People ask me all the time how I avoid getting sick with all the exposure to sweaty people breathing in my face every day. I will attempt to answer those questions here, not because I’m any kind of a doctor, but because getting sick seriously derails fitness programs and can be quite frustrating when on a quest to get in top condition.

The following are the seven most effective ways I have found to stay healthy. I’m not saying these are the best ways for you, but it certainly has worked for me.

1. I wash my hands often. I am somewhat of a microphobe anyways, but shaking hands with someone who is sick or someone who is coming down with an illness and doesn’t know it yet are great ways to acquire their virus or bacteria. It’s not just about having the virus or bacteria on your hand of course. Unless you have a scrape or cut, the presence of the virus or bacteria on your hand won’t make you sick. It’s when you take that hand and wipe your face that allows it to get into your body through your nose, mouth or eyes.

2. I get between seven and eight hours of sleep per night no matter what. I’m a workaholic, so it’s hard for me to put work down and go to bed, but I force myself because if I get less than seven hours of sleep I have found that I am much more likely to catch a bug.

3. I drink 3 to 6 quarts of filtered water per day. Viruses and bacteria thrive in dehydrated tissues. I drown them out by drinking lots of water every day. Drinking lots of water also creates a cleansing effect, so I get rid of bugs that way too.

4. I eat lots of organic green vegetables. I get most of my nutrients through large amounts of green vegetables and these nutrients strengthen my immune system and help me fight off bugs. Another reason green vegetables are so important is it keeps my digestive system healthy and moving along. 80% of the immune system is found in the digestive tract, so optimal digestive health is vital. Junk food, starches and especially sugars are the preferred fuel for viruses and bacteria.

5. I take lots of vitamin D3 and K2. Vitamin D3 is a powerful immune booster and vitamin K2 encourages absorption of vitamin D3. I normally take 15,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day and 50 mcg of vitamin K2. If I feel a bug coming on, I bump up my vitamin D3 to 50,000 IU and K2 to 200 mcg. I rarely feel bugs coming on and sometimes that’s probably not even what’s happening, but taking this precaution is a great choice because there really is no downside. Another thing I do if I sense a bug might be trying to get a hold of me is take zinc every night.

6. I take 1 gram of liposomal vitamin C (from Mercola.com) every morning and every evening. Liposomal vitamin C is specially encapsulated so it gets through the hostile acidic digestive system and into the cells that need it.

7. My attitude is as important as any other aspect. Visualizing health and wellness with a positive attitude is a powerful defense. Using positive phrasing is also very important. What I mean by that is, if you tell yourself, “I don’t want to get sick,” then you are actually more likely to make that happen. The reason is that your subconscious only understands images and emotions, so when you say, “I don’t want to get sick,” the pictures and images that come to mind and that you are consequently sending to your subconscious are of yourself being sick and other people being sick and that of course creates an accompanying emotion that drives those images right into your subconscious.

Remember that your subconscious is the boss of you and it will act on whatever images and emotions you feed it. It might sound crazy, but thinking of what you don’t want actually makes that more likely to happen, whether it be bad things like sickness, illness, or good things like success and happiness. We truly become what we think about, so thinking of what you DO want instead of what you DON’T want will help you get what you do want. You can probably tell that this philosophy spills over into many other areas of life, but that topic is for another post – or heck – a whole book…

(well, at least the first 5 truths are by John. The last 2 are by me). 

In life we take many things for granted. People are told to go on a low fat diet and do some aerobic training, and yet they still gain body fat. Your blood work shows slightly altered cholesterol and thyroid levels and right away you’re told to go on medication. The trainer at your local gym rips out a copy of Everyday Stretches (reproduced from a 1987 poster) and says: “Do this before your next workout” but you feel weaker when you do…

These examples and more below explore some of the traditional advice we are given and how some of even the most key advice is downright backwards.

It’s time to question authority and challenge the establishment!

Seven Fitness Truths Your Momma Never Told You

OK, your momma might not have been qualified to tell you fitness truths, but these make so much common sense, they sound like something your momma would have told you.

1. A high fat intake can actually lower body fat!Two reasons: a) If low fat is consumed, your body retains body fat as a protective/survival mechanism, and b) a high fat intake upregulates key (lipase) enzymes, which not only break down dietary fat but also body fat.Of course, a high fat and high carb diet will result in body fat accumulation so this only applies to a low carbohydrate intake.
   

   “The lipase enzyme is a naturally occurring enzyme found in the stomach and pancreatic juice, which is also found within fats in the foods you eat.

   Lipase enzyme digests fats and lipids, helping to maintain correct gall bladder function. As such, these constitute any of the fat-splitting or lipolytic enzymes, all of which cleave a fatty acid residue from the glycerol residue in a neutral fat or a phospholipid. The lipase enzyme controls the amount of fat being synthesized and that which is burned in the body, reducing adipose tissue (fat stores).

