10 oslagbara fördelar med varmt citronvatten

10 oslagbara fördelar med varmt citronvatten

Jag börjar alltid morgonen med pressad citron och lite riven färsk ingefära, blandad i en kopp med varmt vatten, här är lite info (från indigo life) om varför citron är bra, och jag håller med dom:

Oavsett vilket kostprogram man har hos Indigo Life ingår alltid en punkt: att dricka varmt citronvatten varje morgon.
Det finns väldigt många hälsofördelar och det man märker allra först är hur kroppen reagerar och börjar rensa ut toxiner direkt.

Koka upp vatten
Pressa en halv citron (till en början, senare jobba upp dig till en hel) i en mugg
Häll på hälften kallt vatten, sedan det heta vattnet. Vattnet ska vara ljummet/halvvarmt.
Drick 15 minuter innan frukost, helst direkt efter uppstigning.

1) Underlättar matsmältningen. Citronsaft rensar ut oönskade ämnen och gifter från kroppen. Saften liknar saliv och saltsyran av magsafter. Det uppmuntrar levern att producera galla som är en syra som behövs för matsmältningen. Citroner har också massor av mineraler och vitaminer och tar bort toxiner i mag-tarmkanalen enligt den Ayurvediska hälsosynen. Citronsaft kan hjälpa till att lindra symtom på matsmältningsbesvär såsom halsbränna, rapningar och väderspänning. American Cancer Society rekommenderar faktiskt att cancer patienter dricker varmt citronvatten för att stimulera tarmrörelserna.

2) Rengör systemet. Citronsaft hjälper kroppen att rensa ut oönskade material delvis eftersom citroner är vätskedrivande och ökar urinering. Därför gifter frigörs i en snabbare takt, som hjälper till att hålla urinvägarna friska. Den citronsyra i citroner hjälper till att maximera enzymfunktion, vilket stimulerar levern och hjälpmedel i avgiftning.

3) Ökar immunförsvaret. Citroner är höga i C-vitamin, vilket är bra för att bekämpa förkylningar. De är höga i kalium, som stimulerar hjärnan och nervernas funktion. Kalium hjälper också tryckreglering blod. C-vitaminet som finns i citroner visar anti-inflammatoriska effekter, och används som ett kompletterande stöd till astma och andra respiratoriska symptom plus att det förbättrar upptaget av järn i kroppen, järn spelar en viktig roll i immunförsvaret. Citroner innehåller också saponiner, som visar antimikrobiella egenskaper som kan hjälpa till att hålla förkylning och influensa i schack. Citroner är också slemlösande och hjälper kroppen göra sig av med slem och balansera slemproduktionen.

4) Balanserar pH-nivån. Citroner är en av de mest alkaliska livsmedel för kroppen. Visst, de är sura i sig själva, men inuti våra kroppar de är alkaliska (citronsyra  skapar inte surhet i kroppen när den metaboliseras). Citroner innehåller både citronsyra och askorbinsyra, svaga syror som lätt metaboliseras från kroppen och tillåter mineralinnehållet i citroner att hjälpa kroppen att göra blodet mer basiskt. Sjukdomstillstånd inträffar bara när pHvärdet i kroppen är surt. Att dricka citronvatten regelbundet kan bidra till att balansera surhet i kroppen, inklusive urinsyra i lederna, som är en av de främsta orsakerna till smärta och inflammation.

5) Rensar Huden. C-vitamin samt andra antioxidanter bidrar till att minska rynkor och blemmor och det hjälper till att bekämpa fria radikaler. C-vitamin är viktigt för frisk hud medan dess alkaliska natur dödar vissa typer av bakterier som är kända för att orsaka akne. Eftersom citronvatten rensar ut toxiner från blodet, hjälper till att hålla huden fri från problem inifrån och ut. Den C-vitamin som finns i citron föryngrar huden inifrån kroppen.

6) Stimulerar och förbättrar humöret. Citron är en av de få livsmedel som innehåller mer negativt laddade joner, som ger din kropp med mer energi när den kommer in i mag-tarmkanalen. Doften av citron har också “humörförbättrande” och energigivande egenskaper. Lukten av citronsaft kan få dig på bättre humör och hjälpa rensa ditt sinne. Citron kan också bidra till att minska ångest och depression.

