Exercise has even MORE health benefits....

Today's Post: Friday, 5-21-2010

Last week, Prevention Magazine posted an article they titled,

“17 Ways Exercise Sends Health Soaring”

Why schedule several sessions of exercise that are doable for you into your week and be sure you do each session 95% of the time or more?

For starters, since recent studies found only 5% of Americans do this.

In my opinion, besides the competing pressures on their time, most of the other 95% neither know how incredibly much exercise actually will do for them or even close. They also don’t know how badly they will suffer from what being sedentary and NOT exercising will otherwise do TO them.

So I thought I’d summarize their 17 points in yesterday’s post.

But, I only had time to do the first 7. So here are the remaining 10.

8. “Slash Cold Risk 33% Build up your body's defenses”

“Moderate exercise doesn't just rev your metabolism--it boosts your immune system, too, helping your body fight off cold bugs and other germs. Women ages 50 to 75 who did 45 minutes of cardio, 5 days a week, had a third as many colds as those who did once-weekly stretching sessions, a University of Washington study found."

Sessions of briefer and more vigorous exercise also work. Regular exercise that you recover from moderately easily of any kind boosts your immune system.

But if you compete in athletics or sometimes train or work out that hard, you will often get LESS immunity. So, if you do either, also take a multivitamin and an additional 3,000 iu a day of vitamin D3. That will make the impact of that kind of physical effort lower your immune system less. The extra vitamin D3 recent research found is quite effective in boosting your immune system’s killer cells that do away with bad bacteria and viruses.

Taking an extra 1,000 to 2,000 mg of vitamin C and a good probiotic supplement have also resulted in getting colds less often.

9. “Improve Vision
Carrots are great, but exercise might be better

What's good for your heart is good for your eyes. An active lifestyle can cut your risk of age-related macular degeneration by up to 70%, according to a British Journal of Ophthalmology study of 4,000 adults. This incurable disease makes reading, driving, and seeing fine details difficult, and it's the most common cause of blindness after age 60.

Do this: Protect your eyes during all outdoor activities (if you're a walker, shoot for a mile a day). Be sure to wear UVA/UVB-blocking sunglasses all year long.“

Wearing a broad-brimmed hat can also help. So does eating blueberries and taking bilberry supplements

10. “Reach the Deep-Sleep Zone
Decent shut-eye is not a far off dream

Say good night to poor sleep. Women age 60 and older who walked or danced for at least an hour, four times a week, woke up half as often and slept an average 48 minutes more a night than sedentary women, according to a study in the journal Sleep Medicine. That is good news for the many women who toss and turn more as they get older. As you age, sleep patterns start shifting, so you spend more of the night in lighter sleep phases, says Shawn Youngstedt, PhD, an assistant professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina.”

Regular exercise works wonders in making it easier to fall asleep and get decent sleep quality.

Since being too fat can cause sleep apnea that trashes restful sleep. If you have excess fat to lose, do be SURE to exercise regularly & also add several kinds of moderate and doable calorie restriction that you practice doing every week.

Don’t drink soft drinks at all; don’t eat things containing high fructose corn syrup or refined grain flour; cut back a good bit on regular sugar; and keep adding nonstarchy vegetables until you eat 3 or more servings a day.

11. “Never Get Diabetes
Walk to keep your blood sugar in check

Walking 2 miles 5 times a week may be more effective at preventing diabetes than running nearly twice as much, report Duke University researchers. Because fat is the primary fuel for moderate exercise, walking may better improve the body's ability to release insulin and control blood sugar.

Do this: Start a walking program” the Prevention article suggests.

Do it if you can find time for it. But much shorter sessions of strength training and/or interval cardio also work well. In one study even two one minute sets of interval cardio a day lowered blood sugar as measured by the very accurate HBA1C test.

12. “Eliminate Belly Bloat
Shrink the muffin top

The next time you feel puffy around the middle, resist the urge to stay put. A study from Spain's Autonomous University of Barcelona suggests that mild physical activity clears gas and alleviates bloating. That's because increasing your heart rate and breathing stimulates the natural contractions of the intestinal muscles, helping to prevent constipation and gas buildup by expediting digestion.

Do this: Walk or pedal lightly on a bike until you feel better. “

You can also get this effect with running or jumping rope or jumping on a minitrampoline.

Losing belly fat can be done also. But you need more exercise to do it. And, you need to do well on eating right with some calorie restriction for it to work at all.

13. “Clear Out Brain Fog
Build your mental muscle

Exercise is linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease among older people; now, new research shows it can prevent brain fog at a much younger age too. Japanese researchers assigned sedentary young adults to two groups; one took aerobic exercise classes, and the other did not. After 4 months, MRIs revealed that the nonexercising group experienced shrinkage of gray matter in some areas of the brain, while the active participants had no change.

Do this: Try a new fitness routine, or sign up for a new class at the gym. Besides the obvious benefit of getting a workout, trying something fresh can help stimulate the growth of brain cells.”

Virtually all exercises grow new brain cells. Strength training and interval cardio also release growth hormone to your whole body.

And, eating a heart protective diet such as the DASH II or Mediterranean diets plus taking certain supplements AND doing regular exercise sharply increase blood flow to your brain. It then tends to work a LOT better and be much more likely to keep working.

Taking both at least 2,000 iu of vitamin D3 and taking a curcumin or turmeric supplement every day and eating curried foods several times a week cuts your chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease dramatically.

So does taking omega 3 supplements, particularly DHA.