   The lipase enzyme belongs to the esterases family of proteins. The lipase enzyme is found widely distributed in the plant world (beans and legumes), as well as in molds, bacteria, milk and milk products, and in animal tissues, especially in the pancreas.

   In sufficient quantities of lipase enzyme production, lipase can help use fat-stores to be burned as fuel. Indeed, lipase is a rate-determining enzyme, which not only activates the burning of stored body fats but also effectively inhibits fatty acid synthesis, or fat storage!

   Hormone-Sensitive Triacyclglycerol Lipase, as it is also known, actually stimulates lipolysis in fat tissues, safely raising blood fatty acid levels, which ultimately activates the beta-oxidation pathway in other tissues, such as liver and muscle. In the liver, lipolysis leads to the production of ketone bodies that are secreted into the bloodstream for use as an alternative fuel to glucose by peripheral tissues.”

   Source

2. Reduced thyroid levels (i.e. TSH levels above 5) for a lean individual following a low-carb diet may be normal and healthy!Now before you throw your chair at the computer, hear me out. As Dr. Ron Rosedale notes in the excerpt below, reduced thyroid levels are not necessarily synonymous with hypothyroidism. Your body chooses to lower thyroid hormones due to an increased efficiency of energy use and hormonal signaling. It is yet another example of how your body adapts and should not be viewed as abnormal.The knee-jerk reaction in many cases would be thyroid medication, which could potentially decrease your lifespan.
   

   “Metabolic rate and temperature has long been connected with longevity. Almost all mechanisms that extend lifespan in many different organisms result in lower temperature. Flowers are refrigerated at the florist to extend their lifespan. Restricting calories in animals also results in lower temperature, reduced thyroid levels, and longer life.

   It should be noted that reduced thyroid levels in this case are not synonymous with hypothyroidism. Here, the body is choosing to lower thyroid hormones because the increased efficiency of energy use and hormonal signaling (including perhaps thyroid) is allowing this to happen.

   Anything will dissolve faster in hot water than cold water. Extra heat will dissolve, disrupt and disorganize. This is not what I try to do to make someone healthy. It is commonly advised to increase metabolism and increase thermogenesis for health and weight loss.

   Yet how many of you would put a brand of gasoline in your car that advertised that it would make your engine run hotter? What would that do to the life of your car? It is not an increase in metabolism that I am after; it is improved metabolic quality.”

   Source

3. Low cholesterol levels will promote aging.Cholesterol is the raw material for many hormones. If you lower your cholesterol you will also lower your hormone production … and if you lower hormone production, you increase aging! To make matters worse, low cholesterol has been associated with a broad complex of emotional, cognitive and behavioral symptoms including aggressiveness, hostility, irritability, paranoia, and severe depression.There is also an increase in deaths from trauma, cancer, stroke, and respiratory and infectious diseases among those with low cholesterol levels.Furthermore, a study in the British medical journal, Lancet, indicates that elderly men die earlier with low blood cholesterol levels.
   

   “The human organism is in a state of dynamic equilibrium, know as homeostasis. One of the main roles in normal homeostasis belongs to multiple feedback loop mechanisms.

   Cholesterol is the precursor or the building block for the basic hormones: pregnenolone, DHEA, progesterone, estrogen, testosterone.

   Deterioration of the reproductive function, one of the most striking endocrine alterations occurring in aging, is related to a complex interplay of factors. Target organs may become less sensitive to their controlling hormone or may break them down at a slower rate. Hormone levels may change; some increasing, some decreasing and some remaining unchanged.

   Many of the diseases that middle-aged persons begin experiencing including depression, abdominal weight gain, prostate, breast and heart disease, are directly related to hormone imbalances.

   Conventional doctors are prescribing drugs to treat depression, elevated cholesterol, angina and other diseases that may be caused by hormone imbalance.

   A few years ago we found out that some patients who had high cholesterol levels before hormonorestorative therapy (HT) were free of cholesterol problems during therapy. We started pondering as to why this had happened?

   In our opinion, when the production of hormones starts to decline our body tries to correct this problem by increasing the production of cholesterol. A similar situation happens to women during pregnancy. When a female’s body needs more hormones for herself and her baby, cholesterol levels are elevated significantly. If a woman’s body is unable to increase the production of cholesterol the risk of an abortion and miscarriages is increased.

   Another situation is a low level of cholesterol. If your total cholesterol is less than 160, you have nothing to worry about. Wrong opinion!

   A low level of cholesterol means a low production of basic hormones (because of a limited amount of building blocks). Patients with a low level of hormones have life problems that include suicides, criminal behavior, depression, attention deficit disorder, cancer at young age, etc. Low cholesterol is a marker for poor underlying health.

