve frequent hunger or lack of nutrients, factors that only stress the body further.

Finding food intolerances

Many people don’t realize they have food intolerances. These foods trigger an immune reaction and cause such symptoms as low energy, rashes, joint pain, digestive issues, headaches, anxiety, depression, and more. They also prevent weight loss. The foods people most commonly react to are gluten, grains, dairy, eggs, and nuts.

Other inflammation triggers

Other common immune triggers include nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, etc.), legumes, coffee, and, of course, foods high in sugar. Don't forget, sugary foods include sweet fruits and natural sweeteners, such as honey, maple syrup, and agave.

The hunger-free diet plan

At this point you might be saying, “There is nothing left to eat!” On the contrary, the detox diet resembles what our ancestors ate prior to the industrialization of food, and there is plenty to eat. In fact, it is important not to get too hungry as the low blood sugar caused by chronic hunger causes inflammation. Eat frequently enough to sustain energy and avoid crashing.

Healthy diet plan foods

Grass-fed and organic meats, wild fish, plenty of vegetables, healthy fats, and fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, make up the detox diet, along with plenty of water and non-caffeinated herbal teas.

Good fats are key to success

An appropriate amount of good fats ward off hunger and sustain energy. Include healthy fats such as coconut oil, avocado, olive oil, ghee (butter oil), and salmon. Avoid processed vegetable oils and strictly avoid hydrogenated oils, or trans fats.

Rewards outweigh difficulties

Yes, the diet is difficult at first. It requires planning and preparation. Initially you may experience sugar and carb cravings, low energy as your body adapts to burning fat instead of sugar for fuel, and such detox symptoms as headaches, rashes, or joint pain. Please call our office for guidance if so.

However people who stick with the diet inevitably feel such a boost in energy and well being that they come to enjoy the diet.

A great weight-loss diet plan

Many find the detox diet is the best weight loss diet yet. Cutting out sweets and high-carb foods naturally promotes weight loss. More importantly, however, the detox diet becomes a weight loss diet plan by reducing inflammation, stabilizing blood sugar, and restoring balance to the adrenals, our stress-managing glands.

Reintroducing foods

After 30 to 90 days of the detox diet, you may wish to add in some of the foods you eliminated, one at a time every 72 hours to see whether you react in any way to them. This will help you build a healthier lifelong diet. However many find a gluten-free and even grain-free diet builds lasting health.

Support with detox supplements

I can help you enhance the effects of the detox diet with nutritional compounds to aid in cleansing and ease the symptoms of transition. They support the liver, the digestive tract, blood sugar balance, and stress handling. Just call my office for advice.

Detox diet plan

Foods to avoid

• ALL sugars and sweeteners, including honey, agave, maple syrup, etc.
• High-glycemic fruits: Watermelon, mango, pineapple, raisins, grapes, canned fruits, dried fruits, etc.
• Nightshades: Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, and other nightshades
• Mushrooms
• Grains: Wheat, oats, rice, barley, buckwheat, corn, quinoa, etc.
• Dairy: Milk, cream, cheese, butter, whey.
• Eggs or foods that contain eggs (mayonnaise)
• Soy: Soy milk, soy sauce, tofu, tempeh, etc.
• Alcohol
• Lectins: Lectins promote leaky gut. Avoid nuts, beans, soy, nightshades, peanut oil, peanut butter, and soy and soy products.
• Coffee: Many people react to coffee as if it is gluten, and it can be overstimulating.
• Processed foods
• Canned foods

Foods to eat

• Most vegetables (except nightshades and mushrooms): Asparagus, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, beets, cauliflower, carrots, celery, artichokes, garlic, onions, zucchini, squash, rhubarb, cucumbers, turnips, watercress, etc.
• Fermented foods: Sauerkraut, kimchi, pickled ginger, fermented cucumbers, coconut yogurt, kombucha, etc. You must make your own or buy one of the few brands that are genuinely fermented (not made with vinegar) and free of sugars or additives.
• Meats: Grass-fed and organic chicken, turkey, beef, bison, lamb, etc., and wild fish.
• Low glycemic fruits sparingly: Apricots, plums, apple, peach, pear, cherries, berries, etc.
• Coconut: Coconut oil, coconut butter, coconut milk, coconut cream.
• Olives and olive oil
• Ghee (butter oil) unless severe dairy allergy

Holiday sugar hangover cure?

The tin of peppermint bark is empty, the pies polished off, and the Yule log cake reduced to crumbs.

Left in their wake, however, is the sugar hangover, that annual holiday tradition that may include an upset stomach, headache, lethargy, brain fog, skin problems, join pain, mood swings, allergy symptoms, and a heap of regret.

How to recover from a sugar hangover

While alcohol hangover cures are a folklore staple, you can take solid steps to recover from your sugar hangover:

• Quit eating sweets. Those holiday treats have sent your blood sugar levels skyrocketing and plummeting repeatedly, taxing the immune system, the brain, hormone balance, and every other system in the body.

  To recover, put blood sugar levels on an even keel by eating protein every two to three hours, eating a good breakfast, and avoiding starchy foods, desserts, and sweet drinks (soda, sweet coffee drinks) that spike blood sugar. Instead focus on quality proteins, leafy vegetables, and good sources of fat (olive oil, avocado, coconut oil, salmon, etc.)

