Conventional wisdom tells us that high cholesterol is the cause of heart disease. But Dr. Dwight Lundell is fighting to expose this dangerous mainstream myth.

Dr. Lundell is a pioneer and leading expert in this field. He has enjoyed a long and a distinguished career, leading his peers to new breakthroughs. He spent 25 years as a cardiovascular surgeon and performed over 5,000 heart surgeries.

His experience in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery includes certification by the American Board of Surgery, the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He was a pioneer in “Off-Pump” heart surgery, reducing surgical complications and recovery times. He’s in the “Beating Heart Hall of Fame” and has been listed in Phoenix Magazine’s “Top Doctors” for 10 years.

He has been recognized by his peers as a leader and has served as Chief resident at the University of Arizona and Yale University Hospitals. He later served as Chief of Staff and Chief of Surgery.

He was also one of the founding partners of the Lutheran Heart Hospital which became the second largest heart hospital in the U.S.

Dr. Lundell recently agreed to grant us an in-depth and revealing interview about the pioneering work he is currently conducting. It’s our privilege and pleasure to share part one of that exclusive interview with you today.

THB: You are the author of a controversial heart-health book called The Great Cholesterol Lie. The book challenges conventional wisdom and accepted medical theories. What’s been the response to this book?

Dr. Lundell: The response to the book has been overwhelming.  I regularly correspond with people from around the world who are enjoying better health from the new understandings they gained from learning about inflammation and heart disease.

THB: That’s good to hear. It’s a seminal book that charts your professional journey as a cardiac surgeon. And, more importantly, reveals your gradual discovery of the true cause of heart disease.

If you could go back in time to when you were a young cardiac surgeon… what would you tell yourself and would you take a different path?

Dr. Lundell: I was dedicated to treating heart disease and passionate about saving lives.  It was my responsibility to provide patients with a second chance.

As a young cardiac surgeon in the 1980s coronary bypass operation was the only effective treatment for people afflicted with severe coronary artery disease.  So, as you can imagine, this was a very exciting time.  Our ability to help people increased and the risks of surgery decreased as techniques and technology improved.

The scientific consensus at that time was elevated cholesterol levels in the blood cause a gradual deposition of cholesterol in the lumen of the blood vessel so two treatment forces were obvious: lower the levels of cholesterol in the blood or do an operation to detour the blood around the accumulated plaque thus restoring flow and heart function.

Rather than looking at more effective ways to lower blood cholesterol, there was relatively little research going on as to what was causing plaque.  Everyone settled on the idea that it was as simple as controlling fat and cholesterol.

Then new research was in part driven by industry and not basic science.  As balloon angioplasty emerged as an alternative to open heart surgery, the companies that produce the balloons became concerned by high rates of re-stenosis.  They began funding studies to understand exactly what was happening biologically to cause the re-stenosis. (Re-stenosis means a re-narrowing of the artery after angioplasty or a stent has been inserted.)

This stimulated a lot of research and culminated in the seminal article published in 1999 in the New England Journal of Medicine announcing that “atherosclerosis [is] an inflammatory disease.”

THB: How did you discover that the true cause of heart disease was inflammation?

Dr. Lundell: I was excited to understand this new research because in the operating room I had observed the classic signs of inflammation around the coronary artery and was very disappointed that surgery, although effective at relieving symptoms and extending life, was not a cure for heart disease.

Many brilliant scientists and university centers continued to do more research that confirmed the basis for coronary disease was chronic inflammation.  Sadly the attention was all directed at finding a therapy rather than looking at the cause of chronic inflammation.

Research is hugely expensive and was largely funded by drug companies who were making billions of dollars from the prescriptions for statin drugs.

One of the many side effects of statin drugs is that they seem to have a mild anti- inflammatory effect.  Because of the size of the industry and how entrenched the cholesterol theory had become, the focus continues to be on treating everyone with statin drugs rather than understanding the cause and the ability to control chronic inflammation.

The makers of statin drugs have been so skillful at influencing science and controlling public policy that prescribing statins is the standard of care. Anyone questioning or disagreeing with these policies is labeled as a heretic and disregarded.

THB: Why were you so convinced inflammation was the culprit? You were so convinced that you made a major life – and career – change based on that conviction.

Dr. Lundell: I knew that I did not have enough influence to change any of the policies or practices from inside mainstream medicine. Taking a lesson from the drug makers with their direct to consumer advertising I decided to write the book and hopefully people would learn and make the changes needed to truly prevent and cure heart disease.

THB: You describe inflammation very powerfully in your book as a battleground. Can you give our readers an overview of what inflammation is?

Dr. Lundell: Inflammation truly is a battleground. For most of human history we died because of infection and trauma. Our immune system and our inflammatory systems are designed to aggressively respond to these two challenges.

If we get invaded by bacteria or injured in some way, our immune system recognizes the challenge and marshals all of the body’s resources to respond to defeat the invader and heal the wound.

We all have experienced the classic signs of inflammation: warmth, swelling, redness, and pain.  Acute inflammation is the response to acute injuries.  Chronic inflammation is the response to chronic smaller injuries and so we do not always get the four classic signs.

THB: You’ve taken the bold step to speak out against statin medications. But playing devil’s advocate for a moment… surely there are some situations when statin medications are effective?

Dr. Lundell: Statin medications have proven to be somewhat beneficial to a small group of people; that is a middle aged man with a previous heart attack. They have never been documented to benefit any woman of any age with any condition.  They have not been documented to help people who have not had a previous heart attack of any age or gender.

There may be some people who would take great offense at the previous paragraph – especially the makers of Crestor and cardiologists who support treating almost everyone with statin drugs.

They might quote the Jupiter study which was touted as proving Crestor would reduce heart attack rates by almost 50% in otherwise healthy people.  Happily, this month in The Archives of Internal Medicine, four peer reviewed articles gave a scathing rebuke to the Jupiter study – the methodology, the conflict of interest by most of the authors, the early termination of the study which almost always provides false results, and the conclusion that statin drugs were beneficial in this population of patients.  At last I am getting reinforcements!

THB: That’s a good point to make – and you make it well. So, if statin meds aren’t effective, why are they so dangerous?

