Dr. Jonny Bowden's Blog

The Four Horsemen of Aging, Part I

2009-10-26T08:30:00.001-07:00

I've nicknamed the four dangerous processes that age our bodies as "The Four Horseman of Aging." Wherever something breaks down in the body-be it the brain, muscles, circulatory system or immune system, you name it - you don't have to dig too deeply to find the handiwork of one or more of the Four Horseman.

These Four Horseman together are probably responsible for the bulk of what happens to our bodies when they break down.

By now you're probably asking yourself, "what exactly are these horsemen" or more to the point, "why should I care?" Here's the answer -

Anything that happens to your body that you wish were not happening, from the beginning of disease to the breakdown of systems to the loss of functionality, is being driven by the engine of these four processes.

The name of these processes may not be familiar to you, but, guaranteed, they are behind the scenes of every disease of aging ever experienced by the human species.

So, without further ado, allow me to introduce them to you:

1) Oxidative damage
2) Inflammation
3) Glycation
4) Stress

Many of the strategies I talk about in my new book pertain to preventing or combating the damaging effects of these four processes. The four of them, collectively, can damage cells and DNA, wear down organs and systems, deeply damage the vascular pathways that deliver blood and oxygen to your entire body and even shrink the size of your brain.

They're involved in heart disease, cancer diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's, and cognitive decline, not to mention - a host of "less serious" diseases that can vastly diminish the quality of your well-being.

Even though these four processes often overlap and work together to cause serious damage to both your physical health and your mental well-being, let's break them down into manageable chunks and tackle them one by one.

In a short time, it will be apparent how each contributes to the damage the other does and how the same weapons-whole foods, nutrients, stress reduction, exercise, detoxification, relationship improvement and the many other things we'll be discussing in Part II of this series - actually do double duty, effectively battling more than one of the four processes that effectively shorten your life.

Watch for Part II, Free Radicals, in next week's newsletter.

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Lethal Fructose - Teenagers Staggering Consumption

2009-10-26T08:12:00.001-07:00

Back in 1977, average daily consumption of fructose was about 37 grams per person per day.

Recent surveys show that it's up to 54.7 grams, or about 10 percent of total caloric intake. And for teenagers- who consume a ton of sodas- fructose intake averages a whopping 72.8 grams, the equivalent of 18 spoonfuls of the stuff every single day.

Why should we care? It's deadly. Fructose is one of the worst sweeteners you can possibly consume.

Table sugar (sucrose) is made up of fructose and glucose. Studies that compare the effect of these two simple sugars (glucose and fructose) consistently show that it is the fructose part of table sugar that does the most damage, raising triglycerides and creating insulin resistance.

High-fructose corn syrup- while it's been demonized a lot recently- is only marginally worse than plain old sugar (high fructose corn syrup is about 55% fructose and 45% glucose while table sugar contains equal amounts of both).

Recently, researchers at the Department of Physiology at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland decided to investigate the effect of a high-fructose diet on the children of diabetic patients. Twenty-four healthy young men were enrolled in the study; 16 of them were children of diabetic parents, 8 were not.

In the first part of the study, all of the 24 young men were fed a "regular diet" and in the second part, they were switched to a diet that added 35% more calories from fructose.

The researchers expected that the children of diabetics might be more susceptible to disorders associated with insulin and fat metabolism, so there was reason to expect that the children of diabetic parents would be particularly vulnerable to the effects of a high fructose diet.

And indeed, the children of diabetic parents did start the study with higher levels of triglycerides and lower levels of insulin sensitivity. But the fructose caused havoc not only in the children of diabetics, but in the children of non-diabetics as well.

In other words, high fructose is bad for everyone.

The high-fructose diet decreased insulin sensitivity in both groups (by about 5%).

It also increased blood levels of triglycerides by a whopping 110 % in the children of diabetics. But the children of diabetics were not the only ones affected: the high-fructose diet increased triglycerides by a stunning 50% in the children of non-diabetic patients as well!

It gets worse. In both groups, deposits of fat in the liver increased by more than 75%.

To me, fructose is like fur. Fur looks great on its original owners- it belongs on the backs of animals where it looks just fine, thank you very much! On the backs of people at the opera…. Not so much..

It's the same thing with fructose!

Fructose belongs in fruit, where it is surrounded by fiber, phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals and other good stuff. Extracted from its natural source and concentrated as a sweetener, it's a metabolic disaster.