7) Främjar läkning. C-vitamin som finns i överflöd i citroner, främjar sårläkning, och är ett viktigt näringsämne i upprätthållandet av friska ben, bindväv och brosk. Såsom noterats tidigare, visar C-vitamin också anti-inflammatoriska egenskaper. C-vitamin är ett viktigt näringsämne i upprätthållandet av god hälsa och återhämtning från stress och skador.

8) Friskare Andedräkt. Förutom fräschare andedräkt, har citroner varit kända för att hjälpa till att lindra tandsmärta och tandköttsinflammation. Man skall inte borsta tänderna strax efter att ha druckit citronvatten. Det är bäst att borsta tänderna först, och sedan dricka ditt citronvatten, eller vänta ca 30 minuter med att borsta tänderna för att inte urholka emaljen i tänderna. Dessutom kan du skölja munnen med rent vatten när du är klar med din citronvatten.

9) Återfuktar lymfsystemet. Varmt vatten och citronsaft stödjer immunsystemet genom att återfukta och ersätta vätskan som förloras genom kroppen. När din kropp behöver vatten, kan du definitivt känna biverkningar, vilket inkluderar: trött, trög, nedsatt immunförsvar, förstoppning, brist på energi, lågt / högt blodtryck, brist på sömn, brist på mental klarhet och känsla av stress, bara för att nämna några. När man börjar känna törst, då är man redan uttorkad och bör alltså inte vänta på detta utan se till att dricka 3 liter vatten fördelat under dagen.

10) Stöd i viktminskning. Citroner är hög i pektin (fiber), som hjälper mot sug. Och studier har visat att människor som upprätthåller en mer basisk kost går ner i vikt snabbare.

Köp citroner, testa ett par dagar och lägg märke till vad som händer i din kropp!

 

Robert Lustig: the man who believes sugar is poison

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/24/robert-lustig-sugar-poison

Article from Zoe Williams
The Guardian, Sunday 24 August 2014 18.00 BST

The maverick scientist has long argued that sugar is as harmful as cocaine or tobacco – and that the food industry has been adding too much of it to our meals for too long. A convert hears more about his theory.
If you have any interest at all in diet, obesity, public health, diabetes, epidemiology, your own health or that of other people, you will probably be aware that sugar, not fat, is now considered the devil’s food. Dr Robert Lustig’s book, Fat Chance: The Hidden Truth About Sugar, Obesity and Disease, for all that it sounds like a Dan Brown novel, is the difference between vaguely knowing something is probably true, and being told it as a fact. Lustig has spent the past 16 years treating childhood obesity. His meta-analysis of the cutting-edge research on large-cohort studies of what sugar does to populations across the world, alongside his own clinical observations, has him credited with starting the war on sugar. When it reaches the enemy status of tobacco, it will be because of Lustig.

“Politicians have to come in and reset the playing field, as they have with any substance that is toxic and abused, ubiquitous and with negative consequence for society,” he says. “Alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine. We don’t have to ban any of them. We don’t have to ban sugar. But the food industry cannot be given carte blanche. They’re allowed to make money, but they’re not allowed to make money by making people sick.”

Lustig argues that sugar creates an appetite for itself by a determinable hormonal mechanism – a cycle, he says, that you could no more break with willpower than you could stop feeling thirsty through sheer strength of character. He argues that the hormone related to stress, cortisol, is partly to blame. “When cortisol floods the bloodstream, it raises blood pressure; increases the blood glucose level, which can precipitate diabetes. Human research shows that cortisol specifically increases caloric intake of ‘comfort foods’.” High cortisol levels during sleep, for instance, interfere with restfulness, and increase the hunger hormone ghrelin the next day. This differs from person to person, but I was jolted by recognition of the outrageous deliciousness of doughnuts when I haven’t slept well.

“The problem in obesity is not excess weight,” Lustig says, in the central London hotel that he has made his anti-metabolic illness HQ. “The problem with obesity is that the brain is not seeing the excess weight.” The brain can’t see it because appetite is determined by a binary system. You’re either in anorexigenesis – “I’m not hungry and I can burn energy” – or you’re in orexigenesis – “I’m hungry and I want to store energy.” The flip switch is your leptin level (the hormone that regulates your body fat) but too much insulin in your system blocks the leptin signal.

