Adrenal Health

Adrenal Health, Coaching, Education

I can’t find any of my ducks

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I have a lot on my plate. Who doesn’t? At the beginning of this year I threw down some big personally goals, most of those dealing with more emotional intelligence sprinkled with a ton of soul healing sprinkles.

So I’m trying to get my ducks in a row enough to minimize the cray cray that my people around need need to deal with and helpfully for me to be able to have enough clear discernment to do this reasonable well. Not too much to ask right!?!?!

Well … I have some pretty decent sized soft spots that I’m wanting/asking/need to work on. Blah blah blah. You know the places in the soul that go with childhood trauma and drama, relationships that turned out to be like crashing airplanes and … blah blah blah. So I’m focusing on rounding up and herding these ducks.

I’m a good enough duck.

I’m a safe duck.

I can do EPCI SHIT duck.

Not all the ducks in my space are MY DUCKS and I don’t need to let them jerk my ducks around.

This duck herding business tho, it’s been pretty intense because what I’m finding out is that … I’m needing to learn how to deal with other peoples ducks. Like some people just let their darn ducks get into my pasture and mislead, confused and another wise brain wash my my ducks. And off they go. Or … I have these ducks in my pasture that aren’t my ducks and I adopt them. Like I have time and energy for that.

It just gets so confusing. Historically I have talking/vented/blah blah blah with my person on this stuff. And while that is good. I would like to develop a better habit of dealing with the duck cluster thing. Who’s ducks are whose. And which duck do I need to herd first.

Meditation. Yep. I haven’t been doing enough and I need to but honestly … I need something a little more concrete and tangible right now.

So Becky and I were chatting, I need to write the ducks down. And this is the ONE time that auto correct gets it right. From fuck to duck. Prefect! Hahahahaha.

🤭🤗🤣🤣🤣👊🏻

So in my journal where I keep all things that I want to manifest the heck out of, aka the super women journal that enables me to do EPIC SHIT … I’m going to work on a section labeled “Ducks”. I am already in love with the idea, as me and my 5 other personalities can write stuff down, work through it and everyone can contribute words to help work through things. AND I can practice …

FAITH

PATIENCE

WISDOM

… In dealing with the duck that has gotten itself too far away from the herd. Or whatever a group of ducks is. I really love this idea as I struggle with not dealing with something, that makes me feel bad, not let a problem go. Like I’m not standing up for my feelings, values and what not. But also I like this idea because I LOVE LOVE LOVE when i manage to let magic come into the picture and take care of STUFF for me. BOOM. And this magic journal that I have. This is the place for it to happen.

🌸Personal growth. Being brave. Honest. Persistency moving forward. Adapting. 💫

🔥🔥🔥Adjusting Fire🔥🔥🔥

❤️Hopefully with less road rash for myself and those special people around me that matter most.❤️

Adrenal Health, Diet, Eating, Education

Geeky Inflammation Info: SPMs

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Inflammation is an underlying cause of chronic disease, we now also know that if left unaddressed, inflammation cannot resolve itself and progression of chronic disease may in fact be accelerated. Recent studies have revealed when patients are deficient in their ability to resolve inflammation, there is a progression in chronic disease states – this deficiency has been described in an increasing number of chronic disease states including obesity or metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, mild cognitive impairment, compromised digestive function (e.g., IBS, IBD, SIBO etc.), certain autoimmune conditions, Lyme disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthritis (rheumatoid and osteoarthritic), and a variety of other chronic conditions often complicated by chronic pain.  Read more at Metagenics Institute

FACT: Inflammation is an immune response to insults such as injuries (e.g., cuts and wounds), infections (e.g., bacterial, viral or fungal), or unhealthy dietary patterns. Although an inflammatory response is an essential, protective response, it can give rise to chronic inflammation if left unresolved.

