The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body's Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast (The Dr. Mark Hyman Library, 3)

I'll put the summary upfront: using the principles and plans in the 10-Day Detox Diet, I lost 12 lbs in the first 10 days, a total of 21 lbs in the first 30 days and now 30 lbs total in the first 50 days. (Update: as of August 2015 I've lost 60 lbs total). In addition, my overall feeling of health and my energy levels increased greatly. A little about me: I'm in my mid-fifties and am a relatively big-framed guy who stands 6'1" and weighed 310 pounds when I started this plan. That was about 110 lbs overweight as my ideal weight is about 200 pounds (it's been a long time since I've been there so I'll let you know for sure when I get there). This book was recommended to me by a life coach I was seeing. I purchased the 10-Day Detox Diet, read it thoroughly and loved the sound science and principles behind the ideas. Following the plans in the book, I prepped my refrigerator and pantry, purchased vitamin supplements and fiber pills, tapered back on Dove dark chocolates (my main addictive habit), picked the day I would start and jumped in. I haven't felt hungry since. Good things that have happened in the first 50 days: I lost 30 pounds and 1.5 inches off my neck and 3 inches off my waist (just a representative sample; I slimmed down in other places on my body as well). My cravings for fatty foods and sugar disappeared. I'm sleeping better, some nagging inflammation in my knees cleared up and my digestive elimination challenges cleared up. My patience increased for handling both my interpersonal relationships and life's little problems. I have more energy for work and throughout the day. My overall feeling of health improved greatly. I feel like, after all the efforts I have made to lose weight over the years and after all the ups and downs my weight has been through, I've finally found the right set of intellectual tools to approach eating. Feeling this good is motivation enough to keep me eating healthy for the rest of my life. After about 20 days on the plan I also went back to Amazon and purchased Dr. Hyman's Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook to expand my access to additional recipes. Once I got the hang of how Dr. Hyman combines the ingredients for dishes and meals, I started experimenting with carefully modifying some recipes to tweak them for my own particular culinary preferences. If you use good common sense it's easy to mix and match ingredients and spices to tailor dishes and meals to your liking. I enjoy cooking and like to experiment in the kitchen. Your mileage may vary and the provided recipes are just fine the way they are presented. I'll keep doing this as long as my weight loss continues apace and my overall feeling of health stays strong. If I go too far afield, I'll just move back closer to the original recipes. ' The real trick now is making sure I eat healthy over the long term. I already passed my first big test: a long overdue vacation at an ocean-side resort with lots of social interaction and eating out at restaurants. During the short trip I managed to lose 5 lbs instead of gaining weight as I likely would have in the past. Once again, I feel like I have the tools I need in Dr. Hyman's program to handle all situations. Side note: I did a sleep study three months ago and was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Many overweight people who snore loudly like me have sleep apnea and don't know it. Since I was tested, and prior to starting the 10-Day Detox diet, I started on a CPAP machine and have been diligent about using it so I credit this with also helping me to have the energy to face up to my dietary challenges. I think it would have been much more difficult to lose weight without also dealing with this condition first. I believe good health is a combination of restful sleep, breathing fresh air, drinking lots of fresh water, eating healthy food of high quality, mitigating stress and exercising regularly. I feel I have the other items in order and now I will tackle the stress and regular exercise portions. Best of luck on your particular journey toward health. The 10-Day Detox Diet continues to work well for me, perhaps it will work for you too. Highly recommended. Update July 2014: In the first 100 days I have lost 44 lbs and feel great. I'm sticking with the principles laid out in Dr. Hyman's books as they are working well for me. Update September 2014: I hit my halfway point and I'm now down 55 lbs. This feels great as I've struggled with my weight most of my adult life. Best of all, others around me have taken inspiration. One person I know has lost over 40 pounds in the last three months just by utilizing information from Dr. Hyman's books that we talked about and is now at his ultimate goal weight and is very trim! I'll get there too. The key for me is that I don't feel deprived. I eat plenty of good food but now just the food that is good for me. The rate of my weight loss has slowed but is still steady. I now need to concentrate on making regular exercise a part of my life. Update January 2015: My weight loss has plateaued at 55 lbs down for the last 4 months and I still have 55 lbs more to lose. I just saw my cardiologist and he is very happy with my progress and my blood work showed huge improvement from before I started this lifestyle change to now. To continue my weight loss I need to trim back my portion sizes a little and start exercising consistently. I'm confident I'll get to my goal