0:03

So Nick today we're going to talk

0:06

about when you over exercise you

0:08

over train yeah there's all sorts

0:10

of terms all sorts of psychology

0:12

all sorts of hormones we're going

0:14

to talk about today and we're

0:17

going to talk about something called

0:19

LEA I'm not going to tell you

0:21

what that is until later. Hey

0:23

everyone welcome to the ATP

0:25

project you're with your host

0:27

Nick and Steve. How are you today?

0:29

I'm good I'm going to show you something

0:32

you ready? Yeah. That's rippling.

0:34

My left one's shit. Is it? It

0:36

feels pretty good. It feels funny. It's

0:39

cleansing. Left-handed. Right-handed.

0:41

I'm right-handed. Yes, I'm

0:43

left-handed. Left-handed. Left-handed. By left

0:45

arm is bigger than my

0:47

right. So we're picking on

0:49

a small population because most

0:51

people don't exercise enough. There's

0:53

three categories in Australia and

0:56

about 30% each according to the census.

0:58

There's 30% of people who do sort

1:00

of moderate training. And it's like, and

1:02

we're talking over that, 40% of very

1:04

small percentage that may go too far

1:06

sometimes or too often, and there's all

1:08

different reasons for that. And yeah, it's

1:10

really interesting one today. It's kind of

1:12

like I was doing a lot of

1:14

research on it and muscle breakdown, ribomyelitis

1:16

and a few other things we're going

1:18

to talk about. We're going to talk

1:20

about exercise disorders related to eating disorders,

1:22

all sorts of things that are good.

1:24

So what is, you know, you know, over-over trainings

1:27

in your own. What is it? So over

1:29

training syndrome, basically is when

1:31

you don't allow your body

1:33

enough time to recover between

1:35

workouts, where you're exercising for

1:37

too long a duration, or

1:39

exercising too much. Yes. And

1:41

then that can start to cause

1:43

breakdown in the body and lots

1:46

of different systems can be affected,

1:48

which will go through. But that's

1:50

over training and over training syndrome, but

1:53

I do see a lot of... clients

1:55

in clinic that have a lot of

1:57

this that may not be doing long

1:59

duration. exercise is in you know

2:01

at once or really a lot of

2:03

training so you know multiple hours throughout

2:06

the day each day but they can

2:08

still have issues with this because there

2:10

are other factors so they're under eating

2:12

or they have high high stress therefore

2:14

they're adding another stress or on the

2:17

body which is too much and then

2:19

that's creating a lot of these imbalances

2:21

so over training is not necessarily just

2:23

that you're training many hours throughout the

2:25

day, too much, too long, no recovery.

2:28

It can also be that underlining physiological

2:30

factors that are imbalanced can also cause

2:32

this extra load of training to then

2:34

cause breakdown of the body as well.

2:36

Yeah, and going to the gym breaks

2:39

down muscle tissue. And that's not me

2:41

saying that that's, you know, so there's

2:43

a degree of that. And we talked

2:45

about bodybuilders of the old era, where,

2:47

you know, like, and they were gods.

2:50

They used to go to the gym

2:52

for three to four hours and that

2:54

was the one. And now the bodybuilders

2:56

go for less and they're bigger. That's

2:58

right. Yes. And we're talking about Tom

3:01

Platt before the blonde guy who's a

3:03

bit in the head. He's really tough.

3:05

And he worked out eventually after trying

3:07

to train every day. once every two

3:09

weeks he got maximum growth. Yeah. And

3:12

I mean if you're seeing his legs.

3:14

They're huge. Yeah. I am not into

3:16

guys but he is hot baby. He

3:18

has legs like oh my god he's

3:20

huge but also supertoned and that. Now

3:23

for someone that trains every two weeks

3:25

our body part is remarkable and it

3:27

just changes the way you think about

3:29

things because people might say I train

3:31

every two weeks and you make a

3:34

slack ass but it depends on the

3:36

intensity. You know, and also the duration.

3:38

So it's really a minefield this. What

3:40

are some of the symptoms of over-training?

3:42

So initially there can just be little,

3:45

niggly, underlying symptoms that you may not

3:47

even take any notice of. So things

3:49

like increased fatigue, which I think I

3:51

would do, increased fatigue, but... It's not

3:53

a fatigue that wipes you out to

3:56

the point you can't train. You just

3:58

start to feel a little bit more

4:00

tired, maybe starting to have sleep disturbances,

4:02

so you maybe sleep's a little bit

4:04

impact, you're not sleeping as well, waking

4:07

up through the night or waking unrefreshed,

4:09

headaches, things like that, some more regular

4:11

headaches, which are symptoms that can be

4:13

for anything, right, and really common. So

4:15

you may not even start to connect

4:18

the dots, but there are just little

4:20

things that can happen. And then things

4:22

that can happen, and then as it

4:24

starts to progress, breakdown or you're not

4:26

coping with the load, you can start

4:29

to have a lot more injuries coming

4:31

in. So we can start to go

4:33

through, not injuries, symptoms coming in. So

4:35

we can go through a lot of

4:37

those and see if any of these

4:40

sound familiar. Okay, well give it to

4:42

me because I've done this before with

4:44

running because we were training for the

4:46

marathon and that was, you know, you

4:48

just ran a lot of case. Yeah.

4:51

And that's all I. sort of thought

4:53

about. I went, oh, I've got to

4:55

run 42 cars, I better run 30

4:57

today and 35 tomorrow. And it doesn't

4:59

work. No, it doesn't work. It doesn't

5:02

work. I mean, unless your buddy, what's

5:04

your name, Dean can't answer. So one

5:06

of those crazy runners that can recover

5:08

that well. But what are some of

5:10

the things to look out for? So

5:13

reduced exercise performances and things like that,

5:15

it can be... training in the gym,

5:17

all that sort of stuff. You don't

5:19

have to be an athlete, you know,

5:21

professional athlete, somebody that's just a regular

5:24

exercise or works out regularly. So reduced

5:26

exercise performance could look like if you're

5:28

in the gym and suddenly your weights

5:30

aren't going up in the gym or

5:32

going down. Or you're fatiguing out much

5:35

quicker or you're not recovering as well.

5:37

Well if you are a runner that

5:39

you're... you're gassing out earlier than you

5:41

generally would and things like that. So

5:43

that's a really big one. It's interesting

5:46

isn't it? So just you know even

5:48

though you're training more you're getting worse.

5:50

Yeah exactly. Yeah. Okay. Increasing injuries is

5:52

a really common one as well. I'm

5:54

one that I see in clinic a

5:57

lot. particularly stress fractures in maybe you

5:59

know runners or you know triathlete or

6:01

triathletes or things like that but stress

6:03

fractures is really common so if you're

6:05

if you're training too much or your

6:08

body can't cope with the load of

6:10

training that you have that you have

6:12

for whatever reason that can basically, the

6:14

increasing injuries can then sort of impact

6:16

your muscle and tissue recovery. So you

6:19

get little micro tears and things when

6:21

you exercise and then you recover and

6:23

then they repair it. So if you're

6:25

not giving yourself time, then that can

6:27

then create more significant damage and really

6:29

lead to things like tendonitis and sort

6:32

of fractures and things like that. So

6:34

loss of neuromascular control, Steve. Isn't it

6:36

funny? Because like all you're talking about

6:38

here is the things that exercise is

6:40

good and everything, but we're talking too

6:43

much exercise. Yeah. And all these things

6:45

like, you know, better muscles energy, you

6:47

get from normal exercise or healthy exercise

6:49

or the right amount of exercise, but

6:51

we're talking too much here and it

6:54

actually has a counter effect. Yeah, it

6:56

does. And I see this a lot,

6:58

I will say women because I guess.

