I wrote this a year ago but many people have been asking me about it lately so I feel it should be re-visited. Please read on…
Have you been confused about “eating the right fats?”
Did you think all fats are bad (since that’s what is often portrayed in our media)? Well, here’s a little clarity on the subject:
THROUGHOUT our history we have ingested an approximate equal proportion (1:1 ratio) of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 and omega-6 are types of essential fatty acids – meaning we cannot make them on our own and have to get them from our diet. Both are polyunsaturated fatty acids that differ from each other in their chemical structure.
In modern diets, there are few sources of omega-3 fatty acids, mainly the fat of cold water fish such as salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, black cod, and bluefish. There are two critical omega-3 fatty acids, (eicosapentaenoic acid, called EPA and docosahexaenoic acid or DHA), that the body needs. Vegetarian sources, such as walnuts and flax seeds contain a precursor omega-3 (alpha-linolenic acid called ALA) that the body must convert to EPA and DHA. EPA and DHA are the building blocks for many hormones that control immune function, blood clotting, and cell growth as well as components of cell membranes.
Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids have opposing effects — the "yin" and "yang". These fatty acids need to be equal in concentration in body tissues as they check each other in a delicate balance to regulate thousands of metabolic functions through prostaglandin pathways.
Nearly every biologic function is somehow interconnected with the delicate balance between Omega-6 and Omega-3.
Inflammation
Omega-3s are powerfully involved in the control of inflammation, cardiovascular health, allergic reactivity, immune response, hormone modulation, intelligence and behavior. The rapid change in dietary fat ingestion, where we consume Omega 6 far in excess of Omega 3, in the last 50-100 years has bewildered human bio-physiology.
Diets high in Omega-6 oils at the expense of Omega-3 promote inflammation. Omega-3s are strongly anti-inflammatory. As a result, Omega-6 has been coined as "bad" and Omega-3 as "good". However, both are essential for human health, it is the balance of the two in relation to each other that is important. Dominant Omega-6 in the body can create a situation that promotes chronic inflammation, propagation of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis and auto-immunity.
Interesting Studies
Japanese researchers have proposed the leading cause of westernized degenerative diseases comes from lack of balance in our fat intakes. Their work has gone far to suggest that degenerative diseases are due to a drastic reduction in the intake of Omega-3 in relation to Omega-6 fatty acids. Their findings came from a review of over 500 peer-reviewed studies. These are the words of the Japanese researchers in the study summary:
"In this review, we summarize the evidence which indicates that increased dietary linoleic acid (Omega-6) and relative Omega-3 deficiency are major risk factors for western-type cancers cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and also for allergic hyper-reactivity. We also raise the possibility that a relative Omega-3 deficiency may be affecting the behavioral patterns of a proportion of the young generations in industrialized countries."
It is proposed that dietary intervention with Omega-3 supplementation, and the reduction of Omega-6 in the diet – could successfully reverse rising trends toward westernized degenerative diseases in Japan, and the world.
That is very interesting…
From Dr. Andrew Weil’s website:
“At the 2006 Nutrition and Health Conference sponsored by the University of Arizona's College of Medicine and Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, M.D., cited a study showing that violence in a British prison dropped by 37 percent after omega-3 oils and vitamins were added to the prisoners' diets.”
Where Did Omega-3’s Go?
About 100 years ago, the introduction of the screw-nut expeller press for the processing of vegetable/seed oils was developed. Vegetable oils and seeds are dominant in Omega-6 fatty acids, but most are completely devoid of complementary Omega-3 fatty acids. The processing of oils derived from corn, soy, safflower and sunflower created an extremely concentrated source of Omega-6, at the expense of Omega-3. Dr. Andrew Weil says, “Refined vegetable oils, such as soy oil, are used in most of the snack foods, cookies, crackers, and sweets in the American diet as well as in fast food. Soybean oil alone is now so ubiquitous in fast foods and processed foods that an astounding 7-20 percent of the calories in the American diet are estimated to come from this single source.”
Modern methods of animal husbandry were developed to purposely fatten livestock for slaughter. The protocol involves feeding livestock with carbohydrate rich grains rich in Omega-6 and devoid of Omega-3. Thus, the meat of domestic livestock has more Omega-6, at the expense of Omega-3. Eggs, once a good source of Omega-3, have also fallen victim to the same process. Chickens, like cattle, are fed a diet absent of Omega-3, as a result their eggs are also deficient.