weight of 200 lbs or less in 2015. I'm sticking with Dr. Hyman's program. Update August 2015: This hasn't been a linear and easy journey but I'm back on the right path. Earlier this year, I slowly put on 10 lbs to 265 lbs as a response to stress from challenges I experienced both professionally and personally. Also, I noticed Dr. Hyman's program shared many similarities with the Paleo diet and I experimented with combining the two programs. I feel my main problem is portion control. I have the mistaken idea that if something is healthy to eat you can have as much of it as you want. This is not true for me particularly when it comes to animal proteins and nuts. No excuses though. I started exercising regularly and have been briskly walking for about 40 minutes per day, 7 days per week for the last three months. The scale didn't move for me though until I made some changes to my portions that were holding me back. I trimmed back on my animal protein portions at each meal, cut out the snacking on cheese that had crept in and reduced the portion size on nuts that are my go-to snack. Now, between the portion control and regular exercise, the scale is going down and I've lost 15 pounds in the last month. I'm now at 250 lbs for a total weight loss of 60 lbs. My goal weight remains 200 lbs so I have a ways to go but I'm feeling good about what I'm doing. I have recommended the 10-day Detox Diet to several people who have asked me how I've lost weight. Those that have purchased the book, read it thoroughly and adopted Dr. Hyman's principles have successfully lost weight and cleared up some health concerns as well. I continue to highly recommend this book and the info it contains. Be well!

Great information for making a lifestyle change

Quickly I want to say- I am getting good results- but the first two days (especially day 2) is challenging - the body really wanted that sugar! I am not a coffee - tea or soda drinker so can't give any info on caffeine & not a smoker - so no details for that either- sorry. I received this book quite quickly after it's release date. I started the program on Monday of this week and so far I am down 6 pounds after 3 full days. I like the recipes in the book although I am finding it difficult to follow the food plan exactly as all recipes are 4 servings and there are only 2 in my household - so leftovers can get out of hand if I let them. Also, I am not a breakfast drink person - so I do not like the texture of the morning drink I chose from page 267- the flavor is fine though. Also, I have been feeling a bit shaky after my half hour walk through the woods with my dog and the shake does not seem to help with that (drinking the shake after our walk) - so today I decided I would eat the turkey meatballs & slaw that were from lunch on day one as my breakfast and use the shake at lunch time - as the shake is huge and filling. So far so good this morning! One note about the slaw that goes with the yummy turkey meatballs- I did have to steam the red cabbage & greens a bit to make that slaw easier to eat - the directions make it look like they are just supposed to be mixed in the bowl with other ingredients but when I tried to eat it that way I felt like wild life chewing up somebody's garden!! The detox bath has been helpful in regards to stabilizing my body temp especially at night - it has made it easier to sleep. I had seen a version of the detox bath a few days prior to hearing about this book so I was already doing that - the recommendation (at first viewing of the detox bath) was once a week- I needed to do it about every 3-4 days. When I got the book it says to do this daily- I am not a bath person so I am finding it difficult to do this on a daily basis- but I have. I am looking forward to the end of this daily bath when the 10 days of the program is over but I will continue to use this remedy 1-2 times per week. I do energy healing work for my job so I find the meditation is not difficult - I generally do that portion while in the detox bath. For those of you who do not meditate - 10 minutes can be a challenge- when I first started this type of practice I could only manage 30 seconds - 1 minute before I would find my mind wandering. Finally- I just decided to count to myself - it gives your mind something meaningless to concentrate on while letting other parts of the brain rest. If you can not do the 10 minutes don't worry- be gentle with yourself and do what you can-work your way up to 10 minutes. I have by no means followed this book to the letter-so I can not say how much better my results would be if I had/would but I am happy with the results so far. I am learning some great new eating habits and herb combinations. I was mainly looking to detox because I have been having sinus, asthma and acid reflux issues for the past several months. I will say those areas while not 100% better after 3 full days have greatly improved!! Upfront shopping costs are not great-but it has been worth every penny and then some. We spend money on crazy things that don't necessarily honour us and one thing I learned for the book "The Soul of Money" is to spend money in a way that hounours who we are as individuals and the money will be available 10 fold. Good luck on beginning your new healthy adventure!! Namaste- PS-I did not purchase my supplements from the books website-I went to our food co-op and purchased what I did not have in my home. This was not cheap but it was less expensive than the 10 day supplement packet the website offers- also, my supplement selections will cover me for about a month.