7:00

That's what I mentioned a lot of

7:02

men treat a lot of men now,

7:05

but I do to treat a lot

7:07

of women and used to train a

7:09

lot of women in the gym. And

7:11

I see this a lot with women

7:13

that would train too much. It's really,

7:16

really common because they want to lose

7:18

weight or they're going to turn up.

7:20

So they eat less, which we'll talk

7:22

about with the LEA, the syndrome. And

7:24

then they train too much or they

7:27

get, you know, they get a bit

7:29

overzealous and they might do a two

7:31

hours in the gym, Even though for

7:33

somebody who's really balanced, their nervous system

7:35

is balanced, the nutrition is balanced, everything

7:38

is sleeping well, that might be okay

7:40

for them and they recover well, but

7:42

somebody who has some of these underlying

7:44

lifestyle factors that are out of balance,

7:46

then this can then cause issues if

7:49

they're doing two hours a day in

7:51

the gym, so weight training or whatever

7:53

they're doing. So increased injuries, so that

7:55

creates that loss of neuromastigular control, so

7:57

then obviously then you can have issues

8:00

with balance, so brains, dislocations and things

8:02

like that. Yeah, reduced bone density, so

8:04

that can be a really big factor.

8:06

We'll talk a little bit more about

8:08

that with the hormonal stuff. Yeah, sure.

8:11

But repetitive strain injuries and things like

8:13

that. So compromised immune system. This one's

8:15

really common. This is common. Something getting

8:17

sick all the time. I'm catching everything

8:19

that everybody's got. Really, really common because

8:22

when you are over training, you're impacting

8:24

your HPA access, your hyperthalamous pituitary adrenal

8:26

access, dysregulating it, which then can impact

8:28

your immune function as well. High cortisol

8:30

also will impact your immune system as

8:33

well. So, so yeah, really common to

8:35

get sick all the time. So elevated

8:37

cortisol, chronic stress response. grape immune system

8:39

if you do the right amount of

8:41

course. This is too much. Yeah, so

8:44

I can create suppression of key immune

8:46

cells, Steve, so your T cells, B

8:48

cells, all that sort of thing. They're

8:50

all your adaptive immune system, so they're

8:52

very important obviously. Yeah, can create chronic

8:55

inflammation. which then impacts obviously immune function

8:57

as well. Impacts should gut health we

8:59

all know that that 70% of the

9:01

80% of the immune system. The gut

9:03

impacts that as well. Oxyety, stress, that

9:06

sort of thing that can impact it.

9:08

Low mood, depression or anxiety is really

9:10

common as well. I see a lot

9:12

of anxiety. possibly more so even then

9:14

low moods depression I see a lot

9:17

of anxiety and again that's that over

9:19

activation of the HPA access so that

9:21

overstimulation of the stress response yeah creates

9:23

a lot of anxiety so high adrenaline

9:25

high cortisol that type of thing and

9:28

then obviously that dysregulation in the gut

9:30

can impact you know transmitter production and

9:32

all that sort of thing So hormonal

9:34

imbalances and low testosterone, so that really

9:36

does impact your hormones, which then impacts

9:39

your mood significantly. Yeah, and muscle growth.

9:41

100% muscle growth. It's funny, you just

9:43

say that, because you know, you're talking

9:45

about too much cortisol. I mean, exercise

9:47

builds muscle, you know, if you do

9:50

it quickly, but too much cortisol, breaks

9:52

down muscle tissue and puts fat on

9:54

your gut. It's the last thing you

9:56

want to do when you go to

9:58

the gym, you want the opposite. Yeah,

10:01

exactly. I'm also with women but some

10:03

men as well so you know I'm

10:05

training really really hard and I can't

10:07

put on muscle and I can't lose

10:09

fat and I'm like well because your

10:12

cortisol is probably too high you become

10:14

catabolic yeah therefore you're breaking down your

10:16

muscle tissue and then obviously creating you

10:18

know insulin issues and inflammation with the

10:20

higher cortisol which is creating weight gain

10:23

as well so it's a really common

10:25

thing so So yeah, that catabolic effect

10:27

is really, really. And what if you've

10:29

got an underlying stress disorder when you've

10:31

got high cortisol naturally anyway, and you're

10:34

over training, you're not training healthy, you're

10:36

just like, oh God, I've got to

10:38

go to exercise because there's a little

10:40

bit of fat on me, which is

10:42

disorder thinking, but it's not uncommon. No,

10:45

we'll talk a little bit more about

10:47

the disorder. Got a paper on that

10:49

later. Yeah, it's interesting. Homonal imbalances, I

10:51

see these a lot in women. When

10:53

I was working in the gyms, I

10:56

saw this all the time. I had

10:58

it myself, issues when I was going

11:00

to ask you about that, but I

11:02

wasn't going to dob you in? Dob

11:04

me in, yeah. Well I'm going to

11:07

dob you in, because you've talked about

11:09

it before. You've talked about it before.

11:11

Now would you consider yourself in this

11:13

syndrome? Not now? No, no, no, and

11:15

back, and back in back, and back,

11:17

and back in back in back in

11:20

back in back in back in, in

11:22

back in, in, in, in, in, in,

11:24

in, in, in, in, in, in, in,

11:26

in, in, in, in, in, in, in,

11:28

in, in, in, in, in, in, in,

11:31

in, in, in, in, in, in, in,

11:33

in, in, in, in, in, in, in,

11:35

in, in, in, in I yeah and

11:37

and and oh five hours a day

11:39

yeah because it be okay I have

11:42

a very addictive personality yeah obviously five

11:44

hours yes I got to the point

11:46

where I would get addicted to exercise

11:48

so I now have to balance my

11:50

life cell a bit better so I'm

11:53

not don't get a bit too much

11:55

too far into it but yes I

11:57

lost my female hormones went down for

11:59

nine years I was also very lean

12:01

as well so I didn't have photos

12:04

of you and I mean Let's do

12:06

numbers for the listeners. You're tallish for

12:08

a woman, aren't you already five eight?

12:10

I would consider myself to be a

12:12

just above average state. What are you,

12:15

five, eight? About five, seven and a

12:17

half. Five, it was a good guess.

12:19

Oh, you didn't even know that. I

12:21

was just guess that. And what weight

12:23

did you get down to? My lowest

12:26

was 49 kilos. Yeah, 49 kilos and

12:28

5% body fat was my... lowest when

12:30

I, my last comp I was at

12:32

that weight. But then I went, then

12:34

I sat at around 53, 54 or

12:37

about eight years after that. Now when

12:39

you were thinking at the time when

12:41

you were 49 kilos, did you consider

12:43

yourself underweight? No. Right. I didn't consider

12:45

myself underweight and it's podcasting about me.

12:48

But, um, but, but I, my last

12:50

comp and I, I over trained and

12:52

I had a lot of other issues

12:54

going on as well and I just

12:56

lost a lot of weight. I couldn't

12:59

put the weight on. It maintains my

13:01

muscle, but I was just super, super

13:03

thin. And so my last comp I

13:05

didn't place after I'd been winning, winning.

