Health Habits

improve your health, habit by habit

Archive for the ‘fitness - research’ category

Obesity Isn’t The Disease…It’s Only A Symptom

March 12th, 2010

I read an interesting study the other day.

In this study, the researchers argued that when it comes to Metabolic Syndrome (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, central adiposity {big belly}, high blood sugar) obesity may actually be a good thing.

Here’s why.

Metabolic Syndrome is a result of our Standard American Diet
The S.A.D. combination of too many calories and the over-consumption of sugar + fat-centric meals causes…
An increase in the secretion of insulin. When this happens on a regular basis, we end up with…
hyperinsulinemia, which…
Causes the expression of the lipogenic transcription factor SREBP-1c and its target enzymes and so on and so on and so on until we end up with Metabolic Syndrome and all of the wonderful ailments I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it?

And the first thing that your doctor is going to tell you if she suspects you have Metabolic Syndrome is to lose weight.

As if obesity is the cause of Metabolic Syndrome.

But, it ain’t.

We know that our bodies respond to our Standard American Diet by increasing the amount of circulating insulin.

This leads to an increase in body-fat.

Common sense tells us that this is bad.

These researchers disagree.

They propose that this new body-fat delays, rather than causes, the metabolic syndrome induced by chronic caloric surplus.

They argue that subcutaneous fat in general exerts a positive effect on insulin sensitivity. Subcutaneous fat is the body-fat that exists between your muscles and your skin – we’re not talking that solid “beer belly” kind of fat.

This “healthy” type of adipose tissue is genetically determined and has a strong sexually dimorphic component as well. Females, at any given body mass index, are protected against insulin resistance more than males.

And if we prevent insulin resistance…we prevent Metabolic Syndrome.

To test this hypothesis further, the researchers bred obesity resistance mice with with db/db mice, which normally become obese and develop severe metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) by the age of 8–10 weeks.

Sucks to be a db/db mouse.

They ended up with some mice who stayed lean despite their voracious appetites.

Unfortunately, these mice developed Metabolic Syndrome in 4 weeks instead of the typical 8-10 weeks.

The researchers concluded that body-fat is a normal response designed to permit stockpiling of fuels while simultaneously protecting our lipid-intolerant organs.

Metabolic syndrome appears only after the storage capacity of the adipocyte compartment has reached a maximum, at which point a gradual accumulation of ectopic fatty acids begins.

Ectopic means “not where it’s supposed to be”. It accumulates in the abdominal region (beer belly), the liver, muscle tissue including the heart, the pancreas, and perhaps in lipid-rich deposits in the arteries.

Obesity should therefore not be regarded as a pathology or disease, but rather as the normal, physiologic response to sustained caloric surplus without which the advent of metabolic syndrome is accelerated.

Conclusions

Obesity isn’t a disease
It’s a symptom of another disease – Metabolic Syndrome
It’s better to have squishy, subcutaneous fat than the big, hard beer belly kind of fat

My Suggestion

Stop thinking of obesity as a health issue unto itself.

If obesity is a result of something else, you need to know what that cause is and then take action to reverse the problem.

You can start by dumping the Standard American Diet and replace it with something more Mediterranean or Asian or Paleo.

.

And, if you like what you see here, click here for updates or Share this Post with the rest of the world.

.

Teens Just Wanna Have Fun

February 17th, 2010

According to the latest research, emphasising the emotional benefits of exercise is more effective at increasing levels of (teenage) physical activity than highlighting traditional health benefits.

Or, to put it in layman’s terms…

Teens like to do fun stuff
They don’t like to do stuff that is “good for them”

Well….duh!

.

But seriously, there is evidence showing that people who believe that physical activity is enjoyable and fun are more likely to engage in sport and exercise.

To test this concept, researchers investigated whether highlighting the emotional benefits of sport and exercise to young people increased their levels of physical activity.”

The Study

To test their hypothesis, the researchers sent different types of SMS messages to kids (ages 16-19) encouraging them to “get active”.

Group 1 received messages that highlighted the emotional benefits of physical activity such as ‘Physical activity can make you feel cheerful. What activity will you do today?’ and ‘Physical activity can make you feel more enthusiastic. What activity will you do today?’.

Group 2 received messages that highlighted the physical health benefits of exercise such as ‘Physical activity can help maintain a healthy weight. What activity will you do today?’ and ‘Physical activity can keep your heart healthy. What activity will you do today?’.