This book contains very simple step by step process to accomplish what the title says! And my husband and I both accomplished the process. Some of the menus were tedious b/c had so much prepping, but others were easy and it was my choice to do the difficult ones, so no complaints. But what he promised in the book as far as our experience was right on! We did stop having cravings after the first day! My husband an avid coffee drinker was able to quit coffee with only an occasional headache and Dr. Hyman gives you hints on what to do about that also. Everything is in the book to help you get through what could have been a horrible experience to what really turned out to be an enlightening experience with little discomfort. Of course, I was already familiar with Dr. Hyman's other book The ultra wellness cookbook so I was very familiar with how he constructs his recipes. I really like how Dr. Hyman makes the case about our addictive sugar habits and how our brains are chemically induced to crave sugar. He constantly is doing research on the subject and I like how he now links so many of our health problems to over consumption of not just sugar but artificial sugar and processed foods. And what's really different in this book is how he wants us to do something in our communities to start spreading this awesome information. I am always conscious now when I go to the store and I tell all my family & friends and the members that I teach Yoga to that we vote with our dollars. Don't spend your money on stuff you think is not worth being on the shelf even if it's convenient or cheaper in the long run you could be saving lives and the planet by buying something that is worthy of your humanity! My husband was really happy that we did this 10 day detox, I thought he would be the first to hate it but he loves the smoothies and does not want to go back to his cereal. This book can really change your emotional attachments about food and may save your life. I am very grateful to Dr. Hyman for writing this book! He has made me become aware of how attached I was to certain foods and that eating foods that raise your glycemic ratio can cause you to over eat and gain weight and cause you to feel achy and have fatigue. My husband and I totally stopped snacking after dinner. Somehow just eating more greens and staying away from all the carbs and hidden sugars in our processed food changed our brain chemistry. It's really amazing! He no longer has that 2pm slump at work, he says. My thinking is so much clearer now & I feel my concentration is so sharp now. My energy feels more balanced and I wake up in the morning with energy! He even encourages journaling. This book is amazing!

First the negatives... Expensive: If I had the energy I would go back and list all of the supplements for future readers to see their cost alone. The recommended "super fiber" PGX is listed at $52.00 a bottle on Amazon. You could easily spend 150.00 on the initial suggestion. Food Waste: Then there are the no repeat daily meal recipes. Hyman specifically tells you not to mix and match daily meals. Hyman tells you his meals are nutritionally formulated for the ten days for optimal results. Unfortunately, the recipes are created for a family of four. Okay, so I suppose two people dieting could cut that recipe in half but single dieters would need to convert every single recipe. And even if you don't mind the recipe conversions, what do you do with the other half of the fennel bulb? Too Much Preaching/Too Little Diet: My initial reaction to the book was where's the diet? There's an awful lot of preaching about subjects, that as a fat diabetic, I'm highly aware of. For example, sugar is bad, mkay? Processed foods are bad, mkay? Carb spikes and drops make you hungry, mkay? While some of the information was useful and the studies cited were interesting, I wanted more information about his diet plan, specifically the transition phase and maintenance phase. False Advertisement: Dr Hyman cites as a resource his online community. This would be helpful for his fairly complex dieting system. I have a ton of questions about his transition and maintenance phase, because he devotes very little time to it. For instance, if his 10 day detox is specially formulated to meet specific nutritional needs, how would you move forward with this diet in the transition phase to ensure those needs are met? Hyman strongly suggests that weight loss success and blood sugar control is greatly attributed to community support. He tells you he has this wonderful online community. Unfortunately the registration for that community has been closed since I made my purchase of his product. I've checked daily for over a week. This area of the site is "Relaunching Soon." No anticipated dates, no nothing. Unsustainable: Dr Hyman recommends that if you are diabetic or overweight, you need to continue with the 10 Day Detox Plan. The plan simply put, is meat, non-starchy vegetables along side, small portions of nuts, and a handful of berries. That means, no grains (of any sort), the elimination