The Hormone Reset Diet (19 page)
Read The Hormone Reset Diet Online
Authors: Sara Gottfried
SAMPLE MENU
The next page has a suggested menu for resetting your leptin. For nutritional data, check out the Notes section.
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The most proven supplement to help with the damage from fructose and to reset leptin balance is omega-3s.
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Remember the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from the Meatless reset? Omega-3s reverse leptin and insulin resistance, and reduction of leptin levels by up to 22 percent have been seen with doses of 1,000 milligrams per day.
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I suggest 2,000 to 4,000 milligrams per day, and I also recommend that you discuss the best dose with your practitioner.
Cultivating awareness and gratitude is a major part of the weight loss strategies that I teach in my integrative medicine practice, yoga workshops, and online programs. Awareness enables choice and sustained happiness, and I teach people a long list of ways to break
free from the ruts that have developed in their thinking when it comes to food and behavior. I also find that awareness and gratitude are the antidotes to food addiction.
For this reset, I recommend an eating meditation that knits together awareness and gratitude and helps you assimilate the good food you’re eating.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Before a meal, sit down and turn your complete attention to the food before you. Clear away distractions, like the newspaper or a favorite magazine. (Food addicts tend to also be information addicts—I should know!)
2. Inhale the aroma of your food, which helps your body produce the enzymes needed for optimal digestion. Take three slow, deep breaths while holding your food beneath your nose. Aim for about a five-second inhale and a five-second exhale, without getting too caught up in the numbers. If you’re feeling stressed, it can be helpful to pause for five to ten seconds at the top of the inhale.
3. Close your eyes, and give thanks for the hands that got the food to your plate: the farmer (hopefully organic and local, someone you know!), the people who transported the food to you, the folks who provided and prepared it for you.
4. Take your first bite, and put down your fork. Aim to chew thirty times, or until your food becomes liquid.
5. Notice the distinct tastes of your food. Inhale and exhale again before you take your next bite.
Studies show that some women drop their leptin in response to exercise.
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When you are resetting your leptin pathway, I recommend that you burn calories after dinner. Exercising after dinner allows you to burn extra calories and, ideally, enter a lower energy balance (calories eaten at dinner minus calories burned after dinner) for the all-important, fix-my-leptin overnight fast.
Women are extremely efficient at hanging on to fat at all costs,
and I bet that rings true for you. One study showed that overweight men and women respond differently to exercise on a treadmill. Men show no change in their metabolic hormones, and women increase their ghrelin, the hormone that raises appetite.
When your metabolism is slow, exercise does not contribute much to weight loss, as described in the Meatless chapter. You need to sort out your chemistry first and then exercise will be more effective. That’s why I suggest less sitting as the first strategy in the Meatless reset. If we look at the role of food versus exercise in helping you lose weight, food takes the lion’s share at 75 to 85 percent, and exercise fills in the gap. It is my opinion, based on clinical experience, that once you heal your metabolism, exercise once again plays a more central role in preventing weight regain. Nevertheless, I recommend that you get into the habit of moving your body daily. One of my favorite choices for women is the barre fitness–based form of exercise that blends ballet, pilates, and yoga. The combination lengthens your spine, improves your posture, and boosts your metabolism.
Just remember that vigorous exercise very close to bedtime can interfere with your sleep. At least two hours before bed, go for a brisk walk, practice twenty minutes of yoga, take a quick swim, do five sun salutations, or attend a barre fitness class.
If you are curious about where you’re starting with leptin, test yourself near the beginning of the Fruitless reset. Additionally, I recommend testing if you have long-standing difficulty with fat loss resistance.
Fasting leptin.
Ask your doctor to measure your fasting leptin level. An optimal level is between 4 and 6 ng/mL. Above 10 ng/mL is high.
Reverse T3.
Reverse T3 (reverse triiodothyronine) acts a bit like it’s putting your metabolic system in reverse because it blocks the healthy functioning of thyroid hormones T3 and T4. When you eat too much of the wrong foods—usually junk foods, processed foods, and refined carbohydrates—leptin levels rise and your brain sends a signal to the rest of the body to decrease metabolic rate by reducing thyroid hormone production. In other words, leptin resistance slows down your thyroid gland. That means you don’t burn fat in your muscles because your basal metabolic rate is lowered. This process, called peripheral (muscle) leptin resistance, explains why some overweight people cannot burn fat with exercise. You are looking for either a high reverse T3 or a low ratio of free T3 to reverse T3. Reverse T3 should be in the lower half of the normal range. For a ratio, simply divide your free T3 by your reverse T3 (using the same units), and the number should be 20 or higher if you’re normal. If your ratio is lower than 20, you may have a problem with excess reverse T3.