Group 3 received a combination of the two messages – emotional one week, practical the next week.

Group 4 was the control group. Their SMS messages contained only the final element of the phrase used in the intervention groups, ‘What activity will you do today?’ for comparability.

Results

Analysis of the results found that the physical activity levels of all 128 participants increased after the two-week intervention by an average 31.5 minutes of moderate activity a week.

Amongst the naturally active kids…

…overall activity a little bit, but none of the 4 text messages stood out as being more effective than the others.

But… in the naturally inactive group, the teenagers who received the texts which highlighted the emotional benefits of exercise performed 120 additional minutes of moderate exercise.

That’s 4x the overall average.

Conclusion

If we (you, me & Michelle Obama) want our teens to get active, get healthy & drop a few pounds, we need to forget about motivating them with logic.

It ain’t gonna work.

We need to motivate with emotion…with fun.

.

Any suggestions?

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates

.

Obesity = Inflammation = Cancer

January 22nd, 2010

Every January 1st, millions of people resolve to get in shape and lose weight.

Unfortunately, before February 1st rolls around, two thirds of those people have fallen off the bandwagon, abandoned their gym memberships and returned to the normal diet of pizza & ice cream.

So, in an attempt to recharge your collective weight-loss motivation, I thought I would let you in on a recent piece of obesity research that concluded that…

Obesity = Inflammation = Cancer

.

Yep, cancer…the big C.

.

According to this latest research, obesity enhances the development of a form of liver cancer called HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) by:

Stimulating the production of tumor-promoting cytokines (interleukin-6 {Il-6} and tumor necrosis factor {tnf})
Il-6 and tnf causes inflammation in your liver, and
Activates a tumor-producing transcription factor called STAT3
STAT3 activates the formation and growth of the HCC liver cancer

Or, in layman’s terms

Obesity = Inflammation = Cancer

But, it’s not just liver cancer.

Obesity also increases the risk of developing pancreatic, GI and kidney cancers.

.

So, how about that slice of pizza?

Feeling hungry?

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates

.

Exercise Builds Better Brains

January 21st, 2010

I knew it!!!

I knew there was a reason my Health Habits readers are so much smarter than the average person on the street.

It turns out that all of that exercise you do improves brain health and actually promotes the growth of new brain cells.

The Research

In a new study (published here), researchers found that voluntary running caused lab mice to grow new brain cells in the region of the brain (hippocampus) associated with memory and spatial navigation.

The 105-day study included two groups of mice. One group was allowed unlimited access to an exercise wheel and ran an average of more than 20 km (12 miles) a day. The other group of mice weren’t allowed to exercise.

Tests showed that the mice in the exercise group were better able to distinguish between memories of similar things. This is likely due to the additional brain cells generated by exercise, the researchers said.

“Keeping similar memories distinct is an important part of having a good memory,” said study senior author Timothy Bussey of Cambridge University. “It is this aspect of memory that is improved by exercise, our study shows.

The human equivalent might be remembering which car parking space you have used on two different days in the previous week. It becomes difficult to distinguish memories when events are similar.”

New brain cells…that has to be good.

But wait, it gets even better.

It’s not just the physical exercise that you do.

Another group of brain researchers believe that it’s a combination of increased blood flow (via exercise therapy) and increased neural activity (problem solving, learning new tasks, reading Health Habits, etc…) that results in both the creation and retention of new brain cells at any age.

So, when you go online to research how to get healthy & fit, you’re pushing your brain to grow & keep new brain cells.

But wait, it can get even better than that.

Supplementing your diet with Omega 3 fatty acids has been shown to improve the cellular function of your brain cells.

Conclusion

Physical Exercise = New Brain Cells
Mental Exercise = Retention of those New Brain Cells (the use it or lose it theory)
Omega 3 fatty acids via fish oils = Better Functioning Brain Cells

So, the next time some non-exercising, non-thinking, non-fish oil slurping mouth breather tells you how smart you are, you can tell them that it’s all due to Health Habits.

You’re welcome

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates

.

High Intensity meets High Tech

November 24th, 2009

do-your-tabatas

It’s no secret – I love High Intensity Interval Training.

I love that it’s great for melting body-fat
I love that it’s great for improving aerobic fitness
I love that it’s great for improving anaerobic fitness
And I love the fact that I get all of these benefits without having to spend hours on a treadmill like some kind of human/gerbil hybrid.