I have no problem with consuming fructose in fruit (unless you are a diabetic or very insulin resistant). I have a huge problem with extracting fructose from its normal sources, producing cheap fructose-based syrups made from corn, and then sticking it in every food and food product in the supermarket.

That's a recipe for disaster.

By the way, my personal favorite sweetener is Xylitol. It mixes great in hot beverages, stands up to heat, is sweeter than sugar, has a very very low glycemic impact, and actually has some health benefits, preventing bacterial adhesion to surfaces.

Save this week with 15% off Xylitol - read about it here

Reference:
J Clinical Nutrition 09; 89: 1760-1765

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Eat Less, Live Longer? That's Right - A Secret of Longevity

2009-10-26T08:06:00.001-07:00

It's a pretty good bet that a diet high in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties and Omega-3 fats will stack the odds in your favor when it comes to longevity. But, what about the amount of food you eat? Could that make a difference?

In 1982, some inventive research scientists decided to investigate the effect of a calorie-restricted diet on longevity and disease. They divided a few hundred male rats into two groups; one group was allowed to eat all the rat chow they desired and the other group was allowed to eat about two-thirds of what they would have normally consumed when left to their own devices.

The results set the stage for some of the most interesting anti-aging research of the past decade. Here's what happened to the rats -

The ones who received the normal diet lived their normal maximum life span of about 1,000 days usually dying from cancer, kidney disease or the deterioration of their hearts. That's a pretty typical story for a rat-nothing out of the ordinary.

However, rats fed the limited calorie diet were a whole different story. These rats lived 1,500 days on average, a whopping 50% percent increase in life span. Even better, they avoided much of what we would consider the accompaniments of aging-feebleness, low energy, sluggish behavior and grizzled appearance.

For example, their coats which normally turn gray after age two, stayed shiny and white for 3 and a half years and even longer! They performed better running mazes more successfully than their "normal eating" lab mates. Immune systems were stronger; their rates of diabetes and cancer were far lower and had fewer cataracts.

When they finally did die, most of them just expired.

Said Edward Masoro, Ph.D., a physiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, "When we look inside them, they are completely clean."

Calorie restriction, at least in rodents, was shown to be a demonstrable anti-aging strategy.

There have now been more than two thousand animal studies confirming these results across species as varied as yeast cells, fruit flies, monkeys and mice. Scientists have produced these dramatic effects hundreds of times under all sorts of laboratory conditions.

Because humans live much longer than, say, rats or fruit flies, and because of the ethical and practical considerations, there are no long-term definitive studies on calorie restriction and humans - nevertheless, some people are voluntarily practicing calorie restriction (here's their website http://calorierestriction.org)

And here's the amazing part - those who do practice calorie restriction are showing the same effects as those seen in the animal studies-less disease, fewer "markers" of aging and much thinner bodies!

Remember last week's protein-packed diet plan with a goal of only losing 10% of your body weight? Now another great reason to shoot for that goal -- longevity and a far better quality to your health.

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Taking "In Step With Jonny" To A New Level!

2009-10-19T07:23:00.001-07:00

We've got some very exciting news! Just as the world of nutrition has evolved, so has our desire for a fresh, clean and breezy new look for our website and blog.

Ever been to South Beach, Florida? Or to the beautiful islands in the Caribbean? The deep blue water, nearly white sand and tropical feel of these places speaks to me of serenity, beauty and endless possibility. And that's the look we're going for in the new website design. Look for it soon! We hope you like it as much as we do.

And, speaking of new, I've got a new book coming out January 1^st: "The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer" is filled with usable, practical, scientifically supported information on everything you can do to insure you live a long, healthy, productive, joy-filled life.

You'll learn about the four "Horsemen of Aging" (hint: Number one is Inflammation) that are part of every disease of aging, and how to prevent them. And you'll learn about the heart, the brain, the hormone system, the immune system, the muscles and the bones, and the most effective strategies to keep all of them functioning beautifully deep into your ninth decade and beyond.

Finally, I'll share with you the secrets of all the "Blue Zones" on the planet, places where people routinely live to 100- and not in assisted living homes, either! I've put all the conclusions into a simple to follow, "take-home" program called the 7x3 Matrix of Anti-Aging: Practical steps that you can take right now to make sure you live the wonderful, joy-filled, healthy life you're entitled to (and to help you stay out of the medical system!). You can pre-order "The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer" here...

