THE SHAMROCK RUNNING CLUB'S BLOG

U-Lowell 4x400 Team

2012-01-30T06:17:00.001-05:00

Fastest ever indoor 4x4 by any school in New England, any division. 3:09.39 (averages to 47.3-ish). The leg-2 runner is a Woburn kid.

Watch more video of 2012 BU Terrier Invitational on flotrack.org

Top Ten RX

2012-01-29T06:25:00.000-05:00

Dr Mercola

The contents of America’s medicine cabinets, according to Time Magazine, reflect an aching, aging, overweight citizenry. Here is their list of the 10 most popular prescription drugs in the U.S.:

Vicodin (131.2 million prescriptions) is used to treat chronic pain
Zocor (94.1 million) is a statin drug used to treat high cholesterol
Prinivil (87.4 million ) is an ACE inhibitor that treats high blood pressure
Synthroid (70.5 million) is a thyroid hormone for low-functioning thyroid glands
Norvasc (57.2 million) is a calcium channel blocker for high blood pressure
Prilosec (53.4 million) is a proton pump inhibitor used to treat acid reflux
Zithromax (52.6 million) is an antibiotic for bacterial infections
Amoxil (52.3 million) is also an antibiotic
Glucophage (48.3 million) is an anti-diabetic drug
HydroDIURIL (47.8) is a diuretic used to treat high blood pressure

Men's Elite MIle from NZ

2012-01-28T06:19:00.002-05:00

Watch more videos on NZRUN

What Is Fatigue?

2012-01-27T05:55:00.000-05:00

http://joefriel.typepad.com/

Fatigue is a primary limiter standing between you and better performance. If you could delay or resist the sensations of fatigue you would go faster and last longer at a given effort level--the ultimate purpose of training. Yet we never rid ourselves of fatigue, which is actually a good thing because this prevents us from damaging our bodies or perhaps needlessly expending physiological resources. But understanding what brings on fatigue during a race or workout may point to strategies that could raise your fatigue threshold, allowing you to go faster or farther.

Fatigue seems to vary according to the duration and intensity of exercise. An 800-meter runner and a marathon runner may both fatigue greatly during their races, slow down, and struggle to the finish lines, but their specific reasons for fatigue aren’t the same. Or are they? What caused their fatigue? Currently there are three ways of explaining fatigue.

Catastrophe theory. This is the oldest model having been around since the 1920s. It’s the one which is accepted by most exercise physiologists. This model proposes that exercise stops when something catastrophic occurs in the body, especially in the working muscles [1].

Other than overheating and severe dehydration, which can obviously limit performance, the catastrophe model proposes that there are at least two common physiological reasons for fatigue during endurance events: the accumulation of metabolic by-products such as hydrogen ions, especially from lactic acid release (the 800-meter runner); and the depletion of energy stores such as glycogen and glucose (the marathoner). The catastrophe model proposes that when either of these situations occurs the body is forced to slow down. It’s much like a car running out of gas or the fuel lines becoming clogged. A catastrophe has just happened and the body stops functioning normally.

Central Governor theory. The second way of explaining fatigue originated in the physiology lab at the University of Cape Town in South Africa in the 1990s. Here noted-exercise physiologist Tim Noakes, PhD proposed that fatigue occurs in the brain, not in the muscles [2,3,4].

In this model the body is constantly sending signals to the subconscious brain regarding the current status of the working muscles. For example, fuel levels and metabolic by-product build-up are being monitored by the brain. This is a bit like the operation of the thermostat in your home which gauges the temperature and turns the heating or air conditioning system on or off as needed. At some point the brain may make a decision, again subconsciously and the result of perceived exertion, to slow down due to the current status of the body. It’s proposed that this central governor for fatigue evolved to protect the body from damage caused by excessively hard work.

Psychobiological theory. This theory is a bit like the central governor model, but with a twist. Samuele Marcora, PhD at the University of Wisconsin proposed recently that it is, indeed, perceived exertion, a subconscious calculation made by the brain during exercise, that limits performance [5,6]. He proposed that exercise stops well before fuel levels and metabolic by-product accumulation suggests it is absolutely necessary.

In a part of the forebrain known as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) subconscious decisions are made regarding conflict resolution and response inhibition. Essentially, this means that during exercise the ACC is weighing the cost of continuing at a given intensity versus the reward for doing so. Dr. Marcora has shown that “fatigued” athletes are able to overcome the sensation at what appears to be the end of exercise to failure and produce a greater output if the reward is big enough.

You have probably experienced this at the end of a race. You may have been slowing down but when the finish line is seen you have the capacity to some how speed up or even sprint. You’re willing to overcome the suffering because the reward, an awe-inspiring finish or perhaps a slightly faster time or higher finishing place, was great enough to overcome the suffering you were feeling. He further suggests that this system evolved to keep us from needlessly wasting energy in the pursuit of food when the prospect of success in finding it was low. But should food appear (perhaps a deer on the horizon) increasing the likelihood of getting it, then the s

Top 6 Anti-Inflammatory Foods

2012-01-26T06:08:00.000-05:00

from Mark's Daily Apple

Wild Fish Fat

Pastured Animal Fat
The important factor is that your animal fat comes from pastured animals who ate grass, that the chickens who laid your eggs ate grass and bugs and grains/seeds lower in omega-6.

Red Palm Oil
Red palm oil is incredibly dense with antioxidants. Full spectrum vitamin E, CoQ10, vitamin A, and vitamin K, all incredibly important in maintaining antioxidant status, all make appearances.

Cruciferous Vegetables
Broccoli lowered colonic inflammation in mice.
Red cabbage reduced oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation

Berries
Blueberries top most anti-inflammatory food lists

Turmeric
Turmeric beat both ginger and an anti-inflammatory drug for treating arthritis
Whole Article

The 411 on Protein Powders

2012-01-25T06:11:00.001-05:00

from CF Oakland

How to Incorporate Protein Powders Into Your Diet
In my opinion, powders should be used to supplement your already healthy diet. A high-quality protein powder can provide an additional boost of amino acids, vitamins, and essential fats but it's not to replace eating REAL food. All protein powders are processed and are therefore somewhat denatured making them suboptimal sources of proteins and nutrients when compared to a whole foods like a steak and fish. I'm a huge advocate of eating real food, and whenever possible, I think it's better to meet your protein needs by chowing down on some real, honest to goodness animal meat. Sorry, folks, you just can't outsmart mother nature.

Who Should Use Them
If you're already eating a healthy diet, then you probably don't need to bother with protein powders. However, I have found them to be particularly helpful in the case of:

athletes
individuals with compromised digestion
individuals recovering from a serious illness
individuals under tremendous amounts of stress

For athletes, the best time to use them is immediately following a workout--preferably within 10 min and certainly within 30 min of calling "time!" This brief window of time is when the body can better absorb the food you ingest, making it ideal for replenishing vital nutrients and energy stores. This is key in improving recovery time post workout and priming your body for your next trip to the gym.

Also, because too much stress (in any form) puts a huge strain on the body, a protein supplement may be incredibly helpful in speeding up recovery and supporting a healthy immune system, particularly for those with compromised health or poor digestion.

What to Avoid
As most of you know already, the list of ingredients on a food label are listed according to how much of that ingredient is in the food. In other words, the ingredient that makes up the majority of the food will be at the top of the list, and the one in the least amount is listed last. Therefore, if the first ingredient is sugar (a word ending in the suffix ose), then you know you are mostly getting a glass full of sugar. Sugar/carbs a great post workout but don't waste your money on expensive protein powders when you could just as easily have some fresh OJ.

Next, avoid protein powders with a long list of ingredients. This is true for any food that you eat. You should also be on the look out for ingredients that you can't pronounce or that you don't recognize as food. I would also caution you on products containing "natural and artificial flavorings" which are chemical additives that are made in laboratories, and not necessarily safe or "natural."

Lastly, avoid powders with vegetable oils as these are likely to be genetically modified and/or trans fats. Again, ingredients should be easily identify as FOOD and don't need to be "hydrolized, "hydrogenated" or undergo any other processing to make it edible.

What to Look For
High quality protein powders are going to be more expensive. There's no way around it, if you want a good product without a lot of fillers, you have to be willing to shell out a little more money. As long as you can tolerate dairy, I'd say whey is the way to go (no pun intended). I like that it's easily digestible and absorbable and has a plethora of health benefits. If you're going to use whey, be sure that the milk is from grass-fed cows. Also, choose whey that is "undenatured" as this means that it is processed at very low temps, preventing the fragile fats and proteins from becoming damaged. Whey protein powders typically come in "concentrate" form or as "protein isolates" and there's a lot of controversy over which one is better. The concentrates are not as processed, so I tend to prefer these over the isolates, even though these tend to be higher in protein. I don't get any money from this company but I think "Designs for Health Whey Cool" is one of the best retail powders I've seen. It's made using 100% grass-fed whey and has been very minimally processed.

Non-Dairy/Non-Gluten Sources
This post is getting too long so I'm just going to list some of my favorites: rice, pea, and hempseed. Rice is kinda chalky, but has a milder flavor and tends for be the least problematic for people with food allergies or sensitivities.

Final Word
Mix it up. You should rotate between a few powders so that you're getting a nice variety of nutrients and so that you don't develop an allergy. Also, whatever you're using, it should go into the blender LAST and you should really only pulse it in a few times to k

The Parasympathetic Secret

2012-01-24T06:11:00.000-05:00

By Charlie Cates

You wake up after a restful night’s sleep to hit up the gym before the sun comes up. The last few training days have been pretty taxing on you, but surprisingly, you were able to hop out of bed with very little soreness. But that was gone three minutes into your warm up. Today is your deadlift day, and even though your legs, back, and arms feel strong, the weight feel heavy. Way too heavy. Why is this? Why do you feel so weak and unmotivated to lift heavy and strong? Because while your muscular system may have recovered from your previous workouts, your nervous system hasn’t.

If you’ve ever felt this way in the gym, odds are that it can be attributed to your nervous system being in a sympathetic state. To understand how to fix the problem, you must first understand the problem, so a brief physiology lesson is due. The nervous system is broken down into two main components—the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS is made up of the brain and spinal cord while the PNS is broken down into subdivisions—the sensory-somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS controls much of what goes on internally in the human body to make sure that it functions normally, such as breathing when we aren’t thinking about it, stimulating the release of bile from the gallbladder, and controlling our heart rate.

The ANS is once again divided into two categories—the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system. These two systems serve opposite roles in the body, with the parasympathetic nervous system signaling for the body to be in a more relaxed state while the sympathetic nervous system signals the body to be in a more aggressive or alert state. This is important to know because when you spend prolonged periods of time in a sympathetic state (i.e. when you work out), metabolites begin to build up in the bloodstream. As these metabolites continue to collect, your average heart rate will begin to rise with everything you do. And there, my friends, lies one of the best indicators as to whether or not you have truly recovered from your workout.

One of the best ways to go about monitoring the state of your nervous system is to check your resting heart rate (RHR) upon waking every morning. This is a habit that I’ve gotten into and it has paid off tremendously. I know that when I’m fresh, my RHR is around 44 beats per minute (bpm). However, by the end of every week, my RHR starts to creep up around 60 bpm. That’s when I know it’s time to head to the gym for a recovery session, which always brings me back down into the 40s by the next morning. Not only will someone’s RHR increase, but their heart rate during other activities will be higher than normal as well. This is why many professional and collegiate athletes are being required to wear heart rate monitors during their workouts, so coaches can watch their heart rate that day during specific drills and compare that to what it has been on other days. This is also to make sure that their heart rate doesn’t get too high or too low during their training session, so they can get the most out of the athletes both on that day and in future training sessions.

Many people think that it’s best to take a day off from the gym when they start to feel groggy and unmotivated. While not seeing the gym for a day may be good for their mindset, what their body more than likely needs is a light training session, working basic movement patterns, easy cardio, or a brief skill session, depending on whether or not this person is a competitive athlete. Regardless of which activity the subject chooses, the most important thing is that his or her heart rate is kept between 120 and 130 bpm. I can’t stress this enough. When doing recovery work, you must monitor your heart rate and make sure that it stays between 120 and 130 beats per minute. If you own a heart rate monitor that gives you constant feedback, your possibilities for recovery work are endless. If not, you will be confined to using some sort of cardio equipment that has a heart rate monitor on it. These activities should be performed for 20 to 45 minutes on a day when no other training is scheduled. For athletes, I recommend doing something that is low impact on the joints, such as biking, using the elliptical, or wearing a heart rate monitor in the pool.

So what is so special about the 120 to 130 bpm range? The secret is that within this range is where the body makes a switch from the parasympathetic to the sympathetic nervous system. Below 120 bpm, the parasympathetic nervous system still sends signals to the body while above 130 bpm the sympathetic nervous system is completely in charge. Within this heart rate range, the body is best able to flush out the metabolites of previous workouts. Therefore, it allows your body to optimally recover and sends your nervous system from a sympathetic state back to a parasympathetic state.

So the next time your legs are fresh but your head is in a fog, try some nervous system recovery work to get back to “beast mode.” Get big or die trying.

Exercise only preserves the muscles you actually use

2012-01-23T06:04:00.002-05:00

sweatscience.com

It was great to see the big response to the MRI pics I posted a couple of days ago showing the well-preserved leg muscles of a 70-year-old triathlete. Very striking stuff. But let me now offer the following caveat:

This is a figure from a new study from the University of Western Ontario, just posted at Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. They analyzed the biceps brachii (arm muscles) of nine young runners (average age 27), nine old non-runners (70), and nine lifelong masters runners (67). They measured the number of functional motor units (i.e. group of muscle fibres activated by a single motor neuron), which typically declines with age. As you can see, the two old groups were pretty much the same, far below the young group.

In contrast, the same researchers studied leg muscles (tibialis anterior) in a similar group of volunteers last year (as I blogged about here) — in that case, the older runners did preserve the number of motor units. What this tells us is that exercise, on its own, doesn’t preserve all the muscles in your body: in the words of the researchers, there’s no “whole body neuroprotective effect,” or at least none that shows up in this relatively small study. It just preserves the muscles you’re using on a regular basis. So that’s still good news for triathletes, but maybe not as good for runners and cyclists!

New Record in the NCAA 1k

2012-01-22T07:04:00.002-05:00

The more you eat, the faster you go (in ultraendurance)

2012-01-21T06:37:00.002-05:00

http://sweatscience.com/

A few months ago, I blogged about a study that observed correlation between in-race carb intake and race time in Ironman triathletes. What was significant about that paper is that it looked at a topic that has been studied to death in the lab, and took it out into the real world. There are a lot of “problems” with the real world that make it hard to nail down causes and effects — but ultimately, the whole point of this type of research is to understand what’s happening in the real world. So these observational studies, despite their challenges, are very important.

That’s by way of intro for another small study, just published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, from researchers in New Zealand. They looked at the nutritional intake of participants in a brutal cycling race, the K4, which covers 384K and includes 4,600 metres of climbing. The average finishing time of the 18 study participants was 16 hours and 21 minutes! The key points:

The estimated calorie burn for the race was about 6,000 calories; the average intake was just 4,500 calories, so there was a big caloric deficit.
There was a significant inverse relationship (p=0.023) between number of calories consumed and finishing time. The more calories you managed to cram down your gullet, the faster you finished!

Is this a surprise? Given that the race was so long, it makes sense that taking in enough energy was a significant challenge. Obviously the same thing doesn’t apply during, say, a 100-metre sprint. The question is: where’s the breakpoint, beyond which energy intake becomes a significant independent predictor of performance? I think the general assumption is that it’s probably a bit below marathon distance — so it would be really interesting to see a study like this, with a very large number of participants, at a marathon.

Mr Konstantinovs is back

2012-01-20T05:41:00.000-05:00

And Russian metal to go along with it........

The Last Part

2012-01-19T06:03:00.000-05:00

from Eat More Improve

Subsequently, a reorganized list would look like:

1. Sleep
2. Nutrition
3. Training
4. Destressing

Destressing

I kinda covered a bunch of the tips in the sleep section since stress and sleep quality are very intimately related. Actually, all 4 of the qualities I have talked about – sleep, nutrition, training, and stress – are all interconnected to optimal health.

Optimizing these are really 99% of the things we can do to benefit both our health and fitness.

Really, movement related destress is the best.

Massage and soft tissue work. As you may well know I am a big proponent of massage for pretty much anything and everything. Use lacrosse balls, tennis balls, foam rollers, etc to poke around your body to help loosen up. Kelly Starrett’s mobility wod is a great resource.

Females actually do have some destressing things right such as taking hot baths, enjoying hot tubs, and going to the spa. Pretty much anything goes much like soft tissue work that helps you significantly relax and enjoy yourself.

Laugh. Watch or listen to funny things. Laughter actually does beneficial things for immune system function. Funny but true.

Meditation and prayer also produce similar effects. Acupuncture may produce similar effects as well.

The real thing is just do something you enjoy or something that gets you to relax. Destress yourself. Sleep more… get rid of the chronic stress. Not only will this improve your mood and attitude but it will also improve your health and subsequently performance as well.

Supplements

Supplements are supplements.

Like I have stated in previous nutrition articles, aim to fix sleep, nutrition, and training before you even think about supplementing.

Conclusion

It’s always a good idea step back and reassess what you’re doing with your life.

It’s pretty easy to get caught up in family, work, school, even training and nutrition. Don’t be dogmatic about things.

Spare some time and invest it back into your body.

After all, health is one of the most precious gifts we have as humans.

Keep Simple part III

2012-01-18T06:37:00.000-05:00

from Eat Move Improve

1. Sleep
2. Nutrition
3. Training
4. Destressing

3. Training

While I tend to strongly encourage weights over doing cardio, getting off your butt is getting off your butt for most people. As long as you are doing something, it is better than nothing.

