Sugar Detoxes are Good – But Is There More to it Than Just a Simple Detox?

 

Any day off sugar is a good one…

Detoxes of all types are good for our bodies, our minds, and our soul.

• They focus us.
• They rejuvenate us.
• And of course, they get the junk out…

Sugar detoxes are especially helpful.

For most of us, we have been literally drenched in sugar since we were in our mother’s womb.

We’ve never had even one day free from sugar. And when we have tried to stop we got headaches and felt awful.

For some of you, this will be your first attempt.

But for many of you – you’re what we call sugar detox veterans. Or (hate this name) “low carb dieters.”

You’ve actually completed a few detoxes(or more), only to return to the sugar and processed carbs – sometimes with more zeal than before.

The statistics are clear on this – you are not alone.

Most people who change their diet to reduce or eliminate “the white stuff” and lose some weight usually end up not only gaining all their weight back but even adding a few extra pounds.

A dramatic example of the challenges of maintaining weight loss comes from a recent National Institutes of Health study. The researchers followed 14 contestants who had participated in the “Biggest Loser” reality show.

During the 30 weeks of the show, the contestants lost an average of over 125 pounds per person. But in the six years after the show, all but one gained back most of their lost weight!

There are many, many university studies that show the exact same thing happens to the average dieter.

Detoxes are not a permanent fix, sugar detoxes only address part of the problem, they don’t produce lasting results.  

Detoxes help you get some results, they don’t help you keep those results.

The problem with sugar is far worse than you think.

For the first time in history the current younger generation not expected to live as long as their parents did.

The obesity epidemic, according to many of the brightest minds in the world is caused by this huge spike, in the last 30 years, of the prevalence of highly processed and high palatable “foods” – all laced with sugar and high fructose corn syrup(same thing.)

Sugar is as addictive as cocaine.

Studies have shown that rats will shock themselves to death for one more hit of sugar but will eventually walk away and won’t die in their quest for cocaine!

Sugar actually rewires your brain. Tons of MRI studies of the human brain have proven this.

Your sugar conditioning has been going on for years. 30 days can’t undo that.

Sugar is actually worse than cocaine.

The food companies use weird names and hard to read labels to hide how much sugar is in their food.

Did you know there are over 61 names for just plain old sugar on food labels?

It’s cheaper than cocaine, so you keep eating and don’t realize it.

You would notice a $1,500 a month cocaine habit, but you don’t notice the $1.50 you spend at McDonald’s for a large sweet tea – 18 Tsp of sugar per serving!

There is a social stigma around being a drug user, but that is only for hard drugs like cocaine and heroin, not for sugar.  You could never walk into a parent teacher conference and tell them you snort coke.  But if you said in the same parent teacher conference that you eat sugar, their response would be, “And so does everyone else, what’s the big deal.”

This is important because people are hardwired to understand recovering drug users need support and help.  But because sugar is not considered a “hard drug” they aren’t as willing to support someone trying to stop sugar, which is just as addictive.  Your friends and family are much more likely to see your struggle to quit sugar as unnecessary and silly self-torture…

But you know…

You know how you’ve struggled to control your habit.

Days 1 to 30 of a sugar detox don’t compare to days 31 to 60 and beyond.

In days one through 30 you are just struggling with the physical withdrawals from sugar – and they are many!

Getting clean from sugar is just the beginning.

Ignoring sugar for 30 days does not equal being in control over sugar for life.

Days 1 to 30 are all about withdrawals, focus, and food.

Past day 30 is where the real fun begins.

Once we pass the “pink cloud” phase, that phase where we feel so much better physically – actual life starts again. But this time without our old “go to” sugar.

We have to learn to deal with life’s emotional stressors. The husband or girlfriend, that pain in the butt boss or those wild kids – without sugar to calm or soothe us.

If a perfect detox did exist, it would not only encourage you to stay away from sugar for 10 to 30 days to get you physically clean, but it would also help you emotionally cope with what we call – “Sugar’s revenge” in the next 30 day period and beyond.

As I began helping more and more people take sugar out of their diet and keep it out for good, I looked all over trying to find the detox program I wanted them to use.

I couldn’t find it.

Most are too focused on the food while others were focused too much on a set time period, but none of them completely prepared people for what life is really like after a detox.  Detoxes are a great first step to get results in your life, but if you want to keep those results, you need a new strategy for life after the detox.

So many people I worked with felt great at the end of the 30 days – more energy, more vitality.

They were losing weight and it was great to see those results.  But then, old stressors would creep back into their life.

Life after the detox was like returning home from a vacation.  You feel refreshed and love the life you just got to live for a couple of weeks, but now you have to go back to your regular life.

You might have been able to block out some of those troubling situations in your life during the detox.    It might be the relationship with your spouse, boss or a co-worker.  Eventually, the stress of everyday life comes back, and so do those sugar cravings, but even stronger.  – “Sugars revenge”.

Your mind and body have been conditioned for years to use and crave sugar in very specific ways.  Ways that are common to many people and in ways that are unique to you and in ways that you are not fully consciously aware.

The 30-day detox is really only a brief glimpse into what a life without sugar can be.  There are new challenges to face afterward.  That little voice in the back of your head that was kept quiet for 30 days, is also fully rested but now it has much more to say.  It is a scary thought, but your cravings for sugar can be much stronger in the weeks after a detox.

I wanted to help my clients with this new challenge, life after the detox.  I wanted to point them in the direction of some other program, but I couldn’t find one.

So out of sheer desperation, I created it for them.  

I needed a program that prepared them both physically, mentally and emotionally to reduce, control or – if they decided – to quit sugar for the rest of their life.

If you want to get results and keep those results, then click the here to read a little more about the plan I designed to help my clients do exactly that.