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FREE THE FAT Sections .
Getting Started................................................................................................................................ 1
Overview.......................................................................................................................................... 2
Module 1: The Invisible Source of Stubborn Fat.................................................................... 7
Module 2: The "Stress-idemic" and fat loss failure............................................................... 16
Module 3: Metabolic Meltdown................................................................................................ 33
Module 4: High Cortisol, Adrenal Fatigue, & Low Energy.................................................. 62
Module 5: Lifestyle & Active Healing...................................................................................... 68
Module 6: Super Supplements.................................................................................................... 129
Module 7: Free the Fat for Life................................................................................................... 143
Supplement $avings Packs:......................................................................................................... 145
Getting Started
Life is busy!
With limited time, here is what you need to start getting results.
Later in this book, you'll get the explanation of what toxins, improper filtration, dehydration, and too much stress do to your weight loss efforts and why working out harder won't help and often adds to inflammation in the body.
Before all that science, here are the doctor selected, purely sourced supplements that go along with this protocol. You'll recognize these hand selected top brands.
No need to wait until page 130 to find out about these herb blends. Start the calming fat release process as you read the protocol.
The bare bones starter pack, the CALM PACK will start lowering your inflammation and reducing your cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
If you're looking for the everyday nutrients needed for your systems to work on top of the baseline CALM PACK, snag an EVERYDAY PACK too.
It's equipped with stress fighting Bs, superfood Omega3s, building block Aminos, appetite suppressing and happy mood Vitamin D, and tummy balancing Probiotics.
Start with these top brands:
The CALM PACK has the secret sauce that keeps our cortisol at bay. The EVERYDAY PACK has our daily nutrients to make sure our body is working.
Instructions:
Aminos are taken first thing on an empty stomach.
The Omega's, Vitamin D & B are taken with your first meal.
Calm Pack can be taken anytime. Bedtime is easy to remember.
Benefits:
With Vitamin D linked to everything from mood, heart health, bone strength, immune system, appetite suppression, and thyroid function, Ds are rightfully labeled the SUPER HORMONE. Most people are dangerously low in Ds. Bs in the body have 2 big jobs. Bs are both stress buffering soldiers and building mechanics. When we are under stress, our Bs are used as soldiers leaving no one to build our hormones and happy brain chemicals. Omega 3s balance out our good to bad fat ratio and our essential for the brain to work. Omega 3s keep our skin beautiful, our body full, and are linked to everyday feel and look good. Probiotics are the good tummy bacteria that make sure we absorb our nutrients and the bad sugar craving bacteria doesn't run amok in our intestines. You've probably been hearing a whole lot about the importance of balanced gut bacteria. The calming herb blend found in the CALM PACK has all of the famous cortisol reducers in large effective amounts. It's a baseline MUST HAVE if your weight is stress or toxin weight.
These doctor selected nutrients have been carefully chosen from top brands.
On pages 130 -146 you'll find our other brain focus, beauty, and detox blends at discount. To get all of the goodies from the start, you'll want THE WORKS PACK that comes with extras like enzymes and super greens that aren't included elsewhere. At minimum, the CALM PACK to start.
We always encourage checking with your doctor before taking anything, including products with tons of positive studies that we personally love.
Overview
PART 1- WHAT IS MAKING US FAT?
Module 1: The Invisible Source of Stubborn Fat
-Cortisol: what is it & when does it become bad.
-Cortisol and inflammation (Why chronic cortisol makes us fat)
-Cortisol tiring out our Adrenals and stealing our energy
Module 2: The “Stress-idemic” and fat loss failure
-How we are more stressed as a society
-How the body goes awry
-Is stress fat worse for us than other fat? Yes!!!
-Inflammation becomes the enemy
-Sugar & stress as a major cause of adrenal fatigue, cortisol spikes, low mood,
and inflammation.
-Stress harming our gut bacteria that keeps us thin (Microbiome)
PART 2 - HOW IT WORKS - the science.
Module 3: Metabolic Meltdown: Building Blocks, Messengers, and the Cleanup Crew
-Hunger Hormones thrown off
-Leaky Gut harming Nutrient Absorption & Toxin Protection
-Fat cells role in Toxin storage
-Clean up Crew: sleep as our savior (Autophagy, Microglia, body reset)
Module 4: Adrenal Fatigue
-Losing the energy or ability to care
-The 3 stages of Adrenal Fatigue
PART 3 - SUCCESSFUL SOLUTION
Module 5: A Lifestyle that works
-Sleep/Rest/Meditation
-Miraculous Movement (exercise)
-Stress Management Tools
-Healing past trauma (for a brighter future)
-Lowering Inflammation
-Stopping the toxins
-Healthy sugar hacks & carb cycling
-Healing Leaky Gut
-Superfoods & Wonder Water
-the fresh factor
-good fats
-fiber
-building blocks Amino Acids
-enzymes start the action
-hydration
Module 6: Super Supplements & Special Hacks
-Antioxidants
-Probiotics
-Vitamins & Minerals
-Adaptagens (cortisol manager)
-Blood Sugar helpers
Module 7: Free the Fat for Life Summary
INTRO:
Welcome to the plan that will help you free the fat. Get ready to release your fat as you’ll no longer have need for it. Once we reveal what’s been keeping you fat, you will experience an aha moment that reveals why the past plans didn’t work- and why it wasn’t your fault.
We’ll explain why working out harder or depriving your body of nourishing calming foods further rings the emergency alarm as your body is broken down unable to rebuild. If we reach for sugar to temporarily calm or distract us, we get fatter. If we beat ourselves up for not being successful in the past, we get fatter. If we try to do too much, we get fatter. Starvation, working out too hard, being mean to ourselves with an unkind ‘just do it’ mentality all make us fatter in the long run. What helps us release the fat is so much more enjoyable than you’d expect. Thank goodness for that.
We’re so grateful to have researched a solution and be able to share it with a community that deserves to feel and look good. The unwinnable game that’s currently being marketed to us is just plain wrong. Here’s a protocol that will have you doing less with more results.
This free the fat solution gets your body back into a state of calm restoration, self love, nourishing low inflammation foods, flushing hydration, and fun relaxing detoxing spa experiences. We still eat dessert- just with less of a blood sugar spike and at the right time of day. We eat regularly in optimal time zones and enjoy detox methods that feel good.
We understand why we turn to dangerous coping mechanisms and stress eating so we can make more confident, effective choices. We don’t expect perfection and release any shame with being human. The shame spiral keeps us addicted to approval & escape. We make easier, better, more relaxing choices in this protocol that just happen to also work!
Find out why bacon can help you lose weight - as long as it’s not on bread, cooked in the wrong oils, in larger quantities than Omega 3 rich fish, and not from a grain fed hormone pumped stressed out animal. A healthy breakfast can 100% be bacon. And a seemingly “healthy” breakfast can actually be toxic, sugar filled, GMO crap. No wonder we’ve held onto our protective fat in the past.
Find out how fiber can make dessert ok - and when and how to eat it with little insulin impact. Why working out super hard for high cortisol people makes our body hold onto our fat but walking and even napping helps us release it.
Find out what toxins in your home are reversing your improvements even when you’re doing the right stuff! Toxins get stored in fat cells to keep them out of circulation. - and our body creates more fat cell cubby holes when toxins are around. Toxins and stress lead to fat storage more than excess calories by a long shot!
Release fat smarter, effectively, and in alignment with science - not a workout shoe marketing campaign of “harder, faster, stronger.” Life is a marathon of graceful flowing decades, not a sprint of 5 years to the death. Let’s get you back in the body that feels good, works well, looks fabulous, and is easy to maintain. Sexy, relaxed, svelte, clear skin, visible muscles, calmer brain, happier mood. Love your life. Love your body.
Part 1 breaks down the long overdue truth.
Part 2 dives deeper into the science.
Part 3 is the fat release solution.
Feel free to skip to the solution and supplement section if time is limited and come back to soak up the science. Let’s get started.
PART 1- WHY ARE WE FAT?
Module 1: The Invisible Source of Stubborn Fat
The body stores fat when 1 of 3 things happen:
1. High Blood Sugar Levels 2. Toxins 3. Imbalanced gut bacteria
1. High Blood Sugar:
High blood sugar levels tell the pancreas to release insulin to prevent a diabetic coma. Insulin’s job is removal of sugar out of the blood quickly and store it into fat cells for future use.
Insulin thinks it’s a super hero helping lower deadly blood sugar levels.
High blood sugar is read by the body as a stressful emergency that must be immediately
remedied before potential death by diabetic coma occurs. Insulin is a super hero clearing the blood of sugar. Unfortunately, the only place to put that extra sugar is in fat cells for future need.
We may even be unknowingly craving this extra sugar because of previous spikes from past large sugary meals or because our brain has stopped recognizing the full hormone leptin leaving us constantly hungry
2. Toxins:
Toxins in the body are seen as stress. They need to be stored out of the way
somewhere they can’t do the body damage. This safe place happens to be fat
cells. The more environmental, food, or emotional toxins we are around, the
more fat cell storage containers our body must keep on hand. The more fat cells around, the more they can be filled and the more hungry chemicals they can release to make us crave sugar to fill them.
3. Bad Gut Bacteria:
We may have a gut bacteria imbalance that has the wrong microbes in our
tummy. Science is finding that some microbes are extra good at getting all the calories out of food making us fatter on the same foods. The studies on this will blow your mind!! The bad microbes crave sugar and crowd out the good ones that get killed off by toxins and stress. Part 2 explains how to get more good microbes, how to feed them their favorite meal, and stop feeding your bad ones. (hint: less sugar, more fiber)
Stress is involved in all 3 ways!!.
-Cortisol: what is it & when does it become bad.
Cortisol is our body’s way of buffering stress. Cortisol is a stress hormone the adrenals release when our body rings the stress alarm bell.
The alarm could be activated by all sorts of stress. It could be the saber tooth tiger our ancestors dealt with, our boss yelling at us, our lover abandoning us, our food poisoning us, or too much sugar at one time. Very important but very dangerous when too high too long.
-Cortisol’s normal cycle:
Cortisol is an important stress buffer that keeps us alive. Normal cortisol levels are highest in the morning about an hour after waking to get us going for our day and then slopes down like a hockey stick until it gets super low in the evening before bed. Cortisol Test kits: Canary Club.org to test your cortisol.
-Cortisol stays high too long under chronic stress/high inflammation.
Constant stress is bad for the body and harms our ability to release weight.
We can be tired and have access to less helpful free cortisol but still be stressed out with overall total cortisol staying chronically high.
High cortisol = weight gain.
Chronically High Cortisol leads to all of these problems:
i. Hurts our ability to think (brain fog + ADHD constant hyper drive)
ii. Slows metabolism = weight gain ….harms thyroid function (weight and energy
manager) by blocking thyroid hormone production slowing metabolism.
Increased tummy fat and inability to lose weight: slower metabolism…
tummy fat leads to increased risk of heart, attack, strokes, metabolic
syndrome, Higher LDL “bad cholesterol, and lower good cholesterol
iii. Blood Sugar imbalances- making us release even more cortisol to boost back
to safe levels. Keeps us on the sugar craving roller coaster.
iv. decreased bone density & muscle tissue
High sugar adds to the damage high cortisol does to our bones by stopping calcium absorption & vitamin D production
v. lowered immunity, higher inflammation which translates to slower wound
healing, nutrient absorption problems, and toxin buildup
vi. insomnia & lowered mood - making cortisol steals building blocks used to
produce important feel good brain chemical serotonin which later converts to sleepy melatonin. With stress hormone pumping through our blood instead of melatonin, it gets very hard to sleep- even if we are exhausted! And sleep is the #1 way to detox, buffer stress, release full feeling leptin hormone, reset the body, and release unwanted weight. Too much cortisol = not enough skinny sleep. Constant hyper drive leaves us going through life tired with low grade anxiety all the time. https://www.adrenalfatigue.org/sleep-disruption
viii. Cortisol harms our good gut bacteria. This bacteria has gotten lots of press
lately and we’ll cover the ‘microbiome’ or gut bacteria and the role it plays
in keeping us thin in Part 2
viv-constant stress requires too much Cortisol production which tires out the
very adrenal glands that make cortisol. This makes us anxious and wired,
steals our energy, and eventually burns us out.
-What releases cortisol?
1. High Blood Sugar Levels
a. High sugar = high insulin = efficient fat storage- ”Diabesity is a disease of carbohydrate (sugar) in tolerance.” “Carbs drive a hormonal and brain chemical reaction that makes it almost impossible to lose weight or get healthy” - Dr. Mark Hyman ‘Eat fat, get thin’.
b. “High blood Sugar levels cause oxidative stress in the brain”- John Gray- Staying focused in a Hyper world.
2. Too much stimulation
"Addiction is going to get worse in our society as we are wearing out the brain's pleasure centers by the constant exposure to highly stimulating activities, such as video games, text messaging, sexting, internet pornography, scary movies, and highly addictive foods like cinnamon rolls and double cheeseburgers."
-Dr. John Gray
Science Bar: Brain areas at work when we are tiring ourselves out seeking more and more stimulation. The nucleus accumbens is one of the main pleasure levers in the brain that works with reward chemical dopamine. If we push this lever with stimulation, it obviously feels good and motivates us to do this activity more. But if we push it too hard or over and over, we can become numb to it and need more and more harder pushes to feel the same happy pleasure. This is a dangerous cycle. When this area is active, our thinking brain (PFC) gets sidelined and loses ability to interject reason.
The more time we spend in this pleasure center, the weaker the PFC can get making it harder over time to focus or be productive. We get addicted to easy and fun and unable to focus on challenges that are more rewarding but harder. This may be why having too many options or too much free time actually makes us less happy and more impulsive overtime. Practicing rest, boredom, and meditation and really prioritizing sleep help to rebuild these chemicals. The amino acid supplements and the healing of our gut will allow us to have the building blocks to make more of the pleasure chemical in reserve.
Neurotransmitters: Serotonin is involved with the areas of the brain that deal with soothing, calming, and joy. The anterior cingulate gyrus handles compulsive behavior and gets out of whack when not enough serotonin is present.
3. Fights with loved ones / Anger in general
Make up as quickly as possible. It lowers cortisol and gets us back on our weight loss track. Anger is the enemy for fat releasers. The body will keep on a layer of protection as long as we need it.
4. Physical or Emotional threats to safety
Our threat response part of our brain does not know the difference between physical threats or shunned from the group emotional threats. The same chemical cascade happens when we are triggered.
5. Mean thoughts from early traumatic programming
Part 3 covers this touchy subject in detail looking at the science we may not factor in and why the survivors of this group should be giving themselves way more credit for how far they’ve come. Early trauma can cause an inner state of constant emotional threat and anxiety.
6. Overwhelming pressure at work
Constantly pumping cortisol creates the chemical cascade that keeps fat on. It also doesn’t allow food to be digested properly in rest & digest mode. The panicked thoughts that come with too much pressure further aggravate the body and it’s stress response.
Module 2: The "Stress-idemic" and fat loss failure
1. High Blood Sugar Stress
2. Toxic Stress
3. Inflammation becomes the enemy
a. Autoimmune Diseases
b. Gut Bacteria harmed
c. Thyroid dysfunction
Our system goes haywire with chronic stress. Our cortisol levels stay dangerously high and many of our systems stop working. Our digestive tract and metabolism get thrown off. Hunger hormones are out of whack and our cravings are out of control. Good nutrients don’t absorb properly.
Important feel good and weight loss chemicals aren’t made. We don’t have the pieces in place to effectively release or burn fat, naturally feel good, or keep our body and brain working.
Our liver gets full and exhausted from filtering out toxins and can stop making critical antioxidant glutathione that would help remove these toxins and lower inflammation. Toxins get stored in our fat cells requiring our body to recruit and maintain more fat cells for future storage need.
Bad toxins and food gets through the intestine barrier creating more inflammation in the body. The body is distracted by fighting these supposed invaders and fat reserves are stored for future need during this emergency.
Our immune system becomes overactive eventually attacking our own body and further keeps us in a high inflammation state. Our mood is harmed and unpredictable. Depression and anxiety enter our lives. We stress eat just to feel normal. We fear our own mood and don’t trust our willpower.
Our energy is wonky or nonexistent with our adrenals pumping cortisol, and our fat is held as a protective safety buffer until things settle down and our body can assess the level of emergency.
Our stress is making and keeping us fat.
Our coping mechanism of sugar and stimulation is making us 10x fatter.
-Is stress fat worse than other types of weight gain?
Yes! Stomach fat or visceral fat is considered more dangerous to our health than say the thigh, bum, and low belly fat women are prone to with their pregnancy ready estrogen pear shape. “Visceral (tummy) fat is associated with increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome,” says Lauren Harris-Pincus, MS, RDN. This makes sense when we look at all the other systems that get thrown off by high stress and high sugar.
-Which foods spike inflammation and stress keeping our fat stored away?
1. High sugar = high insulin = efficient fat storage
”Diabesity is a disease of carbohydrate (sugar) in tolerance.” For people
that are carbohydrate intolerant, “carbs drive a hormonal and brain chemical reaction that makes it almost impossible to lose weight or get healthy” - Dr. Mark Hyman in his book Eat fat, get thin.
ii. High sugar is now being linked to cholesterol buildup over the myth of fat consumed creating the blockage. -according to EWG Executive Director Heather White who Dr. Mark Hyman interviewed during his Fat Summit Series.
iii. Sugar & white starches (breads, cakes, white potatoes) feeds the bad gut
bacteria creating an crucial imbalance to the gut ecosystem which can result in nutrient stealing yeast overgrowth Candida & CIBO who eat your food, crave sugar so intensely you can’t avoid eating it, and release toxins. Check to see if you have CANDIDA. That will need to be treated with a Dr prescribed anti-fungal alongside this lower sugar Free the Fat solution. We’ll cover what happens if our gut bacteria stays out of balance later in the leaky gut section.
iv. “High blood Sugar levels cause oxidative stress in the brain”- Dr. John Gray Staying focused in a Hyper world. This leads to stress to the brain neurons and chronic inflammation throughout the brain. Oxidation has been linked to ADHD and other cognitive impairments.
2. Toxins in our food
i. Pesticides & GMO poisons - glycosophate
- Many Sugars & Starches grown in the USA have another toxic side effect
built straight into the grain thanks to GMO science focused more on keeping
pests away from their profitable product than about making sure the product itself doesn’t become poison. Read anything on the poison glyphosate (roundup) which is genetically engineered to grow inside many of our US grown grains to learn more about which products have been accidently frankinsteined into poisonous products. Poison is obviously high inflammation and going to keep our body in fat storing protective mode. Stopping eating GMO or pesticide sprayed products is high priority.
ii. BPA from foods heated or stored in plastics
-BPA is a hormone disruptor shown to grow female reproductive organs on
Male frogs. This toxin throws off our hormone production system’s ability to talk to itself effectively. With hormones releasing feel good, fertility, soothing mood, thinking clear estrogen, muscle building fat releasing sex drive producing testosterone … we need our hormones balanced! Any hormone (endocrine) disruptors are gone.
iii. Mold & Mildews:
Coffee is a leading crop with mold. Corn, peanuts, and cashews too..
“Foods like chocolate, nuts, coffee, cheese, and processed meats very frequently
contain high levels of neuroactive chemicals made by the molds and fungi that inhabit them” - Dave Asprey
-Bulletproof executive Dave Asprey’s Documentary - moldymovie.com
Asprey: “We understand some weird things about how that toxin
smoothes out the inner wall of the mitochondria, so that you get
mitochondrial damage from mold. That is separate from the VIP to leptin to insulin resistance pathway that builds up. I think that’s one of the reasons that I weighed 300 pounds, because I was living in a house that had mold in it.”
It’s enough of a problem in our food supply and the current additive data that the USDA is looking fairly hard at mycotoxins in animal feeds.
iv. Gluten: Protein found in Rye, Barley, and wheat that 1 in 133 people have a
genetic aversion to and triggers a serious inflammation based auto immune
disease. 40% of the population has a sensitivity to wheat protein and here’s why:
- US wheat production uses GMO tactics that not only result in MORE gluten than normally found in nature, but gluten in itself can be inflammatory for some.
-GMO tactics have also engineered PESTICIDES INSIDE THE WHEAT that makes the whole crop poison. What was a great fiber source loaded with B vitamins, is now a toxin with a ton of the wheat protein gluten that leads to inflammation and even autoimmune disease in the body.
-Gluten is now used as a filler so we’re bombarded with it in our food supply -it’s in US tea bags, soy sauce, salad dressing, and spices. Gluten can cause digestion problems, migraines, moodiness, anxiety, depression, fatigue, foggy headed, anemia, and inflammation caused weight gain.
-HOW THAT AFFECTS FAT LOSS: Being sensitive to gluten could not only raise inflammation in the whole body but could shut down a key factor in metabolism, energy, and weight loss: our thyroid.
-THYROID. Gluten unfortunately structurally looks like our thyroid hormone (cellular energy T4) so can get attacked if the body is bombarded with this suspect protein. Those with thyroid issues should treat wheat like it’s poison and never eat it in any amount for any reason.
-Inflammation becomes the enemy
Our body in an inflamed state is a body that is constantly ready to fight and one that keeps protective barriers in place - like a shielding armour layer of fat.
Inflammation is a powerful immune system tool that helps in healing. The swelling post an injury, protects the injured area. Initially, inflammation is a good thing.
But like cortisol, too much of it, and inflammation goes from good to really dangerous. Chronic inflammation outside of the acute injury, is quite hard on the body and can keep the immune system in a constant state of alert. This high alert status makes it over reactive and quick to attack parts of our own body.
The body holds onto fat in this state of emergency, stops working properly, and even turns on itself creating internal wars known as autoimmune diseases. These go by the names MS (attacking our nerve covering), Hashimotos (attacking the thyroid), Rheumatoid Arthritis (attacking joints). Joint pain, fatigue, thyroid issues, weight retention, and body pain are signs of possible chronic inflammation.
-Inflammation harming our important good gut bacteria.
Microbiome: (why diets don't work)
The Microbiome or community of gut bacteria living in our stomach does important jobs and must be balanced. When bad bacteria outweigh good bacteria, bad things happen. With the gut and brain being so tied, an off gut can lead to cognitive mood and focus issues. Inflammation harms our gut balance and becomes quite important in the discussion on metabolism, energy, mood, and weight gain.
