Blog Post by Coach JulieNCI Certified Nutrition Coach L1 & Certified Mindset Coach Creating a new habit or stopping an old habit can be a daunting task. Studies show it takes 21 days of consistent work to break or create a habit. Throughout those 21 days, it's very important to identify with the habit and have solid mantra to repeat to yourself to help keep you motivated and accountable. Identifying with your new habit takes away any identity you have previous assigned yourself. For example, if you're trying to quit smoking you need to start identifying as a non-smoker. This is an easy example because that is a habit that often is assigned a label or an identity. If you're trying to start working out, your new identity is someone that loves themself and takes pride in their health and appearance. That part is decently easy. It will take effort to believe in your new identity but the mantra aspect takes a little more effort. You want to create a mantra that you can memorize and repeat to yourself with temptation arises. Something you can believe it that is motivating for you to stay on track. I've broken down the steps to creating a mantra for you below as well as an example.
Give it a try and see what you come up with. How to Create a Mantra for Developing a New Habit 5 Rules to Writing a Mantra
Example: If you’re new habit is improving your relationship with money, your process may look like this: Step 1
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People like you who read my blogs are of a special breed. You’re likely ambitious, eager to learn, and confident⏤or else you wouldn’t be reading this. Or, anything, for that matter.  If you’re anything like my 1:1 coaching client, Diana, you’ll start off small, stacking wins. Then you’ll nervously, but courageously, push past your comfort zone. You’ll succeed at something you’ve never done before. Then your trust in your abilities will increase, equipping you to overcome hard things in the future with a new sense of mental freedom. This is how you build real self-confidence and escape the comparison trap. If this sounds like something you want professional help with, let’s work together. Whether you decide to sign up or not, with each of these four tools you should increase your chances of success going forward.
You’ve got this. Give ’em a try and keep me posted how it goes. Would love to hear from you. Chat soon, Kayli P.S. This was originally an email sent to my private newsletter. If you liked this post, consider joining the fun. Blog Post by Coach JulieNCI Certified Nutrition Coach L1 & Certified Mindset Coach You’re probably a little confused right now . . . Let me break it down for you.
I have clients that struggle terribly with allergies and asthma. They’ve tried everything. Expensive allergy testing shows no allergies. NONE. Believe it or not, the problem may not be allergies, it may be issues with the gut. It may sound crazy that your gut health would affect your sinuses, but the two systems are very intertwined. Both the respiratory tract and the digestive tract are immune barriers, meaning it’s their job to protect the body from outside invaders. The gut in particular profoundly influences the entire immune system. When gut health suffers so does the rest of your body. This can even result in allergy symptoms that flare up each spring. Leaky gut, also known as intestinal permeability, is a condition in which the lining of the digestive tract becomes inflamed and porous, allowing undigested foods, bacteria, yeasts, and other toxins into the bloodstream. The immune system launches an attack on these toxins, which creates inflammation throughout the body. For many people, this happens every time they eat. This inflammation manifests in different ways for different people. Gut symptoms don’t have to be present to suffer from inflammation caused by leaky gut. It can cause joint pain, skin problems, digestive complaints, autoimmune disease, issues with brain function, fatigue, chronic pain, asthma, and…seasonal allergies. Chronic stress also weakens and inflames the digestive tract, causing leaky gut. Stress doesn’t just have to come from a stressful lifestyle or lack of sleep, although those certainly play a role. Eating a diet high in sugar, fried and processed foods is stressful to the body, as is an unmanaged autoimmune disease, or hormones that are out of whack. These are just a few metabolic factors that can contribute to leaky gut. If you need help managing chronic conditions or gut health, shoot Coach Kayli or I a DM. We’d be happy to jump on a coaching call with you to discuss your issues and help you get to the root cause. Have you ever been told the reason you’re not losing weight is because “you’re eating too little”.
