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Leslie Camacho, ​Adrenal Fatigue Protocol
Side-Effects: Weight Loss, Better Mood, Better Focus.
Les is More: (Too cute, I know, but memorable) More is More: Details Tipping Points:​ In biology, the scales often do not tip until the last deciding factor has been removed (or replaced). If you’ve stepped on two tacks, removing only one will not reduce your pain by 50%. Biology is not linear. Latency: ​Long­latency diseases require long­latency solutions. “A long obedience in the same direction”­­Nietzsche. If you didn’t get sick overnight, you are unlikely to get well overnight. Pace: ​All or nothing, invariably leads to nothing. (I realize this appears to contradict the concept of ​Tipping Points​, but actually it doesn’t. When we try to find the balance point on a scale, we do not remove everything at once. Instead, we add and subtract things in measured fashion with ​faith​ that we will reach the tipping point or balance point eventually.) *** Hydration: Free Water ● Drink half your bodyweight in ounces daily. Filtered. Food: ● Modified Sugar Handling Diet with ​Whole­Kernel​ Grains. ○ No refined carbs (to reduce inflammatory stress, reactive high­low blood sugars, incessant adrenal firing and cortisol swings). ● Eat carbs according to glycemic load (Low >>Moderate >>High). ○ Carbs: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. ○ Tim Ferriss: “Slow Carbs”. ○ It’s not about getting a carbohydrate divorce; it’s about changing your carbohydrate source. ● Chew your food 30 times. Relax. Allow for ​real​ digestion. Don’t multitask. Stress is incompatible with good digestion. ○ Digestion is an exclusive neurologic response. It waits for safety cues from you, before it commences. Are you in danger? If so, digestion can wait. That’s why it’s also known as the Feed & Breed Response, Rest & Digest Response, or Parasympathetic Response. It will not work at gun point. It will not work under the thumb of The Fight or Flight response, or Stress Response, or Sympathetic Response. The stress response keeps digestion to a bare minimum so you can run for cover with enough blood in your limbs, instead of in your gut. ○ Try this: Meditate 5 min before meals and then make the meal itself a meditation, thoroughly enjoying the smells, textures, flavors, etc. When eating food, just eat food. Let go of battles and problem solving. Your body needs to get the message that you are safe. Movement: ● Movement for Mood:​ AM Cardio 6 days/week. Build up to intensity/intervals. See ​Spark​, by John Ratey​. ● Movement for Cortisol/Cognition:​ Consider ​evening​ ​Yoga or Tai Chi ​in addition to lower PM ​cortisol​. Think of cortisol as the “Big Belly, Small Brain Hormone.” Sleep: ● Give yourself permission to sleep ● 8 hrs/night ideally ● Sleep Hygiene ○ No screens after ____PM ○ Screen attenuators are fine, but they miss the point: It’s what you do with your head, not with the hue of your screen, in the last two hours of the day that keeps you from falling asleep. ○ Replace the contents of your consciousness with something completely unrelated to ​any kind ​of problem solving. The problem­solving mind is like a dog with a bone. It won’t stop gnawing the bone, until the bone is taken away. And replaced with something softer. ○ Try listening to a wonderful ​fiction​ audiobook with your wife for an hour and then going ​directly​ to bed. (Have everything else done first, ​teeth brushed, stuff laid out for next day, etc​). Snuggle while you listen; the animal warmth and sense of safety will help you wind down. Stress: ● Meditation: Press ​Mute​ on the fight or flight response for 20 minutes daily. ○ Four sessions of 5 min., ​or ○ Two sessions of 10 min, ​or ○ One session of 20 min. ○ Calm​ and ​Headspace​ are good apps to get you started. I use Calm, paid subscription content. My favorite guided meditations are: Gratitude, Creativity, Focus, Forgiveness, and Self­Acceptance. ­ Three of my personal health affirmations: ■ I eat fresh, whole, nutrient­dense foods in harmony with my nature. ■ I eat what I can digest, assimilate, and eliminate without immune burden. ■ I cultivate engaged non­attachment. ● Detoxification from Stress: ○ Physiologic stressors:​ Caffeine | Chemicals | Food Sensitivities ○ Taper down caffeine; see ​caffeineinformer.com​ for benefits and strategies. ■ Caffeine masks hypoglycemia ​by stimulating the hell out of your adrenals​ to help you compensate for feelings of low energy. The adrenals then tell the liver to make a bunch of emergency sugar to keep you going (gluconeogenesis). This creates a situation of hyperfocus (intended effect) which often leads to missed or delayed meals (unintended effect) which further stresses the adrenals to keep the gluconeogenesis surge going. Much of the fuel for gluconeogenesis is amino acids, which are harvested from your muscles! (Say good­bye to lean mass and hello to a lower Resting Metabolic Rate. Cry, Cry, Cry). ■ So, a craving for caffeine is often a hunger for real food, hunger that gets thwarted and turned into metabolic stress. ○ Psychologic stressors:​ Toxic Thoughts ­ ​Productivity as Self­Worth & Exhaustion as Status Symbol​. ​Brene Brown, ​The Gifts of Imperfection​. ● Coffee Alternative: Dr. Wagner’s Unicorn Fuel ○ 1 C boiling