“Just do it and don’t worry about liking it.
You will love it later!”
Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
WHERE TO BEGIN
I share Dr. Fuhrman’s advice, because it has literally transformed my health, my well-being, and my entire outlook on life—not to mention thousands of other people’s lives as well. And, as I have stated earlier, I did not write this book to create yet another weight loss memoir that will wind up collecting dust on a shelf. I have written this book to help anyone permanently escape food addiction.
Whether one follows Dr. Fuhrman’s lectures on PBS or reads one of his many books, the results will be the same: Individuals will get rid of food addiction and earn their health back.
The jewel that helped me escape in 2008 was his popular classic, Eat to Live. It is simple, straightforward science that radically changed my worldview about food. I followed “The Six-Week Plan”—the basic eating plan described in the book.
However, before I started, I spent six weeks studying the entire book. If you just crack the book open to the Six-Week Plan and follow it as any other diet, you may miss the mark, and it may cost you your health in the process.
For instance, five years prior to 2008, I found the Six-Week Plan in Eat to Live, but didn’t read the rest of the book. I wasn’t interested in the science behind toxic hunger, food addiction, optimal health, or longevity. I just wanted a quick way to lose weight and a simple plan to follow.
By the second day, when symptoms of detox started to surface, I caved in and immediately went back to my old way of eating. This continued on and off for the next five years.
When the going gets tough in the beginning—and it will—understanding the science behind cravings, toxic hunger, and withdrawal will enable you to make it through the cravings.
There are no shortcuts.
If you want to become free from food addiction, you must go through the toxic withdrawal phase.
I took a yellow highlighter and studied the entire book as if my very life depended upon it, because it did! (I was sitting on a ticking time bomb of high cholesterol and hypertension.)
And when I came to words such as “sulfur glucosinolates” or “phytochemicals,” I jotted them down in a notebook, along with what they did for my body. I kept this running list of words and their meanings so that I could review it from time to time. This was critical information to know, and it helped me achieve success. As the mind is changed with correct information, the body will transform as a result. Knowledge is power.
(Caution: Because the Nutritarian Diet is so effective in eradicating diseases, such as hypertension and Type 2 diabetes, it is important to be under the care and supervision of a physician if you are taking medications to lower blood pressure and/or blood sugars.)
THE SIX-WEEK PLAN
The Six-Week Plan in Eat to Live will radically change your life forever! If you commit to follow it with a steadfast tenacity every day for six weeks—even through possible headaches, brain fog, nausea, or fatigue—you will get rid of the toxins that hold you captive to the addiction.
Your taste buds will also dramatically change. During this time, you will actually begin to taste the subtle flavors in a leaf of romaine lettuce, or the succulent sweetness in a wedge of cantaloupe. When the taste buds change, eating food without salt and sugar becomes a very pleasurable experience.
The cravings for low-nutrient, processed food will significantly dissipate during this time as well. Nearly everyone notices a significant drop in weight afterward, too. I lost twenty pounds in just the first four weeks of following the Six-Week Plan. (I documented my journey with pictures, writings, and medical stats at www.EmilyBoller.com, “Transformation.”)
I typed it out using a small font and printed several copies. After trimming excess paper, I had each one laminated at an office supply store. I placed one in my purse, one in my car, one on my desk, one on my bathroom mirror, and one on the refrigerator. I allowed those laminated cards to make all decisions for me, and it worked. A year later, I weighed a hundred pounds less, and no longer suffered from food addiction, coronary artery disease, hypertension, prediabetes, depression, low back pain, cracked heels, and painful boils.
TIPS FOR MAKING IT THROUGH TOXIC WITHDRAWAL
This phase is short-lived; the worst part for many people is the first three to four days. That is the period of time when headaches, growling stomach, nausea, weakness, shakiness, anxiety, irritability, and brain fog are the strongest. Toxic withdrawal may last for up to eight to twelve weeks for some, but the symptoms are significantly reduced.
