“Without exercise, it is impossible to recover from Lyme disease.”
– Dr. Joseph Burrascano, MD
(note that Dr. Burrascano only advocates mild, gentle, infrequent exercise)
This is Part 2 of a multi-part series on exercise strategy and importance in recovery from Lyme disease. This is a topic I’m very passionate about. I encourage you not to skip these blog posts, even if you are tired, frustrated, and not quite sure how exercise fits into your recovery plan.
Warning: Not everyone with chronic illness is healthy enough to exercise. Consult a physician before beginning any new diet or exercise program. The author of this article is a layperson sharing his own experiences, he is not a professional, doctor, physical therapist, or personal trainer.
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Can we even do this stuff when we have Lyme disease?
Some of the strategies I discuss in this article series may seem unrealistic for Lyme sufferers. I can already hear you telling me, “Bryan, I can’t do this, I’m herxing, I have a headache, I’m starving, I have low blood sugar…. I have LYME DISEASE Bryan.” I hear you. I only advocate for using these strategies when you are having “good days.” On bad days, you gotta eat what you gotta eat, to feel better (but watch out for those sugar cravings… while you may really need more carbs on bad days, eating processed sugar will be sure to make you feel MUCH worse).
Also, I’m here to tell you some difficult news. Lyme sufferers have shorter windows in which to get healthy. What I mean is, the average person without Lyme can diet and exercise as much as they want. But those people with Lyme, have bad days when they have a much harder time taking good care of themselves. So, it’s that much more important for us to “get it right” on our good days, to prevent a slide into weight gain, hormone imbalance, and other consequences of not eating right, exercising, and watching calories. It’s an important battle for us to win! Our fight with Lyme disease will be that much harder if we “let ourselves go.” Then we’ll be fighting not just to beat Lyme, but also to be generally healthy, at the same time. So, I take this stuff pretty seriously.
Of course, please consult your doctor before using any of this information. I’m not a doctor.
Lastly, exercise must be approached with caution when you are dealing with adrenal fatigue (which most Lyme sufferers deal with). Read Freedom From Lyme Disease & Beyond Lyme Disease for more must-read info on adrenal fatigue).
Strategy #2: Intermittent Fasting
(article continued from Part 1)
The dietary information in this article is intended to complement the information I presented in Chapter 4 of my latest book, Freedom From Lyme Disease. In other words, this article isn’t my complete view on diet issues. I’ve made the first few pages of that chapter available for free.
Fasting has proven to have a vast and bountiful list of health benefits. They include:
- Boosting the immune system (one study found that a 3-day fast completely reset and rejuvenated the immune system!)
- Balancing hormones
- Promoting weight loss
- Detoxifying the body
- Increasing longevity
- Many other benefits
One of the most important benefits of fasting is maintaining a healthy weight and a lean, muscular physique. This is in contrast to popular belief, which is that we should be eating small, frequent meals throughout the day. In fact, new research is being published which shows the opposite: that periods of fasting interspersed with periods of feeding, can provide the most consistent benefits.
Of course, we know that Lyme sufferers have a difficult time fasting. Lyme sufferers need to eat more often when ill, especially as their bodies have higher need for nutrients to aid in healing, detoxification, and dealing with all of the herbs and antibiotics in their systems.
This is why a new form of fasting, which we call “intermittent fasting,” can be a perfect solution. Instead of embarking upon long fasts – such as fasting for 1-3 days or longer – intermittent fasting is simply the practice of eating an early dinner and a late breakfast. This is a revolutionary practice which can make fasting accessible even to the chronically ill.
The goal is to extend the natural nighttime fast as long as possible. For some people, this may only be 12 hours, and that’s OK. Others may be able to tolerate a longer period. For me, I try to go 16 hours without eating each day. For example, I may have dinner at 5pm and try to wait for breakfast until 9am. That doesn’t seem too tough, does it? Some days I can accomplish a little bit more – perhaps a 18 hour fasting period. Other days it doesn’t work for me, and I need to eat more often. I’ve learned that going to bed a little bit hungry isn’t the end of the world. A famous person once said, “Hunger is your friend, food is your enemy.”