This has resulted in a major reduction of Omega-3 in the food supply. At the same time, there has been an increase of commercially processed and refined Omega-6 (as noted above). With the exception of the trace amount of Omega-3 found in greens, sea-vegetables and some nuts and seeds, dietary sources are nil to none. The exception comes in the form of deep water ocean fish and flaxseeds. Unfortunately modern day dietary habits have shifted from whole-foods to that of highly refined foodstuffs, domesticated meats and soft-drinks. Consequently, very little Omega-3 is consumed in the average diet.
Back to balance
Rapid changes in food processing technology and animal husbandry have created a severe imbalance of Omega-6 to Omega-3. This cannot be easily corrected through dietary modification alone. However, the good news is that we can work to correct this imbalance in our body by supplementing our diet with Omega-3.
Currently the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 in the American Diet ranges from 10:1 to 20:1, and in Japan 4:1 — all grossly in favor of Omega-6. In North America, Omega-6 constitutes 7-20 percent of calories consumed! This is way in excess.
There are two things you should do now:
• Reduce your intake of omega 6 — the "bad" omega oil.
Consciously limit the amount of Omega-6 in the diet. This can be accomplished by limiting the use of Omega-6 dominant vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower, soy and corn oils. Nearly all processed foods contain Omega-6 usually, but not always in the form of "partially" hydrogenated oil. So limit your processed foods…hence the stuff you find down the aisles of the grocery store. Instead, circle the perimeter of the store for the majority of your shopping where you’ll find the fresh veggies, fruits and meats (preferably free-range or grass-fed meats).
• Increase your intake of Omega-3. The only way back to balance is by consumption of oils rich in Omega-3.
You can increase your intake in two ways —
by food
and by supplements.
The two rich natural sources of Omega 3 are cold water fish and flax oil. However, the big issue with fish is the toxins that pollute our oceans. Furthermore, avoid frying fish as it destroys the level and structure of the omega 3 contained (since you’re frying it in Omega-6 vegetable oil).
The other way is to take a fish oil supplement, or an “EPA/DHA” supplement like the one sold at Athlon Elite. This way, you get a fixed and regular supply of your daily omega 3 fatty acids. Be aware though, fish oil supplements can be contaminated. This was recently highlighted by a very public recall of a leading fish oil brand in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong as it was found to contain higher than allowed levels of dioxin — a potential carcinogen.
You should look at taking two to three grams of omega 3 fatty acids daily (we usually recommend a little more to our clients but two to three is a good start). As such, you should look for higher strength omega 3 supplements.
Make sure your fish oil supplements are in amber glass bottles. The amber keeps the light out. The glass keeps the temperature more constant. It also prevents rancidity and oxidation – the big problem with fish oils which tend to be highly unstable. (hence, those ones you've had on the shelf for the last year and a half should probably be thrown out)
Key points:
• Omega-3 and Omega-6 are essential fatty acids with powerful opposing effects
• Omega-6 causes inflammation and omega-3 is anti-inflammatory (because it regulates omega-6)
• They ideally should be in a 1:1 balance
• Modern day nutrition has severely affected this balance leading to excess in omega-6
• This has potentially lead to many modern diseases of degeneration and inflammation
• To address this balance you need to cut omega-6 intake and increase omega-3 intake
• Rich sources of omega-3 are cold water fish, flax seeds and grass-fed, free-range beef and poultry
• When supplementing with fish oil take supplements that are molecularly distilled (toxin free), higher strength and packed in amber glass bottles
More reading (and more complicated too) on the subject of Omega-3 vs. Omega-6 oils and the prostaglandin pathways:
P.S. if you'd like to learn more about healthy nutrition, supplementation and how the two together will give you more health, fitness, vitality, leanness, energy, enthusiasm, longer-life and good-looks, request a FREE private consultation with us today. I guarantee it'll be one of the best decisions you ever made!
My birthday was last week and I have a Luau every year to celebrate. Boy it was a good one this year!
It's great to get together with friends and family and celebrate but you know what that inevitably means… eating and drinking a lot of great-tasting food that isn't so great for your waistline! Here are a few pictures from the night:
Now that it's over, it's time to get back into a healthy mindset. And Athlon client, Nancy Loe, sent me an interesting article out of the New York Times last week about exercise that you should know about.
Exercise Makes You Smarter!
What goes on inside your brain when you exercise? The New York times reported on some interesting new research on that topic.
First, it has been thought for years that you were born with a certain number of brain cells and that's all you we're ever going to have. "Better take care of 'em 'cause that's all you get," I was told in high school and college biology classes.