Last, but very far from least...

I know economically, many are struggling as our nation stumbles through difficult times with debates raging on Health Care Reform. What's not being discussed are the pro-active approaches to health- and to staying out of the medical system in the first place-- which has always been the focus of JonnyBowden.com.

It is true in difficult economic times, many people curtail their spending on "non-essentials," which often include the very things that will help keep them healthy (like vitamins and supplements and really good food).

We don't want to see that happen to our readers. In fact, we don't want to see it happen to anyone!

To help you through these times, we'll bring great sales each week on selected items. We don't want you to scrimp on your health - and we'll do our part to make our fine products and supplements in our on-line store within your reach.

Look for announcements of these sales in every single newsletter!

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FDA - Money, Politics, Power-Brokering and YOU!

2009-10-19T05:49:00.001-07:00

Anyone who's ever seen or read an ad for a nutritional supplement is familiar with the legal disclaimer stated above. Personally, I've always found it a bit of a joke, as if Roger Federer told you something about his tennis racket and then had to say "these statements have not been evaluated by my golf pro".

Though I have no doubt that there are honest and serious and good people working at the FDA, the whole idea that the FDA can seriously evaluate vitamin research and should be the final word on what consumers should take has always struck me as kind of ridiculous.

A recent disclosure in the New York Times illustrates how much deeply both "scientific" research and FDA approval can be influenced by money, politics, power brokers and economics.

Here's what happened: a knee-repair device called Menaflex which is supposed to cushion stress in the joint and encourage regeneration of tissue was tested in a clinical trial in the 1990's where it was found to be no better than standard surgery; not only that, there were some concerns about safety.

So the company- ReGen Biologics of Hackensack NJ-applied for "fast-track" FDA approval which bypasses the need for proof of safety or efficacy. All that's required for approval is a finding that the device is "substantially equal" (no worse than) others on the market.

Problem is, the FDA scientific reviewers found no such thing.

But that didn't stop the company. They complained of unfairness and applied pressure to New Jersey lawmakers to "lean" on the FDA.

Which the lawmakers did. And before long, the FDA ruled that the device was indeed "substantially equivalent" to others on the market. This decision was made by a panel of outside experts, but ReGen was able to prevent those experts from hearing direct testimony from the scientific reviewers.

Nice work if you can get it.

The FDA now acknowledges that it received "extreme" pressure from four members of the New Jersey Congressional delegation who clearly influenced a decision that was supposed to be made on scientific grounds. (The FDA is now reviewing its decision to approve Menaflex.)

I can't prove it but I think this stuff goes on all the time.

There are deep biases in much of the "research" conducted on vitamins, and profound economic reasons why drug companies do not want the public to hear positive reports about "natural", non-patentable alternatives to pharmaceuticals. And these folks have connections and deep pockets.

"What the research shows" can be so easily influenced by what research you choose to present, who winds up hearing (and evaluating it), who did the research in the first place, and what they stand to gain by it.

Please try to remember that the next time you read (or hear) an alarmist headline like "multivitamins kill" or "vitamin E shortens lives".

It's time we look a little more closely- and listen a little more critically- to what we hear about vitamins and supplements (and yes, drugs!) from the media.

Oh by the way- these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.

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Let's Stop Dying, OK?

2009-10-19T05:16:00.001-07:00

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington have just published the most comprehensive study ever done about how diet, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors for chronic disease contribute to mortality in the U.S.

Want to know what they found?

Here are some of the highlights. Remember, these are the numbers of preventable-repeat preventable- deaths each year in the U.S. directly caused by the following individual risk factors.

Get ready to be stunned.

Low intake of dietary poly-unsaturated fatty acids: 15,000 deaths

Low intake of fruits and vegetables: 58,000 deaths

Alcohol use: 64,000 deaths. (Note: because moderate drinking reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, alcohol use actually prevented 26,000 deaths, but these deaths were outweighed by the 90,000 alcohol-related deaths from traffic, violence, cancer and other diseases. Net loss, 64,000!)

High intake of trans-fatty acids: 82,000

Low intake of omega-3 fats: 84,000 (we'll be talking a lot more about this in the future!)

High blood sugar: 190,000

Sedentary lifestyle: 191,000

Overweight/ obesity: 216,000

And the winner is...

