I started the downward spiral yesterday. Day 3, I woke up feeling extremely dizzy, light-headed and nauseous. As the day progressed, it didn’t get any better until I made my way to Costco and got myself some Pistachios for snacking. I still managed to make it through the day without any major setbacks, but I was feeling not-that-great.
Breakfast was my usual frittata (eggs and mushrooms), followed my large amounts of water.
Lunch was leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, including cottage cheese. Then I had some pistachios and cheese to help me make it through the afternoon.
Dinner was leftover Savory Baked Chicken. Admittedly, I did not eat enough yesterday. Not even close to enough, as a matter of fact. If I ate 800 calories, I’m lucky. It wasn’t on purpose…I was just feeling nauseous and not particularly hungry.
Then Came Day 4
This morning, I woke up to my alarm and stumbled my way into the shower. About five minutes into my shower, I started feeling extremely light-headed, dizzy, nauseous and my arms and legs turned to jelly. I’ve honestly only ever felt like that a few times before after a night of far too much drinking. I lost all strength in my body and ended up having to sit down in the shower to get the shampoo out of my hair (not cute, by the way).
I realized that I wasn’t even going to make it through the shower without getting sick, so I quickly turned off the water then slowly stood up. When I got to my feet, I felt so weak that I could barely walk. The spots in front of my eyes were so big that I literally couldn’t see (like a major head rush, but much longer) and it lasted longer than I’ve ever experienced before.
I had to sit on the bathroom floor and call for my husband to bring me an orange or something that would put some sugar in my body. I was literally minutes away from seriously bad stuff happening, I’m sure of it. I’ve never felt so weak in all my life. Once I got some fruit in me, I was doing better, but I still feel weak and I don’t like it.
The End of my Detox
It’s because of that scary encounter with my bathroom floor this morning that I’m throwing in the towel on the 21-Day Sugar Detox. At the very least, I won’t continue it in its original form. I’m going to add fruit back to my diet and moderate my sugar intake. Clearly, my body needs some sort of sugar to avoid hypoglycemia. I’ve lost four pounds in the last 3 days and I realize that’s not a safe weight loss.
I’m not willing to put my body at risk for weight loss. That’s not safe and it’s not rational.
I’m not saying that the 21-Day Sugar Detox won’t work for anyone…but it isn’t going to work for me in it’s original form.
Please note: This is not a poor reflection on the program in any way. The 21-Day Sugar Detox has worked for thousands of people and many people have gained a new freedom from sugar addiction because of the program. The low blood sugar level that I experienced is not a normal part of the program (yes, you may get low blood sugar, but probably won’t pass out in the shower) and is mostly because of my lack of knowledge about how to properly replace foods.
I was simplyNOT EATING ENOUGH and that caused my blood sugar to crash. I am still going to use much of what I learned from the 21-Day Sugar Detox book, but I will be modifying to fit my lifestyle and nutritional needs.
Hi Lindsay-
This is really an extreme reaction and I have never heard of anyone having this happen before. I wonder if the way you were eating before combined with the apparent crash-diet day you had at 800 calories is more to “blame” than the detox itself. I do not recommend that folks limit food in any way, nor that they really count or limit carbs, simply avoiding sweet ones for the most part. There is fruit allowed in the program as-written, so I’m not quite sure why you weren’t eating that. Please let me know if I can help at all. I worry that folks reading this will presume this is either a common experience or that you were following the plan as-written and had this experience, neither of which are true in this case.
I’m very sorry this happened to you, but I feel strongly that it’s not a result of the program itself but more so your take on it and I’d really love to make sure this doesn’t happen to folks in the future so if there’s a way I can edit the program to make the information about what/how much to eat, please let me know!
Diane
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Lindsay Reply:
January 4th, 2013 at 8:56 am
Diane, I totally agree that it’s not the fault of the program at all, but rather my poor eating habits and general lack of knowledge when it comes to food and how to properly replace and still get the nutrients that my body needs. Perhaps I did a poor job of explaining that it’s not the 21DSD’s fault in any way. I will edit my post to reflect that because I think your program is strong…just not right for me RIGHT NOW. I have to ease into a change like this and not just go all-out right off the bat. I caused a great shock to my body going from sugar-sugar-sugar all the time to NONE.
Thank you for following up and believing in your program. I hold no ill will toward the 21DSD at all. I just don’t think I can safely follow it until I better understand what it is that I’m putting into my body and how to replace those foods and still get the right nutrients.
Lindsay recently posted..21-Day Sugar Detox: Day 3 & 4….The End #21DSD
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I really hope you do come back to try it again sometime. I am happy to help support you – as are our moderators on the FB page- in any way we can! Perhaps my book, “Practical Paleo” will be more useful for you as a transitional tool? Let me know if you check it out and if it helps you. We can probably get you a copy for review if you like- shoot us an email > info@balancedbites.com
Diane
Diane @ Balanced Bites recently posted..Podcast Episode #68: Back to Basics – gut healing, leanness, calcium & Paleo
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Glad you realized you weren’t feeling well and threw in the towel.
Listen to your body and do what’s right.
Shaklee was so wonderful for you and you had great results.
Keep up the good work and keep sharing.
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As for the high weightloss, I am on WW and I have lost 3+ lbs the first week (happened in first 3 days) so that isn’t that uncommon with a diet. The hypoglycemia says you do need to get off the sugar but maybe more controlled.
Maryann recently posted..Pear Salsa WW Points 1
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I’m glad that you weren’t willing to put your health at risk for the program! I don’t think that anyone should go through that extreme for anything, and I’m glad that you realized that this program just wasn’t for you. Perhaps a much slower transition in cutting back sugar would lead you up to a small version of the challenge?
Becca recently posted..Hey there, 2013
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Oh my. Well, I’m happy you decided against the love affair with the floor before it happened again. If you want to reduce your sugar intake try the 17 Day Diet, I bought my book last year at Costco for under $20. It educates on when & what foods to eat with sugar, no fruit passed 2pm. Good fruits are berries, apples, pears etc. Anyway, I had success and I’m still good with no sugar in my coffee. Good luck & happy 2013!!
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Wow. I am so glad you are ok. In the past, I have tried to cut sugar from my diet and always ended up feeling yucky. It’s tough.
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The best part of this is that you knew this wasn’t working for you! I glad you decided to stop and listen to your body.
We are doing a paleo diet right now but haven’t gone to the complete extreme (last night’s veggies did have a touch of soy sauce in it!) It has been a good adjustment for us so far but it is hard. I hope you can figure out a new path that does work for you.
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Yikes…scary.
I’m more a fan of watching what I eat and eating in moderation (meaning I like my sugar but as long as I could my calories it’s all good).
Glad you listened to your body and you are going to try something else.
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