Dr. Sekula on weight loss, fitness and nutrition

Exercise is good. Inflammation in the body is bad! – it’s significantly related to a whole host of cardiovascular diseases.

The most frequently measured biomarker of inflammation in the body is C-reactive protein (CRP). High levels of CRP indicate high levels of inflammation. Essential fatty acids (Omega 3′s, for example) are known to reduce inflammation – so eat some fresh, Wild Salmon today . Other foods known to reduce inflammation are fresh fruits and vegetables, like berries, grapes, celery and avocadoes (there are more but that’s a quick list). Green tea has some anti-inflammatory characteristics too.

Fitness has been shown to be inversely related to CRP, the more fit you are the less CRP in your bloodstream. What hasn’t been very well understood, however, is the mechanism that’s in play. For example, if you are highly fit and have low CRP levels, is that because you are fit or are the habits of living your daily lifestyle (ie, diet full of fresh fruits, vegetables and healthy doses of essential fatty acids) causing your low levels of CRP.

This study attempted to answer that question.

What they found was that exercise was a significant contributor to low levels of CRP. They looked at sympathetic and parasympathetic tone. The former increases heart rate, respiration, substrate utilization, etc… when you start exercising, while the latter brings these values down, back to resting levels once you stop. Their main finding was a direct relationship between parasympathetic tone and CRP, which means the longer your body takes to get back to resting levels, the higher your levels of CRP. And, conversely, the quicker your body gets back to resting levels, the lower your levels of CRP.

So exercise is good for reducing inflammation in the body. Chalk up another one for the good guys.

Understand this, exercise is good but higher intensity exercise is even better. If you want to work on your body’s ability to recover, than do some interval training or other form of high intensity training. It can be cardio, weights, agility drills, anything really, the higher the intensity, the harder your body has to work to recover. Over time, it will recover more quickly and decrease your overall level of inflammation.

So, really, go out and break a sweat today! here in Houston today, that won’t be too hard

Dr. Brian


PS. If you need some guidance on your exercise program, sign up for one of our FREE newsletters. If you are a golfer and want to knock 4-5 strokes off your game, get a copy of the Golf Fitness Boot Camp, you can even download it to your computer right now! It will improve your game and the inflammation in your body.

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A hard-copy workout program, with a daily schedule and other physical activity related material, including instructions, photos, motivational techniques and more has been found to be more effective at increasing and maintaining physical activity levels than phone-based methods.

The results of this study are encouraging on several fronts. First, proper instruction is vitally important. I think, at least intuitively, we all know that a large part of a personal trainer’s job is instruction. When it’s done properly, everyone wins.

When it includes the social/psychological issues associated with starting or maintaining a physical activity program, it’s even more successful. For example, developing strategies to overcome barriers, finding social support, dealing with negative thoughts, etc… are important social and psychological issues that can sabotage the best laid plans.

That is the major reason (at least in my eyes) the study found significant differences in print materials versus the phone. When you get off the phone, without something in your hand, sitting on your desk or the counter at home, it’s out of sight, out of mind.

The print materials are different. They are sitting there as a constant reminder of what you intend to do. Sort of like Stephen Covey taking on exercise – that plan is your “7 Habits!”

It’s also why I think the internet is a valuable resource in your quest to get better. Wheter you want to lose weight, play better golf, improve your health or simply feel better, the internet can help you do this. There are a number of trainers that will train you over the internet and the beauty of it is that you can live anywhere and use a trainer from anywhere.

Don’t like the trainers at your local box-store fitness center? No problem. Get on the internet and find someone you do like. Do your homework. Make sure what they offer is what you want.

One aspect of online training that you should address is interaction. There isn’t anything quite like a face-to-face meeting between a trainer and a client. For the most part, this can be alleviated with excellent support materials and access to the trainer. That can come through email, individual phone consultations or seminars via the phone or internet.

Another aspect of this is the ability to deliver materials that help you along the way. For example, are there workbooks or handouts that can help you deal with any psychological and/or social issues you may run into?

When you have satisfactory answers to these questions, you will have found a good source for online training.

In conclusion, we are in the process of developing our online training program. It will come complete with all the support you need, in the form of the Achieve! manual, which is based on social cognitive theory and transtheoretical model. It’s a step-by-step guide for getting and staying physically active. Additionally, you get workouts with photos, text descriptions, videos (coming soon), monthly teleseminars and more.

For more information, check out our current online offering, if you are already a member, check out the monthly improvement programs we have.

If you’d like to stay abreast of changes, offerings and the like, sign-up for one of our newsletters.

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Last week the Fitness Center signed an agreement with the National Personal Training Institute (NPTI). NPTI offers a diploma program in Personal Training. The curriculum is very comprehensive, 500-hours including 300 in the classroom and 200 in the fitness center.

