Taking care of the WHOLE you this holiday season!
As a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, USAT Triathlon coach, CHEK Health Coach, KION coach and personal trainer (as well as an endurance athlete/triathlete for many years), I have learned about the importance of training the WHOLE athlete for performance with more than just exercise and nutrition. Our stress, sleep, movement, digestion, gut health and for sure HAPPINESS are essential elements to improving performance in our favorite sports but also for daily life. I want to train and race for triathlons again, but not stress my body out so much that my body systems are in a state of chaos. I want to improve the aging process at a cellular damage which is another major motivator to train the WHOLE you for endurance sports from the inside out. I just wanted to share a few major focus areas for you to make a priority this holiday season including our GUT HEALTH.
Let’s start talking briefly about the importance of our gut-brain connection. You may have heard lately that our gut is our second brain! Research (learn more on www.restore4life.com and www.microbiomelabs.com) is finding that around 90% of the neurotransmitter serotonin that helps the brain function and more than 50% of neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain are made in the GUT not the brain. Our gut health, or rather our microbiome, needs attention. Did you know that 70% of our immune system is in our gut? We need to send the right messages up to the brain including fuel, recovery, repair and rest.
Think of your gut-brain connection to how your computer works. The keyboard and the mouse on your computer give the messages to the computer chip. Our second brain, our gut, sends about seven messages back to our brain for every message it sends to our gut. In order for our brain to thrive depends on the gut health. The brain isn’t the main operating system- it is the nervous system sending the brain feedback and messages from the peripheral nervous system which mostly lies in our gut wall lining. 
In order to improve our brain health… we need to improve our gut health. In order to improve our gut health… we need to improve our response to stress and our stressors (internal and external). Do you have trouble focusing? Feeling depressed? Anxious? Memory issues? Hormone imbalance? Fatigue and mood swings? We need to take care of the WHOLE athlete from the inside out to optimize our health, age gracefully and to improve performance in our endurance sports. Especially during the busy, and often stressful holiday season. Too much daily busy-ness and over doing life will catch up with you as it did to me (read more about it in my book on Amazon- LIFE IS NOT A RACE: Learn WHY to Pace the WHOLE you with The WHOLESTIC Method).
The stress and repair response are essential areas to take care of the WHOLE you especially as we get too busy and pack too much into each day. When our brain (hypothalamus) senses stress, a threat or an emergency, the “Emergency Response Team” reacts by speeding up the heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar so we can respond to the threat. When stress is on- all other main body functions are put on hold – our immune system is depressed, our digestion is put on hold (learn about PNS vs. SNS nervous system), our blood sugar is increased (even if eating low-carb, high-fat food plan).
We want to manage our stress, so we feel happy, relaxed and enjoying life each day rather than feeling like a hectic stressful day that you are irritable, grumpy, impatient, moody and depressed. Happiness is a choice and when we are happy people – we are not usually grumpy stressed out at the same time.
This is why I created THE WHOLESTIC METHOD program – to help individuals learn how to take care of the WHOLE self from the inside out to improve performance. As you are training for an early season triathlon, as Lavaman this March, make sure you are taking time out each day to slow down, reset and recalibrate. You will have more productive training sessions and be ready on race day. Learn more about the eight elements of training the WHOLE you in my manual and workbook on Amazon “The WHOLESTIC Method” by Debbie Potts. Find your pathway back to health with The WHOLESTIC Method. Until then, here are a few tips to follow during this busy holiday season so you don’t feel that you are living your life as a race each day!
Tis the season to be jolly… what can you do to smile, laugh and be silly more often?
Here are some of my favorite tricks or “lifestyle hacks” to reduce my stressors:
- Schedule time with friends who make me laugh!
- Go for afternoon walks (best between 10-2pm) for sunlight (helps with stress but also our natural circadian rhythm and vitamin D)
- Treat your gut with love and kindness: probiotics, bone broth, glutamine, collagen and fermented foods to support the gut wall lining.
- Avoid high sugar foods, processed foods and inflammatory foods as refined sugars, gluten grains, soy, peanuts, corn and
- Limit time on computer, emails, social media and texts. Take time to unplug and disconnect.
- Improve your sleep: 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night. Make sure off blue light screens before bed as well as stop eating around 7pm. Take a 20-minute afternoon nap as needed!
- Try intermittent fasting (12-16 hours) overnight and avoid snacking or grazing.
- Limit alcohol intake and switch to sparkling mineral water instead (lemon, lime, mint or cucumber taste good for a mocktail!). Make sure when you do drink alcohol to eat protein and fat with it.
- Improve your heart rate variability (I use sweetbeatlife app) by strengthening your vagal nerve by singing, deep nasal and belly breathing, acupuncture, meditation, cold exposure (hot/cold shower intervals or cold thermogenesis), and massage.
- Avoid excessive exercise as it causes stress. Less is more as you train for your triathlon. More is not better. Save harder workouts for afternoon (3-7pm) three hours before bedtime or more. Wake up with easy workouts.
- Don’t forget about active recovery days including morning walks (nasal breathing), easy yoga and mobility drills, infrared sauna therapy, cold showers, foam roller and movement drills.
Learn more on my weekly podcast called THE WHOLE TRI-ATHLETE on iTunes or other podcast apps.
For more information or a consultation head to www.debbiepotts.net
Learn more about Debbie Potts here for her coaching programs, books, blog and podcast: Sign up for her next 5-day Detox Jumpstart Challenge or take her 30-day Total Transformation Program designed for you!
Social Media and Links:
- https://www.facebook.com/thewholeathletepodcast
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/thewholesticmethod/
- https://www.instagram.com/thewholesticathlete
- Life is Not a Race…It is a Journey: Learn how to pace the WHOLE you with The WHOLESTIC Method by Debbie Potts via Link: http://a.co/iiPfjWa
- The WHOLESTIC Method: Manual & Workbook: Transform the WHOLE you from the Inside Out by Debbie Potts via Link: http://a.co/2Z6nGVC
- www.thewholeathletepodcast.com