14. “Save Your Heart
Reduce dangerous inflammation

Sedentary, obese women age 50 and older who began exercising lowered their levels of C-reactive protein-an inflammatory blood marker linked to heart disease-by 10% after 1 year, found research recently published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. “

See our other posts for the many other ways to lower inflammation.

15. “Add Years to Your Life
Stay healthy and active for years to come

Being physically fit can actually change how your body works. Vigorous exercisers have longer telomeres-cellular biomarkers that shorten as we age-compared with healthy adults who rarely work out.”

The end result has been tested recently and the research was published. Regular exercisers look younger and live longer than the very similar people who don’t do any regular exercise at all. And, the effect is quite large -- the exercisers lived more than 10 years longer on the average.

16. “Ease Your Ailments
Heal your body with yoga

Yoga has a well-earned reputation as a surefire stress reducer (particularly when combined with meditation), and new studies show the simple stretching regimen can also help treat and prevent a number of other ailments, from back pain to diabetes. Other research reveals regular yoga practice can put an end to mindless eating by creating an outlet for emotions that can lead to binging. Unfortunately, less than 15% of women over age 35 say they do yoga frequently, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. “

Tai Chi also works to lower stress and ease joint pain; it increases your ability to control your body and be physically coordinated; it burns more calories than yoga usually; and the injury rate for Tai Chi is MUCH less than for yoga. With yoga, it’s quite common to get injured from overdoing the stretches. Besides muscle and tendon injuries people injure their backs doing yoga.

Our recommendation is to either do Tai Chi instead OR be extremely careful and gentle ONLY if you do yoga stretches and positions.

17. “Survive Breast Cancer
Increase your defenses against the disease

Exercise not only reduces breast cancer risk, it can also save your life if you're diagnosed. Overweight women who were exercising more than 3 hours a week before they were diagnosed were 47% less likely to die than those who exercised less than a half hour per week.”


The Prevention article closed with this.:

“Do this: Sneak in mini bouts of exercise. Take a quick walk when you get the morning paper, hit the stairs before lunch, or knock out a few pushups and crunches while watching TV. Just two to three 10-minute workouts a day is enough to fill your quota for the week.”

If you do it regularly, even starting with three five minute sessions of exercise a WEEK will get you started and is WAY better than no exercise at all.

That’s particularly true if the sessions are vigorous strength training such as doing as many pushups as you can until you can’t do the next one and then doing 100 crunches or doing an interval cardio exercise such as several 30 second rounds of jumping rope. You do have to begin where you are and add more gradually. But you can literally start only able to do one or two push ups and build up to doing over 40 or 50. The same is true of crunches or jumping rope.

One woman who used Dr Sears’ advice began with ONE set of a 45 second walk! She gradually improved until she did enough more in each session to lose 45 pounds!

3 key ways to keep your health....

Today's post: Monday, 1-5-2009

We’ve done several posts on key ways to protect your health or to live longer.

But a recent health article In Early to Rise had two key ways to protect your health that I decided to do a post on and comment on and add a third one that is as important if not more so.

Here’s the ETR article first from their 12-31-2008 issue.

"This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com."

“Make 2009 Your Best Year Ever - Resolution #9:
Improve Your Health in 2 Simple Steps

By Jon Herring

Happy New Year’s Eve! I hope you are taking the time to set some goals and make plans for the year ahead.

Considering the turmoil in the economy, I understand if your primary concerns are to protect your wealth, boost your earning power, and increase your financial independence. But if you want to achieve all of that (and certainly if you want to enjoy it), you must also focus on your health.

When your mental and physical health are in top form, your thinking improves… you have more creativity and energy… you are more confident… your relationships get stronger… and your success is an inspiration to those around you.

When your health is at its best, your skin maintains its youthful appearance. You have fewer aches and pains. Your immune system protects you from illness. And your body naturally sheds fat, leaving a leaner, fitter you staring back from the mirror.

So I urge you to make the strongest commitment to regaining or maintaining your health and fitness this year. The great news is that it is not complicated and it doesn’t require toil and sacrifice. In this article, I will share with you two very simple things you can do that will make a PROFOUND impact.

It doesn’t matter whether your goal is to lose weight… heal a condition… reduce pain and inflammation … improve your appearance… have more energy and stamina… live longer… break free of prescription drugs… or just feel well again… the following two steps will help you achieve it!

Step #1 - Eat a Low-Glycemic Diet

The first and most important step you should take is to strictly limit the amount of sugar and high-glycemic carbohydrates in your diet. Carbs that are high on the glycemic index are rapidly converted to glucose in your system. This raises your blood sugar levels and requires a rush of insulin to shuttle the glucose molecules into the muscles where they can be used as fuel.

Here’s why that is a bad thing: Perpetually elevated blood sugar and insulin levels lead to premature aging, wide swings in mood and energy, reduced immunity, and chronic inflammation. Not to mention a much higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s and more.

Insulin is also the hormone that controls fat storage. If you want to convert your body to a perpetual fat-burning state, you must keep your insulin and blood sugar levels low. For many people, controlling insulin levels by eating a low-glycemic diet can produce nearly effortless weight loss.

High-glycemic foods that you should limit or avoid include starchy carbohydrates - potatoes, flour, rice, pasta, corn, cereal, bread and other grain products (even whole grains), and baked goods. If you can’t live without bread, tortillas, and cereal, look for Ezekiel 4:9 organic sprouted grain products made by Food for Life. They are all low-glycemic and taste great.

You should also strictly limit the amount of sugar in your diet. In one form or another, sugar is in most foods. And it is a primary culprit in our epidemics of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Read the labels and try to avoid anything with more than 10 grams per serving.

