Calcium and Vitamin D
Calcium’s role in supporting the maintenance and repair of healthy bone is well established and does not require further elucidation here. Likewise, vitamin D has a long-established role in facilitating calcium absorption; and research indicates that vitamin D supplementation can help to prevent bone loss^1,2.

SierraSil^TM
SierraSil is a naturally-occurring mineral composite found only in the high Sierra Mountains. Research has demonstrated that SierraSil suppresses cartilage degradation and inflammation.³ In an unpublished double-blind, placebo-controlled study SierraSil was evaluated in patients with osteoarthritis. Results indicated that with doses of 2000 or 3000 mg, SierraSil improved joint flexibility and quality of life.⁴ A previous unpublished pilot study on SierraSil in osteoarthritis patients demonstrated similar results.⁵ SierraSil has a patent pending for supporting joint mobility, flexibility and active lifestyles.

Paractin^TM
Spasov et al⁶ has reported that standardized extracts of Andrographis paniculata have been investigated in a number of studies, showing significant reduction of major symptoms of common cold and other upper respiratory tract infections. Paractin^TM is a patented, standardized extract of Andrographis paniculata which has been shown in preliminary research to stimulate immune response at low doses and to reduce inflammation high doses.^7,8,9 It does this by invigorating the activation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma (PPARΥ), which in turn inhibits inflammatory chemicals in the body such as NF kappa B interferon gamma (IFNΥ), and Interleukin 2 (IL-2). By supplementing the body’s ability to naturally activate PPARΥ, Paractin^TM helps promote healthy inflammation response while maintaining normal cellular structure and activity in the joints, bones, and throughout the body.

Glucosamine Sulfate
According to the book, The Arthritis Cure, there are three requirements to keep cartilage healthy: water for lubrication and nourishment, proteoglycans to attract and hold the water, and collagen to keep the proteoglycans in place. Proteoglycans are large molecules made of protein and sugar. They trap water like a sponge and make cartilage resilient.¹⁰ Glucosamine sulfate figures into healthy cartilage since it is a major building block of the water-loving proteoglycans. In addition, glucosamine sulfate’s very presence stimulates the production of more proteoglycans. The fact that glucosamine sulfate increases the synthesis of these key elements of cartilage means that it actually helps repair damaged or eroded cartilage.¹¹ In fact, for many years glucosamine sulfate has been successfully used in the therapy of osteoarthritis, and has met all standards of an efficient and well tolerated drug (albeit a natural drug). This has been demonstrated by experimental as well as clinical studies, in which glucosamine sulfate led to long-lasting pain reduction and functional improvement.¹²

Chondroitin Sulfate
Chondroitin sulfate is the perfect complement to glucosamine sulfate since chondroitin acts like a liquid magnet, attracting fluid into the proteoglycans. This fluid acts as a shock absorber and also brings nutrients with it into the cartilage. Perhaps of greater significance than its fluid-enhancing properties, chondroitin sulfate protects existing cartilage from premature breakdown by inhibiting certain cartilage-chewing enzymes. Furthermore, like glucosamine, chondroitin stimulates the production of proteoglycans and collagen that are needed for healthy new cartilage. As a matter of fact, chondroitin works synergistically with glucosamine.

Plant Based Enzymes
Research has shown that certain plant-based (fungal) enzymes were shown to have powerful effects on protein digestion at the University of Rhode Island. Specifically, 300 to 500 mg of these fungal enzymes successfully released 62,000 mg of free form amino acids from protein (in the form of beef steak) that’s 42 percent more amino acids than stomach acid and enzymes alone, without fungal enzymes. Furthermore, in the laboratory fungal enzymes release branched chain amino acids from beef steak at up to 200 percent the rate of stomach acid and enzymes alone. This is particularly important since branched chain amino acids (BCAA) make up at least 35 percent of key muscle proteins. The results of this research clearly demonstrate that these enzymes cause amino acids in protein to become more bioavailable. This can help to rebuild and repair muscle tissue.

References:

1. Dawson-Hughes B, et al. Ann Intern Med 1991;115:505–12.
2. Dawson-Hughes B, et al. Am J Clin Nutr 1995; 61:1140–45.
3. Miller MJS, Ahmed S, Bobrowski P, Haqqi TM. Suppression of Human Cartilage Degradation and Chondrocyte Activation by a Unique Mineral Supplement (SierraSil™) and a Cat’s Claw Etract, Vincaria®. JANA 2004; 7(2):32–39.
4. Raut V, Gala J, Dhumale R. A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study to compare two doses of a mineral supplement and a herbo-mineral combination in alleviating the symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee. (unpublished)
5. A pilot study to test the safety and efficacy of the mineral supplement SierraSil™ in osteoarthritis of the knee. (unpublished)
6. Spasov AA, Ostrovskij OV, Chernikov MV, Wikman G. Comparative Controlled Study of Andrographis paniculata Fixed Combination, Kan Jang® and an Echinacea Preparation as Adjuvant, in the Treatment of Uncomplicated Respiratory Disease in Children. Phytother Res 2004; 18:47–53.
7. Paractin useful for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, and alzeimer disease by activation of PPAR- Receptor. Juan L. Hancke. Instituto de Farmacologia, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia Chile. Paractin interferes with T cell activation and reduces Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in the Mouse. Iruretagoyena MI, Tobar JA, Gonzalez PA, Sepulveda SE, Figueroa CA, Burgos RA, Hancke JL, Kalergis AM. Uniersidad Austral de Chile. Journal of Pharmacology & Exp Therapeutics, August 26 2004.
8. Paractin interferes DNA binding of NF-kB in HL-60/Neutrophils cells. María A. Hidalgo, Alex Romero, Jaime Figueroa, Patricia Cortés, Ilona I. Concha, Juan L. Hancke, & Rafael A. Burgos. Uniersidad Austral de Chile.
9. Theodosakis, J., et al, The Arthritis Cure, (1997) St. Martin’s Press: New York, 203 pgs.
10. Theodosakis, J., ibid.
11. Anonymous, Fortschr Med Suppl (1998) 183:1–12.
12. Theodosakis, J., ibid.

