17
Day 10: Connect
Negative lifestyle choices and high job stress led me down a path of alcohol and nicotine abuse, and eventually open heart surgery. After my recovery, I watched myself transfer my addiction from alcohol and cigarettes to food. I quickly gained thirty pounds and heightened my carb and sugar cravings. I knew I was headed for more problems as my blood sugar continued to rise and I started experiencing blurred vision, muscle aches and pains, dizziness, and more. My doctor started me on insulin shots. I spent many hours reading everything I could get my hands on about diet and nutrition. I continued to eat and read, read and eat. Apparently, the urgency to act still eluded me.
When my sister e-mailed telling me about the 10-Day Detox trial program she had signed up for, I knew it was time. I would not be around much longer if I continued to punish myself with damaging dietary habits. I had the knowledge required… I just needed the structure and support to get me started. My sister lives in Fort Worth and I live in Houston, so I drove up and stayed with her so we could experience and support each other through the program.
Together, she and I learned that the typical American “comfort food” didn’t give us comfort in the long run. We learned together how to start cooking with spices and alternative plant-based fats. We never felt deprived, and as a result, felt satisfied and encouraged. My blood sugar started at 369, and today, twelve days later, I am down to 156 with no insulin. One reading even got down to 138! I have lost ten pounds, my BMI went from 31.9 to 30.1, and I have lost 1.75 inches in my waist. Our plan together is to continue for another ninety days and see where it leads us.
—KAREN SHELTON
Morning:
Take your measurements and record your results in your Detox Journal or online tracking tool. Also record how many hours you slept 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 water.
Eat lunch (see menu plan below).
Optional: Enjoy a midafternoon snack (see menu plan below).
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 10 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.
Do the Take-Five Breathing Break.
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: Watercress and Arugula Salad with Poached Eggs
Midafternoon Snack (optional): Dip or spread of your choice with fresh vegetables
Dinner:
Core Plan: Grilled Tofu with Cilantro Pesto
Adventure Plan: Chicken Encrusted with Red Chili Pesto
Today’s Focus: Connect
Congratulations—you made it! After today you will have completed the 10-Day Detox. I hope you are feeling vibrant, healthy, and best of all, proud of what you’ve accomplished!
The short-term goals you’ve achieved over these ten days can be life-changing—if you take the steps to make sure they stick. Now more than ever, as you enter the transition phase, it’s crucial to harness the power of community for your continued success. Hopefully, you have found a buddy, or a partner, or even created or joined a group to support you on your journey to vibrant good health and weight loss. Or perhaps you joined the Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet Online Course and connected with the online community or a small group at www.10daydetox.com/resources.
If you have, that’s fabulous. I encourage you to stay connected, to meet weekly, to touch base and check in about how you feel and what you need to support long-term success. If not, consider making it a priority now. Remember that in our Daniel Plan study, those who did the program together lost twice as much weight as those who did it alone, even though they were all otherwise following the same program. Life is full of challenges, and finding (or creating) your community is a powerful way to manage, process, and thrive through all the ups and downs. We need the support of others to make lasting shifts in how we eat, move, and live. We’re better together—it’s as simple as that.
You probably have loved ones in your life whose support you want in your continuing journey. Even though these people may care deeply for you, they may not know how to support you in your health and weight loss efforts. It’s your job to teach them. Here are some strategies to help your loved ones get on board as part of your continuing support team:
Share your plan. Explain what your dream is and your plan for achieving that dream, and ask those near you for the specific help you need. For example, you may tell your best friends that your dream is to be living in a healthy and toned body by summertime, and your plan is to follow the Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet transition plan. You can then ask your friends to remember that this plan means no alcohol or sugary munchies when you eat out with them, and to remind you of your plan if you seem to be caving in to your cravings.
Deal with feedback. If others are not on the same journey you are, they may not understand it. That is normal. Some people may question what you are doing, saying things like “But you seem perfectly healthy to me” or “That way of eating just isn’t normal.” Remember that comments like these are usually well-intentioned attempts to make you feel good about yourself as you are. See the care behind these comments, but don’t use them as an excuse to veer off your eating plan. Thank your friends for their concern, explain why you are on the plan, and ask them directly and specifically for the support you need. This may mean asking them kindly not to tell you that you are “fine as is,” because you are striving for a greater level of wellness, or telling them that their support would mean a lot to you, even if they don’t quite get why you are doing this.
