Robin's Challenge

[RobinN]

Recently I was selected to review Dr Mark Hyman's new book, The Blood Sugar Solution - 10 Day Detox Diet. Along with being selected, I was asked to write and share my experience with others. Since I don't have an active blog, I told Dr Hyman about Coping With Epilepsy and what this community has done to help support me in eliminating my daughters symptoms and keep her seizure free for over 4 years. If you do not know my daughters story, it is linked at the bottom of this post. I realize it is long, but you can skim it to find that she remains seizure free by monitoring her blood sugar. That is what made me interested in this program. I continue to learn and to experiment on myself. My health has only improved since learning about the brain-gut connection.

After discussing this programe with Bernard, he gave me his blessing to go ahead and post here at CWE.

I have decided that this particular thread will be for my personal posts. I think it will be much easier for me to answer questions or the occasional comment if that is done in a different thread: Robin's Challenge - Questions and Comments.

Tomorrow I will learn more about what is to be expected of me, as we have our first teleconference. I will keep you posted.

Fondly,
Robin

 

[RobinN]

So my first phone conference was this morning. It was a clearer picture on what I am embarking on. I also have been receiving email instructions from Dr Hyman. First was to join the Facebook private group and begin reading the book. Since my hardbound copy hs not arrived yet, I was sent to a website where I could download a copy, or at least it would send a copy to my kindle account. That took some time in setting it up, and I am not really sure that I want to read this on my iPhone. So I might just wait another day and see if it comes in tomorrow's mail.

My vitamin supplements have arrived today. I am surprised at the multi vitamin.
For example there is 75mb of magnesium. Way low, when the current RDA is 400mg.
I take a minimum of 400mg and upwards of 800mg when and if I feel I need it.
I won't go into each vitamin and mineral as each body is unique. I will take what they have sent and adjust my personal needs.

I also might add in a probiotic, since this is a program to heal the gut. I will discuss this factor with the doctor and maybe it is best to wait until the 10 days is up. I don't want to waste a good probiotic down the drain.

Eliminating coffee is going to be hard. It is a comfort to me, however I do like green tea, and having a warm cup of anything is a good substitute for me.

Shopping is on my list this weekend, so I guess I do need to at least read that page in the book. That is on my To Do list tonight. Oh... and I need to buy a scale. UGH - I would rather not know... but it is good indicator of where I am.

Did I tell you that a bath is on the To Do list every evening? Yuppers

 

[RobinN]

OOH OOH OOH!
My book was just delivered to my door
I know what I will be reading tonight.
Sexy huh

 

[RobinN]

Yesterday was my first day to do some shopping. I skimmed through the book, and looked at what was suggested for meals only for two days. I don't want to be wasting food, so I want to see how much I go through without purchasing a weeks worth.

I have kale, and red cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, celery, cauliflower, arugula, salmon, chicken breast, frozen berries, nuts, green tea.... doesn't sound bad at all. I will not be starving.

I eliminated coffee yesterday, and have been enjoying cup after cup (same tea bag) of green tea. For me it is the ritual of the warm cup that I have always liked. I also do love the smell of coffee, but for these 10 days I am going to eliminate it.

Okay... now for the WHY?

A bit of history to begin with. When I was a teenager, I was put on antibiotics for a l.o.n.g. time. In fact I was not monitored. I just kept getting prescription after prescription to keep my skin clear. I decided to stop taking them after about a year+ and ended up in the hospital. I was given more antibiotic shots and another prescription and sent home. My mom stepped in and began filling me with vitamins. My body could not fight off disease. I am not sure my gut has ever truly recovered, but I have over all been healthy since, thankfully.

Not sure if the lack of good bacteria in my gut, caused my children to have gut and auto-immune issues. Can't beat myself up for what I didn't know then.

Since my life changed two years ago...oh my, maybe it is now almost 3 yrs ago, I have been able to focus on myself. I have been walking regularly, but I can't say I have jumped in entirely to a healthy eating pattern. I have been "good", but not entirely proud of what I eat. I expected "good" from Rebecca, but I still eat food that is inflammatory.

I learned when I was doing research for Rebecca's disorder, that the appearance of your tongue tells a visible story of your gut health. Mine is a bit swollen, with indents where it rests against my teeth. I also learned when my son took probiotics that his vitiligo went away. Magnesium gave me relief from 30+ yrs of migraines.