And, after all, everyone has their own goals. I like to try to inform people the whys of why strength training typically is more effective to get people to their goals faster. However, as long as people are getting up and moving it is good.

Movement is life.

Since I have been down and out with my training for a while, you really learn to appreciate things more. Even though I’m fairly young (mid-20s still) I have gotten a taste of very hard training and burnout already. I have had some of my fair share of injuries.

Training and exercise, while working to our different goals is fun. But sometimes, just take a few steps back and really enjoy the process. Take days off here and there to do things with your family.

I used to be the one who would skip going out with friends to play basketball (and I still hate basketball), to go train by myself and train my strength. However, strength can wait. Enjoy some time and memories with your friends.

If you’ve been thinking about learning new sports or trying new activities do it. Life can get hectic and busy, and we often get stuck in our ruts.

Learning new things can be frustrating at times, but it also engages us and challenges in a way that helps to free up accumulated stress in our bodies and minds.

Keep it Simple II

2012-01-17T05:56:00.000-05:00

Breaking down the numbers…

The four key concepts I outlined in a call for KISS are training, nutrition, sleep, and destressing.

1. Sleep
2. Nutrition
3. Training
4. Destressing

2. Nutrition

Nutrition I would rank second. We eat nearly 3 times a day for 7 days a week. Therefore, the affect of nutrition on our bodies for improvements in both health and training cannot be understated. You may have heard that “abs are made in the kitchen” and that it is 75-80% nutrition for fat loss. This is true – for the ratio of times we eat per the times we train per week is about 21:5 or about 80%.

Really though, keep it simple. There’s lots of good sayings that are generally true:

Eat real food
Avoid refined carbohydrates
Avoid things that come in a package
If your grandmother wouldn’t recognize it don’t eat it
If it doesn’t grow from a tree or in the ground, or swim, or walk don’t eat it.

While “eating clean” and the above categories are actually fairly arbitrary, the “goal” of it all is simple.

Don’t obsess about macronutrients. Don’t even obsess about food. Eat a wide variety of plants and animals.

Enjoy your food. Don’t let it take over your life.

Keep it simple

2012-01-16T07:34:00.000-05:00

eatmoveimprove.com

The four key concepts I outlined in a call for KISS are training, nutrition, sleep, and destressing.

Prioritizing what we improve first will have the biggest impacts on our training and health. Based on the “time” factor we can reprioritize everything according to its value in our daily lives.

Subsequently, a reorganized list would look like:

1. Sleep
2. Nutrition
3. Training
4. Destressing

1. Sleep

Sleep is really friggin’ important. We do it for nearly 1/3 of our lives. And lack of sleep, as well as night shifts, directly cause excessive chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and otherwise negative effects we associate with the diseases of civilization (metabolic, neurodegenerative, auto-immune, etc. issues). WHO – the World Health Organization – has named shift work as a carcinogen. Getting on a good circadian rhythm is extremely important.

Keep it simple; get good sleep.

Guidelines and tips to get good sleep are:

1. Get at least 7-8 hours if not more in a pitch black room with no noise and cool ambient temperature.

2. Destress. Massages are great. Be disciplined in your daily life. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t let little things bother you. Again, get into a daily routine.

3. For those of us who use the computer a lot, the blue screen glow interrupts our circadian rhythm a lot leading to insomnia, anxiety, and other sleep related disorders. F.lux is a good problem to help counteract that.

~elimination of sounds
~elimination of electronic devices / outlets / plugins near body
~pitch black room
~cool, dry room (60-65 or so degrees is good if possible)

~stay away from artificial light sources (e.g. computer) at least 1 hr before sleep
~eat a meal, preferably with healthy fats and a decent amount of carbs, before sleeping (e.g. NO JUNK FOOD).

~single leg stand to exhaustion with both legs (it actually works really well)
~spine lengthening before sleep (see Esther Gokhale’s stuff)
~general exhaustion from physical activity like hiking, pickup games of stuff, lifting, etc.
~Deep breathing exercises
~Deep tissue massage

~magnesium may help (via ZMA or natural calm)
~melatonin helps some people
~phosphatidylserine (anti-cortisol)
~5-HTP (tryptophan deriv)
~L-theonine
~Vitamin D (taken during the day..)
~valerian root

McDonalds's and Weight Watchers team up

2012-01-15T07:17:00.000-05:00

telegraph.co.uk

Three McDonald's meals, including Chicken McNuggets, carrying the Weight Watchers logo will be sold in the fast food chain in New Zealand from this week and will be introduced into Australia in the next few months.

As part of the deal, McDonald's will use the Weight Watchers logo on its menu boards and Weight Watchers will promote McDonald's food to dieters.

So far, the Fillet-O-Fish, with 18g of fat and 380 calories; Chicken McNuggets, with 29g of fat and 485 calories; and Sweet Chilli Seared Chicken Wrap, with 18.8g of fat and 404 calories, have been approved by Weight Watchers.

However, Chicken McNuggets with 485 calories for 10 pieces makes up almost a third of the number of calories the average woman should consume in a day, even when not on a diet. The NHS recommends women should consume 1,500 calories a day and men 2,000.

Weight Watchers have stated that each meal is worth 6.5 points on the program, which assigns points to food items and allows dieters to consume 18 to 40 points each day to achieve their goal weight

2012-01-14T06:22:00.001-05:00

2012 US Olympic Men's Marathon Preview

2012-01-13T07:49:00.000-05:00

#1 Ryan Hall (2:06:17/2:04:58a PR, 59:43 half PR),
He has predicted that the top three men will all run under 2:10:00 in Houston.

Hall seems to think that a lot of people will go sub-2:10 in Houston. That's easy for him to say because a sub-2:10 is a normal occurrence for Hall.

#2 Meb Keflezighi - 2:09:13/61:00

Meb has an Olympic silver medal and an ING New York City title to his name. Additionally, he has gone sub-2:10 seven times and he comes into New York after a PR in his last marathon. As a result, he'd normally appear in our first category of guys that we'd be stunned if they didn't make the team.

#3 Dathan Ritzenhein - 2:10:00/60:00 (How much does that suck to think he couldn't run 1 second faster in both races?)

We debated about where to put Ritzenhein, as many would argue that he's an unproven marathoner at the truly elite level.

Yes, the prodigious talent has never gone sub-2:10 (his PR is 2:10:00), but he did make the 2008 Olympics in the marathon and in Beijing he was the top American finisher in 9th place - one spot ahead of Ryan Hall.

#4 Mo Trafeh - No Marathon PR/60:39 Half PR/29:54 10k PR

Some of you may be asking yourselves who the guy is and where did he come from, as he has never finished a marathon and he's never run faster than 29:54 in the 10,000 according to tilastapaja.org.

Well, trust us, insiders and many fellow competitors are scared to death of this 26-year-old who was born in Morocco but went to HS in the US and college briefly at AZ, and they're worried for the following reasons:

1) The 29:54 that he ran for 10k was run in HS (after running 9:08 for the deuce as a sophomore). He also has good mid-d speed. For example, he ran a 1:50/3:43 double in 2009.

2) He's run way faster than 29:54 in the midst of longer races

#5) Brett Gotcher - 2:10:36/62:09

Given the fact that his 2:10 PR came in Houston two years ago, Gotcher maybe deserves his own category above the people below.

If he's having a fantastic day and Ritz is a little bit off, our brains could rationalize a scenario where Gotcher could beat a Ritz or one of the top 4 (whereas the other guys in this group need to be way off their best games for these guys to beat them), but Gotcher on paper is just not as good as the top 4 guys in our minds. Take the US 10-Mile Champs in October. Gotcher ran very well and was third in 46:51. But who won in 46:46? Mo Trafeh.

How to Interpret Cholesterol Test Results

2012-01-12T06:02:00.000-05:00

from Mark;s Daily Apple

Cholesterol is cholesterol: a waxy steroid of fat that serves as an essential structural component of cellular membranes and in the production of steroid hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids. Contrary to what the terminology indicates, there’s actually only one “type” of cholesterol in the human body, and it’s called, quite simply, cholesterol. What we think of when we use the word “cholesterol” is actually a lipoprotein – a fatty conglomerate of protein and lipids that delivers cholesterol and fat and fat-soluble nutrients to different parts of the body. It’s not just free cholesterol floating around in your blood; it’s cholesterol bound up by lipoproteins.

: Read more

Study links statins to higher diabetes in older women

2012-01-11T06:24:00.000-05:00

USA TODAY

Study authors advise patients not to stop taking their medications without talking to a doctor, because statins' proven power to prevent heart attacks and strokes outweighs any potential increase in type 2 diabetes risk. But the results — a nearly 50% increase in diabetes among longtime statin users — should throw cold water on the idea of prescribing these drugs to healthy people, which some have recommended as a way to prevent disease, says co-author JoAnn Manson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. In recent years, statins' success in preventing heart attacks — even among people without high cholesterol — has led some doctors to joke about "putting them in the water supply."

In the study, 6.4% of women who didn't use statins developed diabetes during the eight to nine years of follow-up, Manson says. That rate rose to 9.9% among statin users.
Read More

5 tips for cold-weather workouts

2012-01-10T06:08:00.000-05:00

alex hutchinson

COVER YOUR FACE

The challenge: Going bareheaded in the winter is like leaving the lid off your thermos. Classic studies in the 1950s showed that if you wear winter clothes but no hat at 4 C, you lose about 50 per cent of your body heat through your head.

The research: A U.S. Army study published in early 2011 showed that your face is almost as important as the top of your head for heat loss. Volunteers spent an hour in a cold chamber with a wind chill of -20 C; those who wore a balaclava had measurably warmer fingers and toes than those wearing a normal hat. Your body tries valiantly to keep your brain warm by shunting blood away from your extremities toward your head.

The takeaway: Good mittens and socks are a must – but if your fingers and toes still get cold, be sure to break out your hat and scarf.

STAY DRY

The challenge: Staying warm becomes much harder if you get wet. In fact, water’s greater thermal capacity means that it can transmit heat by convection 70 times more quickly than air.

The research: Modern high-tech workout clothing wicks and breathes and performs lots of other neat tricks. But a 2008 European Union study of six different types of clothing confirmed that the basic laws of physics still apply: Once your clothes get wet, you’ll be losing about twice as much heat as when they were dry.

The takeaway: The key is to avoid sweating in the first place. For a moderately vigorous activity such as running, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, dress so that you feel unpleasantly cold for the first five minutes. As you warm up, remove layers before you start sweating.

GET USED TO IT?

The challenge: The first blasts of winter are the worst. After a few months, sub-zero temperatures don’t feel quite as shocking – but does that mean your body has adapted to maintain a higher temperature?

The research: A recent study by Brock University’s Stephen Cheung and his collaborators had volunteers dip their hands and feet in 8 C water for 30 minutes a day. After 15 days, their average pain score on a scale of 1 to 10 had dropped from 4.5 to 2.5 – a clear sign of acclimatization. But those subjective changes weren’t accompanied by better circulation or higher skin temperature in their cold hands.

The takeaway: After a long winter, your extremities will be just as cold, but you won’t notice it as much – a potentially dangerous combination for frostbite. Don’t get cocky about your apparent resistance to cold.

BEAT WIND CHILL

The challenge: Wind doesn’t actually make the air colder; it just blows away the micro-layer of warm air around your body, making you feel colder and accelerating convective heat loss.

The research: Understanding wind chill is important for comfort, but it’s crucial for avoiding frostbite. Researchers at Defence Research and Development Canada played a key role in developing revised international wind chill guidelines a decade ago. They found that the key threshold for frostbite risk is when the wind chill drops below -27 C, at which point exposed skin can develop frostbite in less than 30 minutes.

The takeaway: When the wind is vicious, make sure to cover bare skin – and remember that the wind chill you’ll experience is even colder during high-speed activities such as running and skiing.

BREATHE MOISTLY

The challenge: It’s the classic excuse for staying indoors, but there is actually no risk that you’ll freeze your lungs by breathing deeply in cold air. Still, some people do report coughing or shortness of breath during winter exercise.

The research: A 2005 study by Kenneth Rundell at Marywood University in Pennsylvania finally settled this long-standing debate. The “exercise-induced bronchoconstriction” (or EIB) endured by between 4 and 20 per cent of winter athletes is caused by the dryness of winter air, not its temperature. Breathing large volumes of dry air can irritate the sensitive cells lining your airways, causing them to constrict.

The takeaway: If you suffer from EIB, cover or partly cover your mouth with a thin balaclava, a scarf or a breathing mask. That will trap water vapour from your exhaled breath, moistening the air you’re about to inhale.

Maybe beef’s not so bad after all …

2012-01-09T06:09:00.000-05:00

FoodFacts.com does its best to keep our community members in the know regarding news in nutrition. Sometimes the latest news puts to rest some long held beliefs about the foods we eat. This latest information does just that.

For years now, we’ve believed that we should keep our consumption of beef low. It hasn’t been considered the best source of protein, even for nutritionally conscious folks who follow a healthy diet plan, based on its fat content. A new study published in the January 2012 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is actually taking a new stance on the subject matter. The study shows that, in fact, beef can play a role in a cholesterol-lowering diet. Every day consumption of lean beef can be effective in lowering total and “bad” cholesterol.

Conducted by researchers at Pennsylvania State University, the study evaluated adults with moderately elevated cholesterol levels. It measured the impact of diets including varying amounts of lean beef on total and LDL cholesterol levels. Those involved in the study experienced a 10% decrease in bad cholesterol from the beginning of the study while consuming diets including between 4 and 5.4 oz of lean beef daily. The remainder of the diet was rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. It was concluded that diets including lean beef are as effective in improving heart health risk factors as other diets which emphasize plant proteins.

It is important to note that beef consumed in this study were lean cuts and 95% lean ground beef. It is also important to note the amount of beef consumed daily during the study. While this is all great news for beef lovers everywhere, we all need to be conscious of the cut, fat content and portion size of beef in order to consider it a healthy option in our diets. The good news is that the most popular cuts of beef (top sirloin steak, tenderloin, t-bone steak) do, in fact, meet government guidelines for lean beef. A 3 oz. serving of lean beef contains about 150 calories and in addition, is a great source of protein, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, niacin and selenium.

FoodFacts is happy to share this news with you and to remind all of us that a healthy lifestyle includes real foods, in combination with one another and in moderation. It’s always a better plan than anything that comes from a box.

U.S. News evaluates diets

2012-01-08T06:43:00.000-05:00

usnews.com

U.S. News evaluated and ranked the 25 diets below with input from a panel of health experts.

They rank The Dash Diet #1. I would love to know the experts that recommend this. I got this info right off this web siteweb site. A sample of there food choices based on 2000 calories day.

Grains-6-8 servings of Whole wheat bread and rolls, whole wheat pasta,English muffin, pita bread,bagel, cereals, grits,oatmeal, brown rice,unsalted pretzels and popcorn.

The only thing I see here worth eating is the brown rice. The rest is nothing but highly processed low vitamin and mineral food choices..

Vegetables-4-5 servings of vegetables. Broccoli, carrots, collards,green beans, green
peas, kale, lima beans,potatoes, spinach,squash, sweet potatoes,tomatoes .

No problem with the veggies but why only 3-4 serving but you can have 6-8 servings of grains. Veggies vs Grains there is not comparison Veggies highly dense in vitamins and minerals . Grains highly processed very low in vitamins and minerals. No Brainer

Meats-6oz or less of lean meats....

Six oz's a day..That's just way to low for anyone. Never mine if you do any sort of training

Nuts, seeds,and legumes 4–5 per week. Nothing to bad with this not to crazy about the legumes though....

Fats and oils 2–3 servings Soft margarine, vegetable oil (such as canola, corn,olive, or safflower), low-fat mayonnaise, light salad dressing ..

This is where they go terribly wrong. These have to be the worst fat choices anyone could make(expect for olive oil). How they can recommend margarine and canola which are man made oils...Never mine the rest of industrial seed oils....I'll stop now its Sunday...

2012-01-07T06:18:00.000-05:00

Avoid ibuprofen if you want to grow muscle?

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com

Well that heading is just to promote some interest, but to be honest it does have something to do with this post. I spotted this bit of research reported yesterday, about how muscles get the signal to grow. Developing and retaining muscle is not just an issue for bodybuilders or athletes, it is essential to health as we grow old.

The story in EurekaAlert explains:

We take it for granted, but the fact that our muscles grow when we work them makes them rather unique. Now, researchers have identified a key ingredient needed for that bulking up to take place. A factor produced in working muscle fibers apparently tells surrounding muscle stem cell "higher ups" that it's time to multiply and join in, according to a study in the January Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press journal.

The research identifies this factor as "serum response factor (Srf)" which translates the mechanical signal of work into a chemical one.

Srf works through a network of genes, including one known as Cox2. That raises the intriguing possibility that commonly used Cox2 inhibitors—think ibuprofen—might work against muscle growth or recovery, Sotiropoulos notes.
The research is available here

Working Out With The Cornhuskers

2012-01-05T06:08:00.002-05:00

2012-01-05T06:07:00.000-05:00

Study on Fasted and Fed Exercise States

2012-01-04T06:05:00.000-05:00

An Invictus Research Study on Fasted and Fed Exercise States
Written by Calvin Sun

Sports nutrition is one of the many topics your coaches at Invictus love to debate. Pre-, peri-, and post-workout nutrition protocols are continuously studied and researched at our facility. Training on an empty stomach has been discussed several times on this blog and at our various nutrition seminars. I wrote a blog covering my thoughts on the subject several months ago here: http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/2011/02/14/tuesday-february-15-2011/.