FACT: The Body makes SPMs during the inflammation process: During the resolution phase of an inflammatory response, SPMs are biosynthesized (through multiple steps of enzymatic reactions) from long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and especially omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.2,3 SPMs themselves are structurally different from omega-3 fatty acids.

FACT: SPMs do not inhibit the initiation phase of inflammation. Rather, SPMs help facilitate the clearance of inflammatory components and thus resolve the inflammatory response.

SPMs limit the immune response.

Adrenal Health, Coaching, Education

Stress and Your Gut Health

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The Anatomy of Stress

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, once said, “Between stimulus and thought, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.”

It has been shown that stress creates more wear and tear on the body when
associated with negative thoughts, or if we don’t think we’re coping well with it.
Reframing your stress can build your mental and physical resilience to the
challenges in your life.

STRESS DOES THE FOLLOWING!!!!

1. Stress results in less secretion of digestive enzymes, causing the pH of the stomach to not be as low as what is optimal for good digestion.

2. Stress causes oxygen and blood are diverted from digestion to the brain and muscles/etc instead.

3. Allostatic load: the wear and tear on the body due to the physiological responses that accumulate with chronic stress.

What is STRESS??? Stress is any type of physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes tension in the body. This tension causes chemical, physical or behavioral changes. Stress, or the fight or flight response, is an evolutionary mechanism for survival of the species. It is innate to us, usually on autopilot, and very much needed. However, our lifestyle and society, has caused this system to get overworked and undertaken care of.

  • WORK stress, meetings, unhappiness on the job, constant deadlines, conflict
  • Exercise is stress. Endurance training is a lot of physical stress.
  • Heat and dealing with heat is stress.
  • Mental Stress: relationship, trauma, responsibilities, conflict
  • Physical stress: Intense workouts, childbirth, illness, injury, lack of sleep, food intolerances, toxins, pollutants
  • Stress can be “real” or “perceived”
  • Stress is meant to be a short term solution to take care of an immediate need
  • Acute stress: short term stress. Normal. Perhaps what you feel right before a race. It gets you “READY”. Causes the body to preform on an elevated and focused level. Enhance performance by helping you to “keep your eye on the prize”.
  • Chronic stress: long term stress. Not normal or beneficial. Like caring for a dying parent.

Sympathetic Nervous System: Gas of the car

  • “fight or flight”
  • slows the movement of food, prepares for action
  • kick into gear, more energy

Parasympathetic Nervous System: Brakes of the car

  • “rest and digest”
  • controls digestion, sexual arousal, salivation, urination, and defecation
  • conserves energy for survival activities

Hypothalamus gland in the brain tells the pituitary to turn on certain hormones in the adrenal glands, such as cortisol. This activates the sympathetic nervous system. This increases your heart rate, increases the blood flow to muscles and the brain and affects your blood sugar. Blood sugar rises to provide fuel, providing glucose to be super available in the blood stream, via the liver breaking down sugar instead of sending bile to the gall bladder. Norepinephrine is also released. This hormone works to increase blood pressure, along with epinephrine. The adrenal glands make adrenaline. The body then prioritizes whats going on in the body. Smooth muscles contract, including the intestines. Blood is diverted from the blood vessels the the muscles and the brain. So you are able to have mental sharpness and do a quick escape. Not getting eaten by the tiger. Blood and digestive enzymes will decrease, as they aren’t a priority at the moment.

After the initial “surge” from stress, if the stressor is still present the body then activates the HPA axis. Hypothalamus, Pituitary Adrenal axis. This hormonal system works to keep the body in a state to be able to continue to deal with the stressor by release other hormones, CRH, ACTH and cortisol.

These hormones, over time will ...