Dr. Fuhrman calls these symptoms “toxic hunger.” Remember, the symptoms are merely toxins being released for removal. This enables the body to become clean and healthy. You will feel bad during this time. Expect it so you are not surprised by it. This part takes grit.
If you give in to toxic hunger and eat the food you are craving, the detoxification process will stop—and you will immediately feel better. For instance, if you are experiencing shakiness or weakness and brain fog, and eat a few cookies, or a bowl of cereal and milk, you will soon feel better.
However, you will also regret it, because the sooner you can get to the other side of withdrawal, the sooner toxic hunger will go away. When that happens, you will feel better and start living life to the fullest!
Tips:
Before you begin, ask your family members for their support by not leaving opened bags of chips or cookies on the counters. Enlist their help in the kitchen so that you are not preparing tempting food. Make your kitchen and home a safe zone.
Clear your social eating calendar for at least one week. Don’t meet up with friends for lunch or dinner during this phase when your cravings will be the strongest.
Make those laminated cards I suggested earlier and allow them to make all your decisions. Follow this plan, no matter what. A nonnegotiable boundary line is critical to success.
Choose the highest-scoring, most nutrient-rich food possible to flood your depleted body. Keep a copy of Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian Handbook and ANDI Food Scoring Guide in your purse, briefcase, or kitchen drawer, and refer to it often. (This helpful tool can be ordered through Amazon.)
Set a timer for three equally spaced periods of time between your three meals per day. For instance, breakfast at 7 a.m., lunch at noon and dinner at 5 p.m. If you have been in the habit of snacking all throughout the day, this trick will help you “hold out” until the alarm goes off. Once withdrawal is over, you will no longer need to do this, but it is helpful in the beginning to prevent toxic hunger snacking.
When tempted to give in to toxic hunger, call a friend, go on a brisk walk, or simply take a power nap if you are able—do anything to distract yourself.
Continually remind yourself that this phase is short-lived and will pass soon.
DITCH THE DIETING MENTALITY
A dieting mentality focuses on all the food one can’t eat; this deprivation mentality invites self-pity and cheating.
The eating-to-live mentality focuses on all the wonderful food you can eat, leading to positivity and enthusiasm!
The Nutritarian Diet is not a crash diet you will go on and off so you can fit into a pair of skinny jeans for a special event. (However, there is certainly nothing wrong with that goal; just don’t throw out long-term optimal health and longevity in the midst of the quest.)
Nor is it a weight-loss gimmick that promises you can eat anything you want in moderation and still lose weight. And, thankfully, it is not a restrictive diet in which you count calories or go through meticulous rituals—only to eat everything in sight once the restrictions are lifted.
In fact, just the opposite will occur. Your focus will be on eating a plethora of food, full of micronutrients and phytochemicals. When your focus shifts to choosing colorful and life-giving food, you will no longer feel painfully deprived.
Since I had dieted for most of my life, when I committed to eating this way, it was the first time I felt as though I could actually eat—without guilt—instead of not eat. When I dieted, my focus was always on what I couldn’t eat. The deprivation always backfired, and then I would binge eat. Between the malnutrition and the psychological deprivation, I had literally starved myself to obesity.
Instead of my former obsession with counting calories, carbs, and points, I focused on eating plenty of the right kinds of food. For example, according to Dr. Fuhrman, beans are a slowly digested starch—a resistant starch. That means they pass through the small intestine without being digested or absorbed. Because beans digest slowly, they keep you from getting hungry and improve insulin sensitivity. They also make good gut bacteria—a natural probiotic—not to mention they burn fat in the body and bind cholesterol to remove it from the body via the stool. The same goes for raw nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios, and cashews; they suck saturated fat out of the body as well.