Dr. Lundell: Statin drugs are dangerous not necessarily because of the side effects which can be disabling or fatal, but because they divert our attention from understanding and preventing heart disease and merely treat it with statins, allowing us to think that this is beneficial.

Even some of the foremost cardiologists in the country who have written extensively about inflammation as the true cause of heart disease offer no solutions except taking statin drugs.  $30,000,000,000 in worldwide sales of statin drugs has a lot to do with it.

In part two of our revealing interview, Dr. Lundell tells us why inflammation is the true cause of heart disease and offers critical solutions to prevent it. We also discover the four most common lifestyle factors that injure heart health and get expert guidance on how to improve it. All this and more in next Wednesday’s edition of Undercover.

About Dr. Lundell: Dr. Dwight Lundell is the past Chief of Staff and Chief of Surgery at Banner Heart Hospital, Mesa, AZ. He is the founder of Healthy Humans Foundation and Chief Medical Advisor for Asantae. In 2003, Dr. Lundell made the most difficult decision of his 25 year surgical career. As traditional medicine continued to chase the cholesterol theory of heart disease, Dr. Lundell closed his surgical practice. He then devoted the rest of his life to speaking the truth that inflammation causes heart disease. By lowering inflammation, heart disease has a cure.

Dr. Lundell is the author of the world-wide bestselling book, The Great Cholesterol Lie. This book is a revealing look at heart disease and the faulty theories of low-fat diets and cholesterol. He also reveals his clinically-tested recommendations for lowering inflammation that can prevent and reverse heart disease. Click here now to learn more.

To your health,

Ian Robinson,
Managing Editor, Total Health Breakthroughs

Building Healthy Hearts

Almost 70 percent of Americans have some sort of heart disease – but that doesn’t mean surgery should be your first response.

“It might surprise you to learn that nearly 85 percent of coronary bypass surgeries are done unnecessarily,” says THB panel expert Dr. Al Sears. “That’s why I’m always on the look out for credible and actionable alternative heart information.”

And you can learn about a major “credible and actionable alternative” right now. Small lifestyle changes can help you beat the odds and enjoy better heart health.

Antioxidants are your first step to protecting – or even restoring – your heart health. Leading doctors are proclaiming the power of antioxidants and there are dozens of studies that prove they promote good heart health. One landmark study even shows that a specific antioxidant may reverse one of the most lethal forms of heart disease.

What Are Antioxidants?

Antioxidants are powerful tools that fight heart disease. But to understand why you need them, you have to understand what oxidation means. It is a natural process which occurs during normal cell function.

Cells are damaged during oxidation and turn into free radicals. That starts a chain reaction which harms more cells and ends in disease. Those free radicals can lead to heart disease. Antioxidants fight free radicals.

“Studies prove antioxidants neutralize free radicals,” says Dr. A. J. Matthews. He specializes in damage caused by oxidation and runs a surgery in California.

A major study recently reviewed antioxidant levels in 100 foods. The study was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Berries were found to contain the most antioxidants. The best berries were blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, and strawberries. In fact, blueberries beat out 39 other fruits and veggies in the antioxidant ratings. The study stated that just one cup of berries provides all the antioxidants you need to fight heart disease.

“Oxidation produces free radicals. These are unstable molecules that bind to healthy cells,” says Dr Al Sears. This damages “their delicate machinery, even killing them.” He notes that our bodies make our own antioxidants and also consume external antioxidants. This is how our bodies protect us from free radical damage.

However, we produce fewer antioxidants as we age. “This speeds cell death and facilitates aging,” says Dr. Sears. That’s why it’s so important to consume the antioxidants we need.

We’re going to review five antioxidants. These five antioxidants promote good heart health. The first on the list is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10).

Antioxidant #1: CoQ10

We produce CoQ10 naturally and cannot survive without it. That’s because it creates energy which our cells use to exist.

Studies have shown that CoQ10 is an effective defense against congestive heart failure (CHF). CHF can be a lethal form of heart disease. Your heart fails to pump enough blood to meet your needs and this leads to fluid congestion. That can shut down your vital organs.

According to Dr. Sears, 20 percent of people with CHF die within one year. But there is good news: recent research says CoQ10 may reverse CHF.

Researchers gave 580 mg of ubiquinol CoQ10 to seven CHF patients. All were expected to die within 12 months. After the study, six of the seven patients lived. The one patient who died stopped taking CoQ10 during the tests.

“Taking this simple nutrient might make this deadly form of heart disease a thing of the past,” says Dr. Sears.

According to Dr. Sears, C0Q10 also successfully treats:

• heart disease
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol

It’s not difficult to make CoQ10 a part of your daily diet. A great source of CoQ10 is organ meats from grass-fed animals. If you take CoQ10 in supplement form, Dr. Sears recommends 30 mg a day.

Antioxidant #2: Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a plant enzyme. Studies show that it thins blood, which reduces the risk of heart attack. Research also shows that it is an anti-inflammatory.

A British study revealed its second powerful heart benefit. “Resveratrol possess[es] anti-inflammatory properties,” confirms study author Dr. Mark Birrell.

Dr. Birrell is a lead researcher at Imperial College, London. He says that resveratrol will lead to “new therapies for the treatment of chronic inflammation.”

Inflammation is becoming a hot topic with visionary doctors who believe treating it may help us defeat heart disease.

“Inflammation is not a fancy medical term,” says Dr. Dwight Lundell. “It is just as you think… swelling, redness, and pain produced… as a reaction to injury.”

Dr. Lundell has performed over 5,000 heart surgeries. He became convinced of one thing during his 25 years as a cardiac surgeon: inflammation is the cause of heart disease.

“There was more to inflammation than suspected. It wasn’t just a side effect. It was the culprit; the cause of cardiac arrest.”

The good news, according to Dr. Lundell, is that “inflammation is easily treated without medication.”

Treating inflammation is all about simple lifestyle changes and eating the right foods to “cool the fire.” Studies show that resveratrol will help you do just that. And the best part is that it’s easy to find. Resveratrol is naturally abundant in grapes and berries.

