A Funny Thing Happened on the Road to Weight Loss

In a recent post I mentioned that I unexpectedly gained more than five pounds out of no where. It's funny that while I was so consumed with the sudden unwanted weight gain, I hadn't noticed other signs of poor health creeping up on me--such as fuzzy memory, splitting nails, frizzy hair, dry skin and an uncontrollable twitch in my eye. I started doing as much research as I could to figure out why I was gaining weight. Did I have low thyroid? Nope. Was I suddenly thrust into perimenopause? My OB/GYN wasn't convinced. She told me to try a spinning class. Was stress making me fat? Maybe.

I even crept around online forums reading about other women experiencing the same problem and asking for help, but no one had any answers for them. While I can't say I have discovered the exact answer, I would urge every reader who is going through this frustrating change to not give up hope. The key is to seek overall health and wellness. If you are not eating a nutrient-dense diet, then that is the first avenue to pursue. While I ate healthy and exercised daily, the weight came on fast. I felt like I was blindsided.

So for the sake of all those woman who are doing everything right, but find that their bodies have turned on them and has an agenda of its own, I thought I'd share the beginning of my story to get my body back. I say the beginning because the story has just started, but it is definitely looking hopeful. Anyway, here is the short version.

Like many people when January came along I did a detox to clean up my liver and get everything on the right track (per Ann Louis Gittleman's Fat Flush for Life). Even before starting the detox week I had already began adding additional supplements to my diet, increased my strength training and worked on de-stressing. While I believe that eating healthy, unprocessed, wholefoods should be the cornerstone of every diet, I am finding that as I age it's necessary to add key supplements for overall well being.

So in addition to the wholefoods-based multivitamin, vitamin D and cod liver oil that I take every day, I began adding freshly milled flaxseed to my morning smoothies-- it's brought back the shine on my face and it's supposed to help balance hormones (technically flaxseed is a superfood not a supplement). I also began taking magnesium citrate every evening, which really helps reduce stress and chocolate cravings. Additionally, I started taking a B-complex supplement that nourishes the brain and nervous system.

Because my mom swears by cayenne pepper and drinking lots of water as a way to lose weight, I decided to give it a try. Cayenne pepper is supposed to speed up the metabolism by 25 percent. It may be the reason why I stopped gaining weight and lost a couple of pounds. But even better, as a result of increasing my strength training, three of the pounds that I gained have turned to muscle (according to my very smart scale).

Also, I bought a 10-day stress cleanse kit, which contained a cortisol reducer and an adaptogen herb called ashwagandha, during my detoxification week. It completely took away the distracting twitch in my eye and helped me become a more patient, kinder mom again. Admittedly, now that the stress cleanse kit is gone I have found my eye faintly spasm whenever the kids start screaming. Therefore, I intend to get a bottle of ashwagandha by itself soon. In fact, I just read in this month's Natural Health magazine that an adaptogen herb is one of six supplements every woman should take. (To read more about adaptogen herbs click here.)

Even if I didn't lose any weight after making these new changes in my life, I would have to say just feeling better, thinking better, acting better means so much more to me than several added pounds. While my body doesn't exactly look like the model in the photo above, the shot definitely captures how I feel.

As a bonus, the other day I noticed that my nails were strong and growing long again--a telltale sign of a healthy person.

Smart Beauty

Finding hope in a bottle is a lifelong pursuit for many woman. As we've become increasingly aware of the toxins and damaging chemicals found in many skin and hair care products, it's made the challenge even greater. Additionally, some products claim to contain super anti-aging antioxidants, but many don't contain enough to make a difference.

So what's a smart, savvy girl to do when she wants to make sure that the products she uses on her body are healthy, effective and worth it? Do your research!

First, by now most people have heard of the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. There you can plug in either a product, company or ingredient and find out what's the good, the bad and the ugly.

After you figure out what is toxic and what is not, you should also stop by SmartSkinCare.com. The site offers practical information about skin rejuvenation/ anti-wrinkle/ anti-aging treatments that is based on unbiased studies published in peer-reviews biomedical journals. There you can find out what really works and what is a waste of money as well as pick up some DIY formulations.

Currently, I am reading The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Gabriel, who offers lots of helpful advice and tips for going organic and natural with body care products from head to toe. The part I really love about her book is her helpful suggestions on how to take short cuts on using potent antioxidants in your skincare without going broke. You can also find some of the skin and hair care recipes found in the book at her website: thegreenbeautyguide.com.

In the end being a smart consumer just might gently diminish some of those fine lines and save you some money--all without harmful chemicals. That's enough to give me an ounce of hope.