13:07

And so I actually went up to

13:10

them and said, why did I not

13:12

place or tell me what's wrong? And

13:14

they said, you're too thin. And I

13:16

did not see it until years later,

13:18

I looked back at photos and I

13:21

cringe at how thin I was. It

13:23

had gone way too far. But at

13:25

the time I didn't see it because.

13:27

I had a body dysmorphia, I had

13:29

all the things, you know, it's really

13:32

common. So yeah, so I thought I

13:34

looked fine. And I look back now

13:36

and I think, well, you know, you've

13:38

shared the photos with me and I

13:40

look at you and I literally in

13:43

that photo feel sorry for you. I

13:45

look at you and go, oh. you

13:47

know like you really don't look well.

13:49

No that yeah the very end that

13:51

the very end of my my comps

13:54

I I just couldn't put the weight

13:56

on after that I just to keep

13:58

losing too much weight and I couldn't

14:00

put it on but I was exercising

14:02

a fair bit and even when I

14:05

got to the point I mean it's

14:07

my whole story here we talked a

14:09

little bit about things that happened to

14:11

me when I was after I competed

14:13

function went down all of that sort

14:16

of thing. I was really sick but

14:18

I would get dragged myself out of

14:20

bed and do push-ups and dips and

14:22

sit-ups even though I could hardly walk.

14:24

Wow. Because I was that obsessed with

14:27

it. So there is a huge element

14:29

of mental health stuff that comes into

14:31

a lot of this. Absolutely. So I

14:33

don't have any of that issue now,

14:35

but like some days I don't even

14:38

want to exercise at all. They call

14:40

that weekdays and weekend for me. I

14:42

don't think I'll ever get there at

14:44

this point, but I mean, gee whiz,

14:46

you know, it's like, it's so common

14:49

out there. So really common in women

14:51

that you see mentioned the regularity. So

14:53

either the period disappears or it becomes

14:55

very irregular or they may get really

14:57

heavy periods all of a sudden or

15:00

that sort of thing can be really,

15:02

really common in women and that's because

15:04

it has a huge impact on your

15:06

hormonal production. So, progesterone levels can become

15:08

suppressed. So then that can create an

15:11

estrogen dominant symptom. So to the picture,

15:13

or if you over-exercising, you're losing a

15:15

lot of body fat, you're actually, estrogen

15:17

and progesterone can just drop down to

15:19

really negligible levels. And then you lose

15:22

your cycle altogether. So then that can

15:24

impact your bone house. So if you're

15:26

a young girl. you know, maybe in

15:28

your 20s and you're training a lot

15:30

or exercising a lot and you're losing

15:33

weight and you've lost your period. And

15:35

I have seen clients that have not

15:37

had a cycle for, you know, four,

15:39

five, six years. So I went for

15:41

nearly nine. And you said, yeah. And

15:44

they have started to get osteoporosis at

15:46

a young age. And that's the time

15:48

when you have to lay down your

15:50

body. Yes, because you're going to lose

15:52

it over 50. Right, yeah, exactly. So

15:54

you need to be protecting your bone

15:57

house. So that's really common. And then

15:59

infertility becomes a problem as well. And

16:01

that's another really big thing I used

16:03

to see in the gyms with women,

16:05

women who competed and things like that

16:08

they would have problems with fertility. Of

16:10

course. That's a really significant factor. Well,

16:12

during your nine years, you probably, it's

16:14

like going into menopause and we just

16:16

recorded a podcast on menopause and that's

16:19

like for nine years you were virtually

16:21

in menopause. Yeah, so I had the

16:23

hormonal profile of a menopause woman and

16:25

I was in my 30s. So, but

16:27

I didn't have hormone menopause with symptoms

16:30

because it's different. Yeah, yeah. But, but

16:32

my levels were that low. I mean,

16:34

luckily I didn't have any bone issues

16:36

out of any bone issues out of

16:38

it. but I don't know, worked out

16:41

of my bones, but worked out okay.

16:43

But yeah, it's really, really common. And

16:45

you see it a lot because I

16:47

used to be in sort of in

16:49

this, in the industry and the top

16:52

female, you know, body sculptors and bodybuilders

16:54

and things like that would come out

16:56

and there was a really well-known one.

16:58

I won't name names. She had, she

17:00

ended up with hashimoto's. She had a

17:03

disability. That's a thorough order means these,

17:05

yeah. And she was going around the

17:07

traps talking about the traps talking about

17:09

health. and training of fitness and on

17:11

the side, she was having fertility issues,

17:14

thyroid, autoimmune conditions, things like that. But

17:16

that a lot of times isn't told.

17:18

And there's been a few other fairly

17:20

high profile fitness women out there that

17:22

have struggled behind the scenes with health

17:25

conditions, but you don't see that. And

17:27

I think some of the problem is

17:29

a lot of these young women are

17:31

looking at these women and going to

17:33

a spy to be like that. the

17:36

training all that sort of stuff and

17:38

then they're creating a lot of these

17:40

problems and these home problems are really

17:42

significant and look even some men I'm

17:44

not gonna know you know some men

17:47

can definitely overdo it and impact their

17:49

testosterone production as well so absolutely so

17:51

yeah so that's a really really big

17:53

one and it can happen fairly early

17:55

on because you are putting a fair

17:58

bit of stress on the body so

18:00

if you're having you know cyclo regularities

18:02

beginning then maybe look at your training

18:04

really really common but low progesterone is

18:06

really common for women that train over

18:09

training because in all of you like

18:11

scary stuff yeah it's again this sounds

18:13

probably sexist but it but women have

18:15

more issues than men because of our

18:17

hormonal profile we don't respond It's a

18:20

lot more, I'm not going to say

18:22

fragile, but we have a lot more

18:24

that can go wrong with our hormonal

18:26

profile over it than men. Men still

18:28

can definitely. We're at one hormone test

18:31

Australian and inject that. But yeah, I

18:33

know what you mean. Women do have

18:35

more problems and there's a paper on

18:37

that and it was on females and

18:39

that's not it. Eating disorders were over-exercise

18:42

and it talked about people and these

18:44

were mainly women. And they looked at

18:46

it and it was basically largely largely

18:48

to do with the problematic usage of

18:50

the internet in young people. And this

18:53

was published in the Journal of Psychiatric

18:55

Res, 2023, or 2021, actually. And so,

18:57

you know, this was quite amazing. And

18:59

it was mainly female-orientated, mainly. Most of

19:01

the cohort were female. And it was

19:04

incredible, you know, it's like... They became,

19:06

I'll read the discussion part, the very

19:08

end, said youth with eating disorders and

19:10

height and exercise levels have increased obsessive

19:12

thoughts of threat, compulsivity traits and sensation

19:15

seeking impulsivity. So it's just like, and

19:17

it all worked into online, and as

19:19

I said, mainly females, incredible. So yeah,

19:21

look, I've seen a lot of it.

19:23

I see have seen a lot of

19:26

it in the gym, I see it

19:28

all the time, in the comp world

19:30

it can be quite common. Oh yeah.

19:32

And when you think of eating disorders

19:34

people think of well anorexia bulimia, that

19:37

type of thing, but it can go.

