Sexy Forever: How to Fight Fat After Forty (2 page)

So how do we change our beliefs about losing weight?

I remember being a kid and thinking that thirty was old!

The first key is to change the beliefs that no longer serve you. The best
way is to start developing new attitudes and experiences that cause you to question your old beliefs. The new attitude that you need to adopt is “I will get healthy, and then I will easily be able to lose weight. I know that health equals energy, and the more energy I have, the easier it will be to lose weight.”

So how do we get healthy? We must first realize that health is our natural state of being. Disease and illness are but shadows on the river of health. Our bodies are Ferraris that need high-octane fuel. We must feed them organic food. We must limit our exposure to toxins in our environment, and more important, stimulate the elimination systems of the body—the liver, kidneys, and lymph system—to get rid of these toxins that eventually accumulate in our fat. As more and more toxins accumulate in our system, they place severe stress on these organs of elimination. With continued accumulation, the liver, kidneys, and lymph system become less efficient in their ability to excrete these waste products, causing toxins to build first in the connective tissues of the body and then in the organs. The body initially tries to compensate by having the endocrine glands secrete hormones to help stimulate detoxification. Over time these glands become “tired.” The end result is an inefficient elimination system with toxin accumulation, coupled with reduced organ and hormonal function—which creates the environment for weight gain.

Suzanne wants us to optimize our hormones in order to become healthy and lose weight. The hormonal system is what most correlates to the emotional person. It is clear that the hormonal system responds to our outlook on the world. Thoughts that make us happy make us well.

Stress is a factor not only in disease but also in the inability to lose weight. There are three main causes of chronic stress. First, we have long-term unhealthy beliefs that cause us to perceive life events as “dangers” and thus trigger an alarm response. Second, we are persistently deprived of the bonding or closeness that all human beings need. Last, we do not get enough of our psychological needs met in our daily environments. These needs are unique to our specific personality type. Some of us need to have fun and excitement; others need acknowledgment of our values; yet others need acknowledgment of our ability to think clearly and
logically. Some people need solitude, while some of us need our senses to be richly stimulated.

Please remember the essential theme of Suzanne’s book: we first have to improve our health before we can lose weight. The general state of our health is directly related to our consciousness. A change in our health, either for better or for worse, involves a change in our consciousness. Our bodies are constantly renewing themselves. Our consciousness and beliefs can affect the regeneration of cells and organs positively or negatively.

A change in consciousness always involves a change in focus. What excites you, and what are you grateful for? Don’t we all want to jump out of bed every morning with a lust and love for life? I bet Suzanne does. See yourself as healthy, and know that this healthy state of being is your natural state.

Health is much, much more than the absence of disease. Health is energy, vitality, passion. Healthy people have physical energy, emotional balance, and spiritual awareness, and simultaneously vibrate on all three levels. Suzanne Somers speaks to all of us in the important work that she is doing in the areas of health, nutrition, and antiaging medicine. She speaks to us as a friend we can trust, believe, and have fun with as we reshape our thoughts and beliefs along with our bodies.
Sexy Forever
is much more than a weight loss book. It gives us the tools to slow the aging process and accelerate the regeneration of the body’s cells and tissues. Suzanne Somers has written another great book!

To your health,

Michael Galitzer, M.D.

I know just what you are hoping for as you crack open this book. You are hoping for an easy weight loss solution to restore your once beautiful body to its original glory. You are hoping you won’t have to give up too many of your favorite foods because you really love to eat. You know you’ll have to do some exercise, but you don’t have a lot of time, so you hope it won’t take too long or make you sweat too much. You are hoping there’s no cabbage soup involved. In fact, you’d prefer a magic pill or weight loss powder that will take away your cravings and peel away those pounds—but you don’t want it to be dangerous to your health or make you feel jittery like those scary diet pills. You are hoping there is some secret that has been eluding you, since every weight loss program has inevitably failed you in the long run. And you are hoping the knowledge you’ll gain about all of the above will make you slim, vibrant, healthy, and absolutely sexy … forever.

On this very first page, I can promise you all of that. Within the pages of
Sexy Forever
you will discover

• An easy-to-follow weight loss program filled with rich, delicious foods.
  
• A moderate exercise program to keep you fit and healthy.
  
• Amazing
  supplements and weight loss products to catapult you to success. (I can’t say
  miracle
  because the governing bodies get all up in arms about that word!)
  
• The solution to sleeping eight hours nightly, without drugs, in order to lose weight.
  
• The key to a healthy digestive tract plus a simple allergy/intolerance test to unlock the hidden secret to your personal food demons that could silently be keeping you overweight or possibly chronically ill.
  
• Natural hormonal balance—the missing ingredient for every person over forty that
  must
  be added to make any plan successful. (I have a thing or two to say about this topic!)
  
• And most important, the unveiling of the thousands of FDA-approved chemicals and toxins surrounding us every day, sabotaging our health and weight—and how to conquer those enemies.
  

