Vitality Unleashed: The Functional Medicine Podcast

Enjoy The Holidays Without Wrecking Your Health

• Dr. Kumar from LifeWellMD.com • Season 1 • Episode 205

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December shouldn’t demand that you choose between joy and health. We unpack a clear, science-backed plan to enjoy the parties, desserts, and late nights while keeping energy steady, mood calm, and immunity strong. Our focus is on three systems that take the hardest hits during the holidays: cortisol regulation, blood sugar control, and gut integrity.

We break down why chronic stress is different from the short bursts our bodies evolved to handle, and how elevated cortisol quietly drives cravings, fat gain, and brain fog. You’ll hear why strict dieting often backfires by spiking stress hormones, plus fast ways to tell your body it’s safe: five-minute breath protocols, emotion labeling, and the kind of playful movement that boosts heart rate variability without adding more strain. We also dig into sleep as the nightly reset button for your nervous system, with practical cues like consistent timing and a true dark hour before bed to protect melatonin.

Then we turn to the plate. Learn how to flatten glucose spikes without skipping favorites: pair carbs with protein, fat, and fiber; use vinegar and pickled foods to slow starch breakdown; and transform leftovers into a metabolic ally with resistant starch from cooked-and-cooled potatoes, rice, and pasta. At mealtime, the sequence matters—vegetables and protein first, starch last—for a dramatic reduction in post-meal swings. Finally, we protect the gut barrier when sugar and alcohol are everywhere. We share the 80-20 strategy, easy wins with fermented foods, and a clear distinction between digestive enzymes for comfort and probiotics for long-term microbiome balance, including targeted strains like Akkermansia muciniphila and Clostridium butyricum.

Walk away with a practical holiday health blueprint: manage cortisol with calm and sleep, master glucose with kitchen science and meal order, and fortify your gut with fiber, fermentation, and the right supplements. If the season tends to derail your progress, this conversation gives you simple levers to enjoy more and crash less. If you found these strategies helpful, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a calmer December, and leave a review to help others find it.   

If this kind of science‑based, natural medicine content is helpful, consider staying connected beyond our Substack account i doctorkumar.substack.com . That’s where more insights and updates from LifeWellMD get shared.

Disclaimer:
The information provided in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your supplement regimen or health routine. Individual needs and reactions vary, so it’s important to make informed decisions with the guidance of your physician.

Connect with Us:
If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might benefit. For more insights and updates, visit our website at Lifewellmd.com.

Stay Informed, Stay Healthy:
Remember, informed choices lead to better health. Until next time, be well and take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Deep Dive, the show where we take, you know, a whole stack of sources, articles, research, high-level medical strategy, and we really just boil it down to the most important, actionable knowledge for you.

SPEAKER_01:

And today we're tackling what we're calling the holiday health blueprint. This time of year, it's just it's a paradox, isn't it? So much joy, but also so much stress, rich foods, and our routines just get completely demolished.

SPEAKER_00:

Totally. You don't want to miss out, but you also don't want to crawl into the new year feeling completely depleted, like you're starting from scratch.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

So our mission today, and we're drawing a lot from insights from longevity experts like Dr. Kumar's team down in Florida, is not to tell you to restrict everything. It's about using science to create smarter strategies.

SPEAKER_01:

Simple hacks.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Little culinary tricks, mindful adjustments, targeted support, all things that let you enjoy the end of the year without totally wrecking your long-term wellness goals.

SPEAKER_01:

And we've kind of isolated three internal systems that really take the biggest hit during the holidays. That's your stress hormones, specifically cortisol, your blood sugar balance, and then your gut health, that foundational ecosystem. Okay. So understanding these three and applying the simple hacks we've uncovered, that is your shortcut to feeling resilient, not ruined, come January 1st.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, let's jump right in then. Let's talk about the invisible enemy of the holiday season, cortisol. We think of stress as, you know, emotional, the busy calendar, that one family member, but cortisol is a biological hit.

SPEAKER_01:

It is, and often we don't even realize it's happening.

SPEAKER_00:

So for everyone listening, what exactly is cortisol? I mean, if it's a natural hormone, why does it have such a bad rap?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, cortisol is critical. I mean, we need it. It's a glucocorticoid, which just means it influences glucose metabolism and it's essential for survival. Yes, it's the fight or flight hormone that gives you a surge of energy, but it also controls so much of your daily life. It regulates blood pressure, acts as an anti-inflammatory, and this is key, it's the primary hormone that dictates your wake-up cycle, your circadian rhythm.