This past semester, as part of my exercise physiology course, I had to conduct a research study on a topic of my choice. It seemed like a logical step to study fasted and fed exercise states. I had originally intended on using a graded-exercise test to assess the effect of pre-workout nutrition, or lack thereof, on various biometrics such as respiratory exchange ratio, blood glucose, and blood lactate. My thought was that this might allow us to replicate the higher intensity of training we use in our conditioning workouts. The department director at San Diego State University modified our original experimental design due to concerns with logistics and equipment. Instead, we were required to perform a steady-state exercise test where subjects pedaled on a bike at approximately 65% of their max heart rate for 30 minutes.

In our study, we had test subjects come in on the same day, two weeks in a row with one day in a fasted state and one day in a fed state. The order was randomized with some subjects performing their first trial fasted and others fed. For fasted-state exercise, we had our subjects fast for 12 hours prior to exercise with no caffeine consumption prior to exercise. For fed-state exercise, subjects were fed a meal consisting of a banana, a store-bought “energy” bar, and orange juice (again, not my choice).

Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER)
RER is a means to measure what fuel sources are being consumed during exercise to produce ATP energy. It’s simply a ratio of carbon dioxide output to oxygen uptake, with normal values for RER ranging between 0.7 and 1.0. An RER value of 0.7 suggests you are burning predominantly fats whereas an RER value of 1.0 suggests you are using mostly carbohydrates. A value of 0.85 suggests you are burning both fats and carbohydrates as fuels. In our study, we found that average RER value in the fasted state was approximately 0.85 ± 0.02. Average RER in the fed state was approximately 0.88 ± 0.05. While we expected RER values to be higher in the fed state, we expected RER values in the fasted state to be closer to 0.7.

Blood Lactate
Lactic acid is a byproduct of exercise. It produced as result of glycolysis, a pathway for metabolizing carbohydrates. In our study, we found that subjects tended to have higher levels of blood lactate in the fasted state. This was not entirely expected as we assumed the greater level of carbohydrate metabolism in the fed subjects to result in a greater amount of glycolysis and therefore lactic acid.

Keep in mind our study was conducted with a sample size of only eight and the test subjects were mixed in age, gender, and athletic ability. Nichole and I both served as test subjects while others in my research group were not quite as well trained. Due to these various issues, our results were not totally conclusive or definitive by any means but, then again, no single study ever is. Having said that, the idea that exercise on an empty stomach burns more fat seems be true though only by a marginal amount. If you are a casual exerciser who is more concerned with aesthetics than performance, training on an empty stomach is probably less likely to affect your results, either positively or negatively. However, if you are an athlete that is focused on performance, I would still advise you to have a pre-training meal. Keep in mind that pre-workout nutrition can be highly variable between people so experiment to see what works best for you. Of course, if you are in doubt, you can consult one of your coaches.

For Older Runners, Good News and Bad

2012-01-03T06:09:00.000-05:00

nytimes.com

Sometimes it’s good news when a study’s hypothesis is not proved. That was the case, certainly, with a new study of older runners, in which researchers assumed that athletes over 60 would be noticeably less efficient than their younger counterparts.

For the experiment, published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers at the University of New Hampshire and other institutions recruited 51 competitive runners, ranging in age from 18 to 77. Each trained regularly and had placed in the top three in his or her age group in a local 5-kilometer or 10-kilometer road race. Their goal was to assess running economy, a measure of how much oxygen someone uses to run at a certain pace. Economical runners can continue at a given speed longer than inefficient striders, outdistancing them.

Going into the study, the researchers had assumed that runners past age 60 would be less economical than youthful athletes, since older runners, as a group, are slower than younger ones. But as it turned out, when scientists fitted the volunteers with masks that measured their oxygen use as they ran on a treadmill and then compared the results by age group, the runners 60 and older were just as physiologically economical as younger runners, even those in their 20s and 30s.
Read More

2012-01-02T07:39:00.000-05:00

Margarine, Regulation and Conventional Wisdom

2012-01-01T07:52:00.000-05:00

http://praguestepchild.blogspot.com/

Margarine has an interesting history: first it was seen as a boon to the masses, and a frightening competitor to the dairy farmers, then it turned into a heart-healthy alternative to butter and lard, and now seems to be going losing its credibility in the mainstream. Even my mother, a stalwart follower of conventional wisdom, has stopped buying margarine, even if she still buys skim milk.

Offering prizes is an awesome way to solve problems. Margarine came about because Napoleon III offered a prize for a cheap butter substitute, won by a guy with an unusual first name, Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès Okay, nowadays we know it is vile, unhealthy stuff, but it was a neat solution. And let's face it, no one, from peasant to royalty actually prefers the taste of margarine to the creamy goodness of real butter.

An interesting aspect in the history of margarine is all the government interference on behalf of this unctuous substance. To quote from Wikipedia:

By the start of the 20th century, eight out of ten Americans could not buy yellow margarine, and those that could had to pay a hefty tax on it. Bootleg colored margarine became common, and manufacturers began to supply food-coloring capsules so that the consumer could knead the yellow color into margarine before serving it. Nevertheless, the regulations and taxes had a significant effect: the 1902 restrictions on margarine color, for example, cut annual U.S. consumption from 120,000,000 to 48,000,000 pounds (54,000 to 22,000 t).

Of course, with the spread of the lipid hypothesis margarine, despite its inferior flavor, came into puritan vogue. And it still seems to be riding this crest of madness.

Patented to improve cholesterol ratio? I'm pretty sure that in 50 years time, this will seem as ridiculous as this:

Both claims are technically correct. Doctors preferring to smoke Camels doesn't strictly mean they are healthy and neither does obtaining a patent to supposedly improve cholesterol ratio, although I think the latter claim is slightly more nefarious.

Low and Slow Cooking

2011-12-31T06:57:00.000-05:00

healthyfellow.com

The term “Advanced Glycation End product” or AGE isn’t exactly well known. Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine aim to change that and with good reason. To the uninitiated, AGEs are toxic byproducts that are linked to numerous health threats ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes. They’re formed during the cooking and processing of various foods using high heat. Within the body, AGEs can also be produced – especially in the context of diets rich in carbohydrates. The latest evidence suggests that this prevalent risk factor affects everyone from infants to seniors. Why infants? A report in the December 2010 issue of Diabetes Care explains that infants receiving baby formula had twice the level of AGEs typically found in adult diabetics. The authors go on to reveal that baby formula can contain 100 times the AGE content of breast milk. In seniors, elevated AGEs are an emerging risk factor for “accelerated cognitive aging” and Alzheimer’s disease. Fortunately, there are simple ways to mitigate the effects of dietary AGEs and to discourage their manufacture internally. For instance, according to a study published in July 2011, switching to an AGE-restricted diet for as little as 4 months can lower inflammation and insulin levels by 35% in type 2 diabetics.

Here are several specific ways to decrease your own intake of dietary Advanced Glycation End products: 1) Cook foods, especially those rich in fat and protein, using low heat and moisture when possible by poaching and steaming. 2) Marinate foods that require higher heat preparation with acid and/or antioxidant ingredients such as aromatic herbs and spices, citrus juice, soy sauce and vinegar. 3) Eat a low-glycemic diet that is nutrient dense. Dietary models including the Mediterranean and Okinawan diets provide viable examples. 4) If overweight, reducing your body mass index via caloric restriction has been shown to lower AGE concentrations by roughly 7%. In closing, I want to mention that Mrs. Healthy Fellow and I have found Crock-Pots or slow cookers to be invaluable in our quest to cook “low and slow”. They’re an inexpensive and practical tool for anyone striving to reduce dietary AGE exposure.

2011-12-30T06:05:00.001-05:00

The Fat-Burning Myth

2011-12-29T06:10:00.000-05:00

by Joe Friel

It’s that time of year when athletes have gained a couple of excess pounds of flab and are starting to think about taking it off. The traditional method for doing this is by doing lots of long, slow miles. The slower you go, the better, according to this age-old way of exercising to reduce body weight. Zone 1 is perfect, right? But is that the most effective way?

In a classic study (Tremblay 1994) on this topic researchers at Laval University in Quebec, Canada had one group of subjects exercise at a low intensity (low heart rate zone 1) for 20 weeks. Another group did high-intensity intervals (15-90-second sprints at 60-70% of max power) for 15 weeks. The low-intensity group burned 28,757 Calories while the high-intensity group burned 13,829.

Guess what happened. The high-intensity group had much greater reductions in skin-fold measurements when expressed in relation to energy expended. This was the result of increased fat metabolism during periods of rest between training sessions. The high-intensity group also had significant increases in the enzymes that burn fat for fuel. The low-intensity group had no changes in these enzymes.

Note that the intensity of these two groups was extremely different. Low heart rate zone 1 is so easy you’d wonder if you were doing anything of value for your fitness. The high intensity was very high. It would be a mental challenge to do this workout several times a week for 15 weeks.

Realize that I’m not suggesting how you should train at this time of year. There’s a big difference between exercising for fat loss and for race performance. I typically see any extra weight my athletes have gained over the holidays gradually come off in the following weeks as training intensity increases gradually without going to extremes in training

2011-12-28T06:08:00.000-05:00

2011 Whitewater Grand Prix from Tribe Alliance on Vimeo.

Men’s marathon: how much faster is it getting, and why?

2011-12-27T06:03:00.000-05:00

http://sweatscience.com/

Marathoners are getting faster — that’s no secret. Here’s the progression of the fastest men’s marathon in each year between 1969 and 2010.

The average data also shows a few inflection points where the rate of improvement has changed. There was rapid improvement until 1983, then a leveling off until about 1997; decrease again until 2003, then a little hitch for a few years, and now steady decrease again.

So what explains the changes? We can speculate about the role of money, science, and training… But as Amby Burfoot pointed out in his take on this study, it’s hard to get away from this stat:

In 1997, East Africans nabbed just 29 percent of the top 200 times. For 2010, the corresponding figure was 84 percent.

One other interesting nugget: during this time period, the top time improved by about 5 seconds per year, while the average of the top 200 improved by about 10 seconds per year. So this means that (a) competitive depth is improving, and (b) in another 50 years or so, the 100th ranked marathoner in the world will be faster than the top-ranked marathoner of that year.

Cold and Flu

2011-12-26T07:24:00.001-05:00

ScienceDaily — With cold and flu season almost here, the next time you're sick, you may want to thank your fever for helping fight off infection. That's because scientists have found more evidence that elevated body temperature helps certain types of immune cells to work better. This research is reported in the November 2011 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

"An increase in body temperature has been known since ancient times to be associated with infection and inflammation," said Elizabeth A. Repasky, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Immunology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. "Since a febrile response is highly conserved in nature (even so-called cold blooded animals move to warmer places when they become ill) it would seem important that we immunologists devote more attention to this interesting response."

Scientists found that the generation and differentiation of a particular kind of lymphocyte, known as a "CD8+ cytotoxic T-cell" (capable of destroying virus-infected cells and tumor cells) is enhanced by mild fever-range hyperthermia. Specifically, their research suggests that elevated body temperature changes the T-cells' membranes which may help mediate the effects of micro-environmental temperature on cell function. To test this, researchers injected two groups of mice with an antigen, and examined the activation of T-cells following the interaction with antigen presenting cells. Body temperature in half of the mice was raised by 2 degrees centigrade, while the other half maintained a normal core body temperature. In the warmed mice, results showed a greater number of the type of CD8 T-cells capable of destroying infected cells.

"Having a fever might be uncomfortable," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, "but this research report and several others are showing that having a fever is part of an effective immune response. We had previously thought that the microbes that infect us simply can't replicate as well when we have fevers, but this new work also suggests that the immune system might be temporarily enhanced functionally when our temperatures rise with fever. Although very high body temperatures are dangerous and should be controlled, this study shows that we may need to reconsider how and when we treat most mild fevers."

2011-12-25T07:38:00.000-05:00

Who say you needs meds....

2011-12-24T06:15:00.000-05:00

NSCF member

I thought you would like to hear this. It’s a testament to the positive impact eating well and exercising can have on your health.
Doug has to have a regular heart “stress test” because he has heart disease in his family. His dad has had TWO quadruple bypasses. I any case, the last time Doug had his stress test (2 years ago) the Doctor said he HAD to lose weight and had to lower his cholesterol or he would have to start taking medicine. Doug went to see his cardiologist today and the Dr’s exact words were…… “This is the greatest turn around I have ever seen with just changing diet and exercise”.

Flu Season

2011-12-23T05:58:00.002-05:00

Chamomile helps with anxiety, sleeplessness and depression

2011-12-22T06:03:00.000-05:00

(NaturalNews) Anxiety and insomnia are health concerns which may appear together and are often also linked to depression. These three health issues have a significant impact on people's lives and on our national health care economy. Within any 12 month period, 18% of adults suffer from anxiety, while nearly 29% will do so at some time during their life. Similarly, as much as 30% of the population may suffer from some form of insomnia, including a high percentage of those individuals diagnosed as depressed. Annual economic costs are significant and range from estimates of $15 billion for medical care to as much as $150 billion in lost productivity. While medical interventions are common, there are a variety of natural solutions including chamomile, a common herb which is inexpensive and readily available with minimal side effects.

Chamomile Tames Anxiety
While traditional healers have long recommended chamomile for anxiety, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania were some of the first to examine this relationship scientifically. In a 2009 study, the authors compared scores from standardized tests designed to measure generalized anxiety disorder or GAD. Over a period of eight weeks, one group received a placebo while the other took pharmaceutical grade chamomile capsules. Subjects were then tested to measure changes in symptoms of anxiety during this time. Those who took chamomile enjoyed a reduction in anxiety symptoms and the changes were termed "clinically meaningful and statistically significant."

Chamomile is a Great Sleep Remedy
Most of us are familiar with chamomile as a soothing tea that promotes relaxation and feelings of drowsiness at bedtime; its effectiveness is possibly due to its mild sedative action. While researchers have not confirmed a link between chamomile and sleep in humans, there are animal studies which do support a relationship. For example, a Japanese study using sleep-disturbed rats found chamomile worked as well as a tranquilizer in helping them fall asleep. Chamomile also has anti-inflammatory properties and may promote sleep by helping to reduce swelling caused by inflammation associated with allergies.

Chamomile May Indirectly Impact Depression
In an article about depression and insomnia which appeared in the Journal of Affective Disorders, the authors concluded that if you are diagnosed with insomnia your risk of also being diagnosed with depression in the next one to three years is very high. Of course anxiety is also strongly associated with depression. As many as 85% of depressed individuals were found to be anxious according to a study reported at the consumer mental health site, Healthyplace.com. The frequency of anxiety and insomnia during depression suggests that chamomile may be helpful for alleviating some of its symptoms as well.

Chamomile's Long Lasting Effects
Unlike some supplements which are only effective for a few hours, chamomile seems to stay in your system for a relatively long time. A 2005 study reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry evaluated the urine of volunteers who drank chamomile tea daily for two weeks. They found elevated levels of hippurate, an anti-inflammatory, and glycine, which helps soothe muscle spasms. Two weeks after the volunteers stopped drinking chamomile, levels of these elements were still measurable.

Chamomile is readily available in capsule form and as a tea in most grocery and health food stores. However, proceed with caution if ragweed causes you to sniffle and sneeze. Chamomile is in the same family and could cause a similar allergic reaction.

George Hood breaks Guinness record for plank

2011-12-21T06:06:00.000-05:00

By Jane Donahue For The Beacon-News

George Hood did it again. The Aurora resident and four-time Guinness World Record holder added a fifth record to the book Saturday for performing a plank — an exercise known as a static abdominal hold — longer than anyone in the world.

“I wanted to raise awareness with regard to the benefits of core strength, for one’s personal fitness and overall health,” said Hood, a personal trainer and former Marine. “I see so many people who are overweight, have bad posture and can’t walk from point A to point B. It all comes back to one’s core, and this particular exercise is the best one out there.”

The 54-year-old earned the record for “longest time in an abdominal plank position,” clocking in at 1 hour, 20 minutes and 5.01 seconds. In front of a crowd at Eggsperience Pancakes & Café in Naperville, Hood blasted the previous record of 50 minutes and 11.21 seconds held by Australian Richard Hazard.

Philip Robertson, a Guinness World Record adjudicator, was in Naperville to witness the event.

“My role in every adjudication is to make sure the guidelines we provide for the record attempt are being fulfilled,” said Robertson, who works in New York City. “George’s attempt was very successful, and what was most extraordinary, was the amount of time he surpassed the previous record by. (To beat the record by) 30 minutes is incredible. It is a testament to his determination.”

Hood said he has been training for more than six months. Along with physical preparation, he assembled a team of supporters to help him achieve his goal.

“Once I broke the record (at 50 minutes), the work began,” Hood said. “When we got to an hour and 12 (minutes), I was ready to call it, but that crew guided me through one minute at a time. They were the only three people in my head and in my ear.”

And while Hood is pleased with the recent accomplishment, he is already looking ahead. He plans to attempt to reclaim the Guinness World Record for most time on a stationary spin bike in April 2012.

Uses for Soda Other Than Quenching Your Thirst

2011-12-20T06:10:00.001-05:00

Get Gum Out of a Kid's Hair. Want to score points with that single mom struggling to get gum out of her screaming kid's hair? Come to the rescue with your can of Coke. Soak the kid's hair for a few minutes, then rinse. The gum should come right out.

Strip Dye From Hair. If your girl comes over crying that her new dye job turned her hair green, wash her hair with Diet Coke. Apparently Diet Coke has the ability to strip and/or fade bad dye jobs.

Get Rid of Skunk Odor. Sponge down with some cola and hose yourself off. Again, those handy acids work to neutralize the stink.

