A Brazil Nut a Day Keeps the Thyroid Happy!

Myself and many of the client that I work with seem to have some thyroid deficiency. In fact, An estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease. Up to 60 percent of those with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition. Women are five to eight times more likely than men to have thyroid problems. One woman in eight will develop a thyroid disorder during her lifetime. Let’s do a little deep dive on how the thyroid works in order to understand how to better support proper thyroid function.

The thyroid is first regulated by your hypothalamus by way of thyroid releasing hormone (TRH). TRH signals the anterior pituitary to release thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). TSH then signals the thyroid to release thyroxine (T4). T4 has little affect on cells metabolic function and must be first converted to its more active form Triiodothyronine (T3 ). T3 moves into cells of the body and upregulates metabolism through gene expression.

The body regulates this process through a negative feedback loop. When T3 accumulates in the blood, it signals the pituitary and hypothalamus to stop producing TRH and TSH respectively.

It is important to support thyroid function by having enough essential trace minerals in your diet. One of these trace minerals is selenium. Several studies have shown that supplementing with selenium reduces thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO), as well as the severity of hypothyroidism symptoms. Additionally, T4 to T3 or rT3 conversion is catalyzed by 3 different selenium-dependent thyroid deiodinases referred to as D1, D2, and D3.

The easiest way to get sufficient selenium into your diet is the brazil nut. Brazil nuts are rich in selenium, with just one nut containing 96 mcg, or 175% of the RDI. Most other nuts provide less than 1 mcg, on average (3). By have one nut, you can support your thyroid health!

There is so much more to thyroid function and metabolic health than just selenium, and it helps to have a guide along the way to save you time, money, and stress! Click the link below to get started on your nutrition journey today!

OverHyped vs. UnderHyped Vol. 1

One of my clients and mentors Professor Scott Galloway’s most recent presentation at Code featured overhyped and underhyped concepts in the world of tech and business. This inspired me to consider all of the overhyped and underhyped areas of health, nutrition, and exercise. In my first edition of Overhyped vs. Underhyped, I’d like to tackle Water (overhyped) and Salt (underhyped).

Why is water overhyped? Anecdotally, I have seen few clients that I work with not consume any water. Again, I am biased because I don’t usually work with traditional western population. I am usually working with or consulting fitter populations who already have a basic idea of hydration. As a baseline, I try to have clients drink 1/2 their bodyweight in ounces each day in fluid (i.e. 180lb. person would drink 90 ounces, roughly, 11 glasses of water daily). Consuming adequate water doesn’t worry me too much as this benchmark doesn’t factor in fluids we take in from food. Watermelon for instance is 92% water. So if you eat 12oz. of watermelon, you just consumed over a cup of fluid. If you are eating a diet that is filled with fruits and veggies and you are at least considering your water intake, you are probably fine with your hydration. That’s why I believe for most ageless athletes, hydration is overhyped.

Why is salt underhyped? Since ageless athletes and more fit populations consume more whole foods (not processed foods), they consume minimal amounts of salt (if they aren’t supplementing or salting their foods). In fact, the majority of our sodium intake in western diets, over 70%, comes from packaged, processed foods and restaurant meals. Since whole foods are minimally processed, you aren’t taking in much salt. “But isn’t salt bad for me?” you may ask. Actually, if you didn’t have any salt, you’d be dead. “But what about high blood pressure? Doesn’t a diet high in sodium cause by blood pressure to sky rocket?” The theory is that high sodium diets cause the body to retain extra water, which puts stress on the heart and blood vessels and can cause blood pressure to rise. For this reason, some providers tell their patients to limit salt to 2,300 mg a day (or less) (whole30.com). Roughly 1 in 4 people are salt sensitive, meaning increases in sodium will cause your blood pressure to increase (if your healthcare practitioner has diagnosed you as sensitive, listen to them!). However, if you find yourself in any of the following categories, you may see benefit increasing salt:

• Those following a low-carbohydrate or keto diet since they excrete more sodium

• Those who are nursing and thus losing water and electrolytes at feedings

• Those who sweat a lot and/or workout in hot/humid climates

• Strength and endurance athletes

• Those under chronic stress, experiencing “adrenal fatigue” (known as HPA-axis dysfunction) may feel better since low sodium levels elevates stress hormones.

• Those with low blood pressure may find it helps with orthostatic hypotension (feeling dizzy upon standing)

In the near future, I will be interviewing the CEO of a great company LMNT, that specializes in salt supplementation, so stay tuned!

If you liked what you saw hear, or you learned something, please share this with a friend! If you are constantly feeling overwhelmed by nutrition, it may be time to meet with an expert who can save you time and energy. Click the link below to get started today!

Hire A Coach NOW! with Dr. Sean Pastuch

Welcome back! In this week's episode, my special guest is Active Life CEO Dr. Sean Pastuch.

In our conversation, Sean and I talk about what a ageless athlete could do right now to improve their fitness and performance, how coaches are not bringing value to the table, and the paradigm of fitness now, and for the future. If you would like to learn more about Active Life visit activelifeathlete.com or message Sean on Facebook/Instagram. If you like the podcast please subscribe, rate, review, and share with a friend!