Smoking: 467,000

These figures speak for themselves. I'm particularly stunned by the number of deaths specifically related to high blood sugar (!) and to lack of omega-3's, but all the numbers are sobering.

Now consider this: In another one of the largest ongoing studies of diet and health ever undertaken- the Nurses Health Study- it was found that five behaviors- five- could reduce the risk of heart disease by a whopping 83%. That percentage is higher than any drug has ever performed in the history of the world.

Ready for the five simple behaviors?

maintain a healthy weight
eat a Mediterranean diet (eat fish, omega-3's)
exercise every day
don't smoke
drink alcohol in moderation (if you drink it at all)

These same five behaviors will keep an awful lot of people from being swallowed up by the "health care" system, which is- let's be honest- really "sickness care"

Five simple behaviors.

It sure beats becoming a statistic.

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Dr. Jonny Recommends Q&A

2009-10-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

In your opinion, what's the most overrated health food?

It's a tie between canola oil and agave nectar/syrup. Both are pretty much a triumph of marketing over facts. Starting with the former, the processing of commercial canola oil is like sausage making-the de-gumming, deodorizing and other hideous high heat procedures it undergoes in order to make it palatable make its reputation as a "health" oil pretty questionable. The only canola oil I consider even mildly acceptable is cold pressed and organic, and even then just as a salad oil, but there are much better ones. As for agave, it's funny to me that the same people who are outraged about the overuse of high fructose corn syrup are wild about this stuff. The composition of high fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose 45% glucose, while agave is between 55-90% fructose!

Thinking about the adage of breakfast being the most important meal (and we'll just call it "very important")-what foods go into yours?

Anything from a piece of wild salmon; to an egg, spinach, and apple scramble; to a raw food bonanza of berries, coconut flakes, nuts, and Greek yogurt sprinkled with probiotic powder.

So you're, er, "pro" probiotics, even in powder form?

Absolutely. Probiotic powders (or in some cases capsules) are on many nutritionists top ten-even top five-supplement lists. Health begins in the gut, where nutrients are absorbed, and if the gut is overrun with bad bacteria and has a limited amount of good bacteria, many systems are affected (including immunity). Probiotics have a nice research resume for being effective for many things-and we don't get enough of them because we don't eat enough fermented foods like yogurts, pickles, and kim chee.

What's your favorite new food find-anything you've just discovered and can't get enough of?

I'm a serial monogamist when it comes to food, and I've been in love with frozen cherries for a while now. Mixed with raw milk or yogurt they're my favorite edible nighttime treat. Cherries contain a whole family of beneficial plant chemicals called anthocyanins; some of which are particularly effective as anti-inflammatories. This is why cherries are so well known as a folk remedy for gout. Because frozen vegetables and fruits are picked and frozen at the height of ripeness, they're always a very good alternative when you can't get fresh.

How about a top health mistake people tend to make?

Believing high cholesterol causes heart disease. Fully half of the people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol. And fully half of the people with "elevated" cholesterol have no cardiovascular disease. In my book that makes cholesterol a pretty lousy predictor for heart disease, even though lowering it produces 20 billion in revenue for the makers of Lipitor and Zocor combined.

Supplements. What's your take?

The standard party line from the dinosaurs at the American Dietetic Association is that you can get everything you need from food. Try getting a decent dose of COQ10 from food-or alpha lipoic acid, or saw palmetto, or even vitamin D. Those people are idiots. You can get all you need from food if by "all you need," you're talking about enough to prevent a severe vitamin deficiency disease. Supplements allow us to handcraft a program that provides nutritional support for a wide variety of conditions. You might be able to manage without supplements, but you can manage without indoor plumbing also. The question is why would you?

What are three amazing foods we should be eating more of-and why?

I like blueberries, wild salmon, and grass-fed beef. Blueberries, for all the reasons you've heard before. Wild (not farmed) salmon, for its omega-3s, the antioxidant astaxathin (which gives it that pink color), and the protein. And grass-fed beef because it has none of the problems associated with commercial supermarket meat-no antibiotics, steroids, hormones and other potential carcinogens-along with a higher omega-3 content, some CLA (conjugated linolenic acid, an anti-cancer anti-obesity fat), and it's humanely raised on top of it.

Many thanks to Camille and Sara at Svelte Gourmand for this interview.

Why Food Companies Fear Jonny Bowden - Dirty Nutrition Volume 2

2009-10-09T11:04:00.001-07:00

Meathead Breakfast

Q: What's the perfect breakfast for the hardcore weight-training dude?