As with the Vortex Equipment, signing this agreement means we are the first in Texas once again. There are no NPTI Schools in Texas, further evidence we are leaders in the fitness field!

Offering a school for personal trainers ensures confidence amongst membership, trust within the community and consistent access to quality personal trainers. Over time this will positively impact the fitness center.

I’m excited as this is a great opportunity for the Fitness Center. It’s also a great opportunity for those living in the Houston area wanting to become Personal Trainers.

The next step is to get approval from the State. Once accomplished, we’ll be ready to offer our first class.

Go to the NPTI website for more information on the school.

For those of you wanting updates on our first class, we’ll do our best to post those on the blog. However, we’ll certainly keep subscribers to our newsletter up-to-date. BSFC Monthly is published the first of each month. It’s absolutely free and when you sign up, you’ll get a couple of bonus gifts, including a free workout and a copy of my nutrition Ebook, Food & You.

Feel free to also post questions here.

Dr. Brian

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I got to play golf!

It was the first time since July of last year – way too long. If you recall, in July I suffered the painful and uncomfortable neck impingement. Just when I was fully recovered and ready to play again, the Nationwide Tour Championship headed down here to Houston. Since I gave some golf-fitness talks, I was busy preparing and unable to play.

Then soon after that, I bought the fitness center and really haven’t had time play.

Until yesterday.

I played with my brother and some of his buddies at Pecan Grove Country Club. It’s a nice, mature layout that puts a premium on accuracy – not exactly what you want when coming back from nearly a year off.

The front 9, not so good: five lost balls, 2 wins, 6 pushes (no carryovers) and a loss in Wolf. I was happy with the way I hit the ball, most shots went straight – no draw or fade action. I was just too handsy and pulled everything left. Shorter irons were the worst – I’d hit wedge from 115 and completely miss the green.

Regroup on the back 9.

It was much better: only 1 lost ball (crushed a drive that went through the dogleg and straight into a backyard!), 2 more wins and 7 pushes in Wolf. Overall Wolf results, net loss of $3 – damn!

But back to my game…

I relaxed my hands and that seemed to alleviate the pulls. Shorter irons still needed some help but I had three legitimate birdie putts – even though I didn’t make a single one. I was pleased with the back 9 and shooting a 43, all things considered.

I won’t tell you what I shot on the front – it was worse than that but going into the round, given my layoff I told myself that I’d be happy with an 85. Double the back and it’s 86, so I’m pretty pleased.

Now, it’s Monday morning, 8:30am. I’m at the check-in desk, greeting and talking to members, and watching the rain through the window.

As my mind drifts back to yesterday, I’m thinking it sure would be nice to be playing again.

Even in the rain!

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According to this summary and proponents of vitamin D, yes your risk of cancer (and many other diseases) can be significantly reduced with normal levels of vitamin D.

But what does that have to do with sunlight, you ask?

Good question. After all, cancer institutes, dermatological societies and even sunscreen manufacturers extoll the benefits of sunscreen and limited exposure for skin health. Skin cancer is dangerous and can be fatal. So if sunlight is the main culprit, how can it be helpful?

Our bodies make vitamin D when exposed to the sun. In fact, significant rises can be seen in as little as 15-20 minutes.

But there is a catch…

Get a daily dose without sunscreen…it blocks vitamin D production.

How much exposure? At least 15 minutes and some say up to 1 hr. Any more than that and you will need the sunscreen.

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“Scientists in Indiana are reporting progress toward development of low glycemic and slowly digestible starch, a form of starch that would be less apt to cause the spike in blood sugar – and perhaps sharp hunger pangs – that many individuals experience after eating bread, baked goods, and other high-carbohydrate foods.”

The rest of the summary can be read here.

My only question is why?

I can understand the need for people to consume healthier foods – particularly than those listed in the quote above. But what if we just ate less of that food and more fruits and vegetables, healthier meats and drank more water? What if we just ate grains as they grow in the field?

Look in your pantry. Foods in plastic bags and carboard boxes are loaded with things that used to be good, healthy foods. Take enriched white flour for example. Out in the field, its a perfectly healthy and natural food.

To end up as a cake, bread or other food, it gets processed. The problem with processing is that it removes the good stuff, mainly the fiber, vitamins and minerals. As the end-product food stuff, it’s a plain-old, bland, quickly digesting starch.

Now, based on the objectives of these scientists, a new, more slowly digesting starch is being manufactured. And they’re making progress. I don’t know if I should jump for joy or just ask the question: “What is wrong with this picture?”