Give Your Hair Shine. Pour a can of coke over your head, work it into your hair, then rinse. It's said your hair will be incredibly shiny. And impervious to slugs and snails.

Mousse Alternative. Mix equal parts coke and water in a spray bottle and mix well. After you shower, spray a light coat of the mixture into your hair, then style. (I'm sure having sugar in your hair all day won't attract flies or be uncomfortable at all.)

Prevent Flatulence. Adding a can of coke to a pot of pinto beans when cooking is supposed to neutralize the gas-causing compounds. (Belching? Another story.)

Get a Darker Tan. There are those who say rubbing plain coke all over your body gives you a deeper tan. (There's caramel coloring in there, but I question the evenness of the result, and how long it will last.)

Shell Hard Boiled Eggs. Apparently, if you soak hard boiled eggs in Coke the shells will dissolve, eliminating the need to actually have to peel them. See what you’re getting into…before you go there.

Remove Blood Stains From Clothes. Ruin your favorite shirt when you nicked yourself shaving? If you soak the stain with cola for five minutes then wash in your machine, the blood should come out. Even dried blood that's been there for a while.

Loosen Clogged Drains. If your sink is draining slowly and you don't have any drain cleaner in the house, pour a 2-liter bottle of cola down the drain and let the acids go to work on the clog.

Make Flowers Last Longer. Got your girl some flowers and you want them to survive through the week? Pour about 1/4 cup of clear soda, like Sprite or 7-Up into a vase full of water. Sugar helps them last longer.

Kill Slugs and Snails. If these pests are invading your lawn and garden, pour a little Coke into shallow dishes or jar lids and spread them throughout your yard. The sugar attracts them, and, just like you remember from when you were a kid, the acid kills them.

Greener Lawn. It's rumored that spraying Coke on your grass will keep your lawn greener into the fall months.

Antioxidants are more complicated than we thought

2011-12-19T06:11:00.002-05:00

sweatscience.com

I wrote last month about emerging evidence that taking antioxidant supplements may actually be counterproductive, especially for athletes. There’s an interesting paper coming up in Cell Metabolism that casts further doubt on the whole basis of our belief that (a) oxidative stress is what causes aging and other cellular damage, and (b) antioxidants can counteract these effects (press release here; abstract here).

What’s new about the study is that they didn’t use the typical indirect methods to guess about levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS – the bad guys) and antioxidants, averaged over the entire body. Using transgenic fruit flies, they were able to measure ROS activity directly and in real time, in different parts of the body. There are a whole bunch of surprising results in this study that fly in the face of the conventional antioxidant theory. A few of the key ones:

If oxidation is linked to aging, we’d expect to see more ROS as the flies get older. In fact, ROS levels stay constant throughout the aging process except in the intestine. Only the intestine shows gradually increasing levels of oxidation.
Even in the intestine, the flies who lived longest had ROS levels that increased more quickly than the flies who died earliest — exactly the opposite of what we’d expect if oxidative stress is linked to aging and eventual death.
When the flies were fed an antioxidant, their production of ROS increased in response.

This last point, of course, is most interesting from the perspective of supplementation. It suggests that there’s a homeostatic response that attempts to preserve the balance between oxidants and antioxidants at a roughly constant level. So if you take a lot of antioxidants, your body simply ramps up its level of oxidants in response — with who knows what effect!

Let me emphasize: this is a study of fruit flies. Fruit flies are not humans. Still, the results suggest that our basic understanding of the real-time dynamics of oxidant-antioxidant interactions is far from complete. Now, I’d happily ignore all this cell biology stuff if there were lots of controlled trials showing increased health or performance from antioxidants. If it works, who cares about the mechanism? But since (a) we have no consistent evidence that antioxidants work, and (b) it’s increasingly clear that we don’t even understand how or why they should work, or what supposed problem they’re supposed to fix, I still think a balanced diet with lots of brightly coloured fruits and veggies in the way to go. Not powders, and not pills.

Short Walk Cuts Chocolate Consumption in Half

2011-12-18T07:14:00.000-05:00

ScienceDaily — A 15-minute walk can cut snacking on chocolate at work by half, according to research by the University of Exeter. The study showed that, even in stressful situations, workers eat only half as much chocolate as they normally would after this short burst of physical activity.

Published in the journal Appetite, the research suggests that employees may find that short breaks away from their desks can help keep their minds off snacking.

In the study, 78 regular chocolate-eaters were invited to enter a simulated work environment, after two days abstinence from chocolate snacking. Two groups were asked to take a brisk 15-minute walk on a treadmill and were then given work to complete at a desk. One group was given an easy, low-stress task, while the other was asked to complete a more demanding job. The other two groups were asked to have a rest before completing the same tasks as the first two groups. Again, half were given an easier task and the remainder a more challenging one. Chocolate was available in a bowl on the desk for all participants as they carried out their work.

Those who had exercised before working consumed on average half the amount of chocolate as the others: around 15 grammes, compared with 28 grammes. 15 grammes is equivalent to a small 'treat size' or 'fun size' chocolate bar.

The difficulty of the task made no difference to the amount of chocolate they ate, which suggests that stress did not contribute to their cravings for sweet snacks.

Lead researcher Professor Adrian Taylor of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Exeter said: "We know that snacking on high calorie foods, like chocolate, at work can become a mindless habit and can lead to weight gain over time. We often feel that these snacks give us an energy boost, or help us deal with the stress of our jobs, including boredom. People often find it difficult to cut down on their daily treats but this study shows that by taking a short walk, they are able to regulate their intake by half."

Exercise is known to have significant benefits for mood and energy levels and has potential for managing addictions. Professor Taylor and his colleagues at the University of Exeter have previously shown that exercise can curb cravings for chocolate but this is the first study to show a reduction in consumption.

16 Year Old Missy Franklin

2011-12-16T06:01:00.000-05:00

AGES and INJURIES

2011-12-15T06:11:00.000-05:00

http://gunxcrossfit

The two main causes of injuries, both acute and chronic, are poor mobility and poor technique. This applies equally to masters, youngsters, and those in between. Poor mobility esp. in the hips, shoulders and upper back may cause technical flaws in many movements from the simple to the complicated. A lack of understanding of the required movement skill, or a preexisting misunderstanding of an exercises’ correct execution, will lead to ugly lifts. Although all populations suffer from these flaws, masters athletes may suffer more frequently. The older athlete’s prior injuries and habits of a lifetime may lead to postural faults along with their concomitant mobility restrictions and compensatory movement. Prior coaching (high school coach from years ago) may lead older (mostly male) athletes to think they need no technical instruction.

Neither high reps nor high weight workouts are dangerous if performed with awareness and technical proficiency. If one insists on performing them in spite of poor mobility and/or technical insufficiency, injuries, not conditioning, are the probable outcome. In order to minimize the chance of injury all athletes across all ages need better postural awareness, regular mobility work, and frequent technical practice.

Is Fatigue All in Your Head?

2011-12-14T06:21:00.000-05:00

bettermovement.org

For a long time, research on the causes of muscle fatigue have focused exclusively on changes in the muscle itself, while ignoring the fact that the brain has control over whether the muscle can contract. More recently, researchers such as Tim Noakes have been advancing the idea that the brain acts as a governor on muscle performance. The idea is that the brain makes you feel tired as a way to prevent you from the dangers of overexertion. In other words, when your muscles fail, it’s not because they can’t “just do it”, it’s because the brain just won’t let them do it.

A recent series of studies have identified some of the neural processes that are responsible for implementing the central governor. Here is a brief summary of the findings.

In one study, researchers showed that motor commands to engage in intense exercise eventually create a sensory feedback loop that inhibits those same commands. It goes like this. The primary motoric area of the brain tells the muscles to contract repeatedly. This results in sensory signalling from the body that is read by parts of the brain that act to inhibit the primary motoric area from continuing with the contractions.

This is very similar to the process by which pain inhibits muscular activity. Which is not surprising, since both pain and excessive muscle activity are a potential threat to the body. In each case, the brain elects to protect against the threat by essentially shutting down the ability to continue with the threatening activity – in this case, repeated contraction of tired muscles.

Researchers were able to determine through the use of a functional MRI that right before muscle failure, the areas of the brain that became more active were the thalamus and insular cortex, two areas that analyze information indicating a threat to the body. Another study confirmed that the insular cortex is in fact the area that inhibits the primary motoric area.

Another study showed that pain medication which blocks feedback from the body also prevents the muscular inhibition that comes from fatigue.

Put these findings all together and a simple picture merges. When the brain receives information from the body indicating that a particular form of exertion is a threat, it decides to shut the activity down. It is surprising to me that such a common sense idea takes so long to gain acceptance, and is ignored all too often.

This dovetails very well with a central principle of training recommended on this blog (which is also one of the basic ideas in Z-Health): threat not only causes pain, it limits performance. If you want to increase performance, work to reduce threat.

This is why the “no pain no gain” mentality of exercise is so counterproductive, and why giving the brain “good news” about the body should be a primary training strategy

Mr Konstantinovs

2011-12-13T06:03:00.002-05:00

330kg(727lb)-230kg(507lb)-400kg(881lb)-960kg(2115lb) RAW
My first meet after injury.
137kg(301lb)BW

Tissue Healing

2011-12-12T05:30:00.001-05:00

Tissue healing can be divided into 3 main stages, each having multiple phases:

1. Inflammation:

- Vascular (day 0-14): covers the wound* and injured blood vessels

*wound can be an actual cut or damage to a muscle/ligament/tendon

- Cellular (day 0-14): removes bacteria and dead tissue to prevent injury

2. Proliferation (AKA Reparative)

- Re-epithelization (first 48 hours): forms scab over wound

- Fibroplasia with neovascularization (day 2-5): scar tissue formation and new blood vessels

- Wound contracture (day 4-21): closure of the wound

3. Maturation (AKA Remodeling)

- Consolidation (day 21-60): conversion of cells to fibrous tissue (collagen)

- Maturation (day 60-360): strengthening of scar tissue

Cappie definitely knows how to rest....

The idea of tendons, ligaments, and muscles returning to their original state after injury is not strongly supported by research literature. (When I say muscle injury I’m referring to a large muscle tear, not a small one or the little tears that occur when you workout). This is because scar tissue fills the injured area, and it does not have the same strength as the original tissue. However, tissues still have the ability to repair, and the goal is to help normalize them as much as possible in order to re-gain the maximum amount of function. How do we normalize them? Listen to your body and take care of you injuries. Take a few days to rest, but don’t sit on your butt and complain that you are injured. In the post titled Injured Much? Cody shared his own injury experience, as well as some awesome insight from K-Starr on why it’s still good to exercise while recovering from an injury. I recommend reading this to help understand why it’s good to keep moving during recovery.

READ MORE

Avocado nutrition facts

2011-12-11T07:11:00.000-05:00

(NaturalNews) Beware of popular health myths. For instance, throughout the 1990s and into the first few years of this century, popular health "experts" often warned against eating coconut oil or coconut milk, causing many people to eschew a food now known to offer many health benefits. Another lingering popular health myth warns against avocados, which wrongly labels them as a dietary culprit because of their caloric and fat content. Yet, the truth is avocado can boost health in at least 5 ways:

1. Protein
Avocados provide all 18 essential amino acids necessary for the body to form a complete protein. Unlike the protein in steak, which is difficult for most people to digest, avocado protein is readily absorbed by the body because avocados also contain fiber. If you are trying to cut down on animal sources of protein in your diet, or if you are a vegetarian, vegan or raw foodist seeking more protein, avocados are a great nutritional ally to include not merely as an occasional treat, but as a regular part of your diet.

2. Beneficial Fats
Avocados provide the healthy kind of fat that your body needs. Like olive oil, avocados boost levels of HDL (the "good" cholesterol). HDL cholesterol can help protect against the damage caused by free radicals. This type of cholesterol also helps regulate triglyceride levels, preventing diabetes. A study published early this year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that a vegetarian diet, which includes HDL fats, can reduce levels of LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) as effectively as statin drugs.

3. Carotenoids
Avocados are an excellent source of carotenoids. Although many people associate carotenoids only with red and orange produce, avocadoes are also an excellent source of this phytonutrient. Avocados, also known as alligator pears, offer a diverse range of carotenoids including not only the better known ones such as beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lutein, but also lesser known varieties of this type of phytonutrient such as neoxanthin, zeaxanthin, chrysanthemaxanthin, neochrome, beta-cryptoxanthin and violaxanthin. Every time you consume foods rich in carotenoids, you deliver high quality vitamin A to your body, thereby protecting eye health. Carotenoids also enhance the functioning of the immune system and promote healthy functioning of the reproductive system. Since carotenoids are fat soluble, eating avocados optimizes the absorption of these nutrients.

4.Anti-Inflammatory
The combined effect of the deluxe package of nutrients contained in avocados offers powerful anti-inflammatory benefits. Avocados' unique combination of Vitamins C and E, carotenoids, selenium, zinc, phytosterols and omega-3 fatty acids helps guard against inflammation. This means avocados can help prevent or mitigate against both osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis.

5. Heart Health
The fat content, which causes some uninformed health "experts" to deem avocados as unhealthy, actually provides protection against heart diseases. Studies have shown that oleic acid improves cardiovascular health. Oleic acid is the primary fatty acid in avocados. Many people now take supplements in order to consume more omega-3 fatty acids to lower their risk of heart disease. Avocadoes are rich in omega-3, delivering 160 milligrams per cup of alpha-linolenic acid.

6. Choosing and Eating
To get the most nutritional value from avocados, avoid those which have become over-ripe. You can identify these at the store because they will have dents and feel overly soft when you hold them. A ripe avocado should have no dents in its skin and will feel slightly soft when squeezed. You can also buy unripe avocados, which feel very hard when gripped, and permit them to ripen at home. The portion of the avocado closest to the skin is the most dense in nutrients, so be sure to scrape the skin clean before discarding it.

Special K Cereal: True Health Revealed

2011-12-10T06:06:00.000-05:00

diet-blog.com

Special K cereal is probably one of the most popular cereals for adults.

But, does that make it the healthiest? Probably not, considering the majority of people are overweight.

If you choose Special K cereal for your breakfast or as part of the Special K Diet, you may want to think again.
Ingredients
special-k-nutrition.gifRice followed by wheat gluten, and sugar are the first ingredients in Special K, original flavor. High fructose corn syrup follows closely after.

So far, this says to label readers that this cereal is sugary and likely has a high glycemic index. This means that the food will cause a faster spike in blood glucose, and then leave you feeling tired and hungry.

Wheat gluten is used to improve the texture and flavor.

Wheat germ is what gives the cereal most of its nutrition. Defatted means that the fat is taken out so that the grain has a longer shelf life. The wheat germ is what adds the small amount of fiber, and some of the protein to the cereal.

Special K contains a significant amount of salt (223mg). When reading cereal labels, I like to see the sodium below 200mg.

Dried whey is a common food additive used for flavor, and is actual whey protein with the moisture removed. This contributes to the protein content of the cereal.

Malt adds flavor as well. The remainder of the ingredients are added vitamins and minerals.

The calories aren't high, and the actual sugar (4g) is not outrageous even though the first few ingredients are sugar. This is surprising, but still does not make Special K cereal a healthy choice. The fiber content is actually less than a gram!

Verdict
The main problem I have with this cereal is that it is not a high enough quality grain. It lacks the necessary fiber, nutrients, and phytochemicals to start the day off right.

Many people use this cereal to control calories, but you would be better off eating a piece of fruit with a few almonds.

Do you eat Special K or have you tried the Special K Diet?

Which “rules of running” should you break?

2011-12-09T07:34:00.002-05:00

Sweatscience

Forgot to mention this earlier — I have an article in this month’s Runner’s World called “Breaking All the Rules,” which is now available online. Basically, I had a chance to chat with a bunch of veteran coaches — Jack Daniels, Frank “Gags” Gagliano, Roy Benson, Jeff Galloway, Hal Higdon and Pete Pfitzinger — and ask them which “rules of running” they’d recommend not following blindly. Here’s one example:

THE RULE: Do prerace strides
For generations, runners have followed the same rituals to warm up before races or workouts: Start with some jogging, move on to a little bit of stretching, then perform a series of “strides”—short sprints lasting about 10 seconds that get your heart pumping and kick-start the delivery of oxygen to your running muscles. But do these timeworn rituals really help us perform better? Jack Daniels, Ph.D., isn’t convinced. “What I most often see at races is a bunch of runners striding up and down at a speed that is clearly faster than the coming race pace,” he says. Since these strides are the last thing runners do before starting the event, that inappropriate pace is fresh in their minds. “And when the gun finally sounds, they ‘stride’ or sprint right out.” The result: a way-too-fast start followed by an inevitable crash.
HOW TO BREAK IT: For shorter events like 5-K and 10-K races, jogging just long enough to get a good sweat going is all you need to do, says Daniels. (For longer races, you can get away with even less: Run the first mile of a half or full marathon as your warmup.) To get the oxygen-boosting benefits of strides without skewing your pace judgment—and screwing up your race result—try a sustained two-to three-minute effort 10 minutes before starting the race or workout. Run it slightly faster than your half-marathon pace, or at a speed that feels moderately hard. You should not be sprinting.

Your morning cup of joe

2011-12-08T06:07:00.000-05:00

(NaturalNews) Your morning cup of joe at Starbucks may have a higher calorie count and fat percentage than a serving of ice cream or a piece of chocolate cake. NaturalNews looked into the nutritional information on Starbucks' website and found that many of the chain's popular latte drinks have the same dietary impact as the kind of dessert most people avoid for being "too fattening."