   When patients take cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLD) we can surmise that hormonal production will decrease. That’s why many patients on CLD have severe fatigue, fibromyalgia-like pain, depression, high risk of cancer, suicides, weight gain and impotency.

   Normally our body tries to keep a normal ratio between different hormones: DHEA/cortisol, estrogen/progesterone, female/male hormones. When we have a malfunction in a feedback loop mechanism we start to have the problems related to the imbalance of hormones (for example: male or female dominance, estrogen dominance, etc.).

   Once again, when the production of hormones starts to decline, our body tries to correct the deficiency of hormones by the extra production of cholesterol. It looks like the elevation of total cholesterol serves as a compensatory mechanism for hormonal deficiency.”

   Source

4. Aerobic training can increase body fat.Specifically, long distance, low intensity, rhythmic-type aerobics done for a long duration/distance on a frequent basis can signal your body to store fat.Your body prefers fat for fuel at lower intensities. It adapts to aerobic activity by storing fat (usually in the hips and thighs) to become more efficient for future use. The more fat you store, the more you can use.Furthermore, aerobics are associated with increased cortisol levels without a concomitant increase in testosterone (as occurs during strength training) disrupting an optimal testosterone:cortisol ratio. In fact, average testosterone levels are significantly lower in endurance athletes. This, of course, equates to a decrease in muscle and strength along with an increase in (android) body fat, i.e., midsection fat.
5. Static stretching will make you weak.This has been well documented in the literature, and yet a typical warm-up usually contains some form of (you guessed it) static stretching. The classic Bob Anderson style of stretching before exercise tends to sedate muscles, and research shows that it will decrease power and strength by as much as 30 percent for up to 90 minutes. By that time, your workout is over!

Sometimes you need to take a sledgehammer and crush what’s written in stone!

We’ve been told to reduce fat in our diets, lower our cholesterol levels, improve reduced thyroid production with medication, perform aerobic training almost daily, and definitely start each workout with some static stretching.

Dare I suggest otherwise?

You better believe it!

Is it a good idea to “starve” yourself just a little bit each day? The evidence suggests that yes, avoiding eating around the clock could have a very beneficial impact on your health and longevity.

What we’re talking about here is generally referred to as intermittent fasting, which involves timing your meals to allow for regular periods of fasting.

It takes about six to eight hours for your body to metabolize your glycogen stores and after that you start to shift to burning fat. However, if you are replenishing your glycogen by eating every eight hours (or sooner), you make it far more difficult for your body to use your fat stores as fuel.

It’s long been known that restricting calories in certain animals can increase their lifespan by as much as 50 percent, but more recent research suggests that sudden and intermittent calorie restriction appears to provide the same health benefits as constant calorie restriction, which may be helpful for those who cannot successfully reduce their everyday calorie intake (or aren’t willing to).

Unfortunately, hunger is a basic human drive that can’t be easily suppressed, so anyone attempting to implement serious calorie restriction is virtually guaranteed to fail. Fortunately you don’t have to deprive yourself as virtually all of the benefits from calorie restriction can be achieved through properly applied intermittent fasting.

Three Major Mechanisms by which Fasting Benefits Your Health

While fasting has long gotten a bum rap for being one of the more torturous ways to battle the bulge, it really doesn’t have to be an arduous affair. We’re NOT talking about starving yourself for days on end. Simply restricting your daily eating to a narrower window of time of say 6-8 hours, you can reap the benefits without the suffering. This equates to 16-18 hours worth of fasting each and every day — enough to get your body to shift into fat-burning mode.

Many studies have evaluated daily intermittent fasting, and the results are compellingly positive. Three major mechanisms by which fasting benefits your body, as it extends lifespan and protects against disease, include:

1. Increased insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial energy efficiency – Fasting increases insulin sensitivity along with mitochondrial energy efficiency, and thereby retards aging and disease, which are typically associated with loss of insulin sensitivity and declined mitochondrial energy.
2. Reduced oxidative stress – Fasting decreases the accumulation of oxidative radicals in the cell, and thereby prevents oxidative damage to cellular proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids associated with aging and disease.
3. Increased capacity to resist stress, disease and aging – Fasting induces a cellular stress response (similar to that induced by exercise) in which cells up-regulate the expression of genes that increase the capacity to cope with stress and resist disease and aging.

Is Daily Fasting the Key to Permanent Weight Loss?

As reported by George Dvorsky¹ in a recent article, one of the most important studies in support of daily intermittent fasting was published just last year by biologist Satchidananda Panda and colleagues at Salk’s Regulatory Biology Laboratory. They fed mice a high-fat, high-calorie diet but altered when they were able to eat.