And don’t use artificial sweeteners. They can damage your health - and there are better alternatives. If you wish to sweeten foods and drinks or make your own desserts at home, use sweeteners like erythritol and stevia (or agave nectar, in moderation).

With these all-natural ingredients, you can make low-glycemic desserts that are perfectly healthy and taste even better than those made with sugar.

Step #2 - Balance Your Omega-3 to Omega-6 Ratio

The second highly important step you must take to improve your health and longevity, lose weight, and slow down the aging process is to balance your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.

Omega-3s and omega-6s are known as essential fatty acids. They are essential to every cell in your body, and they must be consumed in your diet. Your body cannot manufacture them. However, while omega-6 fats are essential in small amounts, they actually promote disease when consumed in unnaturally large amounts.

Based on our evolutionary history, the ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in the diet is 1:1. Our ancestors evolved over millions of years eating that way. However, our modern diet has skewed the ratio significantly.

A hundred years ago, the average American ate less than one pound of vegetable oil per year. Today, the average American eats more than 75 pounds of these polyunsaturated omega-6 fats each year. So, instead of the ideal 1:1 ratio, most people consume anywhere from 20 to 50 times more omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids!

This is a prescription for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cataracts, infertility, skin wrinkles, and much more. The twofold solution is very simple:

• First, reduce - as much as possible - the omega-6 fatty acids in your diet.

Strictly limit vegetable and seed oils - corn oil, soy, canola, safflower, and sunflower oils. You should also avoid fried and processed foods. Potato chips, baked goods, salad dressings, margarine, shortening, etc. all contain vegetable oils and high levels of omega-6 fats.

Replace any vegetable oils you currently use with extra virgin olive oil, organic grass-fed butter, and organic unrefined coconut oil.

Conventionally raised meats are also much higher in omega-6 fatty acids than meat from animals raised on their natural diet. Cattle raised on corn, for example, have a much, much higher ratio of omega-6 fatty acids in their meat than cattle raised on a natural diet of grass. Grass-fed beef is generally very rich in beneficial omega-3s. Buy organic, naturally raised meats whenever possible. (U.S. Wellness Meats is a multi-family run business that takes great care of their customers.)

• Second, boost your intake of omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in very few foods, which is why most of the population is deficient. This is a shame, because omega-3s are one of the most beneficial nutrients in the human diet. Hundreds of published studies show that optimal omega-3 levels can greatly improve your overall health, optimize your weight, increase your energy, and help you retain mental function as you age. Omega-3s also reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and depression. And they can be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, hyperactivity, diabetes, digestive disorders, and a host of other conditions.

While you can get omega-3s from flaxseeds and walnuts, these plant sources contain only the fatty acid ALA. The best omega-3 fats are those found in fish - DHA and EPA. Your brain is highly dependent on DHA. Low DHA levels have been linked to depression, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Wild Alaskan salmon (not farm-raised) is one of the best food sources of these fats. But your best bet is to take a fish oil (not cod liver oil) supplement. I recommend Carlson’s Lemon Flavored. I find it’s easier to take from the bottle, rather than swallowing capsules.

That’s it!

1. Eat a low glycemic diet, and

2. Balance your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.

And you will have taken two of the most important steps toward a lean, fit body and a lifetime of health.

Of course, that’s not all there is to it. You should also break a sweat on a regular basis. You should eat a varied, natural diet of whole foods, and avoid chemicals and preservatives. Drink plenty of purified water every day. And allow your body to rest peacefully at night.

It doesn’t matter what your age or prior bad habits… or how overweight and unhealthy you might feel at the moment. You can experience a higher level of fitness and the profound sense of well-being that comes with it - and you can accomplish it this year!

Make 2009 the healthiest and most successful year of your life!

[Ed. Note: Following Health Editor Jon Herring's recommendations isn't difficult - and it can have a profound effect on your life. But don't worry. It doesn't mean eating boring, tasteless food. You can enjoy low-glycemic desserts that are delicious and healthy with the help of Jon's wife, Kelley. A nutrition expert herself, Kelley Herring has created Guilt-Free Desserts - a book full of easy-to-make, mouthwateringly delicious, 100% healthy recipes you can make at home. ….]”

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Following Jon’s first step will help you prevent being too fat and getting type 2 diabetes and help prevent both age onset mental decline and Alzheimer’s disease. It also can help you lose excess fat you already have or fight back if you get type II diabetes.

Following Jon’s second step will help you avoid extra aches and pains; recover from injuries more easily; and strongly reduce your risk of heart and other cardiovascular diseases by reducing your triglyceride level. (So does his step one and my step three below.)

My step 3 that he mentions briefly is as important as his two steps so I thought it should be included here.:

Step 3 Get regular exercise every week.

(Progressive strength training and interval cardio every week is ideal.)

Doing this adds to all of the benefits of the first two steps! In addition, this kind of regular exercise has been shown to help you live many more healthy years and live longer. And, it reliably improves the sex lives of both men AND women.

Such exercise is particularly good at triggering growth hormones and sex hormones. And it strongly helps you prevent or treat type 2 diabetes, avoid being too fat, and increases your HDL level, which combined with lowering your triglycerides, sharply lowers your risk of heart disease.

By doing all three steps, you can dramatically improve and strongly protect your health.

There are many other things you can do from not smoking or being around people while they smoke to always using a seat belt, but these 3 steps combined have astonishing power.