• Drink plenty of water. This is also the most popular alcohol hangover cure for a reason. Staying hydrated with clean filtered water will help flush your body of toxins and aid in recovery.

• Support your liver. Processing all those sweets burdens your liver. Help your liver flush these toxins with such liver detox nutrients as milk thistle, dandelion, N-acetyl L-cysteine, beet root, panax ginseng, and more. Contact my office for more advice on liver detoxification.

• Restore your gut. Sweets cause inflammation, promote overgrowth of harmful yeast and bacteria, and irritate the gastric lining. You can restore gut health by avoiding sweets and other starchy foods, temporarily adopting a strict detox diet that eliminates common immune triggers (i.e., gluten), and by eating cultured and fermented foods.

• Move your body. A brisk walk, a swim, yoga, or some other gentle exercise will get your lymphatic system pumping and blood flowing to help flush toxins and rejuvenate cells. You may want to avoid extremely vigorous exercise until hangover symptoms subside so as not to further promote inflammation.

Why not go for a New Year's detox?

These are some basics to help you recover from a sugar hangover and get you back on the wellness path. In fact, all of these tips will help you recover from an alcohol hangover, too. For more advanced strategies and to get started on a detox plan for the New Year, contact my office.

What are your tips for a sugar hangover cure?

Of course the best way to cure a sugar hangover is to avoid one. But if you happen to overindulge on special occasions, what are some of your tips for a sugar hangover cure?

Why does eating make me sleepy?

Question

I practically fall asleep in my plate after every meal. Why does eating make me so sleepy?

Answer

Feeling sleepy after meals is a common symptom of insulin resistance, a risk factor for diabetes.

Starchy foods and too much insulin

Insulin resistance is common today and is a stepping-stone to diabetes. Overeating and eating a diet high in sugar and starchy foods causes insulin resistance. These foods include breads, rice, pasta, pastries, chips, potatoes, soda, sweet coffee drinks, and more.

Converting glucose to fat demands energy

Insulin escorts glucose into the cells to make energy. Starchy foods bombard the bloodstream with too much glucose, forcing the release of insulin to lower it. When a person eats a starchy diet on a regular basis, the body overproduces insulin to lower chronically high blood sugar.

Eventually these constant surges of insulin exhaust the body’s cells and they refuse entry to the insulin, which is called insulin resistance. As a result insulin can’t escort glucose into the cells to make energy and the person feels sleepy.

Also, because glucose can’t get into cells, blood sugar climbs too high. The body lowers it to safer levels by converting excess glucose into fat for storage. This is a demanding process that robs one of energy.

Insulin surges overproduce calming brain chemical

A fluctuation in brain chemistry is another factor that causes tiredness. Carbohydrates provide precursors for serotonin, the “joy and well-being” brain chemical that can ward off depression and also be calming.

However, the insulin surge that follows a high-carb meal overproduces serotonin in the brain, contributing to that need for a post-meal nap. After serotonin levels drop, people then may feel depressed, which spurs cravings for more high-carb foods and sweets to get that pleasurable “high” and start the cycle over again.

Restoring insulin sensitivity

If you feel sleepy even after a very low-carb meal, it could be because you overate or because your glucose metabolism has become too disordered to function properly. While adapting a lower-carb diet is vital, you may need the guidance of a practitioner in using nutritional and botanical compounds that can help restore insulin sensitivity.

Food allergies can prevent weight loss

Question

I learned I have intolerances and allergies to certain foods, and that I need to avoid those foods if I want to lose weight. Isn’t it just a matter of eating fewer calories?

Answer

Some people find they can’t lose weight through calorie restriction alone. When that happens several issues need to be investigated. One of the most important is food intolerances. Eating foods to which you are allergic or intolerant will prevent weight loss.

Food intolerances cause inflammation

Food intolerances and allergies create inflammation, and inflammation prevents weight loss. Every time you eat gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, or some other food that may be a problem for you, you create inflammation in your body.

Leaky gut is a primary culprit

For many people today, a variety of foods trigger inflammation. This is due largely to intestinal permeability, or “leaky gut,” which allows undigested food particles to slip into the bloodstream through damaged and inflamed intestinal walls. Leaky gut is very common today due to poor diets, excessive sweets, chronic stress, and other maladies of modern life. Gluten intolerance and celiac disease are also common and cause leaky gut.

As these food particles circulate throughout the body the immune system responds by attacking and destroying them for removal, just as it would respond to a viral or bacterial infection. Unfortunately, if the food is eaten regularly, this keeps the immune system constantly at work, hence creating chronic inflammation. Symptoms can be obvious in the way of joint pain, skin issues, abdominal pain, or even brain fog, memory loss, or moodiness. Sometimes the inflammation is not obvious, yet a person finds she or he can’t lose weight.

Inflammation halts weight loss

Studies show the immune compounds that cause inflammation also make insulin receptors less sensitive, creating insulin resistance. As a result glucose can’t get into cells and blood sugar becomes too high. The body lowers blood sugar by converting it to fat for storage. Insulin resistance also hinders fat burning.

Inflammation also has been shown to cause leptin resistance, which stimulates hunger and promotes fat storage. Furthermore, excess body fat secretes immune messenger cells that trigger inflammation, promoting a vicious cycle that prevents weight loss.

Although moderating caloric intake and exercising are recommended for weight loss, effective and lasting weight loss depends in part on tackling chronic inflammation and food sensitivities.