Life is Not a Race… It is a Journey since 2013 for me!
My life has transformed since March 2013… my life has changed as I knew it.
Everyday someone would ask me “when is your next race?”…. now it is “when is your next trip?”
Once upon a time I was a competitive age group triathlete, runner and cyclist.
- I was fueling, training and performing as a metabolically efficiency low carb athlete.
- I was a fat burning machine.
- I was avoiding inflammatory foods including sugar.
- I was doing morning fasted workouts.
- I as training by heart rate and using MAF plus speed/tempo work as per my training schedule.
- I was doing everything I was thought was right to improve my fat metabolism, optimizing my health and reach peak performance gains.
My athletic performance was my focus and motivation but also to feel good and look my best as well!
BUT -no one every told me what I was doing to myself was going to catch up some day…
I was LIVING LIFE AS A RACE!
Chronic stress accumulates and comes from various sources. Your “stress filter” doesn’t have different categories… all of the non-stop chronic sources of on-going sources of stress from the outside and inside accumulate into one funnel – your “HPA Axis”.
I learned the hard way… MORE IS NOT BETTER. Less is sometimes more. You need to discover your own tolerance to stress and identify your ongoing CHRONIC Stressors. Everyone is unique!
I am an educated and experienced certified personal trainer, triathlon/run coach, metabolic efficiency coach, health coach and even more certifications recently ….but I didn’t “see” or “feel” the red flags that were accumulating in my body probably starting back in 2010 (or earlier when I started racing Ironman in 2001) when I opened up my own fitness studio and started doing “everything” as a small business owner does – on top of a packed coaching and training schedule.
Now my mission is to help other “addicted to more” philosophy, as I created long term dysfunction in my body by creating “METABOLIC CHAOS®” damage at a cellular level. My stressful job, teaching schedule, training schedule, reaction to life and … probably fasting too much and eating too little carbs may have dug me into deeper whole.
I have always called finding the right amount of “GOOD” stress “The GOLDILOCKS Effect”… not too much, not too little…just find the right amount to create a positive, beneficial response.
How do you know if what you are doing is causing additional stress?
When is your attempt to make you healthier actually causing more damage?
Well… I found from my experience and journey brought me to become a health detective coach- to help similar to my own story to investigate their own unique “METABOLIC CHAOS” puzzle. My mission is to help others find their missing pieces of the puzzle to restore their WHOLE health from the inside out -starting at a cellular level using Nutritional Therapy and the FDN investigative process.
I also started to be curious about the role of mitochondria to help our improve our fat loss, athletic performance and longevity.
Chronic stress leads to many H.I.D.D.E.N. imbalances in our body – including blood sugar dysregulation and mitochondrial dysfunction.
How do you know?
You don’t know unless you clinically correlate well-chosen functional lab testing with your individual history, genetics and other clues of imbalances.
- Don’t be stuck in the “cycle of trial and error”.
- Stop thinking that this is the “new you” and your new “normal”.
- You don’t need to blame the “aging process”.
The struggle is REAL and you can restore the WHOLE you from the inside out with the right steps, guidance and tools.
Learn from my mistakes… you can’t treat the lab results and except results as well as you can’t out supplement poor lifestyle habits.
You may be eating keto, low-carb/high-fat or carnivore – but do you feel good, energized, full, satisfied and happy for hours after you eat?
You are an individual so make sure you pay attention to your symptoms and response to food – look into www.mtdiet.com and functional labs as well as a food sensitivity labs as the MRT lab.
As we learned as well in Nutritional Therapy Practitioner program, digestion and nutrient absorption is fundamental to optimal health. No matter how many main health concerns or complaints are connected to the digestive system, blood sugar dysregulation, HPA axis dysfunction, essential fatty acid balance, mineral balance, detoxification, hormone balance and immune function … we always work North to South.
As a certified Nutritional Therapy practitioner, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner- and in my “The WHOLESTIC Method” coaching program, we always work on digestion and absorption. It isn’t just what we are eating but also when we are eating, where we are eating and how we are eating! Is our digestive system turned off or on? How fast are we eating? Are we chewing our food? Is our stomach acid and digestive enzymes being released on time to help in nutrient breakdown and absorption?