Here I am in the second half of my life and I want to feel exceptional. I don't want to wait until I am sick to do something about it. Doing what I can now without making excuses.

Well I guess that is an overview of WHY I am participating in this program. It never crossed my mind that it would be difficult. Being sick is difficult. This is going to be fun.

 

[RobinN]

Day 1
Woke up and joined in the teleseminar with Dr Mark Hyman. He went over some of his reasons for creating this program, and answered any questions we had.

Took my vitamins, and drank the fiber drink. Left me full for quite some time.
Made a green "smoothie". It was healthy, but not something I would get overly excited about saying that was my go-to morning drink. It tasted fine, but it was a bit like drinking a salad < without the dressing. My green juices usually have a pear or apple in them, so this takes a bit getting use to. Tomorrow I will have the berry smoothie.

We had a chat on Facebook, which my timezone came at noon.
More questions were answered and for me it was nice to put a face to a name.

Then even though I wasn't hungry it was 1:30 and I figured not to get too far off track, I needed to go make the lunch. I made the best broccoli soup from the recipe in the book.
It took me less than 30 min, start to finish to make. I pureed it and man am I full.
Oh... ya... I forgot to drink my fiber drink. I'll get back on track before dinner.

oops... lost track of time and I had an event I needed to attend right after I finished dinner. Made the most delicious salmon & onion marmalade on top of arugula. Added some steamed zucchini and I was stuffed. The event I attended was a cooking demonstration that I had RSVPd a month or two ago. I had no problem not tasting the wonderful appetizers that were created, had a cup of hot tea (brought my own tea bag) so that I wasn't wishing I could have a glass of wine. It was quite easy. Arrived home still full, and did not feel like I had missed out on anything. Spent a nice evening out with friends, learned some new appetizers, and came home happy with my choices. It's all about choices isn't it?

I think one of my biggest curiosities during my journey with Rebecca's recovery, was the psychological side of addictive eating. This week I am attempting to understand that more.
We know what we should be eating. We make excuses for ourselves. I love the excuse... "all in moderation". Absolutely not true. We as a society tend to wait until we get the bad news about our health before we make the changes necessary to treat our bodies as the precious temple we reside in.
We only have one. Why do we mistreat it daily?

 

[RobinN]

I know it is Day 3 but I need to tell you how Day 2 went.

I had my vitamins and my fiber drink, then late morning I had my smoothie. This consisted of frozen strawberries, almond butter, cinnamon, avocado, ground flax seeds, pecans, and water. Not sweet but very tasty IMO

I wasn't hungry at lunch time so I had a late lunch and it was my heavy meal of the day since I had a movie date at dinner time. I steamed some cauliflower, some green beans, and cooked a chicken breast. Had my fiber drink prior to my meal and went off to the movie feeling satisfied.

My friend and I went out after and I was able to have some fresh guacamole (nothing added but some spices) with celery sticks. He brought it out with chips first and I had to be bold and say... that just isn't going to work. I had Pellegrino water with lime, and felt very special. I did not feel deprived one bit.

Came home, took a probiotic and forgot my bath again :/

Day 3 has started out great.
I took my basics this morning and then met an artist friend. We both had green tea and brainstormed for over an hour. Delightful. Came home and had my strawberry smoothie again. It is lunchtime and I am not hungry at all. I think I will have some homemade soup as a snack later.

Not once have I felt hungry, craved anything, or felt at a loss.
My clothes are fitting a little less snug which is always a good indicator that the body is responding to what I am doing.

I am also excited because I just finished up a project that the client has raved about, and came up with a new business model this morning. Feeling excited!

Enjoy your day and choose wisely

 

[RobinN]

On day #4 I woke up with a very foggy heavy minor pain in my head. It is a feeling I use to get before a migraine. I was told that perhaps yesterday I did not eat enough. Or perhaps my lack of caffeine is kicking in a day late. I felt great yesterday.

Today I had plans to stay on track, but it is already 2:45 and I do not feel like eating lunch yet. I am going to go make a small kale salad, to get the nutrients in. So important for brain gut health to get the nutrients in.

