Content Library Articles Why Overeating Doesn’t Make You Fat

Why Overeating Doesn’t Make You Fat

February 26, 2014

In my last blog post, “Are You Overweight? Do You Feel Like Crap?” you learned that food addiction — a genuine biological addiction to sugar, flour and processed foods — drives our overeating behavior. And it makes us have FLC Syndrome, which means we “Feel Like Crap.”

It’s quite simple: eat crap = feel like crap.

When you eat crap, which means anything that turns to sugar, your body produces hormones — primarily insulin. When insulin is pumped out in excess, it does two horrible things.

First, insulin is a super fat-storage hormone, which causes all the calories you eat to be laid down as belly fat.

Second, it completely messes up your appetite control system, making you crave sugar and carbs. And then the vicious cycle continues.

In fact, when you eat sugar and refined carbs, they reprogram your fat cells so those cells are hungry all the time. It’s the fat cells being hungry that makes you overeat. The fat cells are demanding to be fed. Then they suck up all the calories you eat, causing weight gain.

The conventional wisdom of why we gain weight — that we eat more calories than we burn — is simply dead wrong. It’s the toxic, bad calories — calories that quickly turn to sugar — that are causing our country’s obesity and chronic disease epidemic. For decades, there’s been a misinformation campaign orchestrated by Big Food, aided and abetted by the U.S. government. The message is all about energy balance, that there are no good or bad calories, that all calories are the same, that losing weight is all about eating less and exercising more. That advice has gotten us nowhere — except being trapped under the weight of our obesity and diabetes epidemic.

My new book, The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet, exposes the lies that keep us sick and fat, and provides a goof-proof, step-by-step 10-day plan to end food addiction, sugar and carb cravings and cure FLC Syndrome quickly, painlessly and deliciously. Who knew detoxing could be so fun and easy?

Why you need a medical detox program

My 10-Day Detox Diet is a medically designed detox program. I used to work in the emergency room where I treated heroin addicts and alcoholics. We had to use a carefully designed medical detox program to “bring them down” from their drugs. Otherwise they would get agitated, anxious and even have seizures. In human and animal studies, the exact same thing happens when you quit sugar. It has to be done carefully.

After years of research and testing I created The 10-Day Detox Diet to help you “come down” from sugar, the worst of all drugs, in a way that is gentle and fun. Believe it or not, your cravings will go away in just a day or so. And by following this food and lifestyle program and using a few powerful supplements, you’ll break free from food addiction and FLC Syndrome.

It’s designed to quickly rewire and reprogram your hormones and biology so you don’t have cravings, you don’t go through a bad withdrawal and you can actually learn what it feels like to be back in your body healthy and alive. It’s about getting back to your original factory settings.

Here’s what one of the participants in my initial trial of The 10 Day Detox Diet had to say about her experience:

“I never thought I could do it…go a week without coffee, without chocolate, without wine, without cheese, etc. But I knew I had to make a drastic change and needed a jumpstart. I was very overweight, high cholesterol, pre-diabetic and miserable. This has been an amazing gift. I am not saying that I don’t still have thoughts about the above, but they don’t consume me and I feel like I finally have control. Prior to this detox, I spent every free thought beating myself up for my food choices and how I looked and felt. Now, I am celebrating my accomplishments (down 12 pounds and in a normal fasting glucose range) and feel empowered. The biggest gift though, is that I am finally out of the “food fog” that I have spent years in. I feel clear, awake, and alert. When I spend time with my children I feel present and engaged, which is a blessing for us all. This journey is just beginning and I have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but I have never been so excited and so overwhelmingly grateful.” Kelly Aronson

And the food is amazing. Here’s what another of the participants shared:

“I gotta tell you Dr. Hyman: You should rename that book of yours ‘A Detox Fit for Foodies.’ Your chef is off the hook! I’m a foodie and a pretty good cook and the flavor of these meals is excellent. I’m loving my detox!” Dierdre O’Connor

What you will eat and what you will do

The basic idea is simple. Eat whole, unprocessed, real foods. Cut out food that causes inflammation and blood sugar and insulin spikes. Each day is carefully designed to create specific changes in your body’s hormones and neurotransmitters, to rewire your biology very quickly and get all the signals back in balance so you naturally feel good and crave real food, not junk. You are never hungry on this program, you never count calories, fat grams or carb grams, and can eat as much as you need to feel satisfied.

The magic of The 10-Day Detox Diet is in eating the right foods. And in keeping a daily schedule of special practices that, though very simple, have been scientifically proven to help you lose weight. Plus, you’ll keep the weight off and create long-term health.

These simple things can double your weight loss and success. Things like the daily UltraDetox Bath, the Take Five Breathing Break, walking, designing your eating life, creating an Emergency Life Pak (of food), journaling, tracking your results, taking the right supplements and a super fiber, connecting with others for success and more.

Here’s what one day’s menu looks like – not exactly deprivation or bland boring diet food:

• Breakfast: Breakfast Detox Shake such as my Whole Food Protein or Spiced Almond Smoothie
• Snack of nuts or dips and crudité
• Lunch: Dr. Hyman’s Super Salad or Green Goddess Broccoli and Arugula Soup with Chicken
• Snack: Snack of nuts or dips and crudité
• Dinner: Grilled Salmon with Onion Marmalade over Greens

Some of my other favorites are Almond Flax Crusted “Unfried” Chicken, Spiced Turkey Wrap with Watercress and Avocado or Coconut Curry with Fish or Tofu. There are simple or more adventurous recipes and even an easy “Cooking the Basics” section where you’ll learn how to prepare quick meals that are perfect for busy lifestyles.

How cooking can save your life

The propaganda that the food industry has convinced us of is this: that cooking is hard, expensive, time-consuming and messy. That’s why we have outsourced cooking to corporations and are now the sickest, fattest nation in the world because of it.

I recently visited a poor, seriously sick and overweight family in South Carolina and taught them to cook good food on a tight budget. This family of five lives on food stamps and disability, and ate only processed foods, green beans from a can and fast food. The father was on dialysis and needed a new kidney but couldn’t get one because he needed to lose 40 pounds first.

By teaching them to cook real food from real ingredients, by getting them to understand how the food industry had duped them with all the “healthy” processed options that are still junk, they had a radical transformation. The mother lost 67 pounds and got off her blood pressure meds. The father lost 45 pounds and got a new kidney, and the 16-year-old son lost 40 pounds.

Anyone can do this. And everyone should do this — at least for 10 days. Read the “book” of your body. It will tell you the story of what works and what doesn’t. You’ll see how radically different you can feel in just 10 days.

The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet is available starting February 25. In it, I provide an easy, step-by-step plan to reboot your health. You can order it right now and get these great bonus gifts to jumpstart your program:

• In the Kitchen with Dr. Mark Hyman – In this 3-part online video series, I teach 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 – I review the top 10 weight loss programs to share what works and what doesn’t and why?

Wishing you health and happiness,
Mark Hyman, MD