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What is a politician doing on a health and fitness blog?

Well it seems that Gordon Brown has taken up the services of a personal trainer. He obviously knows the lead up to his re-election (or not) is going to be gruelling and he will need as much energy as he can get. Working with a personal trainer is the best way to get fit short and long term.

I applaud him for showing some leadership in that regard.

However, this article in the Telegraph, despite it’s sarcastic and class driven tone, has a couple of very interesting points to make, more about its author and his expereinces with personal training than Gordon and his…

The author lost a lot of weight under the guidance of a personal trainer in under 8 weeks. He was pleased and proud of himself…

BUT

after 12 months he says he put it all back on again.

Sound familiar???

See traditional personal training has shortcomings - you (the client) become dependent on the trainer actually being there when you train. You are not really taught to train on your own. University studies show time and again that only about 4% of people who take up a fitness program stick with it if left to themselves.

This is where Fitness by Phone® is a proven superior system to any other weight loss or fitness method out there. We teach you to become your own “personal trainer”, so inside 6 months, you are in a lifelong habit of making healthy food and exercise choices and acting on them.

Go here and see if you qualify for our weight loss and fitness system. You’ll be glad you did.

Live long. Live well.

Rick

One of the best vids I have seen in a long time. True to the philosophy of Fitness by Phone®

Have a great life.

Rick

Well it seems the scientists have come up with yet another “easy” way to lose weight.

Being the natural sceptic that I am, I did a little investigation. See I know what it is like to be overweight. Even though I was never touching on obesity like some of my clients, those extra 10 kilos made life pretty uncomfortable for me. And it is human nature to want to do anything in life the easy way if we can get the result we want…

So the thought of taking a pill and losing weight AND getting exercise at the same time without actually having to do any movement- well…

Who wouldn’t be instantly attracted to that?

You remember the last couple of weight loss supplements that were the “next big thing in weight loss” - Ephedra and Alli.

Well it seems they were not without their difficulties as explained below…

“The Federal Trade Commission today announced three enforcement actions against direct marketers of weight-loss products containing ephedra. The two settlements and one complaint, filed in U.S. district court, target deceptive efficacy, safety, and “no side effects” claims for weight loss supplements containing ephedra (also known as Ma Huang). The FTC actions challenge false advertising claims that the ephedra supplements cause rapid, substantial, and permanent weight-loss without diet or exercise, and that “clinical studies” or “medical research” prove these claims. The FTC also challenges claims that the ephedra weight-loss products are “100% safe,” “perfectly safe,” or have “no side effects.” Resources for consumers, businesses, and the press are available at www.ftc.gov/dietfit. The FTC has the following tips for consumers who are interested in weight-loss products or programs:

    * Products and programs that promise quick and easy weight loss are bogus. To lose weight, you have to lower your intake of calories and increase your physical activity.

    * There are no miracle weight-loss products. Be skeptical of products and programs that claim they can keep weight off permanently. Be skeptical about exaggerated claims.- Copyright Federal Trade Commission June 2003

According to the FDA, ephedra can cause nausea, irregular heartbeats, insomnia, and nervousness (http://ageless.com/ephidrine.htm).  In Texas there have been two deaths linked to ephedrine products.

The Metabolife label has a long list of different diseases or problems that should be advised before taking Metabolife.  Another FDA report stated that ephedra can also cause high blood pressure, tremors and headaches, seizures, heart attacks, strokes and in extreme cases like in Texas, death.

So much for Ephedra… How bout Alli

“Alli is the reduced-strength version of orlistat (Xenical), a prescription drug to treat obesity. It’s approved for over-the-counter sale to overweight adults 18 years and older. Alli is meant to be used in conjunction with a low-calorie, low-fat diet and regular exercise.

What are the side effects?

You may experience bowel changes when taking Alli. Ads and marketing materials refer to these changes as “treatment effects.” These side effects can include:

    * Gas with an oily anal discharge

    * Loose stools or diarrhea

    * More frequent bowel movements

    * Hard-to-control bowel movements

These bowel changes result from the undigested fat going through your digestive system. You can limit the side effects by eating a low-fat diet.