My other comments.:

I know someone with type 2 diabetes. All refined grain foods spike her blood sugar as measured by her actual blood sugar levels right after eating them. Unfortunately do most whole grain breads. Old fashioned cooked oatmeal does not do so. AND, except for their raisin bread, none of the Ezekiel 4:9 organic sprouted grain products made by Food for Life spike her blood sugar. Her blood tests prove it. (Ezekiel 4:9 organic sprouted grain products made by Food for Life are sold at Whole Food Markets.)

Make a strong special effort to avoid all refined grain foods. They spike your blood sugar more than sugar itself and contain omega 6 oils. So avoiding all refined grain foods helps you do both Jon’s step one and step two.

And, the foods made with refined grain foods often have added sugar, salt, omega 6 oils and sometimes even transfats. Plus they are often served with other foods that have such ingredients or with soft drinks.

So by eating some whole grain foods and abundant “real” foods such as vegetables and some wild caught fish and beef fed only grass instead, you will follow Jon’s two steps AND have much less excess body fat. You’ll also be far less likely to get type 2 diabetes or heart disease.

To follow Jon’s step’s 1 & 2, it also helps a lot to avoid ALL soft drinks. Regular soft drinks spike your blood sugar and fatten you WITHOUT making you less hungry. And, diet soft drinks have all the additives of regular soft drinks plus artificial sweeteners and make you much MORE hungry for food with real sugar. Both kinds of soft drinks make you fat and sick if you drink more than one or two a week as all too many people do now. And, since you will likely drink more than that if you drink any, my suggestion is to never drink them at all.

Clean water, water with carbonation only (“club soda”), tea, green tea, coffee, and real fruit juice in moderation are all dramatically better for you than soft drinks.

Also, extra virgin olive oil, olive oil, avocados and nuts if you are not allergic are a health OK or even health positive substitute for oils high in omega 6. They keep your HDL high and LDL low. And they have other health benefits. Using them instead of omega 6 oils or butter or margarine will both help you follow Jon’s step 2 and protect your health in several other ways.

Lastly, any health supporting efforts you do will be magnified in how much good they do you if you exercise well and safely every week. That’s why I decided to add doing that as a step 3 in the key ways to keep your health.

Beat the fat gene & lose fat anyway....

Today's post: Monday, 9-15-2008

When the research came out that many people of European ancestry have a “fat” gene that tends to make them overeat & get fat, I saw a key in the research report on how to overcome it and be trim anyway. I then the did my own post on using that information, “Exercise turns off excessive hunger….” -- on: Friday, 8-29-2008.

Today I got an email from Jon Benson who HAS the fat gene & is very trim and NOT fat anyway. He is a legitimate expert on fat loss that works. He had to become one to get rid of his own fat problem.

It has some of his take on this issue and lists some of the resources he has written himself or recommends. So, I though I’d post it today.

“F I T | 3 6 5 The New Daily Fitness + Health E-Zine
From Bestselling Author Jon Benson

Sent by Permission Only September 13, 2008

Today's Topics:

1. Bad News: You May Have The Fat-Gene
2. Good News: Researchers are Nuts
3. Another "Taste Better" Tip


---------------------------------------------------------------------- |

Bad News: You May Have The Fat-Gene

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |

Ah, the "Fat-Gene." Yep, I have it. You probably do too.

It's called the FTO Gene. Researchers estimate that up to 30% of those from
European decent have FTO.

FTO is just flat-out nasty. It is an obesity "allele", which just means that it
is a part of a gene structure that is associated with weight-gain.

FTO is also associated with an increased chance of Type 2 Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, and other disease states. However, these states are secondary to weight-gain. This means weight-gain is a major trigger for these disease states to begin.

No kidding. Who'd thunk it?

Oh, there's more: FTO was found to jack appetite through the roof after rats were
deprived of food for a while.

So... let me get this straight:

1. This gene makes someone eat more after they starve themselves.

2. This gene is associated with obesity and disease states caused by weight-
gain... which is...

3. Always the result of starving yourself.

I'm just trying to paint a picture here folks and to avert some needless panic.

Let me give you an alternative hypothesis:

1. Yes, genes have something to do with weight-gain and bodyfat, etc.

2. But most people who were tested for these genetic factors probably tried
some form of starvation dietplan long before Mr. Researcher called them into
the clinic.

3. As a result, this FTO sucker triggered the extremely well-researched
"fight or flight" response to starvation, which ...

4. ...bingo...caused our test subjects to gain bodyweight.

Ta-da.

This is no different than the genetic traits that make someone more likely to
smoke or drink or like pop music. He/she STILL has to start the process, and that
means he or she can stop it.

So, want to turn "off" your FTO?

* STOP STARVING YOURSELF *

You do not need to starve. You need to eat smart. I am only moderately hungry at night even when getting into super lean condition. I eat many times a day or (if eating higher-fat) 2-3 times and I'm always eating plenty of food.

Turn off FTO by turning ON your body's natural need for frequent, healthy food.

My friend Christopher Guerriero wrote a killer book on this subject. It is like The
Bible of Metabolic Power.

Read about it here – “

[Oops, Jon’s link failed; but Amazon.com has these 3 works by this author. :

1. Maximize Your Metabolism: Double Your Metabolism in Thirty Days or Less by Christopher Guerriero (Hardcover - Mar 1, 2004)
10 Used & new from $9.94

2. Christopher Guerriero Interviewed by Randy Gilbert on The Inside Success Show by Randy Gilbert and Christopher Guerriero (Digital - Sep 1, 2006) - Download: PDF Buy: $19.97 Available for download now

3. Fitness Book: Fatness to Fitness - Former Fat Kid Reveals His Most Powerful Personal Strategies and Techniques to Help You Quickly and Safely Achieve Permanent Fitness Success by Joey Atlas (Paperback - May 22, 2008)

“Christopher knows his stuff. He's an expert in the field of bio-nutrition and human
metabolism, and he's in killer shape at 44.