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Luckily, the notion that your results are proportional to time spent exercising can be considered dead and gone. Have you ever heard the saying; it’s not the amount of time you spend working that counts, it’s the amount of productivity you achieve while working? It may sound too good to be true, but you can get more results in much less time, if you are willing to exercise the right way.

Exercising the “right way” means chucking most 60-minute cardio sessions in the proverbial trashcan. Instead, research has shown that by adopting an entirely new and more effective approach to exercise, known as High-Intensity-Interval-Training or HIIT, you can see results in a fraction of the time—especially as you get older. Aging seems to make it more and more difficult to lose fat and gain muscle, however by changing our exercise patterns to HIIT, we may be able to experience the metabolism of our youth once again.¹

HIIT is an exercise strategy—lasting anywhere from four to thirty minutes, which incorporates short periods (i.e. 20–30 seconds) of intense resistance exercise (i.e. weight training or high resistance cardio) with cool-down recovery periods (30 seconds to one and a half minutes). It’s basically a higher-intensity form of cardio/resistance training done in a fraction of the time that most workouts take. Numerous studies have proven that interval training burns more fat in less time.^2,3

Take this study that compared interval training with old-school cardio for 15-weeks. One group did 20 minutes of interval training three times per week. The other group spent 40 minutes three times per week on steady-state cardio work. Even though the interval training group spent half as much time exercising, they lost six pounds of fat, while the steady-state group actually gained fat.⁴ In other words, even though it eats up more time, steady-state cardio created a group of smaller fat people.

Stop Resisting
I have always been a huge advocate for resistance training, as we cannot afford to lose even an ounce of muscle tissue, especially as we get older. Age is often associated with a loss of lean body mass and a gain in fat. Yes, our metabolisms do slow down, but that’s because muscle is the key metabolic engine of the body, dictating how effective we are at burning calories—even at rest. Jan Helgerud, PhD, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, states that, “High-intensity interval training is twice as effective as normal exercise. This is like finding a new pill that works twice as well… we should immediately throw out the old way of exercising.”⁵

When you use resistance exercises in your routine (i.e. elastic bands and/or weights), you can expect your muscles (and metabolism) to rev up. The best part is this happens even as stubborn fat melts away. Researchers from the University of Maryland recently found that women who did regular resistance training not only lost weight, but they were able to build muscle while the number on the scale took a nosedive⁶, which is music to any woman’s ears. Best of all, resistance training seems to laser-target nasty, stubborn, and inflammation producing abdominal fat.⁷

So the verdict is in, those that perform HIIT and resistance style training, find themselves with a higher metabolic rate than before. Think about it this way, for every pound of muscle you tack on, you can expect to burn a lot more calories each and every day. One study found that resistance training over a few weeks upped metabolic rate by an impressive 7 percent,⁸ and if you shrug your shoulders at a mere 7 percent, try thinking of it this way; that could equate to an impressive 50,000 extra calories⁹ burned off in one year, which could mean you’d be about 14 pounds lighter this time next year. Not so bad after all, is it?

References:

1. HIIT moves out of the exercise lab and into the real world. A modified version of the High-Intensity Interval Training may be a time-saving, effective way for older, less fit adults to stay in shape. Duke med Health News. 2014 Jun;20(6):3–4
2. Giannaki CD, et al. Eight weeks of a combination of high intensity interval training and conventional training reduce visceral adiposity and improve physical fitness: a group-based intervention. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2015 Jan 8.
3. Falcone PH, et al. Caloric expenditure of aerobic, resistance, or combined high-intensity interval training using a hydraulic resistance system in healthy men.J Strength Cond Res. 2015 Mar;29(3):779–85.
4. Trapp EG and Boutcher SH. Fat loss following 15 weeks of high intensity, intermittent cycle training. Fat Loss Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
5. Telegraph Media Group. A week’s exercise could be squeezed into one hour, say experts. The Telegraph. 26 Feb, 2010
6. Schmitz KH, et al. Strength training and adiposity in premenopausal women: Strong, Healthy, and Empowered study American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Sep 2007; 86: 566–72.
7. Shaw BS, Shaw I, Mamen A. Contrasting effects in anthropometric measures of total fatness and abdominal fat mass following endurance and concurrent endurance and resistance training. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2010 Jun;50(2):207–13.
8. Lemmer JT, et al. MEffect of strength training on resting metabolic rate and physical activity: age and gender comparisons. Med Sci Sports Exer. 2001 Apr;33(4):532–41.
9. Ehrman JK, Gordon PM, Visich PS, Keteyian SJ. Clinical Exercise Physiology. 2nd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 2009:135–46.

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Lose Weight, Get Healthy, And Live Longer

Now it turns out that the advice we were given was very far from the whole picture. “Moderate exercise can really produce enormous gains for health,” says Harvey Simon, MD, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Simon should know. He was one of the strongest advocates for the “more is better” philosophy that’s predominated in the fitness industry for the last twenty years. “I used to say that golf was the perfect way to ruin a four mile walk,” Dr. Simon says ruefully, “because it was only exercise at a moderate level, it didn’t bring your heart rate up and your walk is constantly interrupted. Then a study was published in the American Journal of Medicine that found men who simply added golf playing to their normal daily routine lost weight, lowered their girth and improved their cholesterol levels. That got me thinking.”

Dr. Simon began researching the literature and found that indeed moderate exercise had profound benefits. Then why had the experts touted heart-pounding heavy exercise for so long? “The problem had to do with what we call “end-points,” Dr. Simon said. “When you want to find out if something is working, you have to choose some specific end point to measure. So if, for example, you’re investigating a new teaching technique for reading, you want to measure whether kids actually read better. That’s the ‘end-point.’ The old studies on exercise were looking at the ‘end point’ of aerobic capacity—how much oxygen your lungs could hold and how efficiently your body used it, he explained. To improve that specific measure of fitness—called VO2 Max, indeed, harder aerobic exercise is needed. But when you look at the ‘endpoint’ of good health, a very different story emerges.