Getting it perfect every day isn’t the goal. The goal is to do the best you can, when you are able. If you are undergoing a particularly intense bout of anti-Lyme therapy, you may not be able to do much intermittent fasting at all, and that’s OK. When the body is stressed – from herxing, new treatments, or other causes – it needs more food. This is the important difference for Lyme disease sufferers – our bodies are under more stress than the normal population, so you have to employ these diet/exercise strategies only when your body is feeling strong.
One of the pioneers of intermittent fasting for body building is Martin Berkhan, who is able to maintain a very lean physique with this technique. You and I aren’t body builders – I understand that. But we have a similar goal of keeping a lean physique, so we can apply some body building wisdom in a more moderate and gentle way.
One benefit of intermittent fasting is that it allows us to eat more satisfying meals on a calorie restricted diet. What do I mean by that? Well, if we want to avoid weight gain, we have to be careful what we eat, right? If we try to restrict calories but we also try to eat 6 small meals per day, as conventional wisdom would have us do, then those 6 meals are going to be tiny. In contrast, if we fast for 16 hours and eat for only 8, and we choose to eat, let’s say, 2-3 meals during those 8 hours, we can eat much larger, more satisfying meals. Despite the old-fashioned rules we are taught about nutrition, most people feel much better when they eat fewer, larger meals, than when they eat smaller, more frequent meals. This is one of the secrets to staying lean and satisfied at the same time. One application of this principle is that if you overeat, you can avoid losing ground (gaining weight) simply by lengthening the fasting period following the overeating. And, this typically isn’t that difficult to do, as overeating can lead to a longer period of satiety.
During the mornings, I try to stay busy while I’m waiting for my eating window to open. I notice that I’m less hungry in the mornings anyway, so this isn’t too difficult.
Have you ever noticed that eating three meals per day is often more culturally-based than based in the practice of actually listening to our bodies? This can be one explanation for why weight gain is such a huge problem in America. Listen to your body. If you don’t get hungry until noon, skip breakfast! If you are hungry early in the day but aren’t very hungry after 3pm, skip dinner! Listen to your body. Don’t listen to our modern culture which tells us that we have to eat 3 meals a day. Think about how it is for wild animals. A lion, for example, may go days without eating and then have a feast on a fresh kill. Eating like a lion does may not work for you, but neither might eating like the typical American. Find your own healthy rhythm. Don’t listen to McDonalds advertisements, listen to your body.
I recall a meeting I had with an insurance agent a few years ago. She was lean and in great shape. As a part of our casual conversation, she told me, “I just don’t eat much of anything after 3pm. I’m not usually hungry.” This simple sentence revolutionized my life. Up until this point, I sort of felt like there was something wrong with me if I skipped meals or ate according to a different schedule than most people. It is so liberating to know that we can just listen to our own bodies.
Here’s something to think about. Most Americans always eat until they are full, and then some. We typically eat until we are very satisfied. For most of us, the idea of going hungry – even a little bit hungry – is right up there with being run over by a semi truck! This pattern of always eating until satisfied (and often past that point) is what leads to weight gain and obesity. To counter this trend in my own life, here’s a practice that I’ve incorporated. Every now and then, I select a day or two during which I intentionally stay a little bit hungry. I favor low calorie vegetables over calorie-dense foods. I skip meals. I go to bed hungry. Doing this helps me keep things in balance so that my body experiences not only a surplus of food, but also a deficiency of food, at times. I realize that many chronically ill people will have a difficult time with this practice. Just do it as you are able. If you can’t skip an entire meal, try simply decreasing portion sizes by a little bit. Baby steps are a great way to ease into the practice.
So, as you’ve seen, intermittent fasting – in its many forms – can be a great asset in a Lyme sufferer’s toolbox to stay lean and fit.
Strategy #3: Allow longer recovery periods
Shifting gears a bit away from fasting, let’s talk about recovering from workouts. As someone recovering from Lyme disease, your body needs longer to recover from exertion than people who don’t have chronic illness. Your muscles will take longer to recharge and your adrenals will take longer to get back to baseline.
Again, this is one thing that stops people from participating in exercise programs. “The workout instructions say to only have one rest day per week, but I just feel so drained when I do it that way, so I guess I shouldn’t be exercising,” many people think. No! That’s wrong! Try to follow the workout plan but simply add in extra rest days. Modify the plan so it suits your Lyme disease recovery & energy levels. This is so crucial to success.