"We have a good reason, for not putting a strong emphasis on fats or on cutting back on calories as the road to weight loss. Animal studies strongly suggest that the microbiome (gut bacteria) may be the real key. Resetting the microbiome through anti-inflammation diet is win-win. “ - Dr. Deepak Chopra, Super Genes
The 1 million bacterial genes our body hosts vastly outnumbers our 23,000 human genes. We've evolved with these bacteria and rely on them for everything from digestion, messaging to the brain, disease prevention and immune support. There are clear ties to our gut's health and obesity, diabetes 1, cancer, mental illness, mood, digestion, and many chronic diseases. It's obviously important to absorb our nutrients and the bacteria in our gut is vital to this goal.
There's a huge gut / brain connection that ties anxiety and other mood disorders to the health of our microbiome. With so many of us eating for reasons outside of hunger, this becomes quite an important finding.
The gut harbors 100 million neurons, more than the spinal cord, and produces 95% of the body's serotonin - the body' anti depression brain chemical. Even the vagus nerve, the longest of the 12 major nerve connectors of the brain to the body ends in the stomach. It’s responsible for calming the various organs down. 80% of all the sensory information that reaches the brain is transmitted via the vagus nerve and 90% of that info is gut to brain. Our gut health hugely affects our mood.
Great article that clearly explains how important the vagus nerve is.
The gut and it's bacteria inhabitants are so wondrous, they appear to operate even when severed from the brain making up a second brain and what is being called a whole other nervous system (the enteric nervous system).
"The specialized ganglion cells that are located between muscle layers in the intestinal wall act like a local brain. If you sever the nerves that contact them from the brain, these ganglion cells continue to move and absorb and secrete, working quite well and quite autonomously as a self contained functional unit." -Dr Deepak Chopra
The gut is amazing and it's power is only beginning to be understood. It turns out the the intestinal tract (gut) not only takes advice from the rest of the body. It harbors it's own reactions."- Dr. Deepak Chopra
The microbes in our gut break down non digestible carbohydrates (fiber) releasing nutrients that help with leaky gut by reinforcing the gut wall and improving the immune system. Our body gets nutrients from the metabolic actions released as the microbes feed. Rad video explaining the gut:
These nutrients along with the health of the gut wall determines many things in our health and happiness. Whether we have access to or absorb our nutrients (metabolism), whether we have immune reactions (immune systems), and our mood. "The microbiome may be impacting mental states like anxiety or autism" -Christine Tara Peterson PhD.
Which is why we rock our daily probiotic and go play in the dirt.
It's a back and forth. The bacteria in your intestinal tract affects the workings of your brain, even altering emotions or worse. And, in turn, your mood and stress levels affect the bacteria that will survive in your gut.
It's a feedback loop of disease or health.
When we are relaxing we are repairing and growing. When we are stressed we are protecting. We can’t be growing and protecting at the same time. Our nervous system is in one state or the other. Unfortunately, when we are in stressed protection mode, this harms our good gut bacteria.
"Chronic social stress could be changing your intestinal bacteria creating a destructive feedback loop between gut and brain." - Deepak Chopra, Super Genes. Fortunately, our thoughts have a lot of power and we can think our way to a healthy microbiome while supporting it with lots of fiber and probiotic supplements filled with more healthy bacteria.
Gut and Obesity link: "In 2006, a team from washington university in St. Louis apparently proved a strong connection between the microbiome and obesity.
The microbiome of obese rats were transferred to thin rats who then became obese even on the same calories!! It's presumed the obese microbes were somehow more efficient in pulling energy from food and storing it.
The reverse experiments have shown improvement in insulin sensitivity but no big breakthroughs in obesity reversal quite yet. It appears just having the right microbes in one moment in time isn't quite enough if not supported by a lifestyle and environment that helps them thrive and resets the messaging and genetic switches. Fiber and probiotics are a great start to getting our gut on track to keeping us thin.
With so many factors at work, it's clear why obesity has been so tricky to treat. Nutrition, hormones, lifestyle, emotional triggers, social pressures, and digestion all play a role.
The consistent thread in all of these factors is the microbiome that not only digests food, it affects hormones, immunity, stress response, and chronic inflammation. We're beginning to decipher which things affect inflammation and disrupt our microbiome.
A 2013 study in New York found that eating McDonald's was one of those things shooting up an inflammatory marker (C-reactive protein) within minutes of eating the classic breakfast. The study also found that adding fiber to this meal stopped the inflammatory spike! What amazing findings. Fiber as a major step in the right direction. Obviously, the study implies not eating McDonald’s is an even better choice if our goal is to lower inflammation, but knowing the benefits of fiber for when we fall off the wagon, is a huge biohack break through.
Another study showing microbes affecting obesity- this time helping it. After allowing the gut bacteria to completely reset itself (after gastric surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital), a surge of beneficial microbes both reduced inflammation and led directly to weight loss.
The mice that were injected with these new microbes lost weight, even on a higher calorie diet. Blood sugar was able to be metabolized effectively, which wasn't the case in the mice that just had restricted calories and lost temporary weight. This points to the importance of having a system that can metabolize blood sugar which is the result of lifestyle choices that don't stress the system out.
Things that help reset the microbiome include eating less sugar / carbohydrates, eating more fiber, avoid processed foods, adding back in good bacteria through probiotic rich foods and supplements, eating a low inflammation diet, stress release practices like deep breathing meditation, and reframing inflamed negative thoughts.
These practices will put your body in a state of weight release, happy mood, and healthy disease prevention.
"Modern guts may be severely compromised. In an influential 2014 paper, Stanford university microbiologists Erica and Justin Sonnenburg sounded a message about the possible loss of gut microbes due to various factors. One is the Western diet low in fiber.” “Less tangible but suspicious is our modern stressful lifestyle, because stress hormones and emotions in general can cause shifts in the microbiome."
-Dr. Deepak Chopra, ’Super Genes’
"The microbiome helps regulate immunity, and also produces chemical by-products during the digestive process that reduce inflammation. Reducing the diversity of the gut's ecology could be steadily ruining our health."- Dr. Deepak Chopra ‘Super Genes’
Our microbiome responds quickly to diet, exercise, meditation, and stress reduction.
Small good choices that let us feel good right away builds positive effects. Unlike chasing pain avoidance / withdrawal from bad addicting choices, we'll be making good choices to maintain the goodness we feel. It gets us out of the shame cycle and motivates from a place of momentum and positivity.
Small good choices may include adding more fiber, taking a probiotic, cutting back alcohol, starting the day with lemon water, going for a 15 minute walk first thing in the morning and after each meal.
Fear and anger reduce healthy gut bacteria 10 fold. We can see how the mind body and spirit all play together to keep us healthy. Deep breathing helps as does nourishing the body. Part 2 we cover ways to heal and move past fear and anger.
Anti-inflammation microbe - One microbe has been identified so far as being anti-inflammatory. Woo Hoo! The bacteria Faecalibacterium prausnitzii has been studied by Chinese microbiologist Liping Zhao who personally lost and helped another lose over 100 lbs by increasing the amount of this microbe in their systems. They also lower an inflammatory microbe Enterobacter cloacae. The combination was very successful.
-Sugar’s role in unhappy gut, stress, high cortisol, low mood, infertility, weight gain, and inflammation.
"The typical American diet is very likely to increase inflammation, and therefore a change is called for. Evolution didn't prepare us to consume over one hundred pounds of refined white sugar a year; it's not clear we evolved to consume it at all, along with the cheaper corn syrup that manufactured foods increasingly contain." - Dr. Deepak Chopra
Sugar is "so damaging to your brain and body that I call it anti-nutrition or toxic calories. Sugar increases inflammation in your body, increases erratic brain cell firing, and sends your blood sugar levels on a rollercoaster ride. Moreover, new research shows that sugar is addictive and can even be more addictive than cocaine."
-Dr Daniel Amen ‘Use your brain to change your age’
“We eat 20% more sugar today than 1970. It's somehow legal to put lethal amounts in our food so our brains can get addicted and snack companies can make more money. Crazy that politicians have allowed this staying quiet while taking campaign contributions from these companies. Drug dealers essentially funding our government”. -Sara Plummer Barnard, Founder of Get Healthy Sexy Happy
High fructose corn syrup, making up 40% of our sweeteners and subsidized by our government, is even more fattening than table sugar.
In a study with mice fed high fructose corn syrup, every single one of them became obese, increasing their belly fat on the SAME CALORIES, After 6 months, they had the high triglyceride levels, belly fat, and weight gain associated with metabolic syndrome. Why are we incentivizing our farmers to grow this stuff?
Other names for sugar: sorbitol, maltose, galactose, maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, fructose. Check out your Free the Fat low sugar Dessert Guide bonus. Let’s enjoy our dessert without the blood sugar spike.
-Inflammation throws off our thyroid
Our thyroid regulates our energy and our metabolism. Our thyroid gland is located in the neck and is responsible for checking our environment for cleanliness.
The thyroid’s job is to be the warning signal when something in our body isn’t right. It’s likened to the canary in the coal mine, who was brought down with the coal miners to see when the toxins in the coal got so high it spelled danger for the miners.
Like the canary in the coal mine, if our thyroid suspects the environment is toxic or inflamed, or doesn’t have enough resources, it shuts down energy production to put us into safe hibernation mode. The body holds onto fat and stops burning it’s reserves. Our energy plummets. We’re tired and holding onto our fat. It’s not a safe environment to flourish and the thyroid battens down the hatches.
Let’s look at how all this happens. If you’re more interested in getting straight to the fix, pop over to Part 3 for instant lifestyle and supplement solutions.
If you’re interested in more detail on how it all works and what ties to what, read on for some mind blowing research we now have access to!
With all of the toxins legally allowed in our food supply and more stress in our culture, it’s a great time to learn how to protect ourselves and take advantage of the research and better solutions available.
We’re not going to use losing strategies of starvation and high intensity workouts in an environment of stress and toxins leaving us frustrated and still fat. We’re going to ease our way into weighing less and love ourselves and the process as we do it.
Let’s look at the puzzle pieces and figure out where our body is off.
PART 2 - HOW IT WORKS
Module 3: Metabolic Meltdown
Building Blocks, Messengers, & Cleanup Crew
Building Blocks: needed nutrients & harmed absorption
High stress harms digestion. Stress as defined by work stress, fighting on FaceBook, loud noises, environmental and food toxins, and negative fearful or angry thoughts.
Poor digestion means we won’t absorb the nutrients needed from our food to build our body back to health. This means not enough happy brain chemicals, important hunger hormone messengers, digestive enzyme activators, and other vital parts of our metabolism and fat burning.
We know we may not be absorbing our nutrients when we start having bowel (poop) issues, intolerance to alcohol, moody response to carbohydrates, and food moving through us too quickly. If you have allergy like symptoms or mood changes when you eat, there’s a chance you’re having stress related digestive issues or worse, leaky gut. Leaky gut will be covered later.
So let’s look at how digestion works and why we need to be calm for it to happen:
1. Digest mode gets turned off when our nervous system is in stressed fight or flight mode.
a. The body knows it’s less important to digest or make babies when we’re running for our life - so it prioritizes making the one that will keep us alive - cortisol. That’s how our body sees stress. Something to shut everything else down for until the problem is solved. The body temporarily suspends digestion and sex drive to focus all efforts on fighting or fleeing from the threat.
SCIENCE BAR: The vagus nerve that connects our brain and our
gut (runs from our brain stem across our chest, down into our gut) controls our calm rest or digest parasympathetic nervous system mode. If our digestion is off, our ability to go into calm rest & digest mode will be off too. This vagus nerve also handles a ton of brain-gut communication. If our gut is off, our mood will be thrown off and if we’re stressed, our guts digestion will be thrown off. It’s a two way street.
2. Digestion harmed means we don’t absorb our nutrition Building Blocks: Stress can shoot out food too rapidly before nutrients can get absorbed.
a. This leaves us leaner and more able to run or fight. Ever notice how you have to poop when you get super nervous about giving a speech or riding a rollercoaster? That’s the stress response.
b. Until we deep breath calm ourselves down, we should put off eating to absorb those nutrients. No stressful conversations at the dinner table either. Over tea or during a walk, better.
c. Ideally, we ditch the stressful conversation but if we are low dopamine from years of overstimulation, we may seek out chaos to feel engaged. It’s all connected.
People with chronic stress often have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) where they have to urgently poop right after meals. Besides the discomfort, bloating, and diarrhea that can result from stress irritating our bowels, if we don’t absorb our nutrients, we can’t make the hormones, brain chemicals, and enzymes needed to put our body into weight loss mode.
3. Stolen Building Blocks: The nutrients that are absorbed are stolen and sent to fight stress.
a. Chronically high cortisol production reroutes your nutrient resources away from important hormone and brain chemical production.
b. This leaves us with less muscle building & sex drive helping testosterone, less soothing progesterone, less powerhouse Vitamin D, less joyful serotonin, less motivating dopamine. These shortages kill your mood and drive leaving you grasping for more stimulating foods and experiences (social media / tv) to feel barely ok. This starts a stimulation seeking cycle that leads to less dopamine receptors and a lower mood.
c. All the extra activity and eating to feel ok leads to more aging oxidative stress released in the body and killer inflammation- all making us fatter as it steals our energy and good mood.
Rest is magic because it replenishes us, repairs the broken pieces, allows us to digest properly, and takes us away from the stress. Playful outings, happy friends, team games, long walks to fun music, dancing in our living room all help us lose weight more than stressful workouts or shaming “just do it” quotes.
If we stay high stress and get depleted, here are the unfortunate things we’ll likely suffer from.
Stolen resources or lack of nutrient absorption can lead to:
i. Estrogen dominance: (women)- when our estrogen is higher than our progesterone levels, the body packs on the pounds as if we are preparing for pregnancy. It also increases our PMS making us crabby.
ii. Low testosterone- (women and men) when cortisol is stealing the resources normally reserved for testosterone production, men and women will see their sex drive go down, and their metabolism revving lean muscle mass go down. We need that muscle to burn calories and feel sexy.
iii. Low Serotonin: The brain chemical that transports the soothing, blissful, happy feeling requires a converted Vitamin B9 and the amino acids (proteins) L-Tryptophan & 5Htp to be made. Les building blocks = low mood.
iv. Low Dopamine: less happy brain chemical responsible for making us feel motivated & engaged with our life is also the one released when we gamble, have sex, eat, and watch stimulating shows. It requires converted vitamin B9 & amino acid L-Tyrosine to be made.
v. B vitamins: the same essential vitamin conversion helper (cofactor) needed to make feel good chemicals and hormones, Bs are also what the body uses to buffer against stress. They are both mechanics and soldiers.
Every mechanic B vitamin that could show up to build happy chemicals, is instead made into a soldier B vitamin and sent to battle against stress. Do you want to create a war inside that requires B soldiers or free up those Bs to make joyful, motivated, blissful fat burning chemicals?
More Spotlight on B Vitamins:
-B vitamins have their hand in everything! They handle appetite regulation, metabolism and nerve function, how well we convert fat to usable energy. Best sources of B: Leafy Greens like spinach & kale, eggs, avocado, animal products, seafood, bananas, oranges, watermelon, papaya, lentils, and nuts.
-QUICK TIP: Taking a lot of Vitamin B in little doses throughout the day is a helpful insurance policy to make sure we have enough to do both. The body can’t process a lot of B at a time and you’ll just pee it out. Take 50 mg with each meal rather than a monster pill in the morning for max absorption. If you only have time to take it once a day, that’s ok. Just opt for smaller doses so you don’t waste money.
***Rarely known fact: Unfortunately, many people (up to 60%) don’t convert B9 / folate into its usable form Methylfolate. This converted B is the version that is helpful in turning amino acid protein building blocks into important brain and body chemicals. Not only do we not effectively make enough feel and look good chemicals, unconverted B can just build up in the system!!!
**science bar: This inability to convert B vitamins into their usable helpful form is due to an unfortunate genetic variation on the MTHFR gene that is responsible for making this conversion. There are tests to see if you have this variant so you don’t accidently take a lot of folate thinking it’s good but really it’s just building up in your body unable to convert. Here is the link to get your MTHFR gene tested: See if you’re part of the 60% that needs to take converted B vitamins! - 1.Physician ordered Spectracell Labs MTHFR Test 2.Physician ordered: Molecular Testing Labs MTHFR Test 3.Home test: 23andMe Test -tests for MTHFR A1298C and MTHFR C677T and various other MTHFR snps PLUS numerous other genetic.
If you’re interested in more of the deep science and want to see your genetic makeup, 23andme.com is an expert favorite. Bulletproof exec Dave Asprey speaks highly of it and I personally love it. Please note: the 23andme test will provide raw data on your MTHFR gene but you will not find the MTHFR listed. You will have to download your ‘raw data file’ and run it through one of two websites if you go for the larger genetic picture of 23andme rather than the specific MTHFR tests listed above. Here are the sites that work with 23andme:
1. Genetic Genie: for a donation, they run your 23andMe raw data into a report which has a limited number of genes reported for you. The report is well laid out. Results are available immediately.
2. MTHFR Support: for $20, they run your 23andMe raw data into a report which has well over 100 genes reported for you. This report is broken down into various categories. Many doctors believe identifying some additional methylation, mitochondrial, detoxification and neurotransmitter genes are important. These have been added to the report. The results are available immediately. (http://mthfr.net/mthfr-test-options-oral-swab-blood-test-or-saliva/2013/06/26/) (https://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-mthfr-gene-mutation-and-how-to-rewire-your-genetics/)
SCIENCE BAR:
Without proper B vitamins absorbed and converted, a series of things go wrong in the body. These Bs transform our amino acid proteins into usable building blocks. This affects everything from our mood, to how well we repair injury, to how our DNA expresses itself as either fat or thin. If our DNA is coded to be thin, the switch can be flipped to be fat - all because we didn’t have the building blocks there to make the conveyor belt work. The wrong switches get turned on, important pathways are blocked, systems stop being able to talk to each other, and we’re unable to clear toxins or repair damage.
4. Bad Digestion = Sad mood.
High stress harms our mood by harming the production of other important brain chemicals. Besides feel good building blocks not being absorbed as described above, high cortisol also causes the body to quickly break down happy serotonin’s building block Tryptophan.
The same tryptophan we crack jokes about at Thanksgiving is the amino acid responsible for making happy serotonin which later converts into sleepy melatonin. This is part of the reason Turkey tryptophan gets blamed for our Thanksgiving nap.
The main reason for our post dinner coma is the sheer amount of Thanksgiving food we ate, much of which is starchy carbs, putting us to sleep thanks to the blood sugar spike.
There’s actually more Tryptophan in tofu than Turkey but I don’t think that joke will ever die. What a shame that US soybeans have some of the highest toxins in them, they have so much tryptophan! Green god spirulina takes the top of this building block chart.
With Cortisol breaking down tryptophan too fast, less of the joyful happy Serotonin gets made. Our mood plummets with less awesome brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, GABA, & DHEA. This leaves us reaching for sugar to get back to feeling good. Low serotonin feels like vulnerable, joyless, soothe seeking, emptiness.
Here are supplement blends for when you want to feel more CALM, HAPPY, FOCUSED.
In Part 3, we’ll cover supplements you can take to naturally build back up your serotonin. Here’s our favorite supplement with both Bs and Tryptophan present along with stress relieving herbs.
Here are the major players on the conveyor belt to make awesome happy brain chemical Serotonin and later sleepy Melatonin. >>>>>>>
What other nutrients are crucial to make these conversion happen?
Let’s look at how many nutrients (in green) we need properly absorbed to get to happy serotonin and sleepy melatonin
Notice all of the important weight loss and pain management results in red that happen when we don’t make enough.
Notice which building blocks are necessary for both Serotonin and Dopamine.
Motivation and pleasure releasing dopamine is made from amino acid/protein L-Tyrosine and has it’s own nutrient need and methylation/ conveyor belt needing all of those nutrients to be made.
We want to be building all of our happy chemicals! We love soothing Progesterone hormone, youthful curvy think clearly estrogen hormone (just not in higher amounts than Progesterone else we feel crabby), calming GABA and Taurine, muscle building enjoy sex Testosterone, euphoric endorphines (made from amino acid DL-Phenylalanine.) It’s really important to absorb our nutrients!
If any of this seems overwhelming, know that you don’t need to remember any of this.
We’ll give you a list of foods highest in these nutrients and supplements to take to feel awesome.
-Building blocks vs Anti Depressants: why Anti Depressants don’t work the way we’d like.
For a small portion of the population, antidepressants are a lifesaver. They address the exact spot on their brain chemical conveyor belt that is off - the end. These are the people that have a problem with the part of their brain that cleans up and restores the happy chemicals after they have been released.
Happiness has to be digested and absorbed from our food and supplements, mixed with the right converted B vitamins to made into happy brain chemicals, released in the brain to be enjoyed, and then left there long enough to be enjoyed thoroughly before the brain puts them back in their storage containers. If your brain puts happy chemicals back too soon, antidepressants can help block the doors to leave them on your brain longer.
The problem is, many people aren’t just having a problem with how long the chemicals stay. They are having a problem with not having enough happy chemicals made to begin with. Modern day anti-depressants haven’t effectively solved how to make the brain have more happy chemicals without serious depletion consequences in a few years requiring higher dosages and possible lifetime dependency.
Plus, many people are being prescribed antidepressants that work on the wrong brain chemical. If you’re prescribed a Prozac which works on Serotonin but you actually need help with your Dopamine, your brain imbalance will get worse.
If you’re actually needing help ditching mean inner thoughts programmed from childhood that never let you “win” and release feel good chemicals from painful traumatic childhood abusive training, blocking the exits of a chemical messenger won’t do much..
AntiDepressants also tend to lead to weight gain and killed sex drive - so we want to be sure we are dealing with the right part of the right brain chemical before hopping on one. Playing the guessing game about the above 8 neuro-chemicals is a losing strategy. Experiment with exercise and herbal supplements first to see where you find relief. Almost no side effects and more data.
Lastly, anti-depressants don’t solve the real problem for most people. That being they aren’t absorbing their nutrients to begin with, their body may be toxic and polluted, and of course they aren’t making enough happy chemicals! The building blocks never showed up from the gut! Who cares if we block the exits so 10 cars can stay on the freeway an extra 5 miles if we really need 100 cars to feel decent. AntiDepressants looks at the wrong end of the conveyor belt for most people - if it’s a conveyor belt issue at all.
VS
-What works better than anti-depressants in feeling good and releasing weight?
Getting our gut balanced, removing the toxins, increasing our nutrient absorption through better eating and less inflammation/ stress gives us the building blocks to have a fighting chance to feel good.
Add in endorphin releasing, confidence boosting moderate exercise, and we have a real formula for feel good. Showing up for ourselves, facing fears, and continuing to choose action seems to help us out of a depressive episode along with getting the offending toxins out and the body what it needs.