Starbucks' Numbers
Starbucks' Salted Caramel Mocha is described on the company's website as "espresso and steamed milk, blended with mocha sauce and toffee nut flavored syrup. Topped with sweetened whipped cream, caramel sauce and a mixture of turbinado sugar and sea salt." One cup of this coffee confection contains 420 calories, 25% of them from fat. Drinking one of these provides your body with 50mg of cholesterol, 290mg of sodium and 26g of sugar. All the steamed milk and whipped cream does give you 35% of the recommended daily allowance of calcium; however the 175mg of caffeine will interfere with your ability to absorb that calcium. The coffee chain's seasonal Pumpkin Spice Latte offering contains fewer calories (380) than the caramel late and has a lower sugar content (49g compared to 56g). Since salt isn't part of its name, it has a slightly lower sodium content (220). If you prefer blended coffee drinks, Starbucks' Java Chip Frappacino has 460 calories, 18g of fat, and 260mg of sodium and 66g of sugar.

Compare with solid food desserts
If you consume specialty latte drinks regularly, you should know you are basically drinking the equivalent of one (or more) desserts per day. For comparison, if you decided to get your coffee flavor from a dish of ice cream, a half cup serving of Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch contains 280 calories, 16g of fat, 60g of cholesterol, 95mg of sodium and 27g of sugar. Eating a piece of pumpkin pie rather than drinking a pumpkin spice flavor latte would, depending on the recipe, give you 323 calories, roughly 15g of fat and 22g of sugar. Chocolate fans may want to consider the relative dietary merits of a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (235 calories, 11 grams of fat) compared with a chocolate-coffee drink.

If you want a coffee drink treat, rather than a plain cup of coffee or espresso, the best bet on the Starbuck's menu is probably the Skinny Caramel at 140 calories, 1 gram of fat and 11 grams of sugar.

Invisible Calories?
Whatever you choose to consume, eat and drink with awareness. Beverages can often become invisible sources of fat, sugar and calories, as people swallow liquids more unconsciously than they chew food. In one experiment, researchers gave volunteers 450 extra calories at the beginning of the day to see if they compensated by consuming less later in the day. Those given the extra calories in solid food did compensate, however those given the extra calories in liquid form did not.

If you are a Starbucks fan, choose wisely from their menu so that your next coffee break doesn't leave you mysteriously fatigued from sugars and fats. Remember to include your drinkable dessert in balancing your overall food intake for the day.

12-7-1942

2011-12-07T06:21:00.003-05:00

How to prevent colds and flus naturally

2011-12-06T06:12:00.000-05:00

from Chris Kesser

Prevention

A nutrient-dense, toxin-free diet: avoid the foods that tend to weaken the immune system, such as sugar, unprepared grains, industrial seed oils and processed and refined foods.

Fermented cod liver oil/butter oil blend (FCLO/BO): if there’s only one superfood/supplement you take through the winter, this should be it. It’s rich with fat-soluble vitamins that regulate and support the immune system, and fatty acids like EPA and DHA that reduce inflammation. It also seems to have some kind of synergistic quality above and beyond the individual nutrients it contains that powerfully boosts immunity. I rarely get colds and flus when I’m taking my FCLO/BO. I prefer the Blue Ice brand available at Green Pasture. Dosage: 1 tsp/d or 2 caps per day.

Liver. Liver is nature’s multivitamin. It’s the most nutrient-dense food on the planet, as I explained here. I recommend eating 3 ounces a week if you’re taking FCLO/BO.

Bone broth. Grandma knew best! Homemade bone broth is rich with easily absorbable minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, and trace minerals difficult to obtain elsewhere. Check out the Weston A. Price article “Broth is Beautiful” for recipes and more information.

Fermented foods and/or probiotics: 70-80% of our immune system is in our gut. If you have intestinal dysbiosis or poor gut flora, you’ll be more susceptible to viral and bacterial infections (and colds and flus).
Vitamin C: I don’t supplement with vitamin C at all times during the year, but when cold and flu season rolls around, I’ll often take 1 g/d as a precaution.

Vitamin D. Vitamin D plays a powerful immunoregulatory role. For most people, the FCLO/BO blend should be enough to maintain adequate vitamin D levels. However, some people require higher doses of vitamin D to keep their 25D levels in the desired range of 35-60 ng/mL. This is especially true of those with obesity or inflammation, because these conditions impair the conversion of sunlight to vitamin D. Dosage: 2,000 -- 4,000 IU/d depending on beginning level and amount of FCLO/BO you’re taking.

Jade Windscreen Formula. Jade Windscreen (or Yu Ping Feng San in Pinyin Chinese) is an immune system tonic made up of botanicals that enhance the immune system and have anti-viral and anti-microbial properties. The traditional formula contains Astragalus, Actractylodes and Ledebouriella, but modern preparations also add cinnamon, siler root, Chinese yam rhizome, and white peony root. You can often buy Jade Windscreen at a health food store or natural pharmacy. You can also buy it online. I like the Kan Herbs tincture. Dosage: 10-20 drops 2-3x/daily (check with your medical provider if you are pregnant or nursing or have an autoimmune condition)

Sleep and rest. Getting adequate sleep and rest is perhaps the most important thing you can do to optimize your immune function. Just a few nights of not sleeping well can elevate inflammatory markers and reduce the protective capability of your immune system. That’s why it’s a good idea to go to bed earlier, sleep longer and rest more in the winter season.
Read More

Strength is Temporary - Technique Is Forever

2011-12-05T06:13:00.000-05:00

www.inthecave.com

There are generally two approaches to acquiring new skills and abilities. One is through strength, the other is through technique (deliberately leaving out mobility for the sake of this discussion). Generally both are required to varying degrees dependent on the particular skill. We’re going to discuss persistence a bit here. Strength and technique have wildly varying levels of persistence.

In college I was a bit of a “muscle it” gymnast. I didn’t have the extensive gymnastics backgrounds of most of my competitors and my technique was lacking in many areas. I discovered that if I got strong enough I could muscle my way through some fairly difficult skills. This allowed me to compete to some degree, but was a pretty ineffective approach to the sport in the long run.

You see this in many individuals in our gym. Some are able to just get through skills and workouts on strength alone. I can be frustrating to watch someone handle loads you simply can’t, even when their technique is poor in comparison. Rest assured, a focus on technique, in the long run is the best option.

It has been concluded that it takes about three years for an untrained individual to reach their genetic maximal strength. This is assuming a dedicated focus on purely strength training. Also, there are some indications that once this “maximum” is reached, continued strength training continues to lead to strength gains, though these gains are small. Now, if we took this individual that has attained maximal strength and took them off strength training we are going to see atrophy. Their strength gains will ebb in time. In most cases they won’t reach the same minimum strength state they were in before they started strength training, indicating there is some permanence in the strength, but they will loose a great deal of that strength. In order to regain the strength they will need to repeat the strength training process. The next time around it will come back faster than it was to build it in the first place, but a big piece of this permanence is neurological, not physiological.

With technique there really isn’t any “maximal” state. With most skills refinement can be continued for years. Personally there are some gymnastics elements that I can perform with more technical accuracy now than I did when I was in college. This comes out of just having more years of practicing the skills, and a better understanding of the mechanics. So lets for the sake of this discussion look at a 3 year period. If we take someone through a rigorous technical training program for 3 years on some skill or set of skills we would see dramatic increases in ability in that area. If we then removed them from the skill set and tested them a significant time later their technique would be a bit “rusty”, but they would maintain a high degree of competency in that skill. We see this all the time when new people come into the gym which is why we want to know their sport background clear back to when they were a child. These skill sets are maintained for decades in some cases.

This is why we stress technical proficiency so much. Particularly in how we train children. If we are able to develop solid mechanics in a young athlete it doesn’t matter if they walk away from sport for a long time, those movements will aid them for the rest of their lives.

This isn’t to say strength isn’t important. If it wasn’t important we wouldn’t work on it so darned much. It is just to clarify the differences in persistence. Now, when you have an athlete that has both a high degree of strength, and technical proficiency is when you have a champion.

Rock climber endures 16-day vertical existence on face of El Capitan

2011-12-04T07:41:00.000-05:00

grindtv.com — Tommy Caldwell did not reach the summit of El Capitan during his recent expedition on the towering granite monolith in California's Yosemite National Park, but it was not for lack of effort or determination. The professional rock climber spent 16 days and nights in a vertical existence on El Capitan's 3,000-foot face, attempting a seemingly impossible free-climbing route. While 16 days is not a record -- the legendary Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell (no relation to Tommy) once.. 2 hr 49 min ago

396 C-J Bodyweight is 205

2011-12-03T06:39:00.000-05:00

Allergies in marathon runners

2011-12-02T06:01:00.000-05:00

sweatscience.com

It’s pretty well established that heavy training — the type you might do to prepare for a marathon — can reduce immune function a bit, leaving you more susceptible to colds. Same thing with the race itself, which can trigger a temporary lowering of immune function: it’s well documented that runners have an elevated risk of catching an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in the week or so after a marathon.

Except… are those symptoms (e.g. congestion, cough, watery eyes, sneezing, “nasal discharge”) really the result of URTIs? In a new paper in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, a group of mostly British researchers suggest an alternate explanation: allergies. And they provide some intriguing data to support this claim. They studied 208 runners who ran the 2010 London marathon. Before the race, the runners completed an allergy questionnaire and did a blood test to look for reactions to common inhaled allergens (like pollen). After the race, they filled out questionnaires daily for 15 days describing any possible URTI/allergy symptoms. The key results:

47% of the runners suffered from the symptoms of an apparent URTI after the marathon (i.e. they reported symptoms on at least two days in a three-day period during the 15-day follow-up).
The researchers also surveyed non-runners who were living with the runners in the study; only 19% of the non-runners reported URTI symptoms during the period, which (the researchers say) argues against the symptoms being due to an infectious disease like cold or flu.
40% of the runners had some form of allergy, based on either the questionnaire or blood test — and the allergy questionnaire was a “significant predictor” of the whether the runner would suffer URTI symptoms after the race.

So what’s going on here? According to the researchers:

The shifting of breathing during exercise from nose to combined mouth and nasal breathing results in a greater deposition of airborne allergens, and unconditioned air, to the lower airways.

They go on to note that these symptoms may be associated with asthma, but that, “worryingly,” few of the runners were being treated pharmacologically for asthma — which they attribute to the fact that asthma meds are restricted by the World Anti-Doping Association. Given that the average finishing time of their subjects was slower than five hours, I find this an extremely strange argument to make! They go on to recommend that recreational runners should be screened for allergies and consider treatment.

I think this is a really interesting topic. It’s been known for a long time that endurance athletes (particularly winter athletes) are far more likely to suffer from conditions like exercise-induced brochoconstriction (basically exercise-induced asthma symptoms) than the general population. Why is this happening? What makes athletes’ airways more sensitive? Is it the airways being dried out by large volumes of air passing through? Is it particulate matter being inhaled and damaging airways? Or is it allergens that are causing inflammation due to all the deep breathing? It would be great to see more research looking into these questions.

That being said, I think this study has some pretty important limitations. I found the presentation of the data to be a bit lacking — it’s very hard to get a precise sense of just how different the allergy and non-allergy groups were, to see how strong the data really is. But the more fundamental issue is simple: selection bias. The subjects “were recruited randomly during the 4-day registration exhibition before competing in the 2010 London Marathon.” So which people would be more likely to agree to fill out a questionnaire about allergies and give a blood sample for allergy testing? Probably people who have, or believe they have, allergies. So when the results tell us that a very high proportion of runners have some indication of allergies, that doesn’t necessarily hold true for all runners!

Still, a thought-provoking paper: maybe the famous “post-marathon cold” isn’t quite what we thought.

Honey and cinnamon cures - do they really work? Here's what you need to know .

2011-12-01T06:09:00.000-05:00

(NaturalNews) Hopeful newcomers to holistic health marvel at reports about honey and cinnamon as a miracle cure-all. On the other hand, alternative health skeptics scoff at the notion of cinnamon and honey as medicine, pointing out that the plethora of articles about the curative benefits of this food duo originated with a 1995 article in the tabloid newspaper Weekly World News. The truth is that cinnamon and honey have been used to promote health for centuries, but their efficacy depends largely on a lifestyle of energetic activity and whole foods.

Traditional Healing
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), cinnamon is viewed as possessing heat or yang, and is thus used to cure ills stemming from excess yin or coldness. Honey, in this system, is viewed as a neutral substance, balanced between yin and yang. Ancient practitioners of India's healing tradition, Ayurveda (from the Sanskrit Ayur meaning life and Veda meaning knowledge), classified 8 different varieties of honey each with its own healing properties. Ayurvedic healers use cinnamon to help heal gum disease, erectile dysfunction, and many other conditions.

Honey and Cinnamon Benefits
Folk wisdom still retains knowledge of the healing properties of both honey and cinnamon. Honey and cinnamon are still used as medicine in many situations, especially among people who, because of distance or income, have reduced access to mainstream health care.

Honey possesses natural anti-bacterial properties. Honey poured on wounds or burns prevents infection and promotes healing. Regular consumption of honey and cinnamon together, when combined with an overall healthy diet and moderate activity level, can prevent heart disease by clearing clogged arteries.

Drinking honey and cinnamon in lukewarm water results in them moving through the bladder and cleansing it, as well as clearing infections there. Drinking this beverage on a regular basis can also relieve, and in some cases entirely cure, arthritis pain.

This drink also strengthens the immune system, helping ward off colds as well as some viruses. Applying a paste of honey and cinnamon to infected gums can ease pain and bleeding as well as slow the progression of the infection.

When consumed together, honey and cinnamon can ease digestion, helping to prevent gas. Honey and cinnamon also provide energy, making people more mentally alert and ready for physical activity.

The two biggest claims for honey and cinnamon are that they enhance the ability to lose weight, and they are effective against some forms of cancer.
While these latter two claims are unproven, however nature does provide an amazing range of natural healing substances, most of which are untested by medical science. Relying exclusively on honey and cinnamon for either weight loss or eliminating cancer is not advisable.

How to Gain Maximum Benefits
Cinnamon and honey can boost your health, both separately and in combination. However, our modern dependence on the pharmaceutical industry has fooled us into believing that medicines should be able to provide a cure regardless of lifestyle. If you follow health news, it becomes obvious that the pharmaceutical industry's "magic bullet" drugs make one set of symptoms disappear, only to create a new set of symptoms.

Disease results from imbalance, so finding health and balance again requires a recalibration of choices about how we live. A couch potato who follows up a dinner of fried chicken and potato chips with a dessert of cinnamon and honey will receive few health benefits. You are more likely to reap the full healing power when you include honey and cinnamon as part of your healthy lifestyle.

2011-11-30T06:06:00.000-05:00

Protein Might Ward Off Afternoon Snooze

2011-11-29T06:20:00.002-05:00

by —Christie Nicholson

Glucose can block brain cell secretion of orexin, which keeps us alert. But amino acids can stop that block. Christie Nicholson reports

The other afternoon I hit a classic mid-afternoon slump. Sleepy and sluggish, I grabbed for a bit of chocolate. But I probably should have had egg whites or maybe a piece of steak. Because a recent study in mice has found that it’s protein, not sugar, that provides the perk.

Brain cells called orexin cells secrete a stimulant that makes us energetic and tells the body to burn calories. If the cells’ activity decreases, narcolepsy or sudden sleepiness, is the result. The work is published in the journal Neuron. [Mahesh M. Karnani et al., "Activation of Central Orexin/Hypocretin Neurons by Dietary Amino Acids"]

Scientists marked orexin cells in mice brains so they would fluoresce. Then they tracked the cells’ activity after feeding the mice different kinds of food.

Turns out that glucose blocks the function of the orexin cells. This effect might be the main reason for the desired post-lunch siesta. But the researchers also found that amino acids stop the glucose action, keeping the cells active and the mice alert. So next time I get that 3 p.m. slow down, I’ll have an egg. If I’m alert enough to remember.

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2011-11-28T06:08:00.001-05:00

2011-11-27T08:02:00.000-05:00

from Mark's Daily Apple

Dear Mark,

There are several “Green Drink” formulas on the market now – usually comprised of powdered dehydrated dark greens like spinach, kale, broccoli, etc. Do these confer the same benefits as eating the vegetables, and are they readily absorbable by our bodies?

Normally, humans have trouble extracting massive amounts of nutrition from raw greens like spinach, kale, and broccoli. We might enjoy the crunch they provide, the texture, and even the taste, but the simple fact is that we are not equipped with the necessary cellulase – a digestive enzyme – to fully breakdown the cellulose that makes up around a third of said raw leafy vegetables’ cellular structure. Without breaking down cellulose, we can’t access all the vitamins and nutrients located therein. The impressive stomachs of certain animals, like cows and sheep and gorillas, contain billions of symbiotic microorganisms that make cellulase so the animal can derive the bulk of their nutrition from fibrous plants, but ours do not.

That’s why we cook, chew, blend, liquefy, ferment, sprout, and process our food. So that we can bypass our physiological limitations and access the nutrients. What about green drinks?

As you point out, green drinks consist of powdered, dehydrated vegetable matter. Dehydrating and then turning into powder leafy greens should, in theory, break down enough cellulose to make the nutrients bioavailable to humans, similar to the idea behind consuming vegetable smoothies. There’s some evidence that blending fruit and vegetables into smoothies makes them more bioavailable, though the quality of research varies:

In one, apple smoothies resulted in greater absorption of apple polyphenols, but the controls were poor – two others groups who either consumed cloudy apple juice or apple cider. I would have liked to have seen a group that simply ate whole apples.
Another review paper (PDF) found that, by and large, increasing the surface area of a food (by juicing, chopping, blending, or pureeing) increases the bioavailability of the nutrients in that food. In other words, the more pieces and the smaller those pieces, the greater the nutrient accessibility.

