Self-Transformation Part II
There are many clicks to the Rubik’s Cube of self-transformation, and most require rethinking and undoing old mind-sets and self-sabotage to find your way back to your true radiant and glowing potential. Before we can find the ultimate path for ourselves, we must first reject the false paths that led us astray and then retrace our steps toward recovery. In the last issue, I appealed to you, through my own example, to reject today’s merry-go-round of short-sighted health and beauty solutions and take a more authentic path to transformation through health (if you missed the last issue, be sure to catch it). This month I offer some crucial first “twists” of the Rubik’s Cube toward recovery.
Reject, then recover from Modern body and beauty self-sabotage
The language of today’s hyped, high-tech approach to beauty and health disregards and even disparages our body’s innate wisdom, while making superheroes out of the next hot quick fixes. It seems harmless enough, but once we buy into this dialogue, we enter a treacherous physical realm as we partake in practices that actually jeopardize our precious internal body ecology, our metabolic integrity, our skin’s naturally protective functioning, and our future health and beauty. For most Americans, much of this destruction has already taken place before we reach our twenties. Modern technology and industry agendas have managed to infiltrate and alter every piece of the internal and external terrain of our bodies. Alas, we’ve been seduced by harsh and instantly gratifying yet self-sabotaging (expensive) choices disguised as solutions.
Examples of this are endless… An innocent teenager’s dependency on harsh acne drugs and topicals that compromise digestion and the anti-bacterial acid mantle of the skin (guaranteeing a pattern of unexplained new skin and health issues, once his teenage acne has cleared up)… A young woman’s unsuspecting use of powerful tooth whiteners that guarantee whiter teeth, but make her teeth more porous and thus prone to future staining (creating an avoidable dependency on stronger and stronger tooth whiteners)… Or the man with psoriasis who was not told that using steroid ointments would eventually thin his skin and destroy its immunity (guaranteeing him worse recurrences that steroids will not address).
Give yourself sanctuary from the top assaults
The first and most important step on the path back to your true potential is to establish a mindful and vigilant sanctuary from these self-sabotaging assaults. Once we do this, we can focus on recovering internal and external ecology and functioning.
- Reject the self-sabotaging, body-shaming mind-sets perpetuated by industry through media and mainstream expert recommendations
- Reject beverages and foods that disrupt and degrade metabolic balance (more on that in the next issue)
- Reject poor quality fats that cause cellular malfunctions, such as trans-fats and cheap vegetable oils (omega-6 oils)
- Reject synthetic preservatives, sweeteners, and additives that challenge the body
- Reject unnecessary antibiotics and steroids (and any drugs tried first where natural remedies exist)
- Reject skin function-destroying products, such as foaming cleansers, topical steroids, anti-bacterial soaps, harsh exfoliants, and the regular use of alpha-hydroxy acids
- Eliminate chlorine and other chemicals in drinking and bathing water
- Reject personal care products made with chemicals and toxins that sensitize or collect in the body, such as formaldehyde, pthalates, chemical sunscreens, and perfumes
Fortify your defense tactics
Now start to think defensively. Every time you avoid a course of antibiotics or steroids, you are saving your body an untold, guaranteed domino effect of health and beauty issues down the road. Once you adopt this mind-set, then recovering your internal balance and ecology is only a matter of strategic inner rebuilding through optimal diet and the use of key supplements. Some of the best defensive tactics against these destructive patterns include:
- A dietary approach that optimizes body pH, minimizes inflammation, and improves insulin and leptin function (more on this in Part III).
- Detoxifying measures such as colon, liver, kidney, and blood-cleansing regimens
- A comprehensive multi-vitamin and mineral regimen plus fish oil to close general nutrition and omega-3 fat deficits and address specific issues as they arise
- A comprehensive blood sugar stabling supplement as basic “antidote” and defense from modern food and beverage assaults (even from our
- childhood)
- A quality probiotic supplement to re-establish a balance of healthy gut bacteria
- A non-toxic, nourishing, and regenerative approach to skin and personal care
- Water purification systems for both drinking and bathing water
By incorporating these defense tactics into your daily ritual, you will automatically discontinue the desensitizing assaults on your body and progress from assaultrecovery mode into a healing and re-sensitizing mode. My book, The Truth About Beauty, includes hundreds of additional “upgrades” to potentially health-sabotaging conventional choices and products. Examples include healthful upgrades for harmful cooking oils, sweeteners, mouthwashes, deodorants, and just about everything else you’d put in or on your body.
The next phase:
Conquering Compulsive self-sabotage
In the next issue, I’ll help you identify and chip away at the most stubborn, dangerous, and entrenched barrier to health recovery and self-transformation of all: compulsive self-sabotage.
