60 Day Turnaround

I subscribe to the Harvard Medical School, Special Health Report emails.  When this one below came across, I knew I would like to comment on it.  It is one my long time messages, and It comes with just as strong a voice as mine, yet stronger as it comes from Harvard.

From HARVARD (my highlights are seen below):

See how — at any age — you can build fitness, boost wellness, and enjoy enduring energy and vitality

The exercises can add years to your life — and you can do them in just minutes a day!

Dear Eric,

Regular exercise lessens the likelihood of heart disease, lowers blood pressure, reduces the risk of many cancers, builds bones, lifts your spirits, keeps your brain sharp, and can add years to your life.

So what stops us from exercising? Some people still equate exercise with the sweat and tedium of gym class. Others think they don’t have time, or it’s too expensive, or they just don’t know how to get started.

Workout Workbook will show you that exercise has come a long way. It doesn’t need to take hours. It doesn’t require big-bucks equipment. And, most of all, it can be enjoyable because, with each passing week, you’ll feel stronger, look younger and fitter, and have more energy.

The nine workouts in this report are designed to work all parts of your body — from your core to your extremities. They will help you build muscle and prevent bone loss, tone your physique, limber up your joints, increase flexibility, improve stability, encourage weight loss, and boost cardiovascular fitness. And each workout can be completed in 40 minutes or less.

Further, each exercise can be tailored to your fitness level. Is an exercise too hard? Try an easier option. Too easy? Step up the challenge. Want even more? We’ll introduce you to Supersets, paired exercises that flow from one to the next without rest for a strong, time-efficient workout.

Workout Workbook will keep you on track with ideas for setting goals and for staying motivated. The report gives you tips and techniques, specifies the number of reps and sets, and suggests tempos and intensities for each exercise. And each exercise — 82 in all — is illustrated with instructive photographs to help you maintain the proper form for greatest gains.

The report will brief you on the new trends in aerobic and strength training — everything from boot camps and kranking to yogilates and Zumba. Plus, Workout Workbook will help you answer the home versus gym question (and what to look for in a gym.) You’ll get tips for avoiding injuries, measuring your gains, rewarding your progress, and more.

So, get moving. Order your copy of this important Special Health Report today.

To your good health,

Gregory Curfman, M.D.
Editor in Chief, Harvard Health Publications

My Response

First off, great that they go right at the heart of the leading causes of death in our country.  Heart disease, cancer… the two biggies.  This is good, it takes commitment to throw the cancer word in here, and I love it.  You cannot have the best chance at a cancer free life without exercise.  Its good to see it in print from Harvard.

Next – I love the word tedium.  The assumption that exercise equates to tedium.  I love this because I believe it to be true for most people.  The report offers up a series of exercises designed to not be tedious, nor wasteful.  Yet, I think the report is unnecessary, just search the Daily Sprouts on this page for “workout of the week” for workouts that will do just what you need.

Lastly – completed in 40 minutes or less.  I love that they are pushing the shorter time domain, though I imagine most of the workouts are longer than needed.  But, they are seeing the research, the knowledge, that those from the past thousand years who were naturally fit, were fit because of sustained activity, with periods of high intensity.  That is what we are all about in our efforts.

It is good to see the movement is in the right direction.  Jump on it now.  We can help!

My fitness brands –
The Garage
CrossFit Silos
CrossFit Bridgemill

Be well, be blessed… and be fit.  – Dr. Eric

Have you ever had a friend who started a new habit, a healthy habit, and they were so excited that they filled every moment that you gave them with excitement over their new path.  Emails, voicemails, at lunch, at church… Facebook.  I have seen CrossFit do this to many people.  Back when there were few doing it, we were all so excited about our accomplishments that we wanted the world to know.

You see the same thing over dietary changes, or finding a new version of tupperware.  Yeah, we get excited about all sorts of things.  And it is often a good thing, even though those around us might be feeling less than excited by our new found zeal for something.