-Why certain other drugs do real damage to our feel good, beauty, and weight loss
We’ll cover toxins in detail below but it’s key to mention how party drugs affect this feel good process. Fun party drugs have unfortunate toxic effects in the body. This inflammation throws off all of our body systems including the ones that release our fat. My inner partier hates this. Fortunately, there are benefits of blowing off steam, connecting with friends, and playing. In part 2 we’ll cover how to party smart with least consequences with the best supplement party hacks.
The quick note here is how party drugs can release and deplete all of our feel good chemical stores leaving us sad for weeks as we try to rebuild. If our body has inflammation or our digestion is off, we won’t be able to rebuild the same or very fast. If our goal is to have the experience of a lifetime in Ibiza, there’s an argument to be made. If our goal is to heal or drop weight, we’ve gotta respect the body’s inflammation response and postpone the partying.
Clean eating and detoxing leaves more wiggle room for partying. Pick your poison, literally. Less toxins in our food, air, water, products means we can go play more. Sleeping when we can, flushing with filtered water, taking antioxidants, and getting our lymphatic shaking exercise, all help us feel good longer.
When we indulge in an already inflamed body, our brain does something to protect itself. It disincentivizes us from over-stimulating again by pulling back the receptors that connect to these feel good, happy chemicals. Because they’ve been abused with the assault of too many chemicals, the receptors go into hiding for a bit to repair and regrow. It takes low stimulation, rest, and building block nutrition to get them out of hiding.
It’s the mechanism that keeps us needing more and more drugs to feel the same level of happy. Notice how sugary ice cream bite 50 tastes less good than bite 2? Or that pain killer or antidepressant dosages need to be increased over time to get the same result? This is our brain pulling back receptors hoping we slow down or stop the stimulation. It’s too much. So the brain tries to regroup.
Our youth and healthy filters mask the damage for a bit in our 20s leaving us feeling consequence free. Notice our party friends all start to put on weight and look haggard around 29? That’s the wear and tear of the drug metabolism, oxidation, inflammation, and fatigue of our filters. By 32, many hard partiers have done damage that takes serious detox protocols to even consider reversing. And they are told to further stress out their body by hitting a super hard workout or pop a stimulant to keep going.
Going through a detox period and resetting our body back to calm with the ability to self regulate and naturally grow happy neurotransmitters is necessary boredom. It isn’t easy but certain supplement support and sleep protocols make it easier. Without the lowering of inflammation from all of this stimulation stress on the body, it’s unlikely the body will communicate with itself enough to switch back to fat burning mode. It’ll stay in protective mode holding onto its fat layer and refusing to free the fat.
Here’s a worst case scenario if we don’t slow down, sleep, or supplement to lower inflammation: Years of overstimulation, stress, or drug use leads to serious receptor damage with so much extra stimulation being required just to feel sorta ok. Happiness is no longer within reach and we can fall into a serious depression. Losing weight isn’t really an option at this point as we eat stimulating inflammatory things desperate to just feel ok. We’re tortured by skinny marketing everywhere to sell us more stuff to feel acceptable as our food supply is unfairly poisoned with pesticides to increase profit. Our culture speeds up, and we’re supposed to just boot camp the unacceptable shaming fat off regardless of if we’ve slept.
It’s an unwinnable game without considering the inflammation and stress element.
My friends in the entertainment and marketing industry have taught me all the pose, lighting, and photoshop tricks used to sell more things. It’s crazy what we’re up against as everyday people just trying to contribute, support our family, and be happy. And it’s awesome we have well sourced supplements and protocols to heal leaky gut to absorb our nutrients and get back to a restorative fat releasing sane state.
Just like caffeine stops working if used too much, big drugs including sugar and alcohol must be used infrequently and with proper rest after ---or not at all if we don’t have time to rest after. That is, if we want a brain that can feel good and a body that is low enough inflammation to release fat.
See why it’s so wrong to fill our food with addictive sugar, put out ad campaigns for liquor showing pretty healthy people living without consequence, and pretend they aren’t profiting off our drug addiction? All while using the thinnest people perfectly lit and photoshopped to push these beauty, youth, and health destroying substances. Our culture is killing us while masked in a smiling bikini babe that our primitive mid-brain distractingly likes. When she says #pizzaismybae #whyaskwhy #upallnight #sleepwhenyou’redead #youonlyliveonce, we can’t help but want to agree.
So let’s look at what we can do about this inflammation.
-Clean Up Crew: Getting less toxin dirty & letting sleep clean up
1. Avoiding Toxins means needing less cleanup
The toxins that bombard our immune system, increase inflammation, and are stored in our fat cells are numerous. 148 different toxins were recently found in human urine. Babies are being born with 100s of toxins found in the umbilical cord. Our food is being genetically modified to be more lucrative to the grower and more toxic to us. Our household cleaners, paints, and water bottles all have toxins in them that trigger the body to hold onto fat.
When we submit our bodies to toxins, push them to the point of exhaustion, and ignore their signals of distress, we are flouting the wisdom of every cell." -Dr. Deepak Chopra. The consequences are harmful to our health and fat release efforts.
Toxins affect the body by placing little dings called methyl marks on the intersection of our DNA strands. A buildup of these DNA marks can activate harmful genes or deactivate protective genes. This flip of a switch activates or leaves us defenseless against all sorts of disorders including fat storage and other obesity related diseases. Little healthy choices can erase some of these dings or prevent ones that may be the needle that broke the camel’s back. Every little good choice is a celebration.
Toxins raise system wide inflammation by creating a poisonous environment that the body feels it need to fight and heal. It goes into wound repair mode, releases the inflammation signal and starts that chronically dangerous series of chemical events explained in Module 2.
Toxins are directly tied to Obesity. There are many theories about why an individual becomes obese. Stress, hormonal imbalance, bad eating habits from childhood, and the excess of refined sugar and starches in the modern diet have all been suggested.
Rather than an obesity gene which remains to be found, it is looking like a switchboard that turns on and off genes based on outside experience, toxins, and stimuli is likely more to blame. "An environmental toxin can cause epigenetic changes, but so can a strong emotion, like fear, at least in mice studies so far." - Dr Chopra
The key is to reduce the amount of stress dings (methyl marks) on the genes we accumulate over time. The entire range of life experience, from physical interactions to emotional reactions, that govern the chemical modification of certain genes." - Dr Chopra. Lifestyle matters. Thoughts matter. It's not calories in, calories out.
For example, the gene that breaks down fat in the body can be turned off due to lifestyle stressors like poor diet, alcohol, or smoking. One study showed obesity being directly tied to inflammation.
“Fat tissue is reported to increase inflammatory chemicals. After looking at the methyl marks (destruction dings) on specific genes on the group that did not lose weight, it was noted that these same genes belonged to networks related to cancer, inflammatory response, and immune cell trafficking. " - Dr. Chopra, Super Genes
Fortunately, using this protocol to relax our way into weight loss, helps to lower the inflammation that keeps the pesky weight on and lowers our risk for several other nasty ailments.
Toxins are overlooked as our culture yells at our poisoned people to get to the gym more or restrict calories. It's odd that it's never addressed how calorie restriction can't help if harmful genes are given the signal to turn on due to toxins. Studies in mice show them getting obese on the same calories they ate before if these genes are turned on by repeated stress.
Yes, fasting has been proven to have cleansing benefits as the body turns on a process called autophagy. This 'cleaning cycle' eliminates broken cells and improves mitochondria cellular energy function. Important to note, prolonged fasting can be hard on overworked tired adrenals and starvation does not help fat release. When blood sugar is low for longer than 14 hours or in the presence of physical activity, the adrenals are asked to pump out more cortisol to compensate for the low blood sugar.
For max use of this cleansing state, keep fasting to the evening hours with an early dinner, plenty of sleep, and late breakfast to enjoy the benefits without putting the body into panicked low blood sugar mode. Start the day with lemon water and wait until your morning bowel movement eliminating yesterday’s waste before eating your protein filled late breakfast. Fasting in this sense is more of completed cleansing cycle.
While this fasted state may help rebuild broken mitochondria or metabolize cancer cells, it doesn't help our lymph nodes remove toxins. Toxins that can't be filtered out get stored away in fat cells. This is why moving the body in a medium intensity capacity is helpful to move the toxin carrying lymph through the body for proper release.
We're shaming people into pleasure restricting dieting that won't help them lose weight anyway! Insane and unfair. So to reiterate, starvation does not help fat release. What does work to release toxins and the fat that holds toxin is massage, jumping or shaking exercises, sleep, and plenty of hydration to help clear toxins out through our lymph nodes and kidneys. Antioxidants and liver cleansing herbs help our liver filter these out.
Eating clean is about low inflammation, high nutrient, high fiber and avoiding toxins, not restricting calories. Calories should not be a focus. Eating lots of fiber will help us feel full. Drinking lots of water will also help us feel full. Eating micronutrient rich leafy greens, healthy fat fish and nuts, and a colorful array of vegetables and berries will feed our cells so they don’t cry out for energy and keep us reaching for sugar. A healthy body will tell us when to stop eating. Eating slowly allows us to enjoy our food, chew it more to help with digestion, and allow our full hormone leptin to send its signal.
Watching the toxins in our physical and emotional environment will lead to faster, easier weight release. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has found a scary 148 different chemicals in the blood and urine of the US people! "Increasing evidence gives support to the notion that environmental pollutants likely cause various diseases by inducing epigenetic changes in our genome (body), thus altering specific genes." -Dr Deepak Chopra
13 million deaths worldwide are tied to environmental pollutants. In a study done by biologists at Washington State University, a specific pattern was found of where the methyl marks / damage to the DNA formed from specific toxins. This allowed researchers to tie specific toxins to specific diseases. Exposing mice to the now banned insecticide DDT created a predisposition to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in later generations. My goodness!
In an interview with Dr. Mark Hyman, Executive director of the Environmental Working Group (EWG.org), Heather White broke down several of the toxins we are faced with in our every day. She covers the “Safe & Accurate Food Labeling Act”, an ironically named bad policy that takes away states right and transparency in food labeling. This means states are not allowed to even label whether a food has GMO products in it or certain known toxins.
She points out a study showing a baby’s umbilical cord having 287 known chemicals! Mom’s are around so many toxins they aren’t aware of, they are unknowingly providing a toxic environment to grow their baby in. And Dr. Deepak Chopra’s new book on epigenetics shows how our DNA is shaped in real time by these toxins. If the mother’s womb and the father’s sperm are altered by the presence of toxins, what kind of disadvantage are we placing our kids in in many categories, including metabolism, stress management, and weight loss?
Obesagens- a term coined by Dr. Mark Hyman referring to environmental toxins that cause obesity by disrupting hormones by mimicking estrogen. These include phthalates, parabens, flame retardants, BPA in plastic,
They increases insulin and affect Thyroid Function. No wonder they lead to obesity!
Toxin Overview:
Pesticides:
Methoxychlor -used in US livestock to prevent fleas and other pests causes testicular and ovarian dysfunction in mice.
Dieldrin -has been shown to lead to nerve cell death associated with Parkinson's
Dioxin - A waste product of industry specifically from pesticide manufacturing and waste burning has been linked to prostate, kidney, and polycystic ovary disease. There is no safe dosage and yet somehow it is legal. The EPA estimates that the damage being cause outstrips that by DDT in the 60s which is now illegal.
Herbicide 24D- linked to Parkinson's, non hodgkin's lymphoma
Obesogen hormone disrupting toxins: phthalates, parabens, flame retardants
BPA (bisphenol)- (plastic hardener) mimics estrogen is strongly linked to breast cancer and prostate cancer is found in the lining of canned food, plastic bottles… BPA increases insulin resistance and messes with thyroid function.
DES (diethylstilbestrol) - increases risk for breast cancer and was used extensively pre 1960 to avoid miscarriage.
Arsenic - tied to bladder tumors. Arsenic is found on rice grown in soils in certain parts of the country.
Heavy Metals- (nickel, mercury, chromium, lead, and cadmium) in fish, food, and water is linked to various cancers as well as messed up pathways needed to convert and create important chemicals and reactions. Large fish is a big culprit for carrying mercury. Lead is in many paints and cheaply made home items. Many Indian & Chinese spices have been found to be contaminated with heavy metals due to their source proximity to mining areas and the resulting water contamination.
Lead- damages brain & kidney. Before 1997, many homes have lead in pipes & paint
Only drink & cook with cold water. Running water for a while helps reduce lead that initially leaches in water. Lead gets stored in bones. Lowers IQ & affects behavior
EMF- Electromagnetic Frequencies
All those microwave and cell tower frequencies may be exhausting and burdening our adrenals and metabolic hormones. Blue Light from our electronics aren't doing us any favors either. It's being suggested that ice baths and cold therapy in general may be an effective healing reset to offset EMF. I’ve heard good things about HyperIce but have not yet tried it myself.
Air Pollution- leads to inflammation throughout the body
Benzene- in gasoline and other fuels alters the DNA associated with leukemia.
Water Pollution-
Chlorination leads to byproducts that change our genome with studied results in animals including brain inflammation and swelling as well as liver disease.
Alcohol-
Alcohol does calm our nervous system reducing stress. 1 drink lowers C-reactive protein- a marker of inflammation. More than one drink unfortunately increases C-RP as well as acting like a fast metabolizing sugar in the body.
Stick to one drink 2x/week max during our first 3 weeks and include a fiber with it to avoid the bad chemical cascade of spiking blood sugar. Faster weight release results or more extreme health needs may require eliminating alcohol and sugar all together. So annoying, I know!! I did this for 2 months last year and the weight literally fell off with nothing else in my life changing besides a bit more sleep. I was shocked. I had never been so effortlessly lean. And yet, the lifestyle modification, especially if sugar is a major emotional coping mechanism, can be tricky.
Note that US regulation is not as strict as European and unfortunately Okra Toxin A can be found in both our wines as well as many of our cereals. Wine also has the sulfites and tannins along with the sugar that makes it not ideal for many people despite it's beautiful antioxidant resveratrol. Sourcing your wine carefully is important.
Free Radicals-
Free radicals are molecules with an extra atom that binds with another healthy molecule. Free radicals are an important part of the repair process, but with chronic inflammation, too many free radicals damage healthy cells.
Free radicals get released when we work out too hard and hinder the muscle repair process. They also are released when we eat huge meals due to the metabolic burn.
Free radicals also called oxidative stress, affect the brain leading to dementia while being the #1 factor in early aging! Oxidative stress from too much food, intense exercise, toxins, old left out oxidized brown food lead to us looking old and breaking down sooner.
Light exercise, Vitamin C, electrolytes, and the antioxidants Alpha Lipoic Acid as well as N-Acetyl Cysteine are wonderful responses to free radicals run amok in the body and brain. The master antioxidant glutathione can be taken in a liposomal form allowing it to be absorbed. If our liver is healthy, antioxidant N-Acetyl-Cysteine also becomes glutathione in the liver. We love ingesting the right building blocks and having a healthy (not leaky) gut that can absorb these crucial nutrients! Bye Bye Free Radicals!
Endotoxin - (and fiber's fight back)
Endotoxins are released by certain bacteria that make the liver insulin resistant result in obesity and diabetes as found in a study by Professor Patrice Cani. Inflammation from the endotoxin also cause leaks from the microbiome through the intestinal walls being cited as "a major factor in human obesity, exacerbated by overeating and eating the wrong foods." However, the "mere addition of soluble plant fibers found in bananas, garlic, and asparagus prevented the entire cascade"- no endotoxin, no inflammation, no diabetes, no weight gain. Fiber is non-caloric but it's food for the good gut bacteria and when it's broken down, beneficial substances like vitamin B and K are released. Fiber stops inflammation and helps release Vitamin B in the body, nice!
GLUTEN
The wheat protein also known as Gluten has come into focus lately due to its potential toxic effects on the body. Most people don’t start out having a gluten sensitivity. Those with an extreme reaction are diagnosed with Celiac disease but this is a small number of people. However, those with a sensitivity to gluten with it harming their GI tract, is a much larger number and is growing.
Why is this happening? And what does this mean for our body?
Because the chemical structure of the wheat protein looks a lot like our thyroid hormone, if Gluten does get past our gut lining thanks to Leaky Gut and the body does raise an immune offensive against it, we’re in big trouble. The immune system often gets confused and then goes after our thyroid which looks similar. With US wheat not only having more gluten than usual thanks to recent farming practices, gluten is now used as a filler in much of our food supply.
-Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Stephanie Daniel agree on the thrilling results of going gluten free. "Increased energy, balanced appetite, clearer thinking, happier mood and some weight loss." - Dr. Stephanie Daniel
Glyphosate
US wheat and many other products also often has toxic pesticide Glyphosate built straight into them thanks to GMO advances that allow the seed to come with the bug pesticide poison genetically modified to be built in. Why pay for a roundup patent when you can just engineer it into the whole crop? Bugs stay away, profits go up… but humans should be staying away too. Glyphosate is a carcinogen
Soybean oil- among the most genetically modified products, pesticide burdened, and an estrogen mimicker, soybean oil in the US in a no go. And unfortunately, because its used as an emulsifier, it’s put in a ton of our sauces and dressings.
RESOURCES: ewg.org
food scores- iPhone app to scan barcode & website
skin deep.com (beauty and triglosane in antibacterial soap, aluminum in deodorant)
tap water atlas - legal & public health goals are different… type in zip code and see your tap water rating
water filter guide
meat eaters guide: 70% of antibiotics are used on animals & in feed to prevent infection
-no growth hormone or antibiotics
-buy organic, grass fed
-some people benefit from meatless mondays
Avoiding toxins isn’t always possible.
Thankfully we have detox mechanisms built into our body. But with detox being an annoying 2 step process, it’s often easier to try to avoid the toxins than to think we can effectively filter them out later. Ugh.
Here’s why detoxing out these toxins isn’t as easy as we’d like. 1st, toxins need to be converted from fat soluble to water soluble to be peed, poo’d, or sweated out.)
Notice the 2 steps involved in the diagram below.
We need to eat clean enough to prompt the body to release the toxins from the fat cells and then we need to have the right nutrients present to convert them to a form that can be peed, pooped, and sweated out of the body.
I like Dr. Stephanie Daniel of FunctionalMedicineSF Metagenics suggestion that covers both of these detox steps. I also like her suggested liver detox supplement with many of these needed nutrients. The amino acids, antioxidants, and vitamins needed can all be found in these well sourced, medical grade, effective dose products.
If we don’t factor in the conversion to water solubility toxins must go through before being pee’d out, we may find ourselves only halfway there. This can cause more damage than if we had done nothing at all! The unfortunate problem with juice cleanses is that they only accomplish the 1st part. Who wants to eat super clean and burn fat just to release the toxins back into the body to wreak havoc again because they can’t be released in that form. Cleaning up our liver gets really important really quickly.
Frustrating! Thankfully you’ll know both steps so you can ditch those toxins that are stealing your fertility, weight release, clear thoughts, and happy mood.
-Toxin Protection: holes in our castle wall (leaky gut)
The toxins we eat are normally filtered out of the body through our intestines. We pee & poop them out and go about our business. This works when we are young, but two things get in the way as we age.
One, filters like our liver and kidneys get over-burdened and less effective.
Two, poor diet, exposure to toxins, and excess stress can weaken the cement in the bricks that make up the wall of our stomach lining ( leaky gut ). When this happens, food particles and toxins escape past this stomach lining wall into the body sparking inflammation.
This not only allows dangerous toxins into the body raising inflammation and increasing the need for fat cells, it can make normal food look like an invader to the body if that food slips into the bloodstream in a form larger than normal. Food outside of the digestive system is unrecognizable to the body and it mounts an attack to protect against this foreign invader.
All of a sudden, our favorite foods we’ve eaten for years can become allergies raising inflammation - and we don’t even know it! In Part 3 we’ll cover how to seal up the bricks and close the gaps of leaky gut ensuring that toxins stay out and nutrients get absorbed.
-Toxins tell the thyroid it’s not a safe environment to burn resourceful fat
High inflammation from toxins and stress makes the thyroid shut down and go into safety mode. It rings the alarm and battens down the hatches. Our metabolism slows, energy dips, and fat storage mode flipped on.
Whether the thyroid feels there’s enough food and toxin free environment to burn calories and be motivated decides whether we have energy and feel good or feel tired and hold onto fat. That whole canary in the coal mine thing. Is it safe or not safe?
Toxins in our environment including oxidation, food and environmental toxins, high inflammation all ring the alarm as an unfit environment for the thyroid to release thyroid hormone to play, reproduce, or hunt. We’re seeing so much more thyroid problems with our current culture of stress, GMO foods, poor sleep, and increase in toxins.
-More cortisol being produced lowers available master antioxidant Glutathione
If our filters like our liver and kidneys can’t detox, we won’t make master antioxidant glutathione. The amino acid N-Acetyl Cysteine is a building block of glutathione.
Glutathione is a key player that keeps free radicals at bay and helps lower inflammation. Oxidation and inflammation will stay high, which means, store / protect tummy fat mode. You’ll retain fat despite your best efforts as your body slows to a protective halt.
Chronic stress leads to more cortisol produced which slows the production of the very antioxidant that could help clean it up. “Glutathione is your body’s master molecule for minimizing oxidative stress.” - Dr. John Gray, Staying Focused in a Hyper world - Not only is the extra stress causing oxidative buildup in the brain and body, it damages production of the antioxidant meant to clear up that very same toxic stress. The same stress and inflammation making us tired and fat.
Because antioxidant NaC is a precursor to making glutathione, taking plenty of this helps us make more naturally. This same antioxidant helps us stave off hangoverpost a big night of drinking. It’s good for our liver and the manufacturing of antioxidants! Pro Tip: Antioxidant Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) along with VitaminC, and NaC mentioned above, make a powerful hangover prevention and inflammation lowering trio for nights you can’t say no to alcohol.
-Fat cells role in Toxin storage
So not only are toxins burrowing holes in our nutrient absorbing gut, throwing off our thyroid, hogging our important anti-aging, clean up crew antioxidants, they also happen to be stored in fat cells! C’mon! This not only requires the body to keep more fat cells on hand, it makes us feel yucky when we lose weight as toxins are re-released into the body after their fat storage container gets burned up.
Having a detox protocol of extra sleep, extra sweat from either exercise or sauna, hydration flushing, and waste removing compounds present as we start releasing fat will help those toxins not re-upset the thyroid and create more inflammation. Toxins really throw off our fat release efforts.