SPEAKER_00:

So you need it to get out of bed in the morning.

SPEAKER_01:

You do. You need it to be in balance.

SPEAKER_00:

So it sounds like a hero hormone when it's working right. Where does it all go wrong for you know the average person trying to get through December?

SPEAKER_01:

The problem is the shift from acute stress to chronic stress. Think about it ancestrally. Stress was a burst. A predator appears, you run, the danger passes, and your cortisol goes back to baseline.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. The threat is gone.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. But today, our stress is just it's a 24-7 loop. It's emotional worry, it's chemical toxins, physical overload, and the body. It can't tell the difference between fighting a saber-toothed tiger and worrying about a deadline or feeling overwhelmed by social events.

SPEAKER_00:

And when that cortisol level is just stuck on high, what's the what's the real biological consequence we should be worried about?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the list is pretty long, but metabolically, chronic high cortisol drives up your blood sugar, it increases fat storage, especially that dangerous visceral fat, and it suppresses your immune system.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell And mentally.

SPEAKER_01:

Mentally, it's linked to anxiety, depression, cognitive impairment.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That holiday brain fog we all joke about, that's often a symptom.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell, okay. Let's unpack this because here is where the research gets really interesting, especially for anyone trying to manage their weight over the holidays. The sources show that the very things people do to manage weight can actually make the biological stress worse.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the huge disconnect we need to talk about. So studies looking at dieting behaviors found two really striping things. First, just the act of monitoring your calorie intake like meticulously logging every single bite in an app, that alone significantly increased people's perceived psychological stress. It's mentally draining.

SPEAKER_00:

So the food tracking app is actually giving me anxiety that that checks out.

SPEAKER_01:

It is. But then the physiological impact of restriction was even more profound. When you restrict calories, say down to a very low 1200 calorie-a-day diet, that significantly increased the total daily biological output of cortisol. Your body basically interprets that severe restriction as a famine, a survival threat. Wow. And so cortisol ramps up to try and scavenge energy from anywhere it can.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Ross Powell That is such a critical insight. So you might feel in control because you're following a diet, but biologically your body is just screaming crisis and pumping out stress hormones. So if dieting itself is a stressor, what are the non-dieting, the anti-stress strategies from the sources that actually work?

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell We found three really powerful lifestyle pillars, and they're all about telling your body you are safe. The first one is mindfulness and calm.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. But the holidays aren't calm. If you only have 10 minutes, what actually works?

SPEAKER_01:

That's the thing. The sources emphasize efficiency, simple practices, listening to mantra or classical music, mindful breathing, even just five minutes of that four, seven, eight breathing can make a difference. Or gentle, restored, and yin yoga. And here's a crucial point. Studies show that simply recognizing and naming an emotion, just observing, I feel frustrated right now, that interrupts the fight or flight cycle and can chemically lower cortisol.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell So it's not about suppressing it, it's about acknowledging it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. And that connects right back to that personalized approach, you know, identifying and addressing the root trigger.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Okay. What about the second pillar? Sleep always gets thrown out the window during the holidays.

SPEAKER_01:

Sleep quality. It is the absolute reset button for your cortisol. And quality is so much more important than duration, especially if your routine is all over the place.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell What are the non-negotiables then?

SPEAKER_01:

Two things. Try to maintain regular bed and wake times as much as possible. Staying in sync with the sun helps regulate that natural cortisol peak in the morning. And second, total darkness. Even a little bit of blue light exposure from a phone or a TV can suppress melatonin and mess with that nightly drop in cortisol that's supposed to happen. So no screens in the hour before bed, period.

SPEAKER_00:

And the third strategy for just immediate relief.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

When you just need to break that stress cycle right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Play and moderate exercise. And I have to stress the word moderate. If your daily stress is already high, adding a high-intensity workout on top of it is just more physical stress.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. It's counterproductive.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. So keep exercise, mindful walking, stretching. But honestly, the quickest cortisol reduction comes from joy, from play.

SPEAKER_00:

Laughter.