This early feeling that comes from “new” is often a very good thing.  It helps fuel our fire, and if something healthy, it will help us gain momentum in the right direction.  I have seen this thousands of times over the last decade and a half in my practice.  However, with any new feeling of enchantment, the feeling of disenchantment is soon to follow.  That moment when we are no longer excited about the cool shiny new thing that we had found.

The title of my article suggests that disenchantment can go so far as to be dangerous; what I am referring to, is that when a health habit loses its excitement, it is easily lost.  So many people flirt so closely with making lifetime changes, only to let the ruse of culture take back its control.  How many times have you seen someone lose a great amount of weight, only to gain it all back.  To have embraced a new lifestyle that is leading them to great changes with their health, their energy, their desire to engage the people around them more and more, and it all collapses.

This change would not be possible if we still held the love for our new found habits.

New is always exciting.  I heard my pastor utter these words this morning.  And I quickly thought about how old should not always be sacrificed for new.  Relationships are the best example of this.  It made me question how to make these new enchanted habits, old habits that die hard.  What I came up with is that there is simply one more step.  Commitment.

My commitments are greater than my feelings in this moment.  However we need first to utter these words – I am committed.

Be well, be blessed and be committed.  – Dr. E

This recent article in Natural News is nothing new.  It is the same discussion on a topic that has not been put to bed.  “Is Stevia Safe?” 

I often think the better question would be, is stevia a good solution relative to the state of my health?  In the 60 Day Turnaround Diet (straight 60), we talk constantly about the goals from primary to secondary goals.  Primary being sugar control, secondary being clean and anti-inflammatory.  The reason we have these goals is to fix hormones.

I establish for you because there are two possible concerns with stevia.  One is whether or not it is clean, and in this case, for arguments sake we will assume that it is not as clean as a raw organic sugar, but more clean than sucralose, aspartame or saccharin.  Clean being a measure of the chemical toxicity.

…And once Leptin is healed, cortisol will significantly reduce in production….

So if the stevia is dirty, then the only value it offers is no glycemic impact on the blood sugar, and no calories.  The question then becomes whether or not it is of value for that reason, over sugar.  Our answer is an absolute yes, but “when” becomes another question.  The answer which is found in understanding your insulin response and blood sugar balance.  And is simply a “YES consume stevia, whenever you are becoming insulin resistant or are moving towards leptin insensitivity”.

The problem, is that most of our culture is moving that way all the time, and they have no idea.

This Natural News article points out that even though there are two good studies showing that stevia serves up a pretty nice anti-diabetes punch.  It is questioned as to whether or not it is a good idea in those with normal blood sugar.  The question arises out of some opinions that the taste of sweet without the response of sweet is too stressful –

“Stevia is “sweet” on the palate, so the body assumes it is receiving sugar and primes itself to do so. Glucose is cleared from the bloodstream and blood sugars drop, but no real sugar/glucose is provided to the body to compensate. When this happens, adrenaline and cortisol surge to mobilize sugar from other sources (liver and muscle glycogen, or protein, or body tissue) to bring blood glucose back up. The whole process is stressful to the body. We don’t want to be relying on raising blood sugar at the expense of skin health, muscle mass and immune function.”

I understand this philosophy, and though I haven’t found any science to support it.  I will admit that any of my core beliefs of body function are still lacking scientific evidence.  So I give it SOME creed.  The some comes from my question, once again of the population using it.  So back to what I was saying before.  If you have been eating much like culture for the last five years, this excerpt does not matter to you.  You are too far down the path to care…. your urgency is your blood sugar first.  Why?  Why put that before cortisol?  Because even though cortisol could be mobilized, the process will be slower than the change in blood sugar from staying off of sugars.  And that process will allow an alteration in insulin and ultimately in the sensitivity to leptin.

And once Leptin is healed, cortisol will significantly reduce in production.  The reason being that cortisol is truly released in a stress situation.  But once leptin is healed, the stressor of “needing blood sugar” goes away because the body becomes efficient at burning fat for energy, and the lowered blood sugar is preserved for brain and neural function that depends on it.