That’s quite a promise, I know. I intend to keep it to each and every one of you. Your goal is achievable. I am certain of it, but you must
stay with me
on this journey as we unlock the secrets to what is making us fat in this second half of life. What you will read in these pages may be overwhelming at times. It’s not just about fat grams, calories, carbohydrates, or training sessions. The information you are about to digest is actually disturbing. It’s so disturbing you may want to close the book and forget everything you’ve read because what you learn may taint the way you look at a shiny red apple, a perfectly marbled steak, your sparkling clean counter, your favorite scented lotion, your comfortable bed, your gentle baby shampoo, or even your fresh-smelling laundry.
Stay with me
. The information here is your ticket to health and permanent weight loss.

What has happened to us at this age? For women, maybe some of us have just “let ourselves go.” Maybe we gained a little weight after the
baby was born, got too busy caring for others, and just never got back into shape. For men, maybe we stopped working out and got a little too familiar with fast food, bags of chips, and beer. But what about those of us who try to eat healthy;
really try
, and still don’t see any results? I know who you are, and I know you’re not eating—at least not very much. I also know you’re not very satisfied. In fact, you are probably consuming less food than ever before and most likely your daily fare is predominantly salads. Right?

You’re also exercising aren’t you? Yoga, Pilates, running, those Curves classes. It all helps … well, a little. And, of course, you know it’s good for you but, darn, your energy isn’t what it used to be. You really aren’t feeling completely well these days, if you think about it for more than a second before you rush off to that next thing on your to-do list. It’s nothing to put your finger on, just you’re not feeling up to speed.

You look in the mirror and those love handles persist, your stomach won’t shrink or tighten, and then there’s the bloating, constipation, long sleepless nights, and this new overriding funk that comes and goes, but when it’s there, it hangs over your head like a dark cloud. Where did that come from? You look in the mirror and you don’t like what you see. You remember when your waist was tiny, even though you never realized (or appreciated) back then that you were small through the abdomen. You think, well, I’ll just do more crunches; yes, that will do it. But it doesn’t. Nothing seems to be working the way you’d like it to.

What happened? You used to be able to lose five pounds in a week if you really wanted to get into a favorite dress. Or you men go to button your pants and when you finally do, your gut flops over your pants and you have trouble tucking in your shirt. You used to be able to go to bed and know that you would sleep a good eight hours. What happened? When did you start sleeping five hours or less each night and restless sleep at that? And I’m sure you’ve heard that a lack of sleep makes you fat—which makes it all the harder not to stress about sleep!

Why is depression a new visitor to your life? Those blues go away with fattening foods, though, don’t they?! Who cares? you ask yourself; what the heck, I’m fat, anyway, so let’s pile on more bread, bagels, pasta, cakes,
and cookies. That first bite makes you feel amazing, but then comes the self-loathing and more depression. Your friends who had really bad PMS used to have those terrible mood swings, but now you do, too. What happened?

And if you’re like many, you may have noticed that you now react strangely to certain foods (like ice cream, which is now a guilty pleasure of the past unless you want your stomach to blow up like you are nine months pregnant). Come to think of it, pasta may not be sitting very well with you these days, either.

So what is different since you hit, or blew past, the halfway mark that is forty?

Before I explain, just know for starters that it’s all fixable for you and your whole family. That’s the good news. But to make the fixes stick, you have to commit to making some life changes or you will fail again and again.

To successfully lose fat after forty you need to understand the changes that have taken place on the planet that have created a toxic environment, and why and how these changes are affecting all of us. To unravel the solution to permanent weight loss that is unique to your age, you must understand that imbalanced hormones and chemicals play a huge part in the equation.
Huge
! Your age is a factor. You have been around long enough for the toxic buildup to have become a burden that you are constantly carrying in your body. This buildup creates a toxic load, and everything in your life is now affected by it.

With each of my books our collective knowledge grows, new elements about health reveal themselves, science makes more breakthroughs, and I get excited about sharing it all with you.
Sexy Forever
collects all that is current to give you updated information on permanent weight loss. I still follow all the tenets of weight loss that I have prescribed in past books, but now we are moving several steps farther in our ongoing education of how to stay thin, healthy, and happy. My new plan recognizes the changes in the planet that are affecting everyone.

Sexy Forever
addresses why it is that you can’t, or aren’t, losing weight even though you are dieting. What exactly is wrong? Why is what you’re doing no longer working for you?

We must accept that the world has changed. Toxicity is slowly killing us and these new changes in the environment, as well as our food supply and everyday stress, which is at an all-time high, are the reasons we’ve hit a wall not only in our wellness, but also in trying to lose weight. Now is the time to readjust how we handle these changes. The toxicity is not going away. But this book will show you how to live with it and not let it capsize your health and your weight.

Your grandparents had less stress, ate cleaner food, and their chemical exposure was nearly unheard of. Yet, as more and more of us were introduced to chemicals, we got sicker and fatter. Less than a hundred years ago “the big three”—cancer, heart disease, and diabetes—were relatively rare. Extreme obesity was reserved for the occasional circus performer. Why?

Something has to change. Sixty million people in America are obese! More than 9 million of them are ages six to nineteen years old. Our being overweight isn’t solely attributable to the amount of food we are consuming. In fact, friends of mine who have serious weight problems appear to eat less than anyone else. They certainly eat less than I do. I have a very hearty appetite and I am able to maintain near perfect weight for my body composition.