Hormones

Not Eating Enough Protein Can Lead to Early Death

Studies have shown that strength is an even more important predictor for longevity than any other factor, other than single leg balance. Fortunately, single leg balance can be improved more efficiently with a greater strength base.

As we age, our bodies go through significant changes. Around the age of 30, our metabolism begins to slow and our strength and power numbers begin to decrease. By the age of 60, we experience significant decays in strength and power; so much so, that strength into old age equates to living longer and happier lives. This means that it is vital to build a base of strength at younger ages.

Newer research has pointed to the need for greater quantities of daily protein intake. The previous minimum recommended intakes are completely insufficient! This new research suggests consuming quantities of a minimum of 1 gram per pound of body weight desired, especially into older age. As we age, digestion and absorption decrease, which leads to a further increased need for protein. Unfortunately, most people do not realize how little protein they are actually consuming on a regular basis. If you have never bothered to track the amount of food you eat on a regular basis, I dare you to do so, even for one day. I’ve seen regular protein intakes of less than 30 grams a day! Further, it’s often even more difficult for vegetarians and vegans to obtain enough protein. Plant foods are also less bioavailable than meat, which creates a roughly 15% additional deficit.

Lots of people often supplement their diets (yes, I said ‘diet’, that’s because what a person eats on a regular basis is the true definition of a diet) with powdered protein supplements. This is one such way, although not ideal, to get that much closer to their goal. Nothing can beat whole, non-processed foods, but sometimes, getting enough protein is so difficult and limiting for a person, that this is the way to go.

I’ve had tremendous success boosting my client’s amino acid consumption using powders, but especially through the use of a product called Perfect Aminos. Perfect Aminos provide a significant amount of the amino acids that are necessary for building and repairing skin, muscle and tendon strength. Amino Acids are what comprise protein, so this product allows a person to acquire more of their necessary amino acids to maintain their muscle mass into old age, or help build more in young age.

Try out these two amazing protein products to help you with your goals!

Perfect Aminos by Body Health

Organic Whey Protein Isolate from Grass Fed Cows

Better Sleep Tonight!

Many of us experience problems sleeping from time to time. In fact, studies show that there is a correlation between instances of overweight populous in every country in the world and poor sleep; these percentages often equate to nearly identical.

Sleep is the most important thing we can do for our bodies. We repair our brain and our body while sleeping and it is nearly impossible to make up any lost sleep in the future, which causes a compounding affect. Here are my top recommendations for sleep.

Temperature:

Studies show that ideal room temperature when attempting to sleep is 60-68 degrees. Anything above or below could compromise sleep quality and ability to fall asleep.

Avoiding extended rigorous activity:

Can coincide with temperature. Internal body temperature can rise with activity. Most people experience difficulty sleeping after physical activity.

Diaphragmatic breathing:

Can help put one in a state of relaxation after activity or improper breathing throughout the day, which puts the nervous system into fight-or-flight mode. I like to practice this with what is called box breathing.

Meditation:

Can help calm the mind and focus on relaxing, instead of mind wandering thoughts.

Electro Magnetic Frequencies:

Keep cell phone, ideally turned off or as far away from the body as possible late at night and while attempting to sleep. Many hotels have regulations that reduce the electrical frequencies that escape wires in walls, but as soon as something is plugged into a wall socket, that socket becomes active and releases electrical frequencies into the room (try to unplug everything in your room when traveling before bed). At home, a great option would be to install an electrical kill switch in each room of the house that deactivates all electrical flow to that specific area when deactivated. Bluetooth signals should be turned off at night and WiFi signals including both electronics and routers should deactivated be as well.

Blue light:

Any light exposure prior to bed will reduce the bodies ability to produce melatonin (sleep hormone) for up to 2 hours and increases internal cortisol levels (wake up/stress hormone). Blue light especially is effective at this. This specific ray of light is produced in significant amounts by electronics. Try to turn off cell phones, computers and televisions several hours before bed. This is often challenging for most so some minor compromises can include dimming a screen to an orange hue, wearing blue light blocking glasses and using blue light blocking screens. Many LED lights are produced in this hue, so attempt to purchase those with “natural lighting.” iPhones have this option built in and can even be adjusted in settings to more efficiently block out more blue light. F.Lux is an app for PC and Mac that can help with this as well. A great company that produces light bulbs with low blue light is Lighting science.

Here is a link to some blue light blocking glasses that work great and look good!