“I reviewed 22 studies, involving 320,000 people, that evaluated the impact of moderate exercise on cardiovascular disease and longevity,” Dr. Simon said. “The results were eye-opening. Moderate exercise was credited with 18.84 percent reductions in the risk of heart disease and 18.50 percent reductions in overall mortality. If you look at breast cancer, colon cancer, depression, heart attacks, stroke, sudden cardio death, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, even dementia, exercise is extremely beneficial,” said Dr. Simon, “and it doesn’t take aerobic exercise as traditionally defined to achieve those benefits.”

Dr. Simon, in his, The No Sweat Exercise Plan has come up with a term called “Cardiometabolic Exercise” to describe the kind of moderate exercise he’s talking about. “My theory is that all physical activities anywhere on the spectrum can benefit the heart and can benefit metabolism—things like blood sugar and body fat,” he said. In his book, Dr. Simon assigns points to various activities so that people can set a goal for how many points they need a week to achieve measurable health benefits. He calls these CME points (for Cardiometabolic Exercise). Dr. Simon recommends that you achieve 150 CME points per day or 1000 CME points per week to attain significant health benefits, but you can work up to that over the course of nine weeks starting with as little as 25 CME points per day. (See table on previous page of CME points for selected activities).

Walking is the core exercise in Dr. Simon’s “No-Sweat Exercise Program” and it gets a table all it’s own in the book. The number of CME points you get for walking depends on both your weight and on your speed, but typically a 160 pound individual would chalk up about 125 CME points for every 30 minutes of walking. “I’m not at all opposed to harder exercise,” Dr. Simon said, “and if people want to earn their 1000 weekly CME points by doing hard aerobics or weight training or sports, that’s just fine. The point of this is not that those exercises aren’t valuable, but that much more moderate exercise confers great benefits as well.”

Those benefits include 21.34 percent reduction in the risk of stroke, 15.50 percent reduction for dementia, 40 percent for fractures, 30 percent for breast cancer and 30.40 percent for colon cancer. “Many of these benefits were obtained with as little as 55 flights of steps a week, an hour of gardening, or two to four hours of light leisure time activity.” said Dr. Simon. “The little things really do add up.”

In one study, after just three weeks of inactivity, healthy twenty-year-old men developed many physiological characteristics of men twice their age. After just eight weeks of exercise there was an improvement in virtually every physiological and metabolic measure, including cholesterol, heart rate stiffness, digestion, muscle mass and metabolic rate. “Exercise is just the best anti-aging medicine we have,” Dr. Simon said.

From Bottom Line’s interview with Harvey B. Simon, MD, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the founding editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. Dr. Simon is the award-winning author of five previous books on health and fitness, and received the London Prize for Excellence in Teaching from Harvard and MIT. His book is The No Sweat Exercise Plan (McGraw-Hill, 2006).

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The problem of expanding waistlines is more than merely a vanity concern. There are serious health consequences from sporting that beer belly. Being overweight can radically change the course of a person’s life. Fat is toxic and potentially lethal. Just carrying as few as an extra 4.5 kilos (10 pounds), over your ideal weight is considered a serious risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, liver disease, hormonal imbalances depression and cancer. In fact, at least 30 different diseases are related to being overweight. So, what’s going on here? If people were to follow the advice offered by medical professional, public health officials and the experts from the weight loss industry, the problem should be easily solved. Their call to action basically involves turning your back on all those sugary, high carbohydrate, processed, junk foods and switch to a low calorie diet fortified by plenty of exercise. They say it all boils down to a very simple equation: take in fewer calories and burn more.

Sounds logical. The only problem is that this decades old approach is a dismal failure. For the vast majority of people, it doesn’t work. In fact, long-term success for attaining permanent weight loss is only achieved by a mere 2–5 percent of those very determined and lucky dieters.

A definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. It certainly appears that the traditional approach to winning the battle of the bulge does indeed, seem insane.

If there are answers and successful strategies to stem the tide of this serious health epidemic, they will need to be sought elsewhere.

It’s time to discover some of the missing pieces of the weight loss puzzle.

Secrets of the Brain-Belly Connection
Do you value your brainpower? Certainly the one faculty that everyone wants to hold onto throughout a life’s lifetime is a fully functioning, intact brain. Unfortunately belly fat can deliver a serious blow to your aspirations.

Overwhelming evidence now reveals that your expanding waistline will put a serious crimp on your brain size as well as brainpower.

Researchers set out to discover if being overweight posed a danger to the brain. They scanned the brains of 94 people over the age of 70. They were looking to see the differences in the brains of people who were of normal weight (BMI under 25), overweight (BMI 25–30), and obese (BMI over 30). (BMI stands for body mass index, an approximation of body fat based on height and weight.)

Their results were quit shocking. Overweight people have 4 percent less brain tissue than people of normal weight. And, for obese people, the findings were even worse. They had 8 percent less brain tissue than people of normal weight.

The study not only showed that carrying extra weight degenerated the brain but it also accelerated its aging. Researcher Paul Thompson shared his observation, “The brains of overweight people looked eight years older than the brains of those who were lean, and 16 years older in obese people. Type 2 diabetes, which is common in the overweight, is known to accelerate the aging of the brain and the onset of dementia. But the relationship between brain size and weight still stood when the researchers accounted for this, suggesting it is the fat itself that is causing the problem. It is thought that high levels of fat raise the odds of the arteries clogging up, cutting the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain. This could cause brain cells to die and the organ to shrink.” The high demands put on these brain areas may make them more sensitive to changes in oxygen levels.

