Come on in! The water’s freezing!
Photo by eagle102.net
Brrrr!!!! Doesn’t this look like fun? Jumping into icy cold water and hanging out for a bit? Many of you know I have been following the Leptin Reset for a few months. Less than a month ago, Jack Kruse came out with a new twist on this. You can read his first post on it here. I’m still trying to understand all of the science behind it but I am excited at the possibility of it fixing my thyroid.
Mercola writes about it here.
The basic premise is that you teach your body to adapt to the cold using ice water. This has massive impact on how your body works. If I can believe what he has said this will increase your metabolism, make your thyroid work better, fix your adrenal issues, resolve diabetes, and melt away fat. It seems to be too good to be true. I think it will be fun to try it out together.
Jack K “…acute cold causes rapid leptin sensitivity! It means that fat is forced to liberate leptin from fat cells to slowly lower its serum levels as long as the cold stimulus is applied safely. “
Jack K. “If you have a gastric bypass, T2D, chronic pain and on narcotics, adrenal fatigue, or poor sleep this addition will likely shock you at how well it helps you.”
I’m going to invite you to join me in this. Step one is to put your face into 50 degree water. You do this for 2 weeks, working on increasing your time. He has some guidelines on his website about how to make sure you are doing this safely. I want to encourage you to read it for yourself to understand it for yourself. Always check with your Dr if you have any heath conditions before starting anything new.
So this is the basic proticol that I am inviting people to do with me.
Once a day, after a high fat/protein meal drink 16-32 oz of ice water. Next, get a sink (or bowl) full of water that is 50-55 degrees. Add ice to your cold tap water if necessary. You want to do this with a clean face. Put your face into the water as long as you can stand it and then stop. Your goal is to get your skin temperature down to 50-55 degrees.
Jack says “When you get there watch your skin color when it begins to get to pale pink or white its going south of 50-55 degrees. End the session then. In the beginning your sessions will end faster than later because you’re cold adapting.”
That is as far as I will take the challenge for now. We can talk about going further once we get to 2 weeks. Jack K says that it takes 2 weeks to get cold adapted.
I’ll start the challenge next Monday March 12. Who’s in? Post in the comments if you think you want to try this with me.
I have been reading the comments from people who are already doing this and their testimonials are just incredible. I am feeling pretty weak lately and my rt3 problem is a real big issue. I was able to ask Dr K if he thought I was a good candidate for this (do I have to be stronger first). His response was “You need this now!” So here I go.
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I have adrenal fatigue and poor sleep. I started on Monday, tonight after dinner will be my third face dunking. I am only drinking 16 ounces of ice water since Dr. Kruse says 16-32 ounces (2 cups at one time is hard enough!!!). I am not sure I am doing it right, but last night (2nd night) I was able to hold my face in 50°F water for 60 seconds, this was about the fourth dunking for the session (I can’t hold my breath much longer than that!). The other times were 35-45 seconds each. It hurts!!! I have a battery operated clock in my bathroom that has a fairly loud tick-tock so I am able to count off the seconds. I am dunking my face 7 to 10 times each session. My husband has a couple of thermometers that measure temperatures and the lowest the temperature of my skin has been is 54°F. My face stays bright pink for several dunkings, I think it’s going pale pink by the last dunking. Pretty cool that Dr. Kruse responded to you. I have been going back and forth trying to decide if I should do the T3 only protocol but maybe I’ll try this first. How are you doing on the leptin reset? I’m going back to 25 grams carbs per day.
Thanks for sharing that. And thanks for pointing out that he said 16-32 oz of ice water. I had missed that and I will go fix it in my post. My leptin reset went out the window last week when I got sick. I’m still unable to eat the BAB because of nausea so eating only 3 meals is hard and I have been snacking. Hopefully I’ll be all better soon and able to resume the BAB. I miss the freedom that it gives to the rest of my day.
I’m in. Not sure I’ll be able to measure the temp of the ice water… I’m guessing a regular under the arm digital thermometer won’t go that low? Anyway, I’m game for giving it a shot. In the meantime at night I’m using a cold pack on my belly and putting it on my thyroid for a time. My thyroid hasn’t worked well since my daughter was born 26 years ago so it’s finally time to try and fix this! I’ve been busy fixing everyone else it seems. I’m also on day 3 of the reset…
Anyway, I’m in as long as I remember to bring ice from my mom’s house on friday - I don’t have an icemaker.
