The Method - Health in the Real World

Why are we hungrier in the winter?

This week, Dr Greg Potter and Charlie Edmondson unpack the everyday science of winter health, exploring why some of us feel hungrier in the winter, less energetic and less motivated to move.

They discuss why the humble boiled potato deserves a rethink, and how soups, seasonal vegetables, mushrooms and spices can support a balanced winter diet. Plus, they look at this year’s trend of fibremaxxing, explain why more is not always better and share practical ways to keep exercising when mornings are cold and evenings are dark.
*NEW* Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themethodpod

Key moments:
00:00 - Welcome to The Method
01:18 - Why are we hungrier in the winter?
04:44 - The most filling food
29:41 - Fibremaxxing
37:36 - How to keep moving when motivation drops
📧 Send us your health questions for future episodes, by email or voice note themethod@thriva.co
About Thriva:
Thriva is a proactive health platform built for the modern age. The promise of longevity often comes with years spent in poor health. We want to bridge the gap between lifespan - how long we're living - and healthspan - how well we're living. We combine powerful at-home blood testing with wearable insights and expert guidance. So you can know exactly what's going on inside your body - and what to do about it - before issues arise. With this podcast, we hope to bring listeners confidence in everyday health decisions.

What makes a morning routine useful? Dr Greg Potter and Charlie Edmondson put celebrity habits under the microscope. They compare Victoria Beckham's apple cider vinegar to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's five-hour training ritual. They explain how timing, fasted cardio and food choices can shape performance and wellbeing. Plus, they discuss why shorter, darker days can leave us feeling lower, how daylight affects the body clock and whether SAD lamps are a practical substitute when getting outdoors is difficult.
*NEW* Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themethodpod
Key moments:
05:55 - Victoria Beckham and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Morning Routines 
19:31 - Why Winter Can Make Us Feel Worse 
31:05 - Do SAD lamps work? 
📧 Send us your health questions for future episodes, by email or voice note themethod@thriva.co
About Thriva:
Thriva is a proactive health platform built for the modern age. The promise of longevity often comes with years spent in poor health. We want to bridge the gap between lifespan - how long we're living - and healthspan - how well we're living. We combine powerful at-home blood testing with wearable insights and expert guidance. So you can know exactly what's going on inside your body - and what to do about it - before issues arise. With this podcast, we hope to bring listeners confidence in everyday health decisions.

Greg answers the health questions that you've been asking.
We revisit some of the lessons from earlier conversations, before responding to some listener questions about shifting an extremely early body clock, the relationship between sleep and dementia and whether you should be using the Wim Hof method.
If you'd like to send us your health questions for future episodes, you can email us a voice note or write in at themethod@thriva.co.
To Explore Further:
Reason & Wellbeing Episode with Mike Tipton: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/cold-water-immersion-kill-or-cure-a-true-expert/id1690563973?i=1000631665085
Greg Potter - Website: https://gregpotterphd.com/
Greg Potter - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregpotterphd/
Thriva - Website: https://thriva.co/

Key Moments:
How can an extreme early bird shift their body clock later? (07:21)
Does regularly sleeping four or five hours increase dementia risk? (21:57)
Are Wim Hof breathing and cold-water practices beneficial or risky? (36:33)
About Thriva:
Thriva is a proactive health platform built for the modern age. The promise of longevity often comes with years spent in poor health. We want to bridge the gap between lifespan - how long we're living - and healthspan - how well we're living. We combine powerful at-home blood testing with wearable insights and expert guidance. So you can know exactly what's going on inside your body - and what to do about it - before issues arise. With this podcast, we hope to bring listeners confidence in everyday health decisions.
To learn more about Thriva's values and services, visit https://thriva.co/

