It’s no secret that our bodies feel tight and stiffer if we don’t stretch, especially as we get older. If you invest most of your exercise time into strengthening your muscles or working on your cardio routine, it’s easy to forget about stretching.
Regaining weight after losing it on a diet is much more common than keeping the weight off. Often dieters gain back more than they lost, and it’s a common experience to have an even harder time losing weight the next time. “Weight cycling” is the term for these repeating episodes of intentional weight loss followed by unintentional regain, also often called “yo-yo dieting.”
Research reveals health dangers of weight cyclingIn addition to making the next attempt at weight loss more difficult, repeated cycles of weight loss and gain have damaging effects on the body.
A study presented at the American Heart Association’s March 2019 Scientific Sessions reported that weight cycling was associated with poorer cardiovascular health parameters. Women were assigned a cardiovascular risk score based on 7 factors: smoking, diet, physical activity, BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose. Women with a history of weight cycling were less likely to have a favorable BMI and less likely to have a favorable overall cardiovascular health score.1 Previous research also linked bouts of weight cycling to a greater risk of endometrial cancer.2 It is also worth noting that in the cardiovascular study, over 70% of the 485 women reported having a history of weight cycling (at least one instance of weight loss and regain), highlighting how common this issue is.1
One of the most important messages about weight loss is this: change your diet, lose the weight and keep your new, healthier way of eating forever.
The human body responds to weight loss the same way it would respond to starvation – by conserving energy. The brain uses information about calorie intake and the body’s amount of stored energy to determine whether to release appetite-enhancing or appetite-suppressing hormones. One way the body adapts to weight loss is by altering the production of appetite-regulating hormones such as ghrelin and leptin, favoring weight regain by increasing appetite and promoting fat storage. Another way is by decreasing resting energy expenditure.1
These compensatory systems make going back to one’s old unhealthy diet even more weight gain-promoting. The highly palatable low nutrient foods, which stimulate cravings via the dopamine reward system, are even more dangerous for someone whose calorie expenditure has fallen. Also, when you lose weight, some loss of muscle is unavoidable, and strength exercise helps to limit muscle loss. However, when someone gains weight back after dieting, that weight is fat, potentially leaving the dieter with a greater body fat percentage than before.
Studies have linked weight cycling to a greater risk of diabetes, hypertension, gallbladder stones, and shorter telomere length.2-6 Shorter telomeres mean rapid aging. Weight cycling women were also found to have a greater waist circumference, and seem to gain more weight over time than “non-cyclers” who start off at the same BMI.7,8
The bottom line is that making changes to your diet to improve your health and your weight need to be permanent changes, not temporary.
Why is gaining back body fat harmful? Adipose (fat) tissue is more than a vessel for storing excess energy. In addition to storing fat, adipose tissue acts as an endocrine organ: it contains macrophages (a type of white blood cell) in addition to adipocytes; it produces and secretes compounds that affect the function of other types of cells. Obesity is accompanied by a systemic low-grade inflammation.9,10 Adipose releases compounds that can induce negative consequences such as insulin resistance, higher triglycerides, and reduced immune function, and even growth promoters that can increase risk of cancer. As fat tissue grows, more of these pro-inflammatory compounds are produced, leading to chronic inflammation, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.11
How to avoid weight cyclingThe key to losing weight and keeping it off forever is changing your diet forever. Stay away from extreme fad diets; they are not sustainable long-term. About 80 percent of dieters are unable to keep 10 percent of their original body weight off for more than one year.12 Feeling deprived and going back to your old diet is almost inevitable. However, if you use high-nutrient foods to resolve toxic hunger and achieve greater meal satisfaction with a smaller number of calories, it will be much easier to stick with your new way of eating and prevent future weight regain.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine analyzed and reported weight loss results provided by 75 obese patients who had switched to a Nutritiarian diet. The average weight loss was 55 pounds after three years, which means they kept the weight off long-term. Compare these results to most weight loss intervention studies, which report average losses of only 6-13 pounds maintained after two years.13 One reason for the remarkable effects on permanent weight reduction with a Nutritarian diet is that the users are more fully educated regarding the long-term health and longevity benefits and it is adopted not merely for its weight loss benefits. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that this nutrient dense, plant-rich diet can suppress appetite and resolve food cravings and food addictions.14
My book The End of Dieting explains exactly how to break out of the cycle of physical and emotional addiction and overeating – how to keep the weight off permanently.