-Inflammation harms our toxin clean up crew
Brain nerve cells die in the wake of unbridled inflammation. The brain's broom, the microglial cells, get confused and start accidentally friendly firing on their own brain cells. This is similar to what happens with various autoimmune diseases in other areas of the body. The body becomes a war zone and our own soldiers get flustered and over reactive.
Our neurons protective sheathing, myelin is damaged by inflammation. Activities that increase this damage include smoking, drinking alcohol, drug use, brain trauma, poor diet, overload of stress, and lack of sleep.
Meditation and other relaxing practices help soothe our agitated soldiers lowering our stress and resulting inflammation. This protects our brain in a number of ways and helps ensure we have the faculties to make successful decisions we're proud of.
2. Sleep as our saving clean up crew and hunger hormone regulator :
Sleep is vital. Sleep is healing. Sleep lowers inflammation and clears the Alzheimer's causing amyloid plaque from our brains. Sleep should be called skinny sleep it's so darn effective in suppressing our hunger hormones and resetting our systems to promote fat burning and nutrient use. Sleep is our best friend.
But our culture seems to value sayings like, "you can sleep when you're dead" which confuses our value system and steals our ability to help ourselves feel and look our best.
Two important clean up crew jobs happen when we are sleeping.
One, our brain clears up the gunk that’s built up from toxins and activity. This amyloid plaque buildup eventually becomes Alzheimer’s. The cleanup crew responsible are the Microglia brooms mentioned above.
The other important clean up crew is autophagy. This happens when we are in a state of fasting during rest. Our body scans our energy source mitochondria eliminating the damaged ones and creating new ones with the material. It even appears this process may target and kill rogue cells during this fasted scan of the body. Many other important processes happen and get balanced out during this reset phase of rest.
Sleep is so important, and sleep when the sun is down specifically, that workers on the night shift never actually fully adapt to their sleep schedule and are at higher risks for a variety of diseases including diabetes and obesity. It is suspected that sleep deprivation strongly raises inflammation as well.
"Disruptions of sleep rhythms have been linked to numerous disorders including Alzheimers, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancers, and autoimmune diseases."
-Dr. Deepak Chopra
Ghrelin, the hunger hormone also gets regulated while we sleep. If you want to avoid cravings all day, get enough rest.
3. Messengers: The Gut / Brain Messaging system, Hunger Hormones
High Cortisol negatively affects other crucial weight loss hormones:
i. Leptin- satisfying, full feeling hormone produced by the fat cells in the body. Leptin’s main role is regulating how many calories we eat and burn, as well as how much fat we carry on our bodies. Leptin is affected by how much we sleep. Skinny sleep is a solution to curbing cravings. High Cortisol robs us of the nutrients to make sleepy time melatonin while keeping us feeling wired even when we’re tired.
Leptin is released by fat cells to “tell the brain” when fat storage levels are high and to stop eating when the cells fill up. If the brain has gotten desensitized and can no longer hear the leptin message. What does this mean and how does it happen?
. *science bar*- The hypothalamus is the brain area that controls when and how much we eat depending on this leptin signal.The fat cells use leptin to “tell” the brain how much body fat they carry. Lots of leptin tells the brain that we have plenty of fat stored, while low levels of leptin tell the brain that fat stores are low and that we are at risk of starvation.
Studies are finding many obese people are leptin resistant! That’s why obese people are not getting the stop eating signal! Because they aren’t getting the leptin message.
And why are they leptin resistant? It’s the boy who cried wolf factor. Just like insulin levels staying too high in diabetic people and no longer being effective in clearing out blood sugar, too high of leptin in the blood stream leads to too many signals coming from full fat cells to the brain.
The brain gets desensitized / resistance to the message and doesn’t think it sending a ‘full’ message is going to stop eating anyway so like the boy who cried wolf, it stops caring about the signal and becomes blind to it. The body no longer responds because it’s “always getting signals” so no longer an emergency. If we don’t sleep enough or have toxins throwing off our brains ability to see leptin, we find ourselves in an unwinnable battle. Sleep and detox can reverse it though.
Here comes the Double Whammy!!: Chronic High Cortisol from our full lives messes with our blood sugar regulation, increases inflammation and insulin levels which leads to fat storage. Overfull fat cells lead to leptin resistance over time and not only is our cortisol making us fat, leptin resistance is making us starving on top of it! Huge cravings and a body primed for fat storage. Double whammy!! The brain doesn’t recognize the leptin, thinks we’re starving and conserves energy making us feel lazy and hungry. Recipe for rapid weight gain.
The triple whammy comes when high cortisol throws our thyroid off which puts the brakes on our metabolism stopping whatever fat burning we were doing! The thyroid thinks it’s time to conserve energy and stops burning fat reserves. Hibernation mode.
So we’re great fat storers (high insulin), now always hungry (leptin resistant), and we’re not burning the way before (low thyroid) and not breaking down our food properly (harmed metabolism and GI tract).
All because stress hormone cortisol in hyper drive while we’re swimming in a world of toxins, throwing our hunger / full messaging out of whack, and tipping our inflammation levels off the charts setting us up for bigger diseases.
Time to rest, re-prioritize, lower our cortisol and nap our way to better health and a skinnier waistline. Bring on the spa day and tell that stressful friend you can’t hang out until after bikini season is over. Her drama is not more important than you enjoying your thinnest, sexiest, happiest self. Bye Felicia!
ii. -Ghrelin- hunger- The opposite of Leptin, Ghrelin is a fast-acting hormone, that
makes us hungry. There is some evidence that the off switch for ghrelin gets
stuck on when we don’t sleep enough. Marijuana helps release more ghrelin and is used with some cancer patients to get back their appetite.
Certain speed amphetamines temporarily reduce ghrelin but fatigue the adrenals, poison the system, throw off the metabolism, and quickly age us so diet pill users regularly wear out and lose their hair if they stay on too long or gain back double the weight once they stop using it. Diet pills only add more inflammation to the body and wreck our chances of long term weight release.
Other hormones thrown off by high cortisol and not enough sleep:
iii. Adiponectin - protein involved in regulating glucose (sugar) levels as well as fatty acid breakdown - both essential is weight loss and messed with by cortisol.
iv. Insulin- hormone that regulates blood sugar- made by the pancreas that allows your body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in for energy or to store sugar for future use. Insulin helps keeps your blood sugar from getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia).
High insulin level turn the body into a fat storing machine. Insulin is there to remove sugar from the blood stream and place it in fat cells. Spiking blood sugar and therefore insulin levels = fat storage. How can we eat and enjoy our meals without tripping the emergency insulin switch? FIber and this supplement.
v. Adrenaline - a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands, especially in conditions of stress, increasing rates of blood circulation, breathing, and carbohydrate metabolism and preparing muscles for exertion. Adrenals release adrenaline and cortisol to regulate high blood sugar. This is why carbs/sugar exhaust our adrenals output of cortisol & make us fat through insulin storage of blood sugar in fat cells. High Stress = fat storage.
Remember you can always jump to part 3 straight to solutions when you get tired of hearing the science behind why previous weight loss attempts haven’t worked.
Module 4: High Cortisol, Adrenal Fatigue, & Low Energy
Losing the energy or ability to care
.What are the adrenals & how do they get overworked?
Adrenal glands are a spongy hormone gland that sit on top of the kidney
The adrenals react and adapt to stress. The adrenals release stress hormone cortisol and adrenaline to
get your body ready to fight or fight the stressor.
The old, reactive part of the brain (called the Amygdala) sends a message to the Adrenals to “get ready to fight or run from” the stressor.
Out shoots hormone cortisol to save the day. This emergency distress signal is wonderful and kept our ancestors from being eaten by the saber tooth tiger.
However, our bodies are not designed to be in emergency mode long term and chronic high cortisol does a ton of terrible things to our body.
a. Adrenals affect everything from weight management, thyroid function, hormone balancing, / proper glucose metabolism / insulin release/ controlling cravings, regulation of emotion and mood, regulation of blood pressure, immune function, inflammatory response.
-So adrenals effectively help control our weight, our ability to detox, inflammation levels, and how helpful our immune system is. When the adrenals ring the emergency alarm bell other things like fertility, sleep, and digestion all take a backseat to this stress hormone.
The 3 stages of Adrenal Fatigue
STAGE 1- Too High = “Tired but Wired”
Stress accumulates in the body. The body can’t differentiate between a life or death emergency or someone we love yelling at us. If cortisol is released, we will be armed and ready to battle the stressor. Excess stress causes too much cortisol circulating.
Voila, we now have stage 1 Adrenal fatigue with a high cortisol, constantly wired
feeling prolonged throughout the day. This chronically high cortisol situation results in these symptoms:
i. Hurts our ability to think (brain fog + ADHD constant hyper drive)
ii. Slows metabolism & harms thyroid function (weight and energy manager)
iii. blood sugar imbalances- even more cortisol released to boost back up
iv. Increased tummy fat and inability to lose weight: slower metabolism…
v. decreased bone density & muscle tissue
vi. lowered immunity, higher inflammation which translates to slower healing,
nutrient absorption problems, and toxin buildup
vii.insomnia & lowered mood. https://www.adrenalfatigue.org/sleep-disruption
STAGE 2 - High/ Low = tired then wired unexplainably as the body struggles to make enough cortisol
Don’t worry too much about which stage you may be in. The biggest weight gain problems happen in stage 1 with high cortisol and high inflammation throwing the body communications systems and hormones off.
Stages 2 and 3 show issues with energy popping up. Most people are tired but wired in stage 1 and 2 experiencing these problems happening:
Dr. Chris Kresser's slide from his April 2016 talk at the Functional Forum in SF
STAGE 3 ADRENAL FATIGUE- Low Low, not enough cortisol is made to meet the
demands and stressors of life. You’ve burned through so much cortisol that your adrenals can’t make enough. (boy who cried wolf syndrome).
Symptoms: dizzy, crave salt, super super fatigued. Hard to get out of bed.
This is less tied to obesity and more to the exhausted overworked among us. Think truly worn out from too much stimulation and stress. It’s pretty hard to have the energy to lose weight when your “give a fuck” button is exhausted. This level of fatigue can be tied to weight gain or it can be tied to speed addicts depending on what they turn to for coping mechanisms. The metabolism is thrown off either way, but if they are on a stimulant instead of eating to cope, they’ll look tired and drawn but not necessarily be heavy.
Addisons Disease: scary possible effect of advanced Adrenal Fatigue a disease characterized by progressive anemia, low blood pressure, great weakness, and bronze discoloration of the skin. It is caused by inadequate secretion of hormones by the adrenals. To treat this serious disease, Doctors put patients on inflammation lowering steroids that make you swell up and constantly hungry. Extreme weight gain is a bi-product of steroids.
Scary! Makes me want to prioritize that mid day nap and ditch the sugar.
If you are curious about where your cortisol levels are, they offer at home test kits:
Dr. Richard Shamous CanaryClub.org to test your cortisol- spit test
-When to use stimulants and the role they play in high cortisol keeping us fat
If your energy is flailing on the sugar /insulin /cortisol rollercoaster, how do you keep stimulants in play while minimizing the cortisol spike damage. How do we win in this crazy western culture!!!?
i. Caffeine unfortunately increases the psychological reaction to stress. High cortisol, chronic stress people are already so tapped out. Many of us are addicted to relying on energy uppers like caffeine. This steals from our future, makes us more irritable, further spikes cortisol, and shuts down our body’s messaging that we need to rest. We want to function and are tired of being tired and anxious! But sometimes our schedule beats out our desire to free the fat. If you must be drinking coffee, know this:
ii. When to drink caffeine: With a normal cortisol curve, the ideal time to drink caffeine is after morning cortisol drops around 9am but before it spikes again at 12 and again after 1pm but before 5pm. If you’re high inflammation, high stress, we want to cut the schedule, ditch the coffee, and take a nap. If your schedule won’t allow that, take these calming herbs and really try to get some rest.
iii. Switch to green tea: Kick the coffee habit and swap for antioxidant rich & calminging L-Theanine rich green tea. If you’re careful about where you source your coffee (like local farms or from bulletproof.com), coffee is ok for those that don’t have type O blood type or those that have IBS. Unfortunately, coffee can be quite acidic, harm the tummy’s ability to absorb nutrients, as well as have one of the #1 mold and pesticide toxin problems. If you don’t know where your coffee came from, don’t drink it!
iv. Other alternatives include dandelion and chicory root tea and peppermint tea. Even filtered water will wake you up as dehydration leads to fatigue.
v. If we are sleeping enough, lightly exercising in the morning, napping or meditating in the mid afternoon, and aren’t eating starchy carbs at lunch, we won’t need the caffeine. We will be keeping our blood sugar stable, releasing endorphins, and enjoying a body that went through a cleaning crew cycle. We won’t need to block the tired, full of toxins message from our cells - which is how caffeine works.
vi. For adrenal fatigue sufferers: Unfortunately, those with adrenal fatigue are often “flipped” with their cortisol curve either high all day harming their sleep and future energy in phase 1 or “flipped” and too low in the morning only spiking at the 5pm slot leaving you dragging all day but still unable to sleep in phase 2.
-It is so tempting to reach for caffeine for energy but those looking to heal their adrenal fatigue and dropped the pounds need to opt for lots of early to bed regular sleep nights, naps, and meditation breaks - for awhile.
This will feel like the opposite of your lifestyle- but that’s the point. The lifestyle you were marketed and persuaded to keep up has gotten you tired, storing fat, with a sad mood. We must give our cortisol pumping adrenals a break if we want to free the fat and enjoy our skinny selves.
When I’m resisting sleep and trying to get that one more thing done thanks to my inner slave driver, I’ll remind myself that I deserve detoxing, repairing, happy mood, skinny sleep. I try to at least notice my justifications and see what fear is driving me to make a faithless choice.
**Science Bar: Caffeine works by blocking the messaging system that tells your brain when your cells get too full with waste and need to rest to empty their trash. Caffeine makes us feel like our cells are clear and can push through when they actually are getting overworked, overfilled, drowning in cellular waste.
**SCIENCE BAR- Adderral contains four types of amphetamine salts: aspartate monohydrate, aspartate sulfate, dextroamphetamine sulfate, and dextroamphetamine saccharate. Adderall has both forms of amphetamines included. This gives it a highly stimulative effect on the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. Common Side effects include: chronic trouble sleeping, easily angered and annoyed, feel like throwing up, loss of appetite (speed), nervousness, vomiting, abdominal pain. Leff frequent side effects run the terrifying gammet and can be found on webmd. High inflammation, stressed people will not benefit from adderral which will only keep the fat stored.
So now that we understand how high stress from toxins, lifestyle, past trauma increases inflammation, hurts our vital gut bacteria, stops our fat burning ability, throws off our digestion and thyroid, ruins our beauty, and kills our mood ----- Let’s look at what we can do about it!
PART 3 - WHAT WE CAN DO
Module 5: Lifestyle & Active Healing
Module 5: Lifestyle & Active Healing
-Sleep/Rest/Meditation
-Miraculous Movement (exercise)
-Stress Management Tools
-Healing past trauma (for a brighter future)
-Stopping the toxins
-Healthy sugar hacks & carb cycling
-Healing Leaky Gut
-Superfoods & Wonder Water
-the fresh factor
-fiber
-building blocks Amino Acids
-enzymes start the action
-hydration
Module 6: Super Supplements & Special Hacks
-Vitamins & Minerals
Module 5: Lifestyle & Active Healing
-Sleep/Rest/Meditation
Sleep, meditation, rest, taking breaks, yoga, eliminated sugar / starchy carbs, ditching alcohol and fake energy (caffeine / pharmaceuticals) all lower inflammation. Sleep, rest, and meditation have the added benefit of incredible anti aging, healing repair, and toxin cleanup. Let’s start with this super tool for freeing the fat.
Sleep
Being told to sleep is super annoying. We feel we have 1000 things to do just to be barely good enough, barely caught up. We feel we can’t rest until we’ve finished whatever task is before us and the to-do list is endless. Modern life is chronic stress.
Here’s the truth that will 10x your results and will start working the moment you accept it as truth. Prioritizing sleep, even a few days a week will make everything easier, more efficient, more productive, happier, and naturally leaner.
Everything in your life will get significantly better when you sleep and rest enough. The less important things on your to do list will naturally seem less important when looking through the prioritized schedule of less time and more sleep. You’ll be happier and will need less stimulation. Your systems will work. The fat will fall off.
Sleep is mentioned first for a reason! Sleep is our saving grace. Sleep heals, detoxes, and gets us lean. Sleep is directly tied to obesity. Sleep regulates our hunger hormone ghrelin & satisfied, full hormone leptin. Lack of sleep deprives the brain of blood flow leading to less willpower, worse decisions, lower mood, and more leptin resistant prompted cravings.
Sleep clears toxins, lowers cortisol, resets our body, allows our metabolism to work, helps balance our blood sugar, and is the #1 healer. Sleep lowers inflammation and clears the amyloid plaque from our brains associated with Alzheimer’s.
Sleep should be called skinny sleep it's so darn effective in suppressing our hunger hormones and resetting our systems to promote fat burning and nutrient use. Sleep improves with weight loss (sleep apnea often goes away). Aaaaaand, weight loss improves when we sleep. (hunger hormones balanced, toxins filtered, body systems reset.) Sleep studies have found that metabolism is the first to get disrupted with sleep deprivation.
“When I have to get lean for a shoot, the #1 one thing I do is sleep a ton and early! Exercise will help my skin glow, brighten my mood, and get gunk out of my body, but nothing compares to sleep to lean out.” -Celebrity Body Double & Wellness Writer - Sara Plummer Barnard
Sleep is a game changer.
"Good sleep enhances your mood and decision making and also lowers your risk for obesity and depression." - Dr Daniel Amen.
Sleep is our best friend.
Our culture rejects our best friend by pushing a frantic pace of purchasing and consuming.
Sayings like, "you can sleep when you're dead" are pushed on us.
This ridiculous message confuses our value system and steals our ability to help ourselves feel and look our best.
Good sleep cycles are so important that workers on the night shift never actually fully adapt to their sleep schedule and are at higher risks for a variety of diseases including diabetes and obesity.
It is suspected that sleep deprivation strongly raises inflammation as well. Disruptions of sleep rhythms have been linked to numerous disorders including Alzheimer’s, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancers, and autoimmune diseases.
Acetylcholine, important for many brain performance abilities, helps regulate dream sleep. The brain seems to require a variety of 'me time,' rest time, and play time to get to a relaxed state. Our culture doesn't seem to value or honor this biological need pushing us to constantly perform like robots and always on light switches. Scheduling in meditation time, nap time, or play time is essential to accessing a brain that can wind down when it's time..
Sleep is our clean up crew. It clears out the gunk from overstimulation and activity. Not letting the clean up crew do its work and adding the double negative of picking more stimulation adds more trash to be cleaned up. Over a short amount of time, especially for those of us over 30, this adds up to disaster. The house is spilling out with trash and we keep inviting more people over to party.
.
Things that throw off sleep:
ü negative fearful mental states: anxiety, depression, worry, grief
ü caffeine too late in the day
ü stress and excess noise, late night action, drama, or scary shows counts as this
ü staying up late multiple days in a row throwing off the body's melatonin release & circadian rhythm - bluelight barrier over tech in the pm
ü overexertion mentally or physically (excitement, agitation, or too much exercise releasing too much cortisol to cope)
ü physical pain - obviously distracting when we are trying to shut down (stretching, ice, epsom salt magnesium bath in the evening)
ü irregular, late, and high inflammation eating. This can lead to wild dreams and the body being focused on breaking down the food rather than releasing the clean up crew.
Who wants to need more sleep to feel and look worse. Don’t eat late.
Promoting good sleep:
ü invest in a good mattress. Pillow between or under your knees and between your arms if on your side can help spinal alignment while you save up for a good mattress.
ü regular bedtime in the quietest, darkest room possible (sleep masks are fine)
ü comfortable room temperature
ü wind down routine which can include dimming the lights, taking a warm epsom salt bath, quietly reading, doing a few yin yoga legs up the wall lying poses, a relaxing walk after dinner, a 10 minute relaxing meditation, warm almond/raw/goat milk before bed, light stretching, and self massage or rolling.
ü counting your blessings / gratitude countdown enjoying the joys of your life and fruits of your labor. Noting everything you did right that day and enjoyed experiencing is another lovely way to put the mind at ease and tune it to good calming brain waves. Thoughts like, "I am safe. things work out. I trust the flow" put the mind in a resourceful happy state.
aromatherapy-
smells from oils & teas that promote relaxation include :
chamomile.
lavender,
valerian root,
kava kava (expect the muscle relaxing effect and even a numbing of the mouth).
ü avoid caffeine after 4pm
ü avoid alcohol as the withdrawal after 4 hours wakes you back up.
ü avoid work, stressful friends, social media, or tech 2 hours before bed
ü Get tested for sleep apnea if you snore and feel not rested in the morning.
Lack of oxygen throughout the night causes a whole host of problems linked to
obesity and lowered performance and is an unfair disadvantage. Extra weight on your frame often leads to sleep apnea which makes releasing the weight that much harder. Masks & in office procedures can make life altering differences.
ü Health food stores sometimes offer herbal remedies listed as Vata balancers. This is an energetic type that when out of balance tends to lend itself to poor sleep. The ingredients in these herbal combinations work for some people.
ü Melatonin for short durations when insomnia hits. Ideally, we'd like our body to absorb the nutrients(B vitamins and amino acids) from our healthy food and absorb it through our healthy gut, but when that doesn't happen and we don't make enough melatonin, the chemical that tells us it's night and time to shut down, we can experience that tired but wired feeling. It's then that we can take some melatonin 30 minutes before bed.
ü Exercise improves melatonin production so if you've been sedentary and insomnia hits, you'll know the first thing to fix the following day.
ü Stay in bed even when insomnia hits. It's better to rest the body and practice our breath work than get up and re-stimulate our nervous system with activity. It can be frustrating to lie awake but try not to go negative with your thoughts and stress about not getting to sleep. Trust you'll have enough energy for the next day and have faith in the process. Who knows how you’ll actually feel the next day. Worry= stress= the worst.
