Like many fathers of three, in my world, sleep is at a premium.  Our kids are naturally night owls, which is possible in part due to homeschooling, and when you add the two-year-old into the mix, I consider about six hours a day during the week as a gift.  A recent study somewhat confirms what my body tells me– the debt is not easily repaid by just one night of sleeping in.

Although a decent night’s sleep can temporarily hide the effects of not getting enough sleep, research showed that if that next day wanes on, there is increased risk of fatigue-related errors and sudden sleepiness.  With each hour spent away after about 6 hours on that day after sleeping in, the study participants showed an increased likelihood of making errors or even being involved in accidents.  The researchers said that there may be two processes in the brain associated with lack of sleep.  One may deal with short term issues, but a second process may be affected as days or weeks of sleep-deprived days and nights take their toll.

Fortunately, some people have found that a natural sleep aid, like Sleep-Tite, may be able to make those hours we are able to sleep more restorative and effective.

You can read more about the study here.

Generally speaking, conventional wisdom has been that in order to “burn fat,” you need to spend hours and hours on your cardio machine of choice.  Whether it’s a treadmill, bike, stepper, elipitical, or all of the above, work out with a conventional trainer and she’ll no doubt have you sweating for 45 to 90 minutes in each workout, even those followed up by weight training.  The idea, at the surface, makes sense.  By raising and keeping your heart rate in the aerobic zone (60% to 80% of maximum), you burn fat for energy and not carbs or simple sugars your body keeps around for immediate energy.  So, if you have fat to lose, you have to burn it off.  Hence, the guidelines from your trainer.

However, let’s look at this a little closer.  The human body is remarkable in its ability to respond to the demands placed on it.  Lift a heavy weight and your arm, chest, and shoulder respond, becoming bigger, denser, stronger, and better able to life that weight next time.  So what does repeated aerobic exercise, week after joint pounding week, tell your body?  It need to have sufficient fat to store and a sufficiently small and efficient heart muscle, to provide the energy it needs for these hours of exercise.  If you make your body a fat burning machine, then your body will store the fat to burn!  You burn the fat, yes, but then what happens at your next meal?  Every ounce of fat it can find will be stored away, packed on to refuel for the next fat-burning workout.  Without the fat, you couldn’t sustain the hours of cardio.  So, your body is a fat burning machine, as well as a fat-storing machine.

This is one of the basic tennants behind Dr. Al Sear’s work and publications.  While I’m not a doctor and this is only my opinion, I believe there is merit to what he says.  He’d advocate instead a program of short workouts that alternate between high intensity and recovery.  One of the reasons he believes this is best (besides the personal and professional experience he’s had as an athlete and doctor), is a look back to our ancient ancestors.  The hunter-gatherer man didn’t have obesity issues.  There were no “biggest losers” back when we roamed the plains looking to catch our next meal.  Genetically, we’re “fine-tuned,” so to speak, for long duration, low intensity exercise (like walking for miles on the hunt), interpersed with minutes or seconds of high intensity sprints (when chasing that meal, or avoiding becoming the meal!).  Thus, a program that incorporates sprint intervals can have tremendous benefit.

Look at it this way– what are you telling your body when your exercise program has you working out for 12 minutes 3x a week.  During those 12 minutes, you walk for a couple, run (jog, or even just walk a little faster), for a minute, then recover and repeat.  The idea is, you are either in the low intensity phase or a short-duration high intensity phase.  You never stay in the “fat burning” zone.  So, you end up teaching your body that it doesn’t need to hold on to that fat– it doesn’t get used.  You train a strong heart that can respond to demands like the impromptu basketball game or hauling your son around on your shoulders.  You can literally have the heart of a warrior– and that unnecessary fat is given up by your remarkable body.

Learn more about Dr. Sears, his PACE workout program, and native fitness.

For years, we’ve heard that the way to lose weight, get healthy, and basically improve every area of your life, is through cardio and aerobic exercises like jogging, biking, and the elliptical machine.  But, conventional wisdom may be starting to change.  It appears that weight training may be more important to weight and fat loss than we think.  

Consider this study, mentioned in a recent Men’s Health article.  Dr. Jeff Volek divide a group of overweight people into three groups.  With all groups on the same diet, one did no exercise, one did aerobic exercise 3x a week, and one did both the aerobics and weight training.  The groups all lost about the same amount of weight over 12 weeks.  However, the weight training group had the most success in losing fat and retaining muscle.  This result has been confirmed in other studies.

