How alcohol affects health and fitness

In this science episode, we discuss alcohol. It’s a topic that comes quite often when I deal with my clients. They ask whether they can consume alcohol in their health and fitness journey. The answer, that isn't really an answer for this question is “it depends.”

A March 2013 study found that the chronic alcohol consumption reduces testosterone and increases cholesterol, both of which are not good for muscle growth and muscle retention. Therefore, chronic use of alcohol is not recommended. Moderate alcohol consumption may be okay. But you need to understand what is moderate. Just to give you a number, something less than 7 drinks a week should be okay.

There are other studies that may help you set your strategy. A March 2015 study on “Alcohol, Obesity and Loss of Strength” found alcohol use reduces our strength. Another 2015 study on “the lifestyle factors in associated with successful weight-loss” found that losing weight is co-related with a healthier lifestyle which includes drinking less alcohol.

After seeing results like this, it may seem like it is best to quit drinking entirely. But that may not be practical. So, the goal should be to build healthy habits that we can keep over time. Gradual changes of habits are more sustainable, which will lead to a healthier lifestyle.

So, an individual needs to determine what is going to work for him or her. One perfect way to deal with alcohol is treating it like sugar. Sugar is one of the things that create fat in our body. Alcohol works almost exactly the same way.

Links for further reading:

Nutrition and Metabolism Article

Springer Article 

T and F Online

Now you are better informed of how you should deal with alcohol in your health and fitness journey.

The fountain of life – water

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Understanding cholesterol with Jimmy Moore

Let’s talk cholesterol!   Jimmy Moore, author of Cholesterol Clarity, is our special guest today.   Ever wonder what all those cholesterol numbers actually mean?   We’ll talk with Jimmy Moore all about his thinking on cholesterol.

Jimmy Moore is best known for his “Livin’ LaVida Low-Carb” blog and podcast.   In 2004, at 32 years of age and 410 pounds, Jimmy made the decision to take off the weight that was literally killing him. The time had come for a radical lifestyle change.   A year later, he lost 180 pounds and shrunk his waistline by 20 inches. This phenomenal weight loss enabled him to come off prescription drugs for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and respiratory problems. His dramatic change sparked his dedication to helping others find the information they need to make the kind of lifestyle changes he has made.

Our bodies make cholesterol and it is an essential element in our body. How does our nutrition affect cholesterol? What do all of the numbers on the lipids panel mean for our health?   Jimmy discusses the elements of the lipids panel test, inflammation, and other tests that should be discussed and explored with your physician.

Along with his blog and podcasts, Jimmy Moore is also the author of The Ketogenic Cookbook, Keto Clarity and Cholesterol Clarity. Learn more about Jimmy Moore and his work at www.livinlavidalowcarb.com.

The scoop on ketosis with Jimmy Moore

Can fasting be a healthy solution for weight loss | Jimmy Moore

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Emotional roadblocks in health and fitness | Ellen Shuman

Ellen Shuman is an emotional eating recovery coach who specializes in removing emotional barriers to achieving health goals. Her work focuses on teaching emotional regulation tools to those who have trouble being present and following through.

Sometimes people experience emotional roadblocks that threaten to derail their progress in achieving their health and fitness goals. This issue is not simply a case of laziness. Conversely, many people who experience these roadblocks are hypervigilant in other areas of their lives.

The issue is more often about having the ability to tolerate moments in one’s life—feelings, tasks, disappointments, stress. When these roadblocks are not well-tolerated, there can be difficulty in following through with an exercise routine. When people experience these problems, they feel the need to distract themselves from the present moment. And exercise is actually a totally mindful act—one in which the participant must be fully present. The resistance comes from the desire to disconnect. They don’t want to be mindful, and that desire is stronger than the desire to follow through on their health goals.

So how can people overcome these roadblocks and this desire to disconnect?

Get connected first thing in the morning

Make your bed. Adopt a meditation routine. Take a simple action that will make you feel a sense of accomplishment, which will turn on your mindfulness switch for the day.

Do a daily self-check on goals

Use PENSO: physical intention, emotional intention, nutritional intention, spiritual or social intention, and outstanding/other/opportunity. Address each area once per day.

Feel competent and confident

Feel confident that you can create the day you want to create.

The need to go mindless dissipates when you are mindful. If you are willing to tolerate being in the present moment and live mindfully, it will increase your possibility of following through.

Want to learn more about Ellen Shuman and removing emotional roadblocks? Learn more at www.aweighout.com or join her free telephone seminar on Sundays at 4pm ET. You can also reach her directly at (513) 321-4242 for a free assessment for coaching.

Habits and failure

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

The magic of sleep

Everybody loves good sleep, but they often don’t get proper sleep. Babies and teens sleep well but when we get to adulthood, we begin to purposely avoid it. We may want to sleep at night but we don’t sleep very well. We don’t do the right things when it comes to sleeping.

Sleep the actual magic happens. That’s the time our body goes through the process of repairing. Sleeping is the time when our body repairs itself. Sleep is also when your brain stores memory. In fact, while we're asleep, the brain repairs itself. So, if you are not getting proper sleep, you're short changing your brain and body. We have stress hormones that develop during the day when we work but when we sleep, they get washed away. So, if we are not getting proper sleep, then we are not fixing our stress problems.

Most of our hormones are set on a circadian rhythm and sleep is a big part of driving release and removal of them.  Breaking your sleep cycle will affect your hormone cycles, which is quite damaging to your body and brain.t’s not about how much sleep you get because the ideal number of necessary sleep varies from person to person. So, quality of sleep is

The amount of sleep someone needs varies from person to person. The quality of sleep is more significant than quantity. The environment needs to be the ideal one when we sleep. Avoid non-natural lights in your room when you sleep. Trying to avoid blue light is a good idea. And your room needs to be noise-free as well so that you don’t get up until your sleep is naturally completed. Taking alcohol or any kind of medication is a big “No” before sleeping. They can hamper your normal sleep cycle.