Rest:
More rest / spa days / sleep ins.
i. Sleep: 7-9 hours of sleep per night in bed by 10:30p - our body does most healing the hours before midnight. Start a wind down routine at 7:45 p that includes an epsom salt bath, light stretching, warm chamomile tea, cortisol managing supplements, and reading in bed. Avoid scary or thrilling tv before bed.
ii. Naps: Triathletes will tell you their recovery naps are some of the most important part of their training. But that important half of the equation gets lost in our go go go type A culture. While we think we are burning more calories with those hard workouts, the spike in cortisol leads our bodies to hold onto our protective fat (especially belly) as we stay in emergency mode rather than relax into release mode. Craving coffee? Take a 20 min power nap to triple the benefits with no caffeine side effects, Power Nap App is a great way to wake us at the right time after a recharge nap.
iii. Spa days: massage + detoxing sweat + sauna heat therapy burning off oxidative stress + soothing smells and music + rest time = WIN WIN WIN. If your brain switches to your to-do list, remind it that this spa time is going to reduce your medical bills, get you lean in a pleasant way, improve your focus and productivity. Get more done in less time with less frustration and ADHD. You’ll build back dopamine receptors requiring less sugar, time, $, and drama to get the same high.
iv. Restful yin yoga which looks a whole lot like organized group nap time. Great for those that like structure and won’t put rest on the calendar without a class. Yin Yoga includes long restful poses often lying down supported by pillows. It can be helpful to have the accountability of a group when you start feeling squirmy as well as the instructor focusing on peaceful, positive, relaxing ideas of the present moment.
. Regular flow Yoga is famous for its calming benefits too along with improved sleep, posture, strength, organ function, flexibility, fat burn, mental focus, and blood circulation. Chronic stress sufferers don’t need to feel pressured to do the extreme heat Bikram Yoga or super fast Vinyasa / Power Yoga classes. Moderate flowing yoga has all of the same benefits and the laying in a sauna provides the same sweat detox benefit without the dizzying extreme heat.
“One simply cannot be relaxed and stressed at the same time. Try it. You can’t. Relaxation drives out anxiety and vice versa. The Buddha said that “Hatred cannot coexist with loving-kindness, and dissipates if supplanted with thoughts based on loving-kindness.” You cannot be grateful and resentful at the same time, or forgiving and vengeful. When we are savoring the moment we cannot be regretting the past.” ~ Robert Emmons from Thanks!
Meditation:
“Meditation stimulates the expression of genes that are powerfully
anti-inflammatory in nature and help stabilize blood sugar.”
-Dr. Kelly Brogan, ‘A Mind of Your Own’
Meditation rocks for so many reasons. The quickest way to tap into our calm digestive state is slow deep breathing. Unplugging from stimulation in a restful posture allows the mind to reset, the body to get enough oxygen, nutrients to get absorbed, toxins exhaled out, and the mental anxiety bell to turn off. It’s free, it works, and it helps us lose weight.
Oxygen
"Living things need oxygen and a ton of it! Deep breathing exercises calm the body and increase oxygen to the blood. Breathing outside, in nature, particularly where there are lots of trees, lowers cortisol, decreases glycation (aging), and improves wellbeing."- Dr. Daniel Amen
You can breathe your way to a smaller waistline. Double points if you pair it with a walk outside in the sunshine or some toxin filtering stretches like yoga.
We don’t need top Universities like Stanford to launch their meditation CCARE programs to know that calming the nervous system is a good idea. Anytime we can use our breath to get us out of the fight or flight mode and into the rest or digest mode, we lower inflammation and turn on all sorts of good fat releasing mechanisms in the body.
Those of us used to being in high cortisol states get kinda addicted to the high and get especially addicted to the coping sugar and stimulation we reach for to sooth our depleted mood when our adrenals runs through our nutrients to build more cortisol.
The science behind meditation is astounding. The benefits are indisputable. And yet, our culture doesn't support or award resting the mind and oxygenating the body. They’d rather sell us pharmaceuticals later.
Breathing is free and effective.
There’s always more messaging telling us we are behind and that we don’t have time to use the tools that will actually get us lean, happy, and peaceful.
Our culture has a denial around our natural energy cycles.
We can't seem to grasp that we aren't a light switch that can be always on. We don’t believe doing less can result in more benefit.
Sitting down to meditate or taking a long leisurely walk can evoke anxiety in a mind programmed to value constant movement.
“You can sleep when you’re dead” sayings get us to the grave faster and make us look and feel like hell while we are alive.
Meditation Benefits
ü Reduces Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and stress related symptoms
ü Lowers inflammation through lowering activity of the genes involved in
defensive stress and immune response - where inflammation is used as a tool helping injury and wound repair.
ü Anti-aging- produces the enzyme telomerase keeping youthful telomeres
protected that stop chromosomes from getting shorter with time.. Telemerase
actually increases the longevity of the chromosomes! Chromosome length =
youth! This is one of the only things so far shown to protect our chromosomes.
ü Lowers chances for viral infections.
ü Calmer more relaxed mood / reduced stress levels. Increased alpha brain waves.
ü Generates new brain cells, increases grey matter, helps long term memory.
ü Increase in ability to be empathetic, compassionate, and a greater access to
sense of self.
ü Increased impulse control and emotion regulation through strengthening of the
PFC (thinking brain)
"You can't be on a permanent vacation all year, but you can meditate to achieve the same or more results." Vacation mode benefits start after 8 weeks. - Dr. Deepak Chopra
How meditation works:
Our brains are thought to alternate between two networks, one that deals with the world outside of the body and one that pays attention to the inner dialogue. "When deep meditation is performed, both networks activate together. In meditation, inside and outside are no longer opposite and contrary but are experienced as a seamless whole." -Dr. Deepak Chopra.
It makes sense that fear and judgment would melt away once we got into a relaxed, connected to everything, fully oxygenated state. If all are one and there’s no need to protect our inner selves from the scary outer world, we can relax into accepting and loving ourselves as we are. What an interesting mind state to enjoy.
Prayer is said to connect us in a similar way to a greater divine knowing. I’ve heard it explained as prayer is asking and meditation is listening. Both are extremely effective at calming our nervous system and lowering our stress. They relax the panicked part of the brain that is scanning for a threat and activate the healing calm reset part of the brain.
If the word meditation feels scary or doesn’t appeal to you, call it deep breathing. You can do it while on a walk, while sitting, or while stretching. It’s a choice to focus your attention on your breath and breathe as deeply as possible while choosing a relaxing thought. If an anxious thought pops up, follow it with a relaxing one. I like “I choose to soak in these benefits. I choose to enjoy this moment. I choose to breath deeply. All is well. All will be handled.” It’s a scheduled 2-20 minute rest period.
Doing it more often is more important than how long you go. Studies have found some really cool things start happening after 8 weeks of 20 minutes a day. That feels unattainable to many people and is a big shift from what our culture celebrates and advertises. So let’s aim for 3-5 minutes a day after your exercises, in the morning after your lemon water, or whenever you’re feeling stressed.
Meditation to detoxify and reduce anxiety:
i. EXHALES THAT DETOX: Poisons are broken down by the liver, kidney, eliminated in the urine and feces, or exhaled. Deep breathing helps the body release toxins. Exhale deeply and deliberately. Use your breath to calm your brain and body, relax into weight loss, and detox.
ii. GOOD DEEP BREATHING: activates the “rest or digest” calm side of the nervous system. This is the opposite side of the “fight or flight” side that cortisol kicks your nervous system into. Any time you can stop and do 30 seconds of deep belly nose breathing to switch back over to the calm side, is putting your body back in release the fat mode. You’ll also think clearer as you’ll move out of the reactive animal part of the brain, to the logical clear thinking part of the brain. Skinnier, smarter, and calmer.
iii. BAD SHALLOW BREATHING: The muscles used in shallow breathing activate the anxiety mechanism in the brain as the body panics that it might not be getting enough oxygen - something we are 65% of and the #1 thing we need to survive. Just by shallow breathing we can activate the fat storing side of the nervous system keeping ourselves unknowingly in chronic stress mode. Deeply breath to not accidently stress the body and keep the pounds on.
Advanced Meditation tools:
Breath Meditation: Following the breath as you inhale deeply through your nose tracing its path to your abdomen and then gently back up to exhale. You can breathe as deeply and slowly as feels good. If anxious, slowing down the breath helps.
Box Breathing: Box Breathing, a breathing style coined by Navy Seal Mark Divine, founder of Seal Fit, that inhales for a count of 4 as you travel up the side of a box, pauses for 2-4 seconds as you travel over the top of the box and then exhale for another count of 4 down the other side of the box. Pausing empty for 2-4 seconds as you travel along the bottom of the box. This gives the brain something to visualize and focus on directing it toward the present moment, noticing the pauses in between breaths as you go along the top and bottom. Wonderful focus and relaxation tool
Intense Yogic Breathing to prep the body for meditation and oxygenate the brain- pranayama. Taking you thumb and finger, block one nostril as you inhale, and then block the other as you exhale. You can stay in this circular pattern or breathe back in through the nostril you just breathed out of making an upside U (n).
Shifting Focus Meditation: Start by noticing your breath, then shift to other parts of the body like your big toe, you knees, behind your belly button. Sit in the awareness of these parts of the body allowing your mind to reside there momentarily.
Moving Meditation: "Yoga, tai chi, and other mindful exercises have been found to reduce anxiety and depression and to increase focus. They improve self control and reduce emotional or anxious overeating." -Dr. Daniel Amen
Yoga as rest, yoga as meditation, yoga as exercise:
Restful yin yoga, which looks like organized group nap time, is great for those that like structure and won’t put rest on the calendar without a class.
i. Regular flow Yoga is famous for its calming benefits along with improved
sleep, posture, strength, organ function, flexibility, fat burn, mental focus, and blood circulation. Adrenal Fatigue sufferers don’t need to do the extreme heat Bikram Yoga or super fast Vinyasa / Power Yoga classes.
ii. Yin Yoga includes long restful poses often lying down supported by pillows. Poses are held for longer period with focus on the breath. It can be helpful to have the accountability of a group when you start feeling squirmy as well as the instructor focusing your attention on peaceful, positive, relaxing ideas of the present moment.
-Miraculous Movement (exercise)
Exercise is the great equalizer, the great advantage that makes all of the hard choices easier. It is just under sleep as most important for fat release.
ü Exercise allows the mindset to make good decisions.
ü It stops cravings.
ü It leaves feel good chemicals in our brain so we're not seeking sugar and other bad stimulation.
ü It relieves us of maddening anxiety. The same anxiety that prompts us to seek all sorts of temporary relieving things to be rid of it- many that leave us worse off.
Physical exercise is the healthiest habit we can adopt and it has little to do with calories. Producing and releasing the right chemicals, burning off oxidative stress, moving toxins out through sweat and the lymphatic system, keeping the joints young and able to support our frame, strengthening our bones allowing us to play longer, sharing oxygenated blood flow to all parts of the body, lowering inflammation, improving mood, lowering cravings, and creating new healthy brain pathways.
We are designed to move, but not necessarily in the harder/faster/stronger intimidating way marketed to us. Fluid, easy, motions that fittingly challenge the body and keep it adapting is our aim. Morning yoga, long walks, lifting weights, swimming, cycling, and dancing are ideal.
"At the end of the (study) trial period, the group that had lost the most weight, was the one that had walked. So there are instances in which less pain means more gain. Keeping exercise light but constant seems to be the key". - Dr. Deepak Chopra- ‘Super Genes
Moderate, consistent exercise is far better for weight loss that overburdening our high cortisol inflamed bodies with free-radical releasing intense exercise we may not be prepared for. Higher intensity training becomes appropriate later when strength becomes a goal and the body is out of protective inflamed mode. After our diet is calmed, sleep is improved, detox pathways working, and stress is managed do we consider venturing into more intense exercise- should we crave the endorphins or extra muscle.
And guess what!? Sex counts!! Sex is a wonderful way to get deep breathing oxygen in, brain calming circular dance movements done, emotional eating reducing natural pleasure, and anti anxiety happiness chemicals released.
Orgasm is pretty miraculous in fact. Orgasm releases oxytocin which lowers cortisol! Oxytocin is linked to happiness with low oxytocin being linked to postpartum depression and low thyroid hormone. We know thyroid is linked to energy, metabolism, and fat burn energy usage.
If you have access to a partner you trust, feel safe with, and can protect against diseases and unwanted pregnancies, sex can be a great moderate exercise outlet. Sex with brand new partners is usually not the best choice for women as the distracting oxytocin bonding you to someone you can’t count on likely outweighs the benefit. The stress of a lover leaving you have physiologically bonded with brings a host of other problems. But those in partnership should up the sex for feel and look good benefits.
Fun facts about exercise:
1. GENETICS:
Exercise largely erases the genetic increased risk for obesity associated with
version of the FTO gene- one gene found to be associated with obesity (for reasons they haven't yet sorted).
Exercise helps release a protein that can actually remove any negative dings / methyl marks that flip an obesity prone FTO gene on - effectively removing the predisposition for obesity! Like erasing the dirty marks that when added up weigh the switch down until it flips.
2. GUT BALANCER:
Gut microbes respond well to exercise. Blood markers for inflammation went
down in an Irish study of rugby players.
3. SLEEP:
Exercise improves melatonin production. Good sleeps lowers risk for obesity
and helps weight loss.
4. BRAIN:
Exercise protects short term memory brain areas from high stress / cortisol
damage.
5. ANTIDEPRESSANT:
Exercise improves our mood and happiness positively affecting our relationships,
outlook, and decision making. Exercise releases blissful chemicals and is as
effective as prescribed antidepressants.
6. ANTI-AGING:
Exercise keeps us young protecting the chromosome caps called telomeres.
7. BLOOD SUGAR:
Exercise improves our blood sugar balance resetting us back to a healthy level
8. DETOX:
Exercise let us use our largest organ, our skin, to sweat out toxins.
9. NUTRIENT TRANSPORT:
Exercise moves blood flow which means transported oxygen and nutrients in and
waste out.
10. SMARTER:
Exercise makes us smarter! It grows new brain cells. Studying or learning something new after exercise is a great way to grow new neurons. Post gym studying, writing, or reading seals the deal!
The combination of lowered inflammation, sweated out toxins, and improved bodily functioning vastly helps the body release its protective hold on stored fat. Exercise burns off stress, detoxes the body, and circulates oxygen. Sleep, smiling, hydration, and vegetable filled meals void of sugar and starchy carbs are just as important as stopping the sedentary cycle --but exercise really puts us at an advantage..
To get max benefit from exercise without triggering the oxidizing inflammation cycle, stick to long medium pace walks and heavier workouts no longer than 45 minute workouts that keep your heart rate under 75% of your max.]. This is 180 minus your age. Wearing a heart rate monitor is helpful as is sticking to a medium pace. You can count your heartbeat by checking your pulse for 60 seconds too. Never go full out if your inflammation or stress has been high. We are using exercise to make, release, and circulate happy healthy chemicals and detox out toxins. We’re not trying to stress our body out further.
Because exercise has been experienced as hard, uncomfortable, or embarrassing, we may find ourselves avoiding it. It’s hard to remember how good it feels or how much the rest of our life feels easier and better when we do it. We find ourselves scheduling over the very thing that would help us manage our stress and get through our to-do list faster. Starting small and getting little reset doses of 5-20 minutes is everything as we get our body used to moving again. Dancing for 5 minutes counts. Walking counts. 10 minutes of yoga counts. Pilates is a wonderful gentle but challenging body weight exercise that adds to strength and flexibility
Here are a few ways to get exercise back in your life:
1. Morning walks around the block or to the tea shop.
2. Never skip 3 days in a row rule.
3. 12 minute morning yoga session or pilates mat sequence.
4. 12 minute sets of 10 leg lifts, abs, pushup, squats…
5. Two non-negotiable, in the calendar, pre-selected group fitness classes/week
6. 5 minutes of weight lifting or squats every 2 hours at work
7. 1-2 day/week 1 hour walk you schedule your calls
8. 1 walking meeting or catch up instead of a lunch or happy hour.
-Stress Management Tools
These lower Cortisol:
ü Breathing in nature (lowers cortisol and aging glycation)
ü Dancing lowers cortisol
ü Community lowers cortisol. (Hugs)
"Researchers have found being part of a connected community helps relieve chronic stress, which contributes to obesity, memory problems, heart disease, gut problems, insulin dysregulation, and weakness in the immune system. When you are in a group of people with mutual care and trust, stress-reducing hormones are elevated."- Dr. Daniel Amen
-The hidden reasons our stress stays high and why we may be emotionally eating:
Emotional Eating:
Higher incidents of depression and other psychological effects come from chronic stress. Stress uses up our B vitamins leaving us not only with the discomfort to soothe with cookies, but less B building blocks to create happy chemicals. It’s easy to look to food to immediately soothe sadness or stress.
Treating the Depression:
Here’s what works in treating the depression that gets in our way of making good weight loss choices:
1. Double or triple exercise to relieve depression and burn off stress effects. Exercise is the number 1 effective antidepressant in the world. Any exercise will get you out of that horrid dark fog and back closer to your best self ready to make happier choices for your best life.
2. Exercise releases happy endorphins, circulates antidepressive oxygen through deep breaths, and increases glutamate in the antidepressive parts of the brain. Little bursts of exercise totally count as do brisk walks. Movement makes the mind happy.
3. Water helps as dehydration is a leading cause of mild depression.
4. B vitamins help during stressful times as stress steals these important brain chemical building blocks.
5. Load up on GABA supplements to help anxiety in the busy bee part of the brain. The herb Saffron, is included in many feel good blends. Aromatherapy scents Clary Sage & Frankincense are associated with mood lifts.
6. Getting away: Addressing the stress and giving ourselves permission to remove ourselves from the damaging experience expedites our weight loss success.
7. Being gentle: New science is showing just how distracting negative voices can be to our ability to focus or let in nice thoughts. Really giving yourself credit for the moments you can switch back to positive thoughts and actions. It’s hard! And you’re a rock star for even attempting that huge neural feat!
Check out the Depression Bonus to feel good faster and make freeing the fat easier.
10 Ways to lower your stress:
ü Start the day with light movement. Calm the mind and lubricate the body. Set the day up for success and return to these tools when it gets crazy. Do a 5 minute walk or 10 knee push ups when you start to feel the mind spin into panicky what ifs.
ü Meditate, power nap, or do deep breathing everyday.
ü Connect with positive people who are meaningful to you. Support them and allow them to support you. Sometimes our least stressed friends aren't the least busy. But they have found a soothing perspective, a workout release, or a supportive community.
ü Get out into nature, preferably in the sunshine, with friends, and moving.
ü Decrease boring repetitive work and background noise- especially the repetitive, random sort. Earplugs or earbuds connected to music offer peace of mind.
ü Remove multitasking and over scheduling. Practice believing it will all get done - at least the truly important items.
Treat harsh bosses with kindness while searching for new work. Pity their
lack of coping skills while not taking on the burden of their bad energy.
Wish them well and then get away. Studies show more independence and control in our work leads to less reported stress.
ü Reduce spending and overconsumption. The control of getting off the consumption wheel will leave your mind wiggle room to not always be earning. Save. It takes us out of survival mode and into a more comfortable existence.
ü Allow yourself to sleep in and leave gaps in your morning 1x / week to wake up slowly. 1 morning of catch up sleep works wonders.
ü Choose a vision and long term goal to work toward incrementally. Plug into your higher purpose, bigger contribution, unique beauty, and deeper beliefs. The small stressors melt away when we plug back into flow, faith, and supported inspiration.
ü Find a support group or therapist to bounce your thoughts off of and find shared experience. Often, becoming a mentor to those in a different stage of life, offers both perspective and a reminder of your own inner faith-filled wisdom.
Because we are built to live in groups, we’re wired to feel better when we are helping others. Extending kindness to others is a great way to feel less stressed, more hopeful, and a little happier yourself.
6 ways to heal other’s stress which also lowers your stress:
1. Showing respect for others, never criticizing in public, being open, and being inclusive.
2. Praising others work and asking for their opinion
3. Validating their experience. Genuinely asking and listening to how they are.
4. Avoiding creating a fear based culture of gossip
5. Calming yourself before responding to a tough situation. Address tension calmly rather than aggressively or ignoring it.
6. Allowing other to have their way when possible and make their own decisions. It’s amazing how much good can get done when we stop worrying about who gets credit.
-Stress Management - being mindful of Stimulants
Doing less improves our beauty and helps us drop weight.
All that go-go-go has a burn bi-product. Too much intense exercise, too much stress, too much food, or the wrong foods creates oxidative stress in the body and the brain. Science is finding that the fasted empty tummy state heals while the metabolic state burdens the body with oxidation byproducts that stress the body.
We need both but with so many lunch meetings and dinner dates, we can find ourselves with constant food in our belly harming our body’s cleanup and reset mechanism.
Oxidative stress has been linked to Autism, Alzheimer’s, memory problems, foggy thinking, fatigue, and fat storage. Oxidation as a byproduct is fine if we’re taking the necessary time to sleep it off, release the oxidation through sweat, or eat the antioxidants that neutralize the oxidation.
But left alone, oxidation ages us quickly, makes our skin saggy unable to hold our shape making a little weight look like a lot, and exhausts our cells that are in charge of our metabolism, energy, fat burning, thyroid, and other lean, beautifying, important body processes.
Choosing our priorities and saying no more often in favor of rest helps us get to our weight loss goals so much faster. It also helps our brain work better - and that means easier productivity and more willpower. This marketed ideal doesn’t take into account that the brain doesn’t switch gears between tasks like a robot and energy isn’t endless.
Addicted to the stimulation cycle to release the few feel good chemicals we were actually able to make under that high cortisol demand, our brain does something unfortunate. To compensate for all of the over stimulation you’re getting and it pulls back. The brain knows it can’t keep up that high stimulation level. It knows the adrenals & cellular energy (mitochondria) can’t keep pumping cortisol and cellular energy at that pace.
The first thing the brain does is pull back dopamine receptors so we won’t have as many feel good chemicals incentivizing us to keep up this level of gluttony or go go go. Our brain is trying to get us to rest and restore, to stop the activity.
Instead, our pressure to keep up with the fast pace combined with our desire to skip the boring reboot period and push to more feel good, makes us do the opposite and seek out more stimulation even with lower levels of reward. Cue addiction. Cue overeating. Cue ignoring our body. Cue the shame cycle.
Over time, the brain can pull back dopamine receptors to a scary level. We increase our stimulation turning to drugs, sugar, online excitement, and over scheduling. There is research linking Parkinson’s Disease & Clinical Depression to years of dopamine depletion.
Besides pulling back receptors making us need more stimulation to feel the same level of good, the brain gets used to too much stimulation and can no longer focus. Cue the ADHD and dropped productivity. Cue the search for whatever makes us feel good momentarily- including sugary fatty pleasure snacks and stressful negatively stimulating scenarios when we know we need to work. We now need more to feel ok and all that more adds to our waistline.
