The 3rd and final part of our discussion about the incredible InBody 570 covers 3 more studies that further validate its accuracy. I know blogs that discuss studies aren’t always the most ‘fun’ to read, but it is important to have evidence readily available to show others that your InBody 570 bioelectrical impedance analyzer assessment is vital to your health and should be part of your medical health history. It can be used to help your primary care doctor (PCP) figure out ways to help you…hopefully many times through dietary intervention (like caloric restriction and intermittent fasting) vs. just administering drugs. Continue Reading →
17
Mar 2016
How To Overcome Your ‘Set Point’ To Maximize Body Composition Change
Whenever we engage in any type of weight loss/body modification plan, we have to be realistic with our goals. The trendy ‘lose 30 in 30’ programs rarely yield results that last because the programs are quite abusive to your body and not many people have the will to continue on such a tough voyage.
Before I go any further, I will touch on the difference between weight loss and body modification. Weight loss is just that: losing weight. You will lose fat and muscle weight. This is not a good thing. We want to be lean and muscular, not lean and soft. Most all programs on the market can only address total weight loss and this is not what you want. Body modification is achieved through losing fat weight while maintaining or gaining muscle percentage/weight. This should be the goal of all diet programs but virtually none on the market can achieve this goal because they do not employ the proper system. Dieting is not about cutting calories. It’s about working with your body to get it leaner and stronger and using validated science to achieve this. Going forward, I will only refer to dieting programs as body modification as this is really the goal of anyone who is trying to get leaner and healthier.
The key to any successful body modification program is sustainability. In other words, can you continue this program into the future or will you eventually fall off the tracks and go back to your old ways? In the overwhelming number of cases, people try a program for a while and then back off of it as it is too hard to maintain. They end up where they were before they started. This time, though, they tend to be more frustrated and their bodies are more resistant to future change. We should not have to endure these failures. Continue Reading →
08
Feb 2016
Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks: My Personal Experience With Caloric Restriction and Intermittent Fasting
INTRODUCTION
I’ve been in the health and fitness business for close to 20 years. I’ve worked with many supplement and nutrition companies but none could fully deliver what I needed for both my patients and me. I’ve always considered myself to be ‘in great shape’, but there is never a time that more cannot be done for a diabetic, like me. I’ve always looked for products or systems that could lower my oxidative stress (high free radical levels) so that there would not be cumulative damage to my body by such stressors. There are options, but they are all allopathic in nature…meaning, they treat an existent problem yet do nothing to reduce/eliminate what is causing the problem. With diabetes and most other health issues, this is too late. I needed to find a system that could get to the cause of the oxidative stress.
My evolution led me to a program that I have now discovered is unmatched by any other in the industry for my health, and for yours. Period. Continue Reading →
27
Jan 2016
All Proteins Are Not Created Equal
Yes, it’s true. All proteins are not created equal. But before we can go further, we need to understand that our diet consists of macronutrients and micronutrients. Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats are our macronutrients and micronutrients are what we ingest in smaller quantities, like our vitamins and minerals.
When we eat food, it does not declare itself as simply a carbohydrate, protein, or fat. Most foods have a variety of macronutrient components and our bodies do an amazing job at breaking down each ingredient into particles that can then be utilized. This is why eating high quality food without lots of chemicals is preferred. Our body has enough to do without the need of bombarding it with toxins and unnecessary compounds.
There are basic components that make up proteins. They are called amino acids and there are 20 of them. Of these, 9 are considered ‘essential‘, because we cannot create them from other foods we eat. This means you have to consume them in the protein sources you are eating. By definition, a complete protein is one that contains at minimum, all 9 of the essential amino acids. There are also 3 amino acids in the essential amino acid family that are called Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). These 3, leucine, isoleucine, and valine, are important for muscle function and many medical treatments. In the fitness community, we want to ingest a lot of foods that contain BCAAs. Luckily, most animal proteins contain BCAAs and all the other essential amino acids. Vegetarians and vegans can acquire BCAAs and essential amino acids, but many times this involves food combining, and food combining is not the most efficient way to achieve the objective. Continue Reading →
04
Jan 2016
Sarcopenia is a Killer and You Should Know About It
Sarcopenia is a condition that we are ALL at risk of getting and it’s really quite scary. It is defined as a process of reduction in skeletal muscle mass and muscular function that begins after the third decade of life (yeah, by age 40) and progresses as we age. If we look at the body as having hundreds of thousands of different proteins/enzymes, and each muscle is made up of primarily protein, this problem begins to look really bad. It’s one thing to have loss of skeletal muscle and be able to see yourself getting softer and weaker as you age, it’s another to not be able to see the decay in our heart and other organs. Think about it…you are not just losing muscle mass and health on the outside, it’s occurring on the inside as well. The problem is that this will not be identified usually until you have a significant health problem…and who wants that? Sarcopenia is a condition of malnutrition yet almost nobody in the US does anything about it until it causes serious health issues.
Healthcare costs in the year 2000 were 18.5 billion dollars for the treatment of Sarcopenia and its related disease processes and that number is far greater now (this amount constituted 1.5% of the total health care cost of the nation in 2000). Sarcopenia is well studied in the literature and all physicians should be discussing this topic with their adult patients (before they become geriatric patients). Sarcopenia has a direct link to COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), contributes to osteoporosis and related fractures, increases hip fracture risk, contributes to mental disorders, increases the risk of postoperative complications, and more.
One of the bigger concerns with Sarcopenia is that it has a link to mitochondrial damage. This is a big deal as mitochondrial damage is linked to almost all disease processes in the human body. So, listen up…if you are near 40, at 40, or over 40, you need to pay attention if you want to be healthy and maximize your life! This is nothing to laugh about. As a society, we are getting softer and weaker as we age and yes, we can do something about it.
For those out there who still think we get enough protein, the easy way to prove this point wrong is by looking at our population as a whole and recognizing that Sarcopenia affects a large amount of our adult population. Simply put, we are wasting away…yikes! We have to concede that very little is being done to address this serious problem. The great thing is that with some basic lifestyle improvements, we can get healthier…yes, it’s that simple!
We have to keep in mind that the out of date notion that ‘don’t eat too much protein as it leads to positive nitrogen balance or kidney damage’ is simply that: out of date. This blog falls on the heels of my last blog that discussed what caloric restricted resistance training athletes need for protein needs. To many, this amount of protein would seem high, but the research, for some time, has been showing that we are not consuming enough high quality protein. It’s time for healthcare professionals to update their knowledge on protein and make proper recommendations. More protein isn’t needed just for those who are lean and active, it’s needed for everyone!
Treatment for sarcopenia involves being active/exercising and eating more protein to offset the age-related loss. A 2015 double blind randomized study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition determined that a Vitamin D and leucine enriched whey (protein) ‘nutritional supplement’ improved muscle mass and lowered the risk of Sarcopenia. Another study from 2015, this one a review study, suggests at least 25-30gm of ‘high quality’ protein at each meal to prevent Sarcopenia. Beasley et. al authored a great study in 2013 in Nutrition in Clinical Practice that discussed how whey protein works better than other proteins at muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and his study makes recommendations to consider protein supplementation for those who are Sarcopenic and are not getting in enough protein (this basically means all of them).
In the next few blogs, I’ll be writing about the best ways to extend your life/reduce diseases as per the literature. In regards to Sarcopenia, we need to get in more high quality protein. So this begs the question: what is the best protein to ingest, how do I compare protein sources, and where do I get the best stuff? To whet your appetite, I’ll mention that the literature shows that whey is the best protein. As to where to get it, ask me now or wait until I write about it.
More on its way…stay tuned!
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