Since powdered vegetation has far more exposed surface area than even well-chewed whole vegetation, I think the nutrients should be plenty bioavailable – assuming dehydration preserves nutrients. Does it?

Dehydration of leafy greens reduced carotene availability compared to fresh greens, but both groups of children – those who ate dehydrated greens and those who ate fresh – improved their vitamin A status. Both were effective; fresh was moreso.
Freeze-drying seems to be better at preserving carotene content than sun- or heat-drying.

I’m definitely a fan of just eating the whole fruit or vegetable over a powder, but it seems like green drinks can be a helpful tool. If you’re interested, I’d suggest you try one out for a few weeks and see how you feel. Oh, and since we also know that fat improves absorption of many nutrients (it’s why I always cook my spinach in butter), be sure to mix it with coconut milk or add a couple egg yolks. I’d also seek out products that use gentle dehydration techniques, preferably freeze drying. A lot of the “raw vegan” green drink mixes should be gently dehydrated

Why is this Soda's Evil Twin?

2011-11-26T06:16:00.000-05:00

Dr Mercola

Many people believe that they are making a healthier choice if they forgo a can of soda and instead drink fruit juice. But are they?

In fact, fruit drinks are not only less than healthy, they are in many cases actually worse for you than soft drinks. They can be higher in sugar, and much higher in calories. They are responsible for a good deal more obesity than most people are aware of.

According to Discovery.com:

“Considering an 8-ounce serving of Snapple Apple has more sugar than 2 and a half Krispy Kreme glazed donuts, you were probably [better] off reaching for the box rather than the bottle.”

8oz of Snapple Apple 27 grams of sugar.
8oz Of Coco Cola 26 grams of sugar.
1 Krisy Kreme Glazed Doenut 25 grams of sugar.

How Long Should You Rest?

2011-11-25T06:53:00.000-05:00

BY DR. PHIL WAGNER, M.D.

You just finished your season, the last game, and you just want to relax. Unfortunately, an athlete’s window is small; one poor offseason can negatively affect the upcoming season and ultimately change your path in sport. After all, only 3% of high school basketball and football athletes go on to play in college, and professional athletes careers are shortening with new crops of talent flowing in each year. Most importantly, the average offseason duration has drastically shrunk at every level, leaving you less time to physically prepare. This conundrum leads to the inevitable question of how long to rest after your season?

Previously we discussed how just 4 weeks of detraining, or time off from exercise, resulted in a 17% decline in power (see Sparta Point 12/9/09). For example, athletes could experience a 3.5 to 5 inch drop in vertical jump!! While this study identifies performance decrements, more recent research identifies detraining’s disadvantages to healing.

A January 2011 study out of the University of Bologna examined the effects of detraining on tendons. These structures attach muscles to bones, and are best known for their effect on elasticity by storing energy to allow greater jump heights and faster sprints than just using muscle alone, a process known as the stretch shortening cycle (see Sparta Point 10/19/09). Like the nervous system, the behavior and structure of tendons are not static, but plastic, constantly adapting itself to stimulus, particularly loading through exercise. Jumping and weightlifting have shown beneficial effects on the size and protein content of these tendons. Discontinuing activity has the opposite effects, and, in the short term, disrupts tendon organization and protein content.

While previous research has observed that tendon adaptation to detraining is faster than training, this study was the first to investigate the sudden cessation of exercise, finding a disruption of the both the content and alignment of the proteins in tendons. While this study was on rats, I have seen several athletes encounter these setbacks from time off. Just 2 weeks ago, a professional pitcher experienced elbow tendon pain for the first time while resting at home after an 8 month season of no pain.

So here is a few tips on rest, whether it is the start of your offseason or not.

1. Rest duration (days versus weeks) is ONLY for your mind, to restore motivation which will fuel your workouts (see Sparta Point 3/29/11)

2. Physical decrements start IMMEDIATELY at the tendon level, but a motivated, happy athlete is always best, so see rule #1.

3. Any injuries are prolonged by rest (see Sparta Point 10/29/09). So use the other limb, and the rest of the body, as much as possible because the stimulus will still transfer up to 58% to that injured limb without even using it.

Time off should be as short as possible without negatively affecting your mood, and thus motivation. After all, initial training sessions will probably only last 1-2 hours, and in this initial offseason should emphasize mobility to improve range of motion and the tendon architecture mentioned above.

But if you’re resting your body and not your mind, you’ve got it all wrong.

Kris Jenkins’s View of Life in the N.F.L. Trenches

2011-11-24T07:58:00.003-05:00

N.F.L. fans, people outside, they have no clue what goes on. This isn’t like playing Madden. This isn’t like being the popular kid in high school. When you do those things in the real world, and it don’t work out, you still have your health. The thing about football is you’re directly playing with your life, the quality of it and the longevity of it. The stakes are up there.

You ever been in a car crash? Done bumper cars? You know when that hit catches you off guard and jolts you, and you’re like, what the hell? Football is like that. But 10 times worse. It’s hell. READ MORE

Thousands Fear Artificial Hips Are Poisoning Them

2011-11-23T06:45:00.001-05:00

by Joe Shortsleeve

BOSTON (CBS) – Artificial hips are supposed to relieve pain, but now thousands of patients are afraid their hips are poisoning them.

One popular hip has been recalled, and there are a growing number of lawsuits.

At just 36, Katie Ayers was prompted by chronic pain to get an artificial hip. “It was supposed to be the latest and greatest. It was supposed to be perfect for a younger female,” she said.

WBZ-TV’s Joe Shortsleeve reports

Three years later, Katie was shocked when her artificial metal on metal hip was recalled. Tiny pieces of metal were breaking away from the mechanism due to wear and tear.

Katie says tests showed elevated levels of cobalt and chromium in her blood. “They don’t really know, they being the medical community, what those elevated levels can do to your system,” she said.

Katie is one of an estimated 500,000 people who have received an all metal hip replacement. Data shows Katie’s hip, the DePuy ASR failed in nearly one third of patients in Britain within six years.

The device was recalled by the company last year. Katie has since gotten a new one.

“I thought I was going to have 15-20 years before I had to it again,” she said.

More than 2,600 lawsuits have been filed against Johnson and Johnson, the parent company of DePuy. It’s estimated 20 new cases are being filed every day.

Boston attorney Marnie McGoldrick represents about two dozen clients who have had problems with the DePuy ASR. “With most patients, it may start with clicking or popping, or just pain, and then it leads to immobility,” she explained.

McGoldrick believes the grinding of metal on metal can cause metal fragments to go in the blood stream and tissue surrounding the hip area. “That can cause inflammation, and tissue damage which can lead to loosening, dislocation, and possibly bone fractures,” she added.

DePuy dismisses the findings in the British study, saying it is based on a small number of cases. They add they are helping patients who now require additional treatment.

Dr. David Mattingly of the New England Baptist Hospital performs hundreds of hip replacements each year. He has implanted the DePuy ASR in ten patients with no reported problems.

Metal on metal hips became popular in recent years, according to Dr. Mattingly, because younger, more physically active patients wanted something sturdier than traditional metal and plastic joints.

Dr. Mattingly still uses metal on metal hips in select patients. He believes if the operation is done well and the patient follows post-operative orders that this can still be an effective choice.

But the Food and Drug Administration is now reviewing all metal on metal hip joints, ordering manufacturers to research if patients are getting sick.

Katie’s implant was allowed through the FDA’s 510K process, which fast tracks devices if they are substantially equivalent to existing products. “I think there has to be a better way than what’s already out there.”

Katie’s blood levels have returned to normal. She worries, like thousands of other patients, about any long term implications.

The legal cases are still in the discovery process so it hasn’t been determined if there will be a class action suit.

Patients with the DePuy ASR can contact the company at 1-888-627-2677, or visit their website.

US Congress rules that pizza is a vegetable

2011-11-22T06:15:00.000-05:00

from http://www.thejournal

PIZZA CAN BE classed as a vegetable – at least according to a decision made by the US Congress. Who knew?

American lawmakers have ruled that the amount of tomato paste in pizza sauce means that pizzas can be counted as a vegetable.

The bizarre move, which was decided in a vote on the annual spending bill for the Department of Agriculture, happened for purely political reasons.

The crucial bill had oversight over subsidised school meals, and the department was seeking to restrict pizza, chips and starchy vegetables from the menu for school children in a bid to combat child obesity.

MSNBC reports that politicians had been lobbied heavily by the frozen food industry who didn’t want to see a major revenue stream cut off given how often pizza is found on the menus of school canteens in the US.

School meals subsidised by the government are mandated to include a certain amount of vegetables and the Department of Agriculture’s plan would have pushed pizza-makers at least partly out of the school lunch business.

The salt industry, potato growers, and some conservative politicians who said that the federal government shouldn’t be involved in telling children what to eat, also lobbied against the change.

After some debate, Congress voted that anything containing two tablespoons of tomato sauce can be labelled a vegetable, putting pizza into the vegetable category.

The Obama administration is fighting to make school lunches healthier in the face of a growing obesity problem across the country.

Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey

2011-11-21T06:07:00.000-05:00

by Andrew Schneider

More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey."
The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.

The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.

honey-without-pollen-food-safety-news1.jpgIn the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that's been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn't honey. However, the FDA isn't checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey. It is a spin-off of a technique refined by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey - some containing illegal antibiotics - on the U.S. market for years.

MORE

2011-11-20T06:53:00.000-05:00

Dieting and Hormones

2011-11-19T06:11:00.002-05:00

http://www.mattmetzgar.com

There was a great article about dieting and hormones the other week in the New York Times. The article says it all, so I will just highlight a few things:

"The dieters then spent 10 weeks on a very low calorie regimen of 500 to 550 calories a day intended to makes them lose 10 percent of their body weight. In fact, their weight loss averaged 14 percent, or 29 pounds. As expected, their hormone levels changed in a way that increased their appetites, and indeed they were hungrier than when they started the study."

A peptide hormone neurotransmitter produced by fat cells and involved in the regulation of appetite

"When leptin falls, appetite increases and metabolism slows. A year after the weight loss diet, leptin levels were still one-third lower than they were at the start of the study, and leptin levels increased as subjects regained their weight."

“You are putting your body into a circumstance it will resist,” he said. “You are, in a sense, more metabolically normal when you are at a higher body weight.”

Dieting still doesn't work!

Cholesterol

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

BY DR. PHIL WAGNER, M.D.

Cholesterol stabilizes every cell's membrane
How could you not be in love with cholesterol? It is in every cell of your body; it is the building block for steroids like testosterone, and even reduces muscle soreness. But you’ve probably also heard that high cholesterol can kill you, that a diet of meat and eggs will lead to heart attacks. The major research creating this concern over cholesterol was the Framingham Study, OBSERVING higher cholesterol with heart disease. However, this cholesterol was not causing the problem, merely trying to HEAL the infected tissue from the true culprits. This research was not a cause and effect conclusion, only an observation, as there are far more studies indicating heart disease is caused by infectious agents, like viruses or bacteria, from a more general unhealthy lifestyle.

Cholesterol is a fat, produced by the liver; in fact only about 25% comes from your diet in the form of fat, further easing any concerns over your cholesterol rich foods like eggs. Cholesterol is carried in the blood by lipoproteins, which are generally known by 2 types

1. LDL (low density lipoprotein) – the “bad cholesterol”, carries cholesterol from liver to cells

2. HDL (high density lipoprotein) – “good cholesterol” takes cholesterol away from cells back to the liver

Cholesterol exists in the outer layer of every cell in our body and has many functions, but we will focus on just a few relevant benefits to athletic performance

1. Anabolic Environment for more muscle STRENGTH

Cholesterol is critical in the metabolism and absorption of vitamins such as A, D, E, and K, even helping convert sunlight to vitamin D, the most crucial of the aforementioned vitamins for testosterone levels. Speaking of testosterone, cholesterol is a major building block for sex hormones like testosterone.

2. Cell signaling for the speed of your SKILL

Myelin, surrounds and insulates nerve cells, and is especially rich in cholesterol, transmitting signals faster and more efficiently (see Sparta Point 7/8/09)

3. Muscle soreness for REGENERATION

A 2009 Texas A & M study out of the Journal of Gerontology found that, the subjects who gained the most muscle mass were the ones with highest LDL cholesterol levels. The researchers’ findings illustrate that a certain amount of “bad” cholesterol is needed to build muscle. Makes sense since we know that LDL brings cholesterol from the liver to cells, which are damaged during exercise, particularly resistance training that causes soreness.

Still wary of 6 egg yolks every morning or a steak every night? Cholesterol expert and Swedish doctor Uffe Ravnskov presented a 2009 paper that LDL, participates in the immune system by binding and inactivating bacteria and viruses, the true causes of inflammation. And this inflammation has always been the main culprit for heart disease, any chronic disease or condition for that matter. The researchers go onto explain that when you inject bacterial toxins into rats they die almost immediately, but if you start by injecting them with purified human LDL, most of them survive!

So eat high quality protein and fat, vegetables, and exercise consistently. Anything else is inflammatory

Know your body

2011-11-17T06:12:00.000-05:00

http://nutritionize.net/

Liver
Major filtering system and produces bile (important in digesting fats and neutralizing acid)

Spleen
Breaks down old blood cells and stores blood and assists in new blood production

Gall bladder
The livers helper by storing the bile

Stomach
Acidic environment which breaks down food to be processed by intestines

Intestines (aka gut)
Extract usable nutrients from food (very important for these to be healthy)

Lungs
Oxygenate the air and filter out environmental contaminants

Kidney
Filtering system and maintains electrolyte balance

Pancreas
Helps the body run smooth by producing hormones and enzymes

Matcha Tea

2011-11-16T06:08:00.000-05:00

From Mark's Daily Apple

Matcha green tea is made from powdered, shade-grown tea leaves. Well, “shade-finished” might be a more accurate descriptor; a few weeks before the harvest, matcha-designated tea plants are covered with shade. This slows the growth, sweetens and deepens the flavor, and increases the amino acid content of the leaves (specifically L-theanine). Pulverizing the tea leaves into a powder increases the surface area and makes for a stronger, more potent brew. Plus, when you drink matcha, you’re consuming the leaves and all their polyphenols and amino acids themselves. The powder doesn’t get strained out like normal green tea leaves.

This seems to increase the antioxidant activity. First, there’s more L-theanine available. I’ve discussed the stress-reducing benefits of L-theanine before. All good there. Plus, a 2003 study found that the epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) was 137 times more bioavailable in matcha than a traditional leaf-based green tea, and more than three times as bioavailable as the “largest literature value of other green teas.” ECGC is the premier antioxidant on which everyone who raves about green tea focuses. There are EGCG pills, tinctures, and all sorts of supplements.

More EGCG, more L-theanine? Sounds good to me.

2011-11-15T06:11:00.000-05:00

Q & A: Recovery and the Aging Athlete

2011-11-14T04:22:00.001-05:00

by Joel Freil

Question: It seems that recovery or lack thereof is a big issue with older cyclists. Based on your training methodology, what are suggestions for this group?

Answer: “Older” athletes are old primarily because their rate of recovery is relatively slow. Someone can be “old” at age 35 due to a poor rate recovery after stressful workouts. On the other hand, I’ve coached athletes in their 60s who recovered very quickly and so by this definition were still “young.” In fact, recovery is probably the key to performance at all ages, but especially so for aging athletes who tend to have the deck stacked against them.

Back to aging athletes… For the purpose of this discussion let’s say they are over age 50. Starting around this age it becomes apparent that athletes have lower levels of testosterone, started losing muscle mass, increased risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis (especially in cyclists), increased tendencies for acid-base imbalance, reduced sensitivity to thirst, perhaps a greater propensity for weight gain, lost soft tissue elasticity accompanied by an increased likelihood of injury, reduced enzyme activity, less tolerance for heat, and more. It isn’t pretty.

So aging athletes are fighting an uphill battle. But for most I don’t believe the issue is aging so much as it is detraining. The younger one is the more mistakes that can be made in training and lifestyle without negatively impacting performance. As we age there is less latitude for mistakes. Cutting back on training with age only exacerbates the problems when the athlete does train seriously. So for the aging athlete the focus on training and performance must be narrowed.

The focus of the aging athlete must be in four areas.

• Workout intensity. There are only three elements of training that can be manipulated to produce fitness: workout duration, workout intensity and workout frequency. As we age there is a tendency to increase duration at the expense of intensity. Workouts become longer and easier. The aging athlete needs to do just the opposite if he or she is to slow the aging process. Workouts above 80% intensity factor with an emphasis on muscular endurance, anaerobic endurance and sprint power (see my Training Bible books for details) should be the basis of their training. This typically results in shorter training sessions but higher weekly average intensity. This stimulates testosterone release and maintains muscle mass.

• Strength training. Lifting weights is one of the best ways the aging athlete can maintain bone density while also stimulating testosterone release. The use of heavy loads with traditional strength training is what is needed here to accomplish these goals. Such training should include loading the legs which requires a great deal of planning so as not to impact on-bike training. An alternative for the athlete who prefers not to load the legs is walking or running several miles each week. I suspect that body-weight-only exercises are not as effective as lifting heavy loads when the purpose is bone density. Such training should be done frequently and regularly. Research suggests that this will maintain the aging athlete’s bone and muscle health.

• Sleep. As mentioned, younger athletes can make many mistakes in training and still perform at a high level. Aging athletes can’t. This is certainly true when it comes to recovery. As we get older adequate sleep is especially important. If following my guidelines above, training is becoming more intense and serious strength training is adding to the accumulating stress. Sleep quantity and quality are necessary to allow the body to cope with this stress. Aging athletes must be very careful not to compromise sleep in order to fit more activities into their lives.