NOTE: if you have a diet of processed foods you run the risk of illness. A person may not technically be fat but they might be what Dr Hyman calls 'skinny fat'. That means they may even look skinny on the outside, "they are fat on the inside, with the metabolic features of a pre-diabetic obese person: low muscle mass, inflammation, high triglycerides, low good cholesterol, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure."
I believe many young children are in this category.

 

[RobinN]

Oops! Somehow I missed Day 5.
It was an eventful day for me.
A dear friend of mine gave me her 1 yr "old" iPad mini. My last used iPad was stolen when I was in TX. So this was a gesture that was completely unexpected, and yet in my line of work, quite a necessity these days as portolios are mostly online these days.

Second event, was that I received my final divorce papers in the mail. My thoughts will remain private on that, but you can imagine how that might color one's day.

I talked myself into my power walk. It didn't take much talking to, I knew I needed it and it was a matter of just doing it. Which I did. 3 miles DONE!

After a light dinner, I climbed into a epsom salt-baking soda bath. After that I am not sure what happened. Lights were still on at 6 am and I was under the covers in my bathrobe. Being Sat. I got up turned the lights off and grabbed two more hours of sleep.

Feeling good today.
This is what I wrote over on the FB private support group.

Day 6
I am feeling calm. I had an excellent night sleep after my 3 mi power walk and taking my bath.
I have made the conscience decision not to watch numbers on a scale, but to judge by my clothes and how I feel in them. There is no greater feeling than room to move in my "tight" jeans. The wheat belly is retreating and with it comes the confident walk. Having people say I look great is more powerful to me than a number on a scale. It is more than weight, it is skin tone, clarity in the eyes, confidence, positive outlook, and knowing that I am not addicted to food. I make my food choices for my health, and to give my body energy. When I give my body what it requires it has the opportunity to heal, from the inside out. How powerful is that!

 

[RobinN]

Day 7
You know that little voice in your head that says "go ahead you deserve it". I have been fighting it today. However, I am talking back to it saying "eating THAT does not taste as good as feeling healthy does".

I would suggest that you check with your doctor, however in my opinion, there is nothing on this program that would not allow a person taking medication from following it. How could a doctor say that eating healthy is not a good thing. What a better symptom than to find out that you just might be able to reduce your prescription levels.

I am going to write out my recipes for the week onto 3x5 cards so that I don't have to search the book for them. I will try a couple of days and see if that helps me to shop more efficiently and be prepared for my individual meals.
Always a good motto: Be Prepared.

 

[RobinN]

Day 8
Today I woke up feeling really great. Feeling slimmer and I did not notice any aches in my joints upon waking up, as I have been this past year. I forgot to mention that the night of day 5-6, I had the worst cramp in my right lower leg. I have since done some research and found that it most likely is due to toxins. I need to up my magnesium, make sure I take my epsom salt baths, and increase my water intake. I don't want that to happen again.
I went for the strawberry almond smoothie for breakfast and made the broccoli soup for lunch. I had some carrots with almond butter for a snack, green tea throughout the day, a walk to the local store, and then made a chicken breast stuffed with dried tomato pesto and wilted garlic spinach. Quite tasty.

I am also redesigning my website on wordpress. Challenging but it is a lot of fun seeing it emerge on the other side. Can't wait to share it.

Are you all keeping with your New Year's resolutions to stay healthy?

 

[RobinN]

I realized on Day 9 & 10 that this was not going to be a one time experiment. I will be continuing on with this nutritional program for days and hopefully weeks and months ahead.

I feel better.

Giving my body what it needs to make energy, and function at it's best is reassuring that I am doing all I can for my own healthcare. I would highly recommend this to others. It should not affect anyone taking medication, because it does not deprive you of the calories that you need, or a confict with any prescriptive meds.

It is eating healthy... period.

It will however wake you up to the choices you're making, and what you unconsciously put into your mouth. It will make you aware of your habits, and food substances that you are addicted to.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
I might share a few of my fave recipes in the kitchen files.

hugs
R

 

[Janus]

Hi RobinN, How did it go in the end? Would you still recommend that diet change? I am curious if you have tried it again. It stuck me that you mentioned being aware of what i put into my mouth, conscious or not. It is a tricky thing, because we do have to eat yet we become so accustomed to routine and what we feel comfortable with.