Why eating healthy feels bad before it feels good
Why do people feel terrible at first when trying to eat healthier? Just like those quitting smoking, cocaine or coffee, it’s withdrawal; the body is ridding itself of toxins. The good news is that the irritability, headaches, stomach cramping, brain fog and flu-like symptoms like sore throat disappear in four days. Knowing this prepares people to push through the discomfort of withdrawal.
In the 2021 “The Truth About Weight Loss” summit, Joel Fuhrman, M.D., explained that waste builds up in your tissues when you haven’t been eating properly for a long time, penetrating the blood-brain barrier, leading to withdrawal symptoms.
“The body is a self-healing machine. It repairs itself in the non-digesting state. But if you are constantly eating the wrong food, like chicken and bagels, which are low in nutrients, you never feel satisfied and keep eating while racking up the toxicity in your body. Both the chicken and the bagel build up metabolic waste since they are nutrient-deficient and high in caloric density, making it hard for your body to repair itself. They don’t have fiber and water content either and are hormonally unfavorable,” he said.
Dr. Fuhrman is a board-certified family physician, six-time New York Times best-selling author and world-renowned nutrition and natural healing resource who uses nutrition to prevent and reverse disease. He observed that those on a Standard American Diet (SAD) consume only 2 percent vegetables.
“If you don’t like vegetables, you better live near a hospital,” he said. “Veggies are an acquired taste, but the good news is, it can only take 15 times of eating something to like it.”
A common refrain by those who find eating a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet extreme is “I’d rather die than eat WFPB!” Since our taste buds are damaged with nonstop overstimulation and have gotten used to hyper-palatable food, it will take time to enjoy the taste of whole foods again; so, you’re unable to appreciate the reality of natural flavors.
No ‘SOS’
On top of a WFPB diet that Dr. Fuhrman recommends, those with serious food addictions need to lay off salt, oil and sugar (SOS).
Artificial and zero-calorie sweeteners like stevia and xylitol or natural ones like honey and maple syrup only make you want more sweets, so they don’t aid in weight loss. They perpetuate addictive tendencies, encourage overeating and push you to prefer sweet food.
Eating oil hampers weight loss, as consuming even just a little oil tells your body to store fat, not lose it.
Even if it’s Celtic or Himalayan, salt is a lazy way to season food, according to summit host Chef AJ. Salt numbs the taste buds, keeping them from detecting and enjoying delicate flavors. It also boosts appetite and water weight.
“When people lose weight, they’re not just losing fat. They’re also losing water stored in their body because the fat cells get swollen and larger from the excessive need to dilute the acidity and toxicity they hold. As the body gets healthier, it doesn’t need to hold on to as much. So the swelling in their tissues, all over their body, diminishes,” Dr. Fuhrman explained.
Abstinence
When people see Dr. Fuhrman, he asks how committed they are to getting rid of their chronic diseases or if they’re just half-hearted about it. If they’re serious about conquering their ailments and living a better life, he tells them to let go of any decision or judgment in what they will eat in the next few weeks of his program. They have to eat whatever he tells them, whether they like it or not.
In a month or so, after the body has been flooded with nutrients and the taste buds have been reset, his clients often return feeling so grateful as they report rediscovering flavors they have never appreciated before, having been desensitized from a diet they once thought was so delicious. He said it’s a process, and the main word is abstinence. You have to avoid those foods you thought you couldn’t live without, that you thought were so tasty.
Not everyone can do this, as some would “rather die.” People who can’t fully buy into the idea will need more support from a friend or someone they can be accountable to.
“We want them to be in a safe place and not go off track, just like how you’d support someone trying to quit smoking,” said Dr. Fuhrman. “It’s not for everybody; some people will continue to be food addicts, smokers and drug addicts.”