Stoke the furnace -- and turn off your fat-gene. It just takes a bit of smart eating and a willingness to ignore most of what the media tries to sell you.

Good News: Researchers are Nuts

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |

More on FTO -- and this one really deserves the "why on earth did some university grant
this guy a PhD?" award.

The headline read:

"Fat-Gene Can Be Conquered IF You Exercise
3-4 Hours Per Day!"

I won't even bore you with the details of this ridiculous study, but suffice to say they went so far as to look at the Amish lifestyle as an 'answer' of sorts to the FTO issue.

"Gardening, housecleaning, yard work...all of these count."

Okay, show of hands: How many of you do plenty of EACH and are still not where you
want to be body-wise?

All of you?

That's what I thought.

Look, all the super-moderate activity in the world is not going to help anyone turn
off any fat-gene.

Short, intense exercise will. A realistic nutrition plan (like mine, or the ones
detailed in Christopher's book) will.

Common sense will.

You do NOT need 3-4 hours of exercise a day to be healthy any more than you need
3-4 hours of investing each day to be rich.

You need SMART exercise (and smart investing for that matter.) It's not an
issue of time, it's an issue of intensity and focus.

The links at the bottom of this newsletter are to my books, all of which answer the
question: "How can I get the most done in the least amount of time?"

I'm all for an hour of walking a day, only because it's great for you and I love it.
But to suggest anyone needs 3-4 hours of measly activity a day is damn silly.

7-21 minutes of intense activity (that is safe for you) and 30-60 minutes of
moderately brisk walking (or an equal measure of exercise) is all you need to be
in SUPER shape, let alone healthy.

I made the case in "7 Minute Muscle" and thousands are listening:

7 Minute Muscle Freee Report: http://www.7minutemuscle.com/

Perhaps these researchers never met guys like me, Clarence Bass, Richard Winett, or
any of the thousands of real- world experts who stay lean and healthy without 3-4 hours
a day of activity.

And we have "the fat-gene"... at least I do. So there.

And that means you can do it too.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |

Another "Taste Better" Tip

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |

I have no problems with egg yolks at all. But some people are allergic to the AA
(arachidonic acid) found in them.

Here's a solution: Almonds.

True, almonds contain ALA which can be converted to AA, but many people find that
this conversion process is long enough to delay immediate allergic reactions.”

“….But more than that, almonds provide one of
the key factors in my EODD 2.0 eating plan:

CRUNCH.

Crunch is vital to both the taste and pleasure of the food you consume. Adding
crunch can make the difference between feeling as if you're eating cat food or
caviar.

Here's what I do:

-- Use only egg whites
-- Use a small bit of raw honey
-- Use a half-teaspoon of olive oil
-- Use 10 almonds

The taste is incredible -- better than with
the yolks. I've increased my fiber with the
almonds, and I've increased the nutrient
profile of the meal.

And... it's yummy. Try it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |

Conclusion

---------------------------------------------------------------------- |

Thanks for the kind words about my
last newsletter! Stay fit, and stay tuned...

Yours in Fitness,

J O N B E N S O N

Author, Fit Over 40
--- > Fit Over 40 Success Stories http://www.fitover40.com/

Author, 7 Minute Muscle
--- > 7 Minute Muscle Freee Report http://www.7minutemuscle.com/

Author, Every Other Day Diet
--- > Every Other Day Diet Plan http://www.everyotherdaydiet.com/about.php


P.S. Don't forget to check out this website
for turning off the fat-gene.

Turn Off Fat-Gene” :” (See that info above on Amazon.)

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Starting with Jon’s last point first. If you aren’t allergic to the almonds in the recipe he suggests, try it with the dry roasted, unsalted bulk almonds from Whole Food Market. That would make it really crunchy.

You can also use chopped onion instead of honey for a more savory approach. He doesn’t specify cooking it; but by using the olive oil or a touch more of it, the chopped onion version would work well.

And, if you do not get a bad reaction to egg yolks, as a great tasting fat loss recipe high in protein and even higher in nutrients and its capacity to boost your HDL level, you can also use whole eggs.

Most of the fat loss methods Jon uses are the same as those we’ve posted on. (I do not believe in his ideas on “cleansing”; but virtually everything else he describes, I fully support.) His other methods certainly worked well for him. And, the evidence it that they work for virtually everyone who uses them.

But, there are many variations of eating right and exercising well enough to cause permanent fat loss. If you’d like to see over a dozen real life versions to find one that might be the best fit for you, or you just need some success stories of real people who actually got great results, his Fit Over 40 book has exactly that.

And, his idea, which he says works & has worked for many people, of eating right every other day is one some people might find more doable, particularly at first.

Restricting SUGAR lowers high blood pressure….

Today's post: Thursday, 8-28-2008

As some of you read in our earlier posts, we are about to publish an eBook that reveals the methods that have been tested to work to lower high blood pressure & that do NOT use drugs.

(We'll announce that here when it's ready.)

One of the really nice things about these methods is that virtually all of them also provide abundant protection to your health in addition to lowering high blood pressure. That way you get both the lower blood pressure AND the health protection that you are trying to lower your blood pressure to achieve.

(This will also help many people to avoid the nasty side effects of the drugs that lower high blood pressure.)

And, in several places we recommend that you avoid high glycemic & fattening foods & nonfoods such as high fructose corn syrup, refined grain foods, and to minimize eating real sugar. We also strongly recommend avoiding most commercially produced snacks & baked goods that are made from those foods.

