Detoxification: 4

Things I liked about the 10-day Detox Diet:

1. Blueberry-nut-seed-dairy-free smoothies - such a change from my normal hand-held meat or cheese - and they didn't make me craving food before lunch unlike sweeter smoothies have in the past.
2. Eating dinner with my girl - often we don't sit down together.
3. Baths - I think it has been over a decade since I had a bath.
4. Pushing myself to try something new.
5. Weight loss - from the scale reading at the start to the lowest scale reading was 4.8 pounds - but I consider my "true" weight to be the trend, which is about 2 pounds down after the 10 days - this is classic very low carb water loss - the heavier you are and more sugar / other carbs you have been eating, the greater the initial loss will be.

Things I didn't like about the 10-day Detox Diet:

1. Feeling bad all the time - it was a little bit better towards the end, but not much - raging headaches, muscle aches all over, panting after small exertions - Atkins flu added to caffeine withdrawal for more days than I expected. (I hope to post separately on Atkins flu).
2. Being stupid all the time - I've got plenty of outside evidence that I performed stupidly at a number of tasks - couldn't remember how to start the boat engine, couldn't complete some concentrated tasks at work, wrong turns on routes I take every day, many more - each of these could be explained but the cumulative impact supports my subjective conclusion that I was stupid - the last thing I need to do is create an Alzheimer's simulation in my brain!
3. Being de-caffeinated - not sure how much that contributed to #1 and #2, but it clearly did, even though I tapered. I had to prolong the taper into the start of the diet because it wasn't right for me to perform so badly at work when a small cup of coffee would help. I had 7-8 days of no coffee at all.
4. Preparing smoothies and salads in the morning - food prep started at 45 minutes long and by the end I got it down to 30 minutes by doing what I could the night before (despite exhaustion in the evenings) - I was late to work several times.
5. Cooking from scratch on a weekday evening - I liked eating the food ok, but we normally eat leftovers from the weekend or takeout or frozen food during the week. You are supposed to stop eating three hours before bedtime - but I get home at 6:30 and bedtime is 9:30 or else that 5 am alarm will be even ruder than usual.  But I can't start cooking the instant I walk in the door - need a little down time - and even easy recipes require 30-45 minutes, especially if including fresh vegetables that need to be cleaned and prepped - didn't leave time for baths most evenings - and couldn't prep the night before (exhausted) or the morning of (see #4).  I finally resorted to roast chickens from Whole Foods which I reheated with fresh vegetables which seemed to be main point.
6. Cleaning the kitchen each night - since I often don't cook or else eat over at the kid's house I usually go a week between dishwasher runs - but I needed a clean cuisinart each morning for the smoothies.
7. Cooking fish - I love to eat fish but its been over a decade since I cooked fish (other than salmon or shrimp) in my house - now I remember why - the house smelled for three days even though it was fresh flounder bought at Whole Foods that afternoon. I did also cook frozen salmon and shrimp and those are fine as long as the garbage goes out each evening.

Bottom line:

For me, much more negative than positive. If you look at the reasons I started this (previous post) it was because I felt bad and because I needed to break the sugar. I felt worse overall during the detox than before (though I had been feeling pretty bad before).  I did break the sugar, because I am generally very obedient and it is so much easier to follow a strict set of rules than to make choices. I haven't decided where and when to add back sugar, though its a good thing there isn't any chocolate in the house because I would have eaten it last night. But I've already added back caffeine (one small cup a day) and dairy, with no second thoughts. The weight loss is a nice bonus, but my long-term weight goal is only about six pounds away and I've spent three years trying to get there and am of two minds whether it matters and whether I could maintain it if I got there. (The dream weight goal is another five pounds below that.)

I think this would be good if:

• You intend to jump-start a diet with a long way to go, and you will follow for the long term a low-carb, high fresh vegetable, moderate protein way of eating such as the same doctor's "Blood Sugar Solution".
• You suspect you have problems with food sensitivities: gluten, dairy, caffeine and want to find out.
• You have the cluster of health problems called variously "syndrome X", pre-diabetes and high risk for heart troubles, and want a quick turn around.
• You have time set aside from normal responsibilities to feel bad and stupid and enough time to prepare everything. (This might make a decent retreat, especially if that means others do the cooking!)

Where do I go from here, having made it this far? Not sure.