Exercise Improves Your Immune System.

Have you ever noticed when your exercising consistently you feel so much better and you seem to get sick less often?  It's trying to find the right ratio of exercise and recovery each week while utilizing the right intensity during that exercise that seems to be paramount in terms of keeping sickness at bay.  I have been following a great blog by physiologist Greg Wells, Ph.D, about the effects of extreme exercise on the human body and ultimately the immune system.

"A fascinating paradox in human physiology is the concept of a J-shaped relationship between exercise training and health. The “J-shaped hypothesis” suggests that, in general, people who exercise regularly experience fewer illnesses and infections than those who do not. The relationship is based on research that measured the number of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), such as the common cold, that people experience every year."


"So, in general, regular physical activity helps to strengthen the immune system and results in fewer infections than would be expected if a person did not exercise. But extreme exercise can cause the immune system to be compromised for a short period of time. For all the people who are participating in the physical activity challenge - not only will you have a higher level of fitness, but your immune system will be stronger. Keep it up!" (Greg Wells, Ph.D)


While on the topic of immune system, I had read a great book on the topic years ago that you may want to check out by Elinor Levy Ph.D, called The 10 Best Tools to Boost Your Immune System (Houghton Mifflin, 1997). The top ten list includes getting more of the following: Antioxidants, Minerals, Following a Low Fat Diet, Adding Herbs/Spices, Exercise, Reduce Stress, Strong Belief System, Strong Relationships, Stay out of Harm's Way, and Create Balance in Your Life.

Bring Out the Olympian in All of Us

This is a great talk by Dr. Greg Wells that I came across - it can be used by EVERYONE not just Olympic athletes. Please watch the entire 15 minute video (especially the last 1:00 - my lovely JW).

The Toxic Truth About Sugar

I have blogged about Robert Lustig, MD and his research in the past and here is a new article published in the February issue of Nature about the "Toxic Truth of Sugar" and Time Magazine arguing that it could be as disruptive over time as alcohol consumption.

"As long as the public thinks that sugar is just ‘empty calories,’ we have no chance in solving this,”

“There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and bad fats, good amino acids and bad amino acids, good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates,” Lustig said. “But sugar is toxic beyond its calories.”  Robert Lustig, MD

Try This Power Breakfast

If you're looking for a quick, nutritious breakfast that will keep you energized throughout the early part of your day then try a bowl of oatmeal. The beauty of this quick breakfast is the variety - in terms of toppings - that you can add on any given day. This morning (see photo) I added a bit of skim milk, chia seeds, walnuts, sprinkled on some wheat germ and topped with blueberries. Other mornings I have added sliced apple, or strawberries, sunflower seeds etc. See benefits of chia seeds here. One cup of oatmeal offers about 4 grams of fiber and is packed with vitamins and minerals - see here for more detail. Give it a try you just may be surprised at how much you like it.

Serving Information (1/2 cup dry) Oatmeal

Total Calories - 150
Carbohydrate - 27 grams
Fiber - 4 grams
Protein - 5 grams

Keep in mind this is for just 1/2 cup - I measured what I ate and it equaled 1 cup so I have to double all the numbers above to get an accurate number in terms of caloric intake. I also need to be aware of the extra calories added for the milk that I added and all the toppings as well. What I also like about this is the ratio of carbs to protein that I'm getting - a 5:1 ratio - which also makes it great for a post workout recovery fuel.

"Big Game" Calorie Costs ­in Terms of Exercise

Big Game Activities to Burn off Foods You Just Ate

The Annual 2012 DietDetective.com "Big Game" Eating Extravaganza with Exercise Equivalents 

(Charles Platkin, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor at CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College)

I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the big game on Sunday with our Pats up against the Giants. There is no research out there but I bet Super Bowl Sunday is the equivalent of Thanksgiving Day when it comes to calories consumed for that day. If your wondering the Thanksgiving average day calorie intake is around 4500 calories per person!

The "Super Bowl" has become much more than a football game: It’s the second biggest day for food consumption in the United States after Thanksgiving according to Charles Platkin, PhD, MPH, assistant professor at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City. Dr. Platkin is the founder of DietDetective he likes to demonstrate how much exercise you would need to do to burn off typical “Big Game” snacks.  For instance, you would have to run 49 football fields to burn off just two handfuls of potato chips or do "the wave" 6389 times to burn off 6 loaded potato skins. WOW!


THREE FRIED MAC AND CHEESE BALLS = RUNNING 249 FOOTBALL FIELDS
At more than 500 calories per ball, made with peanut oil, egg, cheese, butter, flour, macaroni, milk and more, what do you expect?

Fit Tip: Try baking, adding veggies and using whole-wheat pasta and low-fat cheese.

