The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body's Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast (43 page)

  
Remember to do the Take-Five Breathing Breaks.
If you haven’t been doing this, it’s never too late to start. Begin (or begin again) today.

  
Find an additional form of active relaxation
that helps you reboot your parasympathetic nervous system. Choose a proven tool that gets you into a profound state of relaxation. Yoga, meditation, tai chi, qigong, biofeedback, playing music—find some activity you can enjoy that also activates the relaxation response. Watching television or reading a book doesn’t count. For me, being in nature has a profoundly healing effect. One of my favorite ways to hit the “pause button” is to be outside—by the ocean, in the mountains, by the river, in the forest. Just being outside in the stillness and beauty of nature helps me reset my mind, body, and soul. I’m lucky enough to live in a rural area with mountains, lakes, rivers, and woods, so all I have to do is go outside my front door. But even if you live in a city, go to the roof of your building or into the park and watch the sunrise or the sunset. It has awesome healing powers.

  
Move your body.
Vigorous exercise is a powerful, well-studied way to burn off stress chemicals and heal the mind. Exercise helps to improve your mood, boost your energy, and reduce overall stress in your body and mind.

  
Use heat therapy.
Take an UltraDetox Bath or a sauna to turn on the relaxation response. Increasing circulation and increasing body temperature have healing benefits and can reset your autonomic nervous system. Saunas increase heart rate variability, a measure of your stress resilience. The more complex and variable your heart rate, the healthier you are and the greater capacity you have to deal with stresses.

  
Connect, connect, connect.
Our sense of meaning, purpose, and connection plays a huge role in determining our health and well-being. Who do you feel connected to? What gives your life meaning? What were you put on this planet to do? There are so many ways to connect: Spend real and quality time with people you love, join a group of like-minded people, get involved in your community, or volunteer and be of service to others. These are all wonderful ways to nurture yourself and strengthen the bonds of belonging and connection.

  
Try herbs.
You can use herbs that have been scientifically proven to improve response to stress. Herbs have even been given to astronauts to help them endure the rigors of space travel. I often recommend to my patients the following herbs, most of which can be found in combinations (see www.10daydetox.com/resources):

Some of these herbs are available in combination supplements designed to help support your adrenals and create resilience in the face of stress.

  
Seek out stress-busting tools.
Your smartphone may actually be a biofeedback machine! The iPhone 5 has a heart rate monitor built into the camera. The
Huffington Post
has created an app called
GPS for the Soul
, which has many simple relaxation tools (including one from me) that help you to reset and measure your heart rate variability (the more complex or “variable” your heart rate is, the healthier you are). Meditation, breathing, yoga, and even saunas all increase heart rate variability. This is directly related to your overall health and even to longevity. You can find other stress-busting and biofeedback tools at www.10daydetox.com/resources.