Take an honest, unflinching inventory of how you feel at the beginning of our time together. I think of metabolism and weight as being not just physical, mediated by biochemistry and genetics and hormones, but also energetic. How’s your inner voice? Can you hear it clearly or do you need 10 minutes of quiet time to attune? Is your intuition plugged in?
What’s your energy like today? Not what you want it to be, or what you think I may want to hear, but how did you feel when you woke up today, before breakfast, after breakfast, and so on. Is your tank full, half-way or empty? Are your relationships energizing or depleting? Look in the mirror
(a literal mirror) at your body. What are you satisfied with? What are you not satisfied with? What is asking for attention? Please record your reflections in a journal or wherever it would most support you. Ideally, perform this inventory every day of Master Your Hormones, either when you awaken or every night before you go to bed. One method is the 4 G’s:
What is GOOD in my life today? What are the GLITCHES I encountered?
What am I GRATEFUL for today? What are my GOALS for the upcoming day?
Mission Ignition
– Jump Start Week 1
© 2012 Dr. Sara Gottfried
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This is a bit of a spoof on OneTaste.us. I’ll be talking about many supplements over the next 4 weeks but I want you to choose ONE this week. One supplement that most supports your needs. Perhaps it’s CLA
(Conjugated Linoleic Acid) because you want to lose a few pounds or more, and burn fat. Perhaps it’s Rhodiola, because you’re tired or you want to boost your metabolism. Is your thyroid overactive, and you need
L-Carnitine? Or underactive, and you need more minerals, such as copper, zinc or selenium? Have you measured your Vitamin D, and need to be consistent about taking it daily (we’re desperate for Vitamin D here in the Bay Area of California!). Maybe your pick is EGCg, the extract from green tea, because you’d like to give up caffeine over the next 4 weeks and it helps you feel clear and focused in the morning. Please, don’t go into Victim Mode by getting overwhelmed by all the options I provide— just choose one, and stick with it with full intention and awareness during our time together.
Mission Ignition
– Jump Start Week 1
© 2012 Dr. Sara Gottfried
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You know I’m the queen of data. I find, when I begin to devolve into some of my default patterns of overdoing, overworking and over providing, that it helps to have external systems to keep me aware that I’m getting off track. Alert! Sara! Pay attention! One of my favorites is to track my morning pH. When you’re stressed, you tend to become acidic, and to eat more acidic foods, such as sugar/refined carbohydrates, animal protein and. Your stomach makes more acid.
Over time, ulcers arise. Acidity prevents hormonal balance by shifting your metabolic, immune, enzyme and repair systems toward crisis mode.
Tracking your pH is inexpensive: purchase some inexpensive litmus paper from the local drug store, and measure your pH in the morning. You can test either your saliva (before brushing your teeth: let saliva fill your mouth, then swallow, then let saliva fill your mouth again and schmear it on the litmus paper) or on your urine (pee of a 2 to 3 inch piece of litmus paper first thing in the morning). Track it in your smart phone or in your journal.
Mission Ignition
– Jump Start Week 1
© 2012 Dr. Sara Gottfried
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One of the top reasons that I see women stall with their weight goals or fail to heal their thyroid or adrenal glands is that they run a chronic sleep debt. Sometimes it feels that the mantra of the modern woman is this: “But after dinner, when XYZ, is the only time I can get anything done!” However, all of your hormonal systems run on a circadian rhythm, and as we work toward resetting your hormones, you must do your part with winding down and getting to bed by 10pm. Yes, that’s right… 10pm!
Mission Ignition
– Jump Start Week 1
© 2012 Dr. Sara Gottfried
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Basal body temperature (BBT) is an important way to assess thyroid function particularly in folks who are chronically stressed and they’re doctors have told them the 3 words they least want to hear when trying to identify why they are tired, gaining weight and moody: “All is well.”
Basal body temp is a good way to measure your T3 activity inside cells, which is where it truly affects metabolism. We used to recommend it mostly for women who were trying to conceive, but now I recommend it for anyone trying to assess if their thyroid is working properly, particularly if your thyroid blood tests are normal.
If your basal body temp is low, chances are your thyroid is underactive and metabolism is low. Here’s how to measure BBT. You need a special thermometer, the old glass thermometers with mercury work the best but for the reasons I’ve just given you about why mercury is so bad for you, these thermometers were taken off the market. So buy a basal body thermometer. They’re different from other thermometers because the temperatures run lower than the usual 98.6.
When you wake up, you put the thermometer under your armpit for a good 10 min. This would be a good time to meditate. Remain as still as possible - no multitasking! Record the temp at least 3 days in a row, preferably consecutive. If you’re menstruating, ideally you measure on days 2-4 of your period. The normal range is 97.8 to 98.2, so if you’re regularly below this range, you are likely to have a thyroid problem.
Mission Ignition
– Jump Start Week 1
© 2012 Dr. Sara Gottfried
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