THREE PIGS IN BLANKETS = PLAYING CATCH WITH A FOOTBALL FOR 68 MINUTES (NONSTOP)
Hot dogs wrapped in a crescent or biscuit dough adds up: Each one you pop in your mouth is 66 calories.

Fit Tip: Low calorie franks (fat free), with low-fat crescent dough.

THREE SLICES OF PIZZA HUT MEAT LOVER'S PIZZA = 1,229 MINUTES OF TEBOWING
That's more than 20 hours of continuous praying to burn off those calories. Each slice is loaded with high-calorie meats, including pepperoni, ham, beef, bacon and sausage.

Fit Tip: Try cheeseless pizza with plenty of veggies -- broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms or even artichoke hearts -- on top. Also, avoid personal pan and stuffed-crust pizzas: The thick, oily crust equals added fat and calories.

SIX BOTTLES OF BEER = DOING "THE WAVE" 4,280 TIMES
Beer and football just go together, but keep in mind, each beer is 145 calories.

Fit Tip: Planning on having a few bottles? Try Beck's Premier Light at only 64 calories per 12-ounce bottle, or MGD Light, 64 calories, Michelob Ultra or Natural Light at 95, or you can go very low with Budweiser Select for 55. Best bet is to sample a few light beers before the game to see which ones you prefer.

How Fat Works

Author Philip A. Wood, Ph.D (not related) has written a great book, How Fat Works (Harvard University Press, 2006). This is a a fantastic book written by a Professor at the Burnham Medical Research Institute on the workings of fat. Wood has written a great section (chapter 14) titled Exercise to Burn Fat. He explains both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism with great clarification as well as various aspects of metabolism in general. This book is well worth the read, no matter if you're just a fitness enthusiast or a professional in the industry. See review here. Dr. Wood is holding a model of fat if you're wondering.

Science Based Interval Training that can Benefit You

There has been an abundance of research over the past few decades that has demonstrated the benefits of interval-based training. Interval training (aka HIT or HIIT) involves bouts of work followed by brief recovery periods and repeated for a desired amount of time. Most of the research has focused on the effects of workloads using ratios of 1:1 or 2:1 or greater. The interval durations have ranged from 15 seconds of work to 2.5 minutes and the intensity (workload) used has been in most cases extremely high (upwards of 170% of VO2 Max). When I read a recent study (published in the J. of Strength and Conditioning Research 25(4)1104-1112, 2011) it caught my eye because the workload was more doable for the average person (80% of VO2 Max). This particular protocol involved college aged men using a cycle that included six 90-second bouts of work followed by 180-second recovery periods. The protocol was performed 3x/week (M-W-F) for a total of 27 minutes of actual work using 80% of subjects VO2.

How can this benefit you?

A similar program can be transferred by you to the cardio equipment that you are currently using in the gym or at home. What is stopping you from trying a similar program on a treadmill, elliptical, bike or even if you were a swimmer.

Following a good 5-8 minute warm-up try power walking, running, pedaling on a bike or "pulling" on an ergometer for 90 seconds at about 80% of your max heart rate and then recover for 180 seconds going at a slower pace (a 1:3 work/rest ratio). Repeat this sequence 6 times for a total of 9 minutes and then cool down for the same amount of time that you warmed-up. Try this 1-3 times a week on the same piece of equipment or mix it up using, for example, a treadmill on Mon., an elliptical machine on Wed. and and erg (rowing machine) on Fri. Add this type of training int your current program once every 2-4 weeks.

You could also use a Polar heart rate device to monitor your heart rate and look at the delta between peak HR and recovery.

If you were wondering how well the test subjects did in this study over the course of 6 weeks with just 27 minutes a week of exercise...it was very good! VO2 Max increased by 11% and work output increased by 4.3%.

Annual U.S. Consumption of Food per Person

I saw this list in Wired Magazine (Feb 2012) and thought it was pretty interesting - nice to see both fruits and vegetables coming in as high as they did. The numbers are pounds for each food over the course of a year eaten in the United States only.  Now I need to figure out what 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables/day comes out to in pounds for a year...anyone?  How much higher do you think it would be above what is mentioned here? Take notice of the 50.1 pounds/yr. of corn syrup!!! Do you think the 194.5 pounds/yr. of Flour and cereal products or the 574.3 pounds/yr of Diary is adding to the obesity epidemic in our baby boomer age-group?

9 - Corn
15.8 - Fish/Shellfish
18.3 - Coffee/Nuts/Cocoa
32.8 - Cheese
37.1 - Eggs
46.6 - Pork
50.1 - Corn Syrup
56 - Chicken
58.1 - Beef
78.6 - Fats/Oils
194.5 - Flour/Cereal Products
257 - Fruits
390.9 - Vegetables
574.3 - Dairy (non cheese)

Man Runs Mt. Kilimanjaro in 7 hrs 14 min

I was on the Science of Sport website and saw this video of an ultra-endurance runner attempting to break the world record ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro (which he did in a little more than 5 hours). The total time it took him to get up and down this amazing mountain - all 19,340' - was 7 hours and 14 minutes. You can't imagine how difficult that is. It took the group that I went with (Feb. 2008) about 10 days - the shortest route via a travel group is 6 days - you need time to acclimate to the altitude. I have heard of people climbing it in three days but to run it in less time than you spend in the office is simply amazing - great job Kilian and good luck to Ross Tucker, PhD from the Science of Sport who is attempting to run Kilimanjaro barefoot.