of almost all fruits, no starchy vegetables (even nutrient dense veggies), no dairy, and no pork. Okay then. How sustainable do you think that is? For the positives... Great Results: Within three days of following the diet my fasting sugars dropped from an average of 200 plus to below 100. My blood pressure dropped from 140/80 to 125/75. I've reduced my insulin by half and my Victoza injection by two thirds. Would I like to sustain this diet for those reasons alone? OF COURSE! But being a life long fat person and having done, Weight Watchers, Over Eaters Anonymous, Atkins, calorie counting, nutrition counseling classes and FAILED, I am cautiously optimistic that I will be able to sustain this very restrictive regiment, especially without the community support. Terrific Recipes: I'm on day seven of the diet and all but one of the recipes so far has been delicious and easy to make. They're yummy (well the morning shakes are less than desirable) and sustaining. If you like to cook, and I LOVE to cook, this is the plan for you. The thing that irked me about Weight Watchers when I did it was that it was too processed food friendly. Inevitably during every meeting, participants would excitedly share their latest processed food discovery that fits within the points plan. I'd leave each and every weekly meeting hungry simply becase of the packaged food suggestions. My purchasing habits skewed towards less cooking and more convenience foods, which are generally loaded with preservatives and not good for blood sugar control. Fast Weight Loss: If you are over weight the restricted caloric intake will guarantee weight loss. I really want to like this book. I do. I am on day seven and plan to stick with the diet as long as possible. I would love to give this diet a higher rating, but until it's financially accessible to a larger audience and until the plan explanation and support is provided it falls into the "Just Okay" category.

First things first, the results after 10-days. I've lost a total of 7.75” and 8 lbs. Whoooohooo! Start each day with a Smoothie (there are several choices). Dr. H recommends drinking water with PGX prior to all meals but I add it to my smoothie instead of drinking it separately because I find that drinking 'globby' water disgusting (mouth feel). I don’t add the PGX to my other meals because I find they all hold me over well. For lunch, salad with protein, dinner is veggies and protein. And yes, there are snacks of nuts and veggies with dips. Essentially, you are cutting out simple carbs and sugars (bread, pasta, starchy veggies, dairy, caffeine and alcohol). Also, he gives two options of meal planning..one that is simple and one that requires more cooking. I find that preparation = success so I shopped on Sunday, prepped several meals (especially the shakes!) and started on Monday (I’ve become addicted to Mason Jar meals!). Following the 10-days there are options on how to proceed to lose more, check gluten/dairy sensitivities and how to make this a lifestyle. I found the program easy to stick with. When I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's (Thyroid disease) I had several Clients who also have it explain the benefits of kicking Gluten to feel better. I had done it before and I felt great..MORE energy for sure! This was a great kickstart to get me back into that lifestyle. I guess the only reason I didn’t stick with it is because I had a lot of stressful life changes (all for the positive, but stressful nonetheless) and reached for things that comforted me..of course, one of those things was food! Usually I breeze through Detoxes and this time, I really just wanted a glass of wine! For MY sake, I didn't give in and turned to my To Do List. And like any 'craving', it passed. You have to do this with the mindset that YOU are in CONTROL and you CAN do this! You WILL do this! YOU decide every day whether you will succeed or fail with this detox (or any program) and let me tell you, it's SO easy to succeed! You just have to be ready (that’s the important part). Personally, I have found that making a list of things to do to keep you busy during times of stress or cravings during this program to be helpful. I walked/played with my dogs, guided medatations (thanks to youtube!), pulled out a couple books I’ve wanted to read (get lost in), set up a workout routine. I also turned to Bach Remedies to ease stress/cravings and it was SO helpful! Finally, I tackled my ‘Spring Cleaning’..why wait?! So, not only did I lose weight, I also have an extremely clean & organized pantry, office, linen closet, bathroom, bedroom, etc.! Finally, don’t forget to set up some kind of a reward for yourself (besides feeling better) whether it’s a facial, massage, mani/pedi, etc. keep your eye on the prize! And remember, if you cheat, your only cheating yourself! Keep trying..you can do it! Sidenote: I didn’t give up Caffeine (I use the 1/2 caf Nespresso pods). The last time I gave up caffeine I had almost debilitating headaches and I need to be able to engage with my Clients without wanting to scream!