  • Increased belly fat: Cortisol. Visceral ab fat. Dangerous fat. Cytokyes, causes inflammation. Heart disease, vascular disease, depression, dementia and poor blood sugar management, low muscle tone, increased appetite.
  • Food intolerances/food allergies: Chemicals during stress the body releases chemicals such as Histamines which will intensify allergies.
  • Leaky gut: Mucosal barrier takes a hit during stress. Inflammation breaks down the barrier. Then a lot bunch of bad things happens. Absorption issues, blood flow is diverted away intestines . Allergies. Hormonal imbalances.
  • Elevated blood sugar: Cortisol prevents insulin, which puts glucose into cells. Too much sugar in the blood. Insulin resistance. Plus the sugar molecule is large. And hurts the endothelial lining.
  • Increased inflammation: anxiety, depression. This becomes a run away train.
  • An altered microbiome: Affects diversity of health bacteria. Diversity is part of health and wellness.
  • Increased risk for GERD, acid reflux, indigestion, and ulcers: Protective lipids affected, which protects the precious mucosal gut lining
  • Aggravated IBS symptoms: More sensitive to pain. In the gut.
  • Increased risk for SIBO: Movement affected out. So bad bacteria isn’t “swept out”.
  • Lowered immunity: Cortisol suppresses the immune function.

Also. New stress points are “recollaborated” or set. So … you’ve gotten use to being under chronic stress. So more hormones are needed to get that sharp response that is needed at times. This can lead to times when you notice you don’t “respond” quickly to things that you know you should. Like … an issue in traffic or when your kid runs out in traffic and you are “stuck in place”.

REFRAME STRESS ACTIVITY

  • Event: My top employee quit.
  • Stress Story: I may lose my job. He never liked me anyway. My numbers are going to go down, and it will take forever to find someone new. Emotion/Response: Fear New
  • New Stress Story: I’ll find another employee – one who’s a good fit and happy to fill the current role. Emotion/Response: Hopeful

Adrenal Health, Education

Endocrine Hormonal System 101 The Glands

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Endocrine System: very complex system that affects every other system in the body. This system is comprised of many glands which work together.

Webster says the endocrine system is the collection of endocrine glands that produce hormones that are used as chemical messengers throughout the body to help regulate vital processes including metabolism, growth, sleep, and reproduction.

Think: POST OFFICE. Mailman. Delivers important information where it’s suppose to.

Also think: DANCE. Between the hormones produced by the endocrine glands AND the receptor cells in the target organs. (lock and key)

Receptor cells are very sensitive and response to even the tiniest amount of hormone. The receptor cell then triggers a response/action/job/etc.

https://youtu.be/M2PWMI6CwbE
Endocrine System 101 The Glands

ENDOCRINE SYSTEM TEAM MEMBERS

  • Pituitary Gland: Master gland. produces hormones that control the other members of the endocrine system. Base of the brain. Works with the hypothalamus. Comes in two parts and produces 8 different hormones. More on that later.
  • Thyroid Gland: Regulate the body’s metabolism, produces energy.
  • Parathyroid Glands: Regulate blood calcium levels. Has an influence on bones, muscle contractions.
  • Thymus Gland: Part of the immune system, between the lungs. Largest before puberty, then stops working
  • Adrenal Glands: Regulates the body’s response to stress, regulates body’s pH, heart rate, blood pressure, energy production, CO2 regulation
  • Pancreas: Digestion, control blood sugar levels throughout the day
  • Ovaries, in women: Sex hormones
  • Testes, in men: Sex hormones
  • Pineal: production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, which starts in the eye.
  • Hypothalamus: link between the nervous system and the endocrine system. Neighbor of the pituitary gland. Gets cues from the nervous system, then produces neurohormones to tell the hypothalamus what hormones to produce to respond and control the body.
    • Example: You are hot. You need to manage sodium, water, etc so your brain doesn’t melt when you are doing that last 13.1 hot run of Muncie 70.3.

Endocrine glands release their hormones directly into the body through the blood stream (diffusion) compared to other glands that release their hormones locally through ducts, which “stay and act” in that local area, such as sweat glands. Endocrine glands can have an impact on any part of the body through diffusion (blood stream).

