9
Day 2: Detox
I am fifty-seven years old and morbidly obese. I have lost sixteen pounds in ten days. The first day, I had the mother of all headaches. Second day, only a moderate headache. Third day, I woke up with no headache, and the almost-constant pain in my lower legs was gone. Fourth day, I was able to put on running shoes for the first time in four months. By the eighth day, I wore regular shoes to church for the first time in over a year.
—ROBYN JENSEN
Morning:
Take your measurements and record your results in your Detox Journal or online tracking tool. Also record how many hours of sleep you got the night before and the quality of that sleep.
Begin the day with thirty minutes of brisk walking or other exercise.
Just before breakfast, take 2.5 to 5 grams of PGX fiber: 3 to 6 capsules or ½ to 1 scoop of the powder in 10 ounces of water.
Take the rest of your supplements with breakfast.
Make your Breakfast Detox Shake (see menu plan below).
Optional: Enjoy a midmorning snack (see menu plan below).
Afternoon:
Just before lunch, take 2.5 to 5 grams of PGX fiber with a glass of water.
Eat lunch (see menu plan below).
Optional: Enjoy a midafternoon snack.
Evening:
Just before dinner, take 2.5 to 5 grams of PGX fiber with water.
Take the rest of your supplements with dinner.
Eat dinner (see menu plan below).
Spend fifteen minutes recording your experience and answering the Day 2 Journal Questions listed here. Write down everything you ate and did today, how you feel, any improvements or changes in your energy and focus, and how these changes make you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Practice the Take-Five Breathing Break for 5 minutes.
Take your twenty-to-thirty-minute UltraDetox Bath.
Get seven to eight hours of sleep.
Today’s Meals (see Chapter 21 for recipes):
Breakfast: Detox Shake
Midmorning Snack (optional): 10 to 12 nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts)
Lunch:
Core Plan: Soup with protein or Dr. Hyman’s Super Salad Bar with protein
Adventure Plan: Bok Choy Salad with Tofu or Raw Almonds
Midafternoon Snack (optional): Dip or spread of your choice with fresh vegetables
Dinner:
Core Plan: Grilled Snapper with Salad
Adventure Plan: Chicken Breast with Ratatouille and Steamed Broccoli
Today’s Focus: Detox
This book has the word “detox” in it not by accident. You’re here to free yourself from food addiction, and just as with detoxing from any drug, that can create a period of discomfort. These are powerful drugs that have taken possession of your brain chemistry and created biological addictions, and it makes sense that your body would have an equally powerful reaction as you come off them. You are rewiring deeply ingrained chemical and neural pathways, and symptoms may arise as your body cleans house and does its job to restore your health.
The following symptoms are common at the beginning of the program:
Bad breath
Constipation
Achy, flulike feeling
Fatigue
Headache
Hunger
Irritability
Itchy skin
Nausea
Offensive body odor
Sleep irregularities (sleeping too much or too little, difficulty in falling asleep)
Brain fog
These detox symptoms are real, and the process of withdrawal can sometimes be difficult and painful. Detox symptoms often get worse before they get better—that’s just part of the process as your body cleans out the drugs and toxins. The more toxic and sick you were to begin with, the more intense the symptoms may be. I know this can be discouraging—you’re looking to feel better, not worse! But don’t worry; feeling good is just a day or two away. While they may feel uncomfortable, symptoms usually pass within forty-eight hours.
I’ve found that most people are able to deal better with detox symptoms when they understand why they are happening (and when they believe there is light at the end of the tunnel, which, I promise, there is!). This is your biology at its finest, doing its best work to heal you. One of the reasons detox symptoms occur is because your body created antibodies to fight the foods it doesn’t like, and when you stop eating the foods, those antibodies are looking for something to do. So they glom on to one another and form giant immune complexes. These big flashing warning signals tell your body that something bad is happening, and they activate your immune system. Your withdrawal symptoms are your body’s way of trying to fight off these antibodies. There is actually a name for this phenomenon: It’s called serum sickness.
You’ve probably been in a low-level funk of feeling crappy all along, perhaps without even realizing it. When we eat junk and sugar, our blood is literally inflamed, toxic, or poisoned. We have just gotten used to it slowly, over time. When you stop eating those foods, your immune system is still activated, and you can feel worse for a few days. It takes that long for the body to flush the effects of the inflammatory and toxic foods out of the system.
Another reason for adverse symptoms like irritability, agitation, or anxiety is a true biological withdrawal from an addictive substance. This is exactly the same syndrome that happens in alcohol, nicotine, or cocaine withdrawal. It even happens in rats addicted to sugar.
Fortunately, it usually takes only those few days for this to pass. I recall a detox workshop I held a few years ago during which, in just five short days, the participants saw radical results from following a protocol much like the one you are following now. The first few days, people were tired, lying on the floor, feeling spacey and out of sorts. But by the fifth day, one person was wiggling her fingers, looking at them quizzically. When I asked what she was doing, she said, “This is the first time I haven’t had pain in my hands in years.” Others found relief from chronic migraines, insomnia, joint pains, irritable bowel, reflux, allergies, and congestion. They lost excess fluid and dropped weight quickly. Many of them left saying they felt like different people.
So I know this from experience: You are only a few days away from feeling well.
And if you follow the strategies and tips I outline below for getting through the initial detox stage, you will make it through. Just like your cravings, the detox symptoms will quickly be gone. Hang in there until you get to the other side, because you’ll soon feel better than you can imagine.
Strategies for Relieving Detox Symptoms
Give yourself some downtime in the first few days. Rest, take a nap, relax. It’s essential for the process. Actively engaging your parasympathetic (“rest-and-relax”) nervous system gives your sympathetic (“fight-or-flight”) nervous system a break and helps restore your energy, which your body needs to repair itself. Make room for a brief retreat period when you can feel less than great for a couple of days if you need to, and trust that this will pass. Remember, these first forty-eight hours are where a lot of the detox magic happens.
Embrace the symptoms as proof that the detox is working. It may be hard to believe right now, but if you feel lousy, it’s a good sign. It means your body is doing what it needs to in order to eliminate the toxins from your body.
Flush your system. Take a sauna, get a massage, do gentle yoga or stretching to flush your circulation and lymphatic system, or take an extra UltraDetox Bath. Any of these increases circulation, reduces inflammation, and thus reduces the achiness and soreness, moves toxins, increases excretion of chemicals, and helps you purify your body.
Make sure your bowels are clean and working well. This will prevent headaches. If you are constipated, please see Day 3 (here) for effective strategies to get things moving.
Move. Gentle exercise keeps your circulation going and flushes out all the toxic fluids that build up in your lymphatic system. Even just lying on your back and putting your legs straight up against the wall for twenty minutes can make a huge difference.
Take 2,000 milligrams of buffered vitamin C once or twice a day; this can help relieve symptoms.
Drink plenty of fluids. Be sure to have your minimum of eight glasses of water each day. You can also drink herbal teas if you like (try the Detox Tea from Yogi teas).
Day 2 Journal Questions
How am I feeling physically?
What thoughts and emotions are present for me today?
What detox symptoms (if any) am I experiencing?
How am I responding mentally and emotionally to these symptoms? (E.g., are they making me feel frustrated, worried, motivated?)
Can I see that these mental responses are just “the chemicals” talking, and that nothing is actually wrong right now? Or do I still believe that these mental responses are real and justified?
Can I give myself permission to have a down day—to accept what’s happening and allow the process to unfold?
How can I nurture and support myself through this initial detox process?