If so, I am also sure you have been told your body has gone into “starvation mode”. Where people tend to explain it, as your body is holding onto all your body fat because you haven’t been eating enough calories. Spoiler Alert: I’m here to explain to you why this is in fact a myth. As everything you hear in the fitness and health industry there is a sliver of truth behind this statement. In fact, I myself am guilty of using this phrase in the past. Thankfully I have continued to learn and research the science of our metabolism. Next let's break down the common definition of “starvation mode”. What is Starvation Mode? Starvation mode is not a scientific term. It is a popular phrase used to imply that when you cut calories too low, your body goes into a protection mode, slowing your metabolism and calorie output so that you stop losing weight. This concept is rooted in your body's survival mechanisms. If you ever found yourself without food for long periods of time, it would not be beneficial for your body to continue to burn calories at a normal rate; instead, your metabolism would shift to preserve as much energy as possible to prolong your life. But starving to death is not quite the same thing as dieting and you will still lose weight in the process of wasting away without food. How Long Can You Survive Without Food? With access to water and electrolytes, your body can survive for quite some time without food, depending on the person and how much body fat you have. Some research suggests that you can go more than a month without food. And in some religions, long fasts are commonly practiced with potential health benefits. Starvation mode is not a real term, but metabolic adaption is, and it’s a known phenomenon. How drastically it affects your weight loss progress is another story. Your body can compensate for decreased calories by slowing your metabolism down as much as 30% through adaptive thermogenesis. But the effects of adaptive thermogenesis are typically short-lived, and for most the difference could be as little as a 5% decrease in basal metabolic rate (BMR), and it does not indicate a damaged metabolism. So what is the verdict? In all of the studies referenced to support starvation mode, weight loss was a factor. And it is crucial to note that any weight loss can cause you to have a lower BMR - since it just takes less energy to move around a smaller object. Why You're Not Losing Weight and How to Fix it If you find that you’ve hit a weight loss plateau, it does not mean you are in starvation mode. Some more common factors are likely at play, including the following: You're Not Tracking Your Food Intake It's pretty impossible to know if you are in a calorie deficit if you aren't tracking your food intake. Before assuming something else is at play, keeping an accurate food diary is the best place to start. Even if you've been tracking, take a look at how diligent you are being with this habit.
You can also use your tracking app to get weekly calorie and macro averages - this is the best way to see how well you’ve stuck to your diet consistently, as well as where you could use some work. You're Not Eating the Right Amount of Calories Typically, if you aren't losing weight, you are eating more calories than you think. Or if you've recently lost weight, you likely have a new maintenance calorie amount and may need to eat fewer calories to continue losing. This is why many popular weight loss plans will use a phased approach to cutting, helping you to stay in a calorie deficit and continue losing weight with incremental calorie cuts. Start by figuring out how many calories you need to eat a day to maintain your current weight and then calculate your new weight loss calorie needs from that starting point. You're Always on a Diet It might also just be that your body needs a break. If you've been dieting for more than a few months, it might be time to give your body time to adjust to your maintenance calorie level. Jumping from one diet to the next and constantly trying to cut calories can do more harm than good. It is much easier to stick to a diet and continue to get results if you understand how to maintain results in the first place. Been on a really low-calorie diet for a while and scared to add calories back in? Try upping your intake a few hundred calories a week to start, until you reach your maintenance level. And then stick to your maintenance for at least a month to give your time to adjust and reset your metabolism. You're Too Focused on the Scale Oftentimes dieters are focused solely on fat loss, but their total body composition is crucial to getting better results and making them stick. Not to mention, if you are cutting calories too low for too long, you’re at risk of losing precious calorie burning tissue - your muscle. Gaining muscle is essentially the opposite of “starvation mode”. Your muscle mass is the biggest determinant of your metabolic rate, and the more you have, the more you can eat and maintain your weight. Plus, muscle is the tissue behind that lean, toned look most of us are striving to achieve in the first place. While muscle growth is typically achieved through weight gain, which would ultimately increase your metabolism even further, it is possible for some people to build muscle in a calorie deficit. But at the very least, you should be focused on protecting your muscle while dieting. To keep your lean mass intact while dieting, be sure to incorporate the following:
What are the Minimum Calories for Weight Loss? While starvation mode may not technically exist, starving yourself to lose weight is still not recommended. A very low-calorie diet may work at first, but it’s likely not going to do you favors in the long run. It can be dangerous for some people, lead to disordered eating habits, and does not typically lead to sustainable results, since most people do not change bad habits once they resume eating again. In addition, extreme dieting is impossible to maintain, causing painful hunger cues, irritability, mood swings, decreased energy, poor concentration, and sucks your willpower dry, all of which makes sticking to a diet that much harder. Instead, stick to a more attainable approach to dieting with no more than a 15-20% decrease from your estimated daily energy needs. Slow and steady weight loss of 0.5 to 1% body weight per week is much easier to keep off and you will be much happier and more successful with a more measured and sustainable diet plan approach. Need help figuring out how many calories you need each day? I’d be happy to help you figure out your starting numbers. Simply click the button below and fill out this short form explaining your goals and I’ll reach within 24hrs! Blog Post by Coach JulieNCI Certified Nutrition Coach L1 & Certified Mindset Coach  Wegovy and Ozempic are both GLP-1 (glucagon like peptide). With GLP-1 drugs, you will lose muscle mass if you are not doing some sort of resistance training. “Much of the "weight loss" resulting from GLP-1 agonists is the loss of muscle, bone mass, and other lean tissue rather than body fat (Ida, et al.).” When taking GLP-1 drugs it’s important to focus on getting adequate protein to at least maintain muscle mass. (Usually .75g of protein per pound of lean body mass is adequate. If your goal weight is 150 pounds that means 113g of protein per day.) A significant loss of bone mass, for example, predisposes serious bone diseases such as osteopenia and osteoporosis. And a significant loss of muscle mass lowers metabolic rate (increasing the risk of weight regain), raises the risk of falls, and impairs function and quality of life. Research has found that when people stop taking Wegovy/Ozempic, they rapidly regain weight. (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism: Journal, June 2022) Experts say this is because the drug is not a cure and it does not prevent the metabolic adaptation that occurs during weight loss. A study published in April 2022 which sought to examine changes in body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors upon the termination of the drug, found that after a year people had regained two-thirds of the weight they had lost. The positive changes they had seen in cardiometabolic risk factors like blood pressure, blood lipids, HbA1c, and C-reactive protein had similarly reversed.According to the study authors, these findings reinforce the need to continue treatment in order to maintain the benefits of the medication. (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism: Journal, April 2022) The fact that people may need to stay on Wegovy indefinitely in order to maintain the weight loss has raised concerns about long-term use. (NPR, 2023) As a nutrition coach, I have been asked several times about these two drugs. I always suggest talking with your doctor about this and making sure that this is the right answer for you. My opinion though is to always work on lifestyle, diet and fitness interventions first. I would invest in a coach before I spent the money on this very expensive drug. If you have further questions, shoot me a DM, we’ll talk. EVERYBODY IS TALKING ABOUT IT. Unless you follow Dr. Oz, the #ketowarriors, or the descendants of Vegan Gains — you’ve heard that a “calorie deficit” is the key to losing fat. We’ll get into details later, but to refresh: a “calorie deficit” simply means your body is burning more calories than you’re consuming (i.e., calories out > calories in = weight loss (few exceptions)). A “calorie surplus” means you’re burning fewer calories than you’re consuming (i.e., calories out < calories in = weight gain). And if you’re eating at your “maintenance calories,” you’re burning around the same number of calories as you’re consuming (i.e., calories out = calories in = maintain stable weight). Now, I could get deep into the minutia of calories in calories out and how your body “burns” calories, but you probably don’t care about the science. What you do care about: me knowing the science and giving you the actionable steps to put into practice. And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do, so take a quick glance at this pretty picture and let’s keep it movin’.  That’s the why. Now, I’ll share the how.