But In the late 1990s, Dr. Fred Gage and his colleagues at the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute in San Diego elegantly proved that human and animal brains produce new brain cells (a process called neurogenesis) and that exercise increases neurogenesis
Yes! The brains of mice and rats that were allowed to run on wheels "pulsed with vigorous, newly born neurons, and those animals then breezed through mazes and other tests of rodent I.Q., showing that neurogenesis improves thinking."
How this happens is what the New York times article is all about, which you can read here:
I'll spare you the details for now other than to tell you that your brain is packed with adult stem cells which given the right stimulus divide and differentiate into either additional stem cells or baby neurons.
As we age these stem cells become less active, less nimble, "older" because of a certain chemical called BMP. And yes, you guessed it, exercise encourages other chemicals that inhibit this BMP and hence encourage stem cell activity. In Dr. Gage's laboratory, mice given access to running wheels had 50% less BMP-related brain activity within a week. Here's the study:
Now it is still not clear how much exercise one must do to stimulate this neurogenisis but it is clear that you "have to do something." Possibly "even a fairly short period" of exercise produces results, says Dr. Gage.
So, if you want to become smarter and you want to finish out this summer with an amazingly fit body come into Athlon Elite today and get your training in. As our governor used to say,
"a day missed can never be made up."
And now a day missed may even make you more dense!
If you're not already a member/client of Athlon's call us today and take advantage of your FREE fitness and nutrition consultation (an $85 value): (805) 440-0215. We'll get you started right!!!.
During this consult, you'll receive detailed information on how to get fit that's tailored to YOUR body.
This means that you'll be on the path to burning fat, getting the slim body you've always wanted and actually becoming smarter in no time at all.
There's no obligation and it's totally and completely free. To sign up,click here.
This stuff makes broccoli look like Doritos… Yes, Kaleis a true superfood and you should be eating it.
Nutritional Content
1 cup of Kale contains:
33 calories
7 g carbohydrate
2 g protein
0.5 g fat
1 g fiber
And even though it only contains 2 grams of protein it is essentially a complete protein (it contains nearly all essential amino acids)
1 cup of kale also provides:
684% (!!) of the RDA for Vitamin K
206% RDA for Vitamin A, which includes beta carotenes and the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin (both important for eye health)
134% RDA for Vitamin C
Trace amounts of many B vitamins: thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, and pantothenic acid
26% RDA for manganese
10% of RDA for copper
9% of RDA for calcium and potassium
6% of RDA for iron and magnesium
Trace amounts of sodium, zinc, and selenium
It actually provides more calcium per calorie than dairy foods and research shows calcium is better absorbed from kale than from milk! That's some healthy stuff!
How to select and store kale:
Look for firm, dark coloured leaves. They should be moist but not slimy. It should smell “fresh”.
De-stem with a knife, kitchen shears, or simply use one swoop with your hands down the stem.
After washing, kale leaves can be stored in a salad spinner or wet paper towel inside a plastic bag in the fridge.
How to cook it:
Kale is a bit stronger and more robust than a milder green like spinach so it works well in hearty dishes with lots of flavor. But it will also go great mixed into a lettuce and spinach salad. Here are some ideas:
from Precision Nutrition
Kale Chips
1 bunch of kale, broken into small, uniform pieces
Olive oil, salt, spices, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
Put pieces of kale in big container with a lid. Add about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, a few dashes of salt and any other spices you enjoy. Add ~1-2 tsp of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Put on the lid and shake the container so the kale pieces are coated evenly. You can also mix the kale leaves with the seasonings using your hands.
Set kale pieces on a baking sheet, evenly distributed. Bake at 350-400 degrees F for 8 – 12 minutes. Don’t leave the oven. Watch these closely. When they are crisp, they are done. If they get burned, they taste horrible.
Beans & Kale
1 large white or sweet onion, diced
1 bunch of green or purple kale
1-3 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cans of white beans
Salt/pepper to taste
Use a wok or pot to sauté the onions in some olive oil until they are clear and wilting. Then begin adding kale one handful at a time. It will start to wilt. Add a bit more oil if necessary. Once all of the kale is added, mix in the can(s) of beans. Let it heat evenly for several minutes. Add salt/pepper to taste. This will keep in the fridge for about 4 days. You can freeze leftovers as well. If you like, you can also throw in a clove of garlic with the onions at the beginning.