How long is enough rest? The answer to this question is to follow a simple rule: You are ready for more exertion when you feel the energy for it. If you recently did a big workout and you still don’t feel recovered 2 or 3 days later, don’t push it! Give your body the rest it needs. Wait until you feel recovered, even if that doesn’t match the exercise program. Sometimes it may take you 2 or 3 days, other times maybe 5 or 6 days. It doesn’t matter – just wait. Wait until you feel ready to go at it again.
Also, don’t be afraid to exercise at funny times. Since Lyme sufferers may not have a lot of energy on a regular basis, when you do feel that rare energy burst, harness it! Don’t waste it! If it comes at 11pm and you normally read from 11 to midnight, get off the couch, and do a workout. This energy is your body’s signal that you can workout and get stronger.
There is one exception to this rule. Many times, exercise will actually make you feel better, not worse, if you are having a bad day. Exercise may, for example, help eliminate circulating toxins & help get hormones back in balances. In this case, you would want to exercise even if you feel poorly. Or at least, you’d want to give exercise a try to see if it does make you feel better. How can you tell the difference between bad days when you should hold off on exercising, and bad days when you should try to exercise to feel better? Simple: If your bad day is a result of being tired from working out, do not exercise; wait until you feel stronger. On the other hand, if you haven’t worked out in a while and you are having a bad day, try exercise as a means of feeling better. The reason exercise might help in this case is that Lyme sufferers tend to have slower bodily processes than healthy people. Our hormone systems, blood, eliminatory and detox systems are slowed, clogged, and burdened by the Lyme complex. By exercising, we can stimulate our bodies to speed up these processes, thereby detoxing faster, synthesizing new hormones, and feeling better quick. Sometimes this is very counter-intuitive – you may feel like laying on the couch, but actually, a walk around the block and some push-ups will do you more good than rest. As usual, your body will be unique – listen to your body before you listen to this article!
Strategy #4: Know which foods your body needs, and when
Back to the topic of food. Again, I would encourage you to read Chapter 4 in my book, Freedom From Lyme Disease (read the first few pages of the chapter for free).
Before trying to engage in an exercise program, get a basic understanding of nutrition, especially as it applies to Lyme disease.
Just worked out? You need a high protein meal, and you need carbohydrates to recharge your muscles. Lean meat, greek yogurt, and eggs are great protein choices.
Having a rest day? Go easy on the carbohydrates and calories to prevent weight gain.
Having a tough Lyme day with lots of treatments and herxheimer reactions? Eat what your body craves, within reason. If you are craving sugar, it is OK to consume small amounts of unprocessed sugars, but don’t go crazy. Plan to get back to your diet and exercise plan when you feel better. Don’t beat yourself up for having bad days.
Because most Lyme sufferers can’t run marathons and workout as intensely as other people, it’s even more important to monitor what you eat and eat healthy, since it’s more difficult to burn calories via exercise.
Be careful with carbohydrates. We do need them to stay healthy, and Lyme sufferers may need more than normal people. But many kinds of carbohydrates are pro-inflammatory and can cause symptom-flareups. They also cause weight gain. Eat carbohydrates as needed, but don’t eat excessive amounts. A more extensive discussion on carbohydrates can be found in Chapter 4 of Freedom From Lyme Disease.
Finally, a short note on the “cheat day.” Many bodybuilders and other fitness gurus recommend a cheat day: one day during the week when you eat basically whatever you want. I believe that this concept does have sound scientific basis. A cheat day prevents the body from going into starvation mode during calorie-restricted diets, increases metabolism, and provides a much-needed boost in morale. Of course, for the Lyme sufferer, cheat days should still steer clear from refined sugars and processed foods, as these cause inflammation and other symptom-flareups.
Conclusion
I realize that many of the tactics I discuss in this article series will be difficult for Lyme sufferers. But, even done in limited amounts, they can really help keep weight under control, hormones balanced, and recovery on track. We can’t just “let ourselves go” just because we can’t stick to normal diet & exercise programs. Instead, we need to modify those programs to make them milder and more suitable for us. It’s the only way to keep moving forward.
Go back and Read Part 1 of the Series if you haven’t already.
Read the next and final edition in the series.
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