For the record, I’ve never seen another fitness coach put this information out for free. This is exactly how I set up a calorie deficit for my online coaching clients, so listen up. STEP 1: BUY SCALES. Buy a bodyweight scale and a food scale. These are reasonably cheap and some of the best investments you can make for managing your body. Plus, there are two things humans suck at: estimating and remembering data. In fact, one study on daily food reporting showed even dietitians to be off by up to 800 calories. Some non-dietitians were off by over 1,000 calories! So, yeah. Buy the scales so you don’t do this. STEP 2: DOWNLOAD A FOOD TRACKING APP. I recommend FatSecret or My Fittness Pal to my clients. Don’t use the macro calculator for any of them as that’s the point of this post ⏤ this way is more accurate. MFP might just be more accessible in terms of how to use the app for some people. However, another downside of MFP is their calories can be off with some of their foods due to user inputted data. Just make sure your total daily macros match up to your total daily calories and you’ll be good to go. Any tracking app or using a pad and pen (if you’re a neanderthal) will work just fine. We’ll cover your macros (proteins, carbs, and fats in a bit). STEP 3: EAT NORMALLY AND TRACK EVERYTHING. Without drastically changing how you currently eat, track every single thing (very important this is accurate!) you put in your mouth for at least four days (preferably three weekdays and one weekend day). I say to eat normal because you want to find your current baseline. If you go changing everything you eat, you’ll skew your results. And when I say track everything, I mean EVERYTHING — alcohol, condiments, oils, drinks, supplements, butter, sauces, dessert, etc. STEP 4: AVERAGE OUT YOUR BASELINE. After tracking at least four days, find the average number of calories you ate during that time period. For example:
STEP 5: REMAIN CONSISTENT WITH TRACKING WEIGHT AND FOOD FOR 14 DAYS.Try to hit within +/- 50 of that average calorie amount (2,150 – 2,250) every single day for the next 2 weeks (including weekends!) AND weigh yourself every day in the morning – before you eat and after you take your morning dump. It’s important you try to mimic each day so you can get a realistic idea of what your “typical” intake and weight would look like, i.e., don’t do this during vacation. STEP 6: ANALYZE WEIGHT TRENDS. Given that you followed step 5 correctly, we should now see a trend in what your weight does based off how much food you’re eating. If you’re eating ~2,200 calories per day and your weight is trending downward (not down every single day because weight fluctuates) over the course of two weeks — you’re likely in a calorie deficit. If your weight is staying about the same (within a pound or so), subtract 250 calories from your daily calorie goal and keep consistent. This means you are eating around your maintenance calories. If your weight is trending upward, take away 350-500 calories per day (you’re in a calorie surplus). -Coach Kayli Blog Post by Coach JulieNCI Certified Nutrition Coach L1 & Certified Mindset Coach  Do you suffer with Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease. Symptoms of this disease are tender, warm or swollen joints, joint stiffness, fatigue, fever and loss of appetite. Early symptoms tend to appear in the smaller joints first, usually hands and feet. RA symptoms can wax and wane in severity including periods of remission and alternatively periods of increased intensity, called flared. Long term effects of this disease can cause your joints to deform and shift out of place. Western medicine admittedly states they are not sure what causes RA. They state they believe there is a genetic component, but that genes don’t actually cause the issue. This is something that I have been trying to teach my clients and audience, genes don’t cause or create a diseased state in your body. Just because your parents have diabetes does not mean that you’re doomed to have diabetes. If that’s how disease worked, you would have diabetes when you were 7. It wouldn’t wait until you were 37. Genetics may make you more predisposed to a certain disease or condition, but environmental factors have to be present to trigger and activate that disease. Your genetics load the gun, but your lifestyle and environment pull the trigger. This is why it is important to manage your health and wellness throughout your life and prior to symptoms appearing. Usually if you wait for symptoms to appear, the disease is already present. Studies are suggesting that there may be a link between Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and gut health. I can’t say that I’m surprised by this. RA is an autoimmune disease and an inflammatory disease. The root cause of many autoimmune diseases is inflammation and inflammation usually comes from the gut. This is where the environmental factors we spoke about above come into play. These studies are specifically referring to low stomach acid causing flares of RA. When stomach acid is low, usually people will experience food-allergy symptoms which can show up as RA pain. Stomach acid helps break down proteins in your stomach so that the intestines can absorb it. Without adequate stomach acid, your intestines absorb partially broken down protein which causes allergies. Signs of low stomach acid are: abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, undigested food in stool, reflux and heartburn. Yes, you read that right, reflux and heartburn are signs of low stomach acid, not too much acid. If you struggle with RA, you may see some relief by looking at your gut health and working to optimize gut health. Avoid proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Prilosec or Nexium as they will lower your stomach acid. Some RA sufferers have stated that there are RA drugs that have caused acid reflux issues and therefore they have been prescribed a PPI to help them manage. It is very important to talk to your doctor about other options. Perhaps a change in your RA medication would be an option. If not, I would suggest doing some stomach acid tests to see if the issue you are experiencing is actually high stomach acid. If it isn’t, you have other options. If you are experiencing low stomach acid, you could find relief from your stomach acid issues but supplementing with Betaine HCL and adding stomach acid to your gut to help you break down food. This would not only eliminate the PPI and the symptom, but it would help you break down food and could potentially lessen the frequency and intensity of RA flares. What is PCOS - Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is a hormonal disorder that affects millions of women.2/4/2023  Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition affecting between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 women of childbearing age. This condition causes the body’s hormones to become unbalanced, leading to issues like ovarian cysts, increased hair growth on the face and body (hirsutism), acne, weight gain or obesity, thinning hair, irregular menstrual periods, and even infertility.