19:39

beyond that. So you know, clients, you

19:41

know, have clients that I see that

19:43

are so strict with their eating. So

19:45

they make sure they get the right

19:48

calories every day not over, their macros

19:50

are to the tea, they were never

19:52

straight from the, you know, from what

19:54

their healthy diet is, which in itself

19:56

can be a problem, because that then

19:59

becomes obsessive and a stressor on your

20:01

body. And if you're that rigid, obviously

20:03

if you're... high-level athlete or you're doing

20:05

a precomp diet, things like that. That's

20:07

one thing. But this is just generally

20:10

wanting to look a certain way and

20:12

be a certain way. So this is

20:14

an ongoing way of eating and that

20:16

in itself is disordered eating and that

20:18

can lead down a really dangerous path

20:21

as well. So really really common, really

20:23

common, more common than people would think.

20:25

So yes, a hormonal dysregalation is a

20:27

really significant factor and so As I

20:29

said, more so women will notice this

20:32

than me. But yeah, that's a really

20:34

big one to be aware of. And

20:36

it can become dysregulated fairly easily. So

20:38

even, you know, having a lower carb

20:40

diet can impact it. Drop your progesterone

20:42

down too low. So really significant weight

20:45

gain. is can be another symptom of

20:47

over training stage. Oh my God. You're

20:49

doing a lot, a lot of things.

20:51

Yeah, you're trying to lose weight. Yeah.

20:53

So what are the mechanisms involved there?

20:56

So one of them can, believe it

20:58

or not, lead in some cases to

21:00

reduce insulin sensitivity. That's, I mean. You

21:02

know, we've just told people for years

21:04

that you've got to exercise to increase

21:07

and now, but it's the over training.

21:09

It's the over training. So if you

21:11

have chronically high cortisol levels that just

21:13

regulates your blood sugars, and then a

21:15

lot of times people aren't having adequate

21:18

nutrition along with a lot of this

21:20

over training. So if they're over training,

21:22

they're not probably being guided. So therefore

21:24

nutritionally, they may not be eating enough

21:26

either, which is a stressor on the

21:29

body. issues. are create insulin issues. So

21:31

that's a really significant one. Increased our

21:33

cravings and energy swings, so a lot

21:35

of times you can have issues with

21:37

your your lepton and grelin becomes disregulated.

21:40

Okay, so one of them suppresses appetite,

21:42

one of them pre-grelin increases appetite. So

21:44

that becomes dysregulated. Yeah, so lepton can

21:46

drop, lepton levels can drop. So when

21:48

you were going through your period of

21:51

a very extreme... you know, dieting and

21:53

exercise. What was your appetite like? So

21:55

I'm getting like, this is a really

21:57

candid podcast, isn't it? Yeah, well, I'm

21:59

asking me or my journey. I end

22:02

up with an eating disorder. And you

22:04

become, and everyone around me that was

22:06

also competing, you become obsessed with food,

22:08

because you have to restrict your food.

22:10

Yes. When I was, I was doing

22:13

a pre-com diet, different than just standard,

22:15

you know, you know, everyday stuff. So

22:17

I came out of my comp. dieting

22:19

and that sort of stuff with obsessed

22:21

with food. So I never ate bad

22:24

ever but I was always thinking about

22:26

food all day in my head finish

22:28

a meal and then I'd be waiting

22:30

all I can think about was my

22:32

next meal because you become obsessed because

22:35

you have to be so restrictive when

22:37

you're comp dieting. Yeah, gotcha. Which to

22:39

be honest now it's a bit different.

22:41

I'd do it completely differently. Obviously when

22:43

I first started it was different but

22:46

um but I would say I was

22:48

hungry all the time. But I also

22:50

was under eating for a long time

22:52

as well. So there's that. So that's

22:54

a really common thing as well. And

22:57

I can pick someone with an eating

22:59

disorder pretty much pretty easily now in

23:01

clinic. I can pick someone if they

23:03

don't tell me yet. You can tell.

23:05

You can tell by what they're telling

23:08

you or how they're talking, what they're

23:10

doing with their eating and their food

23:12

prep and all that sort of stuff.

23:14

So you can tell. But yeah, you

23:16

can become quite obsessed if you're restricting

23:19

your food. It's the worst thing you

23:21

can do is restrict things because what

23:23

do you do? As soon as you

23:25

take away something that you want, what

23:27

do you want? What do you do?

23:30

You just want it all the time?

23:32

You can get it all the time.

23:34

Yeah, so then you're going to avoid,

23:36

avoid, avoid, avoid, and then you're going

23:38

to blow out and go. crazy and

23:41

then you're going to, you're going to

23:43

berate yourself and say I'm never doing

23:45

that again, I'm just going to go

23:47

hard as of tomorrow and then they'll

23:49

go again super restrictive and then they'll

23:52

get to a point of going I

23:54

can't do it anymore and they blow

23:56

out and it becomes a cycle. So

23:58

that in itself is disordered eating. But

24:00

yeah, so the weight gain, so you

24:03

actually get hungrier, you can have more

24:05

blood trigger dysregulation, things like that. or

24:07

weight loss resistance even so you stop

24:09

losing weight. Yes. Well like that cortisol

24:11

is stressful. I mean, you know, that

24:14

that's catabolic for muscles. It's the worst

24:16

thing for your body composition. Completely the

24:18

worst thing. And if you're stressing about

24:20

thinking about or over training and all

24:22

this, your cortisol levels go through the

24:25

roof, you're going to be insulin resistant

24:27

and you're going to put on fat.

24:29

Yeah, you know, break down muscle. And

24:31

so that's the last thing you want

24:33

to do. Yeah, well, I mean, you

24:36

know, as we've said before, muscle is

24:38

very metabolically active. So you want to

24:40

have good levels. So if you start

24:42

to lose your muscle, then you're starting

24:44

to lose that sort of, you know,

24:47

that sort of sponge blood sugars and

24:49

all that sort of stuff as well.

24:51

And so it becomes a vicious cycle.

24:53

So yeah, wait, can be one. And

24:55

here's another one for you. And here's

24:58

another one for you, if you, if

25:00

you've got another one for you, if

25:02

you, if you've got another one for

25:04

you, if you, if you, if you

25:06

know, if you, if you, if you

25:09

know, if you know, if you want

25:11

to, if you want to, if you

25:13

want to, you want to, you want

25:15

to, you want to, you want to,

25:17

you want to, you want to, you

25:20

want to, you want to, you want

25:22

to, you want to Low blood pressure.

25:24

This one's not uncommon. So you get

25:26

up really fast, you get a bit

25:28

dizzy or you know, that sort of

25:30

thing. Low blood pressure, when you have

25:33

had chronically, a chronic stress response, so

25:35

then your body starts to pump out

25:37

less cortisol. So it's not, the old,

25:39

the old term used to be adrenal

25:41

fatigue, but it's not, it's adrenal maladaptation.

25:44

Yes, that's right. The doctors. medical fraternity,

25:46

orthodox medical fraternity didn't like that term

25:48

because it didn't make sense. So your

25:50

adrenals don't become fatigued as such. Your

25:52

body just starts to conserve your cortisol

25:55

production because if you're pumping out high

25:57

cortisol all the time and then you

25:59

have a danger where you need to

26:01

get away from something your body's well

26:03

I can't pump any more cortisol. So

26:06

it actually sort of holds onto it.

26:08

Yeah, it holds onto it. So it's

26:10

not that you can't produce it anymore.

