The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body's Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast (39 page)

Right about now, you’re probably starting to feel pretty good (if that hasn’t already happened!). The toxins are moving out of your system, so this is a great time to be doing a little of what I call mental flossing. Yesterday you looked at your feelings, and today we’re going to look at your thoughts.

You may believe that the results you get in your life come from the actions you take. After all, if you eat cleanly, then you will have a healthy body; if you eat poison, you will have a sick body. But where do these actions originate? What allows one person to succeed at eating well, and another to fail?

Your thoughts are the control center that determines which actions you take. If each time you walk past a bakery, you think, “
Mmm, that smells good. I bet one croissant won’t hurt. I’ve had a rough day, so I deserve a treat,”
then the odds are pretty good that sooner or later you will pop into the bakery and buy that croissant. If, on the other hand, you were to think, “
It just feels so good to be in my healthy body. I have so much energy these days, and am so proud of myself. That vanishes the moment I bite into that croissant… not worth it!”,
then you are far less likely to eat that croissant. So you can see how important it is that you learn how to design your inner dialogue to work
for
your dreams and not against them.

The first step is to become aware of the thoughts you have on a daily basis that don’t work for you. We all have hundreds of thoughts a day, and if we believed every stupid notion we had, we would drive ourselves crazy. Sadly, that is what many of us do, which leads to profound unhappiness and dissatisfaction. But we have a chance today to stop and detox not only from junk food, but also from junk thoughts. We can declutter our bodies
and
our minds.

To do this, take a minute to reflect on one of your dreams for your life. It can be your dream for your body, your career, your relationship with your partner, or any other dream you might have. Think big here.
What is it that you most want for yourself? What will bring you a sense of deep accomplishment and joy?

Next, ask yourself if you believe it is possible to transform that dream into reality. If not, why do you believe it’s not possible? What stands in your way? Record exactly what the voice in your head says, down to the exact wording.

For example, when thinking about the obstacles to having a vibrant, healthy body, maybe your inner voice says: “I don’t have the right genes to be slim and trim. Everyone in my family is overweight, and there is nothing I can do about it. And besides, even if it were possible to get trim by eating the right foods, I simply don’t have time to prepare meals with my crazy work schedule.” You’ve amassed plenty of mental evidence to prove you’re right about your genes and your logistical inability to lose weight.

As you read this inner dialogue (otherwise known as the stories we tell ourselves), many of you are likely chuckling. Once we get our inner dialogue out of our heads and onto paper, the thoughts that once seemed so compelling and true often look a little silly. In this purge of our thoughts, we might start to see more clearly our own limiting beliefs about what is and is not possible. The thing about these beliefs is that they are usually not the absolute truth. Most of the time, we’ve made them up. These stories that we tell ourselves—complete with “evidence” about their accuracy—are what keep us stuck.

There are many ways our thoughts interfere with our staying emotionally and mentally healthy, and these thoughts can take on a life of their own. They loom large in our minds and seem true, even when they aren’t, and can have tremendous power over us if we don’t examine them.

For example, let’s say you believe you can’t lose weight because of your genes. Sure, many members of your family may be overweight, but how do you know it’s genetic? Have you sequenced your own genome and found the “overweight” gene in there? (Remember, there are only thirty-two obesity genes, and even if you had all of them, that
would only account for a twenty-two-pound total weight gain. The habits we inherit from our parents are more important than the genes they bestow on us.) Have you followed the eating plans outlined in this book perfectly and experienced no results (which is nearly impossible!)? Odds are that your belief has very little truth to it. Perhaps you are just holding on to it because it is a convenient excuse not to do the work it would take to get your body healthy. Or your belief may give you a convenient reason not to risk changing your life in a very significant and positive way.

If you have found a belief in your thinking that doesn’t work well for you, it’s time to gather evidence for a new belief that
does
. In the genetic example, a better belief might be “I can have the body and health I want, no matter what the other members of my family look like.” Then you would go out and gather evidence to support that new theory. You would find examples of overweight families that have slim family members. You would think back to a time in the past when you were trimmer. You might even want to prove the new theory correct now by adhering closely to the detox plan outlined in this book, and see what happens.

Where do you self-sabotage? I want to invite you all to take an honest look at where your thoughts and beliefs might have gotten in your way in the past, or even where they might be tripping you up right now. Do you believe it’s not possible to be healthy? To be in a happy marriage? To succeed as you want to in life? We’re looking to get to the innate beliefs that allow you to be kind to yourself, as opposed to those that fill your mind—and your life—with toxic thoughts, undermining beliefs, and belly-fat-building stress.

Beliefs affect behavior. You think, and you act out of those thoughts. If you have disordered thinking, you have disordered behavior. If you have unhealthy thoughts, they’re going to create unhealthy behaviors. We want to flush out the thoughts that are getting in the way of your being fit, happy, and healthy.

Today’s strategy is singular: Tune in to your inner dialogue, find
those limiting beliefs that hold you back from being the healthiest and most vital version of yourself, and dump them! From there, you can focus on thoughts that work for your dream, not against it. To do this, use the journal questions below—they will walk you through the process of creating a new, empowering inner dialogue.