This protects your health. And just from the lower amount of excess fat you’ll carry, it will lower your blood pressure compared with what it would be if you kept eating this stuff.

We also point out that you need to take action to protect your health & lower the readings if your fasting glucose goes over 99 or your HBA1C goes over about 5.8. And we give methods that work to do this including the foods to avoid just listed.

And, we also list the abundant evidence that shows that eating a lot of fruit and vegetables that are high in potassium and taking enough magnesium PLUS keeping total salt to about 1500 mg a day lowers blood pressure effectively.

Doing that set of things even lowers blood pressure a bit in people with OK readings in the 120 over 80 range. And, it definitely lowers blood pressure that’s high and helps keep your blood pressure from going up.

In addition, about 30 percent of black people in the Americas whose ancestors survived coming to the Americas without adequate water to drink during their voyage and 10 or 15 percent of other groups are salt sensitive. And for all those people, salt restriction is even more effective and important to protect their health and keep their blood pressure at desirable levels.

It’s also worth noting that the commercially produced snacks & baked goods that are made from refined grains and sugar and high fructose corn syrup that we suggest lowering to keep your blood sugar levels down also contain enough salt that avoiding them can cut the salt intake by more than half in many people who still eat them now & who stop eating them.

So, as you can see, we do suggest limiting salt because of these facts. But we also suggest limiting sugar & eliminating refined grains & the junky foods made from them.

We did not however, have the information that limiting sugar & eliminating refined grains & the junky foods made from them directly lowers blood pressure also.

That made me intensely interested an article in last Tuesday’s Total Health Breakthroughs.

It not only says that lowering sugars and other high glycemic carbohydrates lowers blood pressure directly and effectively, it has evidence this may be even more important to do than restricting salt for many people.

(By the way, restricting salt has such a strong track record, we still recommend restricting salt in addition to restricting excessive sugar & high glycemic carbohydrates. It helps that the commercially made snacks and baked goods we suggest hardly ever eating have both.)

Here’s the article itself.:

"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"

Rethinking Sodium Restriction for High Blood Pressure

By Laura LaValle, RD, LD

If you have high blood pressure, you more than likely have been told to try to lose weight and to reduce your sodium intake. But have you ever been told to reduce your sugar and starch intake? More than likely you haven't. In fact, some people in the medical community believe that it's a myth that high carb intake can contribute to insulin resistance and high blood pressure. What a disappointment.

Many studies over the last decade have shown improvements in blood pressure as a byproduct of low carb diets. However, not many studies have looked specifically at blood pressure as an endpoint on a low carb diet. One study completed in 2003 and reported to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists in 2006, found that changing the diet to reduce insulin secretion resulted in a drop in diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) from 96 to 88.5 mmHg after six weeks.1-2

The diet used in this study was a low carb, high fat and animal protein diet. The only dietary restriction was sugar and starch, the two food groups that elicit the highest insulin secretion. There was no calorie or sodium restriction on the diet.

Although the study's lead researcher stated that they discouraged the participants from consuming too many high sodium processed meats like hot dogs and bacon, some participants ignored that advice and in so doing were consuming as many as 20 grams of sodium per day. (Current medical guidelines are to try to eat no more than 2.3 grams [2300 mg] of sodium per day.)

Despite increased sodium intake, blood pressure came down, and that's not the only thing. Fasting blood glucose and insulin, triglycerides, and VLDL all came down -- and there was an average of 12 pounds of weight loss. And finally, there were positive effects on LDL -- the particle size increased. (Larger particle size LDL is not as likely to become plaque in the arteries as small particle LDL.)

Participants were all patients who were overweight, had elevated blood pressure and blood sugar, and were considered to be at very high risk for heart disease and strokes. By the end of the six weeks, some patients were able to stop their high blood pressure and blood sugar medications altogether, and others were able to reduce their dosages.

This finding led the authors to conclude that medicine needs to stop paying so much attention to sodium and more attention to insulin as the cause of high blood pressure. You would think that news like this would travel fast, yet I have found that almost no one has heard of it.

Those of you who regularly read my husband Jim's and my articles, know that we are big advocates for low carb diets. I just want you to know that in reducing your carb intake, you are not only choosing a diet that is good for your weight, your lipids, and blood sugar, you are benefiting from one of the most powerful ways to reduce blood pressure as well. And by making that change you don't need to be nearly as strict with the salt shaker.

References

Abdul-Rahman, M et al. Abstract 201, Endocr Pract. 2006; 12(Suppl. 2), 50.
Hays JH et al. Mayo Clin Proc. 2003:78; 1331-1336.

[Ed. Note: Laura B. LaValle, RD, LD is presently the director of dietetics nutrition at LaValle Metabolic Institute (formerly part of Living Longer Institute). She offers personal nutritional counseling at LMI for clients who need help with their diet in relation to illness or disease. Laura also provides educational services in the areas of health promotion, wellness, and disease prevention…..]”

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This is good news indeed in many respects.

But the important news is how effective lowering bad carbs turned out to be in lowering high blood pressure.

I’ve not seen the study but the average reduction they got in the “diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) from 96 to 88.5” suggests that as a group these people started at about 162 over 96 and wound up at about 151 over 89.

That’s still too high for the best health protection, which is why we recommend salt restriction and several other methods to get further reductions as well.

But it does produce enough of an improvement it may help many of these people avoid or get off of blood pressure drugs.

Virtually all doctors will write a prescription for blood pressure drugs if they see readings of 162 over 96 & above. Research shows this lowers death rates. So that’s as it should be.