It helps here if you have ever been pregnant or remember much of puberty and that savage hunger; the way it can trick you out of your best intentions, the lure of ridiculous foods: six-month-old Christmas cake, sweets from a bin. If you’re leptin resistant – that is, if your insulin is too high as a result of your sugar intake – you’ll feel like that all the time.
Telling people to simply lose weight, he tells me, “is physiologically impossible and it’s clinically dangerous. It’s a goal that’s not achievable.” He explains further in the book: “Biochemistry drives behaviour. You see a patient who drinks 10 gallons of water a day and urinates 10 gallons of water a day. What is wrong with him? Could he have a behavioural disorder and be a psychogenic water drinker? Could be. Much more likely he has diabetes.” To extend that, you could tell people with diabetes not to drink water, and 3% of them might succeed – the outliers. But that wouldn’t help the other 97% just as losing the weight doesn’t, long-term, solve the metabolic syndrome – the addiction to sugar – of which obesity is symptomatic.

Many studies have suggested that diets tend to work for two months, some for as long as six. “That’s what the data show. And then everybody’s weight comes roaring back.” During his own time working night shifts, Lustig gained 3st, which he never lost and now uses exuberantly to make two points. The first is that weight is extremely hard to lose, and the second – more important, I think – is that he’s no diet and fitness guru himself. He doesn’t want everybody to be perfect: he’s just a guy who doesn’t want to surrender civilisation to diseases caused by industry. “I’m not a fitness guru,” he says, puckishly. “I’m 45lb overweight!”

“Sugar causes diseases: unrelated to their calories and unrelated to the attendant weight gain. It’s an independent primary-risk factor. Now, there will be food-industry people who deny it until the day they die, because their livelihood depends on it.” And here we have the reason why he sees this is a crusade and not a diet book, the reason that Lustig is in London and not Washington. This is an industry problem; the obesity epidemic began in 1980. Back then, nobody knew about leptin. And nobody knew about insulin resistance until 1984.

“What they knew was, when they took the fat out they had to put the sugar in, and when they did that, people bought more. And when they added more, people bought more, and so they kept on doing it. And that’s how we got up to current levels of consumption.” Approximately 80% of the 600,000 packaged foods you can buy in the US have added calorific sweeteners (this includes bread, burgers, things you wouldn’t add sugar to if you were making them from scratch). Daily fructose consumption has doubled in the past 30 years in the US, a pattern also observable (though not identical) here, in Canada, Malaysia, India, right across the developed and developing world. World sugar consumption has tripled in the past 50 years, while the population has only doubled; it makes sense of the obesity pandemic.

“It would have happened decades earlier; the reason it didn’t was that sugar wasn’t cheap. The thing that made it cheap was high-fructose corn syrup. They didn’t necessarily know the physiology of it, but they knew the economics of it.” Adding sugar to everyday food has become as much about the industry prolonging the shelf life as it has about palatability; if you’re shopping from corner shops, you’re likely to be eating unnecessary sugar in pretty well everything. It is difficult to remain healthy in these conditions. “You here in Britain are light years ahead of us in terms of understanding the problem. We don’t get it in the US, we have this libertarian streak. You don’t have that. You’re going to solve it first. So it’s in my best interests to help you, because that will help me solve it back there.”

The problem has mushroomed all over the world in 30 years and is driven by the profits of the food and diet industries combined. We’re not looking at a global pandemic of individual greed and fecklessness: it would be impossible for the citizens of the world to coordinate their human weaknesses with that level of accuracy. Once you stop seeing it as a problem of personal responsibility it’s easier to accept how profound and serious the war on sugar is. Life doesn’t have to become wholemeal and joyless, but traffic-light systems and five-a-day messaging are under-ambitious.

“The problem isn’t a knowledge deficit,” an obesity counsellor once told me. “There isn’t a fat person on Earth who doesn’t know vegetables are good for you.” Lustig agrees. “I, personally, don’t have a lot of hope that those things will turn things around. Education has not solved any substance of abuse. This is a substance of abuse. So you need two things, you need personal intervention and you need societal intervention. Rehab and laws, rehab and laws. Education would come in with rehab. But we need laws.”

The Obamas hate him, he says, because they don’t want to fight the industry. “They’ve got a lot of enemies. I’m not mad at them. I actually kind of like them.” On paper, Lustig is absolutely livid. “In America we have this thing, it’s called the Declaration of Independence. We are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It doesn’t say a damned fucking thing about the pursuit of pleasure.” But he has seen how it worked with tobacco. It took a long time, he says, but industries can’t poison people en masse for ever.