Another study used magnetic resonance imaging to compare the brains of 44 obese individuals with those of 19 lean people of similar age and background. The obese individuals had more water in the amygdale—a part of the brain involved in eating behavior. It also showed smaller orbitofrontal cortices in obese individuals, important for impulse control and also involved in eating behavior. These findings strengthen the “slippery slope” theory of obesity. The neural changes that occur when you are overweight, affects the parts of your brain that influence and control so many behaviors necessary to make healthy choices.

Further studies indicate that those with the most belly fat (visceral fat mass) suffer the greatest mental declines over time—and that central or abdominal obesity, in particular, accounts for more than a three-fold increase in dementia risk.

What’s even more worrying is that increased belly fat is linked to decreases in total brain volume, independent of BMI. This can cause changes in another area of the brain, called the hippocampus, which is responsible for long-term memory, spatial memory and navigation. Finally, excess belly fat also appears to contribute to lesions in the brain’s white matter, especially in diabetic patients—linking it not just to memory loss, but also to increased risk of stroke.

Obesity is also causes changes to the immune system, which are fanning the flames of inflammation throughout the body. This increased inflammation can impact the brain and lead to a vicious cycle of gaining more and more weight: obesity leads to inflammation, which damages certain parts of the brain, which in turn leads to more uncontrolled eating and more obesity.

There are many areas of the brain that are affected by being overweight.

• Frontal and temporal lobes—critical for planning, memory and impulse control
• Anterior cingulate gyrus—responsible for attention and executive functions
• Hippocampus—important for long-term memory, spatial memory and navigation
• Basal ganglia—essential for proper movement and coordination

Here is the catch-22. Those extra kilos impair brain function and compromise the particular areas of brain that impact a person’s ability to have a keen memory, control impulses and follow through on any kind of planning. It, therefore, becomes more difficult to successfully commit to any kind of program, especially a weight loss program. Since the impulse control part of the brain is affected, controlling those urges to help yourself to another donut or a second helping of mashed potatoes is a Herculean effort and generally doomed to fail.

Vitamin D —A Key to a Healthy Metabolism
There is one really important nutritional player when it comes to our health. This superstar nutrient is the sunshine hormone, vitamin D. (Vitamin D is really a steroid hormone rather than an actual vitamin.)

Vitamin D truly deserves the title of superstar. Each year, vitamin D research discovers additional health benefits conferred by this sunshine vitamin. Vitamin D receptors are found throughout the body including the brain. Optimal levels are absolutely necessary to insure healthy bones, healthy arteries, a robust immune system, balanced moods, optimal cognitive function, protection from hypertension, allergies, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune conditions, and fertility and PMS. Most significantly, vitamin D has been proven to be protective against 13 different kinds of cancer.

Optimal Levels of Vitamin D Are Critical for Health Here are some basic facts you need to know about vitamin D. It is a fat-soluble steroid hormone that is both made by the body and from our diet. In order for the body to produce vitamin D (cholecalciferol), the skin must be exposed to ultraviolet light, primarily from the sun. Vitamin D is further metabolized in the liver and kidneys to create the fully active form of vitamin D. Thus variations in sun exposure due to latitude, season, time of day, sunscreen use, skin pigmentation, and age will determine how much vitamin D the body makes.

Although it is known that vitamin D play a vital role for the well-being of infants, children, adults and the elderly, we presently have a global pandemic of chronically low vitamin D levels. It’s estimated that 85 percent of the American public are deficient, and as much as 95 percent of all its senior citizens. Vitamin D deficiencies are also widespread throughout the UK, with 86 percent of the population deficient in the winter and 57 percent in the summer.

Even though Australia’s is described as “sun burnt” country and is one of the sunniest countries in the world, a surprising number of its citizens are severely lacking in vitamin D. A recent report stated that as many as 1 in 3 Australians may have low vitamin D levels.

For all those on a weight loss quest, vitamin D is one of those missing pieces you have been searching for. There is overwhelming evidence that confirms the importance of keeping your vitamin D levels up to get your extra kilos down. Not only does it help achieve weight loss, it also improves other risk factors such as insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and blood sugar imbalances. If you are feeling hungry all the time no matter how much you eat, you might want to have your vitamin D levels checked. What drives insatiable hunger is the relationship between low vitamin D levels and a hormone called leptin. Leptin is a messenger molecule made in fat cells that communicates to the hypothalamus, letting it know how much fat is stored in the body. It is the hormone that communicates that you are full.

Low vitamin D levels interfere with the effectiveness of leptin. Researchers at Aberdeen University, Scotland found that obese people produced 10 per cent less vitamin D than people of average weight. The study discovered that low levels of the vitamin in blood interfered with the function of leptin, which tells the brain when the stomach is full. The study also found that excess body fat absorbs vitamin D, stopping it from entering the bloodstream. Dr Helen MacDonald, of Aberdeen University’s department of medicine and therapeutics, said: “Obese people had less vitamin D and the link between obesity and vitamin D deficiency was statistically significant.” Overweight people, shirking the sun or not taking adequate vitamin D supplementation thwart their dieting efforts in another way. Low vitamin D levels have been shown to increases fat storage. A 2009 Canadian study found that weight and body fat were significantly lower in women with normal vitamin D levels than women with insufficient levels.

It seems that fat people may be less able to convert vitamin D into its hormonally active form. A Norway study found that the more participants weighed, the lower their vitamin D levels tended to be. The researcher, Zoya Lagunova, MD, believes that obesity is associated with lower vitamin D levels since vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. “Much of the vitamin D produced in the skin or ingested is distributed in fat tissue, so obese people may take in as much vitamin D from the sun, food, or supplements as people who are not obese, but their [blood] levels will tend to be lower. Obese people may need more vitamin D to end up with the same levels as a person whose weight is normal.”

How much less vitamin does an overweight person make? As it turns out, increased fatty cells can decrease the ability to make vitamin D by a factor of 4. That means that if you are carry extra weight, you may make only one quarter the amount of vitamin D compared to a leaner person. Vitamin D is also an important factor in diabetes. Low levels of vitamin D has been linked to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. After following more than 5,000 people for five years, an Australian research team found that those with lower than average vitamin D levels had a 57 percent increased risk of developing diabetes, compared to those within the recommended range.