When you are eating a meal and starting to eat a snack… as yourself:
- What are you eating?
- How are you eating?
- When are you eating?
- Why are you eating?
Most individuals are constantly stressed and eating when stressed – or “Sympathetic Dominance” which impacts our digestive processes and our gut health.
Optimizing our intestinal health is key for reaching and maintaining optimal health as we age up. Chronic stress impacts our digestion and our gut health which is also connected to “METABOLIC CHAOS”!
- Digestion and absorption are so fundamental to balanced metabolism that every physiological process is ultimately dependent upon proper digestive function and assimilation of real food product
- Digestive malfunction can be either a basic result of, or contributor to Metabolic Chaos®, variety of disorders…
- Some of which may have seemingly little or no obvious correlation to intestinal physiology – in other words, the symptoms appear far, far removed from the actual cause
- Intestinal microflora screening can identify parasitic and pathogenic involvement and blocking of proper gastrointestinal function
- More than identifying a particular bug, additional insights can be gathered from GI Pathogen Screening
- Insights that contribute to overall assessment of the client’s immune system, toxicity, digestive function
- Solidify your impression of what the client needs to do to return to health, guide healing process
- Pathogens are obvious contributors to adrenal dysfunction, maldigestion, malabsorption, toxicity, detoxification issues, elimination and mucosal barrier problems
- Objective is to reduce and eliminate cortisol dysregulation factors contributing to Metabolic Chaos® – bugs are a big part of it!
- Correct metabolic inefficiencies and restore balance & normal function, especially
- within the Hormone, Immune, Digestion, Detoxification, Energy Production and Nervous Systems
- Infections/Infestations just one of the most common sources of clinical/subclinical stress—H.I.D.D.E.N. stress!
- Can go undetected for many years
- Keeps body in state of chronic stress; the longer the chronic stress, the more certain the progression through the Stages of Disorder
- Obvious source of HPA Axis dysfunction, maldigestion and malabsorption, toxicity, detoxification, elimination and mucosal barrier problems
- Because pathogens are significant contributors to Metabolic Chaos® and therefore limit results in any health program, must be identified and eliminated or suppressed
We do not treat the test results but put all the information, assessments and lab testing into a protocol to help the client with a specific detailed plan designed for their needs, concerns and goals only.
Ideally, over time with the right commitment, the client’s main health concerns or complaints will improve as they transform through “The WHOLESTIC Method” total transformation coaching program.
The goal should be to improve function and health for the client but to do this takes work and patience. In the FDN-Practitioner Program, we use the “D.R.E.S.S. for Health Success” program, or their blueprint, to help the client transition into the their total transformation program and we work together to adjust and make corrections along the new healing journey!
The client just needs to commit to staying with the program and to stay on course as we adjust and adapt along the way with retesting and re-evaluation periodically to re-confirm we are following the correct protocol for that individual as we are all unique and there is NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL approach.
Our constant addiction to busyness and living life as a race catches up to us! Chronic stress leads to a domino effect of dysfunction to our body systems as you can read from my personal experience in my book LIFE IS NOT A RACE (on Amazon).
Healing from “chronic stress disease” (my term!) takes time as we need to remove all of the internal and external stressors to bring the body back to optimal balance (homeostasis)… and we can never stop seeking underlying causes of dysfunction. If you are like me (Type A personality), we always need to be aware of our triggers and red flags as it is so easy to take one step forward and two steps back from feeling vivacious again.
Please don’t blame the aging process- and think this new tired, overweight and depressed you is your “new normal”. You can feel amazing, energetic and happy again… just try my coaching program and we can restore your vitality but you have to be ready to make the investment (financial, time and energy) into healing the WHOLE you from the inside out.
Let me know if you need more information. If you are struggling to burn fat, regain energy and gain peak performance in daily life then you need to talk to me.
Trust me.
The struggle is real … and it is not “normal” to feel this way at any age!
Warning … there is no guarantee of results as we (coaches) do not control the outcome.
Sign up for coaching with reasonable expectations and understand healing takes time.
The WHOLESTIC Method Coach,
Debbie Potts