New Book: The Smarter Science of Slim

I received a copy of Jonathan Bailor's new book, The Smarter Science of Slim (Aavia, 2012) yesterday and quite honestly can't put it down. Jonathan is a health and fitness researcher who has spent the last decade reviewing all the scientific literature on weight loss and exercise. His book has been endorsed by some of the biggest names in the medical and research worlds. The book is HEAVILY referenced and includes 36 chapters and more than 350 pages and follows a similar path as with what we have developed at Koko FitClub and our Science of Smartraining philosophy. I look forward to finishing the book and telling you more about his findings that come from scouring more than 10,000 pages of academic research relating to diet, exercise and weight loss. You can follow Jonathan on Twitter.

Expert Author/Doctor’s 5 Tips on How to Slim Down for the New Year

The New Year is here and one of the most common resolutions is slimming down! Everyone wants to look their best before the spring but not everyone knows how. Expert Dr. Lisa Davis came up with 5 tips to people slim down after indulging during the holidays.  

Top 5 Tips to Help You Slim Down for the New Year

1.      Begin the day with a high protein breakfast. Protein-rich shakes, bars, and eggs make excellent choices that fill you up and stave off hunger for hours.

2.      Tuck away portion-controlled snacks in your purse and make sure to eat one every 2 to 3 hours. Your blood sugar levels will stay steady and so will your mood.

3.      Keep plenty of low-calorie fruits and vegetables handy to snack on – they offer an antioxidant punch to help reduce the stress of planning a wedding, and give your skin a healthy glow.

4.      Get plenty of sleep, 7-8 hours per night. Studies show it can help you attain that figure that you're looking for.

5.      Hydration, Hydration, Hydration! Drink water as opposed to calorie laden beverages.

Lisa M. Davis, Ph.D., PA-C, C.N.S., L.D.N. is Vice President of Scientific and Clinical Affairs for Medifast. She holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University with a focus in Obesity Research and is the co-author of the book, “Anti-Inflammatory Foods for Health.”

Fitness for the Realistic: 10 Tips for a Healthy 2012

“This year, I’m going to exercise seven days a week.” “I’m going to shed all my holiday weight.” “I vow to give up all carbs.”

If you’ve ever uttered one of these phrases as a New Year’s resolution, you’re not alone. But let’s be honest – these extreme ambitions tend to fizzle way before the next calendar year. From watching what you eat to how you eat it, we’ve compiled ten tips that will give you a realistic nudge in a healthier direction for 2012.


10. Start small and slow: Avoid jumping straight to counting calories and hitting the gym seven days a week. Instead, take small steps to a healthier life.

9. Rally the troops: There is strength in numbers. Gather co-workers, friends or family to join you for a workouts – it will give you the added incentive to hit the weights without sacrificing your social life. For an added bonus for your waist (and wallet), look out for group gym membership rates or discounts.

8. Smaller plates, smaller portions: You’ve heard the trick to shedding those lbs. is smaller portions. To give you a little push in the right direction, stock your cabinets with this small plate set. You’ll be less inclined to pile on food (and pounds).

7. Drink up: Substitute your morning cup of Joe with a tall glass of H2O or decaf tea. Hydrating throughout the day will give you energy, kick up your metabolism and help you lose weight. Still need more motivation? Water will prevent your mid-afternoon work headaches and leave you with replenished, dewy skin.

6. Say buh-bye to booze: While most people watch what they eat in an effort to keep healthy, many overlook their liquid intake. You’ve heard that sugary sodas are diet don’ts, but the biggest culprit is alcohol. Limit yourself to one glass of wine during dinner, and a beer or two one night a weekend.

5. Be a cheater: You might call us crazy for this one, but trust us—a preplanned cheat meal will help you keep your eye on the prize.  We’re not suggesting you go crazy and gobble down 12 chocolate bars, but one treat a week will keep you from going sweet stir-crazy.

4. Work for it: Small changes during the workday can have a huge impact on your health over time. Save calories and money by packing a lunch with you during the week. If you don’t have the time or kitchen skills, find a spot away from the office and take a brisk walk to pick up lunch.

3. Eliminate temptation: Sometimes, willpower is just not enough. Bottom line: don’t bring foods into the house that will make you forget all of your hard work!

