Hello athletes, welcome and thank you for tuning into the Coach Katie Danger Podcast recorded live from Omaha, Nebraska. I'm your host, Coach Katie Danger, U S army veteran, fitness coach and founder of Red H Nutrition. Here's a fact for you, 99% of us are not elite athletes. We're individuals from all backgrounds, juggling life priorities, including jobs, our families, their needs, and trying to find time to take care of ourselves every single week. When you tune in, I'll be discussing clear, concise and actionable strategies you can use to get the most from your fitness, nutrition, and mindset. So you can optimize your life without compromising your time. So athletes settle in and get comfortable. I'm here to educate, inspire, empower, and entertain you to help you enjoy the unique fitness journey that you are on.
[00:53] Again, athletes. This is coach Katie danger. Welcome and welcome to episode number 48. Thank you so much again for joining me. I just got done with my second three-day juice fests, and I got to say, I am really glad that it is over now. If you remember, I did this last year and I did applied cast about it. I learned so much from this three day juice fast, but most notably I learned that hunger is not an emergency. I was a person that would get straight up angry if I couldn't eat. And I really think I really put a lot of momentum behind this juice best, but I think it cured me of my hanger. I just don't get that way anymore. And kind of like this, once you go three days without solid food, you know that you can live without a snack, but this time around, I'm really sure what I learned.
[01:40] I've been reflecting for the past three days. It was hard. It felt just as hard as last time, but the difference was it took a lot longer to get to the point in the process where I was over it, but I got through it. My goal with both of these juice fests was to help my digestive system and take a break. I wanted to clean myself out and I wanted to let my body detox as much as it could. I was really aiming to de-stress myself, my gut, and have a reset. So it's been three days now, post fast, and I am really glad to be eating solid foods again. And I actually had a cheeseburger last night. It's been a while since I've had a cheeseburger, I've been really staying good. I'm still doing my 16, eight intermittent fasting, but I've been pretty good about things.
[02:19] So I had a cheeseburger. I was delicious. Now how about we get into today's actual podcast content, huh? This week I want to talk about adaptogens and you might've heard that word before and you might even be taking adaptogens right now. You may not know it or not, but this podcast came to fruition because it had way too many questions on what adaptions are and what they do. So I was like, this makes a perfect topic for an entire podcast episode because adaptogens there's a lot to them. But with the basics, you're going to have this information. You're able to go out and make really smart decisions. And then if you're not currently taking them, find out if they're right for you. So adaptogens, what are they? What do they do? And how can you start using them in your nutrition? In today's world of health and wellness, adaptogens, they're beginning to gain a lot of attention.
[03:05] And adaptogenic herbs are offered in everything, in anything from supplements to tonics. They put them in coffees. Now there's mushroom coffee, hot chocolates, juice bars, but what are adaptogens where they found? And really most importantly, how do they work? Do they really work? Now? Adaptogens are found in herbs, mushrooms and roots, and they come from plants. They are plant based. They are send to help the body's resilience in dealing with things that can lead to serious health conditions. And I do want to make a note. Adaptogens will be from plants. There's no such thing. As a synthetic adaptogens adaptogens are also said to play a huge role in the aging process. So a lot of adaptogens are considered to be anti-aging. And if you are in the anti-aging supplement world or medicine, world adaptogens will be a large part of what ingredients make up those products.
[03:53] But adaptogens are not new. They're just new to Western culture because we seem to be so far removed and kind of stuck in our Western medicine ways. But they've been used for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years in ancient healing practices, but they're more accessible to us. And I really think it's important that you learn about them and see if you can start adding them into your routine. So many of the plants they're made into powders, they're integrated into smoothies, teas, herbal drinks, and a lot of them are actually spices like turmeric. We've heard of turmeric because it's a spice and a lot of people use it for food. It's a natural food coloring. And because some adaptogenic herbs are just too bitter. You unite, unless they're going to bite on one of these roots and enjoy it. They make them into supplements. They make them in a tincture so you can take them easily, but still get the benefits from them.
[04:38] Now, personally, I've been using adaptogens for a really long time, but I first learned of them when I started to go to a clinical herbalist for some health concerns. But I really just didn't feel like were being addressed by the modern medicine approach. Specifically with my journey with using Prozac, I have struggled with mental illness. It is something that does run in my family, but it's just really refuse to be a victim of mental illness. And I thought I could do better than taking a pill. And honestly, I took Prozac and all my doctor kept doing is just increasing my dosage. And we got to a point where she increased me to the highest dosage that was recommended daily. I'm like, well, now what, you know, if I had been slowly increasing my dosage from 10 20, 40 milligrams over the course of a year, like what's next.
[05:21] So I knew I had to do something. So I looked into a more holistic approach. And that's when my herbalist introduced me to adaptogens. I'm just going to say this right now. I'm a believer. I'm a believer. So in short adaptogens are going to perform many functions. They trigger the production of hormones, alter the body's response to stress. And then they ensure that the entire body from brain immune system, everything functions optimally from top to bottom, your pinky toe right up all the way to the crown of your forehead. So how do they work in the body? I just mentioned that they help perform lots of different functions in the body. And ultimately what they're doing is they're helping the body overcome the influences, physical, chemical, or biological stressors. Those things could be improvements in your attention, increase in endurance, lower stress, lower stress. I mean, that's a keyword right there.