Antioxidant #3: Pterostilbene

Pterostilbene is another powerful antioxidant. It is much like resveratrol. But tests show it works even better! That’s because it’s easier to absorb and stays in your body longer.

The study shows it balances cholesterol levels. In fact, it beat out all other antioxidants. It works in the same way as man-made drugs… but the study shows it actually works even better!

It lowers your bad cholesterol (LDL) and raises your good cholesterol (HDL).
“A low ratio [means] reduced heart disease,” says study author Agnes Rimando.
That means it’s easy to properly balance your cholesterol ratio today. That’s because pterestilbene is found in simple foods like blueberries and grapes.

Antioxidant #4: Potassium

Potassium is great for your heart: it reduces the risk of stroke and heart attack.

Studies show that potassium lowers blood pressure. In fact, researchers found that 800 mgs of potassium “significantly” lowered blood pressure.

Another study confirms this, further linking potassium to low blood pressure. The study authors concluded that potassium-rich diets equal lower blood pressure. They noted that low potassium diets equaled higher blood pressure. It’s a simple equation and one that will help you strengthen your heart health.

While potassium is great for heart health, doctors do urge caution about the amount you consume.

“Anyone who has kidney disease needs to be especially cautious,” says THB panel expert Dr. Joseph McCaffrey. He says they “shouldn’t add potassium to their diet without talking to their doctor.”

Potassium is found in many foods. Potassium rich foods include:

• bananas
• strawberries
• tomatoes
• grapefruit
• grass-fed beef
• wild-caught fish

Antioxidant #5: Lycopene

Lycopene is another antioxidant that will help your heart. It “protects heart health by neutralizing cholesterol oxidation,” says Dr. Sears. Specifically, it stops the oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol and fights free radical damage. Lycopene is also easily absorbed.

“I recommend taking 20 mg of lycopene a day,” says Dr. Sears.

Again, that’s easy to do. You can find it in many food sources. Foods rich in lycopene include:

• tomatoes
• guava
• peppers
• watermelon
• pink grapefruit

That’s five different antioxidants that will strengthen your heart health. They all work differently but each will benefit your cardiac system. You can get them from different sources but one thing is clear: berries are a safe bet for essential antioxidants. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries… start adding them to your breakfast today!

Our ancestors believed that the stars rotated around the Earth. From our perspective, it made perfect sense. Of course, the idea was completely wrong. In fact, throughout history, people have believed ridiculous things. And we believed them so strongly you would have been persecuted for suggesting otherwise.

So little has changed…

Today’s gospel truth is that excess saturated fat in the diet clogs the arteries and causes heart disease. The only problem with this medical “fact” is that it isn’t a fact at all. It is a fraudulent and faulty hypothesis from the 1950s that has never been proven.

I didn’t plan to write about this topic today. But I had to speak up when I saw the same article in four major publications this week. The headline: “Leading Surgeon Wants to Ban Butter.”

Dr. Shyam Kolvekar, a heart surgeon at University College London Hospital, says that by the time he sees many of his patients, it is too late. Their hearts and cardiovascular system are too damaged for repair. He wants to stop heart disease before it starts by getting people to limit saturated fat in the diet. And to get the ball rolling, he suggests “banning butter.”

Kolvekar is particularly worried that heart disease is growing rapidly in the younger population. “It’s because most kids start the day with some toast and butter,” he says. “Porridge is a much better alternative.”

Why the butter and not the toast? Two slices of bread contain the equivalent carbohydrates of five teaspoons of sugar. And elevated blood sugar has been directly associated with heart disease. But more on that later…

Dr. Kolvekar also suggests replacing natural butter with the industrially-processed, chemically-modified yellow-colored substance known as margarine. Great idea, doc! In the interest of disclosure, the Daily Mail notes that, “Dr. Kolvekar’s comments were issued by KTB, a public relations company that works for Unilever, the maker of Flora margarine.”

Well, that might explain his motivations. But what about the veracity of his argument? And what can explain the last fifty years of propaganda against saturated fat? Is it really the villain it has been made out to be?

I asked our own heart-health expert, Dr. Dwight Lundell, for his thoughts. Dr. Lundell knows the heart and cardiovascular system as well as anyone on the planet. During his 25-year career in medicine, he performed more than 5,000 open heart surgeries. And for much of that time, he toed the party line on saturated fat and cholesterol. But his own experience – and a closer review of the literature – caused him to reject the premise. He later wrote a book on the REAL causes of heart disease, which you can learn more about here.

Dr. Lundell writes, “One wants their heart surgeon to be exacting. But, in the case of Dr. Shyam Kolvekar, who called for the banning of butter to prevent the epidemic of heart disease, he is exactly wrong!”

According to Dr. Lundell, “The theory that saturated fat causes heart disease fails on many accounts.”  First, it is said that saturated fats raise cholesterol levels in the blood, and elevated cholesterol levels cause heart disease.

Lundell points out that an article published in the American Heart Journal last year, showed that in an examination of 137,000 people admitted to the hospital with heart attack, 70% of them had normal blood cholesterol levels!

It should also be noted that the long-running Framingham Heart Study showed that after the age of 50 (when 90% of all heart attacks occur), lower cholesterol levels are clearly associated with a shorter life expectancy.

But let’s put cholesterol aside for a moment and discuss the purported mass killer, saturated fat. Certainly there must have been conclusive studies and solid evidence that kicked off the campaign against animal fat. Not quite.

One of the first studies to implicate animal fat in heart disease came in the early 1900s. See if you can spot the flaws in this one. In 1908, Russian scientist, M.A. Ignatovsky fed protein-rich animal foods to a group of rabbits. He soon discovered that the rabbits developed arterial plaques and cardiovascular disease.  Researchers discovered that the same thing happens when chickens, guinea pigs and goats eat a high-fat diet.

Later these studies were cited as evidence of a high-fat diet causing heart disease in humans. Hmm… let’s see. All of these animals are obligate herbivores. They evolved eating nothing but plants. They are clearly not designed to eat meat. When we feed them meat and fat it makes them sick. That makes perfect sense. What doesn’t make sense is why researchers extrapolated these results to omnivorous humans.