Low levels of vitamin D are also known to nearly double the risk of cardiovascular disease if you already have diabetes. Diabetics, who are deficient in vitamin D and cannot process cholesterol normally, tend to have it build up in their blood vessels, hence increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Vitamin D also helps keep blood sugar levels under control. In type 2 diabetes the body can’t use insulin it produces efficiently to control blood sugar levels. Vitamin D plays a role by increasing the release of insulin. In one study, researchers evaluated the vitamin D levels and the chance of developing unbalanced blood sugar metabolism. In this study, subjects were evaluated for serum vitamin D levels and followed for 7 years to determine the effects on blood sugar metabolism. The study showed that the subjects with the highest vitamin D levels had a 40 percent increase in supporting optimal future blood sugar balance.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off, it is critical to check your vitamin D levels. The higher your vitamin D levels the higher your leptin levels and the more your blood sugar will remain balanced. Vitamin D helps your body respond to the correct metabolic messages. High vitamin D levels increase your ability to lose weight and losing weight will increase your vitamin D levels. All of which will reduce your risk of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, not to mention most chronic illnesses.

While it is important for most people to take vitamin D supplementation, especially the overweight, children and elderly, it is critically important to check your vitamin D levels. Taking a vitamin D supplement may not get you into optimal range, which is where you want to be. Its optimal blood vitamin D levels that count. The proper blood test is called 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH), which is included in the basic blood workup. In Australia optimal levels should be 150–200 nmol/L. In the U.S., optimal levels should be between 70–100 ng/mL. Do not settle for less than optimal levels if your goal is the best health possible.

The post The Missing Pieces of the Weight Loss Puzzle appeared first on Total Health Magazine.

Exercise Timing
One of the questions I am asked most often is: “Should I work out in the morning or the evening?” To enhance fat burning, the best time to work out is in the morning. Once you do 10 minutes of this fun program and eat protein for breakfast, you will rev up your fat-burning furnace by 25 to 40 percent and it will last for 12 or more hours throughout the day. Also, often after a hard day at home or the office, we don’t feel like exercising and we don’t want to rev up our metabolism a few hours before we go to sleep.

So, set your alarm 10 minutes earlier, have fun with this exercise regimen and you will be rewarded with a tighter, stronger body. Consistency is the key. Get out of bed, put on a T-shirt and shorts, get your water bottle and towel, and get started. Exercise, then hit the shower, and eat breakfast. Start Day 1 on Monday so that Day 6 and Day 7 will be Saturday and Sunday, which are usually the days we do more outdoor or family-oriented aerobic activities.

Fitness Fun 10 minutes a Day
Warm-up before you begin. Stretch your arms to the ceiling. Breathe deeply. Then reach towards the floor. Breathe deeply. Jog gently in place for 30 to 60 seconds. Drink water before you begin and remember to drink more water between the two sets of exercises. Dehydration can make you feel weak and dizzy.

The goal is to work up to three sets of each exercise with successively heavier weights. Start with the lighter weight and increase the weight slowly. Depending on your level of fitness, you may increase weight and repetitions more quickly. Whatever your level of fitness, build on your previous day’s success; if on Day 1 you lifted a light weight only three times, try to lift four times on Day 2. Then move on to a heavier weight and so on until you finally reach the goal of three sets of repetitions using successively heavier weights. The fact that you are trying is success. And remember, no matter what your age or fitness level, you will be able to do these exercises, so just have fun.

Day 1

Shapely arms:
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and extend your arms down the side of your body. With a light dumbbell in each hand, take a couple of deep breaths, exhale and curl both arms to a 90-degree angle. Make sure your elbows are at your sides and not bending outward. Hold for two seconds. Inhale as you lower the weight. If you are pushing your stomach out and bending backward, the weight is too heavy. Make sure you are standing straight and strong. Exhale and repeat the exercise 10 times. Do not pause between curls. Pick the medium weight and repeat 10 curls. Then choose the heaviest weight and repeat more 10 curls. If you find that you cannot complete the last set of 10 curls, then use the medium weight for both the second and third set of repetitions It is best to do the required 30 curls even if you have to use the smallest weight initially. This exercise also improves neck muscles and tightens sagging chins.

Arms without wings:

This is the exercise that makes the backs of your arms beautiful while also toning your abdominal muscles. Lie on the floor with your knees bent and the soles of your feet flat on the floor. Hold the lightest dumbbell by your ears with your elbows pointing up to the ceiling. Exhale as you raise the weight from your ears toward the ceiling. Your arms should be straight up now. Hold for two seconds and inhale as you lower the weight. Repeat 10 times. Do not pause between curls. Next, choose the medium weight and repeat 10 curls. Then use the heaviest weight and repeat 10 curls. To really get the benefit of this exercise, hold your abdominal muscles tight and push your lower back toward the floor after you inhale. Focus on your breathing. If you can’t complete all three sets with successively heavier weights, just use the lowest weight at the beginning and within a couple of weeks you will be able to progress to the heavier weight.

Day 2

Sexy calves:
Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold the lightest dumbbells in each hand with your arms at your side. Keep your shoulders back but relaxed, not pulled up toward your ears. Exhale as you raise your heels. You should now be up on the bottom of the front of your feet, but not so high that you end up on your tiptoes. Hold for two seconds. Inhale as you slowly lower your heels. Repeat for 10 lifts. Next, pick your medium weight and repeat. Then use the heaviest weight and repeat for 10 more lifts. Beautiful calves are the end result of this exercise. Once this exercise becomes effortless, instead of moving to heavier weights, add ankle weights while holding the dumbbells for increased results.