[06:08] Balancing hormone levels. Specifically, the hormone we're talking about is cortisol. It's a stress hormone. It keeps this hormone and then other stress hormones and their levels in check. It helps you fight fatigue. So if you're battling physical or emotional stress, it just causes you to feel heavy and weighed down. Adaptogens are going to be something you want to look into. They also combat the impact that stress has on cognitive function stimulates mental performance, normalizes body functions, boosts the immune system fights the symptoms caused by elevated cortisol, anxiety, depression, fatigue, high blood pressure, insulin resistance obesity helps improve physical stamina as well. So if you're able to improve your energy levels, imagine what more you could do in your exercise routine. They will improve the function of organs, such as the liver and adrenal glands, the things that help rid the waste out of our body so that such doesn't sit in our body.
[07:01] It improves the function of all body systems, the GI tract, the nervous system, everything think of balanced like this. So homeostasis, have you ever heard the word homeostasis? It's just simply a balance getting back to a balance and we throw that word balance out there so much in daily life. Like, Oh, I just want to find a balance between this and that. And we often, when we talk about stress, like if we're talking to our friend and we say we had a really stressful day, it's usually because something took up so much of our time and it really wasn't enjoyable. It's like we weren't able to hit all the points in our life that we enjoy. We had to essentially focus in one area and it brought us a lot of stress. So ultimately adaptogens help us overcome stress. It improves our body's response to external internal stressors.
[07:43] So, you know, if our homeostasis is at one level, that's, you know, where our stress is getting higher and higher, it brings it down. It helps lower that stress helps us manage it. Now, of course, this does not impact a person's experience of the stressful events. So if you go to work and your boss is a jerk, like it's not going to change your boss, but what it will do, it's going to help you improve the way your body responds, because it is not about reacting in life. It's how do we respond in a response is usually something that's calm, it's logical and it's rational. We're a reaction is you don't think it's fight or flight related in. Sometimes you end up regretting your reaction. So I like to use the word response and adaptogens and how it brings us back to a balance so we can handle our external internal stressors more appropriately. Now I mentioned a few moments
[08:32] About cortisol, the stress hormone and how managing cortisol levels actually helps with stress. So let's talk about stress a little bit. Hey, I know, and you know that I talk a lot about using supplements on your fitness journey and reaching your full potential. How I believe they're integral pieces of the puzzle to reaching your best self and best fitness results. But do you know how supplements fit into your plan? Do you know what to take for your goals and how much of a supplement you should take if you've ever had any of those questions and you want to know how supplements can work for you and your goals, go to your fitness supplements.com and take the free free, free three point personalized supplement assessment. And with just a few questions, you'll have a complete personalized supplement recommendation in less than 60 seconds. You'll know more about how supplements fit into your fitness goals. What's safe and what's effective and perfect for you. So type in your fitness supplements.com in your internet browser, take the free assessment and get on the fast track to your best fitness results. I know we all experience it every single day in some way, shape or form.
[09:40] Nobody is immune from stress and stress is considered a physiological condition it's associated with the nervous system, the endocrine system, the adrenal system, the immune systems stress can impact anything negatively. Now I don't need to think all stress is negative, right? Stress can promote us to do bigger and better things, but it's got to be at the right dose. We're talking about the stress that puts us over where we can't think straight. We have a negative emotional response to even minute things in our life. That's the kind of stress I'm talking about. The stress can be an external event, an environmental condition, or a chemical, or even a biological agent that triggers the body. So, you know, if eat bad food, spoiled food, that's going to be a chemical physiological response in the body. So stress is lots of different things, but changes that occur due to the release of cortisol and that's considered a stress hormone.
[10:33] It also includes heart rate and blood pressure. And if you're able to better control your heart rate, your respiration rate is better. Your energy levels are better, and we don't have those fight or flight reactions to things, right? Examples that may induce the fight or flight reaction in the body are the stressors that I just mentioned. Environmental factors. This could be like really high or low temperatures. A lot of times, people who jump in really, really cold water, they experience shock, right? There's going to be a hormonal reactionary, stress reaction in the body. Biological factors, if you get sick, or if you get injured chemical agents that includes drugs, tobacco, or alcohol. So if you're a smoker or if you're a heavy drinker and you're listening to this, a really, I'm not saying an easy way, but a simple way to improve the stress in your life is to remove tobacco and remove alcohol.
[11:25] And of course, illicit drugs, mental issues, focusing on negative things, constant rumination, over bad events, loss of a job. You perceive things as threats when they're really not. So you kind of lose that rational nature that you should have physical events. Like if you're not getting enough sleep that can trigger the stress hormone. And then just daily stressful events that add up in our life. Every single day, traffic families, relationships when your reaction to stress is not adequate or when the stress is too overwhelming, long-term this is when disease starts to happen or even death. And this is maladaptive stress. I just mentioned there's good stress, right? It helps us do bigger and better things stress on the body in right quantities and doses helps us gain muscle mass. But this is maladaptive stress. The stuff that bogs us down, we can't think straight. And we just simply can't be our best.