Additionally, he says that the more green vegetables you eat, the more weight you will lose. And when you eat a variety of nuts and seeds (such as sunflower, hemp, pumpkin, sesame, flax, and chia seeds) with greens, it increases the absorption of certain nutrients by ten times!11
Understanding this exciting nutritional science is fascinating, and once you comprehend it, it opens up a whole new world of pleasure in eating!
Perhaps for the first time in your life, the focus will get to be on eating—instead of not eating. Your wilted body will come back to life as you flood it with nutrients.
Also, pitch the “falling off the wagon” mindset. Don’t involve any wagons. Wagons are for ponies and children and hayrides—not for getting your health back. That mindset will only set you up for failure, because when you slip up and make a mistake, the brain will automatically think, I’m off the wagon now, so I might as well throw in the towel for the rest of the day and blow it big-time.
The wagon mentality can become a trigger for binge eating. You don’t want to go there. Instead, at the slightest slip up, recognize and acknowledge it, yet don’t make a big deal out of it. Brush it off and immediately keep moving forward. Don’t allow a minor lapse in judgment to turn into a major relapse in recovering your health.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A FAMILY
I was so addicted, sick, and desperate to get my health back that I didn’t care if the rest of my family followed this way of eating or not. I had to put my own oxygen mask on first, so to speak, before I could even think about helping them. Kurt and the kids were supportive of my new adventure, but were totally content with just watching from a safe distance—they had no interest in participating.
I had a shelf on the refrigerator where I kept my food separate from theirs. It was my safe zone. I did this merely to separate myself psychologically from foods that would no longer serve my goal to get free from the addiction.
By God’s grace, I was able to continue to prepare their meat-based entrees. Their meals suddenly had more salads, vegetables, nuts, and fresh fruits added to them—and less bread and fewer sweets—and no one complained, except my then-ten-year-old son. He felt it was unfair that his four older siblings got to eat a lot of junk food when they were his age, and that was a valid complaint from his perspective!
After ten months, and losing nearly a hundred pounds, I gradually quit purchasing processed cereals for my family and replaced cow’s milk with almond milk. (Dairy protein boosts the amount of IGF-1 in the blood; IGF-1 stimulates the growth of cancer cells.12) I also slowly introduced them to healthier entrees, such as fiesta bean salad and lentil stew—to replace meat entrees—and no one complained. They saw the changes in me and knew the benefits.
Bottom line, don’t let having a family be the excuse that you won’t be able to get free from food addiction. I am just one of many who have successfully escaped the addiction while having a family who eats the Standard American Diet. It can be done!
KEEP THE KITCHEN COUNTERS CLEAN
Yes, you read that correctly.
Before doing anything else, if you haven’t already established this habit, I highly recommended starting. Begin by unloading the dishwasher first thing every morning. This simple trick, which takes fewer than five minutes, can make the difference between consistently eating for health and throwing in the towel and quitting. When the dishwasher is empty, there is then a place to put dirty dishes that accumulate throughout the day—freeing up the sink and countertops.
It is much simpler to haul bags of groceries into the house and have a place to put them, or to rinse and cut up vegetables for salad, or to use a blender to make a green smoothie, or to make a pot of soup when the countertops are uncluttered (and the sink is empty of dirty dishes).
In my house, it is also easy for the kitchen counters to become the drop-off place for the daily pile of mail, empty sacks, my purse, gym bags, car keys, the school backpack, and winter coats and hats. I have to work at keeping them clutter-free, but it only takes a minute or two.
Food prep is more inviting and enjoyable when there is a system of organization in the kitchen. If the counters are cluttered with stuff, it is too easy to grab a large handful of nuts, or go to the drive-through, instead of preparing a simple, nutritious meal.
Also, establish the habit of cleaning utensils, knives, blender containers, bowls, and pots as you go. Don’t allow dirty dishes to pile up. Wash them as you use them. (Additionally, keep the food in the refrigerator organized as you go too.) A clean, clutter-free, and organized kitchen is a workable kitchen. A little time invested in keeping the kitchen tidy will pay huge dividends of great health.