Can we talk about stress for a minute?
My team and I dig deep with our students on just about every aspect of their lifestyle for good reason: we want to get to the root cause.
We're not interested in just naming a problem. We want to find out why a problem exists. We're a little like health detectives. In an effort to do this deep dive, any idea what we often find is contributing to our students' health problems?
That's right -- stress.
When people are asked, "Why do you think you're not well? Why haven't you been able to get your health back?" Often, what comes out of their mouth is, "Well, I feel stressed all the time."
Way back in the day, that wasn't something we hard as often. Today, though, almost everyone is suffering from severe amounts of stress. Personal lives, relationships, jobs, finances...Americans, and Western society in general, are pretty stressed.
And the effects of stress are deleterious! 
I'm not even talking about extreme stress, like a divorce or a death in the family. Oftentimes, a student can pinpoint when this type of stress began, though, like "Ever since I had this accident..." or "Ever since I had this sickness..." and they've never been the same since.
But what people just don't realize is super serious is the everyday stress. The kind that just builds up, and is maintained throughout a person's everyday existence.
This form of daily stress takes a huge toll on the adrenal glands, which is our major stress organ. In turn, our cortisol levels are raised, and then we ultimately experience the physical effects of stress.
So, what are the signs that stress is taking a toll on your health? Here are a few symptoms you might notice:
❌ Getting sick more often than usual
❌ Digestive upset
❌ A leaky gut
❌ Inflammation
❌ Brain fog
❌ Anxiety
❌ Depression
❌ Weight gain or weight loss
Want to know what the #1 most pressing concern is for our students?
The absolute, number one symptom they complain of is absolutely low energy. They're just tired and drained, and never feel properly rested. Most have to fight to make it through their day, constantly pushing themselves beyond the limits. They can't do the things they love in life, because they just don't have the energy. Stress and energy levels are absolutely tied in together!
And often, this lack of energy is accompanied by an inability to burn fat. The body becomes a fat storer instead of a fat burner. It's related to chronic stress levels in the body because that stress changes our hormones.
So, the stress we're seeing today is absolutely a root cause of why there are so many health conditions in our country today.
Here's the good news! There are things that can be done naturally that will make a big, big difference in terms of your ability to deal with stress because that's the key. We're all going to encounter stress.
But how resilient can we be in dealing with stress? That will be the key in determining how stress impacts your body and health.
The absolute number one thing that I recommend to dissipate stress is exercise. We are a nation of couch potatoes! Too much computer, too much television, too much smartphone, too much sitting at a desk all day long.
We are deficient in movement, and that's what you need to do. If you want to relieve some stress, go out for a 60-minute walk. Even if it's not that long, just go out for a 15-minute walk. Go up and down some hills. Get a little bit out of breath. I promise you, over time, that simple bit of exercise will start to make a difference for you.
Another great stress management technique? I love weightlifting.
Weightlifting is a great way to help dissipate stress and rebuild the body and help in strength. So, exercise and something as simple as walking is good. I have done videos on YouTube, on what we call high intensity interval training (HIIT), or burst training. I love burst training and do it several times a week. Just look at those videos, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Burst training is a great way to alleviate stress in the brain, change your hormones, and just get rid of the buildup of stress in our bodies.
The second thing that I want to talk about, though, is just getting outside. What do you think the number one thing that we see deficiency-wise in the body is? Low Vitamin D levels. We've been told that the sun gives us cancer, the sun makes us sick. Our ancestors lived outside in the sun. They worked in the sun. They didn't get skin cancer. We've been lied to. It's not about that. It's all the other things that we're doing in our lives that are creating these issues!
Our body needs sunlight. We need sunshine. Get outside! Absorb that sunshine and fresh air. That helps to build Vitamin D levels in your body, and it's going to help to relieve stress in your life; I promise you that.
Another foundational aspect of stress is the food that we eat. If you're the type of person that is eating a lot of carbohydrates (foods that readily turn to sugar in your body like breads, biscuits, bagels, pasta, rice and cereals), you need to get away from those foods for a period of time. Focus on more what I would call cleaner carbs. Things like sweet potatoes, and then limited amounts of fruit like berries and apples. Try to go organic if you can, because we want to get rid of the toxins, which are also playing a major role in this stress epidemic that we see today.
You want to get rid of bad fats such as vegetable oil, corn oil, canola oil, and margarines. You want to go with good fats. Good fats are going to help the brain. Our brain is made of 60% fat! If you're feeling the effects of stress, you want to build your brain by eating healthy fats. That's going to be fats such as extra virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil, avocados, grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, and free-range eggs. Those healthy fats will help heal your brain, heal your body's cells, and heal your hormones.
I've said it before, but we always have to go back to the cell level of the body. Those cells are our foundation. That's where our health comes from. If you're sick, your cells are sick. Cell health is everything. If you want to be well, you have to fix the cell. Stop putting the sugar in, get rid of the bad fats, and then eat the healthy fats, which will help to heal the membrane of the cell that is typically damaged after years of unhealthy living.
Then the other thing is really, really simple. So many people that I see don't drink enough clean water. Some people don't drink any water in the day! They're counting on other types of liquids to hydrate them. But it's not the same thing. Your body needs clean water. You need to be hydrated. So, what we tell people is, try to get half of your body weight in ounces per day of water. Some of you don't need to go that high, but at a minimum, I would say 60-70 ounces of water. Good, clean spring water or filtered water is the best -- not chlorinated, fluoridated water, but a form of purified water.
I hope this helps you. If you want more information on what my team and I do, head to ColeClass.com to watch my FREE Masterclass.