The Fraud of Ancel Keys Kicks off the Lipid Hypothesis

But the “lipid hypothesis” really gained traction in the 1950s, when physiologist Ancel Keys, Ph.D., published what became known as the Seven Countries Study.

Keys presented a comparison of heart disease mortality and fat intake across seven different countries. His comparison showed a “remarkable relationship.” The countries with the highest fat intake had the highest levels of heart disease. The countries with the lowest fat intake had the lowest levels of heart disease. Those in the middle fell conveniently in between.

At the time, Jacob Yerushalmy, a PhD statistician, at the University of California at Berkeley pointed out that we had data on the amount of fat consumed in 22 countries. So why wasn’t it called the 22 Country Study?

It wasn’t called that, because Ancel Keys started with the conclusion. Then he cherry-picked the countries that matched his pre-conceived notion and threw out the ones that contradicted it. And most of them did! When all 22 countries were analyzed, the “remarkable relationship” remarkably disappeared.

Furthermore, Keys established no causative basis. And he based his conclusions on only two phenomena – dietary fat and heart disease. This did not account for the possibility that something else could have caused the heart disease.

It might seem hard to believe that this flawed and fraudulent study was the genesis of the entire animal-fat-causes-heart-disease movement. Certainly, in the last sixty years, there must be hundreds of controlled studies that prove the link, right?

Not quite… there are NONE!

What about the societies that consume a very high percentage of saturated fat in the diet – groups like the Maasai in Africa or the Inuits in the Arctic North? Do they show signs of heart disease? No, and in fact, quite the opposite is true.

In the 1960s, Vanderbilt University scientist, George Mann, MD, studied the nomadic Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania. These populations consumed a very high saturated fat diet, including drinking the blood of their cattle. Yet they were not only lean and virtually free of heart disease, they also had some of the lowest cholesterol levels ever measured!

Skeptical scientists argued that they must have some sort of hereditary protection. However, British researchers found that when Maasai men moved to the city and began to consume a modern diet, their cholesterol levels skyrocketed!

In an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1977, Dr. Mann called the cholesterol theory of heart disease “the greatest scam in the history of medicine.”

But let’s get back to those studies… or, more accurately, the lack of studies proving a link between saturated fat and heart disease.

There have been about 30 long-term population studies that have attempted to link saturated fat to heart disease. Of those, only four have shown even the weakest association. And all four had major disqualifications: they were either too small to be significant, they did not isolate the variables properly, or they showed a slight decrease in heart deaths but an increase in death due to cancer.

But population studies are notoriously unreliable anyway. The gold standard among health studies are controlled, randomized trials. And not a single study of this nature has ever shown definitive evidence that saturated-fat consumption leads to heart disease. In fact, many have shown the exact opposite!

Authors of the MR-FIT trial were determined to prove the case. They enrolled 350,000 men, all of whom were considered at high risk of heart disease. In one set of participants, cholesterol consumption was reduced by 42%, saturated fat by 28%, and total calories by 21%.

What happened? Nothing. The authors referred to the results as “disappointing,” stating that “The overall results do not show a beneficial effect on Coronary Heart Disease or total mortality from this multifactor intervention.”

The Women’s Health Initiative was a huge government study, costing almost three quarters of a billion dollars. Among 20,000 women in the study who adhered to a diet low saturated fat diet for eight years, there was no reduction in the rates of heart-disease or stroke.

Then there was the Cochrane Collaboration, in 2000. This group rigorously selected 27 low-fat and cholesterol-lowering trials to review (more than 200 trials were rejected). Their conclusion was that diets low in saturated fat have “no significant effect” on heart attack mortality. Lead researcher Lee Hooper, PhD, said “I was disappointed that we didn’t find something more definitive.”

Or how about something more recent?

This month, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a review of 21 studies. The studies ranged from 5 to 23 years in length and encompassed 347,747 subjects. In the authors’ own words: “Intake of saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD.”

I could go on… and on… and on… but I’ll conclude with this.

In 1988, U.S. Surgeon General’s office decided to end the confusion. They set out to finally prove the causal link between saturated fat and heart disease. After 11 years, the project was abandoned. The Surgeon General’s office stated that they, “did not anticipate fully the magnitude of the additional external expertise and staff resources that would be needed.” Sure! After more than a decade of trying, the government just “just didn’t have the resources.”

Scientists and researchers are supposed to have an open mind. They are not supposed to be dogmatic and swayed by politics and peer pressure. But that is exactly what the majority of scientists and doctors have proven of themselves. It is not terribly surprising. Massive industries and shining scientific careers have been built on this faulty theory.

If it were not so tragic, it would be funny to listen to them explain away contradictory findings and make excuses for why their studies don’t match their hoped-for conclusions. The most common excuses are that the “trial didn’t last long enough” or they “didn’t lower the saturated-fat intake enough.” It seems that option number three never crosses their mind… perhaps the entire hypothesis is wrong!

Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD has called the saturated fat theory of heart disease “one of the greatest and most harmful misconceptions in the history of medicine.” Dr. George Mann called it the “public health diversion of the century.”

And the problem is not just the wasted time and billions of dollars dedicated to an unscientific myth. The bigger problem is that undue focus on the saturated fat bugaboo has stolen attention from the REAL causes of heart disease. And perhaps even worse, is that many of the dietary recommendations to reduce heart disease have actually been shown to CAUSE heart disease (not to mention cancer, diabetes and obesity).

If you truly want to protect yourself from the nation’s number one killer, don’t smoke and reduce your stress levels. At least the medical authorities have gotten those two right. And when it comes to your diet, forget about saturated fat and cholesterol. Here is what you should do instead:

• Consume more monounsaturated fats from sources like olive oil, nuts, avocados and avocado oil

• Cut out the sugar and refined carbohydrates

• Consume more omega-3 fatty acids, from wild game, grass-fed beef and bison, sardines and wild (not farm-raised) salmon. And take an omega-3 fish oil supplement.

• And reduce as much as possible omega-6 fatty acids in your diet. These come primarily from conventionally raised meats, processed foods, fried foods and vegetable and seed oils (corn, soybean, sunflower, cottonseed, etc.)

