This protocol has been suggested by Dr Sara Gottfried to help women cure their hormone imbalances that can lead to brain fog, low energy, mood swings, weight gain and stubborn weight loss.
Continued from the Hormone reset blog
This is a protocol that requires eliminations of food groups for a small period of time, to help our bodies rest and reset.
Along with what Dr Sara has suggested, I have added in some reminders in each section to help you keep organised and not become overwhelmed.
Outline of 21 days…
When you reset your hormones you need to be aware there are seven hormones that can have an effect on each other.
This process will target one hormone at a time to make sure you have reset them all.
If you skip one because you don’t think it’s broken (as in you don’t want to go without) – this could still put the hormones out.
You need to do each step to be successful.
Each reset requires you to eliminate certain foods for 3 days (however to achieve full benefits keep that eliminated food group for the remaining 21 days)
– this process will take 21 days (3 weeks).
Important tips…
Please get a journal to make notes and set out what I list below so you are ready and organised.
Note down each day how you feel at the beginning and end of each day, and what you plan to do the next day based on organisation to prevent craving crashes etc.
Make sure you have a good B12 vitamin, magnesium and calcium.
*As you are eliminating foods you need to replenish with the correct supplements and this will help with sleep, digestion and just getting through each day without losing your mind.
Day 1 -3 Estrogen – Meatless
Estrogen makes us the women that we are – with curves, breasts, hips etc.
Eating grain-fed and hormone injected meats this can make you bloated or constipated and it raises your body’s estrogen levels – it messes with your microbiome (lives in your gut). We need to make sure your omega 6 to omega 3 ratios are level so that inflammation doesn’t rise and more fat storage.
If you eat conventional meats, these toxins enter your gut and are sent to your liver.
To many toxins in the fat cells release into your bloodstream, which is tied to obesity, insulin resistance, and breast cancer.
As your tissues releases toxins, your body gets the message to store even more fat – and because fat cells produce estrogen, your estrogen burden climbs higher.
Estrogen dominance causes overweight women to store more fat than burn fat.
Many women over 35 become estrogen dominant which can be effected from another hormone – insulin.
When you’re insulin resistant, which means your cells can’t absorb the extra blood glucose your body keeps generating from the food you eat, your liver converts the glucose into fat.
This program has helped people overcome insulin resistance – click here.
If your progesterone is level your estrogen is happy, sane, slim and emotionally connected.
If you make too much estrogen your progesterone is low (causing sleepless nights, anxiety and therefore relates back to weight gain – common low progesterone is in perimenopausal and menopause).
The best way to interrupt this is to eliminate meat (and alcohol) and increase fibre – this will help to heal the gut that may be contributing to estrogen dominance.
For the next 3 days you need to remove red meat from your diet and replace it with vegetables, fibre and protein that help balance your estrogen.
(Remember to get the best results stay off meat and alcohol for the next 21 days).
If you notice a drop of 1-2kg in the first 3 days, you’ve found your first answer – your estrogen is imbalanced, caused by meat and alcohol, this is keeping you fat.
Your to do list:
- 5-10 cups vegetables (split between cooked and raw) kale, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, asparagus, carrots, squash, capsicum etc.
- Lentils, nuts, nut butters, seeds, salmon, sardines, shellfish, oysters, organic chicken and eggs.
- Increase fibre intake each day 35-45 gms per day (clean out liver) more fibre lowers estrogen (and you poop it out).
- Freshly ground flaxseeds, soaked chia seeds, berries, avocados and dark choc (80% +), olive oil, avocado oil, olives, coconut oil, MCT oil.
- Keep diary up to date – you need for reintroduction stage
Day 4-6 Insulin – Sugar free
Insulin can control whether a calorie can make you fat. It’s another important example of how hormones dictate what your body does with food.
Too many refined carbs cause insulin resistance, in fact the solution to lasting weight loss is to maintain normal insulin levels.
Insulin is a hormone in charge of how you derive energy from the foods you eat.
Your body runs on glucose, and insulin is one of the master switches.
When insulin is serving you correctly, insulin takes the glucose from the occasional cupcake you eat and stores it in the cells of the liver and muscles as glycogen – (a storage form of glucose that can be broken down readily when you need fuel).
You can only store a little bit of this at a time, so if you’re eating a lot of sugar, you are dumping too much in here – so therefore it turns from fuel to fat storage instead. Do this each day and you have a problem.