It seems that the more we study, the more we realize that weight training may be the ultimate missing link.  There’s a lot more to say on this topic, particularly, we’ll review what the father of the so-called American kettlebell movement has to say about the results of weight training and also look at what Dr. Al Sears has to say about cardio in the next couple of posts.

Have you ever considered that basically, from Halloween through Valentine’s Day, we as Americans engage in one feast after another for fully 1/3 of the year?  When you look at it that way, it’s no wonder why we are overweight.  Just think, starting with Halloween candy and ending with Sweetheart chocolate, we are going for one treat after another.   Don’t forget the Super Bowl parties and New Year’s celebrations.  Then, of course, there are the major feast events like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Thanksgiving is basically a holiday centered around gorging yourself silly and watching football.  It’s an amazing world.

So, what can we do about it all?  Of course, there is our weight loss supplements that many swear by this time of year.  But here are a few other coping mechanisms, courtesy of Medicinenet.com’s Holiday Weight Management section.

1.  Awareness– we really do need to learn to slow down and be aware of what we are eating.  Keep in mind that this is a tough time of year– be realistic and admit you are going to have those treats, and then reign in the horses and get back on track.  Take the extra walk during the day and use the smaller plates– save the 13 inch monster platter for serving, not eating.

2.  Manage Stress and Emotions– We all know that emotions trigger a desire to eat.  It’s such a bit coping mechanism for many of us.  try to lighten the schedule– there is no need to serve day upon day of massive meals.  Use potlucks and buffet style meals to make it easier on yourself.  If you can, embrace the fact that exercise is a stress reducer– just do it.

3.  Planning– what are you going to eat?  Have a healthy snack before going to the big party.  Stay away from the office treats.  Decide if a party is lunch or dinner.  That is, don’t just fatten up at the holiday party at work and then move on to a full fledged dinner.  If the party at the office was dinner, plan on, and implement, a smaller supper at home.

Count your blessings, remember the reason for the holidays and celebrations, and food can become just a part of the season instead of the primary focus.

One of the top health and wellness stories on Christmas Eve came from USA Today.  Entitled “New Year’s resolutions from the experts themselves“, several top fitness experts talked about their personal resolutions.

Some of them were pretty typical– enjoy meals by going slower, teaching and practicing healthy eating habits, etc.  But one in particular caught our eye–
“I have resolved to take out my tai chi tapes and to become really proficient in it. Tai chi is great for balance and for core strength and can be done anywhere with no special equipment or clothing. Plus, it’s really cool. I’m 64 on Dec 26. It is not a time to take up triathlon training; it’s time to set in place the behaviors that will make for my healthy aging…

First of all, none of us at My Natural Supplements are medical experts of any kind and these are only our personal opinions.  That said, I have a real problem with this statement.  Healthy Aging?  It seems like this particular expert is saying that the downhill road has begun, time to start practicing “old folks” exercise.  Now, I’m barely half this person’s age, so I may be wrong, but I hope this isn’t what I’ll be thinking at that age. 

We’ve learned so much over the last few years about just what the human body is capable of.  We do have triathletes at 64 and older– just watch the next Ironman on TV (we just had an Ford Ironman finisher who credits some of his success to our ProXtreme and Sure to Endure Sports Supplements).  Avon sponsors 60 mile 3-day walks and many of those cancer survivors have such a different attitude then suggested by this quote.  I can find nothing helpful in thinking that when you reach a certain age, it’s time to think about health aging…  That attitude even feeds on itself and I wonder in a few years, after health aging, this expert will be talking about healthy dying?

Well, personally, I can’t rely on this excuse, but it turns out that for some kids, being overweight may be something they really cannot control.  USA Today reported that for some children, a missing part of their DNA makeup makes them extremely likely to be obese.

Study: Missing DNA can promote childhood obesity

The British study looked at kids who were very overweight and determined that they are missing part of chromosome 16, which caused them to be unresponsive to the hormone leptin.  Leptin controls the appetite.  So, for these little ones, they always wanted to eat and were always hungry. 

Also reported in the study was how this discovery lead to parenting behavior being reconsidered in at least 4 cases that had drawn the attention of the child welfare authorities

Surprise!  Movie theater popcorn is not healthy!  I’m not sure why this is news, but USA Today reports that movie theater popcorn is loaded with calories and saturated fat.  My response was, “No kidding.”  Apparently, The Center for Science in the Public Interest thought it would be a good idea to spend money testing popcorn from Regal theaters, AMC Entertainment, and Cinemark.  The result– anywhere between 910 and 1200 calories and between 4 and 60 grams of saturated fat.