If we have a perfectly healthy food, process it and turn it into something that is not good for our digestive system, why do we want to further alter it so that it is better for our digestive system? Before you answer, think about the steps being taken to make the food better.

Is this coming full circle or am I just missing something completely obvious here? Please enlighten me!

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A recent study presented at the Endocrine Society Annual meeting suggested that males over 50 with low testosterone had a 33% greater risk of all-cause mortality than those who had higher levels of testerone. Low testosterone was identified as the lower-limit found in healthy young males.

The study followed 800 men for 18 years on average, a large sample size for a very long period of time. The low testosterone group had the following characteristics:

• higher levels of inflammation markers, which contribute to several forms of cardiovascular disease
• larger waist measurement (greater than 40 inches)
• metabolic syndrome – low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood sugars and hypertension.

Over the 18-year period, men in the low-testosterone group had a 33% greater risk from all-cause mortality than the normal / high testosterone group. This is a stout finding given the characteristics of the study, indicating that even if problems exist in methodology the results are likely portable in more controlled studies.

So what does this mean for you? If you are male, over 50 and taking prescription medication for hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and have a waist over 40 inches, get your testosterone levels checked. If you aren’t taking medication for anything listed above but have any of the symptoms below, get them checked too. Preferably by an MD trained in Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy. The synthetic hormones cranked out by big pharma just don’t seem to work as well.

Other symptoms of low testosterone include:

• reduced quality of sleep
• easier to lose your temper
• lack of drive
• reduced sex drive
• significant decrease in muscle mass
• significant increase in body fat

The symptoms above can happen from time-to-time but persistent appearances indicate something beyond the natural aging process.

If you notice these symptoms, the best thing you can do is, again, have your testosterone levels checked, start an exercise program and modify your diet.

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Here are some links to a few golf-fitness articles I found while doing some reading. Hope you enjoy.

Brian

7 Fitness tips to optimize golf performance

The Golf-gym workout

For you guys with bad thoughts in your head: a day in the life: Natalie Gulbis

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Reading this summary, I felt an urge to blurt out: “No blank, Sherlock!”

A recent study published in JAMA, a leading pillar of medical research dissemination, compared low GI diets with low-fat diets on insulin secretion in high insulin secreters.

On the surface, this appears to be a legitimate research question. Insulin is related to glucose metabolism and given the current state of obesity and type II diabetes in America, this might be something we should know.

However, most people in the medical fields should intuitively know this. The glycemic index of any food indicates the level it raises blood sugar when consumed. The higher the glycemic index, the higher the blood sugar response. For example, twinkies rate rather high on the glycemic index. Consume two or three of them and your blood sugar will spike.

At least for a while. In response, your body will release (secrete) insulin to bring it back down to normal.

If you are a high insulin secreter, you’re either type II diabetic, pre-diabetic or have a non-lifestyle related condition effecting your ability to metabolize blood sugar. You have to secrete more because the insulin you do release is becoming more and more insensitive to blood sugar. When this starts happening, the amount you secrete increases just to get your blood sugar back to normal. Over time your ability to regulate blood sugar becomes difficult and you become type II diabetic. For more info, go here.

But back to the study…

All markers of cardiovascular health were improved following low GI diet when compared to a low-fat diet. Again, this makes perfect sense. You’re not obese or diabetic because you eat a low-fat diet of whole, natural foods. You’re obese or diabetic (even if you eat a low-fat diet) because you are consuming overly-processed foods – cardboard boxes and plastics bags. The fat they contain is not healthy (trans fat) and to increase palatability (here) and shelf-life, sugars and preservatives are added.

The end result is a low-fat food that has a high GI, which increases insulin secretion when consumed. And the cycle continues…

I’ll conclude by saying that as a former academic, I’m well aware the importance peer-reviewed publications play in the tenure process. So in some ways, I understand why this paper was published. Without knowing all the details, I can only hope this paper was part of a larger study with these data points already collected, making the question easy to answer.

Until next time…

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It’s good to be back!

I know, it’s been a while but I have a good excuse – I bought a fitness center.

Unfortunately, that kept me from finishing my journey. But in case you were wondering, I’ve fully recovered and have no ill effects! Now, if I could just find the time to get out on the course.

I’m still deciding on how to best utilize my blog. There certainly will be fitness center updates, videos of workouts and camps and more. You can subscribe to the feed for updates – just use the Atom Syndication below and to your right. Alternatively, you can sign up for Brian’s Report, my golf-fitness newsetter.

One idea I’ve been thinking about are health related posts. I subscribe to several medical news alert services. Nearly everyday I see a headline that makes me scratch my head or simply say “Duh!” I’m thinking about publishing these to the blog 3-4 times per week. Hopefully it will be entertaining and educational for you.

What do you think?

Any ideas?

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