The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook (9 page)

Get an oil change. Replace bad fat with good fat.

While carbs are not “essential,” fats are. Without enough of the right type of fats, your biology breaks down. Fats make up your cell walls. If you don’t get enough or if you eat too much of the wrong kind, you will not have the building blocks required for healthy cell membranes, which you need for optimal insulin function and blood sugar control. Omega-3s are the king among healthy fats. In fact, 60 percent of your brain should be made from healthy omega-3 fats.

It can take a year to rebuild and remake all your cells and tissues with the right fats, so start right away. Choose anti-inflammatory fats such as omega-3 and monounsaturated fats over refined vegetable oils, trans fats, and hydrogenated fats.

Many studies, such as those outlined in T. Colin Campbell’s book
The China Study
, point to the risks of too much animal protein. However, these studies are based mostly on factory-produced animal protein, not the wild species that made up the diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The wild elk and deer meat my patients gave me when I was a small-town doctor in Idaho had very different nutritional properties and fats from those of a feedlot cow.

Some people thrive as vegans, others wither. Some feel great when eating animal protein, others get sick and sluggish. You need to find out what works for your body, and this will take some experimentation. My experience with patients with diabesity is that they typically need more good-quality animal protein (grass- or range-fed animals, free-range eggs, or sustainably farmed or wild low-mercury fish).

Whether you choose vegetarian or animal sources, it is essential that you get protein at each meal and snack. It turns up your metabolic fire and ability to burn calories while reducing your appetite. Try:

Food is information for your body, and some foods have the wrong information for some people, so take note of which foods affect you negatively. Gluten and dairy are the most common suspects. They are inflammatory; for some the inflammation causes weight gain and diabesity. Read
The Blood Sugar Solution
for an in-depth exploration into the many health problems that these two common food allergens may pose for you. Avoid gluten and dairy for six weeks, and you might not only lose weight, but many other nagging chronic symptoms and pains may just go away. It is a profound and powerful experiment, and I encourage you to try it and let your body tell you what it needs.

All of the recipes in this book are safe for you to eat except for those in
Chapter 6
, which reintroduce gluten and dairy. After Week 6 you will
want to challenge your system with certain foods to see how your body responds. The two foods you need to consider reintegrating are gluten and dairy. Here’s how to properly reintroduce them into your diet without sabotaging success:

You might feel better on this program than you’ve ever felt in your life. If this is true for you, chances are you have some level of sensitivity to these commonly allergenic foods. Despite what you have been told by the food industry, your body actually can live just fine without gluten and dairy.
If it feels right to go without, listen to that inner wisdom and stay off them!
After you have reset your metabolism and found what foods and lifestyle choices nourish you, treats or small tastes of these foods should be all right, assuming you do not have a life-threatening reaction to them or they don’t trigger compulsive overeating for you.

Are you curious about how gluten and dairy affect your body? I hope so! I encourage you to investigate how these foods make you feel and influence your health. Your own body is the best indicator of what it likes and what it doesn’t, what makes it feel good or feel bad. You need to listen to your body and pay attention to how it reacts to gluten and dairy. This information helps you understand what contributes to your health and what diminishes it. There is a way to slowly and safely reintroduce these foods without reversing all the progress you have made. This is my system:

You might experience the following when you add these foods back into your diet:

Some people react immediately and others have a delayed reaction. If you don’t experience a reaction within 72 hours, you should be safe. If you do experience a reaction, then I suggest you eliminate the food from your diet for 3 months. Some of you may need to eliminate it for 6 months and work with a qualified dietitian or nutritionally oriented physician to help cool the inflammation and heal your gut.

Use a food log opposite to track reactions to any foods you eat. In the column on the left, note the date you ate the food. In the middle column, describe the food itself. And in the column on the right, describe the symptoms you experienced (use the preceding list as a guide to what to look for). If you do this consistently, you will soon develop a picture of which foods are causing you health problems and weight gain.

Moderation, variety, and balance are paramount to lifelong health. Wellness is about knowing what serves you. There will always be some new diet fad or trend in health, yet the ability to understand what nourishes your unique system is the result of self-awareness and self-care.

Regardless of your level of tolerance to common food allergens like
gluten and dairy, focus on taking small portions of these foods just a couple of times of week so that you don’t have to revisit the vicious cycle of food allergies and inflammation. And when you eat, do so with attention to your whole body so that you are present to its signals and feedback. Be open to tuning in and hearing your body’s message.

When you are hungry, there are a load of “junk food” alternatives in convenience stores and fast-food restaurants. Stay away from them! I encourage you to create an emergency life pack of food. Watch this video as I share with you what I have in my Emergency Life Pack: drhyman.com/blog/video/dr-hymans-emergency-food-pack/.

The recipes in the following chapters come from my own kitchen and from the kitchens of my family, friends, and the online UltraWellness community. Each recipe has been approved by me. Some recipes, especially those in the reintroduction phase, have a little more starch or sugar, which is fine. Once you have rebooted your metabolism you can tolerate an occasional treat.

The Basic Plan recipes (
Chapter 4
) are designed to be used by everyone and will prevent and reverse early diabesity. If the whole country ate this way, most chronic disease would be eliminated. The Advanced Plan recipes (
Chapter 5
) are designed for those with advanced diabesity (based on the quiz) and those with type 2 diabetes. These recipes are based on whole foods, vegetables, lean protein, nuts and seeds, and small amounts of fruit. The Advanced Plan eliminates all sugar and insulin-spiking high-glycemic foods including, of course, sugar in any form, grains, starchy vegetables, and all but ½ cup of berries a day. After you have reversed advanced diabesity and your weight and numbers are normal, you may be able to switch to the Basic Plan.

While I think most of us would be better off eating very little (or no) dairy or gluten, some may tolerate these foods in moderation. That is why
Chapter 6
includes reintroduction recipes, which introduce gluten and dairy back into your diet. Careful reintroduction of dairy and gluten is essential to identify any hidden food sensitivities. Desserts are included as occasional treats (
Chapter 7
), but they are not intended to be eaten daily or in anything other than small amounts. Watch your reaction, watch your body. Notice how you respond. If these treats trigger a cycle of sugar cravings and bingeing, it is better to stay away. Eventually, as you reboot your metabolism, you should have the ability to enjoy them from time to time.

As I’ve mentioned before, eating well can fit into any budget. We all deserve to eat a clean diet, and I hope you heed the advice I gave earlier about how to accomplish this.

How did I estimate cost per recipe in this cookbook? Quite simply, I looked at the total yield of a recipe and divided it by how many servings it provides. Each recipe budget is based on what one serving would cost. I gave special attention to those recipes that were able to yield several servings and feed a large group or feed you for several meals. So even if an ingredient is somewhat pricey, if it is high quality and it lends itself to other meals or stretches out through many servings, then overall, it is cost efficient and warrants a low-budget estimate.

While I took the cost and value of each recipe into careful consideration, most important is for you to make these delicious meals work for you and your needs. If you find an ingredient that makes even better sense for your budget, please don’t be afraid to experiment and see what you come up with. Creating recipes is an art—have fun, keep an open mind, and allow creativity to help you overcome any barriers to success.

I understand that some of you might be novices in the kitchen and this may be your first time really picking up a recipe to follow in earnest. To
that end, I want to ensure that your journey through
The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook
is a safe and exciting learning experience. I modified certain recipes to ensure that you would find the recipes easy to prepare and well organized, regardless of your talent or culinary expertise. You will see that only a small handful of the recipes are designated as moderately difficult to prepare. I hope this allows you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Be creative, garner patience, and take it slowly. What seemed challenging yesterday might seem effortless tomorrow!