BUT, one thing I don’t like about HIIT/Tabata Training is that intensity is highly subjective.

When I tell a client that I want 100% on a set of interval sprints, how can I know that they are giving 100% effort.

How do we measure intensity?

Well, up until now, here’s what I have been doing (I will use HIIT bike sprints as an example)

After an adequate warm-up, I set the exercise bike at the appropriate level of resistance.
Then we start banging out 10 second sprints going as fast as possible
I help things along by “encouraging” my client to go faster.

I also ask the client to track the number of revolution one leg makes during the 10 second sprint.
For example, a new client recently tested out at 25, 27, 28, 28, 29, 27 and 24 revolutions per leg per 10 seconds. (bike resistance set at level 7 of 10)

This means that their maximum speed at resistance level 7 was 29 revs per leg per 10 sec.

This is also the number we now use to judge performance.

If they pedal slower than 29 rev @ level 7, then they are either fatiguing, not working hard enough or just having a bad day.

It’s not very high tech, but it has worked pretty well…up until now.

Now, I want to get my hands on some of this technology.

These new pieces of technology (Pulse Oximeters, portable ECGs and Activity Monitors) are being used right now by elite level athletes and in research settings to determine how to make exercise more efficient.

And when you consider that every IPhone and Google Android phone comes equipped with a built-in accelerometer, a proximity sensor and is bluetooth ready, it is highly likely that in the very near future, you are going to be able to ramp up the efficiency of your workouts by at least 25%.

And where did I get that 25%, you might ask?

And the answer is…from this study.

Without going into all of the highly technical details, researchers used some of the technology mentioned above to collect performance data while putting their test subjects through a modified Tabata workout.

data set Then they took that data, combined it with the data collected via a medical survey questionnaire and plugged it into a data mining decision tree.

I told you it was technical.

The upshot is that after all of this data was crunched, the researchers were able to design optimized interval training programs personalized for each and every test subject.

And, as a result of those optimized programs, the test subjects were able to improve their performance by 29.54%

What do you think of that!!!

29.54%

I can’t wait to get my hands on some of this technology.

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates or Share this Post with the rest of the world.

.

We (almost) have the technology to make you leaner, stronger, fitter…

November 18th, 2009

Back in the 70s, Colonel Steve Austin was the Six Million Dollar Man…a NASA astronaut nearly killed during a test flight.

But, luckily for him, NASA had the technology to rebuild him…better than he was before..better..stronger..faster

And luckily for all of us, we are pretty close to having the technology to help make us leaner..stronger..fitter…and healthier.

Thanks to researchers at St. Louis University, we may soon have access to smartphone applications that will help us transform our bodies from fat to fit.

And I am not talking about first generation apps that tell you the number of calories in a Big Mac or produce a generic computer generated workout.

CADA interface

I am talking about software that is being used currently on a group of elderly Chinese diabetic patients (not necessarily the most tech-savvy group on the planet).

This new technology uses interactive smartphone games and various logging features to help the elderly diabetics manage their health and learn more about their condition.

Initial studies of the interactive diabetes self-management system, called the Chinese Aged Diabetic Assistant (CADA), are promising, researchers found. The system enables diabetics to track their blood glucose, weight, diet, exercise, mood and blood pressure – valuable information that will assist their doctors in providing the best care possible.

“This project did not start out as a gaming project, but we did a lot of groundwork – from looking at the health care infrastructure in China to conducting focus groups with older diabetics and interviewing various providers – and found that gaming was a persuasive way to engage patients in managing their personal health.”

The games vary in purpose. For example, researchers created a “food pyramid” type game, which encourages gamers to eat a balanced diet, limit high-sugar foods and watch their daily intake of fat and salt.

Applications including a trivia game and a tile matching game, in which gamers connect the necessary components for a healthy lifestyle, were popular educational choices among the test group.

While games engage and motivate the patients, smartphones makes the technology convenient.

First, smartphones are mobile, meaning patients can use them at any time or any place. They can be used as small, inexpensive computers even if no network infrastructure is in place. If connections are in place, smartphones make it easy for patients to share health information with their providers, care givers and others within personal network. Also, because many users are already mobile phone owners, including some smartphone users, adapting the technology is feasible for patients, providers and hospitals.