High insulin leads to estrogen dominance, which raises testosterone, making weight loss harder.
Insulin resistance is reversible – if you feel out of control with sugar cravings, when you cut out sugar, your cravings heal and your insulin will normalize. This is a must!
To help get rid of insulin resistance here is my reset program
Your to do list :
- Increase good fats to keep your brain satisfied – avocado, olives, coconut oil, butter, ghee, macadamia nuts.
- Up your vegetables and make sure you are having fibrous vegetables – these vegetables are classed as your carbs. (same as previous list).
- Increase your green vegetables (eg: extra cup at each meal) for adequate fibre.
- Eat protein at every meal.
- Berries are your best friends at the moment and only have these fruits for the next 3 days
- Fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, miso, sauerkraut, pickles and kimchi
- Keep diary up to date – you need for reintroduction stage.
Note: Supplements such as L-Glutamine (amino acids) and magnesium will help curb the craving from refined carbs.
Avoid table sugar, honey, agave, brown sugar, splenda, maple syrup and molasses. Only stevia allowed.
Remember for the best benefits remain sugar free for the remainder 19 days.
Day 7-9 Leptin – Fruitless
Restrict your fructose – sugar in fruits, honey, sports drinks.
Seriously once you’ve completed these three resets, you’ve got the winner combination to get the three most important metabolic hormones activated to support you: estrogen, insulin and leptin.
Leptin is you hunger hormone, it encourages you to overeat – it’s the gatekeeper of your fat…
Overeating fructose puts loads on your liver again, and it can’t process it fast enough for the body to use as fuel – sending into fat storage.
Leptin is made in your fat cells, regulates your feeling of satiety and your lean body mass.
When you eat, leptin is produced in and released from your fat cells and then travels in the blood to your brain, where under normal circumstances it tells a part of your brain that you are full and should stop eating.
However if your metabolism is imbalanced and leptin isn’t working properly, the wires between the gut and the brain are crossed.
Therefore we need to cut back on fructose and increase protein and good fats so you burn more fat and feel full when consuming appropriate food quantities.
Leptin imbalance can also cause joint pain and damages the cartilage in your joints.
Leptin works in with insulin, so because you have reset insulin you now have to reset leptin.
People can freak out when you say to reduce fruit, because of the fibre and vitamins in fruits, however you get more vitamins, minerals and fibre in green vegetables so you’re obviously staying on the 5-10 cups of vegetables per day.
(Remember to have the best benefits remain fruitless till end of the reset 15 days):
Your to do list:
- Eat Protein as your first meal to reduce the cravings for fructose and other sugars.
- Consume moderate amounts of protein over the course of the day (total day : 75-100gms)
- Keep up the vegetables as you have been already.
- Please keep off the alcohol – this is full of fruit (wine)
- Stop the snacking – you become disconnected with the hungry feeling. Stick to only three meals per day and plenty of water or herbal tea in between meals.
- Keep eating good fats – helps to heal your metabolism and keeps you satisfied, your brain fog will go and just takes your mind off looking for food.
- Make sure you cook in butter or coconut oil, eat avocados, butter, nuts, and animal fats.
- Avoid nightshade vegetables at the moment (eggplant, potatoes, capsicum and tomatoes) these can cause inflammation in people and interferes with enzymes in your muscles, leading to stiffness and can cause digestive problems.
- Go for a walk after dinner during this reset to help stay active.
- Keep diary up to date – you need for reintroduction stage.
Day 10-12 Cortisol – Caffeine free
You knew it was coming.
Reasons why you need to do the Caffeine thing.
- Coffee is addictive and may not be good for you (let’s find out).
- Coffee becomes toxic at certain levels and may shift your mood from alert to anxious, disrupt your sleep, and give you palpitations – over stimulation.
- Coffee can throw out your circadian rhythms, hormones misfire and fat storage is on the list.
- When cortisol is high, your thyroid is down – you need balance.
- If cortisol is up at night, your sleep isn’t restful, toxins cannot be released out of the brain, making the next morning hard to get up. – Fact: if you do not sleep you can not lose weight.
- If tired in the morning due to poor sleep, caffeine is consumed to help start the day, setting a bad cycle for the day ahead.
