Full Fat Dairy Makes a Comeback

An ever-expanding pile of research papers is challenging the idea that we need to avoid full-fat varieties of dairy products like yogurt and milk. There may be no need to settle for fat-free versions that could be less satisfying: For instance, a new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition involving more that 2,900 US seniors aged 65 and above found that whole-fat dairy consumption appears to do little harm when it comes to cardiovascular disease.

Scientists came to this conclusion by measuring blood levels of three fatty acids found in dairy products--including trans-palmitoleic acids related to heart disease and all-cause mortality--at the beginning of the study period in 1992 and then again at years 6 and 13. Not only were none of the fats sourced from dairy significantly associated with death, but one type (heptadecanoic fatty acid) was linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease mortality.

This drives home the point that higher-fat foods like cheese need not be banished from our diets as long as we practice some degree of portion control. There are no guidelines stating that we should have no saturated fat in our diets. We just need to cap it at a certain level (the Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest that saturated fats account for less that 10% of total daily calories). This research should give pause to people replacing plain, whole-fat yogurt with a flavored, fat-free type--that may be loaded with added sugars--to avoid high fat content.

As a Bulgarian, plain full-fat yogurt is a regular part of my diet. I like to mix it up with a little oatmeal and walnuts for breakfast. How do you like to consume your dairy?

Freezing, Pulsing, and Floating

While regular exercise and healthy eating are the most important things we can do to stay healthy, therapeutic treatments that can also be helpful. You have likely heard of acupuncture, chiropractic, and massage therapy. They have received greater validation in recent years and are sometimes even covered by medical insurance. Some newer treatments have come on the horizon lately, and I've been lucky to give them a try. Here's what I thought:

Cryotherapy
Whole Body Cryotherapy (WBC) stimulates the body’s natural healing abilities through exposure to extreme cold. While originally developed as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritics, it has recently gained popularity among professional athletes and celebrities. I tried cryotherapy twice with GoCryo, a mobile van which comes to Fit periodically. To prepare, I changed into a bathrobe and put on gloves and socks, all of which they provide. Then I stepped into a shower stall shaped freezer for 3 minutes while it got down to below freezing temperatures. It was very cold and while I did feel greater energy the rest of the day, I unfortunately did not notice much improvement in alleviating my rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. However, perhaps I would see better results with more regular "freezing," as others have. GoCryo offers Fit members a 20% discount.
       

PEMF: Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy
This process involves directing strong, pulsed energy waves toward damaged or injured areas of your body. The electromagnetic pulse stimulates cellular equilibrium/recharge, and greater circulation. Each pulse creates micro-tears at weak points at cellular levels which stimulate natural healing and strengthening. The resulting effects can include faster healing, decreased inflammation, pain relief, greater range of motion, etc. After my second 1hr treatment at Bio-tique in Poway, I noticed less pain and swelling in my joints. I now go once or twice a week and spend 30 minutes getting the "whole-body" electromagnetic treatment (as pictured below) and then another 30 minutes just focusing on the swollen joints in my hands. Bio-tique also offers infrared sauna and genetic testing. Fit members receive a 20% discount, but you can get your first treatment for free if you mention my name.


Float Therapy
Floating is an experience of total relaxation in your own personal, weightless environment where all five of your senses are free from external stimuli.
This is achieved by soaking in the purified mineral rich Epsom Salt water, breathing the highly filtered air of the ‘float’ environment, and removing all external stimuli that stress the mind. I tried this out at flot in downtown San Diego. After checking in, I showered and entered the sensory deprivation tank, where I floated for the next hour. I don't have much experience with meditation, and perhaps this is why I didn't enjoy the floating experience that much. I felt restless and ended up with stiffer joints than when I went in. However, if meditation and contemplation is your thing, you'd probably enjoy it. flot gives Fit members 25% off.

Have you tried out any of these therapeutic modalities or any others? I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Portion Size Distortion

Ballooning portion sizes are considered a major player in the startling rise in obesity rates in recent decades, but current research points to evidence that we can turn this around.