To your health,

Jon Herring
Contributing Editor, Total Health Breakthroughs

A few weeks ago, ETR Insider featured a brief article about the fitness benefits of using a stability ball.  

I use a stability ball all the time myself. In fact, my coworker Sarah Snoots and I often use a stability ball to tone our cores while at work. After just one week of sitting on the ball a few hours a day, I noticed a significant difference in my stomach. My abs felt stronger. I also see a noticeable difference in my posture.

“I feel much more alert when I’m sitting on the stability ball,” Sarah told me. “No more post-lunch ‘food coma’!”

Here’s a photo of Sarah at her desk right here in the Total Health Breakthroughs office.

After we ran the article, we got multiple emails asking for more information about stability balls. I spoke with several health experts to see if we could track down more information. The team at Natural Cast Products gave me an excellent article to send to you. It goes a step further from merely sitting on a ball while at your desk.

In today’s issue of THB, you’ll read about why the stability ball is an ideal exercise tool. You’ll find out why you’ll get better results with the ball than simply exercising on a hard surface. And you’ll learn three specific exercises you can do at home, for only about ten bucks.

Enjoy and let us know what you think.

To Your Best Health,

Maria Dolgova
Associate Publisher
Total Health Breakthroughs

In the 1960’s a real breakthrough was discovered in physical therapy. 

Large inflatable balls were first used with patients who had neurological or orthopedic disorders in Europe. Then, practitioners in Switzerland discovered that by having rehabilitation patients use the stability ball in a variety of exercises, they were able to make huge improvements.  While originally known as a Swiss ball it is now more commonly referred to as a stability ball.

With the success that the stability ball has had in the world of clinical rehabilitation, athletic trainers, coaches, personal trainers and physical education teachers have begun to integrate them into their programs.   Now they are the new craze in the world of athletic and functional conditioning.  

One of the main reasons that the stability ball offers such incredible results as opposed to doing an exercise on a hard flat surface is that the human body must respond to the instability of the ball.  When a person has a body part that is supported by the stability ball, he must continually adjust his position which causes a much wider range of muscle groups to be used. These muscles may not have been previously challenged using traditional exercise equipment.

Therefore, your abdominal and back musculature are simultaneously working to balance and stabilize the body. The kind of strong postural muscles that are developed are important for relieving and preventing low-back pain.

Additionally, t he stability ball is comfortable and supportive because it conforms to your unique anatomy since it is air-filled.  So, when using the stability ball, it is easy to get into and out of different exercise positions because it gets you off of the floor. The stability ball is ideal for improving abdominal muscles and lower-back strength, as well as increasing functional strength, flexibility and balance.

The stability ball can improve muscle strength and endurance in all of the major muscle groups. Training with the stability ball will improve overall muscle tone, increase muscle endurance and strength, restore or improve flexibility, enhance spinal stability, help you lose weight, and lastly, improve your balance, posture and coordination.

The other benefit is that a stability ball can be purchased at any store like a Walmart and only costs about ten bucks.  So, you work out in your own home without any expensive equipment. 

There are hundreds of different exercises that can be used with the stability ball. Both beginners and advanced exercises can be done with it. Plus, anyone from children to seniors can use it. With the stability ball you can work your legs, arms, chest, back, abdominals and you can even get a cardiovascular workout.  Below are a few suggested exercises that can be done with the stability ball.

Ball Balance: Sit on the stability ball with your abs tightened and a straight spine with your arms extended on either side of you and one foot resting on the floor. Once you feel stable, lift other foot off floor and hold it for a few seconds, then rest it back on the floor with the other foot and repeat with the opposite side.

Oblique Twist: Begin lying with stability ball resting under your back.  Place hands behind head for support.  Using your abdominal muscles slowly raise up lifting your shoulder blades off of the stability ball and rotate your left shoulder toward your right hip.  Do not strain your neck by pulling on it with your hands.  Keep your elbows out to your side.  Return to the starting position and repeat then switch sides.

Chest Fly: Lie across the stability ball with your head and shoulders supported on the stability ball and your legs bent with heels about two feet from the stability ball. Extend your arms overhead with your palms facing away from you. Slowly separate your arms in a circular motion and bend your elbows slightly as you lower your arms down and rotate your palms to face each other. Return to start position and repeat.

This is just a small sampling of the many highly effective and fun exercises available with a stability ball. If you’re looking for a new effective way to workout you might want to look into a stability ball workout. For more information, click right here.

Every year as the calendar thaws away the last of the winter chill and the crocuses come into bloom, exercisers emerge once again into the open air.

They run. They walk. They jog.

From the weight-loss walkers to the weekend warriors, everyone comes to chase down the elusive prospect of good health, one step at a time.

They have something else in common, too.

Before they take a single step, almost every last one has made the same mistake. It’s a mistake that, at best, will hinder their workouts. At worst, it could set them up for serious injury.

Talk about getting off on the wrong foot.

So what are they doing wrong?

Would you believe that it’s something as simple as stretching?

Warming Up to the Subject

Nowadays stretching comes before exercise as predictably and reliably as “A” before “B,” one before two, two before three. We are told to stretch first in order to prevent injuries.

Truth is, stretching — at least, stretching the way most people do it — can actually cause injuries. It’s one of the great myths of modern exercise science.

Last time I told you all about how to treat sprains and strains. One of the leading causes of those injuries is warming up improperly.

You see, warming up isn’t just a figure of speech. It literally raises the temperature of your body. That’s important because a relatively small increase in body temperature produces many significant physiological changes. For example:

• Increased blood flow. Warming up brings more blood to your muscles, tendons, and ligaments. More blood means more oxygen, more nutrients, and more regular trash service. That means you can work harder and longer after warming up.

• Better flexibility. You’ve seen this difference in real life. Imagine a rubber band: warm bands stretch, cold ones snap. That’s no less true of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. All of them become more flexible (and less injury-prone) after warming up.

• More energy. As a general rule, chemical reactions go faster at higher temperatures. Metabolism is nothing more than a sequence of chemical reactions. Warming up speeds up your metabolism to provide more energy for exercise.