- Caffeine goes from your stomach to your hypothalamus in the brain, which regulates hormone levels and prods your pituitary to tell your adrenal glands to release more cortisol.Reaction is: you start to become more irritable; rising cortisol; affecting insulin levels and their regulation. It turns your waist into a magnet for fat, and because visceral fat (brown fat) has four times the cortisol receptors of fat elsewhere, you keep taking on more fat.TIPS:
If you feel you are a coffee addict – try to start to cut down to only one a day (try this from the very beginning if you can and do 21 days, otherwise cut it down slowly so that you can be caffeine free by day ten).
Herbal tea and decaffeinated green tea are ok.
Licorice tea is a perfect replacement – it’s sweet, it gives you an adrenaline hit (pick me up), yet is so gentle on your adrenal glands at the same time. (Black Adder is a great brand).
Your to do list:
1. Keep up your vegetables.
2. Protein intake consistent and good fats (avocado, olives, coconut and olive oil) – feed the brain.(Remember the best benefits are to stay caffeine free for the remainder 12 days – less than two weeks)
Day 13-15 Thyroid – Grain free
Grains and dairy are a common weight issue for many people.
Grains can definitely spur inflammation in your body and keep you in a downward spiral of craving and a growing waste line.
Grains are lower in nutrients compared to vegetable and animal proteins.
Gluten in the grains can cause people to become bloated and gain weight, incur gas or other digestive issues.
Your to do list:
- Avoid all grains, including flour, obviously breads, cereals, rice and pasta.
- Be mindful of the processed foods that contains grains – such as deli meats (ham, salami), mustard, pickles, ice cream, salad dressings, processed cheese, cream sauces and packet sauce mixes.
- Ingredients to look out for are: flavouring, hydrolyzed, maltodextrin and modified food starch etc.
- Keep eating your 5-10 cups of vegetables – mainly leafy greens, half cooked and half raw (salads)
- Good proteins 80-110gms per day, eg: seafood, organic poultry and eggs.
- Limit fresh fruits eat: avocado, olives and coconut.
- Avoid all fruit juices and dried fruits.
Day 16-18 Growth Hormone – Dairy free
Growth hormones = growing.
Marketing had you believe this was milk.
However 20-30 years ago the “fat free” bogus eating plans come into play – so having all the “skinny lattes”, no-fat cottage cheese, weight watcher cheeses, etc were all reduced of good fats and replaced with sugar.
This in itself has made the dairy industry fail.
But dairy can be making you fat if your hormones are not right – grain and dairy are two of the most common food sensitivities people can have.
Dairy does contribute to inflammation, a state that causes you to gain weight and become resistant to losing it.
Inflammation is your emergency response system, it’s normal for your body to do this.
Once you stop having dairy the irritation in your immune system you should reduce.
Ways to notice is in symptoms like fatigue, irritable bowel, anxiety and even tight jeans.
You’ll lose weight as your body’s inflammation subsides and your misfiring hormones go back into balance.
Women are more vulnerable to inflammation than men, so they need to be careful – our robust immune responses to invaders can lead to autoimmunity, thyroid issues, infections and oral health problems.
Side note: For many women the love of a cheese platters can be due to the addictive “casomorphins” , (protein that comes from casein).
Think like ‘morphine’ – it’s addictive (same family). This is why we find it hard to say no to cheese.
Your to do list:
- Avoid cows milk, cheese, butter, kefir and yogurt
- Ensure you’re getting enough protein and good fats to keep you satisfied.
- Eat your 5-10 cups of vegetable carbohydrates.
- You can drink coconut milk or almond milk – not SOY!
- Replace butter with ghee (it has the milk solids removed)
- Keep diary up to date – you need for reintroduction stage.
Day 19-21 – Toxin free – Testosterone
This is an area a lot of you might be starting to become aware of. The toxins in our soil that plants grow in, the pesticides, fertilizers and other environmental toxins.
The plastics, microwave and even down to shampoos and body lotions.
Since you have cut out all the meat, alcohol, sugar, fruits, caffeine, grains, dairy and now to top it all off we need to detox from what’s around us.
Most people think detox is eating well – well yes that helps but there is no point to all of this if you keep using toxic creams and cooking in the microwave all the time.
Did you realise toxins are in cans of foods, all your prescription drugs, processed foods and can even be in your lipstick and make-up.
