10/28/2022
Congratulations to me! I did it!
It is always scary when the Doctor throws up his hands and asks, âAre you really taking your medicines?â âThese numbers are not where I would expect them to beâŠâ I went home thoroughly dejected: I thought, I eat well, I exercise almost everyday and yet the scale sneaks up, I have the middle (or old age) thick middle and I just donât feel super. What else can I do???
So I started web browsing and came across an article on Prevention.com â5 Signs You have Hormonal Bell Fat, According to Expertsâ It showed many clues that I had a problem: 1) My waistline is bigger but I eat properly, 2) I crave sugar, 3) My mood swings are monstrous 4) I am a stress puppy 5) I am exhausted but donât sleep and then it gave an extreme recommendation by Dr. Sara Gottfried, MD: Cut Sugar, Gluten, Dairy, Alcohol, and Caffeine for 40 days and on top of that, start intermittent fasting for 16 hours no food/ 8 hours meals. I had already considered doing each of these things individually but decided WTH letâs do it all at once. I also cut out red meats, went organic, and avoided prepared foods as much as possible.
I made a little note card with the donât eats listed, set my own eat times to 7:30am (because I love breakfast), 11:30am, and 4:30pm, and put it up on the refrigerator where I would see it every day, all day. I also linked my phone app to my scale and weighed in every morning and did body measurements once a week.
The first few days were tough. It is a lot of reading labels for added sugars or sugar and fat content and looking up items on the internet. I boinked pretty hard. I think I probably was adjusting to the change and not eating enough calories. Day three through seven were great and then I boinked again. Each day I made a little check mark on the refrigerator note pad counting my way to 40 days.
Remarkably, it got easier, and I got where I didnât check off the mark every day. Day 40 went and came, and I didnât even realize until day 49. It is doable if you are self-disciplined and motivated. My cholesterol dropped from High 200âs to 100 and sugar back was back out of the prediabetes worry zone! I also lost 20 pounds and feel fabulous! Energy levels up!
Hereâs the gotcha. I checked out several of Dr Gottfriedâs books to see how I come off the cleanse diet and I didnât find any definitive advice. So, you are in it for the long haul, or it has to be your own trial and error. My tolerance to alcohol is zero these days, so I donât drink very often and pay for it when I do. I still love sugars and must really moderate my intake of those because I know how fast I will spiral. Every once in a while, I really crave red meat and indulge, but not often. I drink a mushroom coffee that has half the caffeine in the mornings without sugar added. I love it and when I do drink coffee, I find that my engine goes into high rev mode, and I start talking super quickly and nonstop. Quite hilarious. Every once in a while, I eat all the no-no items but in moderation and not every day. I still try to eat on a slightly less intermittent schedule and do not allow myself to nighttime snack. I am definitely an evangelist for this way of eating and when all my friends are No Alcohol January, I will be resetting again with the full blown list for another 40 days. I expect this time will be a breeze!
Https://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/f20438900/hormones-causing-your-belly-fat/
Shirley Tynan