• Better information. Nerve signals travel faster when you’re warmer. (That’s why you use ice to dull pain.) Not only that, but your nervous system receptors actually become more sensitive when they’re warm, fine-tuning your senses.

Collectively, these changes serve to prepare the body for exercise. They also greatly reduce your risk of injury.

So what’s the problem?

Stretching: The Truth

Since grade-school P.E., we’ve all been taught to associate stretching and warming up. Warming up is good for you. It does prevent injuries. But stretching and warming up are not the same thing.

There are three basic types of stretching:

• Static stretching. This is what most people do. You stretch to the point of slight discomfort and you hold it for 20 to 30 seconds.

• Ballistic stretching. This is what you sometimes see athletes do when they warm up with repetitive bouncing movements. It’s very dangerous and can easily cause injury. You should avoid this one like the plague.

• Dynamic stretching. This is what you should be doing. We’ll come back to this one.

Static stretching before exercise does not increase blood flow. It doesn’t improve flexibility. It doesn’t speed up metabolism. And it doesn’t jump-start the nervous system.

In fact, it may actually work against you. Studies have shown that athletes who engage in static stretching before exercise generate up to 30% less force from their leg muscles. That effect persists for up to half an hour. You’d be better off doing no stretching at all.

But how can that be?

It’s because your body is an intelligent, adaptive machine. It pretty much knows where its elastic limits are. And it has no interest in letting you hurt yourself.

So if you start to strain your muscles, tendons, and ligaments the way you do by static stretching, those fibers respond by actually becoming less flexible. Your body tries to make it harder for you to reach those limits.

Ordinarily that’d be great. But right before you exercise, that’s a recipe for disaster.

You have to find a way to work with your body instead.

Prevent Injuries by Stretching the Right Way

So how do you do that? With dynamic stretching.

Dynamic stretching usually involves movements that simulate whatever you’re about to do. For example, if you’re about to go for a run, then you might start with a slow, exaggerated stride.

What you want to do is activate the muscles, tendons, and ligaments you’re about to use. The way you do that is by using them — slowly at first, then steadily increasing your pace. You ease into your exercise to give your body a chance to catch up.

You never hold any position. Stasis does not lead naturally to motion.

Instead, start at about 40% of your capacity and work your way up from there. By alternating stretches and contractions in a normal sequence, you cue your body to get ready to work.

And by imitating the exercise you are about to do, you let your body know what kind of work it needs to get ready for. That means the best preparation for sprinting is jogging. The best preparation for jogging is walking. The best preparation for walking is slow walking.

It kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?

It follows that the worst preparation you can do is standing still, holding an unnatural stretch. You don’t increase your flexibility that way. All you do is increase your tolerance for the discomfort of the stretch.

Research supports this idea of dynamic stretching before exercise. It makes weight lifters stronger. It makes sprinters faster. It makes soccer players more agile.

In short, dynamic stretching improves sport-specific performance because it teaches your body to work with you rather than against you.

Right Place, Wrong Time

The best way to warm up is with dynamic stretching. However, that doesn’t mean that static stretching is worthless. It just means it’s the wrong way to warm up.

After you finish working out, static stretching is great. Once your muscles are already warm, static stretching can challenge them in a new way. Regular stretching will improve your flexibility over time.

That added flexibility will serve you well in your workouts and in your everyday life.

Static stretching is valuable. It’s just not the right way to warm up.

The moral of the story is this: To improve flexibility, stretch after exercising. To prevent injuries, warm up before exercising. Everything in its right place, at the right time.

To Your Health,

Michael Noltemeyer
Managing Editor
Total Health Breakthroughs

How was Dwight Freeney’s ankle?

The Indianapolis Colts’ star defensive end had suffered a third-degree ankle sprain a week earlier. It was uncertain whether he would be able to play. The outcome of the NFL championship game — not to mention of millions of dollars in wagers — hinged on his health.

And so the biggest story in the biggest game of the year was one of the smallest parts of the body.

Injuries happen. They’re never any fun, and so we do whatever we can to make them go away as fast as possible.

Problem is, the things we do for them often make them worse. That’s particularly true of sprains and strains. It seems silly that something so common can be so tricky to treat. But that’s exactly why. Everyone thinks they already know how to do it.

They think they know how to do it, that is, until faced with questions like these: Should you use ice or heat? How long? How often? Should you use bandages? Braces? Walk it off? Stay off it? Put it up? Keep it down? And how do you get back to your normal routine?

That list would leave most people scratching their heads. Almost everyone has the basics down. But when it comes to treating sprains and strains, the devil is in the details.

In today’s article I will lay out all the details you’ll ever need to take care of most common joint and muscle injuries. Because the devil you know is far, far better than the devil you don’t.

Sprain vs. Strain: Some Definitions

Before we get too far into it, what’s the difference between a sprain and a strain, anyway?

Good question. A sprain is a ligament injury. Ligaments are the tough, fibrous tissues that connect bone to bone. They literally hold your joints together. When they are damaged, we call that a sprain.

In contrast, a strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon. You already know what muscles are. Tendons are the tough, fibrous tissues that connect muscle to bone. When either a muscle or a tendon is damaged, we call that a strain.

There are three different classifications for sprains and strains:

• Grade 1. This kind of injury happens when the fiber (ligament, muscle, or tendon) is stretched a bit beyond its normal limits and sustains some minor damage.
• Grade 2. This kind of sprain involves a partial tear of the fiber.
• Grade 3. This kind of sprain involves a complete rupture or tear of the fiber. (A ruptured fiber remains intact but detaches from the bone.) Severe damage may require surgical repair.

Dwight Freeney’s injury, for instance, was a Grade 3 ankle sprain, the most serious kind. Fortunately, most injuries are not that severe. However, all sprains and strains recover best when treated immediately, so it is important to recognize them when they occur. You also need to be able to distinguish between those you can treat yourself and those that will need medical attention.

So what are you looking for?

Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of sprains and strains overlap significantly. (For the record, “signs” of an illness are directly observable or measurable. “Symptoms,” on the other hand, are subjectively reported by the patient.)

Common signs of a sprain include swelling, bruising, and decreased joint mobility. If the ligament ruptures, you may actually hear a “popping” sound. Symptoms of a sprain include pain and difficulty using the affected extremity.