But they hope to get the resulting blood pressure to 150 over 80 or below with the drugs. So 151 over 89 is close enough to that, they may be a good bit more willing to have someone with those readings or a bit less work at lowering them without drugs.

And, all these these improvements reported in this study are extremely heart protective.

Eating a diet with at least moderate levels of health OK protein foods and fats including whole eggs, wild caught fish, beef fed only grass, and extra virgin olive oil & avocados is one good way to get or keep high HDL levels. Though the fats and protein foods in this study may not have been as good for the people as that, they probably did at least maintain or increase their HDL levels.

And, combining that with the lower triglycerides reported in this study is direct proof that the amount of the heart harmful small particle LDL they had in their blood went down.

So, that improvement plus the lower blood pressure means that the low carb diet did indeed improve their protection from heart attacks and strokes.

That’s nice to know.

Avoid simple carbohydrates to protect your heart....

Today's post: Thursday, 6-12-2008

It used to be that the recommendation to avoid heart disease was to eat a low fat diet that was very low in saturated fat.

As we posted on recently, some restriction on eating saturated fat from animals does protect your health.

But there are some new additions that make an enormous difference in how well that works to protect you.

The amount of the harmful LDL the saturated fat converts to in your body is controlled by how high your blood glucose is & whether or not you exercise regularly and do other things to increase your HDL levels.

(The tiny particle kind of LDL that goes into the molecular chinks in your blood vessel walls, particularly if it becomes oxidized, is the kind that we now know causes heart & cardiovascular disease.)

If you do enough regular exercise & eat health OK protein & fats and unstarchy vegetables for most of your food & carefully avoid most simple carbohydrates, your HDL will be high & your triglycerides & blood glucose readings will be desirably low.

This keeps your total LDL cholesterol readings down to some degree. But the really important thing is that it forces the bad kind of LDL to be very, very low.

This works even better if you get progressive strength training and interval cardio exercise each week & totally avoid the worst simple carbohydrates or high glycemic load foods.

Here’s a recent Early to Rise article on this. I’ll add my comments after it.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

“The Diet That Cardiologists Are Being Urged to Recommend

By James B. LaValle, RPh, MS, ND, CCN

What would you do if you were a researcher and you realized that a diet that had been accepted for years is all wrong? Would you write letters and more letters, urging your colleagues to be aware that research is showing the need for a change? That is exactly what some of the country's top researchers have been doing, including Dr. Walter Willett (who chairs Harvard's Department of Nutrition) and Dr. Frank B. Hu.

Research has clearly shown that the low-fat and low-cholesterol diet that many doctors have been recommending since the late 1980s has done almost nothing to prevent heart disease. Meanwhile, scientists have discovered that a diet with high levels of carbohydrates, specifically those with a high glycemic index and load, is hard on the heart.

Studies as far back as the 1940s show that low-carb diets are effective for fat loss. And epidemiological studies from the 1970s showed a correlation between high carbohydrate intake and the risk of coronary heart disease. But those results were ignored, because everyone thought fat was the lone culprit.

Low-carb diets have now been validated in study after study - not only for weight management, but to control insulin and glucose elevations. This means they are also very effective for controlling Type II diabetes and hypertension. And that is why researchers and some members of the medical community are urgently calling for a change. But will anyone hear them?

A diet that is higher in good fats (not harmful trans-fats) and protein but lower in high glycemic index and high glycemic load foods is the diet that is best for lowering what is now being called cardio-metabolic risk. This new term implies what I and other ETR experts have been teaching for years. The best way to control your weight and reduce your risk of diabetes and coronary disease is to control your glycemic response.

If you haven't yet gotten serious about a low-carb approach to health, it is time for a change.

[Ed. Note: By modifying your diet, medications, lifestyle, and exercise habits, and with nutritional supplementation, your health is largely in your control. James B. LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN - the founder of the LaValle Metabolic Institute and a nationally recognized expert on natural therapies - has come up with an approach to health that has worked for thousands of patients…..]”

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Foods that boost your blood sugar the worst, even more than sugar, include all refined grain foods, high fructose corn syrup, white rice, & white potatoes without the skin.

The glycemic load of your diet is found by multiplying the blood sugar boosting rate, or glycemic index, of the food by the amount of the food you actually eat.

And, the glycemic index of a food when you eat it is influenced by what you eat it with. If you eat it with healthy fats & proteins & fiber the effective glycemic index of the food is lowered & the blood sugar boost you get & its speed is lowered.

Interestingly, straight sugar is only moderately high in glycemic index. But if you eat a lot of it every day, its glycemic load in your diet will be high.

The good news is that you can eat a wide variety of good tasting foods that are low in glycemic load. And, if you only eat it a few times a month in small amounts AND exercise regularly, you can even get away with some real sugar.

The bad news is that at least half the foods that the average person in the United States eats now, have the ingredients in the list above that you are well advised to simply NEVER eat.

And, you have to not buy about that many of the food items in most grocery stores today to avoid those ingredients.

One secret is to buy organic nonstarchy vegetables, health OK fats like extra virgin olive oil, health OK protein foods like beef fed only grass or walnuts for most of your food.

Fresh fruit, real fruit juice with NO sugar or high fructose corn syrup added, nonfat & very low fat dairy all are OK but since their glycemic load is higher, you have to keep your intake down to moderate levels.

Low moderate intake of whole grain foods can be OK. But you have to be careful not to overdo the amount you eat of these foods as they have nearly the glycemic index of sugar.

And, if you have fat you need to lose, the low carb people are right, you need to eat even less.