Not only are we fatter, we’re losing our ability to focus. The animal part of our brain gets strengthened at the detriment of our rational thinking part. Focus becomes harder as we seek out more and more instant gratification.
Focusing on schoolwork or a work deadlines becomes increasingly difficult when the call of cookies, video games, social media sites are just a push away. It’s a lot of willpower called into effect and the primitive part of our brain that controls impulse is older and stronger than our logical frontal brain - so impulse usually wins. Rest is again our savior - if we will do it.
-Healing past trauma (for a brighter future)
A look at an unmentioned cause of weight gain
Weight release happens when we dig deeper to understand and heal old wounds. It helps us understand what drives us, what patterns we will likely return to, set realistic goals, and have compassion for our limitations. The shame cycle and unfair expectation to be perfect are what keep us emotional eating to escape an oppressive expectation. That extra layer of protective fat also serves as a protective buffer against the outside world.
Many of us are repeating old patterns from painful early experiences. Mean recorded thoughts from abusive childhoods. Some related to weight, some abusive in other areas. Getting out of this stressful cycle is difficult if we don’t understand what we’re up against. Our mean voices may not always make themselves clear, but they are always running in the background chipping away at our self confidence and willpower.
Some trauma survivors cope by proving their worth through doing too much. Constant activity and sugary foods are distracting and provide relief from the uncomfortable thoughts. It would be great if we could escape our past by upping the pleasure of the present. Instead, it just ups our guilt when the pleasure fades leaving us fearing our future and hating our past.
Another reason we subconsciously emotionally overeat: The extra food can also be a way for us to create both an energetic & physically protective barrier. Extra fat is a protective layer we may not be realizing we think we need; an armour of sorts keeping them out there and us, safe in here. The body sure treats fat that way having it cushion organs and be the safe space to tuck away toxins.
“Chronic psychological stress induced by excessive punishment, loss, disapproval, violation, or threat raises stress hormones which in turn cause oxidative stress to the brain”. - Dr. John Gray
“Various forms of childhood or adult trauma can raise your cortisol set point, which in turn sustains higher blood sugar levels causing even more oxidative stress to the brain” (and inflammation to the body)- Dr. John Gray, Staying Focused in a Hyper World
Our Favorite Tools
Unfortunately, the negative emotions of resentment and anger release cortisol. Our favorite book in establishing which wounds we carry is, “Heal your wounds and find your true self” by Lise Bourbeau. This is an intense book that cuts right to it and is surprisingly accurate.
Once that is clearer, cognitive behavioral therapy tools & self esteem books like “10 days to Self Esteem” are wonderful ways to reprogram our brain to see how wonderful, safe, and uplifting we are.
Meditation also resets our nervous system, lowers cortisol, and helps us to stay present rather than dipping in the painful past. The health benefits including weight loss that comes from a mindfulness practice are almost unbelievable.
The Science
Unfortunately, old fears, wounds, traumatic events, and accidents litter the mind, shaping our genes, and affecting the filter we see the world. Mounting evidence shows that early life abuse, neglect, and mistreatment lead to epigenetic effects on gene activity that harm physical and mental health later in life.
Abused children show higher levels of toxic cortisol as well as changes in the NR3C1 gene which results in nerve cell death in the hippocampus (short term memory brain region). This is tied to negative behavioral changes later in life. "These findings extend the long held understanding that early abuse and neglect have profound psychological effects."- Chopra & Tanzi, Super Genes
Knowing we have a trauma influenced perspective is a huge first step. It allows us to turn to our calming tools, practice our safety mantras, reach out to positive supportive friends, make crucial low inflammation diet choices, and move through the fear retraining our brain to feel calm and safe. Watching scary or action movies will not help us in our weight loss journey as it further spooks our emotional brain increasing the trauma response activating our fight or flight sympathetic nervous system.
Thoughts have the power to heal or hurt. Recent studies using EEG helmets have shown that thoughts do in fact directly affect genes which may explain how prayer and meditation have been so effective in times of crisis. Practicing positivity and being around positive people does help retrain the brain to be in a weight releasing state.
Something else worth mentioning, after a new scary experience, such as falling off a bike, it is essential to get back on the bike as soon as possible to create a new positive memory so that the scared one doesn't set your association with bikes. The brain uses fear to make lasting impressions to keep us safe and we don't want anymore triggers to frighten our already trigger-happy traumatized mind.
Science Bar: Why we remember bad memories: Past experience, good or bad, stays because it takes place deep inside the cell using chemical bonds in the center of the cell where the DNA resides. Experiences literally change and shape the cell moving forward. Turning to drugs and alcohol only masks it temporarily further damaging cells which makes later repair much bigger. Denial moves it out of consciousness for a time. Redefining the experience through new storytelling and seeking meaning helps to reshape the memory.
Emotional Healing Toolbox
Positive Thinking, Emotional Healing and self Acceptance:
The brain is wildly powerful. We can use our thoughts to keep our body healthy and stay resilient against toxins we encounter. "Everything you want to be, every achievement you want to reach, every value you want to uphold must pass through your brain and your genes in order to become real." - Dr. Deepak Chopra We can learn to communicate with our genes through directing our thoughts and focusing on what we want.
Repetition trains the brain. Default reactions to experiences reinforce your reality. Genes operate with messaging constantly traveling back and forth on a multi lane highway, with messages coming from all directions.
We have the choice to activate the life supporting side of DNA. Good News!! Science has shown the "choose to fight' cells are extremely resilient. if you choose to fight for your life and your health, those cells will step up to support you in winning the battle. "Cells are very resilient, and they make choices all the time. Over millions of years of evolution, one choice stands out. Cells choose to fight back against any threat to their survival.” - Dr. Chopra
DNA knows how to regulate and repair itself so exposure to toxic food or chemicals can be reversed. We get into trouble when enough exposure to the toxin gets by our resilient cells defenses, occasionally damaging it in a specific way and the cell forgets how to divide normally, becoming cancerous. Many factors are at work in how a cell heals but the important part is how strong our cells are and how many lifestyle and emotional choices we have made before this happens. Activate the life supporting side of DNA. Choose life. Choose health. Choose happiness. Our cells will back up this choice and our insides will become our ally. You deserve it and we need you shining brightly contributing in the way only you can.
Noticing Patterns
Angry often? We get a ton of power back when we notice old stimulation and distraction patterns like seeking out drama or choosing anger to avoid a boring or hard task. Chronically stressed people may not be aware they prefer high negative stimulation to not enough stimulation. Whether it’s the body being high inflammation and angry on the inside or the brain being low dopamine (reward happy chemical) and seeking stimulation, external anger can be the result.
A high inflammation body will turn to inflammatory angry reactions easier because that’s the internal inflamed state. Exposure and time matters. "The latest research into a wide range of disorders, including heart disease, autism, schizophrenia, obesity, and Alzheimer’s suggests that there are indicators for each disease that extend back decades in a person's life, even to early infancy." - Dr. Deepak Chopra
It can be tricky to respond to a disease that started years before the first symptom shows. It's so great that you are here in the Free the Fat community so you can stop the damage. You will be among the few that switch the good genes back on. You’ll enjoy freedom from trapped fat and the horror of feeling diseased.
Starting the healing process of forgiveness, acceptance, and turning to loving thoughts help repair years of repeated damage to abuses you were exposed to.
Empowerment Reframing Tool
When I'm trying to make sense of all the chaos of my early years, I like to think of the early trauma as important training for the responsibility I was going to take on. Tough situations arming me with the tools I wanted in this lifetime to make a real difference. I must have thought myself strong enough to handle intense training so that I could make a real difference in people's lives. Without all of that early tough stuff and the depression and body issues that followed, I wouldn't have been motivated to research a solution that I can share with you.
When I frame it this way, it has meaning and importance and moves me out of a victim mindset defeated by the injustice. Instead, this framing moves me into an uplifted state of resourcefulness and power. Yes please! I was strong enough to learn from those early experiences and have the power to heal the residual damage from chronic stress. My next choice gives me power.
Learning to Prioritize Our Needs and Do less
Prioritizing:
Saying no and prioritizing based on what you need is not something many of us are good at. Our culture tells us that helping and giving get us liked. Any early abuse likely taught your early self that your needs didn’t count. Being useful and helpful may have been how you got love.
Many of us find ourselves with too much on the to-do list which unfortunately = fat building stress. Getting things off the list can feel daunting. We may not realize that we subconsciously believe we don’t have worth unless we are giving, helping, or doing. This addiction to giving exhausts us, deplete us, and distracts us from healing what is weighing us down.
Helpful question: If you were diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, what would go from your life that you think is unavoidable now? Starting to make temporary cuts and shift to what matters most may be a slow start but start tapping into what motivates you, what excites you, and what you need in your life. Even if you don’t admit it to others, begin uncovering it for yourself.
This clarity in values will help guide you to the essential fundamentals that belong on the schedule with everything else being soft maybe’s. These changes aren’t forever, just while we’re calming and restoring the body back health.
As you begin honoring your needs, notice who in your life pushes back and tries to shame you into complying with their agenda. When we are in a state of scarcity and pain, we often unconsciously pick people that mimic our early authority figures we’ve grown comfortable with- even if they were mean to us! We play old programmed roles and are attracted to old personality types.
As we get healthier and begin loving ourselves and picking people who value us, we may notice old patterns and people are no longer a fit for us. No need to cut them out, just notice who serves you.
Doing Less:
Once we see we have permission and feel worthy of breaks, we can rest and actually lower our stress and inflammation. This is such an effective and wonderful way to release that protective weight. We can thank the protective layer for it’s efforts while letting it know we no longer require it.
We aren’t weak, without willpower, or addicts. We’re simply carrying a few more burdens that require buffers. We’re also likely one of the curvier of the 3 body types that are naturally sturdier. Being burdened by old wounds living in a high toxin environment and under a ton of culture induced lifestyle stress, and we can see how the weight stays put. Healing those wounds, forgiving ourselves and other, and releasing the protection allows for the weight and sabotaging behaviors to melt away. We step into the natural shape our now healthy body prefers.
Stimulation & Oxidation:
Doing less also improves our beauty and helps us drop weight. All that go go go has a burn bi-product. Too much intense exercise, too much stress, too much food, or the wrong foods creates oxidative stress in the body and the brain. Science is finding that the fasted state heals while the metabolic state burdens the body with oxidation byproducts that stress the body.
Oxidative stress as covered above has been linked to Autism, Alzheimer’s, memory problems, foggy thinking, fatigue, and fat storage. Oxidation as a bi-product is fine if we’re taking the necessary time to sleep it off, release the oxidation through sweat, or eat the antioxidants that neutralize the oxidation.
Power of Connection
1. Saying no and prioritizing based on what you need - to much on the to-do list = fat building stress If you had to, what would go from your life that you think is unavoidable now? Start making cuts and shift to what matters most. These changes aren’t forever, just while we’re calming and restoring the body back health.
2. Connecting to our self:
Connecting to which parts of ourselves we’re most proud of help us to prioritize what matters most when cuts must be made for our sanity and stress levels. Some helpful categories to consider include: Myers Briggs and Enneagram personality tests, Signature Strengths online test, and Culture or religion you are drawn to. Say no to that extra committee or volunteer position while you’re lowering inflammation and releasing this fat.
Power in Numbers
Connection: Connect to your community - church, YMCA, friends, local meetup, hiking group, PTA - connect meaningfully around a cause you actually care about (not just one you “should” care about). Do not join anything that feels like extra work, more stress, or another thing to ‘fail at’. A nurturing fun community that does activities that actually sounds fun to you. Getting more massages also counts as connection.
Tools from positive psychology:
-Good news- while traumatic early experiences do leave lasting impressions,
neuroplasticity, the ability to regrow your brain's pathways is real! You can teach
an old dog new tricks. We can think our way to a better future, happier thoughts,
and thinner waistline. It may take some time to rebuild, but it is possible.
-While around 60% of our happiness appears to be set, 40% is based on the choices
we make. As more research is being uncovered around how our environment
and choices imprint on our genetic code, it may even be higher! Positive
Psychologist Martin Seligman has great insights on this.
-We can story tell / reframe/ process any event good or bad effectively painting our lives
as positive or negative. It may feel like lying to ourselves initially, but practicing
finding the various positive aspects of a situation is a powerful suggestive force
on the brain.
Improving our emotional state
We benefit when we improve our emotional awareness and self love.
We improve our impulse control taking us off the guilt / shame cycle after poor choices. We assess which choices leave us feeling good, decide we deserve to feel good, and start creating minimums in our life that fit this image.
The "just this once" confidence shattering justifications lose their appeal as we tie action and consequence accepting the best of our lives. Stanford PhD Kelly McConigal researches willpower and happiness. She famously puts her choices through this test: “If I were to do this every day, for a whole year, would I be happy with the results?” This removes the just this once justification that tricks us into poor choices.
Benefits of a healthier emotional state on our waistline:
ü We get better with delayed gratification and set longer term, more meaningful goals. This allows us to think bigger and connect to our higher purpose. We’re naturally more motivated and not seeking escape.
ü We improve our ability to empathize, connect with, and heal others. We become a powerful agent of good in the world being easier on others as well as ourselves. This lowers our inflammation and our communities inflammation.
ü We become more aware of our own emotions allowing us to identify when we've been triggered and seek to understand and stop the cascade of bad chemicals before we react and harm our prized relationships.
ü We start to like ourselves more. In understanding our own emotional state, we begin to accept ourselves just as we are recognizing how much good we have to offer and how ok our perceived flaws really are. Perhaps they make us more relatable, or allow us areas to explore and grow, our differences become beautiful and we have permission to accept and enjoy.
ü We choose better partners, friends, and lovers. After identifying what we need, we can take into account our limitations and faulty criteria from poor early examples and consciously choose better even if it doesn't feel as good to our previously chaos drawn subconscious.
ü
Chopra's 8 Emotional Health Truths according to our cells:
Here are a few life truths that will bring peace to a triggered nervous system under chronic stress. A gift from spiritual teacher and Dr. Deepak Chopra looking at cellular needs and how their cooperation and natural needs can be tied directly to successful lessons on how to live our own lives. "Cellular 'intelligence' is the cell's natural ability to adapt, respond, and make the right choices at every moment not only for itself, but in service to every other cell, tissue, and organ in the body. We can heal ourselves, releases the fat, and go higher.
1. Have a higher purpose that goes beyond you. Cells work together to make the incredible body work. A selfish rogue cell is a cancerous cell. We are designed to have a larger focus that inspires us and feels part of our journey.
2. Value intimacy and communion. Cells communicate, bond, and work together. Your happiness is designed to require other people, time in nature, and a close relationship to a higher source.
3. Keep yourself open to change. Relish your creativity. You are powerful. Fluidity and innovation keeps the body and brain fresh, growing, and inspired. Cells change on a dime to keep the homeostatic balance and you too are designed with that resilience and easy of flowing. A stem cell can become any cell in the body depending on where it's needed most.
4. Nurture an acceptance of others releasing judgment and separation from your future friends. We are in this together. We need each other and we're more similar than we are different. Smiles are contagious. We affect each other's emotions.
5. Embrace the reality that you are safe and nurtured. This can be especially hard for those with rocking unstable beginnings. The natural rhythms and patterns of the universe aren't forgetting about you. Practice faith and feeling safe.
6. Choose to flow. You're not alone and do not need to control. Let the flow of life bring you what you need. Cells are efficient. they know that safeguards are in place to ensure they get what they need. They do not store tons of fuel, oxygen, or resources. they know the system is in place to support them. The same is true for you and me.
7. Enjoy a sense of bonding with source, the immortality of life itself. Science and spirituality are finding there are realms and energetic fields beyond what we can currently see. Tap into them to access calm, assured sense of oneness and good. Perhaps one day with advances like the microscope, we'll be able to see things like gravity and magnetic pull.
8. Be generous. Commit to giving. Giving is how universal abundance can exist and how cellular cooperation leads to system success. You are a part of the flow and there is plenty. Be an agent of abundance and gift others the kinds of experiences you are attracting.
What’s really going on: We are awesome and strong survivors! Now let’s get our nervous systems calm, knowing we’re safe and releasing our past so it doesn’t sabotage our awesome future!
-Lowering Inflammation
"The biggest enemy in people's diet is inflammation. Medical researchers have tracked its footprints all over the map, from chronic disease and obesity to leaky gut syndrome and mental illness."- Dr Deepak Chopra
-Anti Inflammation Diet: YAY!!!!
ü Prebiotic Fiber (good bacteria food)
ü dark leafy greens
ü probiotic rich fermented foods
ü Omega 3 fatty fish (not on the heavy metals list) and flaxseed oil
ü reduce or avoid antibiotics and sugar
ü berries
ü tree nuts (almonds and walnuts), seeds (chia, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin, flax), GMO & wheat free whole grains
ü tempeh (check soy source for pesticides),
ü mycoprotein (mushrooms/fungi),
ü peppers, tomatoes (some people have an inflammatory joint response)
ü beets, tart cherries,
ü ginger, turmeric, garlic, black pepper, olive oil (uncooked)
ü cacao & dark chocolate
ü basil
ü cruciferous vegetables
ü avocado
ü curry powder (turmeric & curcumin)
ü carrots, turnips, zucchini, cucumber
ü organic turkey
ü hot sauce.
-Pro-Inflammation Diet to Avoid:
ü Poorly sourced meat, meat without the Omega3 fish to balance,
ü trans fats
ü white bread and rice,
ü fried anything in bad oils,
ü sugary sodas, white sugar and corn syrup,
ü Omega 6 fatty acids,
ü MSG, or starchy carbs especially Gluten.
-Inflammation Lifestyle:
ü Toxic environmental chemicals
ü toxic emotions & stress
ü toxic circumstances
ü toxic overscheduling
ü Not enough sleep or exercise to burn off toxins that do make it past the gate-keeper.
ü Toxic food: Poorly sourced, nutrient deficient foods full of antibiotics, pesticides, and toxins.
-Ditching Toxins:
TOXIN ASSAULT:
Toxins lurk in prescription medications, food additives, mold, and household products. Most toxins, or poisons, reach our bloodstream when we swallow or inhale them. Others pass through our skin, while still others are released by dying cells or invading bacteria.
1. Stop the toxins: no plastic use, GMO foods or those treated with pesticides, no alcohol, coffee from moldly / pesticide sources. 30 day reset to stop the bleeding as we repair our filters, emergency response systems, cortisol and blood sugar levels, food allergies, and leaky gut.
2. Many of these toxins pass through the liver -- the body's waste-purification plant -- where they are broken down and removed from the blood before they can do their dirty work. When the liver is working double-duty to protect you from an onslaught of bad diet and unavoidable toxin insults, it could benefit from a little extra help.
BENEFITS OF ANTIOXIDANTS:
Antioxidant vitamins such as C, E, and beta-carotene; minerals such as zinc and selenium; B-vitamins that aid alcohol metabolism; and herbs said to "cleanse" the liver such as milk thistle, dandelion root, and schizandra, might help protect liver cells while ridding our body of poisons.
BENEFITS OF SWEAT DETOX:
The skin being the largest organ and having the ability to sweat out toxins, is a huge tool in releasing crap stuck in our body blocking important processes. Sources: infrared sauna, jacuzzi, wet sauna
BENEFITS OF INFRARED SAUNA:
weight loss, relaxation, pain relief, increased circulation, skin purification.
BENEFITS OF MOVEMENT: exercise, massage, lymphatic shaking
Our lymphatic filter systems needs a little help getting toxins toward our lymph nodes so they can filter them out. Exercise and massage both help do this. Moderate movement aids in toxin removal through both the sweat glands, circulation of blood, and lymphatic movement.
“Our sedentary lifestyle prevents lymphatic circulation to detoxify the brain of heavy metals, chemicals and toxins in our air, water, and food.” - John Gray 'Staying focused in a Hyper world'
Lymphatic shaking & movement: shake plates. Same idea as above but instead of dancing or trampoline jumping, the big vibrating shake plates you see at some gyms do the work for us. 10 minutes on these vibrating pads does wonders to move toxins.
BENEFITS OF MASSAGE:
Massage: lymphatic movement, getting toxins pushed out of the body. Healing power of touch- benefits our rest/digest calm response- pain relief opiate releasing receptors on the skin. Massage and jumping help the body push toxins toward your lymph nodes to leave the body.
BENEFITS OF FLUSHING:
Water: flushing, hydrating filtered lemon water- wonderful detox tool. Many times when we think we are hungry, we are actually desperately thirsty. With water playing such a huge roll in every body process, being dehydrated puts the body at a huge disadvantage. Dehydration is the 3rd leading cause of depression!
We seek out food when we are dehydrated, looking for stimulation (break from boredom), or soothing anxiety. Keeping ourselves calm, deep breathing, hydrated, and moderately scheduled will keep us from looking at food as the only feel good savior.
-Healthy Sugar Hacks
The way to avoid the massive system sabotage of sugar is to either pair a little of it with a ton of fiber or to swap it out for sweet Stevia or Xylitol that is actually plant derived and doesn’t raise blood sugar. Caffeine, although cortisol spiking, is slightly better than sugar to achieve that stimulated high. Rest, good fats, filling fiber, and stevia sweetened desserts are much better.
Low Carb Diet Benefits & Carb Timing:
Carb Cycling in the weight loss community often refers to avoiding carbs on days you're not training, ie rest days. Keeping starchy carbs away from fats is another component of it. A google search will bring up images like this:
While restricting carbs on days you aren't in the gym is helpful and keeping fat and insulin spiking carbs away from each other is essential, that's not the type of Carb Cycling we're referring to here.
Here we are addressing how our natural energy cortisol cycle can get reversed when we are stressed, depleted, and tired leaving us dragging through the morning and tired but wired at night. Another night of poor or no sleep and the cycle continues. When we eat carbs plays a role in this cycle.
Those with chronic stress tend to have flipped cortisol cycles with cortisol spiking in the evening and being so low in the morning it feels impossible to get out of bed. If this sounds like you, and you have that tired but wired feeling at night and struggle to get out of bed in the morning, get on a cortisol managing supplement asap.
Many blends on the market list ashwaganda to get credit but don’t actually have enough of this calming herb to be effective. They do this to sell a product at a price point people are comfortable with because Ashwagandha can be an expensive helpful herb. It works, and we want an effective dose.
Food combos throughout the day really help manage energy when we’re under stress. Protein and fat along with green tea until the afternoon keeps us thinking clearer and avoiding the energy drops carbohydrates bring. Avoiding eating anything beside your tea for 3 hours after waking can help the body finish it's cleaning cycle, and balance the blood sugar prepping for use of the first protein rich meal of the day. Carbohydrates can be eaten after 5pm prepping the body for sleep.