A: Call me old fashioned, but I still can't see how you can improve much on oatmeal mixed with eggs and protein powder.

That's what the old timers at Gold's in Venice used to eat and they weren't exactly 98-pound weaklings. They'd bring Tupperware bowls full of the stuff, which, by the way, travels really nicely when you make it up at home.

If you're into minimal cooking you can also try one of my favorite egg dishes: Warm up some butter or coconut oil in a frying pan, slice up an apple, and brown the slices in the mix. Add two or three scrambled eggs and a couple of fistfuls of spinach and continue to stir until the spinach softens and the eggs are cooked. Season with anti-inflammatory turmeric [a.k.a. curcumin] and some lemon pepper.

If you think the 18 grams or so of protein in three eggs isn't enough for you, add a protein drink. And if you need extra slow-burning carbs, have a small bowl of oatmeal on the side.

Big Tobacco's New Buddy: Big Processed Food

Q: I heard recently that food manufacturers chemically alter some foods to make them more addictive, sort of like the cigarette companies have done with tobacco. Any truth to that or is it just a conspiracy theory?

A: I wish I could say it's a conspiracy theory just so I could get in a couple of tinfoil hat jokes, but unfortunately it's not.

Former FDA commissioner David Kessler, MD, goes into deep detail about exactly how this works in his new book, The End of Overeating (highly recommended, by the way) and it ain't pretty.

Kessler quotes research by Adam Drewnowski that shows it's the combination of sugar with fat that makes people go nuts. Give someone a packet of sugar and tell him to go to town and you won't get much enthusiasm. Ditto for a stick of butter. But combine the ingredients and watch out.

Drewnowski conducted a study where he added various amounts of sugar to five different dairy products from skim milk to heavy cream. People gave low marks to sweetened no-fat products like sweetened skim milk and low marks to unsweetened high-fat products like a heavy cream/vegetable oil blend. But any high-fat product that had sugar added, or any high-sugar product that had fat added, scored higher than the winner on American Idol.

This combo (sugar, fat, and/or salt) creates what Kessler calls "hyperpalatibility." Rats given a chance to eat such combinations will literally gorge themselves. Obviously, so do humans.

Sugar, fat, and salt is what makes food "compelling" according to dozens of food executives that Kessler interviewed. Take potato skins, for example. Typically, the potato is hollowed out and the skin is fried which provides a substantial surface area for "fat pick-up." Then some combination of bacon bits, sour cream, and cheese is added. The result is fat on fat on fat on fat, much of it loaded with salt.

Is this stuff addictive? You bet it is.

Sara Ward of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied the willingness of animals to work for a food reward even when they're not hungry. She used Ensure, a particularly loathsome drink doctors give to older patients who aren't eating enough calories. The breaking point at which the animals would no longer work for the "reward" was just slightly lower than the breaking point for cocaine.

So it's not so much that manufacturers chemically alter the food as it is that they use lethal (to us, not to them) combos of ingredients to make them irresistible and to make us overeat them.

Then they cleverly pair those foods with an actual emotional or visual experience, which later become stored as pleasant associations to the food - i.e. a "Happy Meal" or a TV commercial with Megan Fox. Pretty soon, you've got a customer for life.

CLA: Anti-Cancer, Maybe Anti-Belly Fat

Q: What do you think of CLA as a supplement? Any way to get it in foods?

A: The most impressive thing I've ever seen about CLA - conjugated linolenic acid - were the before and after pictures of rats in a CLA experiment. One group got their regular rat food and the other got the same diet plus CLA. Then they sacrificed the rats and photographed their abdominal regions. It was pretty dramatic - the CLA rats had hardly any abdominal fat compared to the rats that hadn't been fed CLA.

Wish that it worked that clearly in humans. It's definitely possible to find studies in good peer-reviewed journals that show that CLA reduces abdominal fat in some populations. (1) And one study even showed that it reduced the amount of abdominal fat gained over the holidays.(2)

But other studies show no such thing. And to add to the confusion, there are two isomers (arrangements of molecules) in CLA - the t10 c12 and the t9 c 11, and they're said to have somewhat different effects.

The research just isn't conclusive. For example, at least two studies show that CLA plus chromium lowered both body weight and visceral fat mass in high-fat diet fed mice (3, 4), but another study showed it didn't do squat for overweight women.(5)

But CLA seems to have some nice anti-cancer effects, and those are better documented than the weight loss effects in humans. So it certainly can't hurt to try it, but I wouldn't be too optimistic about its effect on weight alone.