Simple Kale Salad
1 bunch of kale, sliced into small strips
1/8 cup olive oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup
Add kale strips to a large container with a lid. Prepare dressing in a pot on the stove. Bring the olive oil, cider vinegar, celery seed, salt, and agave/maple syrup to a boil. Let it boil for about 1 minute. Immediately pour over kale.
Let it sit for about 1 minute. Then cover the container and shake up the kale so all strips are evenly coated with dressing. Mix in favorite additions – like hemp seeds, flax seeds, dry cranberries, raisins, pepitas, etc.
For more great ideas that will keep you healthy and looking good on the beach and performing at your absolute best call us for a private one-on-one consultation. We're here for you.
A person who I had the utmost respect for recently passed away just before his 100th birthday: Coach John Wooden.
Many of you probably know of him and have seen a lot about him in the last couple of weeks since his passing. Here's just a couple facts:
Basketball Hall of Fame(first person ever enshrined as a player and coach)
10 NCAA championships in 12 years, seven in a row from '67 to '73(a feat never matched by any other coach)
His UCLA Bruins won 88 games straight and had four undefeated seasons(no other NCAA coach has more than one)
He developed the "Pyramid of Success" which has become an organizational and inspirational tool for coaches, businesses and corporations world-wide(print it out and put it on your wall)
Honored by Sports Illustrated as "Sportsman of the Year" (1972) and by ESPN as "Coach of the 20th Century" (1999)
All basketball success aside though, Coach Wooden's real legacy will be as an irreplacable source of wisdom. He understood that greatness is all around and he demonstrated an uncanny ability to help others find it within themselves and realize it.
Below I share a short story about him and his 7-point creed for greatness.
John Wooden's 7-Point Creed for
Making the Most of Oneself
I think the best story that comes from the many about Coach John Wooden is one that stems from his father, Joshua Wooden. His Dad was instrumental in shaping Coach Wooden's character. He gave him a seven-point creed to live his life by, and Wooden kept that same sheet of paper with the handwritten creeds in his pocket for decades.
When the paper was finally worn out, Wooden had cards of the creed made, and he handed them out to others.
The seven creeds aimed at making the most of oneself are:
1. Be true to yourself.
2. Make each day your masterpiece.
3. Help others.
4. Drink deeply from good books.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
That my friends is IMPACT and I thank Coach Wooden for the wisdom he passed down to many, many generations. A legend will be missed!
Take a look at athletes today… professional, Olympic, collegiate, even high school athletes. There's a definite, even dramatic, trend of increasing muscularity in almost every sport. It's no surprise to see well muscled track and field athletes, huge football and baseball players, and even the female soccer players now look like middle-weight boxers!
Everyone now knows the importance of muscle for sports performance. Muscle is the engine of your body and typically a bigger engine makes a body go faster. That said, there IS a limit to that simple equation, "bigger engine, faster performance." But where is that limit?
WARNING: Veins DO NOT = sports performance…
When it comes to strength training and sports performance there are a few schools of thought, but basically you can boil those down to:
"it works," or "it doesn't work."
The 'traditionalist-hold-outs' that still believe weightlifting "doesn't work" think that it makes you slow, it adds muscle to your frame without the joint/ligament integrity to support it, and it adds a higher risk of injury to your training program. They often think that body weight exercises and/or gymnastics exercises are superior for delivering real world strength, or like the wrestlers and MMA guys say, "Mat Strength."
Harder than it looks…
However, the weightlifting-for-sports-performance people say (in a nutshell):
muscle adds strength and power,
more strength and power in anything makes you perform better, and
there is no better way to add muscle and strength than to add "overload" resistance through the use of heavy barbells and dumbbells (and maybe a few other cool things like tires and hammers, etc.)
Here's the deal…
They're both right!
Now days there is no question that more muscle mass and strength improves your general fitness, quickness and power. And pretty much every sport benefits from those improved qualities (even finesse sports like golf).
Even Phil Mickelson has started building muscle…
Just about every university and high school has a weight room for its athletes to train in. And every professional athlete now spends their off-season weightlifting and improving their STRENGTH and MUSCLE MASS for the upcoming season.
But weightlifting is weightlifting, right? It's NOT the sport. You have to get on the field or on the court and learn the strength needed for your sport. The golfer needs to swing the club and do drills that improve "club swinging strength" on the course, the football player needs to do footwork and agility drills on the field to really improve his "football speed," right? It's like my old Karate instructor used to say,
"you can't learn to punch unless you throw a punch!"