The 4g of fat actually doesn’t sound too bad.  It’s due to the difference in oils used for the popcorn.  Canola oil is low in saturated fat, while coconut oil is nearly 90% saturated fat.  So, there is a “less bad” option, if you count 910 calories as something you want to absorb in 2 hours. 

One interesting thing is that the industry is unapologetic.  Basically, they are saying that we don’t go to the movies to watch our waistlines.  We go for the experience and the smell, taste, and authenticity of movie theater popcorn is a part of that experience.  I agree with them on this point.  No one tries to make it sound like popcorn and soda at the movies is healthy.  It turns out that they tried the healthy approach and the consumer demanded the fat. 

There really is no way to enjoy the real popcorn and avoid the calories.  But some of the damage can be avoided with some planning, if you want to avoid the damage, that is.  Fill up before you get to the theater, and I’d recommend Lipotrim to block some of those carbs.  But in the end, if you want the popcorn, go for it, but hit the gym the next day!

If  your idea of the dream diet is pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then you dreams may have just come true.

Meet Matt McClellan, pizza shop owner.  Determined to show that you can lose weight with nothing but pizza, he devised the 30 day pizza diet.  9am to 9pm, eight slices of pizza a day.  He worked with a nutritionist and consulted a doctor and at the end of the program, was almost 25 pounds lighter. 

Not only that, but his blood pressure and cholesterol were down, his body fat percentage dropped an amazing 10 percentage points, and his BMI was down.  All this from pizza.  Now, it was made with skim-milk cheese and the meat lovers was off the table, but still, a 30 day pizza diet.

However, before you sign up for your frequent diner program and the pizzeria, you’d better be prepared to work out an hour per day as Matt diet, and also keep the total calories to about 2500 per day from the pizza.  It seems like a reasonable premise, and in the end, it’s simply calories in vs. calories out. 

We don’t really know how healthy or sustainable this diet is over the long term, but it does prove that weight loss is a simple formula.  It’s simple caloric deficit, no matter what the format of the calories. 

You can read more of Matt’s story at TourDePizza.

Tonight NBC aired a special program showing how many of the Biggest Loser contestants and winners have fared in their years after their experience on “the ranch”.  They managed to pull together many favorites from the past eight seasons and generally speaking, they did well.  Most of them have gained some weight back since the finale of the show, but that’s not too surprising, since, with $250K on the line, many of us would do whatever it takes to lose the extra pound, even if it’s not sustainable.

There was one contestant, the season three winner, who has gained back nearly 175 pounds.  During his interview with one of the trainers, it became clear that his problem was, when faced with what he knew he has to go through, again, to reclaim his life, he wasn’t willing to put that effort in again.  His knowledge of the sweat, tears, and pain that he’d have to undergo was real– it wasn’t theoretical since he went through it before.  He became increasingly unwilling to subject himself to the costs involved in weight loss.

That particular sequence points out something about this journey so many are on– it’s hard.  It hurts.  It will cause emotions to surface and either be dealt with or be buried just to surface again.  We happen to think we have a great line of weight loss supplements that can help, but they only help.  They can’t do the work for you and no one achieves lasting success by popping a pill and yet still eating horribly and not exercising.  It’s one reason why we believe a total package includes something like Winrgy for energy and Sure2Endure for a more effective workout, as well as our Biolean system.

Another interesting part of the show was when one contestant revealed that her doctor told her that she’s looking at 1 to 1.5 hours of exercise, 5-6 days per week, to maintain the body she worked so hard for.  The term used in the show was a “formerly obese” person.  The research indicates that, once overweight, the body can shed the pounds, shed the fat, and become what it once was, but not entirely.  According to many sources, including this Johns Hopkins University health alert, fat cells don’t disappear.  They shrink.  So, if you’ve become obese and carry, say, 50% more fat cells that your skinny friend, even after you get things in order and look, weigh, and feel exactly like your friend, you are still carrying that many more fat cells.  They may be smaller, but they are there, deflated, ready for you to fill them back up.

It sounds like you always have a tendency to obesity once you are obese, even if you recover and slim down.  It’s unfortunate, but shouldn’t slow you down.  After all, as shown in tonight’s special, lives can be, and are, changed every day.  It’s a day-to-day choice to live differently, and once you do make that choice, your life is never the same.