Originally printed on DrFuhrman.com. Reprinted with permission.
Joel Fuhrman, M.D. is a board-certified family physician, six-time New York Times bestselling author and internationally recognized expert on nutrition and natural healing, who specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional methods. Dr. Fuhrman coined the term “Nutritarian” to describe his longevity-promoting, nutrient dense, plant-rich eating style.
For over 25 years, Dr. Fuhrman has shown that it is possible to achieve sustainable weight loss and reverse heart disease, diabetes and many other illnesses using smart nutrition. In his medical practice, and through his books and PBS television specials, he continues to bring this life-saving message to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
References
Most of us accept stress as a necessary evil that is a part of the American lifestyle. But living under stress day in and day out can lead to heart disease. According to the American Psychological Association, prolonged stress can contribute to high blood pressure and circulatory problems, and if stress makes you angry and irritable, you are more likely to have heart disease or even a heart attack.
Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete bacteria, borrelia (strains vary by region). The borrelia bacteria has the crazy capability of altering its genome in order to change its exterior shell antigens in order to avoid being detected by the host’s immune system. These modified surface proteins can trigger autoimmunity in the host.
Borrelia infection in the blood
16 proteins on the borrelia bacteria have been shown to cross-react with thyroid tissue, thereby triggering thyroid autoimmunity, such as Grave’s or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Lyme can also trigger chronic inflammatory response syndrome, or CIRS.
The bacteria also produce protein “cocoons” called biofilms that protect the bacteria from antibiotic treatment and immune system defense mechanisms. The bacteria will secrete enzymes to digest and steal nutrients from the host. These little bastards will burrow into tissues across the body, such as the joint tissue (joint pain?), or even central nervous system (can mimic neurological conditions). Lyme often comes with co-infections like babesia and bartonella.
Testing for Lyme can be tricky and antibiotics are not always effective by themselves. Therefore using a functional approach (in conjunction with antibiotics, only when absolutely necessary) yields superior outcomes.
Learn more about this topic… join Brendan for his upcoming webinar, Integrative Therapeutics for Lyme and Coinfections.
Brendan Vermeire is an Integrative Clinician and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner specializing in complex chronic illness. He began his career as a personal trainer and nutrition coach at the age of 19. After being exposed to the power of functional lab testing in the start of his career, he began intensely pursuing that as a career path which has lead him to being the current Director of the Association of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioners, the owner/founder of the Premier Virtual Integrative Health Clinic, Metabolic Solutions, and a Clinical Educator for Bio-Botanical Research.
Challenge your truth.
Do you wonder where your beliefs come from and why you believe certain things about life and the world to be true?
If not, that’s ok, but I want you to keep an open mind for me as you read this…
You see, many of the belief systems we have aren’t our own. They are imposed on us by parents, society, cultures, etc.
For example, what defines a successful life for most people is the traditional story: You go to school, get a great job, have a beautiful family, work hard until you can retire, then kick back and enjoy life.
Today more than ever that belief is being challenged. People are beginning to crave a different narrative. But that’s been the predominant one for over a century.
Another example more closely related to what I do is the common belief that people just don’t have time for exercise or preparing healthy meals.
Yes, we really do have time for exercise and preparing healthy meals.
But what’s true is that other people with just as busy of a schedule do find the time.
So, if the belief system around time was true, no two people with the same type of schedule should be able to find the time to take care of themselves…
Of course, the time belief system we are using here as an example is faulty and false.
I hope this is making sense.
Today I want to challenge you to challenge your truth.
Write down 5 beliefs that you have that hold you back from achieving the life you desire. Even if right now you believe the excuse or thought is 100% legit.
