Week One Round Up and HORMONES!

Happy Friday friends.

Hope it's been a beautiful week for you. I was able to get my fingers in the dirt this morning and plant a wee window box of herbs. Next thing you know they'll be calling me the urban gardener. Ha. Not likely. Generally my green thumb is more of a gangrene thumb but I'm trying.

Yes that is a church right next door, so hopefully these little guys will get an extra blessing. And as you can see the sun came out just for them this morning so everyone here (me and Herb, Herb, Herb, and Herb) are all feeling especially grateful.

Really this is my way of trying to distract you from the bad news I have to deliver. If you read my previous post you are already aware that my body has not reacted well to some of the foods included on Dr. Dave's plan. Grrrr. Because of that, said body went into an inflammatory state that has caused all sorts of backlash. If you haven't had a chance to read what I've been writing about all week, simply click the MY SOLUTION tab in the bar above and it's all there but the cliff notes version is that when your body takes in a food that it doesn't like (it might be a food or beverage that you personally love like cheese cake, wine, or even tomatoes) it throws your system into panic and survival mode, inflammation happens which creates antibodies, which then signals the body to create fat cells to protect the organs, but then the fat cells create more inflammation and the cycle continues until we can root out these foods that don't agree with us.

Needless to say, weigh in and measurement day today was not pretty in the Masters' household. That said, because I took a course correction on day five and six, I suspect it could have been much worse. I didn't gain inches around my waist or belly. My butt and thighs gained a little but I'm not horribly worried about that at the moment, I'm more focusing on the midsection. And I gained a bit of weight. Don't worry. I'm not.

I am suspending disappointment here because I am not looking for a quick fix or dramatic over-night results. I am looking for the ultimate solution that will create balance and allow my body to find it's natural healthy set point. I know I am not there yet because of the muffin top and feeling crappy, so please stay with me here.

The sort of sad news is that I took a quick look at the meal plan for week two of Dr. Dave's plan and it's not looking good for Shan folks. I mean to tell you I think I have an aversion to just about everything in there, so what's a girl to do? Make it your own bitches! So that's what I aim to do. 

I found that I really liked the trail mix recipe provided but this week calls for Herb Roasted Chickpeas. While no doubt delicious, I am staying away from beans right now so I wanted an alternative and frankly, I wanted something that would speak to my palette, sweet yo! So I found a recipe for Cinnamon Almonds. No sugar or any other kind of sweetener added! Yay for the sugar free warriors out there that are providing us with options. 

It's such a super simple recipe I have to share it here quickly and then I want to talk to you a bit about that above inflammatory response and what is actually contributing to it.

So....

I didn't have enough almonds this morning so I threw in some pecans and walnuts as well. They are cooling as we speak. Hope they taste as great as they smell. Get 'a load 'a me!?! All cooking and prepping and planting, this process might make a domestic outta me yet. 

I got so much great information from the TRUTH ABOUT FAT LOSS Summit, I think I could go broke just ordering all of the books written by so many of the great speakers I've listened to, but for today I want to talk about Dr. Sara Gottfried and her research into women, weight loss, and hormones. Check her out HERE.

First, let me get straight that I am not advocating for you to run out and buy all the books of the people I mention, I have not read her book, but it sounds amazing. Nor am I telling you to run out and buy Dr. Dave's ALWAYS HUNGRY SOLUTION Book, I'm just letting you know that this is where some of these ideas are coming from and that they make sense (to me) and are helping me piece this midlife middle-aged-spread puzzle together. Got it? Good.

The only two things that I feel like I know for sure is that sugar makes you fat because it spikes your insulin -- which put plainly is your fat  storing hormone -- and fat, the good healthy kinds of fat that you eat (not the stuff currently accumulating around my tummy) has absolutely no effect on insulin. So these are what I am building on along with Dr. Dave's solution for one more week of:

So Dr. S. (Short for Sara Gottfried) says that there are seven major hormones that effect your weight I don't know what all of them are exactly but trust me these are not just old lady hormones I'm talking about here okay? These are hormones that can contribute to obesity in children if shit gets out 'a whack.

