LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

exercise

SOY BENEFITS HELPS TO INCREASE BONE DENSITY – (01-26-08)

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Effects of Phytoestrogen Genistein on Bone Metabolism in Osteopenic Postmenopausal Women

It still surprises me to hear such a strong anti-soy sentiment out there. Clearly, heavy, repeated exposure to any food antigen can lead to sensitivity, but the consistent research supporting the benefits of soy constituents makes any argument against soy sound weak.

This study finds the genistein compound from soy helping to increase bone density. However, as with any natural approach, improving bone density is multifactorial. Strong vit D status, calcium, a alkaline diet, exercise, whole body vibration. All these add up to increasing bone density. Sadly, many patients coming through my office are put on anti-resorptive therapy like Fosamax, but the lifestyle recommends rarely exceed “take Tums…”

Read entire article here

RED WINE INTAKE OF MODERATE AMOUNT SHOWS A POSITIVE HEALTH BENEFIT – (03-17-08)

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Life style habits such as alcohol consumption and physical activity in relation to serum apoB / apoA-I ratio amongst 64-year-old women with varying degrees of glucose tolerance

Alcohol is always a hot topic when it comes to health. In general, almost all the studies looking at red wine intake of moderate amount (up to 1/2 bottle / day) show a positive benefit. This study is no different, although they did not look at type of alcohol consumed. Of note in this study was that alcohol intake above one glass per day was needed to show a positive effect.

Also, this article had an interesting finding; exercise “leading to sweating” had a positive effect. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the term “leading to sweating” used, but it gives us a real good idea of what level was needed. Walking in many cases is probably not enough. So, try jogging on the treadmill holding a glass of red wine.

Read entire article here

L-CARNITINE TREATMENT REDUCES SEVERITY OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL FATIGUE – (08-04-08)

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L-Carnitine treatment reduces severity of physical and mental fatigue and increases cognitive functions in centenarians.

While the results of this study seem pretty amazing, the bottom line is that L-carnitine is necessary for fatty acids to be shuttled into the mitochondria to be burned for energy. So, basically, all the researchers did was increase the ability of these patients to create ATP and energy for the cells.

In addition to supplementation with L-carnitine, exercise, higher phytonutrient diet, low stress and a hundred other interventions will positively effect this same pathway.

Read entire article here

EFFECT OF DIETARY ADHERENCE WITH OR WITHOUT EXERCISE ON WEIGHT LOSS – (03-08-10)

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Effect of Dietary Adherence with or without Exercise on Weight Loss

Fasten your seatbelts for this one. Regular readers know I am a huge fan of calorie restriction without nutrient restriction for weight loss and long term health.

In this particular study of calorie restriction and exercise, some interesting findings came out. Everyone was put on a 800 cal / day diet, which is quite restrictive. However, those that had greater restrictions (meaning they were taking in more calories before the study and the drop down to 800 was greater) had a harder time sticking to the diet. Makes sense. Also means that we should, in general, cut down our caloric intake, dieting or not. Next, those that exercised 3 x / wk lost more fat mass than the non-exercising group. So compare this to the HCG wonder diet that you hear on the radio so often. The diet associated with this is 500 cal / day and you can’t exercise.

I contend that the weight loss is from the calorie restriction and have seen nothing to suggest otherwise. Also, from this study we see that exercise is needed to lose more fat mass, and this is left out of the HCG diet. Stick to calorie restriction and save your money.

Read entire article here

HOW TO IMPROVE PAIN AND FATIGUE IN WOMEN WITH FIBROMYALGIA? – (09-01-09)

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Six Weeks of Whole-Body Vibration Exercise Improves Pain and Fatigue in Women with Fibromyalgia

As the owner of a clinic that has one of the higher quality WBV units, I can attest that we see some pretty interesting results across a variety of conditions. I must add a caveat about the lower quality cam-driven units–they generate substantial G-forces that may lead to long term joint damage. Stick with the sonic driven units.

Read entire article here

WHAT KIND OF EXERCISE ARE YOU DOING TO AVOID DIABETES?

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It always seems like everything has great excuses for not exercising.  Of course, that’s all they are–excuses.  These same people will all express a clear understanding about how important exercise is for our bodies.  And yet, somehow, the understanding is not enough to generate action.  Many who do exercise are doing it all wrong.

I think if we had to run a survey to ask on the types of exercise, walking would be #1.  This ranges from 25 year olds up to 80 year olds.  In none of these patients is walking enough.

I am always loath to discourage a new patient who notes that walking is the main form of exercise that they perform, but the reality is that this is just not enough to make all that much of a difference.  Oh sure–if you watch the Lipitor commercials and the fit, lean guy walking leisurely through the woods notes that diet and exercise just weren’t enough it leads one to believe that walking was the recommendation that his doctor gave him.  However, the research clearly supports a different theory.

First, there is strength training.  This is a required portion of your exercise routine.  However, despite what Klaus the personal trainer states, you do NOT need to bench press 220 lbs 9 times your very first day in the gym.  Rather, several simple, large muscle group exercises (hams, quads, biceps, triceps, abdominal, gluts, etc..) may be all you need to do.  There is great diminishing returns on 2nd and 3rd sets, so, if you’re not the gym devotee, do a single set to fatigue.  This does not mean that you can crank out 50 reps and still discuss politics with the guy next to you.  It means that, MAYBE you could crank out that 9th rep if someone put a gun to your head.  If it’s easier than that, up the weight.

And it doesn’t require weights.  For me, it’s pull ups, chin ups, push ups, dips and ab roller stuff.  Pretty simple and straightforward.

Next, the aerobic component.

Multiple recent studies continue to support the concept of short burst, intense aerobic activity.  That means hop on your exercise bike and pedal like mad for 30 or 60 seconds and then take a one minute break.  Rinse.  Repeat.  6 to 10 times.  And that’s it–you’re done.

This is not 2 hours in the gym people.  It’s walking by your exercise bike sitting in the kitchen (great place for it, by the way–hard to miss), thinking that you’ve got 10 minutes before American Idol starts.  Better yet, do it during American Idol so that at least some blood flow is making it to your brain.

A mere ten minutes several times per week can make a massive change in your health trajectory.  It’s that simple.  So dust off the Nordic Track, splurge on that $10 jump rope, hop on Tony Little’s Gazelle or pick up someone else’s failed New Year’s resolution treadmill or elliptical at a garage sale or off of Craigslist and get started.

Than you too can see a 36% improvement in the blood glucose running through your veins in a SINGLE EXERCISE SESSION, just like in this particular study.

WHY WEIGHT LOSS IS NOT ABOUT FAT

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Human physiology is beyond description.  There is nothing that happens without a reason.  Every chronic disease is an expected outcome given the circumstances we create in our bodies.  Even fat has a reason to be.

Just ask a bear.  Or a camel.

In bears, fat is a storage depot for extra calories during hibernation.  In the Inuit Eskimos of Greenland have a tendency to store fat, and for the same reasons (no–they don’t hibernate, but would YOU go out looking for food when even the penguins are dying from the cold??).

In the rest of us, excess fat is almost always a result of bad physiology.  Again, the body does nothing without a good reason.  In the case of fat, it is the equivalent of a castle under siege.

What happens when a castle is under seige?  Energy is conserved (which can lead to fatigue despite a massive amount of stored energy).  The armory, weapons and soldiers gear up (inflammation levels go up).  This begins the long term problems with excess weight.

In today’s society, excess fat is usually the result of mixed up messages.  The calories we take in are low quality with low phytonutrient value.  As a result, our cells get lazy and the mitochondria within all of our cells are less efficient.  The analogy I give is with computer programs.  Years ago, with less available memory on our computers programs were smaller and more efficient.  As memory capability has expanded, so have the sizes of the programs.  That’s how our cells work–too much calories and they get lazy and slothful.

When cells themselves are burning off energy less efficiently, the resultant excess calories become stored as fat.  These fat cells then begin to run out of good blood flow (this is actually the most current theory as to why abnormal fat storage begins to wreak havoc).  Less blood flow means less nutrients which leads to a panic state within the fat cell.  The fat cell then begins to crank out inflammatory messengers that wreak further havoc on the current path towards chronic disease.

Sounds just wonderful, huh?

Here’s the problem.  So many people, especially around this time of the year, begin an exercise routine in an attempt to lose weight.  Many become frustrated when no real noticeable weight is lost in the first month.  It’s at this point that many people quit.

You should exercise because it is the right thing to do for our health, NOT because it is a means to losing weight.  Get that thought out of your head right now.  Exercise boosts mood, increases energy, increases sex drive (and really…isn’t this reason enough..??) and improves other markers of health such as blood pressure and inflammatory markers like hsCRP.

This particular article illustrates this concept wonderfully.  Basically, the researchers looked at two groups of overweight patients.  The first group was overweight and unfit (based on VO2 max–a marker of aerobic capacity) and the second group was overweight but fit.

Overall, the overweight but fit patients had better cardiovascular markers (HDL, triglycerides, ALT, insulin resistance markers) than their unfit counterparts.

The bottom line is that exercise has very clear, strong benefits to your health, even if they do not instantly translate into a leaner you.  So don’t quit when the scale doesn’t change.  Just make sure you’re doing something you love so that it never feels like exercise.

WHAT YOUR CARDIOLOGIST ISN’T TELLING YOU WILL HURT YOU.

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WHAT YOUR CARDIOLOGIST ISN’T TELLING YOU WILL HURT YOU.  Research has shown that lifestyle change has a very powerful effect on risk of first and subsequent heart attackes.  Most times lifestyle is much more powerful (and safer) than medications.  However, it seems our focus is not on the right things for those patients who have had a heart attack.  Basically, most patients were somewhat compliant with their meds for the 30 day follow up, but fewer were compliant with the needed lifestyle change (diet, exercise, quitting smoking).  However, for those who made the right choices, their risk of having another heart attack was cut in half.  For those not smart enough to get it (kept smoking, no diet chanes and no exercise), they had 3.8 times the risk of another heart attack.

Bottom line is that lifestyle changes are more powerful at protecting our heart, but patients don’t seem to follow recommendations.  There are two reasons this might be happening.  First, patients are too dumb and stupid to understand they are more likely to die if they don’t make the right choices.  OR, the cardiologists are not adequately expressing just how powerful lifestyle changes are…  So, if you’ve had a heart attack already and haven’t made the needed changes, which scenario fits you?