“We have to do something about it, or there will be no healthcare. In fact, there will be no society. Are you ready for that? That’s what’s gonna happen. It’s just not OK. There will be no money left for anything else.”

His predictions for world health are apocalyptically pessimistic. Yet in his bearing, he has the deep-rooted optimism of a person who knows the fight is worthwhile, and believes that, in the end, he’ll win it.

Fat Chance is published by Fourth Estate at £8.99. To order a copy for £7.19 with free P&P, visit guardianbookshop.co.uk or call 0330 333 6846

Jin Shin Jyutsu 5 day class with Jed Schwartz, in SoCal :-)

I got an email about to Jed Schwartz 5 day class in October in southern California (Costa Mesa, between L.A and San Diego) – I wish I could go, but I can’t this time… but here’s the poster with the information about the class anyway (click on the poster to make it larger):

You can read more about Jed here:
https://www.jsjinc.net/bio.php?id=17

And here’s information about his other classes:
https://www.jsjinc.net/instructor-courses.php?id=17

 

 

 

10 Causes of Fibromyalgia Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About

I’ve struggled with a lot of those symptoms, and changed my food habits thoroughly. Combined with a lot of Jin Shin Jyutsu too, I am in a so much better health – to not eat sugar, gluten/wheat and dairy is one big part of it 🙂

http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=18904&B1=ARTSHARE

 Article from Dr. Amy Myers. 

It’s estimated that fibromyalgia affects approximately 10 million people in the United States. Fibromyalgia is classically characterized by chronic pain, particularly muscle pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, brain fog or cognitive impairment, depression and painful tender points throughout the body.

Conventional medicine has yet to uncover the cause of fibromyalgia and only offers management of symptoms through pain medications and antidepressants.

Functional medicine, on the other hand, looks to find the root cause of fibromyalgia and other chronic diseases, treating the problem at the root level to restore the patient to health. As a functional medicine physician, I’ve helped many patients recover from fibromyalgia. Below are the top ten root causes of fibromyalgia I see in my clinic.

1. Gluten intolerance 

Gluten has been liked to more than 55 diseases and is often called the “big masquerader.” The reason for this is that the majority of gluten intolerance symptoms are not digestive in nature, but are instead neurological, such as pain, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances, behavioral issues, fatigue and depression.

2. Candida overgrowth

Candida is a fungus, or yeast, and a very small amount of it lives in your intestines. When overproduced, Candida breaks down the wall of the intestines and penetrates the bloodstream, releasing toxic byproducts into your body and causing a host of unpleasant symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, digestive issues and pain. Virtually every one of my patients with fibromyalgia has had Candida overgrowth.

3. Thyroid

It’s vital that your doctor check all six blood markers to accurately measure your thyroid gland’s function. It’s also imperative that your doctor use the optimal levels rather than the standard reference range when assessing and diagnosing thyroid disorders. Getting my patient’s thyroid levels into an optimal range typically alleviates their fatigue, brain fog, sleep disturbances and depression.

4. Vitamin deficiencies

Magnesium, vitamin D and B12 deficiency are the most common vitamin deficiencies I see in those who have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I’ve had several patients completely reverse their fibromyalgia symptoms with magnesium alone. The best way to measure magnesium is a red blood cell (RBC) magnesium level, which can be tested through any conventional lab.

5. Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and Leaky gut

There are more bacteria in us and on us then there are of our own cells. When these bacteria get out of balance through use of antibiotics or a sugar-rich diet, we can lose our ability to digest and absorb nutrients, particularly B12. Gluten can cause SIBO and leaky gut and SIBO and leaky gut can lead gluten and other food intolerances. It’s a catch-22 and a vicious cycle. You must “fix the gut” first in anyone with fibromyalgia.

6. Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins are very toxic substances produced by molds. Conventional environmental mold testing only tests for levels of mold spores and does not test for mycotoxins. I use a urine mycotoxin test in my clinic to determine if someone has been exposed to toxic molds.

7. Mercury toxicity

I recommend that all my patients find a biological dentist and have their mercury amalgam fillings removed. Mercury is toxic to our bodies and can be one piece of the puzzle for those with fibromyalgia. I then recommend heavy metal testing using a pre- and post-DMPS urine challenge test.