When shouldn’t you take Alli?

Don’t take Alli if you:

    * Are at a healthy weight

    * Are taking cyclosporine

    * Have had an organ transplant

    * Have problems absorbing food

The drug also may pose risks for anyone who takes blood-thinning medication or has diabetes or thyroid disease.

Orlistat decreases the absorption of certain fat-soluble vitamins — for example, vitamins A, D and E. If you’re taking Alli, you need to take a daily vitamin supplement (at a time different from when you take Alli) to prevent potential nutrient deficiencies.” - Copyright Mayo clinic Staff June 11 2008

Now it has been proved that a low fat diet is actually dangerous to your long term health, and that we need certain fats to be able to function healthily. I don’t know about you but the thought of not absorbing fat and vitamins is a bit scary. So much for Alli. And you notice the common thread here - diet and exercise still required for success.

This newest miracle pill, AICAR,  has “worked” on mice and is possibly years away from being fit for use with humans. Even if it does everything claimed.

The mouse tests were all about skeletal muscles and endurance, not about the drugs’ safety or ability to mimic the many other benefits of exercise, such as improving cardiovascular health and making some types of cancer less likely. That won’t help you get your life and figure back in the meantime will it?

If you want to play Russian roulette with your health - fine. Take a pill, eat whatever you like and don’t exercise. If the side effects don’t permanently damage you (or perhaps kill you) then the subsequent obesity, type 2 diabetes and other health problems surely will.

Look, there is no shortcut here.
Correct eating and exercise are still required to lose weight unfortunately.

Fitness by Phone® has the only healthy weight loss program with a 100% money back guarantee (to my knowledge). We have a ten year success track record to back up that guarantee.

So fill out the form to see if you qualify.

Live your life

Rick

Well here is something different!

Like most of you I love chocolate, but did you know good chocolate is heart healthy plus has a host of other benefits? It was noticed in the 1600’s that it reduced angina and heart pain…

Now I am not talking about the chocolate you get in the picture theatre, your local convenience store or Coles or Woolies.

Milk chocolate particularly is full of sugar, and often that is high fructose corn syrup, a known cause of health problems. And often too it is “Dutch’ processed. This is a method of adding alakali to the chocolate to reduce acid and darken the colour.

In fact lots of “dark” choclates are just dutched and have added sugar  to boot…

Result? A sticky mess that clogs your arteries because it is so high in fat and sugar!!!
However, there is “real” chocolate available that can deliver real health benefits…

In fact,  the list of our cocoa beans health lifting powers just keeps growing. Research indicates that its active ingredients can help the following conditions –

•    High blood pressure
•    Stroke
•    Clogged arteries
•    Heart disease
•    Infectious diseses
•    Dementia
•    Prostate and lung cancer
•    Blood clots
•    Liver problems
•    Inflammation
•    Allergies
•    Asthma

There is another benefit researchers have discovered.

As you may know one of the big problems with type II diabetes is the way it cuts down blood circulation to extremities.

When I was in the heart ward of the Gold Coast Hospital for nine days back in early 2006, I was amazed at how bad the legs and feet of some of those blokes were. (Most were diabetes sufferers and they were in there with heart problems as a result). A couple of them were looking at amputations according to the doctors, on top of all their other problems. Yuk.

My ears pricked up when I heard of a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology discovered that cocoa significantly enhances blood flow in folks with type II diabetes.
(Balzer et al. “Sustained Benefits in Vascular Function Through Flavanol-Containing Cocoa in Medicated Diabetic Patients: A Double-Masked, Randomized, Controlled Trial.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2008. 51:2141-2149)

In that study, researchers divided diabetes sufferers into 2 groups – one group had 1000 mg of cocoa a day (in three doses spread over the day) and the other 25 mg.

