The Hormone Reset Diet (3 page)

Thinking about your weight or food constantly?

Continuing to eat foods that have negative consequences for you, such as weight gain, bloating, belly pain, gas, or other signs that the foods don’t agree with your body?

• If you have five or more of these indicators,
you are
so
ready for the Hormone Reset that you can come straight through the starting gate now! Food, stress, and negative habits have handcuffed you, as noted from the self-assessment (adapted with significant changes for my patients from the Yale Food Addiction Scale, which has been validated in women).
¹
Together, we are going to remove the cuffs and get you back to an empowered, healthy version of yourself.

•
If you have four or fewer of these symptoms or are unsure,
you may be teetering on the edge of food addiction and unhealthy eating. I want you to come back to solid ground before it’s too late! I heartily recommend that you start your Hormone Reset to prevent food issues from later causing more weight gain and health problems.

In your Hormone Reset we will resynchronize the seven hormones of metabolism. Here is the order of hormone resets that I’ve found to be the most effective:

1.
Meatless,
designed to reset your estrogen by excluding red meat and alcohol from your diet. (Note that this reset is essential for everyone, whether you’re a meat eater or not.)

2.
Sugar Free,
intended to banish your cravings for sugar and reset your insulin.

3.
Fruitless,
targeted to reset your hunger hormone, leptin.

4.
Caffeine Free,
which will reset your relationship to stress and cortisol.

5.
Grain Free,
formulated to activate your thyroid hormone in a powerful new way and will reset insulin and leptin.

6.
Dairy Free,
designed to reset your growth hormone, which also improves insulin.

7.
Toxin Free,
which will redirect your testosterone level to normal, along with supporting the reset of estrogen, insulin, leptin, and thyroid.

After you take all these steps, you will have reset your metabolism.

I’m so excited for you because you’re about to enter the circle of hormone resets (as shown in the following figure) that expedite major body transformation from the inside out. I know what it’s like at the top, after completing the first round of seven hormone resets—I can see the comprehensive view from here, and it’s amazing. Yes, you will fix your broken metabolism and lose weight. But more important, you will take the crucial steps you need to feel at home in your body again. You will break the relentless cycle of stress and weight gain. You won’t be constantly bloated, stressed, or sleep deprived. You will grow the happy and diverse bacteria that keep you lean and shed the bacteria that make you fat.

Reaching these goals begins with awareness and preparation. Don’t worry; you aren’t alone. I will hold your hand through every step of the way. In this chapter, you’ll find everything you need to enter the circle starting first with the estrogen reset, including a checklist, a shopping guide, baseline measurements, and key action steps to activate your Hormone Reset.

In order to set you up for success with the first reset, review these high-priority items. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just focus on completing what is required for the first reset. If you’re feeling generally okay with your preparations and in the mood for extra credit, add some or all of the optional items.

Choose your Day 1.
This is the start day of the twenty-one-day Hormone Reset. Many women choose Monday, but it’s your body and your decision.

Buy a small journal.
Make sure it fits into your purse or on your nightstand. Make it pretty. You’ll be committing to your food each night for the next day, thereby setting up a sense of integrity and accomplishment when you eat the foods you’ve planned. You’ll be archiving your thoughts, feelings, wins, and challenges as you progress through your Hormone Reset—not merely as a recording of events but rather as a clarifying tool that helps you know yourself, solve problems, and release old emotions. Journaling is essential to clean eating and recovery, and science proves that it helps boost cognitive function, counteracts stress, and bolsters immunity.

Collect the first four of the ten recommended measurements (on the tracker, page 26).
Note that if you want the best results, I recommend you perform all ten measurements prior to starting the program.

Clear the decks.
Remove from your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer the food culprits that commonly cause hormonal misfires: alcohol, red meats, sugar, sugar substitutes, sodas and diet sodas, coffee and other caffeinated beverages, high-fructose fruits, grains (including gluten), and dairy products. Enlist your family to support or even join your journey to improve your health, since they will benefit from it too, even if they don’t have weight to lose. If you don’t live alone or your family declines to join you in clearing the decks, create special shelves in the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer—not at eye level so you’re not tempted—where you store these foods for others in the household.

Copy the shopping lists (or photograph them with your smartphone).
Using the shopping lists provided later in this chapter (page 34), go to the store and, at a minimum, buy everything for the first reset, Meatless. You will be off red meat and need clean protein alternatives.

Take a quick “before” picture.
Snap a selfie, or ask someone to take photos of the front, each side, and back of your body before you begin.