• Nutrition. The second most effective modality for improving recovery is nutrition. There are two primary areas of concern: adequate macronutrients, especially carbohydrate and protein, in the recovery period following an intense workout and a micronutrient-dense (vitamins and minerals) diet for the remainder of the day. The first requires taking sugar during a long and intense workout (water is all that is needed during short workouts) with starch consumed in the recovery window. These recovery foods are micronutrient-poor but necessary for maintaining and restocking glycogen (stored carbohydrate). Once short-term recovery is achieved then the athlete should greatly reduce their intake of starch and sugar. The emphasis now should be on micronutrients. The most micronutrient-dense foods are vegetables, fruits and animal protein. These alkaline foods have also been shown to improve acid-base balance (an acidic diet escalates the loss of bone minerals and muscle mass).

2011-11-13T06:47:00.000-05:00

Ms. Zimmer who weighs approximately 150 pounds. In the video above, she squats 325 pounds for 14 repetitions. For those of you who had the privilege of holding 325 pounds on your back, you can fully appreciate what is happening in the video. Zimmer squats 2.17 times her bodyweight for repetition after repetition wearing just a belt and some knee sleeves. A twice bodyweight squat is an impressive feat of strength for just about any athlete and that is just for one repetition. For a woman to accomplish that 14 times is, well, pretty damn amazing.

2011-11-12T06:22:00.000-05:00

VETERANS DAY

2011-11-11T07:24:00.001-05:00

A Deeper Look at "Born to Runner"

2011-11-10T08:09:00.000-05:00

PART 1

PART 2

Supplement Vitamin C to Help Recover From Intense Winter Workouts

2011-11-09T06:09:00.000-05:00

By David Csonka

While a number of studies demonstrate a small percentage reduction in occurrences [1,2,3] the only credible benefit for supplementation in normal situations is for a slight decrease in illness duration. Still, a reduction of 10% on the duration of your cold symptoms ultimately doesn’t amount to very much. Maybe a day?

However, there does seem to be more conclusive evidence that vitamin C supplementation can be beneficial for runners and other athletes who are exercising at high intensities and cold weather.

A collection of studies examining groups participating in ski schools, Canadian winter military training, and long distance running events demonstrated that experimental cohorts receiving approximately 1g of vitamin C per day had a much reduced rate of infection (almost 50%) versus placebo groups. [4]

Intense exercise can have a profoundly negative effect on immune function, with cold weather further exacerbating this problem. Depression of the immune system by corticosteroids or oxygen radicals, generated while the body is under extreme physical stress, is one set of explanations for immuno-compromise.

Recovery from exercise and muscle damage in general, is primarily an immune response. Inflammation and transposition of macrophages to repair sites are similar for wounds and exercise-mediated tissue damage alike. As such, it is interesting to see how L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is theorized to interact with the immune system.

Vitamin C is found in high concentrations in immune cells, and is consumed quickly during infections. It is not certain how vitamin C interacts with the immune system; it has been hypothesized to modulate the activities of phagocytes, the production of cytokines and lymphocytes, and the number of cell adhesion molecules in monocytes. [5]

Vitamin C has been reported to increase the proliferative responses in T-lymphocytes, to prevent the defects in neutrophils caused by corticosteroids, and it is also a major biological antioxidant. Thus vitamin C possibly could aid the immune system in subjects under heavy physical stress. [6]

Under normal physiological circumstances, the human body consumes L-ascorbic acid at very low rates. It could take several months for depletion symptoms (scurvy) to set it. Normal dietary consumption in most countries is enough to meet daily needs. However, when injured, sick, or under stress the body depletes its stores of vitamin C at a much quicker rate.

While working out this winter, it might be wise to increase the number of servings of fruit or peppers that you normally consume. Some people don’t realize that bell peppers contain much more vitamin C than oranges. [7] Or at the least, consider taking a cheap 1g vitamin C supplement. Chances are, as a runner or athlete you’re much more at risk of catching a cold than the average person.

The Reality About Tea and Fat Loss

2011-11-08T06:03:00.000-05:00

from http://criticalmas.com/

In the past four years, I’ve probably been to close to 100 tea tasting events. One topic that pops up on a regular basis is the claim that tea will promote fat loss and prevent cancer. I used to eat up this kind of information. Now it all just seems silly when you stand back and look at the situation.

Yesterday afternoon I was at another tea event. During the discussion on how tea helps with fat loss, one lady pulled out a box of cookies and passed them around. Everyone (but me) grabbed one. The diabetic lady ended up eating three. The irony seemed to be lost on everyone.

Go into any tea shop and watch the customers. Half are adding sugar to their drinks and most are consuming some form of breaded sugar treat. Instead of seeing sugar and wheat for the toxins they are, they believe that moderation should be observed. After all, tea is so healthy and they drink tea, so they have convinced themselves that they are magically protected from the evils a single cookie, scone or muffin. But they aren’t.

I love tea and believe it is extremely healthy for you, provided you don’t dump sugar into it. I also recognize that tea is no match for a scone or plate of cookies. Tea shop customers don’t walk in flabby and leave ripped. I see the same failed logic with coffee shop customers. They trumpet every health story that supports their addiction and then order a toasted bagel or muffin.

Around the year 2000, I started drinking tea on a daily basis. I didn’t get a single pound leaner until 2008. That was when I started cutting out the wheat. By the end 2009, I was 99% gluten free. Now I’m closing in on 2 full years where I’ve been 100% gluten free. I dropped 25 pounds of fat. The tea didn’t lean me out. Cutting out the breaded crap they sell at tea shops is what made me lean. Elimination not moderation! If I stopped drinking tea tomorrow, I’d still be lean.

One of the strategies I used to control my hunger back in those days was I’d keep a container of almonds or cashews in my car at all times. No matter where I went I could easily excuse myself to my car for a fistful of sugar-free, gluten-free calories.

Addicted to Exercise?

2011-11-07T06:08:00.000-05:00

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

FOR decades, scientists have studied areas deep within the brain that seem associated with pleasure and addiction.
Damon Winter/The New York Times

Put an electrode in that part of a rat’s brain, and it will become obsessed with stimulating those areas. When rats are allowed to push a lever in exchange for a mild current that produces a “high” in the “pleasure centers,” they will press the lever up to 7,000 times per hour.

These rats forget to eat or drink, and they must be unhooked to prevent self-starvation. Male rats ignore females in heat to get a fix, and nursing mothers ignore their babies.

“Pressing that lever became their entire world,” David J. Linden, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University medical school, writes in his fascinating new book, “The Compass of Pleasure.”

Professor Linden explains how drugs such as cocaine that light up these pleasure centers (there are several interconnected areas) actually rewire the brain to increase cravings. You can look at magnified photos of rat brains and tell which animal was given cocaine and which wasn’t.

Yet it’s not just drugs. Brain scans suggest that everything from sugar to sex lights up the brain’s pleasure circuitry. These all can have neurological consequences that correspond to what we think of as addiction. For example: exercise.

As a pathological runner since my days as a high school cross country athlete in Oregon, that struck a chord. Am I addicted to running?

“Exercise addicts display all of the hallmarks of substance addicts: tolerance, craving, withdrawal and the need to exercise ‘just to feel normal,’ ” Linden writes.

O.K., I confess. I might be an addict.

Exercise seems to trigger the release of chemicals called endorphins and enkephalins (the brain’s version of opium) and endocannabinoids (the brain’s version of marijuana). In the lab, rats can develop an addiction to exercise on a wheel.

Brain researchers are finding many similar patterns. Who knew that orgasms, in men and women alike, light up the pleasure centers much like cocaine? (And who knew that researchers immobilize subjects in a lab, hook them up to a brain scanner, and then instruct them to engage in sexual activity?)

Linden argues that there is such a thing as a genuine biological addiction to sex. The public’s failure to recognize this, he says, means that people often don’t receive treatment.

“Sex addicts are among the least likely to seek help among all sufferers of addiction,” he writes, adding that this is tragic because sex addicts may be more likely than drug addicts to take others down with them.

Brain chemistry research also suggests that gambling and overeating can be addictive behaviors, analogous to narcotics addictions. In particular, foods with sugar or fat seem to trigger cravings that then rewire the brain’s pleasure circuitry to amplify that craving.

One study found that rats fed foods like cheesecake and chocolate showed differences in brain circuitry after just 40 days. The impact was that the pleasure centers of their brains were numbed, so they apparently needed to gobble even more cheesecake to generate the same satisfaction. Whether it’s sugar or heroin, the body steadily ratchets up the quantity necessary to provide the same high.

Does this mean the end of free will?

Of course not. But it’s a reminder that cravings are complex phenomena with strong ties to brain chemistry and genetics. Maybe that’s why President Obama has shown astounding self-discipline in his political career while enduring a long struggle with nicotine.

Moreover, our brains impel us not only toward vices, but also toward virtues. In recent years, researchers have found that generosity isn’t always a sacrifice; instead, it often exhilarates us.

One set of experiments at the University of Oregon involved young women hooked up to brain scanners as they were presented with modest amounts of money. Sometimes the money was then “taxed,” sometimes they were given the chance to donate to charity, and sometimes they were given additional money.

Their pleasure centers lit up when they received money, as one might expect — but also when they gave money away.

There were considerable variations among individuals. About half of the women seemed to derive as much pleasure, based upon their brain patterns, from giving money as from receiving it. The other half enjoyed receiving money more. Not surprisingly, the latter contributed less to charity.

Maybe the research will lead to new tools to fight drug addiction, alcoholism or obesity. Maybe I’ll be able to get a runner’s high without the sweat. But, to me, the most fascinating insight is that for at least half of humans it truly does seem to be as blessed to give as to receive.

On the basis of the latest brain research, as well as practical experience, let’s acknowledge this profound truth: altruism and generosity can be hedonistic pleasur

Baking Soda is not just for the kitchen

2011-11-06T07:18:00.000-05:00

(NaturalNews) The lowly box of baking soda hasn't been given the credit it's due. Baking soda is for more than baking or deodorizing the refrigerator. It's great for health and beauty needs, and everyone should consider using it for multiple reasons. It's inexpensive and a great alternative to chemical beauty and cleaning products. Most people should consider using this product more than they do now.

Cleaning: Baking soda is great when it comes to cleaning. Its abrasive action combined with its environmental friendliness makes it a great alternative to cleansers that use harsh chemicals. Instead of using a harsh scrubbing powder filled with toxic chemicals (like chlorine bleach), why not use baking soda to scrub the ring in the tub? It works just as well but leaves no chemical smell behind; best yet, people won't feel guilty about baking soda washing down the drain. A lot of people also add a tablespoon or two to the dishwater for its grease-cutting action.

Baking soda is also known for its effectiveness in fighting odors. Many people sprinkle it on the carpet before vacuuming to help absorb odors, but it can also be sprinkled in the bottom of the trashcan or in the garbage disposal for the same purpose.

Beauty: Yes, baking soda can be used in one's beauty routine! It can be added to toothpaste for extra cleansing (and for whitening too), and it can also be rubbed under the arms as a healthy alternative to antiperspirants. It can also be used as a safe but effective body and facial scrub, and it can be used as an alternative to chemical-laden shampoos. And, again, because of its deodorizing properties, it can be sprinkled in a pair of smelly sneakers or kept in the closet to keep it smelling fresh and clean.

Other uses: Wash fruits and vegetables in a baking soda bath. Just fill the sink with water and a tablespoon or two of baking soda and scrub the dirt off. It's safe and effective. And you can keep your drains clean by pouring some baking soda down the drain followed by either hot water or vinegar (which will give it some bubbly action).

Apolo Ohno Trains His Legs And His Mind For The NYC Marathon

2011-11-05T06:13:00.000-04:00

By Dan Peterson

f the roughly 45,000 brave souls who will line up for the start of the New York City Marathon in less than two weeks, there’s a good chance that at least a few will have doubts of crossing the finish line. They have put in the training miles, eaten the right foods and picked out their playlist.

Yet, the biggest obstacle to a finisher’s medal is not their legs, but their brain. Like an overprotective mother, the brain not only runs the show but also decides when enough is enough. However, exercise science researchers now believe that it is possible to fool mother nature and tap into a reserve store of energy for better performance.

Somewhere in the New York masses on November 6th will be a short but determined first time marathoner who happens to have eight Olympic medals. Apolo Ohno, world champion speed skater, will be racing not only in an upright position but for a little longer than his usual 1500 meters. During his training, he has noticed the difference between the short thirty second repetitions on the ice and the long runs required for marathon endurance.

In a recent interview, he commented that after a 20 mile training run, “I was like a zombie. I couldn’t function. It was crazy. I was like, ‘What is wrong with me?’” One thing that all of his Olympic training has taught him is the power of the mind. Last week, he tweeted, “The MIND is the most undertrained asset of any athlete. It is the biggest difference between separating those who r GREAT or inconsistent.”

Matt Fitzgerald, long-time running columnist and author, agrees with Ohno. In his 2007 book Brain Training for Runners, he detailed the role of the brain in controlling our physical endurance. Traditionally, fatigue used to be considered a breakdown of biochemical balances with the build-up of lactic acid or depletion of glycogen for fuel. However, research in the 1980s showed that this breakdown did not always occur and that athletes were still able to push through at the end of a race even though they should have been physically exhausted.

The scoop on diet frozen meals

2011-11-04T06:04:00.000-04:00

Every day, FoodFacts.com looks into the benefits and drawbacks of hundreds of different food products in our database. Sometimes we surprise even ourselves with the information. And sometimes, we know that the measure of nutritional value of a food product is really determined by the lens through which it’s being observed.

For instance, when it comes to frozen diet meals, there are a few different ways to observe nutrition. You might say that would be a simple matter of calories and fat — and then all the brands would qualify as healthy options for those seeking to reduce their weight. But there are a few other manners in which to look at these frozen meals and determine whether or not they should be part of a diet plan at all.

FoodFacts.com has a “rule of thumb” — that is to be wary of any food product with a long list of ingredients. Generally speaking, the longer the list, the more likely you are to find ingredients you don’t recognize and that may, in fact, be controversial. And generally speaking, in most cases, frozen diet meals feature these long ingredient lists. There are certainly exceptions, but the majority of frozen diet meals contain ingredients that you wouldn’t find in your fridge or your pantry. We thought we’d take a look at four common ingredient concerns for these meals.

Sodium
The recommended daily allowance for sodium for adults is about 2300 milligrams. That’s about a teaspoon. You’ll find that most diet frozen meals contain about 30% of the RDA for a 2000 calorie per day diet. That’s a lot of salt — especially when you consider the portion sizes of the diet meals This can vary slightly up or down depending on meal content and brand. Excessive sodium consumption can lead to high blood pressure, or hypertension, which is a risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.

BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene)
BHT is an antioxidant that is used as a preservative, keeping foods from oxidizing and spoiling. You’ll find BHT in a wide variety of processed foods. It is popularly used in frozen foods. BHT may be carcinogenic. Other side effects of this food additive include elevated cholesterol, liver and kidney damage, infertility, sterility, immune disorders, increased susceptibility to carcinogens, and behavioral problems. While BHT isn’t present in every frozen diet meal, it’s not an uncommon additive and something you may want to carefully watch out for.

Sodium Benzoate
Manufacturers have used sodium benzoate for a century to prevent the growth of microorganisms in acidic foods. The substances occur naturally in many plants and animals. Sodium Benzoate can cause hives, asthma, or other allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Again, not every frozen diet meal contains sodium benzoate, but it’s a fairly common ingredient and one you want to keep an eye out for.

Disodium Inosinate
An expensive flavor enhancer usually used with the cheaper Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) alternative. It comes from the nucleotide Inosine monophosphate (IMP) commonly found in mushrooms and meats. Nucleotides are information-carrying molecules (seen in DNA) and help with the body’s metabolic processes. It is approved by the Food and Drug Administration but like MSG, is associated with certain allergic reactions after consumption. Again, if you’re purchasing diet frozen meals, read the labels carefully – this is not an unusual ingredient.

While it’s certainly tempting to go the route of frozen diet meals while trying to lose weight, we all need to keep in mind that it would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to cook lasagna with meat sauce for 270 calories per serving. Even if you use skim-milk cheeses and 97% lean ground beef, you’ll have a problem bringing it in at under 300 calories. The point is it’s not diet food. Most of the food featured in frozen diet meals, regardless of brand, isn’t meant to be diet food. Hence, the food additives and ingredients you can’t pronounce and the high levels of sodium. They have to add to the food to make it appetizing.

So if you’re trying to lose weight, the healthiest option would be to stick to foods that will work within your diet goals. Grilled chicken and turkey, fish, and lots and lots of fresh vegetables will fill you up, nourish your body and help you to reduce your caloric intake. The additives you’ll find in diet frozen meals won’t do any of that for you.

How do you learn faster?

2011-11-03T06:17:00.000-04:00

BY DR. PHIL WAGNER, M.D.

We all want to learn faster, as well as have our athletes, kids, or employees learn faster. There are few situations more frustrating than having to explain something a second time. As hard working Americans, the need to push harder and more frequently is rampant in our schools, weight rooms, and sporting showcases. Hard work builds mental toughness and physical resilience, so there needs to be focused and efficient periods of intense training, but what if these commitments were actually jeopardizing our ability to learn?