And unfortunately many athletes these days (especially younger athletes) are making the case for these "non-weightlifting" proponents. They take up weightlifting to improve their performance but do it ALL WRONG, and hurt themselves and hence their performance in the process!
These novice lifters sacrifice good full range of motion movements to try and lift heavy weight, and fail to properly and slowly progress the amount of weight they're lifting so that they build the tendon and ligament strength as they build the muscle. This inevitably sets them up for failure.
If the novice lifter survives this "hap-hazard" strength training program and add a little muscle and strength to their body without an injury they still fail to truly realize the improved sports performance on the field or court because they don't "teach" that new muscle how to move explosively with proper power movements (like Olympic lifting and plyometrics) and correct field drills. Or they attempt to do some of the "power movements" with horrific form and cause injuries or set themselves up for a guaranteed future injury like the lifter below using bad low back posture.
Should athletes strength train to improve sports performance or just focus on sport-specific body weight drills for their sport?
John Cortese, our Elite Performance Camp lead trainer, recently finished a literature review of 15 peer-reviewed studies on weightlifting, strength and sports performance and found that improved strength is STONGLY correlated (no pun intended) to faster speed and hence sports performance. Athletes that had a stronger squat (or even just started doing squats) had significantly greater speed and sports performance power than those that did not. Heavy squats and heavy power cleans ARE significantly correlated with greater sports performance (e.g., running speed and quickness).
However, his review also found that combining "in-the-gym" strength training with "on-the-field" sports conditioning drills was FAR BETTER for improved sports performance than strength training alone. And I don't mean just "practicing" your sport like you have to do everyday anyway, I mean real sports performance… body weight drills like form-sprinting, first-step starts, lateral agility, plyometric push-ups, etc.
So the answer IS "both." An athlete needs to do both strength training using barbells and dumbbells (and tractor tires, and sledgehammers, and ropes, and straps, and chains, etc. like we do at Athlon), and they need to be doing some "body weight" field drills that are appropriate for improving their sports performance.
He said, "it was very obvious from the literature review that following a smart program that included both [strength training and field drills] at varying intensities created the fastest most powerful athletes, hands-down."
(and the fastest, most powerful athletes are almost always the ones getting their hand raised in victory on the first place podium)
The reason for this is fairly intuitive… just because you add the muscle doesn't mean it automatically knows how to coordinate itself to run faster, or punch harder, or jump higher, etc. You have to teach that new-found muscle and strength how to properly apply itself in a particular sporting environment or movement pattern. This is right inline with one of the most common principles of biological systems (and skill improvement) that all physical therapists, personal trainers, strength coaches and physicians understand and use… the "S.A.I.D." principle:
Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand
"…if you want to learn to punch you have to throw a punch!"
The Take-Home Message
Strength and conditioning in the weight room following sound principles of safety and progression is an absolute must if you want to step on the field and compete with the average athlete these days. However, you must also incorporate body weight skill training drills into your strength and conditioning program in order to truly realize and increase your performance (and hence realize the TRUE benefit of improved performance, i.e…
Athlon Elite has put together the most comprehensive, effective training program for Athletes in SLO County…
Click the link above or go here: www.ElitePerformanceCamp.zreply.com and learn about this program and how it puts together ALL of the components of a performance enhancement program, both "in-the-gym" and "on-the-field" to GUARANTEE you're walking off the field with the "W" EVERY TIME!
Or,
Call us at (805) 440-0215 to get a free consultation about this program and how it WILL help YOU!
“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”
-Napoleon Hill
That is the perfect montra for the four people that finished and completed ALL requirements of Athlon's "Summer Shape-Up Fitness Contest." And what a tough contest it was… having to follow the 10 Habits nutrition system, having to complete many challenging supplemental workouts each week, having to truly discipline yourself to a healthy lifestyle. I tip my hat to all four of you:
Athlon is closed for Memorial day but that doesn't mean you get out of your workout, right?! In honor of our fallen heroes push yourself a little harder today before enjoying some good barbeque with family and friends.
Train hard! Pain is Your Friend!
Option 1:
Load your backpack with 40 to 50 pounds of weight and hump it up and down Bishop's peak as fast as possible wearing it. A weighted vest works good too. 40 minutes to the top under a load will be a respectful time…
Option 2:
The Army Ranger Workout (try your best)
Run 2 miles in 12 to 14 minutes, then try to complete
100 Push-ups in under 2 minutes, and
100 Sit-ups in under 2 minutes
If you can do this you'd be well prepared for the Special Forces physical fitness test!
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