Green Diva’s Guide to Delicious Living: Weight Loss – the Environmental Factors

FAST TRACK DETOX DIET: A BOOK REVIEW

One of the more challenging genetic attributes I inherited from my beautiful mother was a tendency to gain weight easily – and NOT lose it quite as easily. I watched her struggle constantly with various diets and nutritional fads. There never was ONE thing that really worked or helped her maintain her ideal weight or health.

I swore I would never ‘diet’ and I didn’t until a few years ago. When we were publishing Relevant Times, I had the privilege of interviewing Ann Louise Gittleman about a new book she had coming out at that time – Super Nutrition for Women. I was quite impressed with her, so when she came out with the Fat Flush Plan a few years ago, despite it’s sort of faddish title, I got the book and it made wonderful sense. It seemed like a highly intelligent, nutritional and scientific approach to healthy eating and weight loss and maintenance.

I had also been suffering from fibromyalgia (or so the doctors told me), and I had always noticed that whenever I did anything to support and cleanse my liver, I felt better. Liver health, being one important element of Gittleman’s Fat Flush Plan. So, for the first time in my life, I embarked on a ‘diet’ and was amazed by the results. Not only did I lose weight, but nearly all the fibromyalgia symptoms disappeared. She was on to something. However, it is not the easiest nutritional regimen to maintain. Some principals I have maintained for at least 4 years, but . . .

So, when her latest book, The Fast Track Detox Diet came out, despite the quick-fix sounding title, I picked it up and took heart that there might be a way for me to get back on ‘track’. I have long suspected that there are environmental factors that hinder me personally particularly in terms of metabolism, but I could never really articulate or prove it. Surprised to see a section heading ‘Are Chemicals Making You Fat?’, I was validated in my theories by the reference to Paula Baillie-Hamilton, MD and her work as a leading specialist in human metabolism and environmental health. There is now a specialty in this?!?

Aside from the 2.5 day migraine I experienced from having poisoned myself with a steady diet of caffeine and sugar in the previous several months, it was a relatively easy protocol and again, the results were impressive. It is only 11 days – heck, I figured I could do almost anything for that short a period! She offers us several different paths to take in following through with this plan, one of them being to do it at regular intervals, which is something I’m working into my nutritional schedule now.

Other relevant GO blog posts you might want to read are:
Is There Such a Thing as Good Additives?
Food Synergy: Why Nutrients Should Not Stan Alone?
Coconut Oil – Healthy Fat?