This is a complex story, this leptin story.  I recommend you read other Daily Sprouts about Leptin to greater understand its role – Leptin Search

The bottom line then… if stevia is unclean, it is a great option for most people in our culture.  If stevia is clean, then it is an even better option.  If you are a healthy individual who no longer needs correction of your blood sugar, then it should really be used sparingly, but because you are able to burn fat for energy, you are decently resilient to the concern brought up by the Natural News article on cortisol production.  Hope it all makes sense!!

PS – one thing to be sure of… that your stevia is pure stevia.

Be well and be blessed – Dr E

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First off, if you are local and reading this, you should place your “co-op” order by March 13th.  It has been extended a short period to get more of you on board!!  EMAIL US NOW

OK, so now that we have that out of the way, I teach grass fed beef, clean grass fed beef over fish when it comes to health benefits.  And as shocking as that is to some of you, you need to understand that is the most significant step to take in regards to your meat consumption.

Fish, specific fish that we eat such as salmon, sardines and tuna, have high levels of omega 3 acid in them.  Specifically omega 3 in the form that we need the most, EPA and DHA.  The biggest concern however is of course the contamination of fish due to our water being rich in pcb’s, mercury and other toxic metals, and other forms of micro toxins.

The benefit will often outweigh the risks up to a certain point.  But that point at which benefits and risks are reversed is hard to identify, when do you know that you are getting too many toxins, and that the toxic load is outweighing the benefit of the fat?  It is very hard to tell, but many sources suggest that eating two servings of fish a week is a good idea.  However, if you believe that the minimal amount of fat from two servings is enough for your health needs, you are mistaken.

But consider these concerns from the Mayo Clinic:

Pregnant women, breast-feeding mothers and children can still get the heart-healthy benefits of fish by eating fish that’s typically low in mercury, such as salmon, and limiting the amount they eat to:

• No more than 12 ounces (340 grams) of fish in total a week
• No more than 6 ounces (170 grams) of canned tuna a week
• No amount of any fish that’s typically high in mercury (shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish)

I am back on the wrist, and I need to delve into inflammation and understanding the why and how as it relates to my wrist. Inflammation is a tricky subject, one that I spend an entire workshop on in The 60 Day Turnaround.

First, let’s go back a week. Last Monday was my last full day adjusting, my hand wrist had been hurting since the prior Thursday, and as I said in the first article, referencing the wrist, rest was important to me. So I jumped all over that last Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday. Avoiding adjusting and other activities that would compress the wrist.

The realization now, is that it was too little too late. Looking at the MRI we found that the inflammation was deep. There is a bump on the bone called lister’s tubercle, that had been inflamed around it from the first wrist injury. I actually had used ibuprofen for a period to reduce inflammation, and pursued a period of very clean eating and anti-inflammatory supplementation. I did it all,yet still I had chronic inflammation along the tubercle. I saw it on my MRI, an accumulation of fluid where I wish I still had a tendon.

What went wrong? Sometimes treating inflammation from every direction isn’t enough. Sometimes the only treatment that will work, is rest. I find myself in the situation where I would advise others to avoid. Don’t let the pressures of your life cause you to make unwise choices. A week ago Friday I adjusted in agony all morning, but continued to say “I won’t be here next Friday, I need to adjust these people.” My decision is likely the cause of what will now be an inability to adjust normally for weeks.

I pushed myself when I should have rested… Who adjusts in complete agony? It brings me back to the separated shoulder a couple years ago. I was adjusting a patient in side posture three days after falling on a bike trail. In the moments felt a stinging increase in pain in my already sore shoulder, then that night I saw the all too familiar riser sign (I have separated both of my shoulders multiple times in hockey injuries over the years). I should have rested, or at least avoided side posture.

So now I am looking at surgery in a week, and a splint or cast for five to six, and no use besides therapy for six more. I’ll find ways to adjust with one hand, but there will be a long window where I will have a useless left hand. It would have made sense to not use it that one Friday… Much more sense.

Why do I like to write about my shortcomings? Because yours and mine are likely very similar. Maybe not so aggressive in the physical sense, but once again related to your over commitment to something. Pay attention, and be well.

Be blessed and be well! – Dr. E