“I am an avid nutrition nut and thought I knew a lot about my body and how to fuel it properly. I was wrong! This [program] taught me so much about myself and has instilled some really beneficial habits that I can benefit from in the long term. I don’t recall having lost 12 pounds in less than a month at any time since I hit thirty (I’m forty-four now) so that is impressive to me as well. I would have been happy with 5 pounds so consider this a huge success!”
—Cynthia
“This has been such an eye-opener in so many ways. The program that Dr. Sara has compiled is so comprehensive, much more than just a simple dietary adjustment that I had initially anticipated.
I’ve learned so much about how my body functions chemically and organically, what I need and don’t need each day. Dr. Sara has presented a wealth of information in order for participants to begin to learn the optimal practices we can each employ daily to live our best lives from soul to cell! I am excited to continue my journey along this path. Although the program is so much greater than the statistics for me, I can share that I lost 14 pounds, dropped roughly 20 points in my fasting blood sugar, and have found a balance for my pH!”
—Jackie
I’m excited for you to get off fructose, build upon the Meatless and Sugar Free resets, and reset your leptin pathway. We are fixing your hunger switch in this reset. Within seventy-two hours, you will notice more energy, less hunger, dramatically fewer carb cravings, and reduced bloating. You will be well on your way toward less belly fat too! Remember, with each reset, we get closer to figuring out which hormones are standing in the way between you and effortless weight loss. Please pay attention to the messages from your body, and record them in your journal. The details will later prove invaluable as you lose weight and keep it off. Be assured: your Hormone Reset is well underway.
Caffeine Free
CORTISOL RESET:
Days 10 to 12
I
t’s time to spill the beans. Coffee is our favorite upper, but it’s highly addictive and may not be good for you. Ninety percent of Americans drink coffee, and worldwide more than two billion cups of coffee are consumed daily with supply and demand increasing annually. While it may be the most socially acceptable stimulant, many people don’t realize it’s a drug. What you need to know is that coffee becomes toxic at certain levels and may shift your mood from alert to anxious, disrupt your sleep, and give you palpitations—what I would describe as
overstimulation.
On average, women with sleep problems drink 3.3 cups of caffeinated coffee, tea, or soda daily. Regular consumption of caffeine disconnects you from natural circadian rhythms, which govern your hormonal harmony. Without these natural rhythms, your hormones misfire and you can become fat. That’s because coffee elevates cortisol, one of your body’s key fat-storage hormones and the ultimate director of your inner world.
When cortisol is too high or too low, it becomes the dark lord of your body. In my experience, when you’re highly sensitive to or slow to metabolize it, caffeine leaves you feeling raw and throttled. Living life with chronically high cortisol levels robs you of joy, restful
sleep, and control over your weight. Caffeine is another way that women attempt to change their state. Life is hard, and you reach for caffeine to feel less exhausted, or you reach for a bar of chocolate to cope with pain or boredom. I get it, but now it’s time to break the vicious cycle of stress, sleeplessness, and fatigue that keeps many of us addicted to caffeine. When you do, you will clearly see how your innocent cup of coffee is keeping you fat. The transformation takes only three days.
How do you know if you are addicted to caffeine and/or need to reset your cortisol? Take the following self-assessment and check off any of the following behaviors or conditions that apply to you now or have occurred in the past six months.
Are you one of the 35 million American women who have difficulty sleeping?
Do you drink coffee or caffeinated beverages most days of the week?
Do you struggle with anxiety or irritability?
Do you drink three or more servings of alcohol per week?
Do you overeat when stressed?
Have you been told you have high and/or low blood sugar? Or is your fasting blood glucose greater than 85 mg/dL?
Does the idea of quitting coffee seem outrageous and leave you looking for ways to avoid giving it up?
Do you suffer from burnout—physical or emotional exhaustion from chronic stress?
Have you been told that your DHEA or testosterone levels are low?
Do you suffer from indigestion, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or stomach ulcers?
Have you been told you have thinning bones, osteopenia, or osteoporosis?
Do you experience breast tenderness, or has a clinician told you that you have fibrocystic breast change?