One group had access to food both day and night, while the other group had access to food for only eight hours at night (the most active period for mice). In human terms, this would mean eating only for 8 hours during the day. Despite consuming the same amount of calories, mice that had access to food for only eight hours stayed lean and did not develop health problems like high blood sugar or chronic inflammation². They even had improved endurance motor coordination on the exercise wheel. The all-day access group, on the other hand, became obese and were plagued with health problems including:

• High cholesterol
• High blood sugar
• Fatty liver disease
• Metabolic problems

This suggests that your body may benefit from the break it receives while fasting, whereas constant eating may lead to metabolic exhaustion and health consequences like weight gain. Researchers said their latest work shows it’s possible to stave off metabolic disease by simply restricting when you eat with periodic fasting, or even by just keeping to regular meal schedules rather than “grazing” off and on all day. They concluded:

“[Time-restricted feeding] is a nonpharmacological strategy against obesity and associated diseases.”

What the Research Says about Intermittent Fasting

Dvorsky highlights other research into fasting that point to similar conclusions, such as:

• Research by Valter Longo³ at the University of Southern California’s Longevity Institute shows that intermittent fasting has a beneficial impact on IGF-1, an insulin-like growth factor that plays a role in aging. When you eat, this hormone drives your cells to reproduce, and while this is good for growth, it’s also a factor that drives the aging process. Intermittent fasting decreases the expression of IGF-1, and switches on other DNA repair genes. In this way, intermittent fasting switches your body from “growth mode” to “repair mode.”
• Krista Varady with the University of Illinois has been researching the impact of fasting on chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Her work also compares the effects of intermittent fasting with caloric restriction, which is known to benefit health and longevity. Animal studies using alternate-day fasting⁴ have shown it lowers the risk of diabetes, at rates comparable to caloric restriction. Alternate-day fasting has also been shown to reduce cancer rates by reducing cell proliferation.
• Research by Mark Hartman and colleagues⁵ indicates short-term fasting can trigger production of human growth hormone (HGH) in men, and reduce oxidative stress that contributes to disease and aging; benefits brain health, mental well-being, and clarity of thought

Review Debunks Myths about Weight Loss, Obesity

Intermittent fasting is one of the latest weight management strategies to get a lot of press. Meanwhile, other weight loss myths are being debunked. Dr. David B. Allison, director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of Alabama, and colleagues recently published a paper on Myths, Presumptions, and Facts about Obesity⁶, stating:

“Many beliefs about obesity persist in the absence of supporting scientific evidence (presumptions); some persist despite contradicting evidence (myths). The promulgation of unsupported beliefs may yield poorly informed policy decisions, inaccurate clinical and public health recommendations, and an unproductive allocation of research resources and may divert attention away from useful, evidence-based information.”

The team identified:

• Seven obesity-related myths concerning the effects of small sustained increases in energy intake or expenditure, establishment of realistic goals for weight loss, rapid weight loss, weight-loss readiness, physical-education classes, breast-feeding, and energy expended during sexual activity. These include:
  • Small things make a big difference. Walking a mile a day can lead to a loss of more than 50 pounds in five years.
  • Set a realistic goal to lose a modest amount.
  • People who are too ambitious will get frustrated and give up.
  • You have to be mentally ready to diet or you will never succeed.
  • Slow and steady is the way to lose. If you lose weight too fast, you will lose less in the long run.
• Six presumptions that have yet to be proven true or false about the effects of regularly eating breakfast, early childhood experiences, eating fruits and vegetables, weight cycling, snacking, and the built (i.e., human-made) environment, such as:
  • Diet and exercise habits in childhood set the stage for the rest of life.
  • Add lots of fruits and vegetables to your diet to lose weight or not gain as much.
  • Yo-yo diets lead to increased death rates.
  • People who snack gain weight and get fat.
  • If you add bike paths, jogging trails, sidewalks and parks, people will not be as fat.
• Nine evidence-supported facts that are relevant for the formulation of sound public health, policy, or clinical recommendations, including:
  • Heredity is important but is not destiny.
  • Exercise helps with weight maintenance.
  • Weight loss is greater with programs that provide meals.
  • Some prescription drugs help with weight loss and maintenance.
  • Weight-loss surgery in appropriate patients can lead to long-term weight loss, less diabetes and a lower death rate

What I feel is missing here is the focus on an all-around healthy lifestyle pattern. Can you lose weight on prescription drugs? Yes. Does the research support this as “fact”? Yes. But this does NOT automatically mean that recommending diet drugs is good public health policy! Will diet drugs have a beneficial impact on your health in the long run? Do potential side effects of the drugs outweigh the benefit of losing weight?

Ditto for bariatric surgery. Does it lead to weight loss? Yes! But the side effects can be severe, including death, and several studies have shown the long-term outcome in terms of overall health is not that great…

Some of the items listed as myths and presumptions are simply common-sense guidelines and “helpful tips” that can help you maintain a healthier lifestyle, which will inevitably form the foundation of good health. So I would advise you to differentiate between “established scientific fact” (such as: weight loss surgery leads to weight loss) and what amounts to holistic healthy lifestyle guidelines, as the two are not necessarily interchangeable.

