All Is Well: Heal Your Body With Medicine, Affirmations, and Intuition (16 page)

Isadora had two sisters who both worked as professional sing-

ers, and their appearances were very important to them. Isadora

did their hair and makeup. She took great pride in how polished

and beautiful she made them look for their performances and

said she didn’t mind being the “unsung” sister—their success was

enough for her. You would never guess that Isadora was a hair and

makeup artist judging by her own appearance. She went for comfort

rather than fashion, wore a baseball cap over her unstyled hair,

and usually didn’t bother with makeup. She was also 80 pounds

overweight when I met her, and she admitted that she had given

up on exercise and any other attempts at self-improvement.

When we work with someone who has a weight problem, it’s

important to figure out the medicinal, nutritional, environmen-

tal, and hormonal causes of weight gain that are unique to each

case. Then we create a plan directed at transforming these causes

to help them lose weight.

Weight gain can come from any number of factors:

• Medicine: One of the side effects of some common

medicines is weight gain. Included in this list

are oral contraceptives (the pill); steroids; older

tricyclic antidepressants such as Elavil; some newer

antidepressants, including Paxil, Zoloft, and Zyprexa;

the mood stabilizer Depakote; the diabetes drug

Diabinese; and heartburn medications like Nexium

and Prevacid. While not all of these drugs necessarily

cause weight gain, they have been known to do so.

• Nutrition: One of the most common causes of obesity

is simply nutritional habits. What and when people

eat has a huge effect on the amount of weight they

put on.

• Environment: This takes into account such issues as

how often you move during the day and with whom

87

All Is Well interior.indd 87

1/8/13 7:51 AM

A ll i s w e ll

you surround yourself. It can play a huge role in how

much you weigh.

• Hormones: If you are stressed, stressed, stressed, you

are going to gain weight no matter how much you

exercise and limit your diet. Sadness, depression, and

anxiety all cause the number to go up on the scale,

but anger is the most weight-o-genic emotion. Being

constantly angry and frustrated causes your adrenal

glands to produce the hormone cortisol, which causes

the pancreas to produce insulin—and voilà!

When we started to explore Isadora’s unique situation, we saw

that she regularly took three medications that have the known

side effect of weight gain. She was on the pill, and she often took

Nexium and Prevacid to help with stomach and reflux discom-

fort. As for her eating habits, we found that Isadora had a pretty

off-kilter eating schedule. She didn’t eat a regular meal during the

day but snacked a lot, and on unhealthy things. Her only meal

was a giant dinner at about 8 p.m. And this meal was never very

well balanced—Isadora often just loaded up on carbs rather than

making sure her plate had a nice array of each food group. She

was not aware of how important it is to match carbohydrate in-

take with protein at every meal to help stabilize blood sugar and

control hunger.

The environmental factors affecting Isadora included very

little movement and an unsupportive office environment. While

she worked on the second floor, Isadora never used the stairs. She

sat at her desk all day, with her only breaks being trips to the bath-

room—or perhaps to the candy dish sitting on the receptionist’s

desk. Her office was also right next to the conference room, where

most days there were fresh pastries and baked goods for employees

to munch on, and there was a machine with free soda anytime she

wanted it.

Between her out-of-control weight and her busy life, Isa dora

also experienced a lot of stress, frustration, and anxiety. She

88

All Is Well interior.indd 88

1/8/13 7:51 AM

A New Attitude

disliked her body, which led to feelings of shame and anger. Un-

fortunately, these feelings just added more fuel to the fire.

To help Isadora get her weight and life under control, the first

thing to do was take care of the medically induced weight gain.

I asked Isadora to go to her physicians and ask for an alternative

form of contraception that wasn’t as notorious for causing weight

gain. In the process, she also found out that her stomach problems

were the result of anxiety rather than acid reflux, so she was able

to phase out the use of Nexium and Prevacid. To replace these

drugs and give her relief from the very real upset stomach she ex-

perienced because of anxiety, her physician recommended lemon

balm. She reported that this helped almost immediately.

Next we addressed the environmental factors affecting Isa-

dora. She asked the receptionist to take the candy dish away—to

put it somewhere less conspicuous—so she wouldn’t be tempted

to graze. In addition, she wore a rubber bracelet with the words

HealtHy WeigHt
written in bold black letters to remind her to avoid

the food trays and soda at her office. When Isadora got the im-

pulse to reach for these, she stretched the bracelet, which then

snapped and stung her skin, grounding her to her own body. It

helped her refocus her feelings and remind her of her goal to lose

weight. As for upping her movement, Isadora not only started tak-

ing the stairs to her office, she also joined a women’s fitness club

and worked out for 30 minutes aerobically five days a week.

To add even more healing power, she used affirmations to ad-

dress the underlying thought patterns that were leading her to

hold on to her fat. So she used the affirmations for compulsive eat-

ing (I am protected by Divine Love. I am always safe and secure. I

am willing to grow up and take responsibility for my life. I forgive

others, and I now create my own life the way I want it. I am safe)

and obesity (I am at peace with my own feelings. I am safe where I

am. I create my own security. I love and approve of myself).

And last but not least, we recommended that she visit a nu-

tritionist who could help her create healthy, delicious, and easy

meals that fit within an eating schedule that they created to gether.