Getting Rid of Parasites!

Welcome back!

In this week's episode, Scott and I talk about our guts! More specifically our own accounts of dealing with our microbiome, parasites, overgrowths, and more! We cover our testing, symptoms, and protocols for getting better.

If you like this podcast, please subscribe, rate, review, and share with a friend!

Dr. Koz Heels Our Gut!

I believe that investing in my health has enormous benefits to my productivity and quality of life. There are many aspects of health that you can look at and one of the best ones is a comprehensive stool analysis. In a CSA, you take a sample of your stool, send it to a lab, and they analyze your stool for various proteins, bacteria, fungi, and markers. This information is sent to a healthcare practitioner who has an expertise in gut health and together you come up with a prescription that will bring you closer toward your goals.

Lauren and recently did a stool analysis with a friend of Floch Fitness Dr. Peter Kozlowski. In this video, you’ll see our telemedicine follow-up with Dr. Koz. Lauren and I learned so much about our gut health, and we are currently implementing the prescription now (we will be making a follow-up video soon).

If you have been dealing with gut or digestive issues for a while, there is no time like the present to make a change! Dr. Koz is taking on clients and he is wonderful to work with.

If you found this valuable, please feel free to share it with a friend, coworker, or loved one who is dealing with stomach and gut issues. There is help out there!

Does Working Out Later In The Day Effect Sleep?

In my 11+ years as a fitness coach, I have trained individuals at all times of the day, but I never came across sound research determining if there was a detriment to sleep by training too late in the day (versus training too early). In a recent study publish by Concordia University, postdoc fellow Emmanuel Frimpong reports, “Overall, our analysis showed that when exercise ended two hours before bedtime, there were sleep benefits, including the promotion of sleep onset and increased sleep duration.” Frimpong goes onto say, ”On the other hand, when exercise ended less than two hours before bedtime, sleep was negatively impacted. It took longer for participants to fall asleep and sleep duration decreased.”

MY TAKE: I don’t think there is a right or wrong time to train, but as CMO of Inside Tracker Dr. Gil Blander said in our recent podcast, “The problem with the fitness community is they sacrifice their sleep for exercise.” As long as your sleep is not effected by the time you train, I think you are good to go. But if you are forced to wake up early to workout thus reducing the duration of quality sleep, or you are working out so late in the day that you are negatively impacted your ability to get to sleep, there is room for improvement. Personally, I find the most successful clients that I train workout about 30 minutes after waking from 7-9 hours of sleep. For these clients, that are able to:

1. Get quality sleep

2. Wake up and become oriented and get some fluids or stimulants into their body

3. They don’t allow other activities to get in the way of their workout

4. They aren’t working out so late that it becomes challenging to get to sleep

If you are having a hard time finding the “right time” to workout, I can help. One of the benefits of working together is that I can help identify areas of your life that are getting in the way of you being your best self and work toward creating real change through action steps. Click the link below to get started today!

Coaching the Crossfit Games Champion with Adam Neiffer

Welcome back!

In this week's episode, my special guests are Scott Hagnas (www.scotthagnastraining.com) and Adam Neiffer (www.crossfitfortvancouver.com). Adam is the owner of Crossfit Fort Vancouver, Crossfit Games Athlete, and coach of the 2021 NoBull Crossfit Games Champion Justin Medeiros.

In this conversation we cover:

-How Adam got into Crossfit

-What he learned competing that he takes into coaching

-Why he took on Justin as an athlete

-Justin's strengths and weaknesses and how they attack them

...and so much more!

If you like this podcast, please subscribe, rate, review, and share with a friend!

Your microbiota is preventing you from losing weight...

In a recent article published by the American Society for Microbiology, researchers looked at the influence of gut microbiome on weight loss. A major finding was that the ability of the gut microbiome to break down starches was increased in people who did not lose weight. Moreover, in those that lost more weight, these individuals processed genes that help bacteria grow faster, multiply, replicate and assemble cell walls.

In essence, researchers are finding that your gut biome plays a significant roll in your ability to lose weight. Moreover, if you are having trouble losing weight, you may have to change your gut biome first before you may be able to lose weight. The question is, “ What is the best route to changing one’s gut biome to promote weight loss.”

When looking at healing the gut, and changing the supporting a healthy gut biome, there is one inexpensive and powerful place to start: an elimination diet. For an elimination diet, I look to one of the leaders in this area Dr. Peter Kozlowski. In a recent interview with Dr. Koz, he explained that by removing all potentially troublesome foods for 30 days, then reintroducing them back one by one, we give our immune system and gut biome a chance to “calm down” and reacclimate. If you have had issues with gut health, this would be a great place to start and Unfunc Your Gut breaks down exactly how to do this. You can pick up your own copy here.

The process of reengineering your health is challenging on your own, and it’s extremely beneficial to have a guide along the way to save you time, energy, and money. Click the link below to change your gut now!