A study in the April edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that exposure to smaller portions can recalibrate people's perception of how much is enough. In the first of the experiments, volunteers randomly ate either larger (440 calorie) or smaller (220 calorie) portions of the same quiche-and-salad meal. In the second experiment, a day later, volunteers could eat as much of that same food as they pleased. A week later, they were asked about their portion size preferences.

The scientists found that eating a smaller portion of food during the first experiment led to people consuming less of the food the next day. They also showed a tendency to feel satisfied with smaller portions a week later. The findings suggest that reducing portion sizes for packages and restaurant food could lead us to consider these new sizes "normal" and, in turn, help put the brakes on excess consumption.

Do you find that your portion sizes increase over the winter in response to some larger holiday dinners?

Free DEXA Scan!

I had a DEXA scan done this past Saturday at the UCSD Bone School. Dual-Energy X-ray Absoptiometry is the gold standard to measure body composition (including body fat) and bone mineral density. You can learn more about DEXA here: EPARC, UC San Diego - Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXN9pM8jtTw

I'm looking forward to seeing my results and recommend you to get a scan if you're interested in finding out more about your bone health and body composition. Four different scans were performed: body composition, hip, lumbar, and forearm. The appointment is free through the DEXA school, as long as you have a letter of consent from your primary care physician. I was able to email the form to my doctor and pick it up from her receptionist. The appointments are only on the weekends and may take up to 90 minutes. You would receive your results 1-2 weeks after the scan. Call 858-822-7624 or email ucsdboneschool@gmail.com to schedule the free DEXA through the school. Please make sure to be there for this appointments as the school relies on your participation to assure graduation to the attending students!

Olympic Lifting Workout

If you're looking for a more advanced barbell workout, give this a try:

5 sets of 5 reps:
Deadlift
High pull
Clean
Front Squat
Jerk
Back Squat

Sleep: The Only True "Fix-All" of Health and Performance

After my email 2 weeks ago summarising some of my favorite presentations at the Perform Better Functional Training Summit, a lot of you expressed interest in the Sleep presentation.

Brandon Marcello started the presentation by listing the order of operations to high performance:
1. Sleep
2. Nutrition
3. Movement
4. Performance
5. Skill

He then stressed the importance of sleep and how fatigue, resulting from inadequate sleep, has a direct and measurable impact on reaction time, recovery, overall performance, and career longevity. Not having enough sleep leads to increased risk of injury and reduced pain threshold, greater susceptibility to sickness, reduced physical and psychological performance, reduced motivation, learning ability and memory, increase in anxiety, irritability and mistakes, increase in body fat percentage, reverting to old habits, and poor judgement of distance, speed, and and/or time.

Sleep facilitates an optimal level of waking function through alertness and ability to maintain focus and attention, cognitive performance (learning, memory, and creativity), mood, energy and motivation, control, coordination, and impulsiveness.

Having enough sleep every night allows us to reach deep sleep for a longer period of time. As you can see in the chart, we sleep much deeper after four hours of sleep than before. Having enough sleep improves motivation, recovery of muscle strength, sprint speeds, muscle glycogen, cortisol (stress) regulation, motor skill development, and memory consolidation.

Sleep Debt
Sleep Debt occurs when we don't have enough sleep. For example, if you need 8 hours and only slept 7 hours, you have 1 hour of sleep debt and need 9 hours of sleep the following night to "repay" that debt. Drowsiness after lunch is a red alert that you have sleep debt. You can also monitor your drowsiness after lunch to determine exactly how much sleep you need. You'll no longer feel drowsy if you have slept your needed hours of sleep a night.