If your goal is to promote health, then supporting the addition of bike paths in your communities is not a crazy idea at all. In fact, some of these myths and presumptions are sort of silly, as when you talk about things like “can adding jogging trails and parks promote healthier weight?” You also have to consider the fact that there is social conditioning at work, and people have to start to rethink how they live their daily lives in order to see a change. This can take time. Having a public policy that tells you to get bariatric surgery instead of going for a walk every day is nothing short of crazy if you really think about it…

Clinical Trial to Be Conducted to Test Whether Skipping Breakfast Leads to Weight Loss

According to the New York Times⁷:

“… people often rely on weak studies that get repeated ad infinitum. It is commonly thought, for example, that people who eat breakfast are thinner. But that notion is based on studies of people who happened to eat breakfast. Researchers then asked if they were fatter or thinner than people who happened not to eat breakfast — and found an association between eating breakfast and being thinner. But such studies can be misleading because the two groups might be different in other ways that cause the breakfast eaters to be thinner. But no one has randomly assigned people to eat breakfast or not, which could cinch the argument.

… The question is: ‘Is it a causal association?’ To get the answer, he added, ‘Do the clinical trial.’

He decided to do it himself, with university research funds. A few hundred people will be recruited and will be randomly assigned to one of three groups. Some will be told to eat breakfast every day, others to skip breakfast, and the third group will be given vague advice about whether to eat it or not.”

Is Intermittent Fasting Right for You?

If you’re already off to a good start on a healthy diet and fitness plan, then intermittent fasting might be just the thing to bring you to the next level. However, you need to pay careful attention to your body, your energy levels, and how it makes you feel in general.

Please keep in mind that proper nutrition becomes even MORE important when fasting, so addressing your diet really should be your first step. Common sense will tell you that fasting combined with a denatured, highly processed, toxin-rich diet is likely to do more harm than good, as you’re not giving your body proper fuel to thrive when you DO eat.

If you’re hypoglycemic, diabetic, or pregnant (and/or breastfeeding), you are better off avoiding any type of fasting or timed meal schedule until you’ve normalized your blood glucose and insulin levels, or weaned the baby. Others categories of people that would be best served to avoid fasting include those living with chronic stress, and those with cortisol dysregulation.

Signs and Symptoms of Hypoglycemia

Hypoglycemia is a condition characterized by an abnormally low level of blood sugar. It’s commonly associated with diabetes, but you can be hypoglycemic even if you’re not diabetic. Common symptoms of a hypoglycemic crash include:

• Headache
• Weakness
• Tremors
• Irritability
• Hunger

As your blood glucose levels continue to plummet, more severe symptoms can set in, such as:

• Confusion and/or abnormal behavior
• Visual disturbances, such as double vision and blurred vision
• Seizures
• Loss of consciousness

One of the keys to eliminating hypoglycemia is to eliminate sugars, especially fructose from your diet. It will also be helpful to eliminate grains, and replace them with higher amounts of quality proteins and healthful fats. However it will take some time for your blood sugar to normalize. You’ll want to pay careful attention to hypoglycemic signs and symptoms, and if you suspect that you’re crashing, make sure to eat something.The ideal food would be coconut oil as it will not worsen your insulin levels and is metabolized relatively quickly for energy. You can try some coconut candy, for example. Ideally, you should avoid fasting if you’re hypoglycemic, and work on your overall diet to normalize your blood sugar levels first. Then try out one of the less rigid versions of fasting and work your way up.

Fasting While Pregnant is Not a Good Idea…

As for pregnant and/or lactating women, I don’t think fasting would be a wise choice. Your baby needs plenty of nutrients, during and after birth, and there’s no research supporting fasting during this important time. On the contrary, some studies⁸suggest it might be contraindicated, as it can alter fetal breathing patterns, heartbeat, and increase gestational diabetes. It may even induce premature labor. I don’t think it’s worth the risk.

Instead, my recommendation would be to really focus on improving your nutrition during this crucial time. A diet with plenty of raw organic, biodynamic foods, and foods high in healthful fats, coupled with high quality proteins will give your baby a head start on good health. You’ll also want to be sure to include plenty of cultured and fermented foods to optimize your — and consequently your baby’s — gut flora. For more information, please see this previous article that includes specific dietary recommendations for a healthy pregnancy, as well as my interview with Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.

Finding a Lifestyle Plan that Works for You Requires Trial and Error

While intermittent fasting can provide valuable health benefits, remember that fasting does not mean abstaining from ALL food for extended periods of time. Rather it involves a dramatic reduction of calorie intake at regular intervals — whether you opt for a 16, 20, or 24 hour fast once or twice a week, or fasting every other day, or simply delaying certain meals, such as skipping breakfast.