Tight thighs and cellulite reducer:
This is my favourite exercise as it gives the fastest results. Stand with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders, with your arms at your sides. Keep your back straight. Exhale as you squat down to about 90 degrees with your butt out, as if you were going to sit down. Your knees should be in line with your toes. Hold for one or two seconds. Inhale as you straighten up. This is called a squat. Do 10 squats, then rest for a count of 10. Do 10 more squats. Soon you will be able to do an additional 10 squats for a full 30 squats. This exercise sculpts great legs, and helps tighten the skin on your upper thighs and butt to reduce cellulite. Once you get very good at this exercise, add wrist weights.

Day 3

Chest and breast press:
Lie on your back with your knees bent and the soles of your feet flat on the floor. Hold your lightest dumbbell in each hand with your arms out from your body like a cross. Bend your arms at the elbows toward the ceiling. Exhale as you push the weight up toward the ceiling. Hold for a count of two and inhale as you bring the weight back to the starting position. Repeat for 10 presses. Then change to your medium weight and repeat for 10 presses. Finally, choose your heavier weight and repeat. This exercise makes for strong arms and builds chest muscles. It also tightens sagging breasts in women.

Tight abdomen:
We all want tight abdominals. You may be able to do only a few of these exercises at the beginning. Start slowly and add a few more repetitions every time you do this exercise, but try to do as many as you can, up to 10 in each set.

Lie on the floor on your back with your knees bent and the soles of your feet flat on the floor. Cross your arms over your chest. Exhale as you curl up toward your knees. If you can raise yourself only a few inches off the floor, don’t worry – it will get easier. Make sure your lower back is not arched upward. Repeat as many as you can. Remember, the more you do this exercise, the tighter your abdominals will become and the inches will fall off soon. You can do it.

Day 4

Butt lift:
Kneel on a rug or mat on all fours. You should have your hands and feet positioned so that you feel steady. While keeping your head up (do not look at the floor), exhale and raise your right leg until your thigh is even with your back and push toward the ceiling. Hold for one second and inhale as you return your knee to the original position. Do 10 repetitions for the right leg, and then repeat for the left leg. This exercise gives you the greatest butt lift. As you get better at this exercise, increase the number of repetitions to 15, and then 20 per leg.

Even better butt lift:
Pick a sturdy chair and lie on the floor on your back with the chair at your feet. Place your palms flat on the floor with your arms at your sides. Lift your legs and put your heels firmly on the chair. Exhale as you contract the backs of your thighs and lift your butt toward the ceiling. Hold for two seconds. Inhale as you slowly lower your body back to the starting position. Do 10 repetitions. Stop, rest for 10 seconds, do 10 more repetitions, and then the last 10 repetitions. Once you feel strong doing 10 repetitions, add another five, and so on.

Day 5

Shoulder lift:
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, your back straight, and your arms at your sides. Grip a light dumbbell in each hand then raise your arms out from your sides with your palms facing upward, until your arms are level with your shoulders. When you raise your arms to shoulder height, turn your palms down and hold for one second. Inhale as you lower the weight. Repeat 10 times. With the medium weight, repeat 10 times. Finally, do 10 more with your heavy weight. If you push out your stomach or arch your back, you are using too heavy a weight. Either use a lighter weight or reduce the number of repetitions.

No more back fat:
Sit in an armless chair. Pick up a dumbbell in each hand. Lean forward with your arms at the side of the chair and exhale as you point your elbows toward the ceiling. Stop when your hands are at the height of your thighs. Hold for two seconds and inhale as you lower your arms. Do this 10 times. Next, repeat 10 times with a medium weight. Finally, repeat with the heavier weight. This exercise gets rid of the flab that women accumulate on their back around their bra strap and strengthens back muscles.

Day 6 and Day 7

Move your body:

Go for a walk in the park, bicycle with your kids, swim, golf, play tennis, garden, or go dancing. Do anything that requires you to move your body. Add some exercise variety today and tomorrow. You have done fabulously and should be proud of yourself. Even after five days most people feel stronger and want to exercise. It is so easy to fit 10 minutes of exercise into your day. If you miss a day because you slept through your alarm, just remember to do your exercises the next day. Repeat these exercises as recommended and in a few weeks your body will reward you with tight muscles and a slimmer, sexier you.

The post Ten Minutes a Day Keeps the Fat at Bay appeared first on Total Health Magazine.

There is a lot out there about how competitive athletes can up their energy. Although the approach we’ll discuss below is also excellent for athletes, it was developed, and is outstanding, for the rest of us. Whether you are a mom trying to juggle a fast paced hectic life, a student on a fast food diet, or just trying to optimize your day to day energy, here’s how to get from being fatigued to feeling fantastic!

Having spent the last 30 plus years specializing in treating chronic fatigue and chronic pain, we have learned about the keys to energy production. As an unexpected fringe benefit, these treatments have also offered enormous benefits to those suffering from heart disease.

Optimize energy production with the “SHINE Protocol” Ribose (and our overall approach to treating fatigue) has been highlighted by Dr. Oz, “America’s Doctor” on Oprah, in his wonderful new book YOU: Being Beautiful—The Owner’s Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty.

In addition, our research has shown that severely fatigued people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Fibromyalgia can increase their energy by an average of 90 percent (see the published study at www.Vitality101.com) by treating with “SHINE”: Sleep, Hormonal support, Infections, Nutrition and Exercise. For mild fatigue, the physical keys to optimizing energy are Nutrition, Sleep and Exercise, while the emotional key is to start paying attention to what feels good—while letting go of things that don’t.

How Do I Start?
Given my hectic schedule as an educator and physician, people often ask me what I do to keep my energy turbo charged. I like to keep it simple, so here is what I do personally. All of the vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients are important to health, and the American diet is so highly processed that people have widespread deficiencies. Because of this, I like to use vitamins that make supplementation simple.

Why Ribose—And What Is Ribose?
Ribose, also called D-Ribose, is the key to your body’s energy production. Ribose is a special, five-carbon sugar (known as a pentose by biochemists) that is found naturally in our bodies. But ribose is not like any other sugar. Sugars we are all familiar with, such as table sugar (sucrose), corn sugar (glucose), milk sugar (lactose), honey (predominantly fructose), and others are used by the body as fuel. These sugars are consumed and, with the help of the oxygen we breathe, are “burned” by the body to recycle energy. Because they are used excessively, they become toxic— acting as energy loan sharks.

