Fit & lean better than fit & fat....

Today's post: Monday, 12-15-2008

For at least a year I’ve known that people who are somewhat too fat or even quite a bit too fat who are able to exercise enough to get stronger and become aerobically fit are MUCH healthier than similar people who don’t.

Further, just in the past few months, researchers have found that people with normal weight on the scales but who do NOT exercise are actually UNDER-weight people who are actually FAT inside where it doesn’t show very much.

Two things follow from these two facts.

1. Even at the beginning of a fat loss lifestyle upgrade that includes eating right and enough of the right kinds of exercise, people who are fat now can gain very rapid improvement in their health and protection from disease EVEN BEFORE THEY SEE MUCH PROGRESS on the scale or tape measure from fat loss.

I like to stress this because it helps people keep up their regular exercise which in turn makes their fat loss success MUCH more likely -- in addition to the more immediate health benefits.

2. You cannot avoid having too much fat on your body if you fail to exercise at all –
even if the scale says you are OK and for sure if there are too many pounds indicated when you weigh yourself.

This means EVERYONE who wants to be healthy, stay that way, avoid unnecessary health care costs, and live a long life while able to enjoy it too, MUST exercise regularly every week.

And, other studies confirm this. A recent study of runners who became regular exercisers if they got too old to run for exercise found that they had better health, less disability, and lower medical care costs in later mid-life, than people who did no exercise at all. And, this was true when they were compared with non-exercisers who were from the economic and education levels!

However, it seems that many people who are too fat but who are still able to exercise and do so have been relying on these facts to avoid eating right or taking other effective action to lose fat.

Even worse, many doctors have been giving their patients this advice.

The good news is that these people and doctors DO have it right that exercise is essential and are to be commended for that part of it. The facts back them up bigtime.

But, are they making a mistake if they think that they can still eat junky fast food &/or drink soft drinks &/or eat a lot of refined grain foods and junk oils and grain fed beef and NOT eat enough vegetables with no health penalty?

My strong guess would be that they are making a serious mistake. Each of those eating practices DO make you fat. They do promote you getting heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Worse, if eating this way causes both type 2 diabetes and heart disease, as it does in many people, it guarantees lots of unnecessary doctor visits and drug purchases and drug side effects AND a shorter life with lower quality of life.

Plus it lowers your ability to work and earn an income. (You’re not doing any useful work when you are seeing your doctor; and trying to work when you feel rotten is like doing it with brakes on.)

So, when I read the article on this subject in last Friday’s Total Health Breakthroughs email that has actual research results in it, I decided to make it the theme of today’s post.

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription,
visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com ."

“Friday, December 12, 2008

Can You Really Be Fit When You're Fat?

By Al Sears, MD

Have you noticed over the past several years that people are starting to get comfortable with the idea of carrying around "a few extra pounds?" I see this a lot in my new patients: the thinking that if you can work out "hard" you can be "fat but fit."

Don't believe it.

Take a recent conversation I had with one of my patients, who I'll call Alice. She's middle-aged. When she came to me she was "a little on the heavy side," as she put it. I told her she really would have to drop the extra pounds to avoid heart disease and other serious health problems.

Her reaction? She dismissed it, insisting she was in great shape. "Dr. Sears, I run 25 miles a week and lead an active lifestyle, so I'm not worried. The last time I went to see a doctor, he said the same thing."

I can understand how people started to embrace this foolish notion. There've been a lot of reports in the press about how "people come in all shapes and sizes"1 and that women aren't at risk for heart disease just because they're heavy, so long as they exercise regularly.

There've even been a few research reports supporting this idea.2 So a lot of doctors believe it -- and pass it on to the women they treat.

The problem is they're dead wrong. Heart disease is still the number one killer of women today. In fact, since 1984 more women have died of heart attacks than men3 -- and exercise alone isn't enough to prevent it if you're above a normal weight.

A groundbreaking new study busts the myth. Researchers in Boston ran one of the largest studies ever on women, obesity, and fitness.4 They tracked the overall health profiles of 39,000 women, with an average age of 54, over a ten-year period. Thirty-four percent exercised regularly, 31 percent were overweight, and 18 percent were obese. None showed signs of heart disease, diabetes, or cancer at the beginning.