To make her new eating regimen more fun, she invited her sisters

along to learn with her. Together they supported one another in

89

All Is Well interior.indd 89

1/8/13 7:51 AM

A ll i s w e ll

a new, healthy lifestyle. A new sense of closeness developed be-

tween Isadora and her sisters—one that had been missing when

she was acting more as their employee than as a sister. And this

closeness bolstered Isadora’s self-esteem and made it easier for her

to stick to her new eating regimen.

This shift of focus—from others to herself—helped Isadora

recognize her own self-worth. She started to do more and more

things to take care of herself. She even implemented the responsi-

bility holiday we recommended. With her new view of the world

and the help she was getting from the people around her, Isadora

managed to lose a great deal of weight and feel healthier and hap-

pier for it.

Adrenal Glands and Pancreas

People who have adrenal gland, pancreatic, and blood sugar

problems are often overwhelmed by their emotions and have lost

their identity by being constantly in service to others. These people

often feel better about their internal spiritual life than their exter-

nal life of weight and looks and work. Spirituality becomes
the
out-

let they use to build self-worth and self-love. It is literally how they

define themselves. Because of this tendency, these people often let

their physical appearance go and their digestive health plummets,

leading to blood sugar problems and fatigue. To them, spirituality is

the universe; advancing their career or caring for their appearance

or well-being on Earth is not part of their skill set.

If you are one of the millions of people who suffer from the

symptoms of adrenal gland and blood sugar problems, the first step

is to take medical action. But as is the case with many emotion-centric

disorders, medicine will probably only be effective for acute prob-

lems; chronic issues need a subtler approach to healing. You need

to build your sense of self-worth and manage your responsibility

to others.

If your mind is telling you that you are not capable or worthy

and you are underachieving or sabotaging yourself, these are the

negative thoughts and behaviors that cause a disruption in cortisol

90

All Is Well interior.indd 90

1/8/13 7:51 AM

A New Attitude

production, which is a precursor to many adrenal gland disorders

such as Cushing’s disease. In contrast, Addison’s disease, which is

an inability to produce enough cortisol, is related to severe emo-

tional malnutrition. However, both come from the same negative

mind-set. Louise’s affirmation theory shows you how to change

the thoughts and behaviors associated with general adrenal gland

problems with the affirmation “I love and approve of myself. It is

safe for me to care for myself.”

Pancreatic disorders, including pancreatitis (inflammation of

the pancreas) and pancreatic cancer, often stem from feelings of

sorrow. If you have severe blood sugar problems such as diabetes,

you may be dealing with disappointment about unattained life-

long goals or feel deep sadness about what might have been. In

this case the affirmation would be “This moment is filled with joy.

I now choose to experience the sweetness of today.”

Whether the issue is cortisol problems from adrenal gland

malfunction or blood sugar imbalances because the pancreas is

producing inappropriate levels of insulin, your body’s intuition

will let you know that you need to reevaluate what you are doing.

If you don’t heed these warning signs, long-term cortisol and insu-

lin problems will cause other conditions, including elevated cho-

lesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, weight gain, chronic

pain, diabetes, renal failure, and stroke.

Changing negative thought patterns is key in eradicating

painful and destructive feelings. But altering lifelong patterns is a

process—a journey that takes time, dedication, and patience. Find

some balance between your spiritual and physical selves. You can

have part of your head in the spiritual clouds but at the same time,

start addressing your physical appearance on Earth. Let’s start

with your weight and low self-esteem. We know you have great

spiritual esteem, but you have to love yourself and your body, too.

We’re here to tell you that it’s completely possible to attend to

your own needs without being self-centered. So take some time

to pamper yourself. Get a manicure. Get your hair done. Read a

book. Go shopping. Try to do things that will help you come into

your physical self. Try working out or dancing or doing yoga. Any

of these activities will force you back to Earth.

91

All Is Well interior.indd 91

1/8/13 7:51 AM

A ll i s w e ll

While we know that it’s important to focus on the needs of

others, don’t overdo it—even though you want to. Helping people

out makes you feel good but it also depletes you, so try to limit the

amount of time you spend offering your assistance. If you volun-

teer with a number of organizations, cut down your hours—per-

haps only volunteer once a week. This will still give you the joy of

helping but it will also leave time for you to care for yourself. All

of these actions will improve your vision of yourself and help you

keep a healthy spiritual focus.

As I’ve said before, you have innate worth on Earth and in the

heavens. You are lovable and valuable, and you must remind your-

self of this every day through affirmations and dedication to your

physical health. A general, healthy affirmation is “My emotional

fulfillment and satisfaction radiate to everyone around me.”

From the Clinic Files: Adrenal Glands

and Pancreas Case Study

As a teenager, Lorinda, now 57, discovered Eastern religions

and was fascinated. She read about Buddhism, Zen, and Tao-

ism and researched the Christian mystics. She was able to sense

the “Divine” from an early age, and it gave her both peace and

exhilaration.

Lorinda went to college and graduated with a double major in

theology and biology. She eventually married a famous physicist

and they had four children.

Lorinda was smart and well-read, and over the decades of their

marriage she became a valuable resource to her husband, helping

him write several books. Her marriage and family life with her

children were happy and fulfilling—up to a point. But Lorinda

had sacrificed her own ambitions and intellectual life, and now