10 Day Sugar Cleanse

If you are in the mood to detox and get a jump start on Spring this Sugar Cleanse is a great way to do it.  A lot of my patients ask about juice cleanses and ways to detox through diet.  I don't love strict juice cleanses because the weight lost during it tends to come right back on afterwards and because I feel the body needs protein and healthy fats even during a cleanse.  If you exercise you definitely need protein and fats so if you really want to do a juice cleanse I suggest juicing throughout the day then having at dinner 4 ounces of protein with 2 teaspoons fat with another juice or a side of noncarbohydrate vegetables.  Also be aware that too many fruit juices does not help the body and the juices you drink should be made with at least 50% more vegetables than fruit.

The healthiest way to do a cleanse is not with juicing but with eating only certain foods.  I give a 10 day sugar cleanse. In this cleanse not only does it get rid of all fruit except limes and lemons but it also gets rid of just about everything that turns to sugar in the body.  The only carbs allowed are beans, brown rice, quinoa and sweet potatoes in limited amounts. This cleanse works by removing sugar from your diet which is the fastest way to lose fat and increase your energy. When your blood sugar is out of balance it causes depression, causes you to store sugar as fat instead of using it for energy, causing you to have highs and lows in your energy, and leads to diabetes.  In so many ways doing this sugar cleanse is healthy for you. 

At first, your cravings for sugar may be more pronounced. After you get over what I call the "hump” you will stop craving sugar all together. Hard to believe? I never thought I’d get there myself. It usually takes 3-4 days to get over the hump, so this is the point at which you’ll have to buckle down and use all of your will power. Believe it or not, the longer you stay off sugar the easier it gets. This doesn’t mean that you’ll never be able to eat fruit again or enjoy a baked potato. This is a temporary cleanse to correct your blood sugar. This is when the cravings for sugar disappears, and your energy goes way up! Not to mention that most people see a huge difference in their skin.

Sugar makes you gain weight, tired, and ugly. I wish I was kidding about this, but I’m actually quite serious. Eating fat doesn’t make you overweight, sugar does. Eating too much sugar and carbs is the reason that most people are tired all the time as well. Not to mention that sugar zaps the collagen in your skin, and dulls your complexion. Most Americans consume up to three pounds of sugar every week! It’s not always easy to stay away from sugar because they put it in almost everything these days. It’s added to so many processed foods we eat, not just in what we consider “sweets”.

Raised blood insulin levels causes weight gain. Insulin promotes the storage of fat; so, when you eat foods high in sugar, you increase fat storage. Resulting in rapid weight gain. Being a recovering “sugarholic” myself, I can speak from experience how difficult it is to get off of sugar. The more sugar you eat, the more your body craves, so just limiting sugar won’t do the trick. You literally have to cut it out completely, cold-turkey, to stop the addictive cycle. Studies have shown that it is just as hard to get off of sugar as it is cocaine. When I’m talking about sugar here, I’m not just talking about white table sugar, I’m talking about bread, fruit, fruit juice, dried fruit, tortillas, baked goods, honey, etc. All of these get broken down into the same thing, sugar.

Signs that your blood sugar may be out of balance


Cravings for sweets, sugar, or bread products. (This is almost a guaranteed sign that your blood
sugar is out of balance)

Fatigue after eating a meal, or “food-coma”
•
Get lightheaded if meals are missed
•
Eating Sweets does not relieve the cravings for sweets
•
Depend on coffee to keep yourself going or to get started
•
Difficulty losing weight

How to balance your blood sugar:

Eat more protein
•
Digest more protein (make sure you are digesting properly)
•
Eliminate simple carbohydrates and sugar
•
Eat more complex carbohydrates
•
Eat more good fats and essential fatty acids
•
Eat more fiber
•

Instructions for 10 day Sugar Cleanse

Remove all sugar and simple carbohydrates from diet for 10 days in a row.

1. Remove all foods from the “avoid” list below, and eat only foods on the “good” list for the 10 days.

2. If you “slip-up” and eat a food from the avoid list, then start from day one again.

Good Foods:
Make as many of these organic as possible
All Herbs
All Vegetables, Except White Potatoes
Avocado
Avocado Oil
Beans*
Beets*
Brown Rice*
Carrots*
Coconut
Coconut Oil
Pasture Raised Eggs
Fish
Ghee (Clarified Butter)
Grape Seed Oil
Lemon and Lime
Lentils*
Miracle Noodle Brand Pasta
Nuts, Except Peanuts
Olive Oil
Organic Free-Range Chicken
Organic Free-Range Turkey
Organic Grass-Fed Beef
Organic Grass-Fed Lamb
Quinoa
Sashimi
Seeds
Sweet Potato*
Tomatoes
Wild Caught Salmon
*Limit to 1⁄2 cup per serving

Foods to Avoid:
Agave Nectar
Alcohol
All Grains 
Artificial Sweeteners
Breads
Buckwheat
Butter
Caffeine
Candy
Cane Sugar
Cereal
Cheese
Coffee
Cookies
Corn
Cream Sauces
Erythritol
Evaporated Cane Juice 
Ezekiel Bread
Flour
Flour Tortillas
French bread
Fried Foods
Fructose
Fruit Juice
Fruits, Except Lime and Lemon
High Fructose Corn Syrup 
Honey
Hydrogenated Oils
Maple Syrup
Millet
Milk
MSG: Monosodium Glutamate 
Oats
Potatoes
Soy
Stevia
Sucrose
Sugar
Tortillas
Trans Fats
Vinegar
Wheat Bread
Wheat Pasta
White Bread
White Flour
White Rice
Xylitol
Yogurt

To drink you can drink water and herbal teas.  After the cleanse you can slowly add back in fruits, whole grains and all natural sweeteners, such as agave nectar and stevia. However, processed sugars and processed grains should still be avoided. 

It's best to do the cleanse under a practitioner's guidance and they can also help you add back in certain foods to help maintain the results you have achieved through the cleanse.

Believe it or not, some of my patients feel so good on the cleanse and see such great results they want to keep eating this way for more than 10 days and you can!  This cleanse is safe to do for as long as you would like to.