Breath and breathing for better health and fitness

In this episode, we discuss breath and breathing for health.  I’m sure you know that breathing is an automatic function that takes no conscious thought to do, but maybe you should spend more time thinking about your breath and breathing.

The purpose of breathing

When I ask someone why we breathe, they will almost always say, to get oxygen.  This is half of the answer.  We also breathe to expel waste materials, most of which is carbon dioxide.  In fact, scientists now believe that when we burn fat, the byproducts are water and carbon dioxide.  We lose weight through our breath.

Improving your breathing

Even though breathing is an automatic function, most of us aren’t doing it very well.  When you’re seated and working on a keyboard or using a smart phone, you’re collapsing your ribcage and only using a fraction of your lung’s capacity.  Over time, this weakens the diaphragm.

When you’re lifting weights, managing your breathing is a big part of keeping your core tight and maintaining good form.  You should breathe in as the weight is lowered and breathe out as the weight is moved.  You should never hold your breath during a lift.

Mindful breathing

Mindful breathing can go a long way toward stress reduction.  Chronic stress will keep you from reaching your health and fitness goals.  I use the app Headspace to do a mindful breathing practice.

I will also do box breathing to improve the quality of my breathing.  This breathing exercise involves breathing in, holding, breathing out, holding; all for a count of three.  It is harder than it sounds, but a great exercise to improve breathing efficiency and effectiveness.

Finding mindfulness with Bruce Langford

A funeral for my fat | Sharee Samuels

In her book A Funeral For My Fat, Sharee Samuels chronicles her 100+ pound weight loss over a five year period.

Self Love

One concept that Sharee recommended was for you to write a letter to yourself.  This letter should demonstrate the strength you have and the love you have for yourself.  Documenting this self-love is valuable because you are able to go back and read this letter to yourself when you’re down and out.

Find something you love

Sharee also recommends you find something you love.  For her, workout out was a drudgery, and she could never motivate and push herself.  That was until she found Zumba.  She loved Zumba and that helped her stay motivated and on track with exercise.

Know yourself

Sharee is a big proponent in knowing yourself.  She knows she is not one who can handle moderation.  Therefore she can’t approach food and have just one chip.  She now focuses on her strength, which is planning.  Knowing yourself allows you to take your own path to health and fitness.

Plateau

Sharee uses an acronym – EFFORT to break through a plateau.

• Exercise – Are you doing enough?  Are you doing too much?
• Food – Are you eating too much?  Are you eating enough?
• Focus – Are you focused on your goal?
• Organization – Planning and setting yourself up for success.
• Rest – Are you giving your body the rest it needs?  Are you resting too much?
• Time – Are you rushing the process?  Do you have realistic expectations?

 

Links:

A Funeral For My Fat

Sharee Samuels

 

Todd loses over 300lbs

The Yoga Lifestyle | Doron Hanoch

Doron Hanoch comes to the 40+ Fitness Podcast to discuss his book, the Yoga Lifestyle.  We go beyond the basics of the physical yoga practice and explore ways to take yoga outside the studio.

If you want to develop discipline and get the benefits of yoga, you have to show up.  Don’t worry about what you may or may not accomplish that day, but get into the habit of making sure you are there and then get present.  The benefits will come.

Benefits of Yoga:

• Flexibility
• Strength
• Breathing better
• Mind training

Doron then discussed a 1 – 2 breathing technique for relaxation and falling asleep quickly.

 

Links

Doron Yoga

Yoga Retreats

Facebook

Youtube

Art and Photography website 

 

 

Yoga’s Healing Power | Ally Hamilton

Yoga’s Healing Power | Ally Hamilton

Ally Hamilton found yoga as a senior at Columbia. She expected it to be too easy for her and was pleasantly surprised by the true physical challenge. But she was even more surprised to experience the other improvements in her life that came from a regular practice.

In her book, Yoga’s Healing Power, Ally goes through the eight limbs of a yoga practice.

Yamas

This limb represents our commitments and restraints. In this part, we focus on kindness, truthfulness, non-stealing, accountability, and not coveting.

Niyamas

This limb relates to our observances, being pure, working hard, and our religious practice.

Asana

This limb is the physical practice that most of us recognize when we think of yoga, the movement, the stretching, the meditation.

Pranayama

This limb recognizes the life force and energy of the universe.

Pratyahara

This limb relates to releasing yourself from your likes and dislikes.

Dharana

This limb is about uninterrupted concentration as a means of fulfilling your dreams.

Dhyana

This limb relates to a state of being where there are no borders between you and the world.  It relates to having discipline in your practice.

Samadhi

This limb is a state of flow and enlightenment.  Difficult to achieve but a blessing when you do.

 

If you start to treat your body as the gift it is, it shifts the way you feed it.

~ Ally Hamilton, Yoga’s Healing Power

 

My apologies for the interruption by my dogs, but it really was a cool moment for me.

Learn more about Ally Hamilton at Yogis Anonymous.

Should I do yoga? | Julie Zuzek

Cracking the Aging Code | Josh Mitteldorf

In Cracking the Aging Code, Josh Mitteldorf does a deep dive into the science of aging.  His research has led him to some theories that differ quite a bit from what many of us may have believed were true.  Our body is programmed to destroy itself as we age.

