Bacon & the science behind detox diets

I had my paleo brain on tonight and not my "whole 30" brain on. Wasn't planning on cooking dinner, probably my first mistake. Was actually hoping to pick up dinner from the new paleo restaurant/store in the city. Well, we're just leaving to go there and I noticed the website said they close at 7, when I thought they closed at 8.

Turns out we were still 20minutes away at 6:50pm, so that ended up being a no go. I had to think on my feet, which...has about a 50/50 shot of working out for me. (I really need to learn to hone my skills more.)

Anyway, I ordered as best as I could keeping my 'no added sugars' rule in mind. The food came. It looked and smelled delicious. I'm sure in some ingredient somewhere that the hash browns OR the Philly steak omelet (without cheese) was not considered whole 30 some how.

However, I'm more sticking to the no added sugar rule. (As well as no gluten, dairy, and soy. And grains ((expect for yesterday--whoops)) and no legumes.) So what can you eat? Fruit, meat, veggies! Good things! All really good things!

Anyway, the food comes.


There's my deliciousness right across from my husbands pancakes. I can't tell you the last time I had a pancake in a restaurant. Still, his food looked delicious. I've said delicious a lot tonight...

Whatever, without thinking, after watching him take a bite of his bacon I asked to have a piece.

You know it's love when they share their bacon.


I got half of one piece.

It's love.

However...after eating it, I suddenly remembered that this bacon wasn't the best bacon. It's probably full of sugar (somehow) and definitely not organic.

So I failed. Well....not really a fail. A whoopsie more or less. I don't think half a piece of bacon is going to throw off my detox that much. Do you?

Which gets me to wondering, what is the science behind a detox truly?

I did what I do best. I took to the interwebs...but not just any interwebs...but science ones!

Mayo clinic says that while detoxification diets are popular, there is little evidence that they eliminate toxins from your body. (Keep in mind, these are store bought detox kits, not diet detoxs.)

Here's one from Science-Based Medicine.org, which drives home the point I came across when I headed over to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, where I can pull up virtually anything I ever wanted to know about PCOS but zilch about a sugar detox.  That's right. nothing.
However when I typed in detox diet, I did come across this article which talks about detox diets for toxin elimination, while there might be one that works--it's only been tested in animals. The study calls for more testing. So while all websites are proving that those detox diets are a waste of money, I did get to wondering about sugar itself.

I mean, I do have insulin resistance. So sugar, in mass quantities is problem the WORST thing I think I can do for my diet. Back over to the NCBI where I came across this nugget after typing 'sugar and insulin resistance' into the search engine 'These data suggest that added sugar consumed at the median American intake level does not produce changes in measures of insulin sensitivity or glucose tolerance and that no sugar has more deleterious effects than others.' I think the keyword is "median" meaning no more, no less sugar then the average American. Or rather what should be the average intake for a HEALTHY American. It's best to talk to your doctor however though to discover where your median should be.

What is the median American intake level for sugar? Unfortunately I can't find any websites that don't link me directly to a dot com, but what I did find over at Diabetes.org was were a couple of interesting factors. Check out the truth behind some of the most common diabetes myths of 'eating too much sugar causes diabetes','people with diabetes should eat special diabetic food'; 'If you have diabetes you should only eat small amounts of starchy food', 'people with diabetes can't eat sweets or chocolate'. and lastly (which---due to not eating sweets I've been consuming WAY more fruit!--eek!) 'Fruit is a healthy food. Therefore it is okay to eat as much of it as you wish.' The answers MIGHT just surprise you. It did me.

Bottom line is, I believe this "detox" (using the term loosely at this point), is teaching me balance. It's teaching me to NOT reach for the chocolate every time I feel insanely stressed or feel like I deserve it. It's teaching me exactly where my perfect carb count is for my body. Which in turn teaches me that I need to listen to what my body is telling me.

So last night while I dreamed of stuffing my face with bits of chocolate (to the point of looking like a chipmunk), I think I might try to hold out just a few more days. Or at the very least, practice balance if I do decide to eat some.

I have been monitoring my carbs for the last two weeks with great care, and I lost 1 lb. That one pound put me back into my 5 weight range that I wanted to be in. I would like to shave off just a few more, maybe 3...but the entire end game is balance. So...I might chuck this whole project call it good and focus on monitoring my carbs and sugars for a diet specific for me, as well as moderate exercise 5 times a week.


While starting a detox diet might be great for a kick start to healthy living, it's really about balance and changing your relationship with food.

I am not bashing Whole 30 by any means. I love it and in fact might do it again, because I like eating whole foods. I like knowing where my food comes from. I like that it's taught me to not rely on sugar when I'm stressed. It's possible it may have given my pancreas a break from the mass quantities of sugar I've been putting it through this past month but end game? It's teaching me the ultimate lesson which is my relationship with how I view my food.

I'm failing better and learning with every step.

Okay, It's offically after midnight and I'm exhausted. I hope this post helped inspire you and motivate you. Do something everyday that's going to make a difference for better health. Mind, body, soul. Take care of you.

Blessings,
A

(End Note: I've heard a lot about sugar and cancer however...which after losing a loved one to cancer, I did kind of want to see the science behind it...check out this article here.)

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