The environment needs to be the ideal when we sleep. Here are a few tips for better sleep:

Artificial lights

Avoid artificial lights in your at night and in your room when you sleep. Artificial lights are typically in the blue spectrum, which breaks the circadian rhythm, telling the brain it is daytime.

Noise-neutral

Your room needs to be noise-neutral.  Allan uses a fan to make his bedroom noise-neutral, but you may prefer full quiet.

Alcohol/sleeping meds

You may be unconscious with alcohol or sleeping pills, but unfortunately you're not going through the full sleep cycles.  As a result, you're not getting good rest and your hormone cycles will be disrupted.

Sleep smarter | Shawn Stevenson

How is sleep affecting my weight loss?

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Todd loses over 300lbs

Todd is a 46-year-old married, father of two from Illinois. He also has an inspiring story to share. Now in the fifth year of his weight loss journey, Todd was able to lose over 300 pounds.

Todd’s wake up call began in September 2011 when he found himself in the hospital. At that time, he weighed in at 589 pounds. The doctors told him if he didn’t do something about his health, he’d only have about five years to live. He looked at his daughters from his hospital bed and thought about how he would not be around for them. He knew he needed to make a change.

But it would be difficult for Todd. Because of his physical limitations, he was unable to exercise. After doing some research and finding that at least 80% of weight loss was due to adopting an appropriate diet, he knew what he needed to do. He adjusted his diet and was able to lose 323 pounds.

Todd had a few tips for those who want to make a change:

Don't give up

There will be good and bad days. Some may even start questioning themselves. Is all of this worth it? Know that it is worth it. The good days will last longer than the bad days.

Lower your carbs

Cut back on your carb intake. Eat 4 to 5 smaller meals with snacks. Eat lean proteins, raw vegetables, and drink plenty of water. This will also help with getting your body into ketosis faster.

Todd has had an amazing journey in losing over 300 pounds. Want to connect with Todd directly? You can find him on My Fitness Pal as stogie40 or via his profile on www.realbodiesrealresults.com. Be sure to comment on transformation page. Don’t forget to check out the six-month program at which will give you access to a registered dietician, food plans, recipes, and much more.

Patterns of success in weight loss

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Obesity and exercise

In this science episode, we explore studies on exercise and obesity. Does exercise help reduce obesity? Some interesting studies seek to answer that question.

A 2003 article of Journal of the American Medical Association by Drs. Frank Hu and colleagues examined the relationship between women’s BMI and their physical activity. An important term here is “Body-Mass Index”, briefly BMI which measures the relationship between a person’s weight and height. The ideal BMI for a person is between 18 and 25. So, anyone with over 25 BMI is considered overweight and below 18 considered underweight. The study took 6 years to examine 50277 women aged between 46 and 71. What the study found was really very interesting. Individuals two were sitting two additional hours a day had 23% more obesity. So, less daily movement is one of the major reasons for increase in obesity. So, someone who watches TV for two hours is more prone to obesity than another person who chooses to walk around and constantly on the move. The study report says two hours of daily walking or around the house saw obesity decrease by 9 percent and one hour of brisk walking saw 24 percent obesity decrease.

Another study also in 2003 published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Drs. Koh-Banerjee and colleagues examined 16,587 men aged 40 to 75 years who they described as healthy. The study took nice long years to complete and it was about weight and waist size. The study found that just 4 hours of weekly increase of physical activity resulted in a reduction of their waist circumference by about 1.9 millimeters. On the other hand, the men who increase their TV watching by 20 hours a week had waist size increase of about 3.0 millimeters. One of the key finding of the study was the group that exercised daily had way to less obesity than the group that did not.There are many more studies that indicate the level of activity is an important factor that determine your fitness and obesity. Consider how your activity level can be affecting your weight loss or weight gain. Obesity is at an epidemic level and it is time to change that. The change starts with you.

There are many more studies that indicate the level of activity is an important factor that determine your fitness and obesity. Consider how your activity level can be affecting your weight loss or weight gain. Obesity is at an epidemic level and it is time to change that. The change starts with you.

Weight training for fat loss

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Finding mindfulness with Bruce Langford

In today’s podcast, we meet Bruce Langford of Mindfulness Mode to discuss how mindfulness can help you on your health and fitness journey.

Bruce Langford was an entrepreneur for his all adult life until he quitted his job to begin committed to bullying prevention. Thanks to that, he became a Mindfulness coach. He truly believes involving fitness activities into his antibullying program to be really effective.

He also hosts the Mindfulness Mode Podcast, where he shares the ideas of Mindfulness with the world.

Nowadays, it is not just all about prayers and religious stuff, because science has proven mindfulness to be really effective and able to changing our brain in order to let us be calmer, focused and relaxed.

Practicing Mindfulness has lots of benefits, first of all, it helps you releasing stress (that is a hormonal process, where a big quantity of cortisol are produced by our body) and sleeping better, and just these things are already a huge step forward for people. This leads people to be more focused and driven to their commitments.

The first advice Bruce gives is to be active, to get out in the world experiencing something that feels good, something that we really enjoy doing, like a good walk in nature, and that is where Mindfulness comes along, just being aware and conscious of the presence of nature itself, with its smells and sounds.

The important thing is to do this on a regular basis and routine, trying to give our mind a break (from social media, screens and caffeine too) and a quiet time, at least for 10-15 minutes per day.

As one final bit of advice, Bruce believes you should create a night ritual in order to ease the stress and sleep better.

Learn more about Bruce Langford at Mindfulness Mode.

https://40plusfitnesspodcast.com/sacred-baths-health/

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music