At the end of one month, the higher cocoa groups circulation had normalised (from “severly impaired”) while the low cocoa group had no changes.

I discovered the way it works is this – the cocoa improves the nitric oxide output. This causes the blood vessels to relax and open up, improves circulation, which drops blood pressure and helps deliver oxygen and nutrients more effectively…

Anyway pure chocolate is what delivers these benefits. When I say pure I mean cacao bean only – no fluff or fillers like added sugar or fat…

If you can get it, the pure bean is best. The way it is usually supplied is as “nibs”. What’s a nib? If you open a cacao pod, you find a sort of bean or “nib”. If you want to use chocolate as a health supplement (and who wouldn’t?) then you have to eat the beans only.

To my knowledge there is only one way to get pure organic cacao bean “nibs”.

Dagoba Chocolate nibs are just lightly roasted organic cacao beans which are coarsely ground. You sprinkle them onto cereals etc, on salads (you’ve had pine nuts on salad right?) or eat straight form the pack as a snack. They are a little bitter, but still nice enough for my taste. You can get them cheaply in Australia at www.aldermanprovidore.com.au - just search on “dagoba” and you will see a range of excellent products including the nibs.

It isn’t hard to eat a gram a day, which is all you need to get the benefits…

Speaking of which, here are some other reasons to eat cacao bean nibs.

There is a class of chemicals called “flavonoids”. They are actually a poisonous anti-microbial substance, used by the producing plant to fight disease in itself. They are not an antioxidant as first thought. Latest research indicates they are recognised by your body as a toxin, and it tries to eliminate them. (Lotito SB, Frei B. “Consumption of flavonoid-rich foods and increased plasma antioxidant capacity in humans: cause, consequence, or epiphenomenon?” 2006. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 41(12):1727–46.)

Flavonoids are found in fruits and vegetables, coffee, tea, beer and red wine. But cacao has them in the highest concentrations. (Lee et al. “Cocoa Has More Phenolic Phytochemicals and a Higher Antioxidant Capacity than Teas and Red Wine.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2003. 51:7292-7295.)

How does a poison help you stay well then? Flavonoids activate special enzymes and uric acid production. Together these compounds change your body’s response to allergens, tends to disable some cancer cells and cancer causing agents, and flush other dangerous substances out of your system (at the same time it is trying to get rid of the flavonoids).
Mind you, if your liver is over stressed (being the main way your body gets rid of toxins) then the benefits will not be as pronounced. See my other articles about fatty liver and syndrome x.

So there you have it… another heart healthy treat from nature that reverses or prevents a number of life threatening conditions.

Cheers to chocolate nibs…

Rick Rakauskas

Here is a story that has a lesson in it.

My sister in law called me the other day. She was a bit concerned because she had just received a report from her doctor about her bone density. Her spinal bone density tests had shown a 10% loss over the last 8 years and she was finally motivated to do something about it. She is only 48 btw.

Last Wednesday she came down for our first session, and I tested her strength and flexibility.

Now she is pretty active, with a tall thin build. Burns calories quite well it seems. However she has one chronic problem which is currently in remission - rheumatoid arthritis.

Hillary was a sporty type, but like all mothers is busy busy busy, and didn’t put much stock in looking after her own needs when everyone elses came first (she and my brother had their children fairly late).

She also trained as a PE teacher in her earlier years. Despite the lack of regular structured exercise she thought she was reasonably healthy and strong because of her day to day activities.

Our tests proved otherwise and she was quite shocked. In fact next day she complained of muscle soreness, and that from doing minimal work, not even a proper training session.

Needless to say I gave her an in home program to get started using minimal equipment. Luckily her son wants to do it with her, so that will help keep her on track and less likely to backslide.

Here is the point.

Instead of waiting to lose 10% of her spinal density before doing something about it, (and sorry to say, despite all my efforts over the last couple of years to get her involved with weight training…)

Wouldn’t it have been better to do the strength training to prevent the loss instead?

The risk of spinal fracture at the age of 48 is bad news from a lifestyle perspective, especially for a busy mum.