8. Adrenal fatigue

Adrenal fatigue is a result of the chronic stress. Chronic pain is a stress to the adrenal glands, though it’s typically not the initial adrenal stressor. The initial stressor is usually something such as food intolerances, Candida, mercury toxicity, vitamin deficiencies or mycotoxins. My goal is to support the adrenals with adaptogenic herbs while we search for the root cause of the stress and correct it.

9. MTHFR mutations

This is a genetic test you can get though any conventional lab. The more mutations you have to the MTHFR gene the less able you are to methylate and detoxify toxins, such as mercury and lead. The more mutations you have at this gene the higher your requirements for methyl-B6, methyl-B12 and folinic acid in order to keep your detoxification pathways working properly.

10. Glutathione deficiency

Glutathione is the most critical part of our body’s detoxification system. Glutathione gets recycled in our body — unless our toxic burden gets too high, or we lack GSTM1 and GSTP1, the enzymes needed to recycle and produce glutathione. Taking glutathione or the precursors (NAC, alpha lipoic acid, milk thistle) often help dramatically with fatigue.

As you can see from the above list, many of these causes are interrelated, and often there’s no single root cause of fibromyalgia. Because getting to the root can be complex, I recommend that you find a functional medicine physician in your area to help uncover the root cause for you. You don’t need to suffer needlessly or mask your symptoms with pain medications and antidepressants. There are doctors likes myself who can help you!

Jin Shin Jyutsu självhjälp/egenvårdskurs i Uppsala med Claire Boelhouwers

Claire ska ha en gratis prova på gång onsdag 24/9, och sen kommer hon ha en 8 gångers kurs, med början måndag 29/9, i arrangemang tillsammans med Sensus – se informationen på bifogade affisch (klicka på den, så blir affischen större):

Eliminera den sjukskapande maten – artikel av Hans Sternlycke

http://newsvoice.se/2014/08/17/eliminera-den-sjukskapande-maten-naturligt-odlad-mat-bast-for-samhallsekonomin/

Eliminera den sjukskapande maten – Naturligt odlad mat bäst för samhällsekonomin

17 aug 2014

REPLIK. En multivitamintablett om dagen skulle halvera sjukvårdskostnaderna säger en av världens mest kända forskare om cancer och åldrandets kemi, Bruce Ames. Visserligen i USA, där de är 16 procent av BNP, dubbelt upp mot Europa, och hälften av det betalt via försäkringar. I Sverige går bara 250 miljarder kronor av de offentliga utgifterna till hälso- och sjukvården. Jag tror att att också här kunde hälften bantas. Det skriver Hans Sternlycke i sin replik till leg tandläkare Karin Öckers debattartikel: ”Vetenskaplig evidens för att kosttillskott förbättrar långtidshälsan”.

Text: Hans Sternlycke | Foto: Jirkaejc, Crestock.com

Vi är dock på väg mot USA:s siffror med mer diabetes, åldrande och fetare befolkning, och det blir definitivt så, om TTIP, det amerikansk-europeiska handelsfördraget, går igenom, och vi får acceptera hormonkött och GMO-mat och mer industrijordbruk.

Det är skräp om det skall behövas tabletter, för att vi skall få i oss tillräckligt med vitaminer och mineraler, när vi kunde få det genom ekologiskt odlad mat.

Brist på mikronäringsämnen i mitokondrierna, kroppens energifabriker, ger förtida åldrande och neurologiska sjukdomar. Är det brist där kommer cellernas behov i andra hand, och det kan leda till DNA-brott och cancer. Det behövs C-, B12 och B6-vitamin, niacin, folsyra, biotin, järn, magnesium och zink för att reparera DNA-brotten.

Minsta dagliga intag av näringsämnen är enbart beräknat för att inte få allvarliga bristsjukdomar, inte för att vinna fullgod hälsa. I USA har åtta tiondelar av åldringar och tonåriga män och nio tiondelar av flickorna brist på magnesium. Det ökar risken för benskörhet, cancer, högt blodtryck, senilitet och diabetes.

