21 day sugar detox

I loved the book Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. That book is organized very well by dividing up various conditions and explaining how to eat Paleo to treat those conditions. There are meals and shopping lists. It has large, beautiful pictures in full color. There are handy infographics. Practical Paleo scored high on diet self-help books. I was super excited to learn that Diane Sanfilippo was coming out with a new book.

Sugar has gotten a lot of press lately. In the past we were told to watch our cholesterol intake by avoiding fats including eggs. Then we were told to load up on healthy whole grains and eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Now the focus is finally turning into something more real. Whole, minimally processed foods, also known as clean eating. In addition the evils of excess sugar consumption are finally being supported by science. Sugar is found in nearly every processed food and in some other surprising items, like vitamins. Over the weekend I read the ingredients on DH's gummy multi-vitamin. High-fructose corn syrup. Yikes! All this excess sugar is thought to be the real culprit behind the rise in diabetes, heart disease, and more. Consuming so much sugar causes us to crave more. It's like a drug addiction.

Diane Sanfilippo holds your hand as she guides you through a 21 day sugar detox. There are three plan options that you select based on your current lifestyle. Once you decide to start, you follow a plan leading up to the start of the detox. In other words, you don't stop cold-turkey. You have food in place to help with the cravings. Then you follow the meal plan using the recipes in the book.

The detox is written from a Paleo perspective. I can understand this because those healthy whole grains actually turn into sugar in the body and can undermine your detox. For people who are not Paleo, this is quite a transition and I think a challenge. For people who are Paleo or mostly Paleo, the sugar detox is probably the next step in cleaning up their diet. I tried a few of the recipes, in particular the smoothies. These were definitely not sweet, and for me almost unpalatable. I ended up adding about 1 tablespoon of honey in order to swallow them down. Which tells me my taste buds preferred some sugar. It also told me that I probably need to detox.

The book has a lot of the same good qualities as the Practical Paleo book. Clear, well-reasoned instructions, lots of hand-holding, menu plans, and shopping lists. The book is laid out well with excellent photography. The book is a smaller book, so it is easier to hold in the hands.

I read this book a while ago. I do like it, though it is heavy on Paleo. I will probably take a look at it again.

Book rating: 4 stars


The books I select for review are books which I personally select from my local library. I do not receive any reimbursement from authors or publishers or free books. I do provide links to Amazon as a convenience to the readers of this blog. I do earn a small referral pittance which is not even enough to buy a soda.