However this does bring up another point I have to belabour over and over again. Why are some of you so resistant to getting tested for various things? Such as bone density, hormone levels (thyroid, estrogens, androgens, insulin etc).

Lots of folks go onto a weight loss program blind. Wouldn’t it be better to know where any imbalances lie, then take appropriate action?

And for heavens sake don’t wait til a doctor tells you you are a wreck before trying to reverse the problem.

Doesn’t it make more sense to take preventative action instead?

Food for thought…

Live life - it’s the only one you’ve got.

Rick

I was grizzling to a really good friend the other day about trials and tribulations - chiefly my own lack of energy sometimes because of side effects of beta blockers including badly interrupted sleep paterns.

Anyway, she listed the things I had done, or started in both my physical fitness regime, my work habits and my hobbies over the last couple of months.

It dawned on me that I was being too hard on myself, and that I WAS achiveing quite a bit despite the challenges.

Then I realised we all do that. We are hard on ourselves, and when we do achieve a lot, we tend to dismiss it and worry about what is yet to do…

Fitness and health programs often fall over because of this - we fail to achieve some impossible target all at once, and give up. Instead of celebrating the mini milestones we have achieved on the way…

Food for thought.

Well my wife went and bought a vibration trainer last weekend.

So now the money is spent I had to do a lot more research. It seems that short term studies of WBV (whole body vibration) are positive for a number of reasons. But there are caveats.

First, no session should be longer then 10 minutes. And no longer that 30 minutes accumulated in any 24 hour period.

The main benefit my wife felt straight away was an increase in circulation. Having a poor circulation at best, I would be happy if this was the only benefit of the machine for her. But research indicates it could also help the osteo arthritis in her hips and possibly knees.

We will see, that will depend on the types of exercise she does. 

This is I guess an ongoing sort of case study that is close to home (gee it is inside the home). So I will keep you updated.

Live your life, this is not a dress rehearsal…

I came across some interesting info I thought you should know about. It often irks me that women resist strongly the notion that they mustn’t strngth train becasue it will make them look like a bulked up action hero.

So here are the facts.

When researchers compared the muscle strength of men and women they discovered men were around 50% stronger then women - no surprise there.

However, when they looked at it pound for pound of total muscle weight, vs total body weight, they discovered women are just as strong as men. (Dr Wayne, Wescott South Shore YMCA, in MA USA).

Further, weightlifting in women doesn’t add bulk.

For a start, muscle is denser thean fat, so it takes up less space. Lose fat, get muscle, look leaner. And when men lift weights, it is the testosterone in their blood that causes the muscle fibres to get bigger.

Women have generally 40 to 50% less testosterone, so they get the strength without the bulk. And if you think about the body builder females, well you have to know that to get that way they live a 24/7 bodybuilding lifestyle dedicated 100% to their sport.

And here is another interesting fact. Because you don’t have much fat coverage on your shoulders they can grow wider, which makes your waist look smaller too!

Nice.

Here is my first podcast - listen at your own risk

BTW, the material is intriguing and will give you some clues as to why your body fat may be hard to shift and why your constant diet and exercise attempts are still failing
AND
some solutions.

Enjoy!

Hi and thanks for turning up and reading…

I sometimes wonder why biographies are so popular. And why we like to read or hear about the successes of others…

I think it is because we identify with the characters in the stories. Their hopes and fears - we feel their pain because sometimes it is our own. We enjoy and share their successes because in the end, we live our lives vicariously through others. (Think of the joys your spouse or children brought you in the past when they shared their successes)

I love Fitness by Phone success stories - they bring tears of joy whenever I read them. Knowing that I, Rick Rakauskas, have helped another human being to live a better life in some small way.

That is truly satisfying for me…

And because I want my clients to have and enjoy the success they deserve, I can only serve a limited number of women at any one time.

Please read the success stories here of women just like you here. See how they got their figures back, and turned their lives around. Imagine your life once you achieve your own goals…