It’s very likely you or someone you are close to suffers from PCOS. You must have two of the three following criteria to be diagnosed with PCOS : Irregular Periods Hyperandrogenism (Higher Testosterone) Polycystic Ovaries About 50% of people who have PCOS also suffer from obesity. Being diagnosed with PCOS is not a “death” sentence when it comes to being able to lose weight. Thankfully, more and more doctors are beginning to recognize the importance diet plays in preventing and controlling PCOS. Insulin is thought to play a major role in PCOS. This powerful hormone, released by the pancreas, exists to transport sugar out of the blood and into the cells. However, many women with PCOS are insulin resistant, meaning this process doesn’t work correctly within their bodies. As a result, high levels of insulin contribute to many of the symptoms of PCOS, such as weight gain, high cholesterol, diabetes, and ovarian cysts. Ladies, you’ll be glad to hear that controlling your diet can play a huge part in helping reverse insulin resistance. Firstly, stick to a balanced diet consisting of whole grains, fruit and vegetables, healthy fats, and protein. Losing just 5% to 10% of body weight can improve symptoms of PCOS and reduce insulin resistance. Physical activity has been shown to play an important, if not essential, role in the treatment and prevention of insulin insensitivity, meaning it’s central to the management of PCOS. At least 30 minutes of aerobic activity is recommended a week. Aim for strength training twice a week, as in order to improve insulin levels and aid weight loss, lifting weights is thought to be an important aspect of exercise for those with PCOS. Let’s have a look at the best dietary choices to decrease insulin resistance and therefore manage PCOS symptoms. While standard guidelines recommend that we get 45% to 65% of our daily calories from carbohydrates, women with PCOS should strive for the lower end of this range. If you’re already insulin resistant, a lower carb diet is typically a better option. I promise you won’t have to starve yourself to get the benefits of a lower carbohydrate intake. Even switching to a diet consisting of 43% carbohydrates has been shown to reduce fasting insulin levels, and therefore improve insulin sensitivity, in women with PCOS. Choose high fiber, whole grain carbohydrates like brown rice, oatmeal, whole rye, and whole wheat pasta in small amounts. Not only do whole grains have a lower GI rating, which improves insulin sensitivity, but they also help improve cholesterol levels – another PCOS-related complication. And don’t forget the vegetables. These are always your best source of carbohydrates, so eat plenty of them. This has to be one of my favorite topics – the importance of fats. Dietary fat is vital in a PCOS diet as it slows the release of glucose, ensuring your blood sugar levels remain relatively stable. Fat can also be important in weight management as it helps you feel full and stops overeating. One fat you can safely cut out is trans fats, which are unhealthy and now banned in the US. Trans fat raises LDL cholesterol (the bad kind), while reducing HDL cholesterol (the good kind). Since you’re already at risk of diabetes, heart disease, and high cholesterol from PCOS, you don’t need to add to the risk by eating these fats. Then you can turn to other healthy fats, namely monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats from nuts, seeds, and avocados. No discussion on fats can leave out the importance of omega 3 fatty acids. These essential fatty acids prevent or reduce symptoms of multiple conditions, and PCOS is no exception. They don’t just decrease cholesterol and lower blood pressure, but they have also been shown to be effective in improving hirsutism and insulin resistance in patients with PCOS. The Role of Exercise Physical activity has been shown to play an important role in the treatment and prevention of insulin insensitivity, meaning it’s key to the management of PCOS. At least 30 minutes of aerobic activity is recommended a week. Aim for strength training twice a week, as in order to improve insulin levels and aid weight loss, lifting weights is thought to be an important aspect of exercise for those with PCOS. In addition to regular exercise, eating whole grain carbohydrates, healthy fats, limiting sugar, and supplementing with vitamins in order to manage your PCOS, there are a few other things to consider.