SPEAKER_01:

Laughter, genuine connection with loved ones, watching a comedy. Those are some of the fastest ways to improve your heart rate variability, lower cortisol, and even boost your immune function. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a great segue, actually. So we've handled the mental plate, but now we have to deal with the actual dinner plate. Those rich, high-carb holiday meals, they send our blood glucose on a total roller coaster. So for the listener trying to manage their metabolic health, what are the strategies to master that holiday plate?

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Right. So we're pivoting from hormones to the mechanics of glucose. The goal is simple. We want to flatten that blood sugar curve, attenuate the glycemic response. And we've got three sets of strategies here. What you combine with your food, how you prepare it, and the order in which you eat it.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Let's start with combining. We all know about fiber, but how do we strategically use fats, proteins, and something like vinegar?

SPEAKER_01:

So anytime you combine a high-carb food with fat, protein, or fiber, you're deliberately slowing down digestion. Protein and fat both delay gastric emptying.

SPEAKER_00:

So the food just stays in your stomach once.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. And they create a physical barrier that limits how quickly enzymes can get in there and break down the starch. Aaron Powell Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And what about the vinegar hack? That one sounds almost too easy to be effective.

SPEAKER_01:

It really does, but it's surprisingly powerful. The acetic acid in vinegar actually helps inhibit some of the enzymes that break starch down into glucose.

SPEAKER_00:

So just adding vinegar to a meal.

SPEAKER_01:

Or pickled foods, yeah. Adding it to a meal with high glycemic index carbs can dramatically flatten that spike. One study we looked at showed a 35% decrease in the glycemic index when just 20 grams of vinegar was eaten with white bread.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. So a vinegary salad dressing, a side of pickles, some sauerkraut.

SPEAKER_01:

All of it works. It's a health tool that's probably already on the holiday table.

SPEAKER_00:

That is a fantastic tip. Okay, now let's talk about prep and storage. How can we treat the food before it even hits the plate to change its impact?

SPEAKER_01:

This is where we get into the power of resistant starch. Now, even just cooking starchy foods like pasta or potatoes al dente with shorter cooking times, that already helps. But the real magic happens after you cook it.

SPEAKER_00:

With refrigeration, right? Tell us about that hack.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. So when you cook starches, rice, pasta, potatoes, and then you cool them in the fridge for about 24 hours, you allow something called resistant starch type 3 or RS3 to form.

SPEAKER_00:

And that structure is different.

SPEAKER_01:

Fundamentally different. It literally resists digestion in your small intestine, so it bypasses that whole glucose absorption process and acts more like a prebiotic fiber.

SPEAKER_00:

So using leftovers is basically a biological hack, like curled potato salad or reheating yesterday's potatoes. Does reheating kill the benefit?

SPEAKER_01:

Not completely, but you have to be careful. If you reheat those foods moderately so, keeping the temperature below about 130 degrees Celsius or 265 Fahrenheit, the benefit stays largely intact.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell So leftover potatoes are actually better for your blood sugar than fresh ones.

SPEAKER_01:

Much kinder, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, and finally, the food order rule. I think this is probably the most innovative strategy for when you're sitting down to that huge holiday plate. Why does the sequence matter so much?

SPEAKER_01:

It matters because of how fast simple carbs get absorbed. Research confirms that if you eat your fiber, fat, and protein, so your vegetables and your meat, before you eat your starchy carbs, you dramatically slow everything down.

SPEAKER_00:

And how dramatic are we talking? Is it a small change or Oh, it's massive. Really?

SPEAKER_01:

Truly. Consuming vegetables and protein before the carbs has been shown to reduce those post-meal blood glucose spikes by up to 73% compared to eating the carbs first.

SPEAKER_00:

73% is a game changer.

SPEAKER_01:

It is. The fiber and protein create this sort of this mesh in your stomach that just slows the whole meal journey down.

SPEAKER_00:

So the practical takeaway is don't dive straight into the stuffing in the rolls. Start with the green beans and the turkey and save the high carb stuff for last. You still get to eat everything. You just you've armored your system first.

SPEAKER_01:

Precisely. It's strategy, not denial.

SPEAKER_00:

Which brings us perfectly to our third pillar, the inner ecosystem. Gut health, all those rich foods, the extra sugar, the alcohol that has to be devastating for the microbiome.