This version of carb timing in the adrenal fatigue community helps the body to release the sleepy time chemicals and get the cortisol curve back on track. A starchy carb breakfast is a sure way to feel exhausted and foggy headed all day just to perk up and not be able to sleep come evening. Not to mention, unused carbs get stored in fat cells immediately.
Sticking to toxin free non GMO carbs with fiber present is important to note so we don’t trigger a cortisol releasing high blood sugar stress event. We want serotonin to release not cortisol.
Spiking the blood sugar appears to be the most inflammatory thing we can do outside of eating straight up toxins. Cancer patients we know have found benefit in cutting all carbs and letting their body go into ketosis (fat burning mode). Apparently the body can temporarily focus on healing when not distracted by getting the sugar out of the blood stream. Whole weight loss protocols center around no sugar plans that keep the body in ketosis.
The box on the left are the types of carbs we get so much beauty, weightloss, and mood benefits from. The ones in the middle (when not sourced in the USA) can be filled with fiber and B vitamins along with soothing serotonin releases. The ones on the right have lovely nutrients and are great dessert substitutes but need to be eaten alone or first as they get digested so much quicker.
Even if optimal, cutting out sugar can feel too extreme for stressed people, even if they’d benefit most. Now, this free the fat, adrenal soothing solution is all for low sugar & no refined white flour sugar. But cutting out all sugar is not another stressor we need on our plate. Sugar is a coping mechanism many have become used to which is why we provide many delicious low sugar desserts rather than put pressure on going cold turkey. Ideally we get our carbs from fiber filled superfood green and orange veggies.
The data on ketosis (fat burning mode) is interesting and we can individually explore the science and see if and when rapid healing and no sugar may be appropriate for us, but for now, let’s not make that the starter goal. We’ll mix our unrefined sugar with lots of fiber and water, reduce large amounts in one sitting, and go for a walk after consuming.
Sugar without the fiber is never ok --which is why fruit juice (minus the fibrous peel) or salty, sugary, fiber void sodas are off the adrenal healing food list. Soda is not only terrible for us, it’s the big food companies killing us for profit and laughing all the way to the bank. They literally put so much salt in it to make us dehydrated craving more soda with even more sugar to hide all of that salt. Criminal!
Sparkling water with flavoring is a great crutch for those that need the carbonated sensation. Soda is never ok for any reason on the adrenal fatigue (or any healthy) diet. Liquid sugar minus fiber in those amounts plus dehydrating salt and exhausting caffeine is tragic. Flavored carbonated water is an option. No soda, no way. Leave it for cleaning blood off of asphalt, you have bikinis to wear and muscles to flex. You have friends and families that want you around. No slow suicide by soda.
-Healing Leaky Gut
Leaky Gut Definition: separation of cells in the gut lining caused by poor diet, chronic stress, toxin overload, and gut bacteria imbalance. The cement like substance between the bricks in your intestinal wall get loosened by toxins and bad foods. The resulting holes in this wall are known as leaky gut.
ü Bad foods (like sugary/starchy carbohydrate, processed, toxic, bad fat foods) promote inflammatory endotoxins in the bloodstream.
ü These endotoxins and harmful molecules can leak through the intestinal wall if it's been damaged by previous inflammation .
ü Leaks allow foreign substances into parts of the body where they aren't recognized and are seen as invaders sparking an inflammatory protective immune response Inflammation. Cue food allergies and toxins roaming.
ü Digestion, blood sugar levels, & the liver's insulin response are disturbed.
ü Your immune system begins in your gut—and if you have enzyme and digestive issues, chances are your immune system isn't functioning well.
ü Weight Gain: poor nutrient absorption, toxins inflaming body, high cortisol
-Gut Healers:
ü prebiotics & probiotics (gut health)
ü L glutamine & bone broth (most used amino acid & healing collagen broth)
ü stop the toxic assault- cut sugar, toxins, gluten, alcohol, & starchy carbs.
ü Fiber appears to offset the damage of toxins that would otherwise seep through a leaky gut. With less toxins present, less damage gets done while we are sealing up our stomach lining.
ü kill yeast overgrowth Candida if necessary- starve it of sugar
ü enzymes: Besides breaking down food, enzymes (particularly the proteases) can help with gut healing, controlling pathogens, and immune support. More on Enzymes on page 124.
Leaky gut gets in the way of freeing the fat so let’s get it checked: -stool tests to check holes in gut lining -urine test .
-Superfoods & Wonder Water
“Hundreds of well-documented, peer reviewed, evidenced based university studies on the benefits of supplements and special diets in curing the oxidation and inflammation causing these brain and body malfunctions. Using food and supplements to reverse damage and heal the body is no longer unproven or questionable science”. - Dr. Mark Hyman
-Water
Hydration:
ü Water is the great detoxifier. Water helps cleanse the body of impurities.
ü Water keeps our mood happy.
ü Water keeps us looking young and less wrinkled.
ü Water aids in metabolism
ü Water is life. - We are made of water only second to oxygen.
ü Slight Dehydration spikes cortisol.
ü Dehydration creates depression.
ü Stevia & lemon in water make for a cleansing hydrating calorie free treat.
-Eat Fresh
Don’t overcook or let food sit out. Oxidation to our food is the same aging oxidation we experience in our bodies. Too much rotting food in our system, overcooking food, or leaving it out in the air all lead to oxidation. The brown on our apples is no good. We want food fresh, nutrient filled for max benefit as we rebuild our systems.
Ideally, the majority of your diet is Leafy Greens. These antioxidant and micronutrient rich foods are packed with building block B vitamins, chlorophyll (good for nutrient and oxygen transporting red blood cells), fiber (toxin scrubbing, tummy flattening, good gut bacteria feeding, blood sugar lowering), and B vitamins.
Their vitamins, minerals, and digestive enzymes make them a perfect food to make up much of our diet especially when we start calming the system and releasing our protective fat. In the summer, enjoy raw and in the fall and winter aim to cook them in stews, crockpot soups, and stir fry’s. Be careful not to overcook and lose the nutrients. Freshness counts for full nutrient availability and lowered oxidation
-Good Fats
”Scientific evidence has been mounting that high fat diets outperform low fat diets for weight loss and for reversing every single indication of heart disease risk, including abnormal cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, inflammation, and more” - Dr. Mark Hyman - Eat fat, get thin
The ADA in the 60s used bad science to spread a low fat message that left open room for sugar and carbs to fill the gap. Sugar that spikes cortisol & inflammation, hinders healing, is stored as fat, and increases fat storage in a single sitting.
Fat has gotten a bad wrap. Fat doesn’t make you fat - sugar does. It’s the sugar that spikes the insulin and gets stored away. If we ate super fatty foods and never touched sugar or starchy carbohydrates, we’d go into fat burning mode and would LOSE WEIGHT! But we have to be super disciplined about the no sugar thing to get results on a high fat diet. And that level of perfection to stay in ketosis (fat burning mode), can be tricky.
The Free the Fat solution is all about lowering the insulin spiking, body stressing, fat storing, sex drive killing, inflammation spiking sugar and opting for sugar hacks and good fats. Perfection is not the goal here, nor is extreme ketosis initially. Aiming for perfection can be really stressful when lowering stress is just as effective. Fortunately, high quality fats do so many amazing things n our body and we need less of them to feel awesome longer.
Good fats we eat are brain food, nerve protectors, skin smoothers, depression stoppers, and organ protectors. Youthful skin, waistlines thin.
Check out the Omega 3 dose for depression relief:
”Eating liberal amounts of the the right fats will NOT make you fat and are the key to health and weight loss”. ”There are many different kinds (of fat), some good and some bad. - Dr. Mark Hyman, famous functional medicine advocate, in ‘Eat Fat Get Thin’
We don’t have that confusion with sugar. Sugar is sugar is sugar. All forms of sugar (with small and relatively insignificant differences) have the same negative effects on your body. It doesn’t matter if it’s table sugar, high fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, honey, or any of the other 257 names for sugar -Dr. Mark Hyman.
To be fair, honey and raw molasses have an anti-microbial health benefit to be used in times we are sick and helps to prevent allergies if eaten from local sources. Once fat release is less of a priority, there is room for more raw local honey in our diet.
For now, let’s opt for stevia sweetener, 85%+cacao dark chocolate, high fiber low sugar stevia sweetened bars and tons of satisfying Omega3 fat. Honey when we are desperate and weight loss is not our goal in that moment but getting our fix without putting the toxins in our system.
Great fats, like Omega 3s, help us feel full and curb sugar cravings. Omega 3s are in cold water fish like sardines, mackerel, trout, and salmon, fiber rich flaxseed, and cold pressed olive oil. Great fats are in avocado, flaxseed, walnuts, organic butter, and fatty fish. Good fats are 1000x better for you than any sugar or starchy carbs and they are more filling, nutritious, and satisfying. They keep blood sugar stable and improve brain function. A healthy liver processes them just fine.
To start, focus on more avocados, walnuts, flax seeds, and wild salmon and watch your dessert cravings melt away. First 3 days are hard so having healthy snacks on hand is everything. After day 3, you’ll feel powerful with zero bloat and a ton more energy. A bit of stevia in warm peppermint tea at the end of a fat filled meal leaves you feeling fabulous and not wanting sex drive stealing, mood and energy lowering sugar.
Avoid processed oils like canola, palm, corn, sunflower, soy, and cottonseed… For salad dressings and cooking, ditch canola, and corn oils for flaxseed oils, safflower, and sunflower oils. Saturated fat is fine in moderation so long as your omega3 (fish & flax) fat outnumbers your red meat Omega 6 fat in a 3:1 ratio.
The US currently eats about 17:1 the wrong direction with most of the Omega 6 fats being from potato chips, meats, and other vegetable oil fried snacks. Canola oil is high in good fatty acid LNA but there are some serious problems with it and it’s GMO link, extraction methods, and other toxicity so this protocol suggests staying away and getting your LNA from Walnuts and Flaxseeds. Aim for 3 Omega 3s for every 1 Omega 6. (More fish than meat)(3:1 flaxseeds and walnuts over almonds or cashews)
Even more important, fat and sugar don't mix. You can eat a whole lot more fat if it's the right kind and not in the presence of starchy carbohydrates. If you give up the blood sugar spiking / fat storing bread, you can guilt free enjoy the nutrient rich grass fed butter.
On more carbohydrate rich days, triple the fiber and lower the fat and expect your energy to lower and mood to plummet- but less fat to be stored thanks to the fiber. It’s all about balance. Some days will have more starchy carbs in this process even if they aren’t helpful in freeing the fat. Be gentle with yourself as you learn your body and shift your eating.
Low sugar is the key to weight loss and turning on fat burning mode in the body. As long as there is sugar present, the body will burn it first. And we want it burning stored fat reserves. As long as there is sugar present in the bloodstream, the body will store it away in fat cells.
Fatty Acid
Food Sources
ALA , (LNA) alpha-linolenic acid
Flaxseed, English walnuts, eggs
EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid
Fish, fish oils, marine sources
DHA, docosahexaenoic acid
Fish, fish oils, quality egg/dairy
Flaxseeds:
Omega 3 rich, fiberous, phytoestrogen rich. Flaxseed and flaxseed oil contain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a precursor to the essential omega-3 fatty acid that partly and inefficiently converts into DHA and EPA -- more active omega-3s -- in the body. While flaxseed hasn't yet been shown to improve heart disease risk, there's good evidence that flaxseed and flaxseed oil may lower cholesterol levels. In order to lower triglycerides, 38-60 grams of flaxseed oil daily has been used. Flaxseeds have been shown to do even better in the presence of Vitamin C for lowering inflammation.
Avocados:
Not only do avocados have protein, have healthy omega 3 fats, build brain cells, they also reduce inflammation and have been linked to less pain in OsteoArthritis patients! French studies of ASU, derived from avocado and soybean oils, show it can relieve OA pain, stimulate cartilage repair, and lower a patient's need for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to control pain. -webMD. With many people being allergic to NSAIDS, this is huge! Soybean in the US has some unfortunate pesticide downsides so FreetheFat suggests Avocados. (glucosamine chondroitin is another major joint pain reliever.)
Salmon:
Healthy Omega 3 fatty acids & protein. Reduces inflammation, Circulatory system, Immune System boost
Egg Yolks:
The Vitamin D & Phosphatidylserine (PS) in egg yolks improves memory, mood, & has even been shown to improve brain focus and attention. Eggs are also a wonderful source of all the necessary amino acids. Egg yolks are one of the richest dietary sources of the B-complex vitamin choline, which is associated with better neurological function and reduced inflammation. There's also evidence that dietary choline helps with fetal brain development when pregnant women eat it. Another side benefit of a diet rich in choline is happiness.
Here’s how: *Science Bar* Choline breaks down into bethane, which is used during the methylation cycle, which in turn helps produce 'happiness' hormones like serotonin, dopamine, norephinephrine. Egg yolks also contain two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect against vision loss. Eggs are also high in sulfur, an essential nutrient that helps with everything from vitamin B absorption to liver function. But sulfur is also necessary for the production of collagen and keratin, which help create and maintain shiny hair, strong nails and glowing skin. ((http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/30/health-benefits-of-eggs-yolks_n_2966554.html))
Almonds, Walnuts:
High in good fats, selenium, vitamin E, antioxidants, and protein.
Grass fed Organic Butter:
Nutrient rich, brain feeding fat that is stable enough to cook with and full of good stuff. Careful if you don’t do well with dairy.
Coconut oil:
ü Stable at high temperatures,
ü anti bacterial
ü anti-microbial
ü anti-viral,
ü great source of fuel to keep you in fat burning mode
ü lotion, hair product, or lubricant,
-Fiber
"High fiber foods are one of your best longevity weapons. Years of research have found that the more fiber you eat, the better for your health and weight."-- Dr Daniel Amen
Here's how fiber fights fat:
1. Regulates hunger & high calorie craving hormone ghrelin.
2. Keeps us feeling full -
Fiber takes a long time to digest and requires more calories. (20-35g) of fiber/day burns enough to lose 16 extra lbs per year!
3. Stops the blood sugar spike.
Eating fiber with our sugar binges is the #1 secret hack to reducing sugar
spike damage on our mood, weight, and health.
4. Reduces inflammation-
Lower inflammation helps metabolism, nutrient absorption, and anti-oxidants disarm toxins before they are stored in fat.
5. Feeds good gut bacteria-
We get the most skinny-hormone building nutrients out of good fiber filled
food when it’s broken down properly by gut bacteria.
Here’s how fiber keeps us healthy:
1. Fiber also reduces cholesterol
2. Fiber keep our digestive track moving allowing us to eliminate waste and
toxins.
3. Fiber lowers high blood pressure, and lowers risk of cancer.
30-35 grams of fiber/day:
i. Fiber all-stars include: beans, berries, vegetables (especially spinach).
ii. Oatmeal- (GMO free, not processed / pre packaged).
iii. Grapefruit- has antioxidant Vitamin C and high fiber Pectin that curbs appetite.
iv. Flaxseeds- fiber punch with all of these benefits:
“Eating more dietary fiber decreases inflammation, especially in those with diabetes”. -Dr. Dean Ornish
Two Types of Fiber:
1. Soluble fiber: This type of fiber dissolves in water to form a gel-like material. It can help lower blood cholesterol and glucose (sugar) levels through slowing the absorption of sugar. Soluble fiber is found in peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits, carrots, oats, and psyllium.
2. Insoluble fiber: This type of fiber promotes the movement of material
through your digestive system and increases stool bulk, so it can be of
benefit to those who struggle with constipation or irregular stools. Nuts, beans and vegetables, such as cauliflower, green beans and potatoes, are good sources of insoluble fiber. Whole-wheat flour, wheat bran are also good but with gluten sensitivities popping up, best to get it elsewhere.
Most plant-based foods, such as leafy greens, oatmeal, and beans, contain both soluble and insoluble fiber.
Vegetarian Option:
Vegetarians often get more of the crucial inflammation lowering fiber into their diets and have some reduced numbers in the chronic disease category. However, this protocol advocates hormone free, free range or wild caught meat eating for those that feel good when they eat fish / meat.
Animal products offer so many great building blocks, minerals, and vitamins. The problem comes in how much we eat and the direction our meat industry has gone. Otherwise great sources of protein are now filled with stress hormones from bad conditions, hormones to get them bigger, GMO corn influences from cheap feed, and antibiotics to keep them living longer in gross environments. The majority of the antibiotics made in the US go to our livestock that kills our good gut bacteria harming digestion, disease avoidance, and fat loss.
Going vegetarian with careful planning is better than eating hormone, pesticide, and antibiotic filled meat. But selecting more expensive meats from better sources, higher end grocery stores, and local hormone free, grass fed farms is the best option if easier fat loss is your main goal. All the building blocks, none of the toxins, and less planning.
Also, without careful planning, vegetarians often find themselves making carbohydrate choices to stay meat free. If vegetables, seeds, nuts, Omega 3 supplement, and some fruit is replacing meat and you're careful to get your amino acids, GREAT! But starchy carbohydrates instead of meat is terrible for releasing fat. There’s some science linking the blood type O positive to doing particularly poorly with vegetarian though Type A appear to fare better. Veggies are so darn good for everything, they should make up the bulk of our food anyway.
Our body requires 9 amino acids that it cannot produce itself. These crucial building blocks build everything from happy brain chemicals to healthy muscle, to balancing hormones. Vegetarians can access these through quinoa, buckwheat, hemp seed, chia, and rice & beans. As a rule, combining legumes (protein rich fiber filled beans) with sweet potatoes, gluten free grains, and even soy or mycoprotein is a great way to get protein and the right amino acids. Cold, resistant starch like potato starch feeds our good gut bacteria and is a safe carbohydrate for everyone, including vegetarians.
It’s true that meat can be acidic, have toxic pesticides and hormones in it, and tip the balance of Omega 6s. However, when cleanly sourced, it’s one of the surest ways to get all of our building blocks. Leafy green vegetables still top the list of superfoods and building block superstars, but this protocol is very in favor of well sourced meat.
-Enzymes make magic happen!
Enzymes are made of amino acids and make the magic happen! They start all sorts of processes in our body. Our body needs enzymes! Leafy greens have lots of enzymes in them and thankfully we can take enzymes in pill form with our meals. Enzymes get killed in high temperatures so supplementing at meals is helpful if your meal isn’t predominantly raw.
There are over 3,000 enzymes and they are absolutely vital to your life. Each enzyme has a different function—like 3,000 specialized keys cut to fit 3,000 different locks. Enzymes start the process of building raw materials, transporting nutrients, eliminate unwanted chemicals, and so much more.
Amazing weight loss and beauty actions that need enzymes:
1. Energy production,
2. Absorbing oxygen,
3. Fighting infections and healing wounds,
4. Reducing inflammation,
5. Getting nutrients into your cells,
6. Carrying away toxic wastes,
7. Breaking down fats in your blood, regulating cholesterol and triglyceride levels,
8. Dissolving blood clots,
9. Proper hormone regulation,
10. Slowing the aging process
Two types of Enzymes:
1. Systemic Enzymes:
Take on very empty stomach, preferably in the morning. Reduce inflammation and help circulation.
Taken with meals. Get more out of your food, reduce digestive burden, reduce oxidation from digestion
There are eight primary digestive enzymes, each designed to help break down different types of food:
1. Protease: Digesting protein
2. Amylase: Digesting carbohydrates
3. Lipase: Digesting fats
4. Cellulase: Breaking down fiber
5. Maltase: Converting complex sugars from grains into glucose
6. Lactase: Digesting milk sugar (lactose) in dairy products
7. Phytase: Helps digestion, especially in producing the B vitamins
8. Sucrase: Digesting most sugars
Diets heavy in cooked, processed, and sugary foods, combined with overuse of pharmaceutical drugs (antibiotics) deplete your body's ability to make enzymes. The same things that give us leaky gut, inflammation, and put us into fat storage mode also rob us of these awesome magicians in our body. Raw veggies are a great source of enzymes.
Science Bar: Digestion begins in your mouth, starting with saliva where amylase begins to break down carbohydrates. As food passes into your stomach, proteins are worked on by protease. From there, the food passes into your small intestine, where lipase begins to break down fats and amylase finishes off the carbohydrates. With 90 percent of our digestion and absorption takes place in the small intestine, healing leaky gut is essential to allow micronutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream through millions of tiny villi in the gut wall **Unfortunately, enzymes are very sensitive to temperature and shifts in pH, which is why different enzymes work in different parts of your digestive tract, based on the pH each enzyme needs in order to function. Raw vegetables have all of their enzymes in place. Temperatures over 116 degrees kills most enzymes.
-Foods that naturally have enzymes: raw! The more raw foods you eat, the lower the burden on your body to produce the enzymes it needs, not only for digestion, but for practically everything. Whatever enzymes are not used in digestion are then available to help with other important physiological processes. We are not on the all raw train but some raw veggies or side salad with each meal is great.
-Enzyme Helpers: Enzymes require certain vitamins & minerals to work.
Ex.—Coenzyme Q10. found in the mitochondria (power energy centers of cell) where it is involved in making ATP (energy) Ex- Magnesium: participates in over 300 enzyme reactions. Magnesium not only calms us down, it helps enzymes do magic! Like Vitamin D, most are low in magnesium, so it’s good practice to supplement.
Module 6: Super Supplements
"If people eat wild, fresh, organic, local, non GMO food grown in virgin mineral and nutrient rich soils that have not been transported across vast distances and stored for months before being eaten... and work and live outside, breath only fresh unpolluted air, drink only pure, clean water, sleep 9 hours a night, move their bodies everyday, and are free from the chronic stressors and exposure to environmental toxins," then they might not need supplements."
- Dr Mark Hyman 'The Ultra Mind Solution'
-Antioxidants
Antioxidants neutralize the damage of free radicals and reverse age related deficits in nerve function, memory, learning, and skin sag. Berries and walnuts help the housekeeper part of the brain (microglia). These housekeepers clean out the amyloid plaque that builds up with the stimulation of the waking day. Too much of this plaque and we find cases of Alzheimer’s. Fortunately good sleep and antioxidants perking up the housekeepers tired broken brooms.
Apple polyphenols reversed the biological markers for age related deterioration and have been linked to lower heart disease. The fiber in them offsets the sugar as well avoiding the blood sugar spiking damage. Colorful fruits and vegetables keep us looking young and can improve our brain & body as we age while keeping the weight off.
Alpha Lipoic Acid: a cell protecting compound that is made naturally in the body, ALA is an all around good idea. It's been shown to be helpful to our skin as well as our liver and other regenerative activities.