Supplementation:

  • Yin Reserve by Charles R. Poliquin is an amazingly effective supplement that helps to sleep without addictive properties or severe side-effects. It is designed around reducing anxiety and certainly does the job.
  • Melatonin should be used sparingly since dosages on packaging are often far greater than necessary and can cause the body to produce lesser amounts naturally. For melatonin supplementation, I recommend using a rub on cream and using between the thighs for better absorption.
  • Cannabidiol (CBD) can be effective at helping to sleep. This is a non-psychedelic and extremely healing component of hemp that can reduce cortisol and inflammation. Can be purchased at nearly any health food store now.

Anti-anxiety based herbs:

  • Valerian Root
  • Chamomile
  • Ashwaganda
  • Lavender
  • Passionflower
  • Magnolia bark
  • California poppy

Grateful log:

A grateful log has been scientifically shown to actually begin to change the mind and it’s focus. If we are stressed and angry throughout the day, a grateful log can help reset the mind and put you into a happy relaxed state, allowing for greater restfulness. Write in your log prior to bed, try writing 3 things you are grateful for on a daily basis. You can also write, one thing good you did, one good thing someone did to you and one good thing you observed today.

Carbohydrates before bed:

Try to include with fat to increase the time of release of glycogen. Low levels of insulin at night can cause a spike in cortisol and cause you to wake. Further, insulin helps to clear cortisol from the body. Consuming these macronutrients can help to keep you slightly more satiated throughout the night and prevent a spike in cortisol.

Consistency:

Another challenging one, but consistency with sleep helps immensely. Attempting to go to sleep at the same time every night helps. Studies have shown that our brain heals itself best between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM and the body heals best between 2 AM and 6 AM. These times are very important, so try to get to bed by 10 PM at the latest when possible.

Caffeine:

Caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours, which means that after 6 hours, the caffeine you consumed has only half dissipated from the body. If you have a 300mg of caffeine beverage at 12 PM, by 6 PM you will have 150mg still circulating in your system; by 12 AM, there is still roughly 75mg floating around. Try to keep caffeinated beverages to a minimum and the earlier the better. Although some people do not have problems sleeping after consuming caffeine, it can still have a negative affect on the body, such as increasing cortisol, increasing inflammation, decreasing quality of sleep, etc. If a person is experiencing symptoms related to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, often times they attempt to remedy this issue with more caffeine which can cause a compounding affect. Be careful with this amazing drug!

The True Benefits of Consuming Coconut Oil

Many of you heard the "news" that the FOR PROFIT American Heart Association supports several studies that support that coconut oil increases LDL (bad) cholesterol more than other saturated fats. 

The things that the AHA failed to mention in their stance piece was that there are actually 4 forms of LDL and three of which are immensely less harmful than the final one and that coconut oil increases the lesser molecules. On top of that, coconut oil was also shown to increase HDL (good cholesterol) in these studies. Finally, the coconut oil consumers also lost weight in each study.

All of these factors point to the exact opposite conclusion. One can assume that the AHA may have been paid off by other oil companies. 

It is important to research everything you hear, even from organizations that sound as if they are looking out for your interests. 

Chin-Up variation

Pull-Ups

The pull-up is an amazing exercise. Often times we focus on attempting to get our chin to the bar, however the best queue to picture mentally is to drive your elbows down through the floor explosively and then back. This allows us to activate the correct musculature and in the correct order, and makes the exercise easier. Even more important, most athletes either do not have the strength to engage the lats at the top of the movement by rounding their shoulders as far back as they can, instead, allowing their shoulders to round forward. This error can actually cause a significant amount of harm and compensation.

The pull-up for the upper body can be compared to the deadlift for the lower body (it works nearly the entire upper body, including triceps and pecs!). For athletes, the pull-up trains many of the muscles used in gripping, pulling, holding, throwing, hitting, swinging and even pressing (if performed properly).

This movement is important for everyone, but many trainees have difficulty improving them or even achieving their first one. Unfortunately to say, extra weight can have a huge impact on pull-up performance. Once weight decreases to sub 20% BF, a pull-up can become significantly easier to achieve. One of the most important attributes to train for those who wish to achieve their first pull-up is the isometric strength to hold oneself above the bar with the shoulders rolled back and down, so as to activate the lats, for as long as possible. As BF decreases, the strength trained from these holds will go a long way to achieving that first pull-up more quickly. 

Take a look at a few videos on pull-ups that I have recorded! Thanks for reading!

The Truth About Detox Diets!