SPEAKER_01:

It really is. And the damage is deeper than just feeling bloated. That holiday diet high in sugar, refined carbs, alcohol, is basically a huge buffet for all the unwanted tenants in your gut, like yeast and bad bacteria.

SPEAKER_00:

Things like candido or SIBO.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm. But the more immediate risk is that all those common holiday staples, sugar, gluten, dairy, alcohol, they're all known to increase the permeability of your gut lining. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00:

Which is what we call leaky gut. Why is that so critical for our seasonal wellness?

SPEAKER_01:

Because leaky gut is a primary driver of chronic inflammation. And here's the key fact for your immune system. Up to 80% of your entire immune system lives in your gut. So if your gut lining is compromised and inflammatory stuff is leaking into your bloodstream, your immune defense is automatically lowered. Right at the time of year you're exposed to all the winter bugs. Protecting your gut is protecting your immunity.

SPEAKER_00:

So how do we use our plate to defend the gut, even when we're indulging?

SPEAKER_01:

We just fall back on those simple strategic choices. First, the 80-20 rule, you know, focus on high-quality choices most of the time, and that minimizes the impact of the occasional indulgence. And the actionable tips are easy. Don't skip the vegetables, eat them first for their prebiotic fiber. Eat that resistant starch again. Cooked and cooled potatoes are great for feeding good gut bacteria. And try to integrate fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, or pickles. They provide beneficial bacteria to help keep the bad guys in check.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so when diet and stress are in place, supplements can offer some targeted support. Let's clarify the difference between digestive enzymes and probiotics. They get confused all the time, but they do completely different jobs.

SPEAKER_01:

This is such an essential clarification. So, digestive enzymes, think of them as non-living proteins. They work in your upper GI, tract mouth, stomach, small intestine. Their only job is to break large food molecules down into tiny, absorbable nutrients.

SPEAKER_00:

So they're the demolition crew.

SPEAKER_01:

Perfect analogy. They're the demo crew. If you feel full or gassy right after a big, rich meal, a broad spectrum enzyme taken at the beginning of the meal can really help with that initial breakdown.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so then what are probiotics?

SPEAKER_01:

Probiotics are the gardeners. They are live microorganisms, bacteria or yeast, and they colonize your lower GI tract, the large intestine. Their job is to balance the whole ecosystem, support the immune system, and even regulate things like glucose metabolism. They're best taken daily for consistent management.

SPEAKER_00:

So there's a synergy there. The enzymes do the prep work upstairs, breaking everything down, which creates a better environment for the probiotic gardeners to thrive down below.

SPEAKER_01:

Precisely. And this is where that personalized medicine approach really shines. For longevity and targeted health goals, you don't just grab a generic probiotic. The sources emphasize specific strains that target metabolic health, like Acromanzium mucinophila and Clostridium butyricum. Those are known to strengthen the gut barrier and regulate glucose. But getting that level of targeted support, that really requires expert guidance.

SPEAKER_00:

This has been an incredibly deep dive, a really comprehensive holiday health strategy. It's all about preparation, not surrender.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. The whole holiday health blueprint really boils down to three things. First, manage your stress with mindfulness and sleep. Second, optimize those carb-heavy meals with smart kitchen science cooling starches, vinegar, and eating your protein first. Right. And third, support your gut with fiber, fermented foods, and targeted supplements like enzymes and probiotics.

SPEAKER_00:

And we can't forget that final takeaway. The science is so clear. There is a serious disconnect between what we perceive as stress and what is actual biological stress. You might feel so in control restricting your calories, but the science shows that the biological stress response, that rise in cortisol, is working directly against your long-term health goals. So listen to the science, not just your feeling of control.

SPEAKER_01:

And if you're ready to take these kinds of high-level science-backed strategies and really integrate them into a personalized plan for lasting health, especially if you're dealing with chronic issues that get worse with stress or diet, that is the exact specialization of Dr. Kumar and the team at LifeWellMD.com.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

They focus on finding those root-cause solutions that work for your unique body chemistry.

SPEAKER_00:

Don't wait until January 1st to try and clean up the damage. If you're ready to put these strategies into action and design a plan for lasting health and longevity, call Dr. Kumar's clinic today. Start your wellness journey now by calling 561 210 9999. That's 561 2109999.