For example, there are thousands of athletes, parents, and coaches who want to improve reaction time but sacrifice rest to do so. However, even 6 hours of sleep can reduce reaction time by 32%! This effect of sleep on reaction time skill is usually measured by more general tasks, like a finger tapping test, which evaluates a subject’s ability to tap a desk with their finger or touch a screen as quickly as possible. These tests, and motor skills in general, have been proven to improve with overnight sleep due to the reorganizing of new information in the brain to make it more readily available (see Sparta Point 9/8/10). This process during sleep is one of 2 general forms of memory consolidation, the processes that stabilize skills after their initial acquisition.

This initial acquisition occurs on a smaller level, the synapse. The synapse is the connection between neurons, and this consolidation occurs in just minutes to hours after a skill, as opposed to the overnight system consolidation that occurs in sleep. As previously discussed (see Sparta Point 3/1/11), dietary flavonoids, or the nutrients in food, have beneficial effects on this synaptic process. Specifically, it was found that these dietary-derived flavonoids, higher in vegetables than any other food, protect and help regenerate neurons.

The next question is always the same; how much sleep and vegetables do I need then to maximize learning? Well, Cheri Mah, a athlete sleep specialist at the Stanford Sleep Lab, collaborates with Sparta and has found a range of 9 ¼ to 9 ¾ hours for the average requirements among athletes. If you are not getting that rest, you’re likely accumulating sleep debt, which will eventually need to be paid back in more sleep for optimal performance (see Sparta Point 3/17/10).

However, there are solutions for those of us with schedules that prevent more than 9 hours. A recent 2011 study out of the University of Pisa in Italy found increases in motor memory consolidation from short naps (<30 minutes), also called power naps, so if you cannot get that required nighttime sleep, those daytime naps can help with skill acquisition.

We train NO PROFESSIONAL athletes more than once a day for 4 days a week, suggesting they use that extra time for sleeping and eating at least 8 servings of fresh vegetables. So my next question is; how willing are you to trust your sleep and diet over just more sweat and effort?

How plastic food containers could be making you fat, infertile and sick

2011-11-02T06:01:00.000-04:00

from chriskresser.com

There is now significant evidence suggesting that even low levels of BPA-exposure can cause harm, and this is particularly true in vulnerable populations like pregnant women, infants and the chronically ill. (1)

Because of this research, and the growing public awareness that BPA should be avoided, a new crop of “BPA-free” plastic food containers and baby bottles has been introduced. However, a recent study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in July has shown that even BPA-free plastics have chemicals with estrogenic activity (EA), and can cause serious health problems as a result The Rest of the Article

Canova labors to teach and inspire others to climb the ladder of success in sport.

2011-11-01T06:21:00.000-04:00

At last weekend's Bank of America Chicago Marathon, for example, an athlete he is currently coaching, men's race winner Moses Mosop of Kenya, was asked the regular press conference queries about how fit he was, how well his training had gone by athlete turned TV commentator and World Marathon Majors press conference MC Tim Hutchings. Mosop replied that he had been injured after setting a world record on the track for 30K in June, and that he was only 80% fit.

As Canova repeats often his belief is that there are no secrets to good training, race preparation, or racing. The two key elements are self belief and execution. The difference between winning and losing is not so much how many miles you have run or what fitness level you are at, but rather your innate abilities, genetics, and your mental strength in being able to get the most out of those abilities during the race.

Looking at how both the Boston and Berlin marathons, the races that produced the fastest times ever in men's marathoning, Canova noted the fact that, interjected into a steadily fast pace, were big surges that produced mid to low 14 minute 5Ks near the end of the race. While most training programs for marathoners feature weekly long runs at a slow to medium tempo. Canova is now convinced that the long run is a crucial part of the modern marathoner's preparation.

A top marathoner needs to run these 35K to 40K long runs at a fast tempo, sometimes with surges to simulate the physiological adaptation necessary to allow them to do it on race day, says Canova. Because these efforts are, in effect, mini races, they will require more recovery time afterward. They can't be done every week. Many top athletes, Paula Radcliffe, the late Sammy Wanjiru, Ryan Hall, mix in rest days in their training for just this purpose.

Another important concept being that training gets divided into two phases, says Canova, the general and the specific. General training makes up 80% and specific 20%. General builds the strength and resilience necessary to accomplish the specific work needed to fine tune the body to run fast and attain the goals you've set, he explains.

In effect marathoners are now training much like track racers, breaking down the race into component parts. Peroidizing that training to gradually build to a peak for the race. Training near race pace to stimulate the body to adapt, and get used to what it will be like, so that you are not entering unfamiliar territory in a race when you have to throw in a 14:20 5K at the 30K point of a marathon, for example.

In a way this may seem revolutionary, but more likely it is merely applying common sense, simplifying training instead of making it some mystical combination of parts that is supposed to produce a magic response.

There is no magic, says Canova, no secrets, just intelligent, hard work. To read more about

Tooth Health

2011-10-31T12:11:00.000-04:00

Many people use toothpaste as part of their oral health care regimen. However, you should know that some toothpaste can cause problems. Many types of toothpaste are too abrasive and actually strip away tooth enamel which never grows back. The teeth may become sensitive when tooth enamel is worn away. Toothpaste’s abrasiveness is measured by its Relative Dentin Abrasively (RDA). The table below shows the RDA of some common toothpaste. We suggest that you use toothpastes with the lowest RDA ratings. In addition to finding a toothpaste that is minimally abrasive, we suggesting finding one with fluoride.
Fluoride helps strengthen enamel and prevent cavities. Toothpaste contains abrasives which help clean teeth. Unfortunately, these abrasives can sometimes strip away tooth enamel, making teeth sensitive toheat, cold, and sweets.

The RDA table:
0-70 = Low Abrasive
70-100 = Medium Abrasive
100-150 = Highly Abrasive
150-250 = Regarded as Harmful Limit

Straight Baking Soda 7
Arm & Hammer Tooth Powder 8
Arm & Hammer Dental Care 35
Oxyfresh 45
Tom’s of Maine Sensitive 49
Arm & Hammer Peroxicare 49
Rembrandt Original 53
CloSYS 53
Tom’s of Main Children 57
Colgate Regular 68
Colgate Total 70
Sensodyne 79
Aim 80
Colgate Sensitive Max Strength 83
Aquafresh Sensitive 91
Tom’s of Maine Regular 93
Crest Regular 95
Mentadent 103
Sensodyne Extra Whitening 104
Colgate Platinum 106
Crest Sensitivity 107
Colgate Herbal 110
Aquafresh Whitening 113
Arm & Hammer Tarter Control 117
Arm & Hammer Advance White Gel 117
Close-up with Baking Soda 120
Colgate Whitening 124
Ultra Brite 130
Crest MultiCare Whitening 144
Colgate Baking Soda Whitening 145
Pepsodent 150
Colgate Tarter Control 165
FDA Recommended Limit 200
ADA Recommended Limit 250

MacGyver Tips

2011-10-30T06:41:00.000-04:00

from Lifehacker.com

Freeze Candles to Make them Last Twice as Long

Candles will last longer (almost 2X), if they are placed in the freezer for a day before using them. Chilling the wax gives it a bit longer before burning through and leaving you with an empty jar. For some candles this will also cause them to drip less and burn straight down without burning through the side of the candle.

Use Doritos (or Other Chips) to Start a Fire
All kind of chips work for that. Works as well as birch bark for starting a fire in a hurry.
If you think about it, its basically pure hydrocarbons (which burn) soaked in fat (which burns). You'll still need a match or something to spark your fire.

How to Make Tea Using a Coffee Pot.
Yes, it is possible to make tea using a coffee pot, and no it won't send your coffee maker to coffee heaven. It's a useful fix for brewing a large pot of herbal tea that you want to keep warm for hours, such as when you're caring for someone with a cold or the flu.

Keep Your Kitchen Sponges Dry and Grime-Free with Binder Clips
If you leave your kitchen sponges flat on the counter, you may notice they can get pretty gross—mostly because they won't dry as quickly. The solution? Stand it up on a binder clip. It'll air dry much quicker and your sponge will last longer. Just one more reason to have a big bag of these things lying around.

The Protein Question

2011-10-29T06:47:00.002-04:00

mattmetzgar.com

I saw yet another study the other day showing how a high protein intake can help with short-term weight loss. This has been shown probably dozens of times, where if someone is on a reduced calorie diet, higher protein helps through reduced hunger and better retention of lean mass.

What these studies are not addressing is how high protein intakes may affect long-term weight regulation. For example, this new study shows that higher protein intake in adults is correlated with higher body fat. People can pick apart this particular study if they like, but if you look at different studies, you tend to see higher protein intake correlated with higher BMI/body fat.

I think someone else (maybe Perfect Health Diet?) was brave enough to write about this before. Is a high protein intake really that beneficial in the long run?

Here's another way to think of it: if protein is the key to weight regulation, then how can there be cultures that eat moderate or even low-protein and yet still maintain normal weights. This would suggest that either protein is not the key to weight regulation that people believe it is, or there are multiple macronutrient paths to a stable body weight.

Either way, I think it's a lot more complex than just, "eat more protein and lose weight". I remember another study (don't have time to dig it up now), where subjects started on a high-protein intake but then after a year or so ended up back to consuming moderate levels of protein. You could interpret this as either subjects going back to their old habits, or perhaps they grew weary of consuming high protein.

Stress fractures: is it weak bones or muscles?

2011-10-28T07:26:00.001-04:00

sweatscience.com

A new study from researchers at the University of Calgary, published in the November issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, looks at bone quality and leg muscle strength in a group of 19 women who have suffered stress fractures in their legs, and compares them to a group of matched controls. The basic results:

the women who got stress fractures had thinner bones;
at certain key locations, the quality of the bone was lower in the stress fracture group;
the stress fracture group also had weaker leg muscles, particularly for knee extension (lower by 18.3%, statistically significant) and plantarflexion (lower by 17.3%, though not statistically significant).

Now, this sounds very similar to the results of a University of Minnesota study published a couple of years ago. Here‘s how I summed up the conclusions reached by those researchers:

What’s interesting, though, it that the bone differences were exactly in proportion to the size of the muscles in the same area, and there was no difference in bone mineral density. What this suggests is that the best way to avoid stress fractures is to make sure you have enough muscle on your legs — presumably by doing weights and (it goes without saying) eating enough.

What I don’t understand is that, in the new Calgary study, even though they mention the Minnesota study repeatedly in their discussion, they don’t discuss at all this idea that it’s the lower muscle strength that dictates the reduced bone size and thus the stress fracture risk — even though that was the primary conclusion of the Minnesota study. Instead, they say “the role of muscle weakness in [stress fractures] is unclear from previous studies,” and suggest that weaker knee extension might change running form to produce a “stiffer” running stride or somehow alter the direction of forces on the bone during running — both of which seem like unnecessarily complex and speculative ideas compared to the straightforward link between muscle strength and bone strength.

It’s entirely possible that I’m missing something here, because the paper is quite complex. But what I take away from it is, once again, that strengthening your legs is likely (though not yet proven in a prospective trial) to reduce your stress fracture risk.

Eat Your Beets!

2011-10-27T06:09:00.000-04:00

from stephenson.typepad.com

One of my most regular blog readers, who happens to be a psychologist working with elite British athletes (so he knows a thing or two!) has long been touting the benefits of eating beets (or as my husband, being a fellow Brit calls this plant, beetroot).

Not only is this plant indicated for EVERYONE, athlete or not, as it's been shown to promote brain health and lower blood pressure.

For those of us who ARE endurance athletes, eating beetroot in advance of a workout is being shown to help improve said endurance.

Since it's off season for me from Ironman, and I spent the last two weeks in a semi-recovery phase while I get ready for the NYC Marathon, I've been doing a bit of experimenting and have completed several key workouts fueled by beets...and soft boiled eggs and coconut, of course...

The Shocking True Story of How Pringles are Made

2011-10-26T06:11:00.000-04:00

Posted By Dr. Mercola

To understand the nature of Pringles and other stackable chips, forget the notion that they come from actual potatoes in any recognizable way. The Pringles company, in an effort to avoid taxes, once even argued that the potato content of their chips was so low that they are technically not even potato chips.

The process begins with with a slurry of rice, wheat, corn, and potato flakes that are pressed into shape. This dough-like substance is then rolled out into an ultra-thin sheet cut into chip-cookies by a machine.

According to io9:

“The chips move forward on a conveyor belt until they're pressed onto molds, which give them the curve that makes them fit into one another. Those molds move through boiling oil ... Then they're blown dry, sprayed with powdered flavors, and at last, flipped onto a slower-moving conveyor belt in a way that allows them to stack. From then on, it's into the ... and off towards the innocent mouths of the consumers.

Should You Train Like Pro Athletes?

2011-10-25T06:04:00.000-04:00

BY DR. PHIL WAGNER, M.D.

The answer is not simple, but certainly the response is no. These athletes’ success is largely due to 2 major factors, DNA and the perfection of the sport skill such as pitching and hitting. The third and last vital piece of this puzzle is their physical preparation, and unfortunately worthless without great parents and knowledgeable sport coaches. And when it comes to physical preparation, the best advice is to follow what we know, science. We are just unaware of professional athletes’ genetic contribution, as well as their relative acuity at sport specific skills.

So let’s review a few crucial training components

1. Programming

Everything should be geared towards increasing and balancing GRF (see Sparta Point 12/8/10). The bodybuilding exercises mentioned above are not as efficient as squats or other total body movements in improving your force production into the ground, which results in more speed in any direction as well as reduced injury risk from balanced energy absorption (see Sparta Point 3/8/11). In fact, exercises like biceps curls can even inhibit your range of motion which will result in less power (see Sparta Point 11/17/10).

2. Environment

Key aspects of your environment are your peers, coaches and fellow athletes that keep your workouts accountable and grueling, yet fun. Another important environmental aspect is the time, specifically circadian rhythms, as you need to train at similar times each day, like going to bed and waking at the same time. Such patterns will allow your body’s hormones to be released optimally and provide the best ergogenic effects (see Sparta Point 11/2/09).

3. Consistency

Sprinting, jumping, and weightlifting are all simple skill or strength movements, and their execution improves with repetition, allowing more speed and heavier weight over time. With this greater intensity during training, a larger stimulus is provided, which is crucial in more trained athletes with higher thresholds for improvements (see Sparta Point 2/24/10). Therefore changing exercises every week, or each offseason, will impede this linear, or perhaps greater, curve of improvement.

Another baseball example, flush runs, started after Roger Clemens was famed for performing these longer jogs after his baseball starts (see Sparta Point 12/31/08). However, would this logic encourage us to drink more alcohol like Mickey Mantle or others who have succeeded despite off-field problems?

Rather than asking what professional athletes do to train, follow their skills, and perhaps family tree, but let the science guide your physical preparation.

Is the Cafeteria Diet Responsible for the Obesity Epidemic?

2011-10-24T06:12:00.001-04:00

Dr Mercola

In the 1970s, investigators were searching for new models of diet-induced obesity. Anthony Sclafani looked at something new, and disarmingly simple -- what came to be known as the "cafeteria diet". He gave rats access to a variety of both palatable human foods and standard rat food. They ignored the rat food and rapidly became obese. The cafeteria diet remains the quickest and most effective way of producing dietary obesity and metabolic syndrome in rodents using solid food.

A number of studies have found similar effects in humans, sometimes when the studies weren’t even looking for it. One such study began simply as an attempt to design a novel way of accurately measuring food intake. Investigators created an "automated food-selection system" consisting of two large vending machines filled with a variety of prepared foods. The study subjects immediately began consuming excessive calories. Over the course of just seven days, the volunteers gained an average of 5.1 pounds.

According o Whole Health Source:

“Just as in rats, exposing humans to a variety of readily accessible, energy dense, palatable foods causes excessive food intake and rapid weight gain. The degree of overeating varies by individual, but nearly everyone overeats to some degree. Whatever the mechanism(s) underlying this may be, the phenomenon has important implications for the commercialization of food and the associated obesity epidemic in affluent nations.”

The 10 golden acupressure points

2011-10-23T06:57:00.000-04:00

(NaturalNews) The 10 golden acupressure points are:
1.Stomach 36 (ST 36): This is the 36th point on the stomach meridian. It balances the digestion power of the body. According to TCM, diabetes begins with increase of stomach fire. So this point can prevent diabetes. It can also prevent aging and weakness for which it is commonly used in China. Locally good for arthritis.

2. Large intestine 11 (LI 11): 11th point on the LI meridian which is one of the best for improving immunity and persistent infections. Also used for elbow stiffness.

3.Large intestine 4 (LI 4): This is one of the best analgesic points for any type of pain, for e.g. headache, body ache etc. It is very helpful to clear excess heat in the body which causes nose bleeds, fevers etc.

4. Urinary Bladder 40 (BL 40): This point is very useful in back pain, lumbago and knee stiffness in arthritis. Lower back pain is a common problem for which this is a panacea.

5.Liver 3 (LIV 3): This is the best point for hypertension, insomnia, diabetes and painful breasts. By regularly pressing this point one can get rid of hypertension for good.

6.Gallbladder 34 (GB 34): This point controls the wind rising up to the head that causes insomnia, migraine and anxiety. Also prevents gallstones and is used for swollen knees due to arthritis etc.

7.Lung 7 (LU 7): This is a very good point for relief in asthma, breathlessness and migraine.

8.Heart 7 (HE 7): This point balances all the emotional issues in the heart and harmonizes its function.

9.Spleen 6 (SP 6): Massaging this point improves digestion and relieves feeling of distention after having food which many people experience. It nourishes the spleen and increases blood production. It relieves feeling of heaviness and tiredness.

10.Kidney 1 (KID 1): This point is very important for the elderly. As we age the kidney grows weaker according to TCM and its fire dwindles. Along with acupressure, warm this point with any kind of heat or immerse feet in warm water for 15 minutes daily.