So often we hear about these fad detoxes to help lose weight, get healthy and avoid having to do any real work. Most of these detoxes aren’t backed by scientific evidence and often, in reality, promote the opposite.

Our bodies need calories. Detoxes that promote lack of food consumption, will actually cause our metabolism to slow, eat away at our lean tissue (muscle), and reduce access to the vitamins and minerals our bodies need to function properly. Muscle is extremely important for all individuals, especially if a person’s goal is to lose fat; women, this means you especially! Looking thin, toned and building that booty require muscle (this is a subject for another post though).

The true purpose of detoxification is to rid your body of harmful chemicals that we consume through poorly produced supplements, poor dietary habits, poor quality food, such as all of the processed foods that make life so much easier and cancer causing pesticides that are used in excess in nearly all crops. This further included nearly all household products, ranging from cosmetics, to cleaning supplies, to shampoos, toothpastes and even tap water! The increasing prevalence of Genetically Modified foods are further increasing the need for pesticides and, for other reasons, are debatably introducing more potentially harmful products to the public. Try out this app in order to find out which products you’re using that may be further pumping you full of chemicals (1.).

Functional Health Practitioners have been growing in popularity recently and for good reason. These doctors focus on trying to prevent disease rather than cure it; essentially the same goal of exercise. I have been working with a minor league baseball player that went to see a Functional Health Practitioner recently. This ball player’s blood results showed extremely high toxicity for arsenic, which was contributing to a suppressed testosterone balance, among many other potential problems. There are many potential poisons that we are exposed to in our daily life that absolutely cannot be treated with something as simple as cayenne pepper, honey and lemon. Often times fat cells can contain many of the toxic chemicals we consume and, if attempting to expel these improperly, can be released into the body in free floating forms, which can further harm you.

The body performs better under certain conditions, which can be initiated through the use of certain products, foods and supplements. Probiotics for example can help you begin to digest foods better, produce certain hormones better and heal better. Some doctors have even begun to refer to the stomach, where the heathy bacteria proliferated by probiotics reside most, as the second brain. However, probiotics are yet another touchey subject. Many of those products out there are extremely limited on the multitude of strains of probiotics needed by the body. A recent trend has been to consume sauerkraut and kimchi, which produce many different strains of probiotics naturally. After personally consuming these multiple times a day for several months, I can confidently say my body, brain and intestinal track feel significantly better; not to mention these are more affordable substitutes that you can even make your own!

Reducing the body’s alkalinity is another great way to begin detoxing the body; in fact many “detoxes'” goals are to affect the body in this manner. As can be seen in the water industry, many companies are beginning to offer high alkaline water in order to attempt to assist in this manner. Many different things can affect the body’s alkalinity, including consuming high alkaline foods such as many fruits and vegetables, especially greens. One of the most important methods, however, is proper breathing. Due to increasing time spent in chairs, we have begun to develop poor breathing mechanics that are less than optimal. The current standard for the amount of breaths a heathy adult should take in a minute is 12-18. As recently as 30 years ago, this number was as low as 8-10 breaths per minute (2.). We have begun to take short, shallow rapid breaths, and if this occurs we tend to only use the upper half of our lungs and not exhale completely. When oxygen is only replaced in the upper half of our lungs, we tend to hold old, toxic air in the bottom half of our lungs for potentially years at a time; when was the last time you attempted to exhale every bit of air your lungs could take in (maybe your last birthday)? Holding this air in can create an acidic state in our body, which all of the bottles of alkaline water and lemon juice in the world could not replace. Wim Hof, “The Iceman,” has actually shown in a laboratory setting that he can cure major diseases that were injected into him, simply through correct breathing techniques; he has even trained groups of students to replicate his in as little as 8 days.

There are healthy products available such as those sold by Defranco’s Nutrition, that could help to jump-start the detoxification process (3. link at the bottom). But remember, fad detoxes that suggest you should consume nothing but vegetable juice, lemon juice, etc. are often more harmful to your body than helpful. It is good to detox your body, but it is important to make sure it is done properly, under a knowledgeable doctor’s supervision. If you are looking to begin the process of detoxification, eat well, start your morning off right with a large glass of water, some lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and potentially a dash of Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Pink Salt.

For more information, email me at tsloan13@ucsbalum.com or wait for future blog posts!

1. Detox Me App:

Apple:

Detox Me Apple Store Link

Google Play:

Detox Me Google Play Link

2. Breathing Article:

Link

3. Defranco’s Nutrition Detox Supplement:

Detox Supplement Link