26:12

Your body just will hang on to

26:14

it. So then you can start to

26:17

have low cortisol levels, which can then

26:19

impact your blood pressure. Yes, there's a

26:21

negative effect on blood pressure. Well, I'm

26:23

going to say negative lowering effect. Everyone

26:25

thinks, oh, high blood pressure, you've got

26:28

to get it lower or lower, lower,

26:30

lower, because most Australians have higher blood

26:32

pressure than normal. You know, if I

26:34

just, you know, we've got camera gear

26:36

and everything in there, if I said,

26:39

oh, podcast over, stand up, pass out

26:41

over there, I'm going to cause poor

26:43

Matt thousands of damage. Matt, he's probably

26:45

his cameras. Oh, yeah, it's his cameras,

26:47

yeah. But like, I mean, and also

26:50

I could, you know, potentially fall downstairs

26:52

and break my hip. Yeah, well yeah,

26:54

exactly. You know, especially at my age

26:56

and bloody age. No, you don't want

26:58

to break here, but you know, not

27:01

at my age. Geez, shocking. So yeah,

27:03

so. So it's disregulated cortisol. Disregulated cortisol.

27:05

So you know, when you got higher

27:07

cortisol, you can get higher cortisol, you

27:09

can get puffy and you can get

27:12

very low cortisol. So if you have

27:14

very low cortisol, you're blood pressure. And

27:16

here's another one that's relatively common. I'm

27:18

going to say again, I'm picking on

27:20

the poor women, but more for females,

27:23

is thyroid suppression. Yes. Really common again,

27:25

and I see this a lot, I

27:27

get clients, come to me saying I

27:29

have low thyroid function, but they're under

27:31

eating and over training. And I'm like,

27:34

well. There's not really anything wrong with

27:36

your thyroid. Your thyroid is reacting, we've

27:38

talked about this in the past, reacting

27:40

to the environment. You're not feeding your

27:42

body, therefore your body is slowing down

27:45

your metabolic function because it doesn't want

27:47

to keep burning through fat and end

27:49

up having nothing to go on. So

27:51

the body will slow the thyroid down.

27:53

So low T3 is fairly common. That's

27:56

the active thyroid. Yeah, my T3 is

27:58

really low and that will be cause

28:00

a lot of times your... you're over

28:02

exercising, you know, under eating, so your

28:04

thorough become an issue. And then, you

28:07

know, if you have high cortisol, then

28:09

you can convert your T4 to reverse

28:11

T3s with C3s, which is quite inactive.

28:13

So it's sort of like, you know,

28:15

let's say I go to the doctor

28:18

and I have my T.S.H. star at

28:20

Sime home and I've got underactive thyroid.

28:22

The script pad will come out and

28:24

there'll be a rocksin, which is an

28:26

oral form of thoroxin, given. And that's

28:29

not a, in itself, a bad script,

28:31

but what I always wonder is why.

28:33

I always wonder is why. Why. Why.

28:35

Why. Yeah, and that's the thing. People

28:37

come to me that are on thyroid

28:40

medications, which they come to me for

28:42

thyroid conditions, so on thyroid medications, I'm

28:44

working overly well. I see it work

28:46

well for Graves' disease. Yeah, that's an

28:48

order immune disease. That's pretty much your

28:51

time. I see it work well. and

28:53

they're on thyroid medication still have underactive

28:55

thyroid yeah but they're also not eating

28:57

enough carbohydrates and not eating enough calories

28:59

it exercising too much like of course

29:02

a thyroid function is going to be

29:04

suppressed so a lot of times that's

29:06

all it is yeah I mean I

29:08

had underactive thyroid that's because I was

29:10

over exercising and under eating and as

29:13

a thyroid now if you don't mind

29:15

me asking that's pretty good so so

29:17

you've reversed it So these things are

29:19

reversible. It's like if you know if

29:21

I was out camping and I got

29:24

lost in the bush for three days

29:26

and I didn't eat my thyroid levels

29:28

will drop and thankfully it would yeah

29:30

because that would keep me alive exactly

29:32

if it raised up through the roof

29:35

I'd burn myself out and I'd be

29:37

dead in three days but but this

29:39

is this is the body preserving it's

29:41

not a disorder. It's a reaction to

29:43

your environment. Exactly. It's a regulator as

29:46

we've said many times before it regulates

29:48

the environment. It's reacting to the environment.

29:50

So yeah, so thyroid suppression is really

29:52

really common. So if you are exercising

29:54

a lot and you have a suppressed

29:57

thyroid function, possibly look at that, look

29:59

at your energy intake as well and

30:01

that could really be just the reason

30:03

that your thyroid function has gone down.

30:05

Wow. Okay, so I'm going to ask

30:07

you something now called Ellie about LEA.

30:10

people who overtrain, tired all the time,

30:12

don't eat enough, fatigued, dangerous, or all

30:14

the stuff you're talking about. What is

30:16

LEA? So basically LEA stands for low

30:18

energy availability. This is pretty much what

30:21

it sounds like. So it's basically a

30:23

state where the energy intake is insufficient

30:25

to cover the energy costs for both

30:27

your exercise and then daily energy expenditure,

30:29

physiological functions that you have. So these

30:32

people are worried about eating, their thyroid's

30:34

low. they're stressed, they want to sleep

30:36

all the time, they exercise two hours

30:38

a day, which again doesn't make sense,

30:40

you know, it's like over exercising, you

30:43

know, I mean, yet they're tired all

30:45

the time. And so LEA is this

30:47

syndrome. It's really quite disturbing. Tell us

30:49

about it. It's really interesting because it

30:51

might be hard to pick up initially

30:54

because your body, you'll still be able

30:56

to... exercise. You know, so if you

30:58

have enough energy to exercise, but then

31:00

you're wiped out and nothing else is

31:02

working. So your body will be able

31:05

to prioritize exercise, but then you don't

31:07

have enough left for anything else. So

31:09

it's really hard to catch it initially

31:11

because that while I'm actually exercising my

31:13

performance is okay, it's just everything else.

31:16

I can't function, I go home and

31:18

I'm wiped out for literally the gym

31:20

for an hour or two and then

31:22

come home and have a nap. Yeah,

31:24

exactly. And that's a worry, isn't it,

31:27

when people do that? And yeah, it's

31:29

LA for sure. And this feeds into

31:31

not eating enough nutrition, thyroid, it's like

31:33

a disordered, probably malnutrition, high cortisol, catabolic

31:35

muscles. It's like, it's just, and yeah,

31:38

you think that that. The exercise would

31:40

be enough to, because exercise is extraordinarily

31:42

good for you. We're picking on exercise

31:44

today, but it's good, really good for

31:46

you. So early A, so you got

31:49

any studies to talk about this. So

31:51

there was a 2022 study on frontiers

31:53

in sports and active living. Yep. And

31:55

the title is Risk of Low Energy

31:57

Availability, disordered eating, exercise addiction and food

32:00

intolerances in female endurance athletes. Geez. Okay,

32:02

that's a mouthful. So this looked at

32:04

more than 200 female endurance athletes and

32:06

it showed that 65% were at risk

32:08

of alley A. Oh my God. 25%?

32:11

Two-thirds. Yeah, 23% were at risk of

32:13

exercise addiction and 21% had disordered eating

32:15

behaviour. Wow. More than one in five.