The signs of a strain are very similar. They include discoloration and bruising. Generally strains are accompanied by less swelling than sprains, but that obviously depends more on the severity of the injury than on the type. Symptoms include local pain and stiffness.

If you suspect that you have suffered a sprain or a strain and you are experiencing severe pain or functional impairment, you should probably consult a doctor. These can be signs of a fracture or a complete tear. The doctor will use an X-ray to rule out a fracture. After the swelling has gone down, he or she may also order an MRI to check for a tear.

If, on the other hand, your injury is not severe, you can treat it yourself by remembering the following simple mnemonic.

The RICE Method

RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. This method is taught to EMTs and orthopedists alike because it is the optimal form of treatment for most sprains and strains. Though it may sound like common sense, you need to make sure that you are doing each step correctly — and most people aren’t. Remember the long list of questions? They’re all answered below.

1. Rest

The biggest mistake that most people make with sprains or strains is to try to “walk them off.” That’s fine for cramps. For sprains and strains, however, additional force usually means additional injury. Nevertheless, many people will continue hobbling through their activities and then apply ice only much later that night, if at all.

That’s too late. The first 24-48 hours after an injury are when ice, compression, and elevation will make the most difference — the sooner, the better. If you don’t start resting immediately, not only do you run the risk of hurting yourself even worse, you also deprive yourself of the potential benefits of the rest of the RICE method.

The other mistake that people make is resting too much or too long after an injury. Prolonged immobilization causes joint to stiffen up and muscles to waste away. That means you can’t “baby” an injury, either.

Instead, you should rest only until you are pain-free — within one to three days for most injuries. Then try to ease back into your normal routine. Listen to your body. Stop if it hurts, but do as much as you can handle. Strength and flexibility fall into the use-it-or-lose-it category. Appropriate rest will speed your recovery.

2. Ice

As funny as it may sound, most people also ice incorrectly. You should ice immediately after an injury to minimize swelling and ease pain. Swelling is the real enemy. Ice keeps swelling down because cold constricts blood vessels, which slows the arrival of inflammatory molecules. It also numbs the nerves at the site of injury to reduce pain.

Don’t wait. Ice right away.

You should never apply ice directly to the skin for an extended period of time. There are two better options. You can place a thin layer — a towel, for example — between the ice and your skin. Or you can perform an “ice massage.” To do that, just move the ice over the injured area as if you were rubbing it. Either way, don’t leave the ice in place without a barrier.

You also shouldn’t ice for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. Though your injury may still hurt at the end of that time, further icing won’t do any good. In fact, it may hurt: you run the risk of frostbite and other complications with overly long icing sessions. Instead, wait an hour or so. Then check the area again. If it has normal tactile sense and feels warm to the touch, you can ice it for another 15-20 minutes. You can then repeat that process as many times as you like. (Though it really doesn’t help after more than a day or two.)

The ideal ice pack is a Ziploc bag filled about three-quarters full with ice and a little bit of water. The water helps the ice pack conform to your body. You can also use packages of frozen vegetables.

For those who prefer hot to cold, heating does have its place. It is a great way to loosen up stiff muscles and joints. It relaxes tissues and stimulates blood flow. You can use heat before exercising (also for 15-20 minutes at a time), but you should never heat after an injury, as it will exacerbate swelling. (You should also never heat while you sleep.) A simple rule of thumb is to heat before, ice after.

3. Compression

The mistake that most people make with compression is one of omission. Compression helps to immobilize an injury and provide support. When combined with ice, it also helps to minimize swelling and pain.

To compress an injury, wrap an Ace bandage around the site. Try to overlap about half the width of the bandage on each pass until you completely cover the injury. You want it to be snug, but make sure that you don’t cut off circulation. If you start to get cold, blue, tingly, or numb, it’s too tight. Undo the bandage and rewrap it a bit looser.

You should use compression bandages at least as long as you are icing the injury. (You don’t have to take it off every 15-20 minutes, though.) Even after you stop icing, you can continue to use compression for support. Just don’t let the bandage keep you inactive for too long. Remember to rest only as long as you need to.

4. Elevation

Finally, elevate the site of your injury above the level of your heart. Just like cold compression, elevation works to decrease swelling. Elevation also prevents fluid from pooling. Keep the injury elevated at least as long as you are icing it.

The RICE method is the most effective possible treatment for most sprains and strains. As you can see, all four steps work in concert to treat sprains and strains.

Many people also take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to reduce pain and swelling. They are effective for this purpose, and short-term use for an acute injury won’t likely have many side effects. However, if you’re hurting, you might also consider some of the natural alternatives to NSAIDs that I described last week.

Injuries happen, even to professional athletes and often at the most unfortunate times. The outcome of this year’s Super Bowl turned on Dwight Freeney’s ankle. But you don’t have to be a professional athlete to take advantage of this method. If you suffer a sprain or strain, just remember to rest, ice, compress, and elevate. You’ll be good as new in no time.

To Your Health,

Michael Noltemeyer
Managing Editor
Total Health Breakthroughs

P.S.: Now that you know how to treat sprains and strains, stay tuned for Tuesday’s issue, when we’ll discuss the best ways to prevent them from happening in the first place. You know what they say: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And that’s a lot of rice!

Bill Douglas is a tai chi instructor. He believes the ancient Chinese art is the best medicine for the chronic stress that is rampant in modern society.  According to the CDC, up to 90% of doctor visits are stress related.

Douglas is so sure that tai chi is a long term health solution that will save the US trillions of dollars, that soon he will be making a presentation to the National Institutes of Health.  Part of his plan is to take tai chi into hospitals, senior centers and public schools.

The beauty of tai chi he says is that, “you can get started even if you aren’t in top shape, or the best of health.”

Tai chi is a self-paced system of gentle physical exercise and stretching.   The slow graceful movements are based on a series of postures that flow into the next without pausing. Harvard has gone so far as to call it, “medication in motion.”  Not a bad endorsement…

It’s easy to find tai chi instructors in most communities.  Check out adult ed classes, private studios, and community centers for beginner classes.  With tai chi, it’s never too late to start your own personal health care reform.