As a part of this discussion, Josh explains why he doesn’t believe Paleo or natural eating extend our lives.  Nor does he believe that anti-oxidant therapy make us more healthy.  In fact, anti-oxidants may shorten our lives.

The four core reasons we age:

Inflammation

Inflammation is important to help us address outside threats, but when we’re older, this inflammation turns on us.  Inflammation attacks us, causing arthritis, atherosclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease. It is also associated with many types of cancer.

A high-carb diet is inflammatory.  Having extra bodyfat is inflammatory.  But our bodies are different and we have to experiment to find what works for us.

Immune System

The Thymus gland creates T-cells to fight viruses and bacteria.  As we age, the T-cells begin to turn on us and are linked to arthritis and macular degeneration fo the retina.

Apoptosis

This process of “cell death” is important to help the body get rid of damaged cells.  As we age, the process degrades resulting in two types of errors:  damaged cells may be missed, or healthy cells are destroyed.

Telomere Shortening

Each time a cell is divided to go on the telomeres, which are endcaps for the DNA helix shortened.  When the telomere reaches the end, the cell can no longer divide and effectively dies.

Links:

AgingAdvice.org

2 weeks to a younger brain | Dr. Gary Small

https://40plusfitnesspodcast.com/aging-well-dr-mark-williams/ ‎

Ketogenic diet for weight loss

In this episode, I discuss how I used the ketogenic diet for weight loss.  Ketosis is a physical phenomenon, where your body adapts to using fat for energy instead of sugar. Susan, who you met on episode 142, joined me on this conversation so she can ask questions as I went.  I switched my eating to allow me to go into ketosis so I could drop some weight I’d gained over the past few months.

To get into ketosis, you lower your carbohydrates (carbs) to 20 grams or less and you increase your fat to make up the calories. You’ll keep your protein moderate to ensure it doesn’t spike your blood sugar.

In ketosis, your body burns the fat and produces ketones.  These ketones can be used by the brain as fuel.  In fact, most of the science on ketosis shows that the brain favors ketones.   I know I feel better when I’m in ketosis.

Concerns with Ketosis

• Ketoacidosis – This is a dangerous condition that is typically limited to type I diabetics. In this condition, your ketone level gets dangerously high and the blood sugar is also high.  This is a very rare condition and not something you’ll
• Compliance – The ketogenic diet is difficult.  It is not easy to go from being a sugar burner to a fat burner.  Staying at 20 grams of carbs per day is very limiting.  Fortunately, once you’re in ketosis, you may be able to ratchet up your carb intake.
• Carb withdrawal/Keto flu – During the transition, you’ll likely have some fatigue, effectively feeling like you have the flu.
• Medications – If you’re a diabetic and take meds to help manage your blood sugar, you should talk to your doctor.  You’ll have to monitor yourself very closely.  The ketogenic diet can be an effective way to reverse diabetes.

Ketogenic Diet Tools

You should be able to feel that you’re in ketosis, but there are tools to measure ketones.  To be in nutritional ketosis you will have a ketone reading of 0.5 – 7:0.  You can measure ketones three ways:

• Keto-sticks are a cost effective way to measure the ketone bodies in your urine.  However, once you get fat adapted, you won’t be excreting ketones, and they will stop working.  This makes them great for showing that you’re in ketosis when you first start.
• The Precision Plus with ketone strips can measure the ketones in your blood.  This is the most accurate way to determine when you’re in ketosis.
• The Ketonix is a tool you can use to measure ketones in your breath.  This is a pain and mess free way to do the measurement.  I haven’t seen any science to prove this tool is as accurate as the blood.

Other Considerations for the Ketogenic Diet

• Tweak your protein intake based on your exercise intensity.
• Make sure you’re getting enough sodium and potassium.  With a ketogenic diet, you’ll lose water weight and with that some electrolytes.
• You’ll likely lose some water weight early in the ketogenic diet.
• There are extraneous sources of ketones that you can take to increase the ketones.  These can help when you need more energy.
• Medium-Chain Triglycerides (MCT), which is processed from coconut oil.  Because of the nature of this oil, it increased your ketone level quickly.  Just make sure you ease into using it as it can cause diarrhea.

Whether you choose to use ketosis as a way to lose weight, now you understand what it is when you hear someone talking about it.  More and more people are trying ketosis.

If you have any questions about the ketogenic diet, feel free to comment on this post.

Have a happy and healthy day!

Allan

Below are the links I mentioned in the podcast.

Keto-stix

Precision Plus with Keto Strips

Ketonix

Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore

The scoop on ketosis with Jimmy Moore

Susan’s Success Story

Susan, a Forever Fitness client, comes to the 40+ Fitness Podcast to share her success story.

Susan reflects on her decision to work on her health and fitness when she turned 43.  She started by walking during her daughter’s practiced volleyball.  She progressed from that to a group class after a friend won a free boot camp program and gave it to her.  She discovered that being in a community made doing the exercise much easier.

When she began focusing on weight lifting, she noticed how seeing others working hard gave her motivation to push herself.  She joined Forever Fitness Personal Training when she was looking to accelerate her progress.  She didn’t always like the recommendations but she saw the results. Having a coach motivated her to push on.

Having a thyroid issue has always made it easy for her to gain weight.  Through managing her food and exercise, she managed to lose 40 lbs.  Her doctor was very impressed.  Her blood work looks much better and her need for thyroid meds has reduced.