32:17

That's incredible, isn't it? So really common,

32:19

as I said, in the... This is

32:22

common. This is common. This industry. It's

32:24

really, really common. So it can be

32:26

really serious, LA, if you have it

32:28

for a longer time, can have significant

32:30

impact on your health. And as we

32:33

said before, reproductive system. So they also

32:35

used to be something called female triad

32:37

syndrome. Which is what I was told

32:39

I had, but I didn't have. So

32:41

when I was back when I was

32:44

competing and all that sort of thing,

32:46

this was, I think that this is

32:48

probably very much similar to the... which

32:50

is probably the more modern version of

32:52

female triad disorder. And that was basically

32:55

loss of your cycle, so loss of

32:57

period, bone loss, and disordered eating, which

32:59

is very similar to LEA. So, as

33:01

we said, one of the main consequences

33:03

is reproductive system issues or hormonal issues.

33:06

Generally, you know, lack of a cycle

33:08

or that sort of thing, and then

33:10

obulating can be really common. Distorted eating

33:12

is another really common one and the

33:14

bone the bone loss is another really

33:17

common one. So you had two of

33:19

those three. So I had the two,

33:21

yeah I didn't have the bone loss

33:23

but I had the other two. Was

33:25

your energy like when you were like

33:28

horrendous? Exactly this. I would train for

33:30

a couple hours no problem and then

33:32

I'd go home and I would collapse

33:34

and I would sleep for three or

33:36

four hours. Holy mackerel. And then I'd

33:39

get up and train again. Oh my

33:41

god I'd train a couple of times

33:43

a couple of times a day. So,

33:45

but then I would have enough energy

33:47

to train. So, and this is where

33:50

it comes in. So, like Shukk. I

33:52

can train okay so I can't be

33:54

the training because I'm exercising but for

33:56

the rest of the day I'm wiped

33:58

out. So an average doctor, I'm not

34:01

picking on doctors day, but we would

34:03

look at that and go, hang on,

34:05

you got plenty of energy you exercise

34:07

and then you're sleeping for two or

34:09

three hours. So you've got energy, so

34:12

you know, it's a little bit weird,

34:14

you know, counterintuitive, but yeah, it's definitely

34:16

a tried and we've seen studies on

34:18

it and all that sort of that

34:20

sort of stuff. long-term impacts of this

34:23

stuff. What does it do to a,

34:25

in this case, a woman's body? Yeah,

34:27

so bone issues, definitely you can end

34:29

up with osteoporosis out of that. And

34:31

infertility, if it goes on long enough,

34:34

is a really common thing as well.

34:36

So they have the two that I

34:38

would be saying is really, really significant.

34:40

You know, obviously catabolic. effect on muscle,

34:42

so you're losing muscle mass, that sort

34:45

of thing, which then impacts your metabolic

34:47

function. So it can be really significant.

34:49

And an allele is generally from under

34:51

eating, because you're just not, as we

34:53

said, you're not getting that energy, enough

34:55

energy to fuel everyday biological functions as

34:58

well as your training. So the main

35:00

things to look out for very, very

35:02

similar to over training syndrome anyways, irregular

35:04

missing menstrual cycles, fatigue. Mood problems, frequent

35:06

illness, frequent injuries, decreased libido, increased GI

35:09

issues, and then poor or decreased training

35:11

adaptations. Mental health must be bad too.

35:13

Mental health, yeah, significant. So that depression,

35:15

as I said, really bad depression is

35:17

a really bad one. So that one,

35:20

so you really have to look at

35:22

your calorie intake and even your macros

35:24

and nutrients and all that sort of

35:26

thing and see where that's at. Tracking

35:28

your calories for a few days, I

35:31

don't advocate for calorie tracking a lot

35:33

every day unless you have a specific

35:35

goal that you're working towards and that's

35:37

part of it. Because, because disordered eating

35:39

comes along with a lot of these

35:42

things, you don't want someone to. and

35:44

then be tracking their calories because that

35:46

can create worse disorder of eating. But

35:48

you need a metric to see where

35:50

you're at. And so tracking your calories

35:53

for three or four days or two

35:55

or three days just to see what

35:57

your intake is is a good way

35:59

to start. And I've had clients do

36:01

this before and they're surprised at how

36:04

little they're actually eating. They come back

36:06

and so I didn't realize they're sitting.

36:08

Some of them eating 900 to 1,000

36:10

calories a day. Now most women should

36:12

be around 2,000 odd, you know, at

36:15

least, yeah, at least, especially of exercising

36:17

more. Yeah, well you need 1,200 calories

36:19

just for your brain to function a

36:21

day. That's what women are on this

36:23

horrible 1,200 calorie diets, and they're like,

36:26

well, I don't know why I'm not

36:28

making progress because you're using it all

36:30

up when your brain functions, there's nothing

36:32

left for it. injuries, decreased libido, GI

36:34

issues, and poor decreased training at a

36:37

taste. I'm just reading. And this is

36:39

like, this is probably more common than

36:41

we imagine. It is, as I said,

36:43

I can only go on what I

36:45

see in clinic and what I used

36:48

to see in the gyms when I

36:50

was training clients. It's really common, really,

36:52

really common as I said, most of

36:54

my, you know, people that I see

36:56

are females for the most part, but

36:59

there is males. this happens to as

37:01

well. But it's really common. And you

37:03

know, you might think if you're sitting

37:05

at home going, well, I'm not an

37:07

athlete, I don't train for anything in

37:10

particular, I just exercise. But yeah, now

37:12

you mention it, I am having maybe

37:14

some mental issues or some hormonal issues

37:16

or I'm putting on weight, not losing

37:18

it or I'm starting to get meat

37:21

imbalances or I'm not sleeping well. That

37:23

sort of thing, it could well be

37:25

that you're training too much. It's not

37:27

a matter of somebody they have to

37:29

be training hours a day. You could

37:32

train one hour a day, but if

37:34

you have significant underlying HBA access dysregulation

37:36

or you know something going on you're

37:38

not sleeping at all, then this is

37:40

adding too much you already got a

37:43

lot of stress on the or you're

37:45

on a bad diet. Bad diet, yeah.

37:47

We've had a lot of stress, a

37:49

lot of traumatic events, something like that.

37:51

So you're using exercise maybe for mental

37:54

health, but it's an extra stressor on

37:56

the body. So you still could be

37:58

having some of these symptoms of over

38:00

training, even though you might think, well,

38:02

I'm only exercising an hour a day.

38:05

But because of where you're at physiologically

38:07

and whatever else is going on with

38:09

dysfunction or imbalance, this is. this the

38:11

tipping point and it's pushing over the

38:13

edge so you need to not stop

38:16

exercising but amend it pull it back

38:18

maybe do some more you know walking

38:20

and that sort of stuff why you're

38:22

working on underlying things adrenal health and

38:24

all that sort of do resist look

38:27

when I go to the gym I

38:29

probably go for 40 minutes I can't

38:31

do anymore yeah my legs hurt or

38:33

my arms hurt you know like like

38:35

like because I strained it but I

38:38

strained it but I don't you know

38:40

plus I don't like it I like

38:42

it there look at the girls there

38:44

but that's about it sound exciting the

38:46

end of the gym but but you

38:49

know it's to me it's like yeah

38:51

I love it so but but there

38:53

are a lot of women and men

38:55

that compare themselves with others on social

38:57

media and they're like hey but Jane

39:00

Smith does two hours a day and

39:02

she's fine look at her posts yeah

39:04

and who knows if she does two

39:06

hours a day anyway well yeah but

39:08

but but also a way to study

39:11

and the people who post about themselves

39:13

on social media are less happy Oh

39:15

yeah, they need that, um, that, uh,

39:17

you know, that external validation. Yeah. Yeah.