Just remember, it takes about six to eight hours for your body to metabolize your glycogen stores and only after that do you start to shift to burning fat, but only if you are already adapted to burning fat by having your fat burning enzymes upregulated by the strategy discussed above, which takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on how healthy you are.

Always listen to your body, and go slow; work your way up to 16-18 hour fasts if your normal schedule has included multiple meals a day. Also be sure to address any hypoglycemic tendencies, as it can get increasingly dangerous the longer you go without eating to level out your blood sugar.

If you have already addressed your diet, cutting out fructose and grains and replacing them with healthful fats, then intermittent fasting could further boost weight loss and provide additional health benefits. If you’re engaged in a regular fitness program and feel like you’ve hit a plateau, then working out in a fasted state might help rev things up. For more information about exercise while fasting, please see this previous article.

Sources and References from the Mercola.com article:

By Dr. Mercola

Do you regard eating out as a bit of a respite from your daily life? A time to let someone else do the cooking, and perhaps treat yourself to something more indulgent that you don’t normally eat?

Restaurant chains are on to this sentiment, and they’ve responded by offering customers increasingly decadent dishes that are simply not good for your health. I’m talking about:

• A milk shake that has a slice of apple pie blended in (Johnny Rockets)
• Country fried steak served with pancakes, potatoes, gravy and syrup (nearly a days’ worth of calories in one meal, thanks to IHOP)
• A massive portion of macaroni and cheese that has two days’ worth of sodium (Uno Chicago Grill)
• A slice of chocolate cake that weighs nearly one pound and contains 26 teaspoons of added sugar (Maggiano’s Little Italy)¹… and the list goes on and on

Media reports often focus on the calorie content of such massive meals, along with the saturated fat and sodium. Clearly, overeating to this extent can easily pack on the pounds, especially if your eating out is not just a “treat” but more of a daily routine … But there’s more to these meals than simply extra calories, fat and salt …

Do You Know Where Most Restaurant Food Comes From?

Eating the food at nearly every fast food chain (except maybe Chipotle and a few other restaurants committed to sustainable, organic suppliers) and even most sit-down restaurants means you are likely consuming feedlot animal meat – flesh that comes from animals raised in crowded unsanitary conditions, fed massive doses of antibiotics and unnatural “frankenfeed” full of genetically modified (GM) crops and some other truly disturbing ingredients.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the decidedly unhealthy practices that go on at a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation).

The problem begins at the massive CAFOs where the beef, chicken or pigs are fed genetically modified corn and soybeans and excessive grains in general (which are not the natural diet of these animals), along with the following almost unbelievable feed ingredients:

• Plastics — for the many animals whose digestive systems need roughage to pass food through them, the CAFOs now use plastic pellets.
• Meat from members of the same species — CAFOs turn farm animals into cannibals. Scientific research has linked this practice to the spread of both mad cow disease and avian bird flu.
• Manure and animal feces– this can include cattle manure, swine waste, and poultry waste. It also includes wood, sand, rocks, dirt, sawdust and other non-food substances.
• Roxarsone – more commonly known as arsenic, which until recently was put into chicken and pig feed to control intestinal parasites that might cause them to eat less and grow slower. Chicken litter (containing the arsenic that passes through the birds) is also collected from chicken CAFOs and fed to feedlot cattle, for some apparent reason that defies common sense.
• Animal byproducts — categorized as “animal protein products,” this includes rendered feathers, hair, skin, hooves, blood, internal organs, intestines, beaks and bones, dead horses, euthanized cats and dogs, and road kill.

Chemical-Laden Food is the Norm, Not the Exception

A burger or a chicken sandwich from a fast-food restaurant is not equal, nutritionally, to the equivalent you would make at home … nearly always the fast-food version will contain a staggering variety of additives, flavoring, coloring, and other chemicals that give it that “fast-food” flavor …For instance, only about half of a Chicken McNugget is actual chicken. The rest is a mix of corn-derived fillers and additives (most likely genetically modified), along with a slew of synthetic chemicals, including:

• Dimethyl polysiloxane, a type of silicone with anti-foaming properties used in cosmetics and a variety of other goods like Silly Putty
• Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a petroleum-based product with antioxidant properties

You probably expect this from McDonald’s, but toxic unknowns like high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives and MSG can lurk in food from even the finest of restaurants. Many restaurants actually buy processed frozen foods that are simply heated or cooked in the microwave, and then passed off as “home cooked.” This is something you’d expect from a cafeteria or fast-food joint, but it occurs even at five-star eateries.