Here’s an idea of what a typical day looks like on a PCOS friendly diet – pretty good wouldn’t you say? Just make sure to adjust your portion size based on your calorie needs.
Need help on finally losing that weight for good? If you would like help on figuring out your portion sizes for your specific goals, reach out to me and apply for a free, no pressure, 15 minute coaching call. During this call we will discuss your fitness and nutrition goals and see if I can help you see that success faster. -Coach Kayli Blog Post by Coach JulieNCI Certified Nutrition Coach L1 & Certified Mindset Coach I began Phase 5, the Nexium cessation phase on December 2nd. With this phase, I am moving through what was supposed to be a 4 week titration phase off of Nexium. We are currently on Week 6 of this process, which means I have definitely hit some snags and we needed to slow the process down. This is perfectly normal. Some people can complete the process in 4 weeks and others need more. Since I’ve been on this medication for 15+ years, I require some more.
During this phase, I have continued to take Zinc Carnosine at 75mg every morning on an empty stomach. I have also continued to take peppermint oil capsules before my morning and evening meals. Zinc carnosine reduces gut inflammation and helps protect the gut lining, which will be integral while my gut acid levels increase to their normal levels after being repressed for so long. Peppermint oil soothes the gut and helps prevent cramping and discomfort. I have also added DGL chewables and Betaine HCL. The DGL chewables are taken after my morning and evening meals. 3 tablets after each meal. The DGL chewable is Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice Root. I have used this supplement in a capsule form earlier in my journey. DGL is often used to soothe the stomach and support healthy digestion by encouraging mucin production. The Betaine HCL will be added in as needed, but I have not needed it yet. Betaine HCL helps protect the gut wall and strengthens it throughout the process. It will also help increase your stomach acid levels when you are struggling to recover with low stomach acid, which is common after long term use of a PPI. I will be using it as needed should I begin having acid reflux symptoms. After week one of this process, the withdrawal symptoms started. Week one consisted of reducing my Nexium to every other day rather than daily. After about day 4, I began noticing some mild diarrhea and headaches. I also noticed some weakness and dizziness. I am also having some reflux which is a most common and expected side effect. The reflux has been causing some nausea for me. Based on this, rather than moving to week 2, we decided to repeat week 1 again to see if my body would adjust. I continued to have symptoms so we decided to repeat week 1 for a third week to see if my body adjusted to the titration. My gut did regulate during the last 2 weeks of that process, so I then moved the Nexium to once every two days. I didn’t notice any reappearance of symptoms every two days, so I progressed to once every 3 days to see how my body tolerated that before we completely stopped the PepZin GI and the Nexium. After no noticeable symptoms or side effects, I took my last Nexium tablet on January 11th. Subsequently, I took my last PepZin GI tablets on January 13th. I have noticed that some meals seem to cause a slight acidic feeling in my gut. It does not feel like full heartburn or acid reflux, just a sensation that I am acutely aware of and it is manageable. One noticeable change was my bowel movements became more regular and more normal. This was something that I have not experienced in many years. Even after healing my gut I was still having a bit of constipation and this was apparent in the frequency and consistency of my bowel movements. On January 16th, I had a day of terrible heartburn. This was the first time that I have struggled with it since we started the process. The heartburn persisted for most of the week. On Tuesday, I decided to go ahead and try Betaine HCL with dinner to see if it would help. I noticed a reduction of the acidy, burning feeling shortly after taking it. The next morning I took another with my protein shake. I believe I may have taken it too soon because I felt very ill the rest of the morning. I struggled with reflux and nausea. Betaine HCL should be taken in the middle of your meal or immediately after your meal for the best effectiveness. If taken too soon or before a meal, you can get a false heartburn feeling. I took the Betaine HCL after only one drink of my protein shake and I believe this to be the cause. That same day after I ate lunch, some of the symptoms seemed to subside a little. The following day, I waited until my protein shake was complete before taking the Betaine HCL. I noticed the symptoms were greatly improved and easy to manage. It does seem that the Betaine HCL is helping increase my stomach acid levels and which is keeping the reflux to a minimum. I have noticed as the weeks progressed that my bowel movements became more regularly occurring. They also seemed to be moving toward the normal range on the Bristol Stool Scale. As always, I will provide a case study update in 4 weeks, when I should have completed this final phase if my body responds well. My body has responded exceptionally well the last few months so I am hopeful this temporary struggle will be the last and I will bounce back to normal.  Done correctly, deliberate cold exposure can positively affect brain and body health. Below, I detail some of those benefits and how best to access them.