If you try it, the dose would be 3 grams per day. It's found in the meat and by-products (like butter) from cattle, but only from healthy grass-fed beef. Besides having a lot more omega-3's, grass-fed organic beef also has CLA, which is virtually missing from the meat of grain-fed, high omega-6 factory-farmed animals.

Sugar Alcohols: The Good and the Gaseous

Q: I try to eat low-sugar foods but it seems that many of these are jam-packed with sugar alcohols like sorbitol, maltitol, etc. Is that stuff bad for you?

A: They're not exactly bad for you, but if you eat a lot of them you won't be a welcome guest at parties due to increased flatulance. But some are clearly better than others.

My favorite sugar alcohol is xylitol, which you can use in hot beverages and which has a very low glycemic impact. It also has some anti-bacterial effect (preventing bacteria from adhesing to tissues) which is why it's in all the "healthy" chewing gums.

Another sugar alcohol to watch for is erythritol. It has a glycemic impact of exactly zero, and so far no one has reported anything remotely bad about it. You're starting to see it in health food stores and it's sold under the Truvia name in little packets. Way better than something like Equal.

The Food Pyramid, Bowden-Style

Q: If you were to redesign the old government food pyramid, what would it look like?

A: It would probably be more like a circle with about 70% of calories divided equally among protein, fat, and fibrous vegetables and fruits; another 10% for nuts, another 10% for beans, and an optional 10% for grains.

New Health Food: Sugar?

Q: Now that most people know that HFCS is bad news, many food makers are bragging about using raw cane sugar or even organic sugar. Is that a better way to go?

A: The new marketing of sugar as a "health food" is the biggest crock of nonsense I've seen in a while, and I've seen some real doozies.

Let's get something straight. Both table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup have the same two ingredients: glucose and fructose. The more damaging of the molecules is clearly fructose, but check the proportions: High-fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose and 45% glucose. Plain old crappy garden-variety sugar, now being sold as the "healthy" alternative to HFCS, is 50/50.

The problem with HFCS wasn't so much the extra 5% fructose, but the fact that it's so cheap that manufacturers now use it in everything, including foods that were never even sweetened before. This deeply increases the fructose load on the body, not so much because of the little bit of extra fructose, but because we're consuming so much of the stuff.

It's hard to see how substituting the same amount of a 50/50 mix ("natural" sugar, give me a break!) helps address the problem, which is that we're eating too much sugar, whatever form it comes in!

And by the way, just to blow your mind, the new darling of the health food set, agave nectar, is more than 90% fructose. Some bargain.

Incidentally, in case this wasn't clear from previous articles, fructose in its natural setting - like in an actual apple - isn't the problem. It's when you extract it and use it as a sweetening agent, either as 55% of HFCS, 50% of sugar or 90% of agave nectar. Then it's a huge problem.

This interview was originally published at Tmuscle.com. Read the uncensored interview with Jonny Bowden »

References

International Journal of Obesity

The role of conjugated linoleic acid in reducing body fat and preventing holiday weight gain

Conjugated linoleic acid and chromium lower body weight and visceral fat mass in high-fat-diet-fed mice

The combination of dietary conjugated linoleic acid and treadmill exercise lowers gain in body fat mass and enhances lean body mass in high fat-fed male Balb/C mice

Chromium picolinate and conjugated linoleic acid do not synergistically influence diet- and exercise-induced changes in body composition and health indexes in overweight women

The Diet Boot Camp Challenge ll Winner is...

2009-10-05T04:55:00.001-07:00

I'm really thrilled to announce the winner of the Second Diet Boot Camp Challenge for 2009:

The one and only... Jennifer K from Lake Hiawatha, NJ.

I'm so proud of Jennifer because she embodies the spirit of this program in every way:

She's participated on every level.
Her commitment hasn't waived (more on that in a moment).
She's been a constant source of support and encouragement to her fellow "boot-campers", always there with a kind and motivating word for anyone who asked.

Besides losing over 21 pounds Jennifer has made some significant changes in other areas of her life. In her own words:

I have been able to take control of my whole life, starting with nutrition & exercise. I'm dealing with things and doing things that I never would have before. I've proven to myself that I *can* "stay in the game" and overcome barriers. That in itself is indescribable for me.