Other tricks of the restaurant trade not specifically mentioned above include passing off inexpensive fish such as pollock as something more expensive, like cod. Or, Maryland-style crab cakes made from crab that came from Vietnam. Most fish in restaurants is also farm-raised, which you definitely want to avoid.

Due to all of the added sugars and other ingredients, studies have shown that eating fast food just twice a week can make you gain 10 pounds, but even more shocking it DOUBLES your risk of developing insulin resistance.² Insulin resistance, as I’ve discussed on many occasions, is one of THE primary driving factors behind many chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

Ask Questions BEFORE You Go …

Many restaurants have their menus online and it can be helpful to identify what you want to eat before you go to the restaurant. If possible, choose a restaurant known for their high-quality standards, such as buying produce locally and in season, or serving raw and/or organic foods.

Ideally, you’d want to opt for wholly organic- or raw food restaurants, but they can be few and far in between. At the other end of the spectrum are fast-food chains, which should be avoided at all costs.

For restaurants that fall somewhere in the middle, call ahead and speak to a manager, chef or owner ahead of time. Most servers are typically clueless about where the food they are serving actually comes from, or what’s in it, which is why calling ahead is so important. If you wait until you’re already there, the server will likely head into the kitchen to get your questions answered, but you’ll have no way of truly verifying their responses. Some questions to ask ahead of time would include:

• Where does the bulk of their food come from (A CAFO? A food wholesaler? An organic farm?)
• Is the beef grass-fed?
• Do they use organically raised, free-range chicken?
• Is the fish wild-caught?
• Are organic ingredients available?
• Are full ingredients lists for menu items available?
• Do they use MSG?
• Does the sauce (or any other condiment) contain high fructose corn syrup?
• Do they use genetically modified (GM) ingredients? (Remember, typically anything containing corn, soy, canola, or any of their derivatives are GM varieties UNLESS certified organic)

More Tips for Eating Out at a Restaurant

I urge you to take your health to the next level and seek out the restaurants in your area that are making a commitment to using seasonal, sustainable ingredients and preparing meals in a healthy way. These restaurants are out there, and the more people who support them the more they will continue to grow. Calling ahead and asking questions is even an excellent way to open up a discussion about the need for a truly high-quality restaurant in your area. If your goal is simply to avoid overeating or taking in excess calories, you can use some of these common tips:

• Ask your server to put half of your meal in a to-go box before they bring it to the table
• Split an entrée with a friend
• Avoid entrees described as “crispy,” “breaded,” “fried,” or “smothered” and opt for those that are steamed instead
• Order first so you’re not influenced by your dining companions’ choices
• Tailor your meal how you want it, such as swapping a potato side for a veggie or asking for your fish to be steamed instead of fried

Many local businesses would be glad to hear about your concerns over food quality and your desires for a higher standard, and will work with you to come up with a solution – especially if they get calls like this often …

Ideally Prepare Most of Your Meals at Home

I have long stated that if you want to be optimally healthy, you, a family member or someone you hire needs to take the time to prepare your meals from scratch. This way, you can be sure you’re getting unprocessed, high-quality food made with ingredients you trust.

I am also fond of saying that if you fail to plan you are planning to fail, so each night before bed, plan what you’re going to eat the following day so you can avoid having to rely on purchasing unhealthy restaurant meals. Even better, make a weekly meal plan each weekend, and buy all the ingredients you need for that week’s meals ahead of time so you’re prepared.

PJ’s additional tip for eating out: I typically don’t even look at the menu when eating out. I just ask the wait staff what kind of meat they have to grill up and what green veggies they can steam. When I order that, I’m actually doing the chef a favor, because that’s easier to prepare than what’s on the menu anyway!

We have known for years now that testosterone (yes, women have it too) burns fat and cortisol stores fat. Those who have higher testosterone seem to be able to practically “wish” fat off their body, but those with high cortisol can’t seem to lose fat to save their life ( quite literally).

So if the object is to raise testosterone and reduce cortisol, how is that done? There are lots of ways, but for the purpose of this post, I’ll talk about the easiest way and that is changing your posture. If you stand up straight with your chest out, arms open, face smiling and chin up, you will both increase your testosterone and reduce your cortisol. If on the other hand, you crunch up, fold your arms, frown and assume a fearful or depressed posture, you will reduce your testosterone and increase your cortisol.

This can be done anytime, anywhere. It can be done sitting down too. In fact, most people who spend their days in front of a computer assume the fat-storing slouching position. They do this watching TV too. This posture, along with the fact that computer and TV screens affect our brain waves and put us in a metabolic dive, is a disastrous combination.

Try it for a week. Even if you don’t feel like doing it, do it anyway. Force yourself. Faking it still works!

Need more convincing? Check out this video:

Fast, high intensity cardio training is the best for the muscles, lungs, joints, heart and physical appearance because it spares and even helps build muscle which is what allows us to sculpt our bodies into how we want to look.