Then, ask yourself – “What else is possible? Is this really true?”
When your beliefs are deeply rooted by habit and by the people who surround you, it can be very hard to break free from them. But with effort, it’s possible.
Don’t hold on to false thoughts that keep you from creating the life and the body you desire.
Challenging your beliefs and the meaning you give them is the first steps to taking new action to create change.
So, what 5 beliefs did you come up with and how can you begin to shift them to create new, empowering belief systems?
Originally printed on Move Well Fitness blog. Reprinted with permission.
Maurice D. Williams is a personal trainer and owner of Move Well Fitness in Bethesda, MD. With almost two decades in the industry, he’s worked with a wide range of clients, including those with health challenges like diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, coronary artery disease, lower back pain, pulmonary issues, and pregnancy. Maurice is also a fitness educator with Move Well Fit Academy and NASM. He also serves as the Director of Membership Services for the MedFit Network.
How do you assess your clients’ balance? How can you adapt your training plan to deal with natural fluctuations in their balance?
Physical balance is complex and can change daily. Many clients will refer to how long they can stand on one leg when asked about balance issues, but how useful is this as a measure of their postural control or their risk of falling?
Many people who’ve had any kind of formal balance assessment have only done so after having a fall. New statistics show that falls are the leading cause of trauma room visits, across all age groups, and in the case of those over 65, 1 in 4 falls each year. Indeed, the number of deaths by falling is increasing, and yet there are many proven interventions to improve balance and avoid falls.
Many older adults are reluctant to discuss falls or balance issues with their doctors, some wrongly believing that falling is an inevitable part of aging and marks the beginning of the end for them.
Fitness trainers have a significant opportunity to help educate their clients in both the measurement and management of balance and balance issues.
Good balance is the result of the somatosensory, proprioceptive and neuromuscular systems working together. Each system is complex and can be affected by factors such as stress, quality of sleep, medications and exercise habits so understanding where your client is on any given day is helpful for optimizing their health goals.
Regular balance measurement can also be a powerful motivational tool, especially for older adults who want to remain independent and age on their own terms.
Dr. Katharine Forth is an expert in motor control, and conducted post-doctoral research at NASA, where she became the co-founder of Zibrio technology. The Zibrio SmartScale is a bathroom scale that uses artificial intelligence to measure balance and fall risk in a simple 60-second test. The product won an innovation award from the Consumer Technology Association in 2020, and was named by AARP as the winning technology to help ‘older adults stay in the game’ at their pitch competition at CES 2020, judged by Joe Montana. More information can be found at www.zibrio.com
Adding vegetables to whole grains always makes for a hearty side dish that can easily double as an entree. This is an easy way to start the transition to a plant-based diet, too. It’s one of my personal go-to’s when I’m tight on time, or when I feel like something a little lighter in the evening. You know spring has sprung when you see asparagus! As we move closer to summer, serve this chilled, over tender lettuce.
Asparagus Flavored Quinoa
Dressing
Wash and dry asparagus. Nature will tell you where to remove the fibrous part of the spear. By holding the spear, one end in each hand, begin to bend the asparagus into an arch. The spear will snap at just the right spot; no guesswork involved. Do this until all spears are free of these inedible ends.
Chefs, you know we don’t throw anything away! Let’s infuse our broth with delicious and nutritious asparagus flavor. Pour broth into a medium saucepan. Add the fibrous ends, and bring to a boil. While infusing your broth, cut the remaining asparagus into 1-inch pieces. Set aside.
Rinse quinoa thoroughly. Once you can smell the aroma of asparagus, remove ends from broth with a slotted spoon and discard. Whisk Quinoa and Asparagus pieces into the infused broth. Bring back to a boil. Reduce heat, cook uncovered 15 minutes. Turn off heat, drape towel over pan, cover with tight-fitting lid. This technique keeps condensation from falling onto our cooked grains and making them mushy. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon zest through salt and pepper. Warm a serving bowl and fluff quinoa with a fork. Gently pour finished quinoa into serving bowl. Drizzle with dressing and fluff lightly. Sprinkle with pine nuts and some beautiful asparagus tips.