Convey the attitude you want reflected back at you. The world is a mirror. For your loved ones to celebrate your eating plan, you need to celebrate your eating plan. If you have the attitude of “Ugh, this diet is so hard. It’s killing me. Only two more days left of this torture!”, then the people around you will pick up on that and mirror it by saying things like “Take it easy, this program is nuts, I think you should stop it.” Whereas if you express the empowered and energetic attitude of “This detox program is amazing. Yes, it’s hard at times, but it’s so worth it and I am so proud of myself for doing it,” then the people in your life will mirror this back and be happy for you.
Not only is it important to gather the support of your loved ones as you embark on your journey to health, but it’s also important for you to build a network of community support that will accompany you on that journey. This community will help you stick to your new health habits and hold you accountable for following them. Below you’ll find some strategies for building a health-supporting community.
Strategies for Connecting
Join the 10-Day Detox Diet online community or course at www.10daydetox.com/resources if you haven’t already. There you will find others who are doing the detox and transitioning to the next phase, as you are about to do. You can share your experience, swap ideas and tips, and receive support and encouragement. Being part of a group of like-minded folks with a common purpose such as this can mean the difference between success and failure. We are social beings. Chronic illness, especially obesity and diabetes, is a social disease and needs a social cure. The group is the medicine; the community is the cure. This is the most powerful part of the 10-Day Detox program, and essential for long-term success.
Start the Daniel Plan at your church, temple, synagogue, mosque, or other community center (go to www.danielplan.com for more info).
Start a lunch club at work and take turns bringing in healthy lunches for the group. That way you only have to cook once every week or two.
Form a supper club with your neighbors or friends once a week or once a month to connect with and support one another. Make it an event. Shop and/or cook and eat together. Pick a topic to engage everyone in a discussion of meaning: food, relationships, self-care, or anything that is authentic, real, and connecting.
Choose one “health buddy” in your life to team up and check in with every day, or at least once a week. Report in on what you’ve been eating, exercise you’ve had, changes you notice in your body, how you feel. Cheer each other on and lend support when one of you hits a roadblock.
Inspire your friends and family by becoming a 10-Day Detox Group Leader. After you’ve finished your ten days, find six to ten people who want to do the detox and lead your own Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox group. You can get a complete guide on how to lead a group at www.10daydetox.com/resources, or join the Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet Online Course to get daily support and encouragement from me and my nutrition coaches and join an online group at www.10daydetox.com/resources.
Join a fitness club, sports team, or other physical activity club. This is a great way to connect with people who enjoy the same things you do. Like to run? Check out your local running club. If yoga is your thing, find a studio you love and go to it regularly—yoga people are very friendly, and you’ll find companions in no time. Sign up to play in a basketball league… even bowling… Whatever you love to do, find a group and become a part of it.
Day 10 Journal Questions
How do I feel physically?
What thoughts and emotions are present for me today?
What changes in my body do I notice?
With whom might I form a support group?
Where in my life, or at the periphery of my life, do healthy communities exist?
Where in my life might there be a latent community waiting for me to mobilize it?
What keeps me from reaching out to others for support and connection?
How has my experience in going through this program been enhanced by community?
What are my plans for creating connection and community going forward to support my health and weight loss success?
THE GREATEST GIFT
The gift of ten days dedicated to yourself is like no other you can ever give or receive. Yes, you detoxed from sugar and junk and addictive habits. But you also gave yourself the chance to connect with yourself—to examine your thoughts and beliefs, and the ways in which you live that don’t support the greatest expression of who you are. Ten days may not seem like a lot, but I hope it gave you a taste of what is possible.
The reason I created this program was to give you a profound experience of how quickly you can feel better, to show you how health, energy, weight loss, and, yes, even happiness are available to you when you use food as medicine and make a few simple changes in your day. Once you have experienced what it feels like to feel good, to get rid of brain fog, cravings, joint pain, fatigue, excess weight, and a myriad of other chronic health problems, then you know there is a path forward. I encourage you to see this as the first step on a new path of caring for yourself, of eating and living in a way that helps you thrive for the rest of your life.
You now have the knowledge and skills you need to recharge your life, and this program can be a touchstone that you can return to whenever you need to reset. I still need it, just like everyone else. In fact, I do this program myself four times a year—not to lose weight, but to reboot my life. It’s like a vacation without going anywhere. For me it’s a form of self-created paradise. I hope it is for you, too!