Monthly Archives: December 2006

The Heart of the Matter

In our book Drs. Eades and I discuss the issue of heart health. It has always been my position that though the heart is indeed a muscle, it is also an involuntary organ. No organ in the body is made healthier by overworking it. Why would the heart be any different?

Apparently it’s not.

From the NY Times today:

"A new study by Dr. Siegel and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and other institutions is at least suggestive. Sixty entrants from the 2004 and 2005 Boston Marathon were tested before and after the race. Each was given an echocardiogram to find abnormalities in heart rhythm and was checked for blood markers of cardiac problems – in particular for troponin, a protein found in cardiac muscle cells. If the heart is traumatized, troponin can show up in the blood. Its presence can determine whether there has been damage from a heart attack.

The runners (41 men, 19 women) had normal cardiac function before the marathon, with no signs of troponin in their blood. Twenty minutes after finishing, 60 percent of the group had elevated troponin levels, and 40 percent had levels high enough to indicate the destruction of heart muscle cells. Most also had noticeable changes in heart rhythms. Those who had run less than 35 miles a week leading up to the race had the highest troponin levels and the most pronounced changes in heart rhythm.

The findings, published in the Nov. 28 issue of Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, were a surprise, and not least to the runners."

So be careful – aerobics classes, running and spinning can take a hefty toll on the heart. They also do next to nothing for fat loss, compress the spine and pulverize your joints.

Be nice to your ticker. Let it live long and prosper!

It’s not your Metabolism, it’s Fatabolism

Everyone who is over fat and wanting to lose weight complains about their sluggish metabolism.

Even Tony Robbins, the 10 foot tall life motivator guru gets it wrong. He says people who don’t move, don’t have a metabolism.

Well of course they do Tony.

It’s not a fast or slow metabolism that causes leanness or over-fatness. It’s Fatabolism.

Fatabolsim is how your body processes fat as fuel. You either do it poorly or very efficiently.

By eating a diet rich in sugar, you are telling your body that you want to store lots of body fat and to use sugar as its primary source of fuel.

Sugar is: Oatmeal, candy, orange juice, soda, whole wheat bread, cotton candy, pasta…all grains, fruits and veggies.

In short, CARBS.

If you subsist mainly on these foods you are a sugar burner and a fat storer.

If you eat like this and are lean, you eat too little food and are losing lean tissue.

But I can almost guarantee that if we did a body fat percentage test, people in this category are always over fat.

If you eat like this and are over fat, you eat too much food and are losing lean tissue.

You must tell your body a different story.

You must insist that your body understands that you do not want to store any more fat and that the fat you do have should be used as your primary fuel source.

You want to supercharge your fatabolism.

I’ll tell you how very soon…