Adrenal Health, Athlete, Diet

Eat better to sleep better

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WHAT WE EAT MATTERS

We can set yourselves up for a night filled with rest by padding our diet with vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that support serotonin, a brain chemical that contributes to relaxation and sleep.  Additionally, we can consume foods that naturally contain melatonin.  Here is a quick run down of the biggest players in the sleep chemistry world.

  1.  Magnesium:  Almonds, cashews, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, salmon, yogurt
  2. Melatonin:  Bananas, cherries, flaxseeds, orange bell peppers, raspberries
  3. Serotonin:  Bananans, kiwis, pecans, pineapples, plums, tomatoes, walnuts
  4. Omega-3s:  Eggs, flaxseeds, salmon, sardines, trout, walnuts, yogurt
  5. Potassium: Acorn squash, avocados, bananas, salmon, sweet potatos
  6. Tryptophan:  Eggs, spinach, turkey
  7. Vitamin B6:  Avocados, bananas, bulgur, pistachios, salmon, rice, sesame seeds
  8. Vitamin D:  Eggs, mushrooms, salmon, sardines, turkey, yogurt

As you can see, this is a fairly easy list of foods to incorporate into your daily nutrition.  And a big shout out to the green smoothie that I highly recommend.  Info here …. www.bonniekissinger.com/greensmoothie, which contains a good amount of these foods.

Adrenal Health, Diet, Eating, Education

#61 The All Day Energy Diet with Yuri Elkaim

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[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5629708/height/90/width/480/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/” height=”90″ width=”480″]

 

Coach BK and Yuri Elkaim chat about how important nutrition and  health eating is, especially when considering endurance athletes and female health.

Yuri Elkaim is a health and fitness expert, “energy nutritionist”, and author of The All-Day Energy Diet. He wrote this book for himself – he battled for 20 years with crippling health issues, which included extreme fatigue – as well as millions of everyday people for whom low energy is robbing their lives.

Now, serving over 250,000 people on a daily basis via email and with over 15 million Youtube videos watched, Yuri is most famous for helping people enjoy all-day energy and amazing health in a very short period of time without radical diets or gimmicks.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and Health from the University of Toronto and is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. Yuri is also a former pro soccer player and served as the strength & conditioning and nutrition coach at the University of Toronto for 7 years. He’s on a mission to transform the lives of more than 10 million people by 2018. For more visit:

http://www.yurielkaim.com

30 Day Paleo Challenge, Adrenal Health, Athlete, Coaching, Eating

Paleo 30 Day Challenge with Coach BK Lecture 1

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[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/4883519/height/90/width/480/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/” height=”90″ width=”480″]

www-bonniekissinger-com%2fpaleo

Coach BK offers free athlete health assessments, which includes an online form to fill out and a 30 minute rockstar chat on the phone to go over the form results.  Coach BK will provide 3 action steps to help you get to the next level of your training.  START HERE >>> Athlete Health Assessment Form

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Adrenal Health, Coaching, Eating, Education, Triathlon

#45 Metabolic Efficiency Training to Burn more Fat for Fuel

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[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/4817201/height/90/width/480/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/” height=”90″ width=”480″]metabolic-inefficiencyCoach BK and Bob Seehohar, author of the fantastic book, Metabolic Efficiency training chat why it is so important to become more FAT ADAPTED.

Part 2 will contain more information on the eating strategies included in the book.

CLICK here >>> for a Free Athlete Health Assessment with Coach BK to fill out an online form and chat with her on the phone for 30 about where you are right now as a person and athlete. Health Assessment

More information on Metabolic Efficiency here >>> Metabolic Efficiency

 

 

MORE ABOUT THE ENERGY SYSTEMS OF THE BODY

Three different metabolic energy systems power your workouts — and your day. Here’s how each one works, and how to make the most of them all.

Your body has several ways of turning the stuff you eat into the stuff you do. All of these metabolic energy systems are switched on during physical activity, but each plays a different role depending on available energy and the specific demands of the task. Each burns a particular type of fuel at a particular rate — thereby affecting fat loss and muscle gain in a particular way.