Toxins can affect your insulin and leptin, link to inflammation and can be vulnerable to autoimmunity disorders.
Detoxing is crucial for your long term health.
It boosts metabolism, helps reduce estrogen-disrupting chemicals, improves thyroid functioning, and rids body of extra toxins released in the bloodstream when you lose weight.
Your to do list:
- Check your shampoos, deodorants, body washes etc for “Phthalates” (fake estrogen – this will cause the estrogen dominance again, just after you have done all this work to reset).
- Check for diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) as well – this can be found in foods that carry water.
- Stop microwaving in plastic containers – Try to stop microwaving altogether.
- Drink filtered water out of glass tumblers – do not leave a plastic drink bottle in the car and then drink from it.
- Eating foods with sulfur helps to detox as well so include these foods:
Fish, organic beef and poultry, eggs, walnuts, flaxseeds, coconut and olive oils, hemp, broccoli, brussel sprouts, blue-green algae, kale, pumpkin seeds, radishes, spirulina and watercress. - Selenium, copper and zinc are important so make sure these minerals are included as well – green vegetables, salmon, berries.
NEXT STEPS : REINTRODUCING
Well done to successfully eliminating the foods that affect your hormones.
Now what’s just as important to eliminate – it’s just as important to reintroduce.
This is where your dairy/journal comes into play. You need to see your notes on how you felt when you didn’t eat certain foods.
I hope you were able to continue the elimination of the food groups for the remainder of the reset.
If you did do this, then when you reintroduce you will have reactions straight away.
IMPORTANT:
You need to reintroduce only one food group for three days at one meal each day (preferably the same time). Start with the one hardest to give up – note how it makes you feel and if you don’t have any bloating or skin irritations, bowel issues etc you know that you are ok to this food group – but if you do have a reaction you know this food group is not your friend.
Then start on the next food group and do the same, until you have reintroduced them all.
If you know straight away you feel better without these food groups (food-mood), then maybe your choice to stay away from now on and find alternatives – because you know one hormone will affect another and there goes your roller coaster weight again.
Throughout this reintroduction time these are some foods I really suggest you incorporate into your diet – they contain great nutrients to help your hormones:
Wild salmon and oysters
Turkey
Blueberries
Broccoli
Oranges
Tomatoes
Pumpkin
Spinach
Kale
Green Tea
Walnuts
Yogurt
Cacao
Sea vegetables (nori wraps)
Each day you need to have 5-10 cups of vegetables half raw and half cooked, loads of green vegetables for fibre.
Other focus areas:
It’s not just about food – hormones react with lifestyle as well…
Sleep
Very important throughout this reset as is exercise.
You need to start turning off screens at least an hour before bed and begin your wind down.
Your last meal should be at least 2-3 hours prior to going to bed if you can. If you have a meal with clean proteins, vegetables and good fats – this should satiety you throughout the night.
A good night sleep is great for your waistline because:
– increases glucose metabolism and is linked to better blood sugar control.
– boost secretion of growth hormone, which – along with cortisol – regulates belly fat
– activates cellular repair and mends injury
– normalizes cortisol levels during the day
– improves memory.
Exercise
SIT LESS – do more things standing (standing desk), read paper or mail standing up, walk more often.
Exercise with high intensity x 3 a week for 15 – 20 mins,
eg: short shape intense runs, bike sprints, or swim to get the heart rate up and blood pumping.
It only has to be a short amount of time just to help reset. My RESET program is designed for this.
Get a 30 minute walk in every other day.
Running long distances will not help – remember this is only for 3 weeks. (there’s 49 weeks left in the year)
Time out
Include yoga & meditation
Hormones are very sensitive and they need love – have gratitude with more areas in your life.
Dr Sara Gottfried makes mention of this in each reset – breath, and breath deep into the belly.
Take 5 deep breaths before you eat your meals, sit peacefully for 5 minutes in a day.
Yes this is hard at first, but taking this time to do this will give your body what it needs. Our ancestors too time each day to do this and we should to.
Stress is upon us everyday and more so than ever in this current period, so – STOP and take some deep breaths, I promise this will help with the reset.
and lastly…
Spend time with friends and loved ones
Oxytocin is a wonderful hormone that will comfort the other hormones that are going crazy – a simple hug or a chat and laugh with friends will release this hormone and seriously it’s free!