Ribose, on the other hand, is special. When we consume ribose, the body recognizes it is different from other sugars and preserves it for the vital work of actually making the special “energy molecules” (called ATP, NADH, and FADH) that power our hearts, muscles, brains, and every other tissue in the body. These represent the energy currency in your body, and are like the paper that money is printed on. You can have all the fuel you want, but if it cannot be converted to these molecules, it is useless. For years, I talked about the importance of B vitamins, which are a key component of these molecules. These helped improve energy to a degree, but it was clear that a key component was missing. In looking at the biochemistry of these energy molecules, they are also made of two other key components-adenine and ribose. Adenine is plentiful in the body and supplementing with adenine did not help energy production. We then turned our attention to Ribose.

Ribose is made in your body in a slow, laborious process and cannot be found in food. We knew that severe fatigue and stress causes your body to dump other key energy molecules like acetyl-L-carnitine. We then found that the body did the same with Ribose, making it hard to get your energy furnaces working again even after the other problems were treated.

This was one of those “Eureka!” moments where things came together. Not having Ribose would be like trying to build a fire without kindling—nothing would happen. We wondered if giving Ribose to people with fatigue and even CFS would jump-start their energy furnaces. The answer was a resounding yes! Our recently published study (see the study abstract at www. Vitality101.com) showed an average 44.7 percent increase in energy after only three weeks (improvement began at 12 days) and an average overall improvement in quality of life of 30 percent. Two-thirds of the study patients felt they had improved. Usually a 10 percent improvement for a single nutrient is considered excellent. A 44.7 percent increase left us amazed, and I am now recommending Ribose for all of my chronic fatigue, chronic pain and fibromyalgia patients, for athletes, and for any one with fatigue or heart problems. Ribose recently became available (over the counter) to physicians, and is one of the few natural products actually starting with physicians and then moving out into supplement companies and health food stores. It is critical to use the proper dose for the first three weeks, which is five grams (5000 mg) three times a day. It can then be dropped to twice a day (and often even once a day in the morning with the vitamin powder to maintain optimized energy for those that are otherwise healthy).

Normal, healthy heart and muscle tissue has the capacity to make the ribose it needs. But when we are chronically stressed by life or illness, it helps to have extra ribose to help boost energy production.

The Scientific Link Between Ribose, Energy, And Fatigue
Clinical and scientific research has repeatedly shown giving ribose to energy deficient hearts and muscles stimulates energy recovery. Research in Ribose and fatigue began with a case study that was published in the prestigious journal Pharmacotherapy in 2004. This case study told the story of a veterinary surgeon diagnosed with fibromyalgia. For months, this dedicated doctor found herself becoming more and more fatigued, with pain becoming so profound she was finally unable to stand during surgery. As a result, she was forced to all but give up the practice she loved.Upon hearing that a clinical study on ribose in congestive heart failure was underway in the university where she worked, she asked if she could try the ribose to see if it might help her overcome the mind-numbing fatigue she experienced from her disease. After three weeks of ribose therapy she was back in the operating room, practicing normally with no muscle pain or stiffness, and without the fatigue that had kept her bedridden for many months. Being a doctor, she was skeptical, not believing that a simple sugar could have such a dramatic effect on her condition. Within two weeks of stopping the ribose therapy, however, she was out of the operating room and back in bed. So, to again test the theory, she began ribose therapy a second time. The result was similar to her first experience, and she was back doing surgery in days. After yet

a third round of stopping (with the return of symptoms) and starting (with the reduction of symptoms) the ribose therapy, she was convinced, and has been on ribose therapy since that time. I found this report intriguing and decided to design a larger study in patients with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome which I began to discuss earlier. Our study included 41 patients with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome who were given ribose at a dose of five grams three times per day for three weeks. We found the ribose treatment led to significant improvement in energy levels, sleep patterns, mental clarity, pain intensity, and well being. Of the patients participating in the study, 65.7 percent experienced significant improvement while on ribose, with an average increase in energy of 44.7 percent and overall well being of 30 percent- remarkable results from a single nutrient! The only significant side effects were two people felt too energized and hyper/anxious on the ribose. This is simply dealt with by lowering the dose and/or taking it with food.

The good news is that we now have a wonderful tool to increase energy naturally. Take five grams of ribose three times per day for three weeks, then twice a day (can be mixed with any liquid or food) for two to three weeks, and then one to two times per day to see what it will do for you. You’ll be amazed!

The post Optimizing Energy Production with Ribose appeared first on Total Health Magazine.

Time is the great equalizer. The poorest person on the planet and the richest have exactly the same amount of it, 24 hours per day. No more, no less. So let’s forget about finding extra time. (Where are you going to find it, under a rock?) Instead, let’s talk about developing a budget. Let’s talk about creating our life the way we want it to be.

As a writer, I’m always fascinated with what the writing process is like for other writers. Writing is right up there with exercise in the procrastination sweepstakes. There are thousands of failed writers all over the place who are sure that the only reason they’re not successful is that they “couldn’t find time,” or didn’t have the right computer, or the right quiet room, or because they had too many other responsibilities. But successful writers-like successful exercisers-don’t have any more minutes in the day than unsuccessful writers. My favorite writing story is the one about the lawyer who wrote a novel in the wee hours of the morning before proceeding to go to work, where he put in a 60-hour week while supporting a family with three small children. It took him three years to complete the novel. The novel was A Time to Kill and the lawyer was John Grisham.

Oh, and did I mention the almost destitute young housewife with a young child and a burning desire to write no matter what? She’d sit in coffee shops and write by longhand while the baby would nap. Did it for a long time, by the way, with little support from the university. Her name is J.K. Rowling. Maybe you know her. She wrote the Harry Potter books.