To date, asparagus is our greatest hope in finding the cure for ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The phytonutrient, Sarsasapogenin, prevents motor-neuron cell death. It’s also housed in inulin. A fibrous carbohydrate, it lowers blood sugar due to the small intestines inability to break it down. This allows the nutrients to make their way to the large intestines, where it feeds good bacteria, making it a very effective probiotic. This combination of natural activity makes it very effective in treating degenerative disease, i.e., ALS, Type 2 Diabetes, and Crohn’s Disease.
The presence of four other phytonutrients, known as anti-inflammatory powerhouses: Kaempferol, Quercitin, Rutin, and Isorhamnetin, give it major cancer-killing abilities. I have used asparagus, with great success, in the treatment and complete eradication of melanoma. Being very high in minerals, and antioxidants like Vitamins C and E, it is, generally speaking, a great way to prevent nutrient deficiency overall.
Asparagus also contains a good amount of Glutathione — a combination of three amino acids combined into one molecule. This, many researchers believe, will eventually be the cure for Parkinson’s disease. Rich in soluble and insoluble fiber, asparagus not only breeds good bacteria in the digestive/intestinal tracts, it’s also a vegan’s best friend, as it is one of the richest sources of veggie protein.
The odor when one urinates after eating asparagus: sulfuric compounds. This group of phytonutrients prevents hormone and digestive based cancers better than any other group of phytos. This odor lets you know you are digesting the nutrients effectively. This is about the only time stinky pee is a sign of good health! So, enjoy… the asparagus, not the odor.
Get more great recipes from Tina Martini — her book, Delicious Medicine: The Healing Power of Food is available to purchase on Amazon. More than a cookbook, combining 20+ years of experience, along with her love of coaching, cooking and teaching, Tina offers unexpected insights into the history and healing power of clean eating, along with recipes to help reduce your risk of disease and improve overall wellness so you can enjoy life!
Affectionately referred to as The Walking Encyclopedia of Human Wellness, Fitness Coach, Strength Competitor and Powerlifting pioneer, Tina “The Medicine Chef” Martini is an internationally recognized Naturopathic Chef and star of the cooking show, Tina’s Ageless Kitchen. Tina’s cooking and lifestyle show has reached millions of food and fitness lovers all over the globe. Over the last 30 years, Tina has assisted celebrities, gold-medal athletes and over-scheduled executives naturally achieve radiant health using The Pyramid of Power: balancing Healthy Nutrition and the healing power of food, with Active Fitness and Body Alignment techniques. Working with those who have late-stage cancer, advanced diabetes, cardiovascular and other illnesses, Tina’s clients are astounded at the ease and speed with which they are able to restore their radiant health. Tina believes that maintaining balance in our diet, physical activity, and in our work and spiritual life is the key to our good health, happiness and overall well being. Visit her website, themedicinechef.com
After enduring two separate spinal injuries and the excruciatingly painful rehabilitation that followed, Scott Bertrand, DC, decided to take treatment into his own hands by inventing the AllCore360° System: a system designed to isometrically train every core muscle by leveraging the users body weight against the resistance of gravity during 360º full body rotations.
Before the idea for AllCore360° came about, Bertrand’s journey began with a leap — and ended with a fractured lower back from a skydiving incident during his time at the 101st Airborne Division in Kentucky. The physical therapy, according to Bertrand, was unbearable, and ultimately he chose to discontinue treatment.
About 20 years after that incident, Bertrand suffered a second debilitating spinal injury after diving into a pool and colliding with another swimmer. Recovering from a broken neck was just as painful as his first experience with physical therapy, which got Bertrand asking: Why isn’t there a better, less painful way to treat spinal injuries and reduce back pain?
That question led him to create the AllCore360°, the first medical system designed to rehabilitate the core with virtually no impact. The system engineers patients to perform balanced, isometric contractions in a 360-degree rotating plank without moving their body or applying pressure to their wrists, elbows or shoulders. It works by targeting, and therefore strengthening, the 50+ muscles in the core that surround, support and protect the spine and internal organs.