Grape Seed Extract: This antioxidant bonds with collagen helping the skin to stay elastic, full, and young. A lean body doesn’t get to show off it’s stuff if covered in flabby, dry, stretched out skin.
-Building Blocks Amino Acids
GABA: this amino acid is essential for keeping the anxious part of the brain from getting overactive. Gaba keeps things calm and clear and is a wonderful supplement to take to keep perceived stress down. Many GABA supplements are absorbed under the tongue so they wouldn’t be as affected by leaky gut malabsorption.
-There are 9 essential amino acids the body can not make that must obtain from food or supplements. Certain amino acids help build specific happy neurochemicals like dopamine or serotonin. Amino acids make focus, mood, and motivation possible.
-Probiotics - Video
Probiotics are a fancy way of referencing our good gut bacteria that keeps our digestive processes happening. They are made naturally when food ferments. Healthy fermented foods include sauerkraut, greek yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, aged cheeses, and pickles. Opt for dairy free versions when possible.
The process of food fermentation preserves the food while creating beneficial enzymes, good B vitamins, important Omega 3 fatty acids, and various strains of good bacteria probiotics.
How Probiotics Work: These good bacteria have to balance out the bad, sugar eating bacteria that lives in our gut. Processed foods and processed carbs feed our bad bacteria /soldiers that crowd out our beneficial bacteria. High fiber, good foods feed good bacteria. Probiotics simply add more good soldiers to the ranks to make up for toxins killing them.
By replenishing good soldiers with probiotics and feeding the existing good fiber while starving the bad ones of sugar, we can keep the stomach lining strong to absorb our nutrients and keep toxins and food particles from leaking through a damaged gut wall.
-Vitamins & Minerals
Bs, Cs, Ds, & Omega 3s - the essential 4
Vitamin D -super hormone many are low in. Helps with thyroid function, mood, cardiac support."Essential for brain health, mood, memory, and your weight. Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with depression, autism, psychosis, Alzheimers, MS, heart disease, Diabetes, cancer, and obesity. Unfortunately, vitamin D deficiencies are becoming more and more common." - Dr. Daniel Amen.
Having low vitamin D interferes with the full hormone leptin making you hungry all the time no matter how much you eat. Research also shows that vitamin D insufficiency is associated with increased body fat. Extra fat inhibits the absorption of Vitamin D. This lack of absorption makes heavier people need higher amounts of D to achieve the same great results.
Stanford hospital reported a case where a patient accidentally took 50,000 IU/day instead of per week. After 6 months, the patient’s D level went from extremely low 7 to very high 100. The patient complained of lower appetite and weight loss. We do not advocate that high of a dosage but we do have high levels of Vitamin D supplementation and outside sunshine walks as part of this free the fat success protocol.
Why not get the improved mood, stronger heart, better bones, increased immunity while regulating our appetite?
Touted as the brain savior, Omega 3 found in fish and walnuts has been shown to slow Alzheimer's, stave off dementia, improve brain function, focus and memory, improve test scores, and reduce stress. Opt for cold water fish like salmon over chicken or beef when you can and pop a very high quality, high DHA/EPA fish oil 1x/day.
Omega 3 has been tied to weight loss as well. "Boosting your intake of Omega 3 fatty acids is one of the best things you can do for your brainpower, mood, and weight." - Dr. Daniel Amen
Omega 3s have been found to decrease appetite and cravings and reduce body fat. An Icelandic study found a correlation to weight loss in men. An Australian study found that Obese individuals had significantly reduced levels of EPA & DHA.
DHA is the part of fish oil that makes up much of our brain's gray matter and neurons. EPA is the part that improves blood flow. Another study found that the combination of fish oil and exercise produce better results than fish oil or exercise alone. Low levels of Omega 3 is also tied to depression.
According to Harvard school of public health, "having low levels of Omega-3 fatty acid is one of the leading preventable causes of death and has been associated with heart disease, suicidal behavior, ADD, dementia, and obesity."-
-Dr. Daniel Amen
Omega 3s are also skin superstars. They improve skin elasticity, help protect and restore the body after UV radiation exposure, protect DNA and collagen.
There are several Vitamin Bs and they are crucial. Bs are the converting agents that transforms building blocks into skinny hormones and happy brain chemicals. Bs are the first line of defense against stress and get quickly used up being the buffer. They handle many body processes affecting mood, fat use as energy, appetite regulation, metabolism, nerve and enzyme function, energy production, and skin beauty.
The Bs have their fingers in everything we are after in the Free the Fat solution. Take a high quality, well sourced multi-B vitamin in low doses throughout the day with food. The body can only absorb small amounts so don’t waste nutrients or money taking huge doses at one time. VIDEO
-Vitamin C
Vitamin C makes it into our power 4 because of how it gets depleted by stress and is needed by our adrenals and immune system.
Highest source of Vitamin C in our bodies is found in our Adrenal Glands. With our adrenal glands producing so many important hormones & buffering all our stress, supplementing with C is essential. C is anti-viral, anti fungal. C keeps immune system strong while being a beauty powerhouse. C is present in our morning lemon water flush.
Sources: Kiva Superfood - South American Camu Camu powder- 60x more vitamin C than an orange as well as amino acids, antioxidants, potassium, & other essential minerals. We also like this daily super blend.
I travel everywhere with packets of Emergen-C or equivalent. Especially on nights that have cocktails involved or days that are stressful or full of toxins. Recovery, beauty, or travel without Vitamin C involved is a recipe for disaster.
-High Quality Multi Vitamin
Each of the remaining vitamins and minerals are essential in their own right. Because we have limited time and may not be eating the right foods to get our balancing, weight shedding minerals, enzymes, and vitamins, a great insurance policy is to take a well sourced, high quality multivitamin. B, Cs, Ds, & Omega 3s make our top list and crucial mineral balances yield spectacular results.
"Because we live in a fast paced society where we pick up food on the fly, skip meals, eat sugar laden treats, buy processed foods, and eat foods that have been chemically treated, we could all use a little help from a multivitamin / mineral supplement." - Dr Amen. Let's get our guts healthy enough to absorb these awesome insurance policies.
BENEFITS:
ü Vitamin A & E both decrease inflammation. Vitamin A is depleted by alcohol which is also an inflammatory and dehydrator. Alcohol is fun for a weekend but is tragic for our skin. Supplement after party weekends.
ü Vitamin C & Lysine: Both stop the production of enzymes that attack collagen in our skin.
ü Zinc: Mineral that helps with healing as well as hair and skin health.
ü Gamma- Linolenic Acid: A good Omega 6 found in borage, evening primrose, and black currant seed oils, this oil improves skin smoothness and hydration. Eat 500 mg of GLA from borage oil along with your normal Omega3 fish oil supplement for noticeable results in 1-3 months.
ü DMAE (Dimethylaminoethanol):related to the B vitamin choline and a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine described below, DHEA affects the nervous system, has anti-aging properties, diminishes wrinkles, and improves the appearance of skin.
ü Acetylcholine: This precursor to choline is an all star in memory repair as well as
providing moisture to the body keeping your skin looking great. It staves off dementia and dry wrinkled skin and can be found in whole eggs, turkey liver, almonds, broccoli, salmon/cod/tilapia, cucumber, zucchini, & hormone free dairy. Supplements that help include phosphatidyl choline, acetyl-l-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, manganese, and huperzine A.
ü Acetyl-Carnitine: boosts metabolism, increases energy levels, increases production of certain neurotransmitters, and helps to move fatty acids into the mitochondria where we need them to produce energy
ü Phenylalanine: Amino acid most used for its mood boosting properties, DLPA has also been linked to helping the skin discoloration disorder vitiligo. Often called DLPA or DL-Phenylalanine
ü White Tea: helps pull the signs of aging away from skin as well as help the joints feel young and reduce the rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. Other teas have benefits too though none as tied to aging as white tea.
ü Green Tea: Researchers in China found that people who drank 2-3 cups of green tea per day, their DNA actually looked younger. Green tea helps reverse sun damage and even prevent skin cancer. Oolong tea appears to help eczema.
ü L-Glutamine - (found in our focus blend & liver cleansing blend). This amino acid important for the brain and for healing leaky gut. Take am & pm.
L-glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the bloodstream making up 30- 35% of the amino acid nitrogen in your blood. Known as a conditionally essential amino acid because our body uses so much of it.
L-Glutamine helps in rapid weight loss, fat burning, and muscle building. Science is now showing that L-glutamine benefits includes digestive and brain health, repair of the intestine wall(leaky gut repair), helps IBS and diarrhea by balancing mucus production, muscle growth, athletic performance, high blood sugar regulation, and even fights cancer according to Dr. Axe.
ü Glutathione: Very potent, important antioxidant the liver makes from N-AcetylCysteine can be taken in supplement form too.
ü Essential Aminos: Amino Acids are most effective in the right ratios. That can be tricky to meal plan around so best to take on empty stomach in the morning an hour after you take your master digestive enzyme (unless you snuck it during your night time pee break when your tummy was also empty)
ü Omega3
ü CoQ10- body produces CoQ10 and uses it to produce energy for growing and maintaining your cells. It increases endurance and improves recovery time after exercise. Good food sources include beef, sardines and various organ meats
ü D-Ribose- sustain higher energy levels throughout the day without placing any stress on your adrenal glands. Goes directly to forming ATP (cell energy)
ü Brain Builders:
Neurogenesis - (foods that make you smarter) avocado, flaxseed, walnuts, blueberries, thyme, rosemary, garlic, parsley.
And they are good Omega 3 fat and antioxidant rich, low inflammation foods.
Win all around!
For extra benefit, soak your walnuts to dissolve more of the phytates rumored to block nutrient absorption.
-Blood Sugar helpers
A. Cinnamon helps lower blood sugar
B. Protein helps balance your blood sugar and provides the necessary building
blocks for brain health. Protein also helps synthesize neurotransmitters
and is a precursor to happy chemicals dopamine, and epinephrine.
C. Apple Cider Vinegar before carbs help the body not over react and release too
much insulin.
D. Garlic & Onions: Block the receptor sites that clear insulin away from the blood stream so helpful for prediabetics. Good for blood sugar and the immune system as well as being a natural antibiotic and antifungal.
-Inflammation Reducing Edibles
ü .Inflammatone - enzymes, antioxidants, & adaptogenic herbs.
ü Glutathione: master antioxidant for lowering inflammation whose production gets stopped by high blood sugar levels & high cortisol. Made from NaC. (N-Acetyl-Cysteine) - in the Liver Cleansing Blend.
ü Omega 3s: Brain power and inflammation lowerer! Unfortunately,
elevated stress, weight gain, or high insulin levels can make Omega 3 hard to absorb. Mixing with Acetyl Carnitine can help the body absorb Omega 3s better.
-Liver Cleansing Herbs-
Cleanout your filters so we can process toxins better and keep inflammation lower. High cortisol is linked to fatty liver, a buildup of excess fat cells in the liver from alcoholism (sugar), diabetes (sugar), or extreme weight gain.
ü -Milk thistle. Dandelion Root, Yellow Dock Root, Beet root, Schizandra
“Milk Thistle shown in European research to stimulate regeneration of liver cells and protect them from toxic injury. It is found in most health food stores as "milk thistle," "silybum," or "silymarin." Take two capsules of 70-80% silymarin 2-3x/day” - Dr Andrew Weil
ü Dr. Josh Axe suggests blueberries, squash / orange foods, sulfur rich cabbage and sauerkraut, sour foods, milk thistle, turmeric, artichoke, & beets.
-Cortisol Lowering Herbs / Supplements:
i. Phosphatidylserine - binds to cortisol. It improves memory and mood as well as
helping with attention and focus. Dr John Gray suggests it helps control impulsive behavior. Take in morning and night.
ii. GABA - Gaba Butyric Acid- amino acid known for calming the anxious part
of the brain. Passion Flower is said to have a similar effect.
iii. Adaptogenic Herbs: Stress relieving, cortisol lowering herbs often found in the
same blends of cortisol managing supplements: Cortisol Calm is great.
1. Magnolia
2. Ashwagandha.- regulates various systems in our bodies. If cortisol is too high, it acts to lower it, And if cortisol is too low, it acts to raise it.
3. Rhodiola Rosea - muscle tension, poor circulation, depression and fatigue. By improving our circulation it enables us to increase our cortisol production further.
4. Panax Ginseng
5. Holy Basil
6. Bacopa Monnieri
7. Astragalus
8. Siberian Ginseng -improve their stamina, this herb also increases mental awareness and boosts energy levels
9. Licorice Root- Stimulates hormone production, maintains energy levels and increases endurance. Licorice helps your cortisol to circulate for longer. Itt can raise your blood pressure but adrenal fatigue sufferers usually have low blood pressure anyway.
-Adrenal Fatigue Reducing Supplements
The 9 cortisol regulating herbs listed above (found in Cortisol Calm) plus:
found in spinach and dark chocolate along with great supplements is a wonderful way to keep stress low and mood calm. If you’re craving chocolate, it’s probably a magnesium deficiency you’re actually experiencing. Magnesium is also a coenzyme helping many enzymes perform 1000s of magical processes.Magnesium helps to maintain energy flow and a lack can result in symptoms like fatigue and depression. Other tell-tale signs include muscle cramping, stiffness and insomnia. It’s reported ¾ of the population is deficient in magnesium!
Potassium
handles anxiety and stress, as well as electrolytic functions, enhanced muscle strength, metabolism, water balance, and nervous system. It’s also tied to heart health. Foods high in potassium include superfood avocados, fresh fruits like bananas / oranges / strawberries, spinach, beans & peas, dried prunes / dates / apricots / raisins. Tomatoes are a great source of potassium & have fabulous lycopene but they do release a substance that can irritate joints in some people.
Vitamin C:
powerful antioxidant vitamin is directly involved in the production of cortisol in your adrenals. So besides the other health benefits it carries (boosting your immune system, protecting from free radicals), vitamin C is also an essential building block for the recovery of your adrenal glands. Should be in combination with bioflavonoids, just as it often is in nature.
Maca Root
Regulates Cortisol, blood sugar, and the uptake of hormones into our cells.
Vitamins B5, B6, B12-
play an important role in cell metabolism. Improving your metabolic pathways boosts your energy levels, reducing fatigue. B5 helps to produce co-enzyme A, which contributes to cellular respiration and the breakdown of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. B6 acts in several of the pathways that are used to create adrenal hormones. And B12 helps with energy production, cell repair and the maintenance of our red blood cells. We need much higher amounts of B5 than B6 or B12. Our Bs are carefully selected.
Probiotics
The health-affirming benefits of probiotics have been established beyond doubt by a long series of scientific studies. Among other things they can improve your digestion, help us get more of the essential vitamins and minerals that we need to maintain our energy levels and produce the hormones, bounce back after antibiotics, and help mood. Additionally, they support our immune system and prevent regular illness from weakening our adrenals further.
-Leaky Gut Helpers - VIDEO
ü Probiotics: 50 billion IU daily supplement (they line your gut & protect you from toxins and invaders) & they create enzymes & even vitamin B12 / K, fat buteric acid. Fermented foods like saurkraut anf kimchee have naturally occurring probiotic good bacteria. If you’re 100% sure you’re ok with dairy, greek yogurt or kefir from hormone free goats is good too.
Study: remote tribe in Venezuela had 2x the diversity of gut bacteria (diet high in fermented foods and prebiotic fiber & no antibiotics & exposed to soil based organisms “pet & being outside grounding - if you have a dog = 50% stronger immune system)…
ü Digestive Enzymes: helps break down food and gluten, gives your gut a rest (w unhealthy meals meat & starches together)
ü adaptagenic herbs… ginseng (helps nourish spleen & hold food together), ashwagandha (support adrenals & thyroid), licorice (supports stomach)
ü L-Glutamine- lines your small intestine (bandaid)- gives building blocks to start to heal and repair… need proline & glutamine.
-Supplements Protocol
Blends from the best medical grade sources from many companies:
1. First things first: Morning master enzyme
2. FOCUS CALM HAPPY Morning: These 3 supplements can be taken together or individually depending on if you’re more interested in Focus, Calm, or Happy morning. Ingredients to look for: L-Glutamine (brain amino acid), glutathione (antioxidant), ashwagandha & rhodiola (stress reliever), GABA & L-Theanine (calm), DL-Phenalynine (happy focus)
With later breakfast:
3. Omega3s: DHA & EPA good fats (brain foods)
4. B vitamins (essential cofactor & stress buffer) taken with protein &
veggie (egg omelet) breakfast & throughout day with food.
5. Mid Day focus & clean energy: liver cleansing supplements with
memory enhancing focus herbs. GREEN TEA
Evening:
6. Cortisol reducers: Adaptagen blend
Cortisol Calm + Inflammatone = Dream Team CALM PACK
**Liver Cleanser is in the Beauty Pack / separately **Enzymes are in the works / separately
The Supplement Cheat Sheet:
Notice the color code showing how many supplements overlap many beauty, fat loss, anti aging, and mood areas. Green Omega 3 is involved everywhere as is teal Neurothera, yellow Vitamin D, and mauve Vitamin B. Red Essential Aminos are the building blocks for each category to create the right hormones and amino acids.
Those looking for extra calm will benefit from NeuroCalm and Purple Cortisol Calm. Those wanting to negate the harsh oxidation effect on beauty and skin will love the Hair Skin Nails blend or the super charged Collagen.
Check out the mood, beauty, and energy blends FTF has bundled for easy feel and look good.
-Super Spices
Oregano- antioxidant super powerhouse (more than blueberries!)
Rosemary - builds new brain cells
Saffron - anti depressant
Turmeric - removes brain plaque buildup
Sage- boosts memory
Cinnamon - regulates blood sugar, decreases cravings
Ginger - brain booster & anti-inflammatory (combine with Ginko Bilbao)
Garlic - better blood flow & kills cancerous cells
Fennel - soothing
Cardamon - calming
-Safe Pick Me ups / Caffeine substitutes
the amino acid precursor to endorphins, this feel good supplement is great in the morning when you want that buzz. It’s rumored to be the key ingredient in Diet Coke that makes it so darn addictive and uplifting.
-L-Tyrosine: (notice it’s the same blend as DL-Phenylalaline above)
If you’re not prone to anxiety, this amino acid is the building block to dopamine and can make you feel alert and motivated. Start at the lower dose of 500mg and titrate up to 1000 or max 1500 after a week or two.
Eleuthero root, Wild Oat milky seed, Chinese Fo Ti root, Gotu Kolu Leaf, Rosemary
These calming amino acids found in Green Tea & in supplements that keeps the brain waves balanced and focused even in the presence of caffeine. Great pairing to caffeine for a focused buzz.
is a water soluble essential nutrient that is closely related to B-complex vitamins. It is also a type of phospholipid that makes up cell membranes, especially in brain neurons. As the main precursor molecule to the powerful neurotransmitter Acetylcholine, it plays a crucial role in the development and formation of memory and other cognitive processes. Protects neurons to maintain good brain health.
**Science Bar: Acetylcholine handles the muscle / nerve axis. In the peripheral nervous system, acetylcholine activates muscles, and is a major neurotransmitter (message sender)in the autonomic nervous system.
"If people eat wild, fresh, organic, local, non GMO food grown in virgin mineral and nutrient rich soils that have not been transported across vast distances and stored for months before being eaten... and work and live outside, breath only fresh unpolluted air, drink only pure, clean water, sleep 9 hours a night, move their bodies everyday, and are free from the chronic stressors and exposure to environmental toxins," then they might not need supplements.
- Dr Mark Hyman 'The UltraMind Solution: Fix your broken brain by healing your body first.'
Module 7: Free the Fat for Life
Where to Start
-reduce inflammation first
-prioritize good sleep: bad sleep throws off important hormones
-focus on high value, high fiber, high nutrient, high probiotic food
-invite more walking and stretching and light activity into your day (moves toxins, supports metabolism)
-avoid stressful people and pressuring thoughts. The stress works against our efforts and often is a double wammy of emotional eating furthering the guilt shame cycle. Choose easy in the beginning - easy people, easy thoughts, easy situations, lots of rest
-Flushing Water and deep breathing
- Inflammatone & Cortisol Calm supplements
Graduate to
-3x/ week sweating fast walks, hotel room/home 25 min workouts, lymphatic shaking
-getting your cortisol levels tested
-Regular deep breathing meditation and supplements
-A liver cleanse and eat clean 2 weeks
-1x/week lymphatic shaking (dancing, shake plates, cardio exercise)
-Doubling the green vegetable and ditching the sugar
-Cutting out stressful obligations and people
-Practicing self love and gratitude
-Supplements: Everyday Pack + Calm Happy Focused Pack
Ideal
-Bed before 10pm
-Lemon Water & Green Tea only for drinking
-Veggies, good fats, fish, quality meats
-Low stress and happy thoughts /friends
-Dancing, happy moderate fun exercise 3x/week
-Long walk or hike 1-2x / week in sunshine preferably
-Carbs after 5pm
-Cleansed Liver = lots of anti aging & toxin cleaning antioxidant glutathione
-No plastics, pesticides, chemicals
-Gratitude, positivity, connecting to community, & no comparison
-Deep Breathing
-Naps, meditation, yin yoga, breaks, and stretching
- Supplements: The Works (beauty pack optional add on for hair & skin)
-Self Love & Forgiveness
Summary
Breath Deeply
Drink lots of lemon water
Gently move your body often - 70% max heart rate
Rest enough. Sleep early for max weight release benefit.
20 min nap or meditation mid day instead of cortisol coffee.
Sweat detox & Massage Detox for Soothing self care
Smile, choose nicer thoughts, and pick nurturing friends
Hot and Cold water therapy to move in oxygen and move out toxins
Meditate for youth and focus
Stop eating processed, pesticide filled inflammatory foods. No moderation for poison.
Nutrient rich, high fiber low carb, protein & healthy omega3 fat rich foods
Stop eating US wheat products, reduce wheat totally for max benefit.
Sugar substitute with stevia & mix fiber with sugar
Use Miraculous movement!
Soak in endorphins. Enjoy oxygen, Circulate nutrients. Move out toxins.
Aim for 70% heart rate medium slightly sweaty workout with a bit of
weights.
Notice why you go go go.
What does productivity mean to your self esteem? What is the fear that’s keeping
you sprinting? Which media outlets, family or friends reinforce this fear?
Who was the first to introduced you to this idea?
What is the opposite thought?
How does it feel to say that to yourself instead?
:
Supplement $avings Packs:
Reference:
Full Supplement CheatSheet: (including amino acids)
Amino Acid CheatSheet