Unfortunately, the list of packaged foods that have refined grains, high fructose corn syrup, or excessive sugar is astonishingly long.

If it comes in a package, to avoid this stuff, you absolutely must read the label.

It used to be that foods were sweetened with sugar. Some foods still are. But a majority of packaged foods in your local supermarket are sweetened now with high fructose corn syrup.

Jam, jelly, regular soft drinks, ice cream, ketchup, snack foods, breakfast cereals, even some peanut butter, are sweetened today with high fructose corn syrup.

Most breads, and virtually all snack foods, breakfast cereals, & commercial baked goods are made with refined grain.

Your health & your heart health will be MUCH better; & you will be a good bit less fat, if you totally stop buying and eating these foods.

The good news is that if enough people do this, our health & health insurance costs will be lowered by the cost of the illnesses people no longer get.

And, grocery stores & food companies will make more health OK choices available to us.

But if you do this, the health benefits & protection you get are virtually immediate.

To lose fat, upgrade your lifestyle....

Today's post: Monday, 2-25-2008

Most people in the United States are too fat.

(I do enough things in this post better than many people that I’m as much as 50 or 60 pounds lighter than I easily could be. But that includes me still. My weight is close to what it should be. But I still eat a bit too many grains; & get too little strength training and total exercise.)

And, as the sedentary lifestyle & United States style eating become more common, this is increasingly true of people in other countries as well. And, there are statistics now to prove it.

But, except for doing sedentary work, you can upgrade your lifestyle in ways that allow you to escape from this problem.

Here are five upgrades that will help most people lose a lot of fat.

None of them are actually too hard to do as none of them force you to go hungry AT ALL. And, if you need to do all five and make the upgrades, you’ll lose fat like it is being peeled off.

1. Soft drinks. The data is in. Drinking soft drinks makes you fat. Drinking diet soft drinks makes you fatter because it apparently acts as an appetite increaser.

So, if you drink soft drinks at all now, if you upgrade your life and stop doing it, you may well lose more than 10 % of your current body weight without any further effort. And, you will NOT feel hungrier than you do now. In fact, the evidence is you may feel LESS hunger given that you keep the other foods you eat about the same. Not bad !!

The upgrade is to switch to water, tea, green tea, or coffee if you drink it without added sugar & either black or with just a bit of milk or lowfat milk. Also, if you keep the total consumption down, wine, beer, & real fruit juice also work. (PS: If coffee is too strong and you dislike black tea, Earl Grey tea is different enough, you might like it better.)

2. Watching TV. The data is in, the more you watch, the fatter you are. You burn less calories watching TV than you do sleeping! And, many people eat the fattening snack foods or respond to ads for them that appear on TV.

So, be more selective & watch less TV but more focused on what you like best. Skip watching TV some nights or week-ends and go to the gym instead. Or, get an aerobic or cardio exerciser at home & watch while you exercise. If you have them, turn off TV some nights and spend time with your kids. (You can record any must see TV broadcast then to watch later.)

3. Eat no fast food or only eat the health OK stuff when it’s available. The data is in. The more often adults or kids eat at fast food places as most of them still are, the fatter they are.

The food fast food places have served has been very high in sugar, transfats, refined carbohydrates, & with little real food. They tend to serve grain fed meat & poultry. Even worse, they specialize in serving soft drinks.

The upgrade is to substitute food from home; eat in a more upscale restaurants, or only eat the health OK things or almost health OK things when you go into a fast food restaurant.

To be fair, MacDonald’s is beginning to make an effort to provide some health OK alternatives. I’ve found that the easiest ones to eat in a health OK way at are Subway Sandwiches & the Mexican chain, Uno Mas.

But it’s not easy if you still like the regular fare. You need to eat the sandwiches Atkins style with no bread -- only. Eat no French Fries or chips. Eat no desserts. And, substitute water, tea, coffee, or orange juice for soft drinks. It also helps to add extra onions & other veggies to the protein part of the sandwiches. If you can do that, you can still eat at fast food places. If not, you are best served by never, ever going into one.

4. Snacks at home.

If you eat commercial baked goods such as cookies, donuts, bagels, cakes; packaged crackers, chips, & other similar snacks several times a week or, worse, a day, the data is in. You will be fat.

One cure is to eat four meals a day always including breakfast, so you never have to go more than 4 hours without real food.

Another, is to realize that you get virtually no nutrition from such snacks; they are much more expensive per month than most people realize; & they tend to be made with refined grains, sugar, salt, trans fats, & very little else.

The upgrade if you need or want snacks is to eat real food that tastes good enough you actually like it & manage your meals enough you need fewer snacks.

Cherries & kiwifruit & strawberries are just three really good tasting superfoods you can snack on. Monosaturated fat-based snacks that actually work well in moderation are guacamole, avocado slices, stuffed olives, & nuts. Raw broccoli florets, cauliflower, carrot sticks, & celery with a tasty extra virgin olive oil based dip also work. Deviled eggs also work in moderation.

These foods provide fiber & real nutrition so they don’t tend to produce type II diabetes. And, they tend to make you less hungry unlike the bad snacks that surge your blood sugar & then produce rebound hunger.

So, you’ll be a LOT healthier & be less fat if you make these upgrades; & lose the junk food snacks entirely.

5. The other thing you can do is to add regular strength training and other exercise into your life each week.

If you make this upgrade, you get fabulous health benefits. Even better, even while you are still fat, you will be healthier than skinny people who don’t exercise.

You’ll gain muscle & lose fat even if the scales don’t show it at first. And, you’ll tend to keep off any fat you lose as long as you keep up your regular exercises.