A weak core is most likely the reason, which means you should strengthen it! “How?” you ask.  It’s not with endless crunches or crazy ball exercises. Instead, you will learn simple diaphragmatic breathing exercises! 

First, let’s test your breathing.  

Start by standing in front of a mirror.  Now, place one hand on your belly and one on your chest. Take a deep breath. Does your belly rise or does your chest rise? If your chest is the answer, we have work to do!  If your chest is rising, this means the muscles of your upper body are doing the lifting of the rib cage to bring oxygen into your lungs.  That explains why you have tension and knots surrounding your neck and your posture may be a mess.

If your belly rose, then you are in better shape.  However, you could still practice the diaphragmatic breathing program I am about to show you in order to strengthen your inner core, improve your posture, flatten out your belly, and YES, burn more fat! 

Your inner core is composed of four major muscle groups and 2 supporting muscle groups. By incorporating diaphragmatic breathing, you will undoubtedly strengthen all the major and supporting muscle groups of your inner core.  This is something we neglect because we sit in chairs from the age of 5 and are constantly under the pressure of society to “suck it in.”

Well, Let it out and Just BREATHE

Diaphragmatic breathing is the act of breathing deeply into your lungs by expanding your diaphragm using your inner core.¹ Besides creating a foundation for a strong core, diaphragmatic breathing also has many health benefits such as reducing stress, improving bowel movements, decreasing anxiety, improving insomnia, relieving asthma symptoms, and helping lower blood pressure naturally! ^2,3 

In addition to a stronger core and all the health benefits, diaphragmatic breathing will also allow you to burn more fat!  You will have better form in your exercises, giving you more power and enabling you to lift more weight. Heavier weight lifting leads to more lean body mass, which fires up your metabolism to burn more fat!

Click here to watch me show you the ultimate secret to a sexy, flat stomach, and a reduction in back pain!

References

1. Balch, P. Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Third Edition. 2002.
2. Chek, P. How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy! 2004.
3. Grossman A., et al. Journal of Human Hypertension. Volume 15. April 2001.

[Ed. Note: Yarixa "Coach Yari" Ferrao is a certified personal trainer, founder of "Get Fit in 6", and alternative health enthusiast who has been whipping some THB and Early to Rise staffers, and even THB's Chairman of the Board, Dr. Al Sears into tip top shape. Coach Yari's e-course newsletter series explains the exercise and nutrition secrets that can help you burn fat. Click here to sign up.]

Can you really become slender AND get rock hard abs in just 10 minutes a day?   For most people the honest answer is NO.   Achieving optimal fitness like they show in these promotions (ideal body weight, body fat percentage, and a six-pack) is going to take a lot more than that.

In my experience, people can work out for an hour 5 times a week, and still not come close to that picture, and that’s even with the help of a good trainer who has designed a good program.  Do these trainers selling exercise devices/programs know something I don’t?  No they do not.  

Look at the fine print — all of these programs come with a diet you need to follow, and they also state that the results they show on TV are “not typical.”  That means the vast majority of people will not look like the people on TV at the end of the 6 or 12 weeks, or whatever it is.

The truth is, genuine fitness, good health, and weight regulation require good, old-fashioned time and effort.  Certainly short-bout exercise does have some benefits as many Total Health Breakthroughs articles have discussed, and we have learned that high intensity interval training is MUCH more effective for weight loss than those hours and hours we used to spend doing aerobics.

But what is a realistic amount of time to spend on your fitness program? What will accomplish your goals, but not make you have to “live in the gym?”

To be quite honest, the answer is it will be different for everyone.  Numerous studies have identified that the amount of time needed to achieve fitness was anywhere from a few months to a year, depending upon several factors like how de-conditioned you are when starting out, your age, whether you eat a healthy diet or not, and the amount of time you are willing to devote to exercise.¹ 

Even your gender heavily influences how long it will take you to get fit.²  And let’s not forget genetics — this too plays a role.

These factors are why each and every person, conditioned or not, progresses at a different rate even if they are doing the same workout with the same effort!

One of the most interesting studies to date evaluated a program based on a claim seen on TV that people could get fit in just 6 weeks, exercising 3 times a week.³  This study had unfit sedentary people try to do just that.   One group did cardiovascular exercise and the other did strength training. 

In six weeks, the cardio exercisers lost almost one pound and a little body fat.  The strength-training group actually gained a little weight, but did lose a little body fat — but very little, .05%.  So exercise, even at that moderate level, was effective, and that was without any dietary changes.  The control group who did no exercise, gained both weight and body fat.  

This study is spot on with what I see with my clients — by six weeks into a program we start to see some muscle building and some fat loss, and by the end of the year, we see about 8 or 10 pounds of weight loss, with moderate exercise only. 

If you step up your exercise intensity and frequency and you cut out refined carbs, the weight loss and fitness achieved is even greater.  (If people are NOT seeing at least modest results by 12 or 16 weeks, most likely they have some sort of metabolic disruption, as Jim’s article discussed.)

So in looking at the promises behind many of these programs and products, just be realistic, because if you are expecting optimal fitness in a just a few weeks, you could get discouraged and want to quit.  

If you are very overweight, haven’t worked out in a while, if ever, and your diet still leaves a lot to be desired, you are probably looking at about a year of dieting and exercise to achieve something close to that “optimal” picture.  That’s realistic, and it would be a great accomplishment. 

So really, the headlines should say, Just Think, in Only One Year You Can Reverse Years of Bad Diet and No Exercise!

References

1. Geraro, Jim (2009), Fitness Ace Matters.15, 4, 11-12.
2. Tarnopolsky, Mark A. Med Sci Sports & Exerc. 40(4):648-654, April 2008.
3. Anderson ML, et al. J Strength and Cond Res. 2004:18(2), 255-59.

[Ed. Note: Melissa Hawthorne, RN, BSN, CSCS is the owner of Priority Fitness Personal Training and Wellness.  She is a Master Trainer for the Resist-a-ball Company, ISCA Personal Training, Kick-boxing, and Beamfit.   Melissa serves as a fitness consultant for the LaValle Metabolic Institute.  To learn more, click here.]