Slow, long duration cardio on the other hand, shrinks muscle and even eats it away, making it impossible to build a custom shape to the body. Recent research has even found that chronic long duration exercise is hard on the heart and also breaks down the joints. Show me a career marathoner at 60 years or older and I’ll show you someone who has chronic knee pain at best (if not hips and/or back pain too).

Health reasons aside, let’s just talk about physical appearance, since that’s what 95% of us care most about anyway (whether we openly admit it or not). Actually, let’s not talk about it. Let’s make it even easier than that. Just have a look at the pictures below and you choose which body you would prefer to build.

Results showed that the sedentary mice got dumber (no surprise). The voluntary exercisers got smarter and the forced exercisers got the smartest. This shows that exercise is good for the brain (duh), but being pushed past what they would do on their own is the best for the brain. This is personal training – especially X Gym style, since it is the most intense workout on the planet. Probably in the galaxy too. Borderline positive even in the universe as well. So in other words, X Gymers are the smartest people in the universe (duh).

Furthermore, we know that whatever is good for the brain is also good for the heart and vice versa, so we can assume that personal training is best for the heart too. Whatever is good for the heart is good for the body (especially your butt), so we can assume personal training is also leaps and bounds above everything else too. But then again, we already knew this. It’s just nice to see it validated by science. And to have an excuse to use the word “duh” a few times.

References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16904660

• Exercise triggers mitochondrial biogenesis, a decline of which is common in aging; this reverses significant age-associated declines in mitochondrial mass, and in effect, stops aging in its tracks.
• Aside from impacting your skeletal muscle and fat tissue, researchers noted that exercise induces mitochondrial changes that may also benefit your liver, brain and kidneys.
• One of the best types of anti-aging exercise is high-intensity interval training (like X Gym), which boosts your body’s natural production of human growth hormone, a synergistic, foundational biochemical that addresses the serious muscle loss and atrophy that typically occurs with aging.
• Longevity is the result of an overall healthy lifestyle and exercise is of course, a key component.
• Telomeres are the little caps on the ends of your chromosomes that keep them from unraveling and shortening, which causes aging. Stress is one of the top factors in degrading these telomeres. High intensity exercise happens to be the best antidote for stress.
• Physical exercise, more than mental exercise, protects your brain against age-related changes; people who engaged in the most physical exercise showed the least brain shrinkage.
• Exercise, diet, and stress management are three primary factors that play key roles in maintaining sharp mental function as you age.
• Exercise promotes brain cell regeneration and production of key brain chemicals and growth factors such as BDNF, which is important in maintaining memory, skilled task performance, and overall cognitive function.

Sources:

• American Journal of Physiology May 9, 2012
• Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2011 Oct;36(5):598-607.
• J Appl Physiol. 2011 Oct;111(4):1066-71.
• Neuroscience. 2012 Mar 15;205:10-7.
• Alzheimer’s Association Factsheet March 2012
• Rev Neurol May 2011
• ACEP 2011
• Neurology, July 13, 2010: 75(2); 152-9
• Mercola.com

• Godin O, Maillard P, Crivello F, Alpérovitch A, Mazoyer B, Tzourio C, Dufouil C. Association of white-matter lesions with brain atrophy markers: the three-city Dijon MRI study. Cerebrovasc Dis. 2009;28(2):177-84. doi: 10.1159/000226117. Epub 2009 Jun 25.
• Gow AJ, Bastin ME, Muñoz Maniega S, Valdés Hernández MC, Morris Z, Murray C, Royle NA, Starr JM, Deary IJ, Wardlaw JM. Neuroprotective lifestyles and the aging brain: Activity, atrophy, and white matter integrity. Neurology. 2012 Oct 23;79(17):1802-1808.
• Saczynski JS, Jonsdottir MK, Sigurdsson S, Eiriksdottir G, Jonsson PV, Garcia ME, Kjartansson O, van Buchem MA, Gudnason V, Launer LJ. White matter lesions and cognitive performance: the role of cognitively complex leisure activity. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2008 Aug;63(8):848-54.
• Tan ZS, Harris WS, Beiser AS, Au R, Himali JJ, Debette S, Pikula A, Decarli C, Wolf PA, Vasan RS, Robins SJ, Seshadri S. Red blood cell ω-3 fatty acid levels and markers of accelerated brain aging. Neurology. 2012 Feb 28;78(9):658-64. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e318249f6a9.
• Vernooij MW, Ikram MA, Vrooman HA, Wielopolski PA, Krestin GP, Hofman A, Niessen WJ, Van der Lugt A, Breteler MM. White matter microstructural integrity and cognitive function in a general elderly population. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009 May;66(5):545-53. doi: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.5.
• See article in its entirety at VitalChoice.com

Use this day to elevate your own health by banning elevators and escalators!