Smartphone technology may even offer a solution to better managing health care costs for chronic conditions, says Mark Gaynor, Ph.D., associate professor of public health at the School of Public Health.

“The only way to cut the cost of caring for people with chronic conditions is to enable the patients to self manage their health. In order to do that, though, self-management must be reasonable and easy to do. Smart phone technology makes it easy for patients to track important health information.”

So what about us non-diabetics?

There are almost endless opportunities for using smartphone technology in health care, researchers say.”Imagine walking into a McDonalds and having your cell phone recognize your location and make healthy menu recommendations – all this and more is possible with smartphone technology.” (why do they always use McDonalds as the restaurant example?)

Researchers say smartphones can make tracking one’s health easier and more convenient. In the future, CADA users will be able to share information with their providers and receive important health reminders. They are also working on Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as a scale that communicates with the phone to record and track daily measurements and a blood sugar monitor that automatically records daily readings on the phone.

And while it’s true that this technology doesn’t have the pizzazz of a pair of bionic legs, I think that its potential to integrate healthier behaviors into our day to day lives is powerful stuff.

True, it took an explosion in global obesity levels to get peoples attention, but finally, there is growing public awareness that we can and should take better care of our bodies.

And, if tools like the CADA smartphone make it easier to get fit, then maybe, just maybe, we aren’t doomed to a future where we evolve into this…

wall-e-captain-fat

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates

.

Researchers Find the Answer to Senior Citizen Heart Health

October 26th, 2009

Researchers have discovered a cutting edge technique to help senior citizens improve the elasticity of their arteries – thereby reducing their risk of heart disease and stroke.

Led by Dr. Kenneth Madden, the researchers were able to reduce arterial stiffness by 15 to 20% in only 3 months time.

But wait, it gets better.

Unlike most cardiovascular treatments, the cost of this new cure-all is…….nothing, zero, nada, rien…it’s free.

It’s free because the treatment is:

Exercise

Wow!!!

Exercise instead of drugs…who would have thought of that???

The Study

Dr. Madden divided his test subjects into two groups.

The first group performed one hour of vigorous physical activity for one hour, three times a week for three months.
The second group continued to live a sedentary lifestyle.

Subjects were classified as sedentary at the beginning of the study but gradually increased their fitness levels until they were working at 70 per cent of their maximum heart rate, using treadmills and cycling machines. They were supervised by a certified exercise trainer.

.

And after three months, the exercise group was healthier, while the sedentary group wasn’t.

.

So, as a public service to all of my 65+ readers (and those readers with friends & family who are 65+), I will be posting “no equipment necessary” workouts geared toward trainees who are boomer age and older.

Enjoy

.

BTW, this post is for my Dad…who should be outside right now getting some exercise

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates

.

Fitness Myth Busted: Core Stability and the Bosu

October 23rd, 2009

All across the globe, personal trainers push their clients up onto BOSU balls with claims that it increases core muscle activity.

And while I personally think that the only reason trainers’ use the BOSU is to make their clients look silly…

…I always wondered what would happen if the BOSU got dragged into a university lab and put through it’s paces.

Well, back in March of this year, researchers from Eastern Illinois University did just that.

The Study

PURPOSE: To compare core muscle activity during resistance exercises performed on stable ground vs. the BOSU Balance Trainer.

METHODS: Twelve trained men performed the back squat, dead lift, overhead press, and bicep curl lifts. Each lift was performed under three separate conditions:

50% of 1 RM (rep max or max possible lift) while standing on solid ground,
50% of 1 RM while standing on a BOSU and
75% of 1RM while standing on solid ground.

For each lift, the activity of the rectus abdominis, external oblique abdominis, transversus abdominis/internal oblique abdominis, and erector spinae muscles was assessed.

RESULTS: Significant differences were noted between the stable 75% of 1-RM and BOSU 50% of 1-RM conditions for the rectus abdominis during the overhead press and transversus abdominis/internal oblique abdominis during the overhead press and curl.

Conversely, there were no significant differences between the stable 75% of 1-RM and BOSU 50% of 1-RM conditions for the external obliques and erector spinae across all lifts examined.

And most significantly, there were no significant differences between the BOSU 50% of 1-RM and stable 50% of 1-RM conditions across all muscles and lifts examined.

NOTE – I am trying to get permission to publish the actual data…when I get it, I will update the post

CONCLUSIONS: There is NO advantage in utilizing the BOSU Balance Trainer.

