The Hormone Reset Diet by Sara Gottfried

sitting, including time sitting at your desk or watching television, had lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels in addition to other risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Thebenefit to health persisted for those who sat 90 minutes less than the control group, even after adjusting for time spent exercising.
    While these studies do not prove a cause and effect between sitting less and reversal of estrogen dominance and insulin resistance, they suggest that we may need to redesign the current recommendations of 150 minutes of vigorous exercise per week for people with diabetes and ideally one hour per day (according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and the International Association for the Study of Obesity). Vigorous exercise does help your mood, energy, brain, and focus, but it plays only a minor role in weight loss because it boosts appetite.
    Here’s how I sit less:
    I write a lot, and for now, that means I’m mostly sitting. But before I sit, I do a set of twenty-five push-ups or twenty-five jumping jacks.
    When I talk on the phone, I never sit. I walk around and climb the stairs in my home or office. It brings a whole new understanding to “phone it in.”
    Increasingly, I work at a stand-up desk. (My husband built one for me for less than $30, called an Ikea hack.)
    When I sit, I work in sprint–recovery cycles. I set a timer on my smartphone that rings after fifty minutes, and I get up and move for ten minutes. Sometimes I sprint a few blocks near my home or perform a wall sit or do a few abdominal crunches.
    Drink lots of filtered water—60 or more ounces per day—which will make you get up to pee once an hour.
    Consider getting a treadmill desk! Many of my lean friends have one, and the idea is that you walk slowly while working at a standing desk. My brother-in-law just explained to me how to build one on the cheap, and it’s easier than you might think.
    Swing a kettlebell! I learned this one from Tim Ferriss, author of the
New York Times
bestseller
The 4-Hour Body.
Make sure you have good form by learning from an expert how to swing these heavy devices (mine weighs 35 pounds) so you don’t injure yourself.
Test Yourself
    Based on your response to the self-assessment at the beginning of the chapter, you can start your estrogen reset without getting any laboratory testing beforehand. Your Meatless reset should improve your estrogen levels within seventy-two hours, but I’d like you to stay meatless (and alcohol free) for the full twenty-one days of the program. If you are not making the progress you had hoped for, consider talking to your practitioner about additional testing, such as your progesterone-to-estradiol ratio. Ask your clinician to measure your estradiol, the main estrogen, and your progesterone levels in your blood or saliva. You don’t need a doctor’s prescription in most locations.
Notes from Hormone Resetters
    “I’m utterly amazed at the person staring back at me in the mirror. I have lost weight and inches, but more amazingly, I feel so good. My skin is clear, my mood is steadier, my clothes are looser, and I feel energized to exercise. Now that I’ve gotten rid of my cravings, I feel like I can accomplish even more! I see each meal as an opportunity to nourish my body and not as an emotional experience to smooth the edges of a stressful day. Weekly (daily!) indulgences of dessert and wine don’t appeal to me. I feel so empowered to make choices that make me feel good each and every day! Although I still feel I have too many stressors in mylife, I feel totally equipped to handle them, and if my ‘to do’ list isn’t finished, I am not defeated.”
—Linda
    “For the first time in thirty years, I have started to lose weight. Previous to the first [Hormone Reset], I would sit at a level of going up and down in a 5-pound range. Now I am losing weight each week. I lost 12 pounds during the first [round] and 6 pounds this [round]. I did not put