2. Shake things up: Part of the reason we dread the gym is the same, boring fitness routines. Inject a new workout into your weekly routine – try a yoga session (don’t forget your yoga mat), bust a move at a salsa lesson or enjoy a bike ride al fresco.

1. You are how you eat: Healthy eating doesn’t just call for what you eat; it’s also about how you eat. Studies show people tend to eat more when they’re in front of screens – from phones and iPads to the TV and the big screen. Keep this in mind before you bring a bag of chips or large popcorn to your next screen session. Take the time to enjoy your food, be mindful of what you’re eating, chew slowly and listen to your body.

About
This article has been printed by permission from A Bulls Eye View website.  A Bullseye View is an online magazine, updated regularly to bring Target to life. It is a behind-the-scenes look at Target’s most exciting partnerships, initiatives, events and innovations. Visit them on Twitter @abullseyeview

If not BMI then What Measurement Should You Use?

Many of us have heard about body mass index (BMI) and know that it uses height and weight in a formula (that was developed more than 150 years ago) and gives you an idea of where you are regarding your present body weight (i.e. ideal, overweight, obese etc.). BMI is a calculation that takes into account your height and weight but does not factor in body fat or more importantly lean tissue (muscle). This is why great athletes like Michael Jordan and many football players are considered overweight or even obese when their stats are entered into the following BMI calculation:

BMI = Body weight (lbs.) / Height(2) (inches) x 703


According to many government agencies like the CDC a healthy weight for someone in terms of BMI is about 18.5 to 24.9 - this means if you're over 25 your over weight. If your BMI is >30 your considered obese etc.

If lean mass and body fat are not calculated into the health equation then there is NO WAY it can be accurate, especially for individuals who carry more muscle. There is an abundance of research that shows someone with a BMI >25 is not necessarily less healthy than someone with a BMI between the 18.5 - 24.9 range.

How do you determine then if the weight that you currently see when you step on your bathroom scale is accurate? You don't - you don't make your bathroom scale the be all end all number, especially since it can't differentiate between the ratio of muscle and fat. Maybe you start to use it as part of your personal health index and add a waist-to-hip ratio (a waist/hip measurement) and a %body fat score into the mix.  Start paying more attention to ratio of muscle to fat that your carrying on that body of yours. There are many ways to determine %body fat (Skinfolds, BIA, TOBEC, DEXA, Hydrostatic weighing, etc.) but the least expensive method is skinfold calipers.  If you're unable to use any of those methods then take a simple measurement around your waist. This does not determine body fat but it can tell you a great deal.  Men should not exceed 40 inches and women 35 inches in regard to a waist measurement.  Are you starting to get the picture?

Bottom line - it's not about a number - one number like BMI alone or what your bathroom scale tells you should not define who you are. Start paying more attention to the amount of muscle tissue your body has...you'll be much better of as you age!

Here is a good book to read if your looking to see from a research standpoint why BMI is not as accurate  as many believe - The Obesity Myth by Paul Campos.

Why You Should Be Doing Strength Training and Cardio

As 2011 comes to a close I have been looking back on some of my strength training sessions as well as the interval training I have been doing on the cardio side. We have a tendency to judge if exercise is working by what the bathroom scale is reading. But that should not be the case. With each bout of exercise, we are improving many aspects of our physiology that will not be visible to the naked eye. For example:

Strength Training:

• Building muscle mass can increase metabolism by 15% - so if your looking to rev up that slow metabolism and become or stay functional as you age - you need to be strength training at least a few times each week.
• Prevents Sarcopenia - which is the loss of muscle mass as you age - you can lose up to 10% or more of your muscle per decade after age 50.
• Plays a role in disease prevention - like type 2 dabetes for example.
• Improves the way your body moves resulting in better balance and less falls as you age (you can reduce your risk for falling by 40%).
• Spares the loss of muscle during weight loss (Donnelly et al., 2003)
• Will offset bone loss as you age - women can expect to lose 1% of their bone mass after age 35 (and this increases following menopause) - see Stong Women, Stong Bones

Cardiovascular Exercise:

• Aerobic exercise will improve your mood by decreasing stress and anxiety levels - read Exercise for Mood and Anxiety by Michael Otto, Phd and Jasper Smits, PhD
• Cardio exercise like jogging, hiking, jump roping etc will "load" your bones in your lower extremity and make them stronger.
• Makes your heart stronger, lowers your resting heart rate and enables your body to deliver oxygen more efficiently to your working muscles.
• The American College of Sports Medicine states that higher levels of cardiovascular fitness are associated with approximately a 50% reduction in disease risk.

Reference:

Donnelly, J.E., Jakicic, J.M., Pronk, N., Smith, B.K., Kirk, E.P., Jacobsen, D.J., Washburn, R. “Is Resistance Training Effective for Weight Management?” Evidence-Based Preventive Medicine. 2003; 1(1): 21-29.