Measuring the temp of the water is a struggle for me too. I did it yesterday. I just floated a couple of ice packs in the sink and assumed it was the right temp. I don’t have an ice maker either so I’m making ice cubes the old fashioned way for my ice water. I have been also choosing to under dress a bit and see how I feel. Of course it is unseasonably warm so it isn’t a good test. I’m hoping that if I start by “cool adapting” the ice water won’t be so difficult to handle. I just watched a bunch of videos of “the ice man” doing his thing and I’m inspired (but still scared).
If you want to be inspired watch this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKT1Wvz3xm0&feature=related
Oh wow! Okay,do I have to do the Leptin reset diet exactly to try the cold treatment? Or would it be pointless?
). Which I know is entirely adrenals and I am taking zine hoping it will up my appetite.
I just don’t know that I can get that much breakfast down. I’m staring at bacon and eggs right now, with NO appetite and it’s already 9:30. I’m willing to “do anything” (but eat before 11am it appears
Think I can ice away?
Since he says that people who can’t do the diet part at all because of other restrictions can do it I think you can too. I also found the bab to be very difficult at first but it really is easier if you do it right away instead of “waiting to be hungry” and it got to where my body was anticipating that big serving of food first thing and would complain if I didn’t eat enough. I would wake up starving but if I ate too slowly I would feel full before I got it all in (and then hungry after a couple of hours). If I get it in fast enough I can go a long time without eating anything else.
Be sure to do it soon after a high protein meal though! I did it today about 2 hours after breakfast. I didn’t get feeling hot like I did yesterday when I did it 30 min after breakfast. Won’t make that mistake again!
Thanks Patty. The LR might be best for me to start with. I spent most of today reading about CT and it sounds really focused on lowering appetite (something I don’t need right now) and weigh loss. Yes, I could lose some fluff, but I think that will go fairly quickly. I am small-boned otherwise.
It is fascinating for longevity though. I would do it for that reason along, but the low appetite part concerns me. I realize it’s great for the rest of the world, but ????
Also, do you understand how the CT helps the adrenals? I wasn’t clear on that part. Did say it raises DHEA which would be great, but what if I have to little to give. JK is obviously a genius and really on to something. I’m sure I don’t understand him (lol), but I’m also not sure my body is ready for the “shock” of LR or CT.
He is very focused on weight loss but my understanding is that it is also for healing adrenals and thyroid. The appetite depressant part is just while in the cold. IT actually goes way up once you warm up. I’m struggling to understand the mechanics as well. I have had the same question about “what if I don’t have any more cortisol to give”. I didn’t get enough to eat this morning and now I’m paying for it feeling lousy this afternoon. I hate that I just can’t recover from that till the next day. Tomorrow I’m going to eat a BAB no matter what!
As for the CT I have done it “right” once and it did make me feel more energized for a few hours (also much warmer). I am reading testemonials of peoples hormones getting straightened out, their joint pain going away, their energy levels going through the roof. That all sounds good to me so I’m going to try it. I have some weight to lose too but I wouldn’t be willing to do this just for my extra 15-20 lbs personally.
I was just researching AF and appetite again and saw licorice root mentioned. I know you’ve done some work with it, too. I have Traditional Medicinals Licorice Root tea, would that suffice? Or would a tincture/pills, etc. be better? Suggestions for dosing of that? I know nothing about it. I have low bp, so that’s not a concern.
Definitely have to read Kruse’s cold therapy info. with a medical dictionary in hand. Lol. I read it and hope, “Maybe Patty understands this and will put it in plain English for us on her blog.” lol.
Licorice is a cortisol extender. Have you tested your adrenals? I can’t remember. If you are low but not bottom of the basement then licorice can help. It keeps you from breaking down your cortisol as quickly and so extends what you already have and will work if you are borderline. If you are super low it won’t work. It’s like adding a little water to the paint to make it go farther. There is a limit to how much you can do that. If you have high cortisol however licorice is a bad idea since you already have too much. There is no way to tell from symptoms which one you are.
I’m working my way through Kruse’s stuff. He has so much! That makes it difficult to sort out and yes so many medical and biological terms that I just don’t know and need to look up to understand it all fully. I like having all of the information but at times it can be difficult to figure out what he is saying. (he needs a good editor to help him communicate his message.)
I’m a week behind you, but I think I’m going to give this a go. When I lived and worked in Olympic National Park, I used to bathe and go swimming in the glacier melt streams. I loved the exhilaration and shock of the cold water after a long days work/hike. I would feel more alive for hours afterward. I miss that! Of course dunking your head in a sink of water isn’t quite as cool as jumping off a rock into a mountain stream, but I’m willing to give it a try.