What is insulin resistance and what can you do about it?
In this episode, Greg and Charlie speak with Dr Lucas Denton about insulin resistance: how insulin manages energy, why cells become less responsive to it, which clues may suggest a problem and the practical habits that can improve insulin sensitivity. Lucas also shares the changes he made to his own lifestyle after recognising signs of metabolic syndrome in his own results, which led to him to losing 30kg and bringing his abnormal blood markers back into the normal range.
If you'd like to send us your health questions for future episodes, you can email us a voice note or write in at themethod@thriva.co.
To Explore Further:
• Dr Lucas Denton - Personal Health Journey https://thriva.co/hub/community-health-insights/a-gps-perspective-on-practising-what-i-preach
• Greg Potter - Website: https://gregpotterphd.com/
• Greg Potter - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregpotterphd/
• Thriva - Website: https://thriva.co/
Key Moments:
What does insulin do? (03:03)
What is insulin resistance? (07:03)
The clues to look for (20:43)
Lucas' Personal Health Turnaround (30:18)
What to do about it (37:20)

About Thriva:
Thriva is a proactive health platform built for the modern age. The promise of longevity often comes with years spent in poor health. We want to bridge the gap between lifespan - how long we're living - and healthspan - how well we're living. We combine powerful at-home blood testing with wearable insights and expert guidance. So you can know exactly what's going on inside your body - and what to do about it - before issues arise. With this podcast, we hope to bring listeners confidence in everyday health decisions.
To learn more about Thriva's values and services, visit https://thriva.co/

We talk about resilience all the time, and yet that term still seems elusive. What does it mean in biological terms? Is it a sense? A neurological process? An emotion? Can we get better at being resilient? And more importantly: can we use resilience as a tool to live better and longer?

In this episode, Greg and Charlie sit down with Dr. Elaine Lee, Professor of Molecular Biology and Applied Genetics at the University of Connecticut, where she also directs the Human Performance Laboratory. Elaine's research focuses on the physiology and genetics of resilience; how our bodies respond and adapt to stress, and how we can enhance our capacity to cope with it. Her work spans exercise, heat stress, human performance, and she has a particular interest in translating the science into tools for everyday life. This is why we wanted her to join us on the Method.
In our science segment today, Elaine explains how resilience works in our body. It doesn’t just mean “bouncing back”, but getting better at coping. Greg and Elaine will discuss the concept of hormesis: the idea that by microdosing stress, we could train our bodies to recover better, and be less susceptible to panic. Elaine will also delve into the science of heat acclimation and the remarkable changes the body undergoes when exposed to heat regularly. We will then discuss how softer and less biology-oriented factors like relationships or positive self-talk can play their part too.
In the practice segment, Elaine, Greg, and Charlie get into what this means for daily life. Including:
Why recovery matters to build better resilience day-to-day (21:32)
Signs that you’re pushing your body beyond its stress capacities (24:00)
How to use a wearable to enhance resilience (27:22)
How to build heat tolerance using a sauna or steam room if you've never tried it before (28:34)

Finally, in the experience section, we turn to your listener questions. We hear from listeners who are trying to bring more mindfulness into a busy life, who are trying to make new habits stick, or who need advice to better prevent or recover from burnout. 
If you'd like to send us your health questions for future episodes, you can email us a voice note or write in at themethod@thriva.co.

To Explore Further:
Elaine Lee - University of Connecticut faculty profile: https://kins.uconn.edu/person/elaine-choung-hee-lee/
Elaine Lee - STEM-Talk podcast appearance: https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalk/
Greg Potter - Website: https://gregpotterphd.com/
Greg Potter - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregpotterphd/
Thriva - Website: https://thriva.co/

About Thriva:

Thriva is a proactive health platform built for the modern age. The promise of longevity often comes with years spent in poor health. We want to bridge the gap between lifespan — how long we're living — and healthspan — how well we're living. We combine powerful at-home blood testing with wearable insights and expert guidance. So you can know exactly what's going on inside your body — and what to do about it — before issues arise. With this podcast, we hope to bring listeners confidence in everyday health decisions.

To learn more about Thriva's values and services, visit https://thriva.co/