39:19

And couples that pay yourself are less

39:22

happy in case. And it's like, I've

39:24

suspected that for many years, but I've

39:26

sort of said it, I don't know

39:28

the broader here, I should have, but

39:30

it's like, it's like, it's like, yeah,

39:33

they like the validation. There's a lot

39:35

of mental health issues on social media.

39:37

There is, it's just, it's a really

39:39

big problem social media, social media. Yeah,

39:41

so over training. So there's some of

39:43

the sort of things to look out

39:46

for. If you're starting to have some

39:48

of these issues and you're wondering why

39:50

you do exercise quite a bit or

39:52

you're not eating, you know, enough to

39:54

fuel your workouts and things like that.

39:57

Maybe look at that because long term.

39:59

can be really significant. Terrible. I mean

40:01

we've got, I've got a little graph

40:03

here and you can see that the

40:05

optimal part, I won't go through it,

40:08

but it's right in the middle. And

40:10

this is a paper published in Frontiers

40:12

about over training and look what it

40:14

does to you, it's basically what you

40:16

said. Yeah. And you can see the

40:19

cortisol there, sorry, skip through it very

40:21

quickly, but cortisol depletes off because you

40:23

just haven't got anything in reserve. Yeah.

40:25

And so these people got anything in

40:27

reserve. Oh yeah, and it's that they're

40:30

going to the gym and then they

40:32

go to bed. And it's like, what

40:34

the hell? You should, I feel energetic

40:36

after exercise because I do kind of

40:38

the right amount. And I've overtrained in

40:41

a past and I've undertrained in a

40:43

past and I've just figured it out,

40:45

55, you think I've finally figured it

40:47

out. But it's like, this is really

40:49

scary because I think internet is partly

40:52

responsible for this. I think so too,

40:54

yeah. these poor mainly women that suffer

40:56

with this, you know, men too, but

40:58

like let's say someone's listening and they

41:00

think they're caught up in all this,

41:03

just step by step, what can that,

41:05

because it's a mind thing, what can

41:07

they do, what can that, because it's

41:09

a mind thing, what can they do

41:11

to get out of it? What's the,

41:14

what's the, well I mean, you said

41:16

track calories, yeah, so track your calories

41:18

to see what you're actually eating. with

41:20

any sort of dysregulation or balances in

41:22

the body and help to guide you

41:25

that way. But if you sort of

41:27

think, yeah, well, yeah, this is probably

41:29

me to a degree. Maybe start by

41:31

looking at your calorie intake for one.

41:33

Have a look at how much you

41:36

are training. Notice your recovery and then

41:38

start to really hone in on your

41:40

body. see if you can, because a

41:42

lot of people are very disconnected from

41:44

their body. And you know, you ask

41:47

them a question about maybe symptom, I

41:49

don't know, because they're just so disconnected

41:51

from their own body. So start to

41:53

notice different things, you know, are you

41:55

more tired, you're not really noticing, are

41:58

you more tired after you've exercised, you

42:00

feel quite depleted, or is suddenly a,

42:02

not... sleeping well suddenly or you know

42:04

how has your appetite changed or are

42:06

you suddenly noticed that perhaps you're not

42:09

making gains in whatever exercise you're doing

42:11

or you're starting to lose muscle or

42:13

little things like that. Yeah got energy

42:15

to go to gym but not to

42:17

do the vacuuming or something you know

42:20

or mood imbalances maybe your moods have

42:22

changed in lower mood things like that

42:24

so um Yeah really look at your

42:26

chronic anxiety and depression because of the

42:28

high quarters I'll yeah yeah this is

42:31

a scary one this one this one's

42:33

you know this is really scary because

42:35

people think they're doing the right thing

42:37

yeah and you've mentioned here that you

42:39

need 2,800 calories as a average weight

42:42

woman to get through you know if

42:44

you're exercising yeah no way women are

42:46

eating that you know but but that's

42:48

the fact you should be Yeah, people

42:50

are always shocked when I tell them

42:53

how many calories that they should be

42:55

eating based on their height, weight, energy

42:57

expenditure all of that. So the thing,

42:59

you want to work all that out.

43:01

But yeah, anything less than 2,000 calories,

43:04

I'd be saying, be careful. Unless you're

43:06

a very small female, you know, you

43:08

can be 45 kilo females, obviously it's

43:10

all relative. But yeah, some people, as

43:12

I said, women on these 1, 1,200

43:15

calorie diets is just dangerous. I think

43:17

it's a big eye open to this

43:19

and men and women should all be

43:21

very conscious of this and if they're

43:23

struggling, see a practitioner. Definitely. You know,

43:26

like a someone. Someone that can help

43:28

guide you if you're not sure where

43:30

to start. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. No,

43:32

it's amazing. Well, thanks for your time.

43:34

Thanks. See you. See you. Here we

43:37

go, this one's from Paula from Brisbane.

43:39

Hey Legends, love the podcast and always

43:41

making my partner listen to you guys,

43:43

trying to get him healthier, although he

43:45

believes ignorance is bliss. I know someone

43:48

like that. I didn't write this question.

43:50

I have a question that I'm sure

43:52

you both can help with. I've been

43:54

eating healthy since June this year. It's

43:56

been hard as I have a sweet

43:59

tooth, so crave sugar, chocolate, and chocolate

44:01

for months. I only realized a few

44:03

weeks ago that I no longer crave

44:05

sugar. Excellent. My understanding is my microbiome

44:07

has changed and the bad bugs have

44:10

died off. If I was to eat

44:12

some junk food at Christmas, will I

44:14

be feeding those bad bugs and start

44:16

craving sugar again? How much can I

44:18

have without those bad bugs coming back?

44:20

What a mystery question. How much can

44:23

I have? How much can I have

44:25

without those bad bugs coming back? What

44:27

a mystery question. How much can I

44:29

have the bad bugs? And they're called

44:31

firm acute. and there's a big fight

44:34

going on all the time. And what

44:36

they do is they secrete chemicals out

44:38

that disrupt the metabolism of other microbiome.

44:40

And they disrupt the anaerobes, which are

44:42

the ones that feed off sugars. So

44:45

if you disrupt them, you disrupt the

44:47

sugar metabolism of the microbiome. The only

44:49

problem with those chemicals is they're absorbed

44:51

in the body, so they disrupt your

44:53

sugar metabolism and you end up craving

44:56

sugars. Just try and feed them back

44:58

again. There is a problem with that.

45:00

So when you eat sugars and they

45:02

get into your microbiome, the sugars then

45:04

grow the bad bugs because they're anaerobes

45:07

and anaerobes survive exclusively off sugars. So

45:09

you end up with this high amount

45:11

of anaerobes of sugars in your gut

45:13

and then the sugars end up craving

45:15

the sugars to keep them alive. And

45:18

so it becomes very difficult for you

45:20

to... Keep your sweet tooth at bay.

45:22

Now because you're not craving sugar now,

45:24

you say, and what can I eat?