Felaktiga kostråd från myndigheterna och sjukvården kostar miljardbelopp i onödan

De officiella kostråden, som nu har börjat ifrågasättas, med fettskrämdhet och för mycket kolhydrater, är fetma- och diabetesskapande. 350.000 svenskar har i dag diabetes, och hälso- och sjukvårdskostnaderna kan röra sig om 13 miljarder kronor. För 30 år sedan var det 30 miljoner fall i världen. Nu är de mer än fjortonfaldigat. Problem med nerver, njurar, syn, blodkärl och hjärta följer. Kolesterol och blodtryck förhöjs.

Unga, smala och friska har ett tryck på 120 mm Hg när hjärtat pumpar ut och ett undertryck på 80. Det har också äldre hos naturfolken. Lätt förhöjt är det från tryck över 140 respektive 90. Mer än det har en fjärdedel av svenskarna. 850.000 svenskar äter statiner för en miljard kronor för att sänka kolesterolnivå och blodtryck

De har inte visats ge bättre överlevnad. I stället för att minska hjärtproblemen kan risken för hjärtsvikt ökas genom att skapa brist på co-enzymet Q 10 och ge muskelsvaghet. Statinerna kan ge diabetes genom att kolesterolet inte räcker för att transportera insulinet i blodet, och det blir överskott i cellerna, så de slutar producera insulin.

Rådet att minska saltet för att sänka blodtrycket, när kroppen reglerar saltnivån i blodet så väl själv, kan i stället höja det när hormonregleringen sätter in för att klara hotande saltbrist.

Hälsa måste få kosta –  Det lönar sig i längden för individ och samhällsekonomi

Mediciner ger biverkningar. Istället för mer sjukvård vore det bättre att minska den ökade sjukligheten vid källan, den sjukskapande maten.

• Bort med beroendeskapande socker,
• bort med tomma kolhydrater som omvandlas till socker.
• In med mer grönt för vitaminer och mineraler.
• In med mer fett. Naturligt animaliskt fett med viktiga fettlösliga vitaminer och långkedjade omega tre fettsyror, inte industriförstört vegetabiliskt margarin.
• Bort med konstgödsel och växtgifter.

Hälsan måste få kosta. Sjukvårdskostnader och minskad arbetsförmåga kostar mer.

Text: Hans Sternlycke

 

Doctor Lodi: Healing Cancer Naturally (video)

Dr Thomas Lodi doesn’t say so much about what he does in this video, more than that he uses integrative medicine, but it looks in the video like food could be an important part of the healing. He also speak about “looking for health”, instead of “curing a disease”, the way Jin Shin Jyutsu also talks about “projects” instead of “problems”.  But it’s interesting that he is/was a conventional doctor, searching for other options, when he felt that the things he learned in medical school didn’t provide him with all the answers for how to heal people, that there could be other ways to find out what’s possible to do..

The Skinny on Obesity – Dr Robert Lustig videos

Robert Lustig has always interesting things to say – enjoy the videos!

Ep. 1 An Epidemic for every body

Ep. 2 Sickenly sweet

Ep. 3 Hunger and hormones – a vicious cycle

Ep. 4 Sugar – a sweet addiction

Ep. 5 Generation XL

Ep. 6 A Fast-Paced Fast Food Life

Ep. 7 Drugs Cigarettes Alcohol – and Sugar?

Another post about sugar, an article with Mark Hyman

http://drhyman.com/blog/2014/03/06/top-10-big-ideas-detox-sugar/#close

Top 10 Big Ideas: How to Detox from Sugar

Here’s the not-so-sweet truth. We are killings ourselves by consuming truckloads of hidden sugar.

Sugar is the New Fat

Despite 40 years of Americans being brainwashed into thinking that fat is bad, it turns out it’s sugar, not fat, that makes you sick and overweight.

The facts are in, the science is beyond question. Sugar in all its forms is the root cause of our obesity epidemic and most of the chronic disease sucking the life out of our citizens and our economy — and, increasingly, the rest of the world. You name it, it’s caused by sugar: heart disease, cancer, dementia, type 2 diabetes, depression, and even acne, infertility and impotence.

The average American consumes about 152 pounds of sugar a year. That’s roughly 22 teaspoons every day for every person in America. And our kids consume about 34 teaspoons every day — that’s more than two 20-ounce sodas — making nearly one in four teenagers pre-diabetic or diabetic.

Flour is even worse than sugar. We consume about 146 pounds of flour a year. Think about it. That’s about one pound of sugar and flour combined every day for every man, woman and child in America. And flour raises blood sugar even more than table sugar. Even whole-wheat flour.