First off, let me say, I am not a man. I won't be reporting a 30 lb. weightloss in 30 days. Not happening. I'm a 49 year old, pre-menopausal woman. I had 3 kids in the span of 5 years between the ages of 37 and 42. Not an easy task at that age from a weightloss standpoint. After my first was born, I did WW and had no problem taking the weight off. After the second, it wasn't so easy and after the third, all but impossible. I've been a vegetarian for 30 years and a vegan for 3. I know a lot about nutrition, or at least what the nutritionists have told us was right. I'm not at all blowing smoke when I tell you I eat around 1200 calories a day and workout 4-5 times per week doing vigorous workouts. None of it mattered. Nothing worked. Nothing. I went to my primary care physician and had a long conversation with her about my unhappiness with my weight. She commented that my BMI wasn't all that bad and that, perhaps, "this is just who you are". What??? That statement very much felt like giving up and the fact that I took the time to discuss this with her was evidence that I wasn't ready to give up just yet. I was starting to feel like I was living in someone else's body. I often felt anxious and jittery. Was this pre-diabetes? For a couple of years, I was convinced it was my thyroid - mostly because I couldn't figure out why nothing would work. Then I'd have my thyroid tested and it would come back normal. I chalked it up to pre-menopause hormonal problems and figured I'd just continue to be overweight. I decided to give the 10-day detox a try. Why not? I've bought so many books over the years in a desperate attempt to figure out what's wrong....what's one more, right? I was a bit worried that being a vegan would slow my weightloss compared to non-vegans. Given the results he reports in the book from his study group, it has not slowed my progress at all. I started the plan nearly a month ago exactly. With two days to go in my month, I've lost 12 pounds. I even got stuck at the same weight for a week and a half and still lost 12 pounds! And, much of that was without strenuous workouts because my body had a tough time adjusting to the low carb diet. I was lacking energy, etc... I did not cheat at all. Never once. I didn't follow the menus completely, but followed the guidelines. Shake for breakfast, protein and veggies/greens for lunch and dinner. Only in the first couple of days did I feel hungry. After that, my body adjusted and I now feel satisfied after every meal. I take the PGX pills regularly. I love that you are able to season your food on this diet. So many other diets I've tried eliminate sodium almost completely. Eating becomes so boring, you want to gag. I get to use salt and pepper and onion powder and tamari, etc... It makes eating so enjoyable. Who knew that what I was eating before was so wrong for me? Whole grains, etc... I won't lie and tell you my cravings are gone. I don't know who those people are, but I've had 49 years of conditioning to create those cravings. They're not going to disappear in 30 days. I still crave bread when I smell it being toasted and often crave something sweet (dark chocolate) after dinner. For several years, I'd seen my blood pressure be slightly elevated at the doctor's office. I'd always chalked it up to white coat hypertension because I could go back home and get a lower reading with my own cuff. However, those readings were always in the 135/85 neighborhood. Not horrible, but they could stand to be lower. After one week on this diet, I started getting readings of 125/75 and my lowest was 118/70. Pretty awesome. I can't say enough good things about how this book is written. It makes so much intelligent sense. I also bought his "Eat Fat, Get Thin" book, but have decided to stay on the 10-day detox (as he recommends) since I have 30 lbs to lose. If you're a woman of that certain age who has struggled to lose weight no matter what you try, give this a try. If it worked for me, you'll likely have success too. Thank you, Dr. Hyman!

Great book! I noticed the difference in my body by following the program. I had a little sugar after the 10 days and had a sugar hangover. Nice to compare and contrast how different foods affect your body. Oh I lost 10 pounds.