Because of its low-impact and core-targeting design, many chiropractors aside from Bertrand have found the AllCore360° to be an effective way to not only treat patients with back pain but to strengthen and rehabilitate athletes as well. At Gray Chiropractic & Sports Associates in North Carolina, the AllCore360° has proven to be a valuable new service for treating everyone from young athletes with sports injuries to retired athletes with chronic pain. In addition to benefiting patients with improved outcomes and faster recovery, the system now generates Lawrence Gray, DC, an additional $5,500 in revenue per month.
“The AllCore360° is a game-changer,” Gray shared with the AllCore360° team. “As a clinician, we have our everyday approaches, but we need to step outside of the box to invite different perspectives on the paradigm that we once had, and look at ways that we can enhance in a short period of time.”
Paralympian Curtis Lovejoy also found AllCore360° to be a beneficial part of his ongoing therapy. At the age of 29, Lovejoy was paralyzed from the neck down after a devastating car crash in 1986. Today, he’s a five-time Paralympics champion with 12 world records, 500 gold medals in swimming, and 200 gold medals in fencing. AllCore360° helped Lovejoy activate the nerves in his core muscles, eventually building strength that led to improved swim times and successful forays into fencing.
Hearing stories from people like Gray and Lovejoy is what it’s all about for Bertrand. Creating AllCore360° was a process that took two spinal injuries, many prototypes, and over 30 years of refinement. In the end, he considers it worth it, thanks to the documented results from thousands of successful patient stories.
Interested in learning how AllCore360° can benefit your patients and your practice? Head over to allcore360.com for more information.
Reprinted with permission from Scott Bertrand.
Scott Bertrand is the proud father of 2 and the grandfather to 3 fabulous people. He traveled to Atlanta after serving in the 10st Airborne to pursue a chiropractic career in the early 80s. After graduating from Life University in 1985, Dr. Bertrand happily cared for the chiropractic needs of a burgeoning city next to the world’s busiest airport, College Park, Ga. In 2011 he discontinued chiropractic care and focused on his passion to assist those who would benefit from core training and co-founded Alltrand LLC. Alltrand LLC is the organization that offers his invention, the AllCore360, to the medical fitness world.
There is a lot of research, clinical data and statistics related to cancer – types, causes, and treatments – available to anyone interested in looking them up. There are, of course, the usual suspects /causes of cancer (more on that later). But there could be a case made out to look beyond the obvious. Scratch deeply and look below the surface. There is another omnipresent trigger we lug around and don’t give this Machiavellian it’s due. It coexists as both cause and effect, feeds off us, is often suppressed, and is usually the last to be addressed, if at all.
‘Unaddressed and unresolved emotions’.
The source of these could be singular, or more likely, multiple. Cracking or crumbling relationships, pressures of work (often tied up with a sense of ‘worth’ & ‘success’), irritants at home (from the mundane to the serious), overwhelming sense of responsibilities as a spouse, parent, child, maintaining a lifestyle, etc. come to mind easily. This tangle slowly and silently claws away at body, mind and soul. Some may immediately label it ‘Stress’. But this emotional web can manifest in other physio-psychological avatars too. It is silent and deadly. It attacks all systems- skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, etc. All organ systems on one hand, and cognitive and emotional on the other, interfering with and impairing our quality of living and coping abilities. While one needs to clearly distinguish and recognize medical reasons for what they are, the truth is, this silent trigger is omnipotent. Abstract though it may seem, emotions wield the power to mess with our tangible systems. They have the capability of producing unwanted, negative, and damaging results in the human body. Sometimes, drastically so.
A long, relaxed conversation with a cancer survivor friend brought this aspect to the fore yet again. He has overcome cancer twice and tried all treatments – mainstream and alternate, including adopting a complete lifestyle change which most of us can only aspire to. But there remains an unaddressed issue. After years spent on this journey of cancer, getting on and off track, he calmly mentioned this point in relation to his experience of it. It was interesting to hear him analyze his own life experiences. Aware of what’s impacting him (acknowledging the source of his emotional drain), he recognizes the need let it go, and admits that he hasn’t been able to yet. Driven by his emotional moorings, he hasn’t been able to sever this source of recurring negativity in his life despite nudging by family, friends, healers and a few doctors.
He further went on to calmly say that till such time as he lets go, he is not fighting the root causes of cancer completely. (I say ’causes’ so as not to make an oversimplified case of cancer triggers, especially in relation to emotional health, nor is it my intention to present this as a thought in conflict with medical advice or challenge it.) He intends to seriously weigh the worthiness of continuing with this emotional baggage and its impact on his body.
He isn’t the first person – or the last – to have mentioned this connection. There is something more than pure abstraction at play here. And it’s worth acknowledging the elephant in the room. We are, after all, feeding it and it is rolling its weight all over us. Emotions impact us and negative emotions more so. Our bodies respond in myriad ways trying to combat it. Labored breathing, racing/irregular heart beat (cardiovascular), tight muscles (muscular), tingling in fingers/toes (neural), aches and pains (skeletal and muscular), compromised digestion, high/low blood pressure (other body systems)… these are just some common perceptible symptoms and responses to our altered emotional states. We have all experienced them to varying degrees and at different points in our lives. Not to mention what happens to our (emotional) responses and thought process.
It becomes a cause of concern when this altered state continues for a longer period of time. The body appears to adapt and these symptoms become silent and internal in nature. The impact, meanwhile, continues on a wider, cellular level, and various manifestations of this silent aggressor may emerge over a period of time, including possibly, as cancer.
Does it mean all cancers are somehow the result of negative emotions or negative emotions will always lead to cancer? There is no definite, categorical ‘Yes’ as an answer. But, it could prove helpful investigating and addressing how our underlying emotive states may be leaving us exposed to greater possibility of serious health conditions, including cancer, along with all other clinical causes. As a precautionary tool, I reckon paying attention to emotional health plays a rather important role. We know that a healthy and fit lifestyle has so many advantages in serving as prevention for many health conditions. ‘Fitness’ needs to encompass emotional and mental health (strength and fortitude) too, by constantly sieving out the negative and enhancing the positive. It requires acknowledgement and working upon, with a conscious approach. As a cancer coping mechanism, focusing on positive emotional health and reducing negative (draining/sapping/unhappy/stressful/fearful) emotions plays a powerful role.
Emotions have the power to alter the human state at the conscious and subconscious levels. They can be an ally or a foe in our battle against ill health. They have the ability to align internal systems/processes to either facilitate or hinder external efforts.
So while one may refrain from an outright ‘yes’ to the question raised above, one cannot say an outright ‘no’ either. As science discovers deeper working of the human ecosystem, it is increasingly revealing the intertwining of our emotive state with our physical one.
Humans are emotional beings.
We cannot challenge it nor ignore the fabric that differentiates us. When one goes against the basic grain it creates friction. Prioritizing striving for a residual state of positive emotional health needs a deliberate plan and push. It is not easy. But neither is cancer nor its treatment. Using different techniques to spot and train our emotions, create emotional alchemy, makes sense now more than ever before, with different types of cancers spiraling and affecting all age groups, sometimes with the known triggers missing.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” –C. G. Jung
Originally printed on bodyinmotion.in. Reprinted with permission.
Vani Pahwa is a Functional Fitness specialist with over fifteen years of experience, and cutting-edge certifications from leading internationally-accredited and globally recognized fitness institutes. She is also a Cancer Exercise Specialist (perhaps one of the first in the country). Sought after for her multi-disciplinary fitness modules and expertise, Vani has conducted fitness workshops for leading corporate houses, conditioning and training camps for various sports communities, training programs for coaches, personal training programs for CEOs of multi-nationals, athletes, junior and senior sports professionals among others. Her combination of specialties, client profile and range, and extensive work experience makes her unique in the country. She is the founder of Body in Motion.
** If interested in further research on the topic you may read up related links including: