First off, give yourself a big hug for following the Core Balance Challenge these past 6 weeks to the best of your abilities.
This shows that you have a motivated heart and the willingness to try new things. Good for you!
In my opinion, willingness to make changes and seek different solutions is more than half the ball game and a terrific predictor of
success. Willingness leads to experimentation, which leads to permanent change. So take a big breath in and fill your whole body
with a sense of satisfaction that you've gotten this far.
But now what? We are at a crossroads here at Week 6. Your present results are going to guide your future path—and there are
several to choose from. This week, I will lay out a few options and ask you to trust your symptoms and your intuition to tell you
where you need to go.
For more comprehensive information for Week 5, read Chapters 14-16 of
The Core Balance Diet.
You are seeing and feeling the results you want but still wish to lose more weight . . .
If you're at this point, I encourage you to continue with your Core Imbalance Custom Plan for another two to four weeks, or until
you achieve your healthiest self. If you are feeling physically stronger, now is the time to begin paying more attention to the
other corners of your puzzle: your instinctual, emotional, and thinking selves.
If you are making good progress but feel frustrated and hemmed in by the food restrictions on your Custom Plan . . .
If you make this choice, you may begin to slowly reintroduce some of your favorite foods by adding them one at a time, in a
significant quantity, and seeing how you feel. I recommend adding one food on day one, then repeating that food two days later.
It helps to keep a food journal as you reintroduce potentially allergic and addictive foods and chronicle how you feel after you
eat them. If you sense a negative reaction, you've just gotten a valuable piece of information about yourself. From here, only
you can make the choice whether or not it is worth it to you to continue eating those reactive foods that could be undermining
the integrity of your health.
You are feeling better, and perhaps even great, but you haven't lost weight . . .
Oh, the frustration! And you've been so diligent. I'm sorry you haven't seen the results you hoped for, but I also want you to
focus on how much better you are feeling in your skin. This is a great accomplishment on its own. However, I know you took on
this Challenge because you really want to lose weight, so here are a few options that actually cover all of the above and then some.
Continue on your Core Imbalance Custom Plan for the next two to four weeks—and get strict with yourself if you haven't been.
It will only help you in this next stage. You can enlist the help of a functional medical practitioner in your area and schedule
the diagnostic tests if you haven't already had them. You may also be dealing with more than one core imbalance, a fact that
further diagnostic testing and individualized attention will reveal. It may be helpful to go back and retake the Core Imbalance
Quiz; your answers may have changed in a surprising way. Sometimes the symptoms of one imbalance will mask other symptoms that
reveal themselves only when the imbalance starts to right itself—think of it as peeling layers from an onion. You've just
gotten through the first layer. It's not uncommon for some of my patients to follow one eating and action plan for a month and
then switch to another for the next month—or combine them.
It's taken you a lifetime to get where you are; it may just take a little more time to get you where you want to be. But if you
are open and willing, I promise you your hard work will pay off in spades (and lost pounds).
Most of us have an endless loop of negative thoughts that plays in our heads, a negativity script scrolling on our inner teleprompter
that was written so long ago, and plays so continuously, that most of us are hardly aware it's there. This negativity script eats up
an incredible amount of energy, goodwill, and self-esteem. Feeding this well of negativity often leaves us with an insatiable
emotional hunger, which we frequently misinterpret as physical hunger (especially if our biochemical conversation is off). This
script is the sound of your inner conflict, and the louder it plays, the more stressful it is on your body.
You may be tempted to think you don't have a negativity script, but let's try this exercise. Below, I've listed just a few of the
most universal statements that I hear from my patients. Read them and circle any that sound familiar—any that you've ever
said about yourself.
If I could lose weight, I'd be happy.
I hate the way I look. How did I let this happen?
I hate my hair/skin/legs/breasts/thighs [fill in your own body part].
My life is such a mess.
Bad things always happen to me.
I don't have any time for me.
No one will ever love me/want me because I'm so fat.
I feel so unattractive.
I'm just so tired/angry/anxious/sad.
I'm a _____ [idiot, loser, liar, faker, worrywart, shrew, bad mother, bad wife, bad friend-fill in your own self-criticism].
How many of these statements sound like something you've said to yourself? How often do you find your inner voice (the sound of
your intellect) giving you a good drubbing? Now take another minute to circle any of the following statements that you feel are
sincerely true about you:
I am amazing.
I take terrific care of myself.
I am getting the love/appreciation I deserve.
I am sexy.
I am beautiful.
I take time to play every day.
I'm honest with myself and others.
I'm good enough.
I am worthy of love/money/commitment/pleasure/_____.
I've accomplished a lot.
The negativity script wouldn't be a big deal if we didn't secretly believe all those terrible things we say about ourselves. But we do.
Without a meaningful, powerful counter to these negative thoughts, is it any wonder that they become what you believe about yourself
deep down inside? We unwittingly set a place at the table for these core negative beliefs and they keep us stuck, frustrated—and
often fat.
Your negativity script can change. Just as you can "talk" to your cellular DNA with food, you can "talk" to your conditioned
psychological responses through different kinds of therapies and change them. But you have to take the time to unearth the root
cause. It takes a lot of work, but if you do it, you'll find that the internal heckler finally shuts up. You just don't have to
listen to her anymore.
Do a total body check several times a day. Scan your body, your intellect, your emotions, and your spirit. Take time to register what's going on.
Do not skimp on your self-care—even in times of extreme stress. It's even more important then.
If your weight begins to creep up or your clothes feel tight, go back to the Core Balance Essential Plan for a couple of weeks.
Work with a functional medical practitioner or health-care professional versed in integrative medicine.
Reach out and make connections with others. Take a class or join a support group.
Spend some time each day doing something that is purely pleasurable.
Exhale. Deeply. Often.
Be kind to yourself. You are a luminous being walking a human path.
Think of your negativity script as a tape in a tape player. When it begins to play, visualize the tape player and mentally press
the pause button. You can do this anytime, anywhere. It only takes a second or two. With time, I hope, you can press stop, and
even eject, and never have to listen to that tape again.
The Core Balance Diet begins with physical changes that help to heal your physiological imbalances, but by no means does it end
there as so many other diets do. In fact, I see all of the physical, emotional, and intellectual changes you've been making in these
6 weeks as a gateway to deep, integral changes ahead. These lasting changes are at the heart of true wellness in you—as well as
in those around you and the planet we all share, because, in the end, we are all connected.
If there is light in the soul,
There will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person,
There will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house,
There will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.
—Chinese proverb
1 1/2 cups cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup scallions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup parsley
Mix all ingredients together except for parsley. Form into 15 balls and roll in parsley. Refrigerate for up to three days.
(Serving size: 1 piece)