So let’s dispel this notion of “I can’t find the time.” Of course you can’t. Neither can I. The problem is not one of time, it’s one of habit development. It’s about taking something that you’re not used to doing-exercise-and turning it into something that you’re not used to doing without. Work on the plan for habit acquisition and believe me, time will take care of itself.

So how do you build a habit?

Suppose you’re playing catch with a little kid. A real little kid, one who can barely get her hands around the ball and is just learning to throw. What do you do? Do you throw the ball as hard and as fast as you can? Of course you don’t because it would be impossible for her to catch it and she would get completely frustrated and give up. Sometime watch a father teaching his kid to hit a baseball. How does he pitch those first balls? Easy and gently. Underhand.

Now why do you do it like that?

Because you want the child to develop her skill. Because the one thing you don’t want is for her to feel defeated. Because you don’t want her to be frustrated. Because skill building has to start slowly, a little at a time. When she gets good at catching the ball with an easy throw, when he gets good at hitting the ball with an easy pitch, then you make it marginally harder. You keep the challenge level just slightly above the skill level, so that the skill can grow organically, step by step and the learner is always reinforced positively with a feeling of accomplishment.

And why, at the risk of repeating the obvious, do we do it this way?

Well, if I can be blunt, because no one likes to do what they suck at. If you keep having an unsuccessful experience with something, you just stop doing it. It’s not fun to fail. And that’s what most people have done with their exercise programs. They cut off a big chunk right at the beginning they can’t chew it and they spit it out. And they stop.

And blame it on not having enough time.

You are going to teach yourself something new, a new skill, a new habit, just as surely as you would teach a child to catch and throw a ball. If you start with some ridiculous goal like “I must do one hour of jogging every day,” it will be like throwing a fastball to the kid who never played catch before. You’re going to be frustrated, you’re going to think you stink at this game and you’re going to give up. That you can take to the bank. So you have to do something different. You have got to stack the deck in your own favor.

You have to set the game up so you win.

See, the subconscious mind is very simplistic. It’s very digital. It knows two states: on or off. Win or lose. Success or failure. If you set yourself an initial goal like “30 minutes on the treadmill” and you only do 20 minutes, whether you are aware of it or not, your subconscious mind logs that as a failure. You aimed for 30 and didn’t make it. Somewhere in your subconscious is a little voice sticking out its symbolic tongue and yelling “loser!” But if you set a goal of five minutes and you do five minutes, guess what? Your mind logs that as a win. Which it is. Does it matter that it’s “only” five minutes? Not on your life. What matters is that you had a positive experience.

In the first months of exercise, all we’re trying to do is to log those positives. We’re in a habit-building mode, not in “how much exercise did I do?” mode. It is not important how much you do-what is important is that you do something. Consistently. That’s how we build a habit successfully. That’s why the intro level “Shape Up” program begins with only 10 minutes of walking three times a week. What you’re really trying to do here is condition your subconscious. You want to trick it into thinking that exercise is always a “win” situation for you. Maybe for you, right now, that means just doing five minutes a day. No problem. Your conscious mind may be saying, “Five minutes can’t possibly make a difference,” but it’s dead wrong. What makes a difference-and believe me, this is the most important difference of all-is that you keep your word to yourself. You said you would do five minutes . . . and you did five minutes. You said you’re going to walk half a block . . . and you walked half a block. It may not seem like much but on a subconscious level you were learning the most valuable lesson in habit development; you’re learning to believe your own words.

I once trained a woman named Marnie, an absolutely lovely and charming occupational therapist who weighed around 250 pounds. She had never exercised successfully, hated the concept, didn’t see how she could possibly fit it into her extraordinarily busy life, but had reluctantly come to the gym on doctor’s orders. She had tried working out several times in the past and had been given long routines of weights and aerobics that she found both difficult and dull and had abandoned within a matter of days. She had very little hope that this would be different but had promised her doctor that she would give it one more shot.

The first training session we did nothing but talk. I didn’t even let her change into her gym clothes.

At the end of our meeting, I gave her her first assignment: Show up for the next session. Which she did. Early, actually.

The second time we talked some more. What was her job like? Where did she want to be in a few years? What was her health life? How, if at all, did she feel her weight held her back? How did she feel about her body? You know, stuff like that.

The third time I showed her how the treadmill worked. She actually got on it and we walked together on adjoining treadmills.

For three minutes. Yes, you heard me right. Three minutes. And that was her assignment for the next two visits. Three minutes on the treadmill. No more, no less.

She had now logged in five successful trips to the gym. I upped her assignment to four minutes.

See where I’m going with this? The biggest mistake people make when it comes to incorporating exercise into their lives is concentrating on the amount they do and how quickly it will produce results. It’s the wrong focus. Until it becomes something you can’t imagine living without, the focus should be simply on doing something consistently. Do you realize that if you started with as little as one minute a day and over the next two months added no more than 30 seconds each day, you’d be up to a half hour of daily exercise in 60 days? You can always up the ante once you develop the habit. The trick is developing the habit.

In case you’re wondering what happened with Marnie, she became one of the strongest athletes I ever trained. When she finally left me to move out West, she was regularly lifting weights, running in Central Park, going mountain biking on weekends and looking forward to learning how to ski.

You can do it, too. Or any version of it that suits your life.

If exercise is new to you, treat this part of the program as a remedial course in the power of your word. Trust me that it does not matter how little you do right now. What matters is that you promise to do it and then you keep that promise. Keep the bar low for now-in fact, I insist on it. You can always raise it. You will raise it.

When you say so.

But first you have to learn to negotiate this skill at the beginner’s level, just like the little child learning to throw a ball. You have to believe in your own word again.

And if that little voice in your head tells you that a few minutes a day can’t possible make any difference, well then, please tell her she’s more than welcome to her opinion, but to please stop chattering for a few minutes while you go work out.

The post Making Time For Exercise appeared first on Total Health Magazine.