water ○ 1 TBSP coconut oil ○ 1 heaping tsp maca (I’m using Gaia Maca Boost right now) ○ 2 heaping tsp raw cacao powder ○ ½ tsp matcha green tea (more if you need it) ○ ½ tsp Saigon Cinnamon (Vietnamese Cinnamon) ○ Pinch of salt ○ Few drops stevia (optional) ○ Blend on high x 30 seconds; serve immediately. ● Also try Ginger­Lime Apple­Cider Vinegar Water with a pinch of salt. ○ Apple Cider Vinegar may help with protein digestion, which is impaired by stress. Better protein digestion = more building blocks for neurotransmitters = more focus, less depression. ○ Apple Cider Vinegar prolongs satiety and may help with weight loss, probably because it contains ​Malate or Malic acid, ​which bypasses the need for glucose (sugar). ○ Malate supplies energy directly to the Citric Acid Cycle (Krebs cycle; energy cycle) in the Mitochondria: So, you get quick energy ​without needing insulin ​or sugar. ​Insulin is a fat storage hormone​. ○ Salt supports aldosterone levels, which may be low in adrenal fatigue. If you habitually feel light­headed when you stand up quickly from lying down, then your aldosterone levels are probably low, or you are chronically dehydrated. ● Chewing gum while working may blunt stress response ● Continue Adaptogens with B vitamins. Connectedness: ● Love​ ­ Keep doing what you’re doing with Relationships ● Gratitude​ ­ Continue 5­min Journal ○ Consider guided meditations on ​self­acceptance, gratitude, ect. ● Service​ ­ Keep doing this Podcast ● Pleasure​ ­ Break for enjoyment daily (try to get outdoors; stimulate other senses). ○ Take a bath? Functional Foods for Fatigue: ● Sea Salt ­ if light headed (low aldosterone) ● Sea Veggies ­ for iodine and thyroid support ●
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Maca ­ for energy, libido Apple Cider Vinegar ­ for energy: malate, citric acid cycle support. Brazil Nuts ­ selenium for thyroid support Whole­Kernel Grains. “Slow carbs” for sustained energy. Examples: Quinoa Pilaf with Mirepoix ● Soaked or Sprouted Quinoa ● Grass­Fed Butter ● Olive Oil ● Fresh Thyme ● Sea Salt (Rosemary sea salt if you can find it) ● Mirepoix: classic french braised onions, carrots, and celery (2 parts onion to 1 part carrots to 1 part celery, finely diced and sauted in butter till soft). ○ Make the Mirepoix first, then add the fresh thyme and quinoa. Simmer and serve. Variation: Chanterelles and Marsala wine ● Mirepoix (as above) ● Cooking Fat: butter and/or olive oil ● Soaked White Quinoa ● Soaked Black Rice (Forbidden Rice) ● Marsala Wine ● Dried Chanterelles, crushed ● Sea Salt (Truffle salt if not using butter) ● Fresh Ground Black Pepper *Janine also makes a killer Buckwheat granola. I can get you the recipe. Cultural Narratives and Limiting Beliefs. ● In my own journey towards better health, I found I had some curious assumptions about food. Assumptions, it turns out, that were handed to me by culture, and were somewhat sexist. ● These assumptions boiled down to two contradictory beliefs: 1) I should enjoy my food. 2) I should get my meal over with as soon as possible­­because food is just fuel and I have better things to do. ● Can you think of a better mental map to justify fast food, easy carbs, snack foods, and mindless eating? Very convenient for industrial food giants. Very inconvenient for my body­­and just as inconvenient for any real enjoyment of my food. ● Men aren’t sure whether they are supposed to gobble their food as fuel and think about it as little as possible, or if they are supposed to eat their food slowly, with spine­tingling enjoyment, to experience it as life­changing nourishment and connection. The latter seems attractive, but far too effete, too ​French​, to be anything an American male could or should enjoy, at least during the workweek. ● The tragedy of the American commons is that, for men in particular, our unexamined beliefs about who the real men are (the lean, mean, fast, successful, on­the­go, better­things­to­do people), lends itself to a food culture where men are encouraged to spend most of their time eating neither what they want, nor what they would really enjoy or need. Above all, it leads to an unexamined life around food. How often do men even ​ask​ themselves what they want or need or enjoy? Food is just fuel. And men are just productive. That’s the narrative. “If I can just wolf down this foil­wrapped whatchamacallit and keep driving, texting, talking on the phone, writing, thinking, planning­­gawd, if I can just get this thing over with­­then I can get back to feeling like a thoroughly modern and successful man.” ● We tell ourselves this is what we want. Or we don’t think about it at all. Nutrition suffers. Sanity suffers. Health suffers. Women suffer. Fast Forward 6 weeks: “I did all this and I’m still stuck”: ● At this point I would recommend lab testing to isolate the sticking point. ○ Food Allergy Testing ~ $400.00 ○ Diurnal Salivary Cortisol/DHEA ~ $120.00 ○ Genetic Testing to look at fundamental assets and liabilities in genes that control neurotransmitter production & breakdown, energy, and detoxification. ~ $120 (more motivational than directive). Other Resources: ● Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome​, by James Wilson ○ Very readable and practical. ● Dr. Wagner’s Sleep Tips PDF (​link by invitation​)