With equal loads, there was no significant difference in core muscle activation between the BOSU and a solid platform.

The BOSU might make the exercise feel harder, but it won’t make your core muscles work harder.

So, just like those guys on the Discovery Channel, I declare this fitness myth…BUSTED.

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates or Share this Post with the rest of the world.

.

Fighting Fat With Vinegar

October 14th, 2009

Your Grandma was right.

It turns out that the acetic acid found in plain ole’ vinegar is effective in suppressing body fat accumulation.

The Science

Earlier this year, Japanese researchers found that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice.

Based upon their findings, the scientists believe that acetic acid fights fat by turning on genes for fatty acid oxidation enzymes. The genes churn out proteins involved in breaking down fats, thus suppressing body fat accumulation in the body.

link to the study

Conclusion

Vinegar is cheap, harmless and versatile in the kitchen.

It may also help you metabolize sugars more efficiently, lower blood pressure and lose weight.

What do you have to lose?

Links to more vinegary/weight loss research

Journal of Agricultural Food & Chemistry - A study showing the fat-burning benefits of vinegar
Agricultural and Biological Chemistry – Vinegar controls insulin response to carbs
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition – Vinegar supplementation lowers glucose and insulin responses and increases satiety after a bread meal in healthy subjects
Medscape General Medicine – Vinegar: Medicinal Uses and Antiglycemic Effect

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates

.

How Much Rest Between Sets?

September 24th, 2009

You design your own workouts.

You specify your reps and sets.

You modify your lifting tempo and your range of motion.

But, what about rest between sets?

Do you wait only long enough to catch your breath?
Or do you camp out underneath the squat rack having a nice long chat with your neighbor doing deadlifts?

Do you have any idea how long you should be resting between sets?

Well, according to the latest research, “the rest interval between sets is an important variable that affects both acute (short term) responses and chronic (long term) adaptations to resistance exercise programmes”.

The Study

Researchers reviewed 35 studies in which they examined both acute responses and chronic adaptations, with rest interval length as the experimental variable.

In terms of acute responses, a key finding was that when training with loads between 50% and 90% of one repetition maximum, 3-5 minutes’ rest between sets allowed for greater repetitions over multiple sets. Furthermore, in terms of chronic adaptations, resting 3-5 minutes between sets produced greater increases in absolute strength, due to higher intensities and volumes of training.

Training for Strength = 3-5 minutes rest between sets

Similarly, higher levels of muscular power were demonstrated over multiple sets with 3 or 5 minutes versus 1 minute of rest between sets.

Training for Power = 3-5 minutes rest between sets

When the training goal is muscular hypertrophy, the combination of moderate-intensity sets with short rest intervals of 30-60 seconds might be most effective due to greater acute levels of growth hormone during such workouts.

Training for Hypertrophy/Size = 30-60 seconds rest between sets

Finally, the research on rest interval length in relation to chronic muscular endurance adaptations is less clear. Training with short rest intervals (e.g. 20 seconds to 1 minute) resulted in higher repetition velocities during repeated submaximal muscle actions and also greater total torque during a high-intensity cycle test.

Both of these findings indirectly demonstrated the benefits of utilizing short rest intervals for gains in muscular endurance.

Training for Endurance = 20-60 seconds rest between sets

Conclusion

The rest interval between sets is a very important aspect of any resistance program…or at least it should be.

.

If you like what you see here, click here for updates or Share this Post with the rest of the world.

.

Health Habits

Archive for the ‘fitness - research’ category

Obesity Isn’t The Disease…It’s Only A Symptom

Conclusions

My Suggestion

Related Posts

Teens Just Wanna Have Fun

The Study

Results

Conclusion

Related Posts

Obesity = Inflammation = Cancer

Obesity = Inflammation = Cancer

Obesity = Inflammation = Cancer

Related Posts

Exercise Builds Better Brains

Related Posts

High Intensity meets High Tech

Related Posts

We (almost) have the technology to make you leaner, stronger, fitter…

Related Posts

Researchers Find the Answer to Senior Citizen Heart Health

Exercise

Related Posts

Fitness Myth Busted: Core Stability and the Bosu

Related Posts

Fighting Fat With Vinegar

Related Posts

How Much Rest Between Sets?

The Study

Conclusion

Related Posts