45:26

How about nothing bad? I mean, I

45:29

don't want to, I know it's Christmas,

45:31

but I shouldn't, you shouldn't, look, all

45:33

right, all right, I'm going to sound

45:35

like an a-hole here, but don't let

45:37

that, yeah, I'm on my soapbox today.

45:40

He's on it. Let the calendar dictate

45:42

your health. Yeah, that's true. I know

45:44

it says December 25th. That's not a

45:46

license for you to eat badly. It's

45:48

a license for you to eat loads

45:51

of vegetables, loads of roast things. You

45:53

don't have to eat sweets. You don't.

45:55

And if you want to eat sugar,

45:57

have sugar. free chocolate. Not the best,

45:59

not great, but dark chocolate, sugar free

46:02

is the best way to do it.

46:04

And don't, but don't let the calendar

46:06

dictate. I know it's Christmas, but your

46:08

microbiome don't care. But your microphone doesn't

46:10

care. They're not, but the microphone doesn't

46:13

care. They're not, but the microphone doesn't

46:15

care. That's, they're not going to go,

46:17

oh, it's Christmas, and then you'll be

46:19

post Christmas blues and for that bliss

46:21

of happiness for the few minutes of

46:24

eating. Not worth it. I eat a

46:26

lot of Christmas but I've done a

46:28

lot of bad food. Yes. What do

46:30

you reckon Nick? You're going to be

46:32

going to be nicer than you. I

46:35

ain't going to be nicer than you.

46:37

Because at Christmas time I even, I

46:39

want to eat something nice. So, um...

46:41

Again, don't eat refined sugars. So if

46:43

you're going somewhere for Christmas, make some

46:46

treats to take. And if you're having

46:48

Christmas at home with the family or

46:50

whatever your situation, make your own treats.

46:52

Like there's so many recipes online that

46:54

are sugar free that taste really good.

46:57

No refined sugars. Some use a little

46:59

bit of honey occasionally, some use stevia,

47:01

different things. So, and that's a good

47:03

way to learn how to make things

47:05

that are healthier so that if you're

47:08

going to come up against this again

47:10

at Easter time and at your birthday

47:12

and at your birthday. different things that

47:14

every time you're going to be faced

47:16

with the same thing. learn how to

47:19

make these sugar-free healthier versions of the

47:21

things you love. And then, yeah, work

47:23

with that. And then, you know, also

47:25

things like having your apple cider vinegar

47:27

around Christmas so that that can help

47:30

to balance your blood sugar so you

47:32

don't crave as much. So you don't

47:34

crave as much. A little bit of

47:36

a bermarine can also be really good

47:38

as well. Or, you know, if you're

47:41

having sugar, go for a walk afterwards,

47:43

it helps the blood sugar out. There's

47:45

little things, hacks hacks you can actually

47:47

you can do. And you know what,

47:49

like with my family, and this could

47:52

be other people, if we start Christmas

47:54

Festives about 10 a.m. You know what

47:56

I do every Christmas morning, go for

47:58

a run. Yeah, I used to, I

48:00

mean, I have my own gym now

48:03

because I'm not, don't live in your

48:05

other gyms, but my favourite day was

48:07

Christmas Day because I was like... quite.

48:09

I'd get up really early in the

48:11

morning, go to the gym and there

48:14

was help anyone there. Nice! Favorite time

48:16

you could just use the whole gym.

48:18

Love it. Love it. Love it. Love

48:20

it. I got a question for you.

48:22

Okay. This is a name withheld and

48:25

it says I've had rumor taught arthritis

48:27

for 10 years and since then I've

48:29

been managing with Methatrexate. That's an immune

48:31

suppression drug for those of the same.

48:33

Unfortunately, despite... Staying on this medication, I've

48:36

noticed my health continuing to decline. However,

48:38

I feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount

48:40

of information out there and unsure about

48:42

where to begin. I am looking at

48:44

natural alternatives, but do you not know

48:47

where to start? Sorry. I would love

48:49

to hear your suggestions, Nick. Someone with

48:51

r-a-a-a-rumatoid arthritis, name withheld, most more common

48:53

in women because they have better immune

48:55

system than guys. We do, we do,

48:58

yes. But let's see, I mean, men

49:00

get r-a-2. Yes. So what do you

49:02

do? Someone with a pumatoid arthritis? So

49:04

rheumatoid arthritis, we are no autoimmune condition.

49:06

Yep. So Methatrexate does not. treat the

49:08

condition, it just suppresses the symptoms. You

49:11

mean a rheumatoid arthritis is not a

49:13

metatrixate deficiency? Oh shivers, okay. No, so

49:15

you really want to look for again,

49:17

like everything that we sound like broken,

49:19

broken records, but you want to look

49:22

for the driver, the trigger, so what

49:24

has triggered your immune response to then

49:26

continue and become confused or overactive? That's

49:28

usually what happens with autoimmune immune conditions.

49:30

So... Again, it's like that age old

49:33

question that we said last week in

49:35

the FAQs. I've never felt the same

49:37

since. So where was the trigger? Was

49:39

it a virus? So in autoimmune conditions,

49:41

it can be gut driven. So you

49:44

could have gut dysbiosis, you could have

49:46

parasite, you could have overgrowth of particular

49:48

bacteria, you could have hyper permeability. anything

49:50

going on in the gut so that

49:52

can be a big driver. As I

49:55

said viruses can be a really big

49:57

trigger as well for the immune system.

49:59

I'm even going to say things like

50:01

root canals. I have actually in the

50:03

past treated a few people with particularly

50:06

rheumatoid arthritis. We looked everywhere, we looked

50:08

at the gut, we looked at the

50:10

hormones, looked at external triggers, environmental factors.

50:12

Eventually we hit on the oral microbiome

50:14

and oral health and they had a

50:17

root canal and they got worse and

50:19

worse the years after the root canal.

50:21

So a lot of times root canals

50:23

are not done properly. and then bacteria

50:25

can get in it gets into the

50:28

jaw then it becomes systemic and that

50:30

creates a bacteria and that triggers the

50:32

immune system and drives this sort of

50:34

you know the the progression towards auto

50:36

immunity so once we cleared up that

50:39

their symptoms really reduced significantly so yeah

50:41

so you've got to think a little

50:43

bit outside the box yep but look

50:45

for the drivers it's really important see

50:47

a root canal has got these roots

50:50

teeth have got three or four prongs

50:52

that go in and root canals, they

50:54

stick these really fine things and they're

50:56

really potent antimicrobials. But if it doesn't

50:58

get right to the end and a

51:01

little bit of microbe there can trigger

51:03

the immune system and just... Yeah, wow.

51:05

Yeah, even just oral health in general,

51:07

even if you haven't had a root

51:09

canal, maybe you've got wistin teeth that

51:12

haven't come down or you've got some

51:14

sort of infection under a tooth that

51:16

you're not really aware of. So the

51:18

mouth can be a really significant driver

51:20

for immune conditions that people don't really

51:23

think about. So, yeah, have a look

51:25

at that. Have you had infections? Have

51:27

you had, you know, gut issues, that

51:29

sort of thing. So I've been looking

51:31

there to start I've been looking there

51:34

to start your holistic. Good morning. Oh,

51:36

that's great. All right. Well, that's that's

51:38

about it. It's a bit of a

51:40

good time for. Yeah, awesome. Thanks, guys.

51:42

Thank you. See you. you