Food Addiction: Is It Real?

Here’s another shocking fact: Sugar is eight times as addictive as cocaine.

Being addicted to sugar and flour is not an emotional eating disorder. It’s a biological disorder, driven by hormones and neurotransmitters that fuel sugar and carb cravings — leading to uncontrolled overeating. This is not a limited phenomenon. It’s the reason nearly 70 percent of Americans and 40 percent of kids are overweight. In one study, Harvard scientists found that a high-sugar milkshake (compared to a low-sugar one) not only spiked blood sugar and insulin and led to sugar cravings, but it caused huge changes in the brain. The sugar lit up the addiction center in the brain like the sky on the Fourth of July. Think cocaine cookies, morphine muffins or smack sodas!

Why You Need a Sugar Detox

We need a clear path to detox from sugar, to break the addictive cycle of carb and sugar cravings that robs us of our health. And it only takes 10 days — or less. We need science, not willpower, to reverse this.

That’s why I created The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet. Early last year, I invited more than 600 people to try it out, and they lost more than 4,000 pounds in 10 days. But more important, they did it painlessly by enjoying powerful addiction-reversing foods that rewired and reset their brains and bodies. No cravings, no bland or boring diet food, no deprivation. Just abundance and delight. And at the end of the 10 days, they got their bodies and their minds back, and learned a new way to eat and live that will last a lifetime — a long one!

More recently, another group of 30 people tried my plan, and had very similar results. You can read about their experiences and results . You’ll see for yourself how well it worked.

Top 10 Big Ideas

In my book, The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet, you’ll learn how to make these top 10 big ideas for detoxing from sugar and refined carbs work for you in just 10 days.

1. Make a decision to detox

In my book, there are three simple quizzes to help you know you need to detox. If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, a sugar detox is your ticket to feeling great quickly and losing weight painlessly.

The first is the diabesity quiz. Do you have pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes? (90 percent of Americans have not been diagnosed.) Do you have belly fat? Are you overweight? Crave sugar and carbs? Have trouble losing weight on low-fat diets? Have high triglycerides, low HDL (“good”) cholesterol or been told your blood sugar is “a little high”?

The second is a food addiction quiz. Do you eat when you’re not hungry? Experience a food coma after eating? Feel bad about your eating habits or avoid certain activities because of your eating? Get withdrawal symptoms if you cut down or stop eating sugar or flour? Need more and more of same bad foods just to feel good?

The third is the FLC Quiz (or the Toxicity Quiz). FLC stands for Feel Like Crap. FLC Syndrome has a list of symptoms including bloating, gas, reflux, irritable bowel, joint or muscle pain, brain fog, memory or mood problems, sinus or allergy symptoms and more. Millions of us have FLC Syndrome and don’t know we are only a few days away from health and happiness.

2. Be a turkey (a cold one)

There is no way to handle a true physiological addiction except to stop it completely. Addicts can’t have just one line of cocaine or just one drink. Go cold turkey. But you won’t have to white-knuckle it because if you follow these 10 Big Ideas you will automatically reset your body’s neurotransmitters and hormones. Stop all forms of sugar, all flour products and all artificial sweeteners — which cause increased cravings and slow metabolism, and lead to fat storage. Also get rid of anything with trans or hydrogenated fats and MSG (watch for hidden names). Ideally, for 10 days you avoid any foods that come in box, package or a can or that have a label, and stick to real, whole, fresh food. And the best way to really detox is to give up ALL grains for 10 days, too.

3. Don’t drink your calories

Any form of liquid sugar calories is worse than solid food with sugar or flour. Think of it as mainlining sugar directly to your liver. It turns off a fat storage machine in your liver, leading to dreaded belly fat. You don’t feel full, so you eat more all day and you crave more sugar and carbs. It’s also the single biggest source of sugar calories in our diet. That includes sodas, juices other than green vegetable juice, sports drinks, sweetened teas or coffees. One 20-ounce soda has 15 teaspoons of sugar; Gatorade contains 14 teaspoons of the stuff in one bottle. One can of soda a day increases a kid’s chance of being obese by 60 percent and a woman’s chance of type 2 diabetes by 80 percent. Stay away!