  • The adenosine triphosphate–creatine phosphate (ATP-CP) system, or phosphagen system, supports very brief, high-intensity activities like a single-effort vertical jump.
  • The glycolytic system provides energy for activities of slightly longer duration and lower intensity like strength training.
  • The oxidative system supports long-duration, lower-intensity activities like walking or distance running.

>>> READ MORE

Adrenal Health, Athlete, Eating, Education, Personal Growth, Self Care, Yoga

6 signs that you’re BURNT OUT

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There are a number of very LEGITIMATE reasons why we can feel ABSOLUTELY DONE.  Stress, life events, illness and the list goes on and on.  Here are some small signs that you need to take action to improve your health and energy levels.

1. You forget what in the world you were doing almost immediately.  Drawing blanks.

Did you know that when you are under stress, the stress hormones actually counteract your abilities to recall from your memory.  It’s a brain thing.  Add in maybe not sleeping well.

“During sleep, your brain replays whatever you learned that day and moves it into long-term storage.”  ~Sandra Ackermann, PhD (University of Zurich).

Meaning if you are sleeping and have been stressed out all day, this process just doesn’t happen.

2. Your cuts take longer to heal

We are talking about a little cut or maybe something bigger.  The healing process includes producing collagen, forming blood clots and recruiting cells to protect against germs.  However, when you are stressed, your body has higher levels of chemicals called glucocorticoids, which suppress your immune system.  Think about it like this, when you are stressed, your body thinks it needs to fight or run, not spend energy worrying about healing.  So this makes your little ouchies heal more slowly, giving you a small sign that you are stressed out and your adrenals are in hyperdrive.

3. Ladies … your cramps are AWFUL

Stress can make your period late.  And awful.  This is because the hypothalamus, the regulatory center of the brain, senses that your body is RUNNING ON EMPTY, and so delays the release of the egg.  I mean, really, why release an egg if you’re not going to be able to support a pregnancy?

Or you feel super frazzled during “that week”.  Studies have shown that women feel way more frazzled and out of control, due to the adrenals not being able to produce hormones in balance, so you FEEL CRAZY.

4. Your digestion is a MESS

Reflux.  Constipation.  IBS.  blah blah blah.  Stress can alter gut secretions and slow or speed up digestion cause lots of issues.  The good bacteria in your gut takes a hit.  Everything gets off balance.  Why do we care.  Nutrient absorption.  You really need to be using what you’re eating.  Your immune system is mainly in your gut.  You’re gut is your second brain.  Imagine how you would be doing if your brain was filled with crap.  or empty.  or chronically inflamed.  All due to stress.

5. Scratch scratch scratch

Did you know that the skin’s nerve endings release chemical signals called neuropeptides that communicate to the brain “something is wrong” in response to trauma or other stimuli.  This is a form of inflammation that can leave you super itchy.

6. Your dreams are wacky

People you are sleep deprived (quantity and/or quality) can have crazy dreams.  The super smart people really aren’t sure why.  They think that maybe it’s related to your brain prioritizing REM sleep, the most restorative stage, but also where dreams occur.  Also, the fragmentation of the REM cycle can cause you to remember more and for you to pop in and out of REM, instead of the cycle we are designed to go through.

CONCLUSION: Look for the little signs.  Knowing that “stress” is a real thing, not just a word to be thrown around.  And it causes real issues in the body.  Left unchecked in the early stages, you get bigger issues.  Fertility issues.  Depression. Big Digestion Issues.  Fibromyalgia.  Other autoimmune issues.  etc. etc. etc.

These energy / stress issues don’t have to get you. And it’s not a realistic idea “let’s cut out the stress. It’s not the external stress that’s killing us. It’s what we do with it. So fixing these issues MUST be done on a multi-level approach. Heal whats going on. Crowd good stuff in.

Work on dealing with life in a more positive and productive way.
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