But by the end of the study, they found that with regular exercise, heart disease rates were still a lot higher even for women with "a little extra padding." The risk was 54 percent higher for this group and 87 percent higher for active but obese women.

The bottom line is that size matters. You need to stay slim and lean if you want to ward off a heart attack.

The first thing to do is adjust your diet. You can easily switch on your body's natural "fat-burning engine" with a diet rich in lean meats,”…. (preferably organic, grass-fed, and wild-caught,)…. seeds, nuts, and above-ground vegetables…. Avoid all starchy, high-carb foods, including bread, pasta, and cereal -- anything grain-based.

Second, you need the right kind of exercise program to burn fat. Short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest in between are the best way to turn on your fat burning switch.

You'll also need a reliable way to find out if you're lean or not. Don't be fooled by the "Body Mass Index," the tool a lot of fitness experts use. It only compares height against weight, without distinguishing between fat and muscle mass. You can see the problem with this: since muscle is denser than fat, you can technically weigh more and have a high BMI but still be relatively lean.

Body composition will give you a much more accurate measurement of how slim you actually are. Skin calipers are one of the best ways to measure it. You can get them at exercise equipment stores or you can also order them on my website.”
See http://www.alsearsmd.com/ Click on the “Catalog” tab just underneath his picture.

“They come with a simple instruction manual that will show you how to get a good read on how much fat you're carrying.

Another simple method: measure your waist and hip girths. Wrap a tape measure around your waist at your navel and record the number in inches. Next measure the circumference around your hips at their widest point.

Waist girth should be less than your hip girth in both men and women. As a woman, your waist should be 3 or more inches less than your hips in girth for optimum fitness.

Finally, you can grab your skin between your finger and thumb just to the side of your navel and measure the thickness of the skin fold. It should measure less than 1 inch.

References


1. For example, see Jane E. Brody. "Fat But Fit: A Myth About Obesity is Slowly Being Debunked." New York Times. October 24, 2000; and Charmaine Camilleri. "Fit, Fat and Healthy: Researchers are challenging the idea that you need to be a size 10 to be in shape. Heavy people can be fit too." theage.com.au . October 6, 2003.

2. For example, see Sui et al. "Cardiorespiratory fitness and adiposity as mortality predictors in older adults." Journal of the American Medical Association. 2007. 298:2507-2516.

3. "Go Red For Women Day Is Feb. 15." http://chfs.ky.gov/news/chfs021405b.htm, February 15, 2005.

4. Weinstein et al. "The joint effects of physical activity and body mass index on coronary heart disease risk in women." Archives of Internal Medicine. 168:884-890.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, Chairman of the Board of Total Health Breakthroughs, has written over 500 articles and seven books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging, and nutritional supplementation. He's just completed his own appetite suppressant formula that keeps hunger in check without side effects. It's easy to use and you can take it anywhere. Find out how to kick your hunger to the curb here.]” http://www.primalforce.net/nativeslim/

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1. I’m not a great fan of appetite suppressants. But there are two great ways to use one that is safe.

First, if you are unfortunate enough, as many people still are, to work in a place with huge daily amounts of readily available goodies that are horrible for you and fattening too, you may find it hard to eat none.

Dr Sears new product might help with that.

(So can always eating breakfast;
joining Weight Watchers for moral support;
or listening to one of the “Skinny Songs.” See: http://www.skinnysongs.com .)

But the best use of Dr Sears new product may well be if you get the night-time munchies every night. Having his spray to use right by your bed and simply using it and then going back to sleep may really help you avoid a lot of calories.

2. The best fat loss combination is some progressive strength training; AND some interval cardio which is Dr Sears specialty and DOES work, AND some additional gentler but still brisk exercise such as brisk walking outside or on a treadmill.

(This replicates in an ideal way the kind of exercise virtually everyone used to get during the millions of years humans evolved.)

3. You can eat some WHOLE grains if you avoid all the junk you should NOT eat and exercise enough. But even then, eating less – even of whole grains -- will help you lose fat.

Eating health supporting protein foods such as he describes, spices, health supporting oils such as omega 3 oils and monosaturated oils in nuts, avocados, & extra virgin olive oil, and lots of vegetables, for most of your food works best.