[12:16] That is what adaptogens are helping our body overcome is maladaptive stress. So let's give some examples of adaptogenic herbs. Now there's many different adaptogens. And each has said to have its own specific action. I chose, I just chose some of the more common ones that you'll find in everyday. And one of the easier ones to obtain these are examples of common adaptogens. And then the action they are said to help produce in the body Aster galas root it's said to help reduce stress and is anti-aging because it protects the telomeres. Now telomeres could be a whole nother podcast episode that we talk about, but essentially we have a limited length in our telomeres, our DNA they're linked with aging and the located at the end of each chromosome. But these telomeres they're fixed once they're gone, they're gone. And that's, that's essentially what death is when we lose all of our telomeres in and they're gone.
[13:07] So Astor galas, fruit helps protect telomeres, big deal, big deal, right there, ashwagandha you might've heard of this one before. You might not know how to spell it, but I'm sure you've heard of it before ashwagandha. It's used to help the body cope with daily stress. You can take it as a powder. So like a powdered pill or a lot of people take it as a tincture Siberian, ginseng. And it's really important to make the delineation here. Siberian didn't sing. It provides energy and helps overcome exhaustion. Holy Bazell helps with relaxation, stress relief and anxiety, Rhodiola, Rosea, it lowers anxiety, fatigue, combats depression. The next room we'll talk about are actually mushrooms, cordyceps, reishi, and lion's mane cordyceps in particular, it's a specific type of mushroom. It helps fight stress and balance hormones. Reishi is a specific type of mushroom and it helps the body adapt to stress and promotes a healthy sleep patterns.
[14:03] So specifically, if you're struggling with sleep, that reishi mushroom would be something to look into. For sure. Lion's mane. Lion's mane is great for boosting cognitive function. It helps decrease that brain fog. If you just can't think straight, you got to sit down and do a project. The last thing you want to deal with is not being able to think straight turmeric. I love tumeric. I mentioned it earlier. It can be used as a spice on food, a natural food coloring, but really what the powerhouse tumor does. It helps the body maintain healthy levels of corticosterone, which is another stress hormone. And it helps fight inflammation in the body. A lot of joint and tissue support supplements use turmeric because it's a natural anti-inflammatory and wild yam wild yam is great for females. It helps regulate female hormones, licorice root licorice, fruit increases, energy and endurance boosts the immune system.
[14:54] And it stimulates the adrenal glands to promote those healthy cortisol levels. Keeping your stress in check and Bacopa monnieri, it's a natural anti-anxiety and antidepressant it protects the brain improves memory and then other functions of cognition. So you got a list of some great adaptogens. You can start adding and you know, after going through all of this, if you're looking for help with managing your stress and finding balance in your life, adaptogens are going to be a great addition. And I got a really easy way. You can start adding adaptogens if you don't know necessarily where to start, but you know, you definitely know you want to start combating stress because stress affects everything and everything is everything I want to tell you about reddish nutrition's factor 10. I specifically formulated factor 10 for a athlete who lives in today's world. It's a world that throws so much at us.
[15:42] Our stress levels are really high. It's a world where pollution is a real threat in our urban communities. It's just built for today's athlete, living in today's world 2021. As we know it. And just two pills a day, you're going to get reishi. You're going to get cordyceps. You're going to get lion's mane and you're going to get turmeric and ashwagandha. That is five, five adaptogens. You can start adding immediately, and it's just two pills a day, but you guys, I want you to know no matter what adaptogens you choose, use this information, make a smart decision and start adding them to your routine. And remember if you choose the factor 10 multivitamin from ready to nutrition. The one that I specifically formulated, all you got to do is go to reddish nutrition.com. Use the coupon code, coach, Katie danger, all one word. You're gonna save 30% on your very, very first order.
[16:29] So 30% off this bottle, great and easy way to start adding adaptogens in your life. I do want to mention now, like with every supplement, with every earth, mineral vitamin you take, they're not going to fix the major things in your life. Adapting to, they're not going to fix the stressors in your life. It will help you though to become more resilient while you learn to manage the external and internal stressors that life throws at you. There is a lot of mental work that you have to do, but adaptogens can make this journey easier. It's all about being 1% better every single day. And eventually when you start adding those 1% up, you're going to be healthier. You're going to be happier and you're gonna be in more control of your life and your health. So after this entire episode, adaptogens, what are they? And then how you can start adding them into your routine.
[17:16 ] I want to tell you I'm a big fan of adaptogens. If you couldn't have already been. I picked that up already. I am a big fan of what they are and what they've done for me and what I believe that they can do for you. So athletes, that's the end of another episode of this podcast. I really appreciate you joining me. If there's anything I can help you with, please send me an email to katie@coachkatiedanger.com. And if you haven't yet get your free personalized suffering report and supplement recommendations@yourfitnesssupplements.com. It's just 30 seconds. You answer a few questions and you're going to get a specific report on the supplements that are for you and your routine. In the meantime athletes, this is coach Katie danger. We'll talk to you again next week, over and out.
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