Sleep Studies
A number of studies have shown increases in performance for students and athletes after increasing sleeping time. For example, after extending time in bed to 10hrs/night for several weeks, collegiate basketball players showed a 9% improvement in free throw shooting accuracy and a 9.2% improvement in 3 pt field goal shooting accuracy. Grade point averages improved 11% when cadets' sleep opportunity was expanded to from 6hr/night to 8hr/night. Another study showed that 24 year old healthy men who slept less than 5hrs/night for a week registered a 15% drop in testosterone. Yet another study found that there was an increase in your chances of catching a cold when you're not sleeping enough: When sleeping more than 7 hours, chances of catching a cold were 17.2%. When sleeping 5-6 hours, chances of catching a cold were 30%.

Sleep and the Brain
During sleep, the brain "bathes" itself in cerebrospinal fluid to get rid of waste products. The brain will also clean out toxic proteins, which can impair healthy aging of the brain, and cause brain-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders.

Sleep/Nutrition Interaction
Your sleep can influence what you eat and vice versa. Sleep deprivation alters the ability of the body to metabolize and store carbohydrates for recovery, as well as use them later. Individuals who are sleep deprived tend to crave carbohydrates.

Sleep Strategies
It is important to maintain the bedroom for sleep only. Be wary of "screen-time" an hour before going to bed, especially in the bedroom. Alertness is enhanced because the blight light emitted suppresses melatonin levels and also because the content presented is engaging and exciting. It helps to establish a bedtime routine. Here are some strategies: turn off all screens, take a hot shower, listen to relaxing music, stretch, lay out clothes for the next day, go to bed by 10:30pm, or read a relaxing book for 30-45 mins. A quiet and comfortable sleep environment is a dark room with temperature around 67F, unwanted sounds masked with a fan or other white-noise, and using ear plugs and sleep masks, if needed. Keep your biological clock in mind when you're planning your sleep:

Sleep Supplementation
There are many products on the market to help us sleep. It is generally not recommended to use any of these regularly, but they can help with sleep when used sporadically. Calcium, magnesium and zinc is one such mixture. Calcium helps the brain use the amino acid tryptophan to manufacture the sleep-inducing substance melatonin. Melatonin can also be taken directly. However, since melatonin is a hormone, taking it regularly will down-regulate our own bodies' production of melatonin.

It seems the proof is there that sleep is an invaluable part of our health. I have been prioritizing my own sleep recently by modifying my work and exercise schedule to allow me enough time to wind down at the end of the day. Having enough sleep is difficult for me and something that I continue to put effort into. What sleep strategies have you found work for you?

Perform Better Functional Training Summit 2018

My first Functional Training Summit was in 2010. This year I decided to go back. The Summit is three days of lectures and hands-on opportunities in all aspects of training. This is a summary of some of the presentations I attended.

Odd Position Strength Training: Michol Dalcourt
Dalcourt presented on the difference between muscular strength training (developing muscle force in a single plane of motion: bench press) and movement strength training (variable loading positions during multi-directional movement: Turkish Get-Up). I use both types of training in my programming, but would like to increase my knowledge base of the movement strength training exercises.

Revamp Your Bootcamp: Marc Lebert
In this hands-on, I had an opportunity to use the Lebert Equalizer bars in many different ways. Some of you have already had a chance to try out some of the new moves.

Sleep: The only True "Fix-All" of Health and Perfomance: Brandon Marcello
Despite having a PhD in nutrition, Marcello insisted that sleep is the most important factor in health and wellness, followed by nutrition and movement. He went over the results of having vs not-having enough sleep, sleep debt and how to repay it, and sleep myths.

Unlocking Mobility: How to Create Flexibility that Lasts: Greg Rose
Greg Rose, a chiropractor, presented how to increase thoracic spine and hip mobility by combining pressure against a joint with deep breathing.

The Ketogenic Diet: Right or Wrong?: Robert Yang
The keto diet, as it's most often applied, has the following macronutrient breakdown: 65% fat, 10% carbohydrates, 25% protein. While studies have shown that this diet is safe for general health, Yang advised that body type, adrenal health, response to dairy, gender, and exercise activity need to be considered before recommending it.

Which of these topics are you most interested in? I plan to go into more detail in future posts.