Cortisol - the stress hormone
Estrogen - the lady hormone - we don't want it to be too high or too low
Testosterone - the man hormone
Growth hormone
Thyroid - metabolism hormone
Insulin - the fat hormone
Leptin - known as the MASTER hormone (no, we're not related) it's produced by fat cells and it regulates your weight - so yeah, he's a heavy-weight in the hormone world no pun intended.

So Dr. S in her wisdom has come up with a plan that helps to reset these puppies by making dietary changes for differing periods of time. Again, not read the book so don't know the specifics but she has you go Meatless, Sugarless, Fruitless, Caffeineless, Dairyless (I know it should be dairy free and caffeine free but I was constructing a theme, just let me) grainless and toxinless.

Each one of these suspect foods causes a spike in a specific hormone level that then contribute to the perfect storm of stubborn fat that we cannot seem to shift even though we appear to be doing all the right things, eating healthy, counting calories, portion control, spending hours working out etc. For example all you meat eaters out there if you're not eating the happy healthy grass-fed cows you're likely eating animals that are pumped full of growth hormones, antibiotics, crappy food and all sorts - not to mention the fear you take on that that animal felt as it was being slaughtered. Enjoy that steak. Sorry had to. What I'm sayin' is meat can cause a spike in your estrogen that then throws off your progesterone and will cause weight gain specifically for women, guys will see fun things like man-boobs and fuller hips oh joy. So if you are eating meat, make healthier choices for both you and the cows, pigs, chickens etc, cut those portion sizes way back and up your fibre intake so you can get rid of the nasty stuff.

Fruit is not necessarily bad, but in the early stages of weight loss you want to stay away from the tropical more sweet varieties because they are high in fructose (just stay off sugar period, that goes without saying). By lowering your fructose intake this resets your Leptin hormone - remember? The Master Hormone. And think about this. The kinds of apples that our grandmothers ate were tiny tart little green things. The apples we eat today are giant red sugar bombs so go forth and make good choices.

Grainless is a trickier one. Gluten and wheat are just no go's. I will get to WHEAT next week I promise but for now just trust me on this.

Grains can trigger that insulin response we talked about earlier, but they also have an effect on the thyroid. So you want to stay off them when you are resetting your hormones - Dr. S says that for women it's a maximum of 7 days off because if you get into too much of a ketosis state, you become acidic and do you remember what happens when you get acidic? Inflammation! That's exactly right. Additionally carb restriction raises cortisol, our stress hormone which is no bueno! So we want to keep certain good ones in our diet to keep us stable.

The trick according to Dr. S is to find what she calls YOUR Goldilocks position, by getting enough fat to keep you feeling full and satisfied, having the right amount of good carbs things like sweet potatoes and lentils, and the right kinds of lean protein. Essentially she is saying a lot of the same things that Dr. Dave says.

If you're reading this and thinking: "I hate you! I don't want to give up my cheese, bacon, snickers, wine, chips, pineapple, ice cream, cookies, cake, bread, snicker doodles!" all I can say is I hear you. I didn't want to give up sugar. But I'm still here. The world didn't come to an end. I think perhaps the larger take away here is that we can transition away from some of these things slowly, stuff we're sure we can't live without maybe try to moderate. You gotta find and do what works for you. No one can tell you eat this and not that. Because the bulletproof dude is going to say eat meat and drink coffee with fat in it, while Kimberly Snyder and Cynthia Pasquella will say plant based diet only people, still Dr. Tom O'Bryan will say no wheat ever and in fact every grain is suspect. 

If you're still overwhelmed and are thinking that you have no idea what works or doesn't work for you, relax and go back to what we know for sure. Sugar causes your insulin to spike and insulin is the fat hormone, while fat does not affect insulin and instead makes you feel full - maybe just go and make some guacamole. Um but don't eat it with corn chips because corn is often genetically modified and therefore bad. Sorry.

Still love me? I love you. Have a great weekend.
xoxo
Shan