Losing Weight with Bentonite Clay?

I've lost thirteen pounds in the last four to five weeks, plus am sleeping better this week, don't seem to have sugar cravings (and I'm addicted to sweets, so this is a biggie) and have no clue why I'm so blessed with improved health. Therefore, I'm racking my brain to pinpoint the cause so I can continue the effect. On purpose.

The only things that I've changed have been drinking less coffee (OMG, never thought I'd ever say that). Instead I'm drinking a ton of Tradewinds flavored unsweetened black teas and now homemade (unsweetened) green tea. I recently incorporated a homemade remineralizing toothpaste I found on the Net (recipe here: http://thepaleomama.com/2013/12/diy-remineralizing-toothpaste/). Oh, yeah. I'm also using helichrysum essential oil in my antiaging skin lotion (somewhat daily), as it is supposed to help dry skin, get rid of liver spots and be good for overall liver health.

The particular homemade toothpaste I chose uses bentonite clay. A quick Internet search did find hits for weight loss associated with bentonite clay as well as food grade diatomaceous earth. But the toothpaste is spit out, while the diatomaceous earth is dissolved in water or juice and to be consumed. Thus the "food grade" preference.

But I'm not swallowing my homemade toothpaste. Yet, if I brush for two minutes, I guess my mouth will absorb some of that through sublingual administration, right?

Anyway I also recently read a couple informative books by Dr. Sandra Cabot on liver health: The Liver Cleansing Diet and Fatty Liver: You Can Reverse It. I learned several things reading both, but the few that stand out the most are this:

1. The liver is the only fat-flushing organ in our body.
2. The liver is like the trash man. If no one comes to cart off your trash, diseases abound. So a damaged liver isn't capable of doing its job fully and opens us up to ill health (and weight gain or the inability to lose it).
3. If you treat the body through the skin (like stop-smoking patches and hormonal creams), you actually bypass the liver, so you let it focus on other things.
4. Fatty liver can, of course, be caused by too much drinking, but fatty liver can also be caused by too much sugar. Wow.

Dr. Cabot states that, if we focus on detoxing the liver, giving it a few weeks to purge itself of the fat-trapped toxins in that organ so it can then do its job better, afterward the weight will come off (or weight gain will ensue, as your particular body needs).

So maybe that's what I did with my half-gallon-a-day tea habit and my homemade toothpaste and adding helichrysum essential oil to my beauty ritual (such as it is)?

I am not following Dr. Cabot's eight-week program but am incorporating more liver-friendly foods, hopefully each day. And I'm not able to do organic either. That's why I'm surprised by the weight loss, because I really haven't done anything drastic with my eating habits.

The only exercise I get is cleaning the house and mowing the lawn.

Has anybody else found this link between bentonite clay (and/or helichrysum) and weight loss to be true? Don't tell me it's because I gave up coffee ... please! Ha! Although, after finding the Bulletproof coffee recipe earlier this year, I was drinking far less coffee a day anyway. But now I actually don't have coffee daily. That may change when winter sets in. Still, it's something to consider.

FYI: I'm not affiliated with any of the particular products noted herein and am not otherwise being paid to advertise them. I just list them here as something I've used which may (or may not) be the current cause of my weight loss.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
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What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Update on TBSS

I'm in the early part of Week 4 for me (counting the intro two weeks) or beginning Week 2 of the actual program following the transitory couple weeks, for which I see no real difference in execution. I'm still losing weight (even with one daily sweet event, usually midafternoon: the 80 percent chocolate, ginger tea with honey, or a few Gourmet Mints, but just once, I swear!). And that's along with the allowed berries daily.

Still I consider that a victory considering how many tablespoons of sugar I used to ingest each and every day. But, yes, I could be losing more faster if I was rigidly sticking to Dr. Hyman's plan. I realize that. And every morning, I say, today will be the day with no added sweets. It's just for six (five, four) more weeks.

Maybe I need an added transition period for dealing with my last bastion. But I can see me living like this, reduced sugars and all. So that is a roadside historical marker for me for sure.

I'm convinced great wondrous works are happening within my body that do not register on the scale. Our health should not be designated just by how much we weigh.

I'm sleeping a tad less and get by great on seven hours. My energy is the same or better. I've always been highly efficient, productive.

I'm satiated. Yet experiencing true hunger before I do eat.

I haven't had caffeine for three weeks and two days! But I am looking forward to having a cup of my favorie Café Bustelo espresso after the six weeks of the actual plan are over (eight weeks if you count the intro program), even if just every four days thereafter. Depends on any racing-heart symptoms.

My nighttime stuffiness/congestion continues to improve.

I'm not daily craving anything (other than my sugar hit). Not any fast foods. Not Dr. Pepper. Now that is good.

I'm surprised I can live without dairy.

And artisan bread.

I'm enjoying steamed veggies without butter, adding instead olive oil and/or toasted sesame oil.

My protein consumption has veered from beef to chicken and fish. My serving sizes for protein have shrunk. In fact, I eat more nuts and beans than white meat or seafood.

So what does my standard TBSS daily menu look like? Here it is:

• To break the fast, I have three walnuts (helps ward off the charley horses at night) while I'm waiting on my decaf hazelnut coffee. I try to drink a glass of water each time I return to the kitchen to refill my coffee cup. I usually have iced green tea more in the afternoons.
• Hours later (not according to Dr. Hyman's plan to have a real breakfast within an hour of rising) I have a really late brunch. I'm presently hooked on crispy fried onion slices in olive oil and two Omega 3 eggs scrambled with fresh tomato dices or Rotel tomatoes added.
• Then sometime between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. I eat a final meal. (I have been going to bed earlier and therefore getting up earlier these past few weeks.) Lately, I've had the guacamole recipe with cumin from TBSS Cookbook. Love it! I add beans though to intro protein. I either mash up the bigger beans (like pintos), add some olive oil and mix in with my guacamole, or just rinse off a can of small black beans and add them as is. I've been making this daily, so the last time I made some, I doubled the recipe. It's great for any meal or a snack.
• For snacks, I eat a handful of mixed nuts: almonds, pepitas and sunflower seeds. I try to save my allowed fruit for a midafternoon snack to sidestep any other sweet craving. Not working as I seem to crave the palate-cleansing fruit following my brunch.
• Other nighttime meals have been a huge salad with nuts and my own lemon juice and EVOO dressing. Sometimes I add 1.5 ounces of tuna.
• Last night it was part of one breast of roasted chicken and a plateful of steamed summer veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini).
• Today I'm wanting salmon loaf (from canned wild-caught salmon) and will see if there is a way to prepare my recipe TBSS way.  Maybe using almond meal instead of white flour.
• As far as supplements, I'm on the poor man's version. I already had fish oil capsules in the house, and now I am actually taking them with brunch.
• What about exercise? I worked out one day. Total. Yeah, not according to Dr. Hyman's plan or my own. I'm trying to rectify that.

Still, with all my personal deviations from Dr. Hyman's stated plan, not to mention a weight-gaining hysterectomy in the mix, my faulty application of TBSS program works. Every week I've lost weight. In fact, I rewarded myself for staying on the intro part by buying two cute costume bracelets (one for each week and for $10 total). I'm intent on wearing them everyday now to reaffirm my past successes and to continue replicating them.

So reward yourself for your efforts and especially the results.

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

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