4. Power up the day with protein

Protein, protein, protein at every meal — especially breakfast — is the key to balancing blood sugar and insulin and cutting cravings. Start the day with whole farm eggs or a protein shake. I recommend my Whole Food Protein Shake. Use nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, chicken or grass-fed meat for protein at every meal. A serving size is 4-6 ounces or the size of your palm.

5. Eat unlimited carbs (the right ones)

Yes, that’s right. Unlimited carbs. Did you know that vegetables are carbs? And you get to eat as much as you want. Unlimited refills! There is one catch. I only mean the non-starchy veggies such as greens, the broccoli family (cauliflower, kale, collards, etc.), asparagus, green beans, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, fennel, eggplant, artichokes, peppers, etc. What’s out are potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash and beets — just for 10 days. Also skip grains and beans for 10 days. It supercharges the results so you lose weight and feel great.

6. Fight sugar with fat

Fat is not a four-letter word. Fat doesn’t make you fat, sugar does. Fat makes you full, balances your blood sugar and is necessary for fueling your cells. Along with protein, have good fats at every meal and snack including nuts and seeds (which also contain protein), extra virgin olive oil, coconut butter, avocados, and omega 3 fats from fish.

7. Be ready for emergencies

You never want to be in a food emergency when your blood sugar is dropping and you find yourself in a food desert such as an airport, the office, or in a maze of convenience stores, fast food joints and vending machines. You need an Emergency Life Pak. I have one with me all the time, filled with protein, good fats, and good snacks so I never have to make a bad choice. Here’s what’s in mine. Packets of Artisana nut butters and coconut butter, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, salmon jerky or turkey jerky, a can of wild salmon or sardines and unsweetened wild blueberries.

8. Swap distress for de-stress

If you are stressed, your hormones go crazy. Cortisol goes up which makes you hungry, causes belly fat storage and leads to type 2 diabetes. Studies show that taking deep breaths activates a special nerve, called the vagus nerve, that shifts your metabolism from fat storage to fat burning and quickly moves you out of the stress state. And all you have to do is take a deep breath. My Take Five Breathing Break is something you can do anywhere, anytime. Simply take five slow deep breaths – in to the count of five, out to the count of five. Five times. That’s it. Do this before every meal. Watch what happens!

9. Put out the fire (of inflammation)

Studies show that inflammation triggers blood sugar imbalances, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes. The most common source of inflammatory foods other than sugar, flour and trans fats are hidden food sensitivities. The most common culprits aregluten and dairy. We often crave the foods we’re allergic to. Without them we feel lousy and want more. Quit gluten and dairy for ten days. Getting off them isn’t easy, but after just two to three days without them you’ll have renewed energy, relief from cravings, and will see many of your common symptoms disappear.

10. Get your zzzs

Getting less sleep drives sugar and carb cravings by affecting your appetite hormones. In human studies, depriving college students of just two hours of the recommended eight hours of sleep led to a rise in hunger hormones, a decrease in appetite-suppressing hormones and big cravings for sugar and refined carbs. You want more energy if you don’t sleep, so you go toward quickly absorbed sugars. Sleep is the best way to fight against the drive to overeat. You literally can sleep your cravings and your weight away.

All of these ideas and a goof-proof, step-by-step plan of how to make them work for you are in my new book. If you’re inspired to end your food addiction and your sugar and carb cravings, and renew and reboot your health, order The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet and get these great bonus gifts to jumpstart your program:

• In the Kitchen with Dr. Mark Hyman – in this 3-part online video series, Dr. Hyman teaches you how to cook amazingly delicious healing foods quickly.
• The Missing Ingredient Report – Why we get stuck and how we can sustain our weight loss goals
• Dieting 101Guide – Dr. Hyman reviews the top 10 weight loss programs to share what works and what doesn’t and WHY?

Wishing you health and happiness,
Mark Hyman, MD

About Mark Hyman, MD

MARK HYMAN, MD is dedicated to identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic illness through a groundbreaking whole-systems medicine approach called Functional Medicine. He is a family physician, a eight-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in his field. Through his private practice, education efforts, writing, research, and advocacy, he empowers others to stop managing symptoms and start treating the underlying causes of illness, thereby tackling our chronic-disease epidemic. More about Dr. Hyman or on Functional Medicine. Click here to view all Press and Media Releases

Another video about sugar

Robert Lustig has always interesting things to say, here’s another video lesson from TED: