Gotta get lean and muscular for that prize acting role?  Need to lose fat fast? Ditch the aerobics and pick up the dumbbells and go, go, go with metabolic circuits.

Late Welsh actor, Andy Whitfield in is role as Spartacus

OK, BEFORE you runners and bicyclists run/ride all over me with evidence about how all those aerobic miles makes you lean, pumps up your metabolism and gives you great cardiovascular health to boot, let me explain.

What I’m up to here is not to disparage the value of aerobic exercise.  I believe in its value.  I just think that science has it right when it proclaims that the most efficient and effective way to get rid of body fat is to perform weight circuit training.

Adam Campbell in a Men’s Health article entitled Lift to Lose underscores this point in a compelling way.

He follows the money.

On which type of exercise would the moneymen place their bets if the goal were fast, assured fat loss?

In effect, this is done every time a soft-bodied actor is slated to play the role of some lean muscular bruiser.  The actors are not told to train for a marathon.  They train with weight circuits.  Metabolic circuits.

It takes a whole lot of money to make a TV series or movie.  When the part requires buffness, and buffness must be quickly built and maintained, there’s a tried-and-true technique.

Mr. Campbell cites the example of the late Welsh actor, Andy Whitfield, who played the lead in the Starz television drama, Spartacus: Blood and Sand.  Whitfield’s costume was a revealing toga and his character was a badass.  He had to look the part.  He had to be lean and muscular.

And he had to build and maintain that body under a severe time constraint, because he was on the set for 12 hours a day.

So, what does Andy Whitfield do?  He paid attention to exercise experts like Jeff Volek, Ph.D.

Dr. Volek studies this sorta thing.  He does not dispute that aerobic exercise burns calories and will result in fat/weight loss.  What he does dispute is the contention, though time-honored, that it’s the superior way to lose fat.  And he has good reasons for his point of view.

Being the able scientist, he tested it.

What Dr. Volek did was to put overweight people on a reduced-calorie diet and divided them into three groups:

1. One group didn’t exercise,
2. Another performed aerobic exercise three days a week, and
3. The third did both aerobic exercise and weight training three days a week.

The results of the study were that each group lost about 21 pounds of weight over 12 weeks, but with one very important difference…

*The weight lifters shed five more pounds of fat than those who didn’t pump iron. The weight they lost was almost pure fat, while the other two groups shed 15 pounds of lard, but also gave up 5-plus pounds of muscle.*

Do the math.

From a fat-loss perspective – not a total weight perspective – the weight lifters lost almost 40 percent more fat, because all of their weight loss was fat and none was muscle.

This result is not “out of the blue”.  It gets replicated study after study.

Research on low-calorie, no muscle building dieters shows that, on average, 75 percent of their weight loss is from fat and 25 percent of it is muscle.

That muscle is hard earned and is worth keeping around as you try to lose some fat.  In fact, muscle is a key contributor to maintaining (or increasing) you metabolism, which, of course, helps burn calories.

Muscle also is what picks you up off the floor, climbs the stairs, attracts a mate (maybe), or climbs a rope (if only).

You do not want to toss muscle out with your fat. (Definitely!)

Can You Run 1.3 Miles in 8 Minutes?

As testing techniques improve, new things are discovered.

That Men’s Health article I cited above presents the findings of an advanced method exercise physiologist Dr. Christopher Scott began using to estimate energy expenditure during exercise.

Dr. Scott’s found that weight training burns 71 percent more calories than originally thought.

One eight-minute weight lifting circuit of eight exercises can use 159 to 231 calories — the same as running at a 6-minute-mile pace for the same duration.

I don’t know about you, but in eight minutes, I can do an eight-exercise weight lifting circuit… I cannot, however, run 1.3 miles.

Results From The Real-World

Let’s get out of the lab and peek into your world, the real world.

Rachel Cosgrove and her husband, Alwyn, own a health club, Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California.  Over the years, the Cosgroves have risen to the top of the fitness industry due to their clients’ successes.

Men’s Health quotes Mrs. Cosgrove:

“Starting out, we knew that weight training was necessary to avoid muscle loss, and that it appears to boost your metabolism for hours after you work out.  We also knew that according to studies, higher-intensity exercises such as interval training and weight training resulted in greater fat loss than lower-intensity exercise did.

“As time went by, we began to drop aerobic exercise from our fat-loss programs altogether. And guess what? Our clients achieved even faster results.

“Our average client has to be in and out of the gym in 45 to 60 minutes and has only 2 to 4 days a week to exercise. We design workouts to optimize that time.”

At this point, you should not be surprised that the Cosgroves rely on “metabolic circuits.”

Metabolic Circuits, The Holy Grail of Fat Lose

Metabolic circuits are fast-paced weight-training routines in which you alternate between upper and lower-body exercises.

The central idea is to maximize the amount of time you can sustain the maximum effort.

Yes, you can go all out in a 30-second sprint, but for how long could this be sustained?  The rest periods between sets would, by necessity, get longer and longer and your body would become completely fatigued too soon to maximize the fat lose benefit.

[Check out the 20-minute Bust Your Butt, HGH-producing workout in my post, How to Boost Your Human Growth Hormone in 20 Minutes!]

With metabolic circuits, you’re emphasizing different large muscles in each compound (non-isolating) exercise, and thereby can maintain a high-intensity effort for a much longer duration, with minimal rest.

The result cannot be better summarized than does Mr. Campbell, the Men’s Health author, who states:

“… the muscle-saving, calorie-burning benefits of intense resistance training and sprints, combined with the nonstop movement of long, steady-state aerobic exercise. It could be the greatest fat-loss workout known to man.”

And, I imagine, given his enviable results, Mr. Whitfield, the Spartacus actor, couldn’t agree more.

Related posts:

1. Five Diet and Exercise Myths that Need to Die
2. Chocolate-dripped Sex and Age-related Exercise
3. Why It’s Critical that You Muscle Up as You Age

I JUST heard that this HBO documentary is airing tonight on… well… HBO, so this post is a bit late to gin up a tsunami of interest, at least from this tiny corner of the cyberworld.

The good news it that it’s a two four-part (whoops) series that will probably air again and/or be accessible online.

The HBO documentary, “The Weight of the Nation” is a clarion call for changing our eating habits and the government’s food and farm policies and subsidies.

Without some quick and dramatic changes, we will all soon have a problem, not just the 2/3rds of us that are overweight or obese, as well as 1/3 of children.

There’s the health problems for those overweight, and financial and social problems for everyone.

Here’s the web site: http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/films

Here are some soundbites from the trailer:

“1/3 of the people in this nation are obese, and 2/3rds are overweight”

“Obesity is the biggest threat to the welfare of this country.”

“This is probably first generation that will have a lower life expectancy than their parents’”

“It’s about the health and wealth of the U.S. as a nation.”

“All of us have to be part of the solution.”

“We will all pay a serious price.”

Yes, it might be an unsavory topic, one better left in the closet from the manufactured food industries point of view. And, the closet is where it’s been for nigh twenty years. Things need to change. The first step is to understand why “the weight of the nation is crushing America”.

Tune in, find out.

Yep.

Related posts:

1. Michelle Obama – Her Righteous Fat Fight
2. Sick Around the World… How Does America Compare? (Watch Frontline Video)
3. The Seriously Serious Problems of Obesity, Sleep Apnea and Obesity

I WRITE about this reluctantly.

Penis Size Matters More to Men than Women

It’s Tuesday morning, the time each week when I chain myself to the desk and pray to the muse that I can write something of interest both to me and the readers of this blog.

If a topic hasn’t already been itching me, I scan articles I’ve bookmarked for the purpose of commenting, expanding or simply inspiring me to write on the subject.

I also will look at my blog stats and see which article topics are being read the most.

Sometimes, I peer out the window and scan Richardson Bay for a mermaid muse.

Some time ago, I had a laugh when I read about a South Korean study that showed that the relative size of a man’s index and ring fingers indicate penis size.

“I’ve got to write about this… it will go viral!” I said to myself.

So I wrote Drats! It’s No Longer a Secret — Penis Size Is Determined by Finger Length. The post did not go viral, but it’s among the top 10 read here on this humble site.

Given the prominence of the subject among my readers, when I bumped into a Time Healthland article by Meredith Melnick called Add Inches!! (No, Really, Men Can Make It Longer), I thought, “I gotta put my spin on this!”

With all that as an explanation for this most importantly trite subject, let’s get to the chase:

Fellas, the gals care a heck of a lot less about your junk than you do!

Now, to you puerile hecklers, let me say that this definitive factoid does not come from my own experiential research trove of three data points, but from those Kinsey Institute sex researcher types.

Armed with clipboards and penis tissue expansion implements resembling Middle Age spine stretching, pain inflicting torture devices, among others, these able scientists romp through the countryside, surveying woman and testing the permanent expansion capabilities of said penises. (Temporary blood flow augmentation will not suffice.)

Here, in two bullet points, their findings:

• Although only 55% of men are satisfied with their third leg, 85% of women are, the best indication yet that they really should rule the world.

(We men still need to adjust their appetite for girth, as they still kinda like that, at least relative to length.)

• Among all the touted miracle grow wand enhancing devices and potions, Tristan and Iseult had it right – only the pull-it-apart-stretch-traction devices worked, averaging an increase of wonderwang size between 0.7 and 0.9 inches while flaccid, and 0.67 inches when at full mast.

(Best done when unemployed, unless you’re willing to take said devices to work cause it requires hours of stretching each day.)

Now, before I continue, a word to those who have contemplated the uncontemplatable – letting a scalpel carve your manhood into some Mt. Rushmore edifice…

Don’t!

The surgical treatments, the researchers found, were dangerous and had “unacceptably high rate of complications.”  Yeah, and unless self-adornment is only for the mirror’s sake, for whom would you be slicing and dicing for anyway?

Remember that first bullet point above.

What About Erectile Dysfunction, You Breathlessly Ask?

Before I conclude this memorable post that surely you’ll want to share with all your buds on Facebook, let me report what these able medical people discovered about what works for erectile dysfunction.

They found that the use of Peno-scrotal Rings, which fit around the scrotum and base of the penis, helped beef up size and maintain erection.  That said, the sample size was the mind numbing number of 2, which makes the results rather completely inconclusive.

Turning next to the honed art of Penis Pumping, the data suggested that a six-month regimen of daily penis pumping — using a pump to create a vacuum inside a cylinder to stretch the penis — was both painful and ineffective.

In Conclusion

Fellas, your takeaway from this post is that your edifice for procreation is sufficiently appreciated by women that you should relax about its power to awe, and redirect such energies to developing a six-pack, cause there’s some pretty strong evidence that supports the contention that strong abs are preferred by most women over the Michelin Man.

And about that I do speak from my own trove.

Yep.

P.S.  You can read the article from which these stats were unceremoniously extracted here, and which were partly based upon a review of studies conducted by the British Association of Urological Surgeons.

P.P.S.  If you wish for me to stop blogging about such small and trivial matters, let me know in the Comments section below.

Related posts:

1. Drats! It’s No Longer a Secret — Penis Size Is Determined by Finger Length
2. Guidelines Push Back Age for Cervical Cancer Tests
3. A New Birth Control Method for Brave Men

Feed yourself through the nose on the new fad K-E Diet and lose weight fast!  It works… you can lose 10, 15, 20 pounds in 10 days, but only temporarily. You will rebound, perhaps gaining it all back and more! Read (watch) about this new diet fad taken up by soon-to-be brides desperate to fit into their wedding gowns.

HOW CAN I possibly understand the monstrous stress that soon-to-be brides are under to fit into an impossibly small wedding gown?  Stress so poignant that some are willing to feed themselves a slurry of protein and fat through their noses.

Yes, you’re reading this right.

As reported in Good Morning America yesterday (April 16, 2012):

“Brides-to-be looking to shed that final 10, 15 or 20 pounds in order to fit into their dream wedding gown have taken a controversial approach to crash dieting that involves inserting a feeding tube into their noses for up to 10 days for a quick fix to rapid weight loss.”

This quickie solution to a long-term problem is called the “K-E Diet”.

Dr. Oliver Di Pietro, who promotes the K-E Diet, says that its a perfectly safe, “…hunger-free, effective way of dieting,” under a doctor’s supervision.  Further, he remarks:

“Within a few hours and your hunger and appetite go away completely, so patients are actually not hungry at all for the whole 10 days. That’s what is so amazing about this diet.”

So, I just pulled a needle out of my bachelor’s sized sewing kit, and am about to jab this inflated quick fix diet.

First, how is it that the bride-to-be comes to Jesus about her weight – that she’s too heavy to fit into her custom-fit gown – just 10 days before her wedding?

Next, what’s the point of pretending to yourself and your spouse and the 100+ guests in attendance that you’re really 10, 15 or 20 pounds lighter than you really are, and will soon be again after the wedding, particularly after the heavy feeding and drinking bouts during the honeymoon?

(No, sex doesn’t burn it all away.)

If this was not an exercise in self-deception, the bride would have known long before the wedding was imminent that she wanted/needed to lose weight for whatever reason, fitting into the wedding gown being a pretty good one.

The Good Morning America show showcases 41-year-old Jessica Schnaider of Surfside, Fla., who said she felt that she couldn’t lose the needed 10 pounds in time for a fast approaching June wedding approaching.

She was desperate for a quick fix.

“I don’t have all of the time on the planet just to focus an hour and a half a day to exercise so I came to the doctor, I saw the diet, and I said, ‘You know what? Why not? Let me try it. So I decided to go ahead and give it a shot,” Ms Schanider said, and further explained that she had a lot of explaining to do to those thinking that an already fairly svelte woman running around 24/7 with a tube in her nose and a pouch of slurry in her bag is a bit odd.

I guess because I have a finance background, I quickly made an analogy of this quick fix K-E Diet to lottery tickets.

Stay with me here…

You’re 60+ years old and the date of your retirement looms.  Problem is, you haven’t saved any money for it.  So… eureka… you’ll start buying lottery tickets.  If you win, you’re retirement is assured.

OK, so to make this analogy fit to the brides on the K-E Diet, our lottery buyer wins the money for his retirement, just as the bride-to-be loses the weight she wants in time for her wedding.

Problem is, most lottery winners lose their money way before they’re in the grave.

Because they didn’t go through the process of earning and saving he money, learning investment and spending lessons along the way, the lottery winnings are quickly frittered away.

Similarly, because the K-E dieter didn’t learn to eat properly for sustained nutrition and weight, she will inevitably regain the weight lost on her K-E lottery ticket diet.

Over at Forbeswoman, Alice G. Walton weighs in about this diet in her article, The ‘Feeding Tube Diet’ And Our Limitless Weight-Loss Idiocy, where she quotes David L. Katz, MD, MPH, founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center.  He says this about the K-E Diet:

“In terms of quick weight loss, it is a guarantee of quick rebound, since it involves no useful behavior change whatsoever. It has nothing at all to do with health, and basically endorses the notion that weight loss by any means is acceptable. If that is so, I recommend a 10-day cocaine binge. It will work as well, and probably be more fun, than a nasogastric tube.”

Cocaine binge aside, with us humans, it seems that most things propagate from our psychology, our attitudes, which brings me to the comment made by psychoanalyst Bethany Marshall, who said matter-of-factly:

“If you lose the weight too quickly your mind is not going to be able to catch up with a newer, skinnier you.”

He didn’t expound further on this line of reasoning, but me thinks he’d concur with my assertion that the K-E Diet is another crazy diet that’s hardly worth it.

Watch Dr. Di Pietro’s video about the K-E Diet below. You can watch the Good Morning America show here. Tell us what you think in the Comments section below.

Related posts:

1. Five Diet and Exercise Myths that Need to Die
2. Dr Oz and the 14-Day Reboot Diet Plan
3. Weighing the Evidence on Exercise and Diet to Lose Weight

Ladies and Gents… have you been seeking a male contraceptive method?  One that’s simple, safe, relatively cheap and lasts a really long time?  Well, if the gentleman is really brave, you need to learn about why the best birth control in the world may be for men.

Click to enlarge and read the description of how this male birth control method works.

But I’m going to write about it anyway.

A friend of the female persuasion sent me an article about a new simple procedure that renders a man’s sperm infertile for a very, very long time.

“Blog about that!”, she declared.

“Off topic”, I said.

“You don’t even know what your topic is on your blog”, she countered.

Then a mutual friend of ours, again, of the fairer sex was recruited to twist my arm.

Then another.

“Why is birth control for men so important to all of you”, I whined.

As in a chorus, they sang in various ways the same song that distills down to:

“Because it’s about time that you guys carried the burden of birth control!”

And so with that as an explanation, let me get into the meat of this male birth control matter.

For Brave Men Only (and the women beside them)

Jon Clinkenbeard, author of The Best Birth Control In The World Is For Men, began his article thus:

“If I were going to describe the perfect contraceptive, it would go something like this: no babies, no latex, no daily pill to remember, no hormones to interfere with mood or sex drive, no negative health effects whatsoever, and 100 percent effectiveness. The funny thing is, something like that currently exists.”

And indeed it does, but I’m not letting any needle puncture my testes.

Yes, this “perfect contraceptive” for men is some gluey mixture that’s injected into their scrotum and, in effect, tears apart the sperm by something called the “polyelectrolytic effect.”

The result is that a man can experience the usual delights of ejaculation (sperm does exit), but it carries nothing in it that will impregnate his partner.

Apparently, this procedure is relatively cheap and simple to administer to those remarkably brave men who are willing to proffer their junk to a sharp needle.

And, by the way, it lasts 10 years.

The procedure, called RISUG in India (Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance), takes about 15 minutes with a doctor clutching a syringe, is effective after about three days, and lasts for 10 or more years.

Did I mention the “10 years” part?

If during that time period, you get the notion that maybe you’d like to procreate, a trip back to the doctor’s office for another injection that will flush out the gel will get you back to your dangerous self.

Want more information?  Then read Mr. Clinkenbeard’s article.

Rather Make Babies?

For those of who not looking to stop procreation… indeed for those with a baby in the oven, planning for one, or already had one, you’ll not want to miss these amazing photos of a baby from conception to birth.  (Actually, these pics are for everyone ready to be amazed by nature.)

Related posts:

1. From Conception to Birth — Watch and Be Amazed!
2. Penis Size Matters, But Mainly To You, Dick… Jane Doesn’t Care

Usually a defender of a low-carb diet, Dr. Oz surprises with his recommendation of high carbs for his 4-Step Butt-Blasting Plan. I explore two problems with his plan.

Can butt fat be blasted away with a high carb diet?

I’M SOMETIMES conflicted over the Dr. Oz Show.

On one hand I think the material is presented too simplistically; at times, I get the feeling that there’s a competition backstage among the staff about how to make the illustrative examples as dumbed down as possible.

That’s the one hand.

The other concedes that Dr. Oz and his staff truly know their audience, and thereby recognize that simple is better.  Perhaps my, in effect, high school knowledge about health matters is not educated nor delighted by his grade school presentations.

There’s one more thing.

The good doctor needs to produce a show five days a week, every week.  I’m guessing that this effort does not allow for much integration of material.

For instance, in one episode, Dr. Oz will have an expert telling us to use almond butter rather than peanut butter because it has healthier fats and more nutrition (which is true).  But then in a few episodes down the road, the Ozman will be promoting peanut butter without mention that almond butter is a better alternative.

Another example, and this one is pertinent to the subject of this post, Dr. Oz has spent several episodes properly extolling the benefits of minimizing carbohydrates and eating only those with a low glycemic load (low calories plus slow blood glucose uptake).  Then in his “4-Step Butt-busting Plan” show, he reverses course and dives into a treatise that says high carbs are best for reducing butt fat.

Now I’m sitting there watching this and I keep waiting for him to integrate what he’s saying about reducing the butt fat by eating more carbs and less fat with his prior admonition to eat less carbs.

It doesn’t happen.  He does nothing to integrate the two positions.

Standing around Dr. Oz on this butt-blasting show is a bevy of over-large women dressed in t-shirts and Speedo-type “shorts”.  Indelicately I say — everything is hanging out on everyone so dressed.  I’m amazed at the persuasive powers of whoever talked these women into wearing such garments.

The Oz then proceeds to tell the women about his 4-step butt-blasting plan. It consists of eating no more than 275 grams of carbs, 150 grams of protein, and 34 grams of fat.

That would make the total day’s food consumption equal to 459 grams, of which the carbs represents 61% of the total!  Know that experts on the matter suggest that total daily carbs be limited to about 25 – 40% of the total food consumed in order to lose weight.

Now, I give Dr. Oz the benefit of the doubt that the research he’s relying on says fat calories go like some magnet to the butt, and thus to reduce butt fat, one must reduce fat consumption.

And, of course, the body uses carbs as fuel, so to continue with this idea: the extra carbs will fuel the butt-busting exercises that Oz recommends.

I submit to you that there are at least two problems with this advice:

1. Like the rest of the industrialized world, these women undoubtedly got fat from eating too many “simple” (high glycemic) carbs to begin with.  To suggest they focus more on carbs, particularly without an education about what constitutes “good” carbs, is throwing fuel on the fire.

2. These women are just not big in the derrière, but everywhere.  So even if this butt fat reducing protocol was useful to blast away butt fat, what about the rest of their overlarge body parts?  These grew overlarge because of over consumption of carbs, and will remain so if a carb-dominant diet is adopted.

If Dr. Oz were to read this post, I’m confident he could decisively argue in favor of his suggestion, but I doubt if he could accomplish this without adding new information, or connecting the dots between what is his common assertion about the evils of high glycemic carbs and the pass he seems to give on them in the butt fat blast show.

What do you think? (Tell us in the Comments section below.)

Consider reading Dr. Oz’s 4-Step Butt-Blasting Plan, and then contemplate this answer to my query about carbs and diet I asked of Dr. Oz’s FAQ service operated by sharecare.com:

“You can enhance the weight-loss benefits of a low-carb, high-protein diet, or any weight loss plan for that matter, if you eat high-fiber complex carbs, including fresh whole fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. Because fiber coats the stomach lining, it delays stomach emptying, slows digestion and sugar absorption after a meal, reducing the amount of insulin needed. This insulin response is what triggers hunger pangs – something you want to squelch when you’re trying to lose weight!”

“I tell my patients to eat from the rainbow, selecting different colors of fruits and vegetables to ensure optimal nutrition. These colorful, high-fiber complex carbs are filled with phytochemicals, bioflavinoids, carotenoids such as isoflavones, lycopene, and polyphenols, and other compounds that we know may reduce the risk of serious chronic illness.”

My bottom line:

Fat is fat, and even if spot reduction is possible with a specifically focused protocol, few people are overlarge in just one area and ideally sized everywhere else; therefore, adopt the diet that will be most useful overall to your weight and health.

That would be low, high quality carbs combined with plenty of lean protein and high quality (omega-3) fats.

Learn more about diet by reading my posts, Diet 101 and A Blueprint for Eating Right.

Over and out.

Related posts:

1. Dr Oz and the 14-Day Reboot Diet Plan
2. A Mega-Pastor and Three Famous Doctors Hatch “The Daniel Plan”
3. Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead — The Reboot Plan

The data doesn’t lie. Sitting for hours each day does the body harm.  Sitting can reduce your lifespan, nullify the benefits of exercise, increase cancer risk, and other unhappy things.  Read why you have to get up and move.  Often!

Six Powerful Reasons to Sit LESS

WHAT BETTER moment to write about the dangers of sitting on your duff than when I am doing just that, along with a dozen others languorously sitting in this sunny Sausalito café?

I’m not a full-time blogger, nor am I a full-time (so-called) knowledge-worker, who typically massages his knowledge for employers while sitting.  And yet, my derrière can be often found spread out on a chair.

Former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, famously used a standing desk.  Some people use a large stability ball. (Which I do too, here and there.)

Standing actually burns substantially more calories than sitting.  The stability ball is better than a chair because muscles that support your core must subtly work to keep you balanced and properly seated (aligned) on the ball, which also burns more calories than simply sitting in a chair.

So, what are you waiting for? More data?  Well, consider these six reasons that I grabbed and will here summarize from a Huffington Post article called, Sitting: 6 New Reasons It’s Bad For Your Health.

Six Reasons to Get Up and Move!

UPDATE: Let’s add a seventh reason brought to you by physical therapist and Cross Fit guru, “Kstar” in his post and video entitled, Why Sitting Wrecks Your Mad Hip Action. As the man says: “The easiest way to get hold of your shoulder and back pain, and to improve your performance is to literally look at sitting as toxic.”

For more insights about the perils of sitting all day, go to MobilityWOD.com and search for “sitting”. You’ll learn a lot and never look at a chair in quite the same way.

Now, onto the original “Six”:

1. Sitting can diminish the benefits of exercise. Researchers from the University of Missouri published results suggesting that sitting throughout most of the day may put individuals at higher risk for diabetes, obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease — even if you clear time for daily exercise.

2. Sitting can increase the risk of death.  As HuffPost editor Amanda Chan reported, a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that women who sat six or more hours a day were nearly 40 percent more likely to die over a 13-year-stretch than those who sat less than three hours.

Men fared better… sitting for more than six hours was linked with an 18-percent higher risk of death.

3. That no-good TV.  Every hour you sit in front of the TV, you can slash your life expectancy by nearly 22 minutes.   Sound like nonsense?  Well, here’s the study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Do those hours add up to, say, six per day?  Well, couch potato, off your feat consistently for that long can cut your life expectancy by five years.

4. Sitting increases cancer risk. Is it ridiculous to suggest that sitting may be responsible for more than 170,000 cases of cancer yearly — with breast and colon cancers being the most influenced by rates of physical activity (and inactivity)?

Christine Friedenreich, an epidemiologist with Alberta Health Services told this to MSNBC: “For many of the most common cancers, it seems like something as simple as a brisk walk for 30 minutes a day can help reduce cancer risk.”

5. Sitting adds to butt fat. HuffPost UK reported this:

“In a bid to explain why sedentary behaviour causes weight-gain, scientists believe that the precursors to fat cells turn into flab (and end up producing more) when subjected to prolonged periods of sitting down, otherwise known as ‘mechanical stretching loads.’”

Translation and conclusion: Putting prolonged pressure on your bottom can produce up to 50% more fat on it.

6. Sitting is an independent risk factor for serious cardiovascular events. Men’s Health covered a study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, in which researchers from Louisiana found that people who sit for the majority of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of a heart attack.

Now, you may feel fine sitting all day long.  I feel fine.  But I can tell you that facts matter to me, and I’m going to make sure that I consciously get off my duff every hour, walk around, stretch, do a few squats, before spreading the glutes back over the cushion.

Amen.

Related posts:

1. 30 Reasons to Take Vitamin D — Watch
2. Knowledge Workers Beware — Sitting Could Kill You
3. Nine Reasons to Drink Green Tea (and limit coffee)

Since in America 2/3rds of us are overweight, knowing about the ultimate risk of belly fat is both urgent and important. The facts recently uncovered are shocking!  Learn about the damage that excess fat can do, and how to minimize the risks.

WITH THANKSGIVING one day away, this subject may be viewed as heresy because it deals with diet, but I just learned a few things from yesterday’s Dr. Oz show and if I don’t write about it now, it may elude me later.  Let me add that it’s important for you to know this.

As Dr. Oz reports, the science is clear, and what it says is disturbing given that about 2/3rds of all Americans are overweight.  What we know now is that…

Fat can cause cancer!

This eye-popping assertion was the subject of yesterday’s Dr. Oz show, where he and Dr. Kathleen Wolin, an expert on the matter, delved into how fat causes cancer, what types of cancer fat can cause and what can be done to mitigate the risk.

And the risk is substantial.  To underscore this, I’ll ask you a question.  What do you think has the greatest potential to cause cancer, smoking cigarettes or being overweight?

The answer: Both smoking cigarettes and being overweight carry the same risk of creating cancer – a 30% chance each.

What the studies now demonstrate is that belly fat not only increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease, the so called “diabesity”, but of four types of cancer as well.  The four cancers are: Pancreatic Cancer, Colon Cancer, Kidney Cancer and Endometrial Cancer.

If you’re overweight by more than ten pounds, and certainly if you’re obese, you now have a very big reason to take the bull by the horns and lose weight.  If you’ve tried before and weren’t successful, this is the time to seek help, particularly if anyone in your family had any of the four fat-influenced cancers, diabetes or heart disease.

A Special Kind of Fat

What is under scrutiny here is not all fat irrespective of where it is on your body, but belly fat.  Not all fat has the same damage potential.  The fat on your thighs is not as harmful as that hanging around your belly.

Belly fat is called the “omentum”. Omentum is defined by About.com to be:

“… a large fatty structure which essentially hangs off the middle of your colon and drapes over the intestines inside the abdomen to be It is a hormone producer that disrupts normative chemicals in your body. These hormonal chemicals can feed cancer cells and resist the immune system’s response to them.”  (Source here.)

Here’s what it looks like:  

The 4 Cancers that Fat Can Cause

The one common characteristic of the four cancers that fat can cause is that they are all in organs located in proximity to the belly fat, especially when the fat covers a lot of ground – left, right, up, down, out and round.

1. Pancreatic Cancer.  As you may know, the pancreas is deep in the abdomen below the stomach and liver, which makes it close to the belly.  The pancreas helps regulate how the body processes sugar by producing insulin.  If impaired, the pancreas may have difficulty producing insulin, which is the major cause of diabetes.  What’s now known is that a pancreas that can’t regulate sugar due to excess belly fat leaves it vulnerable to cancer.

Reduce this risk by eating foods rich in folates, such as eggs, asparagus, oranges and green leafy vegetables.

2. Colon Cancer.  The omentum lies over the colon and gets entwined within it.  The pernicious effect it has on the colon is through increasing inflammation and reducing immune function.

Reduce this risk by taking two “baby” aspirin daily in warm water so that it’s quickly dissolved. Another tip is to take a curcumin supplement, as this herb is very useful in reducing inflammation.  To increase immune function, consider the supplements listed in Power Up Your Immune System and Antioxidants Kill Free Radicals.

3. Kidney Cancer. Belly fat is a major producer of the hormone “leptin” which can fuel cancer growth as it helps the blood vessels that feed the cancer cells in the kidney.

Reduce this risk by lowering your salt consumption, increasing potassium, and eating foods such as bananas, apricots and broccoli (all high in potassium).

4. Endometrial (Uterine) Cancer.  The omenum fat excretes estrogen and bathes the uterine in it constantly, hyper-stimulating it.  This can result in cancer.

Reduce this risk by drinking a cup of coffee without sugar and cream.  The thought is that coffee helps stimulate metabolism which has the effect of reducing estrogen, although the science is not clear on this.  Personally, I rather drink green tea for the metabolic stimulating effect.  I do this and take the Green Tea Mega supplement.

A 35+ Inch Waist is Dangerous

How do you know if you’re carrying too much belly fat?  Well, I guess it’s a good sign if you’re unsure, for if it’s not completely obvious, you may not be in the danger zone.  But just to make sure, here’s how to measure your waist:

Take your tape measure and bring it across your belly button and hips.  You can suck your belly in. Look down at the tape and gasp!  If the measurement is more than 35 inches for a woman, or 40 inches for a man, you need to take some weight loss measures.

One important thing to point out here, particularly to those of you who don’t consider yourself overweight, and that is maybe tomorrow you will be. In fact, odds are that as the years unfold, so will your belly.

The reason is that the average American adds a couple of pounds each year as we get older. The weight sneaks up on us, and as it does, so do the cancer risks described here. Obviously, it’s really important that you pay attention and not be lax about what might initially seem to be the gaining of a few pounds.

[Here are Dr. Oz’s five life saving numbers you should know.]

Tips and Tricks for Weight Loss

It’s beyond the scope of this post to deeply dig into a weight loss system, and surely there’s enough information on the Web about that.  I can suggest a few things, however, to get you on your way.

1. Get educated on the subject.  On this blog, you can read Dr Oz and the 14-Day Reboot Diet Plan, Diet 101 and The Basics – My Approach to Health.

2. Choose a few things that you’re willing to do to lose weight and add one each week or so.  For instance, one week you can reduce your red meat consumption to two servings and increase your green leafy vegetables to five servings.  One week, walk x blocks, week two 2x blocks.

3. Recruit a buddy.  This person will keep you on your plan and vice versa.

4. Establish new, healthy habits that you do at specific time each day.  For instance:

- Upon waking, first thing, drink as much purified water as you can.

- Then consume 20 to 30 grams of protein, either a whey, hemp, pea or rice protein supplement, and/or eggs and beans… in any event, ALWAYS eat something balanced and good for breakfast (see #1).

- Throughout the day, drink water with apple cider vinegar in it, about one teaspoon per eight ounces, or if you can’t stand the taste that way, first put the vinegar in your mouth and then chase it with water.  Vinegar is a good fat emulsifier.

- When eating high glycemic foods (white food – wheat, rice and such, sugary foods, packaged foods) add some vinegar or cinnamon to slow down the blood glucose reaction.

- Eat fiber-rich foods and have a back-up plan in case your day is taking you away from such foods.  A back-up plan would be to have some flax seed powder (grind fax seeds in your coffee grinder, or buy them already grounded) or psyllium husk powder and scoop  a tablespoon into a shaker jar filled with water, lemon water, or water with a touch of apple juice.

Drink it down fast before it congeals.

Mobility – Use It or Lose It!

My final statement here goes without saying but I’ll say it:

Each of the risk reducing behaviors cited above for the four different cancers influenced by fat can be made dramatically more effective with exercise.

There’s no getting around the fact that our bodies are made to move.  For most of us in the modern world, they only move from a building to a car to the dinner table.  Insufficient!  If you don’t know how to exercise, find out.  As I mentioned above, recruit a buddy and make it your business to find out how to exercise.

And make sure part of your exercise program includes stuff that makes you breathe heavily (aerobic/anaerobic) , stuff that works your muscles thoroughly (resistance training) and stuff that stretches you (like yoga).  Here’s a five-minute session to get you started.

OK… it’s Thanksgiving, go be thankful, eat heartily but consciously, and resolve to do some things differently.  Please share this with everyone you think could benefit by it.  And good luck.

Related posts:

1. Dr. Oz on Preventing Breast Cancer (Watch Video)
2. The Seriously Serious Problems of Obesity, Cancer and Obesity
3. Guidelines Push Back Age for Cervical Cancer Tests

Jena la Flamme of Pleasure Camp

GIVEN THAT you’re reading this, a post on a health blog, it’s likely that you’re interested in health matters, and get health information from the Web.  I do too, of course.  I spend many hours each week exploring what’s new in the health world and how people producing information, guidance, product and the like communicate with their visitors.

Last night I listened to a webcast about dealing with weight issues.  It was presented by angelic-looking, sweet talking Jena la Flamme.  (Yes, that’s her name.)  The topic: “5 Unexpected Ways To Flatten Your Belly“.

The Pleasure Camp program is intended for women only.  And as I listened to the presentation, I immediately realized how artful the approach was in appealing to women, for it was all about creating a nurturing, safe environment.

The stories were personal and easy to relate to for women.  As a man, I found almost nothing presented that I would need to hear before joining the “Pleasure Camp” (yes, a name appealing, I guess, to women).  A “camp” that women, presumably overweight, can attend for nearly $1,000.

My intent here is not to jam a wedge between the respective decision-making matrix of men and women, but to show that men and women may respond to very different pitches before parting with their money when it comes to something that has emotional overtones.

Like fat.

Assuming that Jena la Flamme successfully fills her Pleasure Camp by the various messages, appeals and pitches I’ve watched, heard and read – and I think she does – her marketing approach to women tells an insightful tale.

Women and men respond to very different appeals.

I know, this conclusion is not particularly insightful, but I’ve never really experienced such a dramatically different approach then what Jena la Flamme uses to get women to part with their money.

During her webinar last night, she did not do what I would think any person would want to hear before deciding to sign-up for such a weight loss camp:

-No statistics were offered related to the success rates of former attendees.

-No details of the weight loss process were outlined.

-No details of the agenda were offered.

Like me, most men would want these details, and before last night’s experience, along with various marketing emails from la Flamme,  I would have thought that an approach largely devoid of such details could NOT sell women either.  Perhaps that’s true for some women, but I now believe that la Flamme’s approach works for enough women to make her businesses thrive.

Here’s my summary of what she told her audience last night:

1.  You need to alleviate stress… can’t accomplish (build) something good under stress.  Find out what stresses you and change the situation and/or reaction. Tune into this before every meal.

2.  Get your mind and body in harmony.  The mind is the rider, the body the horse.  The rider can rule the horse but why do this by overpowering the steed, who will then be unruly and rebellious? Rather, the rider should be one with the horse, moving in harmony.

3.  The excess weight on your body has a message and you must find out what it is.  Like a note in a bottle, the message must be extracted and read.  Yes, bad eating, not moving contributes, but there’s a deeper reason a woman is willing to let the weight pile on.  There’s a message there and it needs to be decoded… think of it as an exciting journey.  Oftentimes this is the issue that a personal coach most has to focus on.  A good question for yourself: What might you lose that you value if you were to lose the weight?  Keep going deeper with this question.  Thin equals sexy and being sexy might be threatening, unsafe.  Does getting attention mean danger?

4.  Create healthy pleasure “ecology” where good choices happen.  Fill your fridge and pantry with superfoods.  Green veggies will provide nutrition and energy.  Chia seeds… soak them overnight and add milk, nuts and fruit for your breakfast. Chia is nutritious and has lots of fiber.  Brown rice is good and easy to make with a rice cooker.  Make sure you have healthy staples in the house so you select them for snacks rather than the unhealthy ones.

That’s the message delivered, along with some authentic-feeling testimonials.  This is the stuff, we were told, that will be delved deeper into at the Pleasure Camp.  To my mind, this info is spot on… but is it enough to compel someone to sign-on for $1,000?

Apparently so…

The next day, today, the attendees of last night’s presentation got two follow-up emails.  The information they contained included very positive feedback emailed to Jena from some listeners, and a list of people, such as artist, doctor, “emerging” actor, etc., that are attending.

Here’s what one person wrote:

“May I tell you, that was spectacular!  Your voice was like music…so
natural, conveyed real “knowing” & warmth…beautiful job! And as
always…jam packed with insights that truly inspire!”

And to those who missed the presentation, la Flamme writes:

“Learn how to make slimming down more pleasurable than you’ve
ever known it to be–come on, don’t knock pleasure as a weight loss
approach until you try it, Jo–I’ll show you how.

Go here to access your teleseminar replay for the steps.”

My final thoughts

I learned something from Jena la Flamme.  Not about weight loss but about what women respond to.  Or some women.  For these women, the key is not to overload them with data and techniques, but to speak to the emotion behind their weight.  To share things about which they can identify. To present others like them who have succeeded.  To underscore the nurturing approach.  In effect, to invite them to join a loving family of sisters.

My final word on this topic is to underscore that I am not making a judgment about the effectiveness of la Flamme’s program.  It might be fantastic.  You women who are curious can click the link above and enter her world.  Let us know in the Comments section below what you think.

Yep

Related posts:

1. The Seriously Serious Problems of Obesity, Sleep Apnea and Obesity
2. Mind Over Food — 7 Steps for Food Control

The Food Plate is in, and the Food Pyramid is history.  The healthy diet is simpler now, is better, and comes with a host of interactive tools that aim to suggest a diet that will work for you.  But there are a few issues I have with these tools.  If you’re muscular, you won’t get the correct advice.  And what’s with the milk!?

THE USDA released today their new food plate that replaces the old food pyramid.  As I wrote in The New Food Pyramid is a Plate, the Obama administration, in part lead by Michelle Obama, has been studying how to remake the food pyramid so that information about diet is more relevant, useful and true.

This is the job of the new “Plate” which is divided into four sections – fruits, grains, proteins and vegetables, with a side of diary.  The statements alongside the Plate at ChooseMyPlate.gov are these:

Balancing Calories

● Enjoy your food, but eat less.

● Avoid over-sized portions.

Foods to Increase

● Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.

● Make at least half your grains whole grains.

● Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce

● Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.

● Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Gone are any references to sugars, fats or oils, and what was once a category called “meat and beans” is now simply “proteins.” Next to the plate is a blue circle for dairy, which could be a glass of milk or a food such as cheese or yogurt.

Doesn’t seem like rocket science, does it?  But there’s a few things that are new and good to know, such as specifying that the grains you eat are “whole” grains, not the decimated white variety that constitutes the typical bread, bagel, pasta and pizza.  Or that half the Plate should be fruits and veggies, not white grains.

There’s more, much more at the site that might be useful to people not well versed in what constitutes healthy diets, such as information for specific audiences (pregnant women, preschoolers, kids, weight loss), information for professionals, multimedia presentations, and interactive tools.

I jumped into Interactive Tools.

Interactive Tools

Here’s what’s presented in Interactive Tools:

Daily Food Plan – Get a personalized plan just for you.  Quick access to food info – food groups, calories & comparisons.

Daily Food Plans for Preschoolers – Get your child’s Plan today.

Food Tracker – Feedback on your food and physical activity.

Daily Food Plans for Moms – Start out right as a new mom or mom-to-be.

Food Planner – Plan what to eat to help reach your personal goals.

I decided to try the Daily Food Plan. I entered my stats, age, gender, weight, amount of daily physical activity and came up with this warning:

“The weight you entered is above the healthy range for your height. This may increase your risk for health problems. Some people who are overweight should consider weight loss. Click here (new window) for more information about health risks and whether you should try to lose weight, or talk with your health care provider.”

This is the long-winded version of what I usually get when using the BMI calculation, which truncates the above message into something like, “You’re Overweight”.

That’s because neither of these systems accounts for muscle mass.  Muscle weighs about 40% more than fat and if you have more than the average bear, the extra pounds associated with the muscle is measured as fat.

I’m not being delusional.  At 6’4”, I have a 36” waist and 46” chest – not the data sample for someone who needs to “talk with your health provider.”  But according to the BMI calculation and that used to determine the Daily Food Plan, 215 pounds is too heavy for me.

Why Milk?

My next pet peeve is this American love affair with milk.  People, the milk referred to here is made by cows.  Cows make the milk for calves, not people.  OK, maybe 1% or 2% milk will help you avoid growing the three pounds a day that a calf does, but why is it so valuable to one’s diet that it’s included in the new Food Plate?  Is it simply a matter of the diary lobby?

Diets for Kids

For some reason, the individually created diet plans for kids still uses the now jettisoned pyramid symbol.  I inputted data for my niece, Isa, when she was five years old for the pre-schooler diet plan.

The inputs are age, gender, and amount of daily physical activity.  This is the result for Isa:

Note that at the bottom of the pyramid are the amounts by weight of each of the new Plate food categories that are thought to be correct for Isa.  (Again, just don’t get the milk thing.)  What you can’t read is that statement at the bottom, which says:

“This Plan is a 1600 calorie food pattern. It is based on average needs for a 5 year old girl who is active more than 60 minutes a day. Your preschooler’s food needs also depend on how fast she is growing and other factors. Your child’s doctor can track her height and weight over time to identify specific needs. A preschooler should not be urged to eat these exact amounts — their needs may differ from the average.”

My 2 Cents

Overall, I’m pleased with the new Plate given the supporting material at ChooseMyPlate, the government site from which I’ve been getting the above information.  If people are willing to be guided by it, this country may divert the mounting health catastrophe that lies before us.  (If you think I exaggerate, read my five-part series on obesity staring with, The Seriously Serious Problems of Obesity.)

My two nits have already been mentioned:

1. The tool for determining if you’re overweight and thus what your diet should be does not take into account those who are muscular; and
2. Milk is not some panacea food… some people do not well digest milk sugars, and there are many healthy alternatives, such as almond milk, hemp milk (if you’re the milky type) or simply water.

Do let your friends know about the The New Food Plate, particularly those who could use a nudge in a healthy direction, and most certainly for those who have overweight children who make the rules about what gets bought at the grocery store.

Yep.

Related posts:

1. The New Food Pyramid is a Plate
2. On a Budget? Good, Healthy Food is Often Cheaper (Watch)
3. Six Best of 2010 — Food, Diet and Nutrition