Safety Never get into a dangerous body of water. Also, never do deliberate hyperventilation before or during cold water (or any water!) immersion. Start slow (warmer than colder)—as cold shock is possible; just as with lifting weights or other forms of exercise, you’ll need to find the right temperature for you, yet prioritize safety. How cold? This is the most common question I hear, and it makes sense to ask that. However, it is truly impossible to answer, as some people tolerate cold better than others. The key is to aim for a temperature that evokes the thought, “This is really cold (!), and I want to get out, BUT I can safely stay in.” For some people, that temperature might be 60°F, whereas for others, 45°F. Here is the key: the colder the stimulus (water immersion, shower, etc.), the shorter amount of time you need to expose yourself to the cold. One study showed significant and prolonged increases in dopamine when people were in cool (60°F) water for about an hour up to their neck, with their head above water. Other studies describe significant increases in epinephrine from just 20 seconds in very cold water (~40°F). The good news is that as you do deliberate cold exposure more often, you will be more comfortable in the cold at all times and can start to use colder temperatures with more confidence, just like exercise. Ice bath, cold shower, or cryo?Most of the studies use ice baths or cold water immersion to the neck. Those are best, but cold showers can work too (and are more accessible to most). Cryo is very expensive and harder to access and not subject to much variation in protocols, so it is not considered here. To Increase Energy and Focus Deliberate cold exposure causes a significant release of epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and norepinephrine (aka noradrenaline) in the brain and body. These neurochemicals make us feel alert and can make us feel agitated and as if we need to move or vocalize during the cold exposure. Cold causes their levels to stay elevated for some time and their ongoing effect after the exposure is to increase your level of energy and focus, which can be applied to other mental and/or physical activities. Building Resilience & Grit By forcing yourself to embrace the stress of cold exposure as a meaningful self-directed challenge (i.e., stressor), you exert what is called ‘top-down control’ over deeper brain centers that regulate reflexive states. This top-down control process involves your prefrontal cortex – an area of your brain involved in planning and suppressing impulsivity. That ‘top-down’ control is the basis of what people refer to when they talk about “resilience and grit.” Importantly, it is a skill that carries over to situations outside of the deliberate cold environment, allowing you to cope better and maintain a calm, clear mind when confronted with real-world stressors. In other words, deliberate cold exposure is great training for the mind. Enhancing Your Mood While not true of every stress, cold exposure causes the prolonged release of dopamine. Dopamine is a powerful molecule capable of elevating mood, enhancing focus, attention, goal-directed behavior, etc. Even short bouts of cold exposure can cause a lasting increase in dopamine and sustained elevation of mood, energy, and focus. Metabolism In the short-term, cold exposure increases metabolism as the body has to burn calories to increase core body temperature. The total calories burned from the cold exposure are not that significant. However, the conversion of white fat (energy storage) to beige or brown fat (which are highly metabolically active) can be beneficial for:
Of course, calories on (consumed) versus calories out (metabolized) or “CICO” governs whether you gain, lose, or maintain weight. There is no escaping the laws of thermodynamics. A Solid Basic, Science-Supported Protocol Consider doing deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week TOTAL. NOT per session, but rather, 2-4 sessions lasting 1-5 mins each distributed across the week. Again, the water temperature should be uncomfortably cold yet safe to stay in for a few minutes. You can do more, but this should be the minimum to achieve the benefits of cold exposure. You can do very cold, very brief exposures for adrenaline release too, but the 11 minutes is based on a recent study that explored a range of effects and is a good solid, basic protocol for ongoing use. The “Counting Walls” Approach Undoubtedly, during (or before) cold exposure, you will find your mind pushing back against the challenge. Your mind will say, “I really don’t want to do this,” even before getting in, or “Get me out of here.” You can imagine those mental barriers as ‘walls.’ Those walls are, in fact, the effects of adrenaline pulses in your brain and body, which in this case is what triggers the eventual adaptive response. After all, if it were easy, then there is no stimulus for your body to change (adapt). By maintaining top-down control of your reflexive urge to exit the cold environment, you will have successfully traversed that wall. Challenge yourself by counting walls and setting a goal of “walls” to traverse (e.g., 3-5 walls) during the round of cold exposure. You can also go for time. Up to you. The advantage of the walls approach is that it carries over to other scenarios more seamlessly, as most of life’s stressors don’t lend themselves so well to merely timing the duration until it passes. It also enhances your sense of mind-body connection to do it this way. Shivering and The Søeberg PrincipleThe Søeberg Principle based on deliberate cold researcher Dr. Susanna Søeberg is: To enhance the metabolic effects of cold, force your body to reheat on its own. Or “End With Cold.” Also, allowing your body to shiver may enhance metabolic increases from cold. Shivering causes the release of succinate from muscles and further activates brown fat thermogenesis. Try this protocol to increase shivering, either during or immediately after cold exposure: Don’t huddle or cross your arms while in the cold or after getting out. Also, don’t towel off. Let your body reheat and dry off naturally. Admittedly, this is tough. Unless doing deliberate cold exposure on a hot sunny day, admittedly, I prefer to take a hot shower and towel dry after cold exposure, but I am no doubt limiting the metabolic effect by doing that. Physical Recovery A meta-analysis of cold-water immersion effects on recovery found that cold exposure can be a highly effective recovery tool after high-intensity exercise or endurance training. Short interval (< 5 mins), cold water immersion demonstrated positive outcomes for muscle power, perceived recovery, and decreased muscle soreness (in part due to a reduction in circulating creatine kinases). The problem is that cold water immersion (but not cold showers) can limit some of the gains in hypertrophy, strength or endurance if done in the 4 hours or so after training. It’s better to wait 6 to 8 or more hours until after training, or do it before training UNLESS your goal is simply to recover without adaptation (for instance, when in a competition mode and not trying to get better, stronger, etc.) Day or night? After cold exposure, your body heats up. Yes, HEATS up. Body temperature increases tend to wake us up, whereas body temperature decreases tend to shift us toward sleepy states. Thus, I suggest using deliberate cold early in the day and not too close to bedtime. Sometimes it’s better to do it late than never, but not if it perturbs your sleep. If deliberate cold affects your sleep, try doing it earlier in the day, or not at all. Increasing the Resilience-Enhancing Effects of Deliberate Cold Exposure Staying completely still while in cold water allows a thermal layer to surround your body, ‘insulating’ you from the cold. To be most effective as a resilience training tool, move your limbs while keeping your hands and feet in the water. That will break up the thermal layer and you will experience the water as (much) colder than if you stayed still. This is also a good way to increase the potency of a cold stimulus without having to make the water colder. This is akin to slowing down the movement of a weight lift to reduce momentum and provide more tension on the working muscles. Thank you for your interest! Coach Kayli I will answer all questions! Please feel free to drop them in the comments or email me directly @ kaylimontoyafitness@gmail.com Disclaimer: KM Fitness is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast is at the user’s own risk. The content of this podcast, blog and website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions. |
AuthorKayli is a certified personal trainer and online coach that specializes in fitness, wellness, nutrition, mindset, mobility and everything in between. Archives
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