By following the seven-day outline below you will feel better, gain clarity of mind, increase your energy, and improve your health. The following eating plan provides step-by-step instructions of how to eliminate sugar and carbs from your diet. The sixth article in this series, Harmful vs. Beneficial Foods for Optimum Health and Weight, helped you understand what foods are beneficial versus harmful; now this article will provide an implementation plan.
My sister followed the Seven-Day Eating Plan and after a week of being off sugar, she felt more energetic. She also noticed her joint pain was gone and she no longer passed gas. The first week was tough, but she did it. If you work, I recommend starting this program on a Wednesday so you can rest on the weekend. The first few days will be difficult (similar to a drug addict coming off of a drug), but with the help of Christ, prayer, an accountability partner (Support System Crucial to Health Transformation), and these guidelines you can succeed!
Seven-Day Eating Plan
Day 1 (Start on Wednesday)
1. Consume Water
Drink up to two cups of coffee or tea per day, but no more. The only other beverage you should drink is filtered water. Before breakfast drink two glasses of water, two before lunch, two midafternoon, and two more before dinner. Do not drink during meals and do not drink anything after dinner. Drink up to ten minutes before eating.
2. Take a Probiotic
Begin taking a probiotic every day. Buy a probiotic from a health food store with at least ten different strains of beneficial bacteria.
3. Stop Eating High-Sugar Foods
Stop eating anything containing greater than 10 grams of sugar per serving. Check labels for the number of grams of sugar per serving size. You can find information regarding sugar substitutes here.
Day 2
1. Eliminate Wheat
Do not eat anything containing wheat. No more bagels, toast, pancakes, biscuits, pasta, pretzels, crackers, cookies, cake, or pie. Eliminating wheat is like going off a drug. Be aware that you may experience the following symptoms for a few days: irritability, foggy brain, and fatigue. You might even feel fluish. However, within a week your symptoms will subside. After this, never eat wheat or more than 10 grams of sugar in one serving again, or your addiction will start all over again. (Ugh.)
Day 3
1. Eliminate Processed Foods
Do not eat processed foods from boxes and bags.
2. Implement Healthy Eating Guidelines provided in Healthy Eating Guidelines to Improve Your Health and Well-Being.
Make 50 percent of your food fresh and raw.
Days 4 and 5 (Saturday and Sunday)
Continue to implement all the steps listed on day one through three as you proceed.
1. Rest
Focus on you. Rest, read, pray, and ask God to help you to succeed.
2. Use the Sword of the Spirit
Now is the time to fight the thief Jesus spoke of in John 10:10, for Satan wants you to fail: “The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness” (John 10:10 TLB).
Fight the thief with the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God. Write verses on index cards or put them on the notes on your phone. Use verses that will remind you of the help God provides in any struggles you may be facing at this point, such as Philippians 4:13: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Every time you get the urge to go back to your old eating habits, speak the verse out loud to cut the demonic influence out of your life.
Our spiritual nature needs to be addressed as well as our physical. If you have an emotional connection with food the newly released book, Christian Study Guide for 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates, goes in-depth to discuss addiction, abuse and generational bondage.
Day 6
1. Start the Anti-Candida Cleanse
Did you take the Candida test? If not, click here to find the test. Now let’s kill the bug in your gut—Candida. Today, start the anti-Candida cleanse. If you are not ready to begin this step because you are still experiencing symptoms of withdrawal (headache, exhaustion, irritability, mental fogginess, fluish symptoms), wait a few days until you feel better. Read the instructions on the cleanse package for how to administer it. More detailed instructions were provided in Do You Have a Candida Infection of Your Gut?
Day 7
1. Get Up and Exercise
If you are still feeling the symptoms of withdrawal, be gentle with yourself by performing a simple form of exercise such as walking or Christian yoga. After you begin feeling better, try to exercise for twenty minutes three times a week.
The time flies while walking with friends. Do you have someone you could walk with? Sharing workouts with another person makes it more enjoyable and adds accountability. I love to swim. If you find an activity you enjoy, it becomes a pleasure instead of a burden. Figure out what you like to do, carve out the time, and do it!
I teach Christian yoga. The gentle Christian yoga class I teach is called Scripture Yoga™. I created two DVDs, “God’s Mighty Angels” and “What the Bible Says about Prayer,” and two books, Scripture Yoga and Yoga for Beginners. Seniors love my class because it improves their flexibility. I have clients who attend up into their eighties. If you desire gentle exercise, yoga may do the trick. Check out my website at ChristianYoga.com and Facebook page.
Mindfulness exercises such as yoga and meditation train a person to pay attention to cravings without reacting to them. The idea is to ride out the wave of intense desire. As a person becomes more mindful she notices why she wants to indulge. Meditation quiets the part of the brain that can lead to a loop of obsession.1
Day 8 and Beyond
You are well on your way to changing your lifestyle, but more than that you will change your life for the better. Your health, mood, and energy level will improve. Each week you will lose weight, and the body God gave you will heal itself of many ailments.
Improvement in your vitality will allow you to experience activities you were not able to be involved in before. Overall your well-being and emotional countenance will become revitalized. You are in the process of getting your life back, the one that God wants you to enjoy to its fullest.
In the following eight articles we covered a lot of material about how to improve your health.
7 Steps to Improve Your Health
Food Addiction Leads to Weight Gain and Poor Health
Five Steps to Freedom from Addiction
Do You Have a Candida Infection of Your Gut?
Modern Wheat Makes Today’s Bread Harmful
Harmful vs. Beneficial Foods for Optimum Health and Weight
Support System Crucial to Health Transformation
Healthy Eating Guidelines to Improve Your Health and Well-Being
If you would like a full version of this plan, get your free copy of 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates and start your journey to freedom. This is a special promotion offered only to One Christian Voice readers.
Notes
Fran Smith, “The Addicted Brain,” National Geographic, September 2017, 36–37, 42–43.