When I say her commitment hasn't waived, I don't mean she hasn't had challenges. She'll be the first to tell you that she has- many of them! But that's not the point. The point is that she stayed in the game. She didn't let the little "gremlin" voices disempower her. She "thanked them for sharing" and then went about her business- the business being pushing herself into areas that might have been uncomfortable but that have the potential for producing extraordinary results.

So thank you, Jennifer. For believing in yourself, for sticking with it, and for being a great example of the power of commitment.

If you're ready to "take control of your life" like Jennifer did then get your hands on Diet Boot Camp »

Why Coconut is a Health Food

2009-09-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

Scroll down to see how you can get my fav coconut oil for free in October!

Try My Favorite Coconut Oil for Free in October!

This month, I'd love for you to try my favorite brand of coconut oil absolutely free. For the month of October, get a 16oz. canister of this amazing product absolutely free with any $99 purchase of supplements.

You don't have to add it to your shopping cart or use a coupon code.... we'll just sneak a canister of coconut oil into the box on the way out the door.

"More Potassium" As Important As "Less Sodium"

2009-09-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

New Research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that increasing potassium may be just as important as decreasing sodium.

For years, health professionals have known that not everyone is "salt sensitive"- the problem is that no one really knows who is and isn't sensitive to sodium, so the general recommendation has been to cut back on the stuff. But there's another part of the sodium equation that doesn't get enough attention.

The Sodium/Potassium Balancing Act

Sodium and potassium have an interdependent relationship in the body. Much like omega-3's and omega-6's, they need to be in balance. And much like omega-3's and omega-6's in our diet, they are anything but.

So maybe it's not so much our high intake of sodium that's the problem, it's our low intake of potassium!

How Much is Enough?

The "ideal" diet would pretty much contain more potassium than sodium. But our modern diet contains the exact opposite.

The minimum daily requirement for sodium is only 500mg
The "Adequate Intake" is set at 1500mg
The Food and Nutrition Board recommends <2400 mg a day (the amount in one teaspoon of salt).

Of course, table salt isn't the real problem- it's the sodium contained in processed foods (and canned foods) that flies under the radar and increases our daily consumption into the stratosphere.

But here's the rub- the "Adequate Intake" level for potassium is 4700 mg a day, more than three times the "AI" for sodium. Potassium is found in fruits and vegetables.

A Recent Harvard Study

Recently researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School examined data from more than 2,000 men and women with "pre-hypertension" who were monitored for 10-15 years. The researchers found that a higher sodium-to-potassium ratio was associated with a significantly increased risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease. Interestingly, the effect of this ratio was stronger than the effect of absolute amounts of sodium or potassium.

What This Means to You

It is probably just as important to increase potassium intake from fruits and vegetables as it is to decrease sodium intake, at least if you want to protect your heart.

"Not all people should try to increase their potassium", says W. Gifford Jones, MD. "Patients with type 1 diabetes and those taking ACE inhibitor drugs, certain diuretics or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should consult their doctors. Some patients on these drugs cannot handle more potassium"

How to Get More Potassium and Less Sodium

The rest of us would do well to follow the "more potassium" advice. How can you best decrease the amount of sodium you're consuming while increasing potassium at the same time?

Simple. Think fresh and unprocessed:

Buy less:

foods with bar codes
less TV dinners
less canned soups

Buy more:

Fruits
Vegetables
Fish
Beans
Nuts
Berries
grass-fed meats and free-range poultry

Cholesterol Lie Q & A

2009-09-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Dr. Jonny,

Following your suggestion, I just finished reading "The Great Cholesterol Lie"! What an eye-opener.

But I recently read in the mainstream media about a study called the JUPITER Study that showed the benefit of statin drugs even for people with normal cholesterol! How can this be?

Well, I can certainly see why my reader was confused. So let's try to sort it out.

In the JUPITER study, people with normal cholesterol were given statin drugs. But these people didn't just have normal cholesterol- they also had elevated levels of a blood protein called C-reactive Protein (CRP).

When this group of people took statin drugs (specifically Crestor), their risk factors did indeed improve.

The question is, "Why?"

Here's the answer- and it's not nearly as confusing as the results might seem at first.

Statin drugs are mildly anti-inflammatory. I believe- and I'm quite sure Dr. Lundell would agree with me- that any good that statin drugs do is solely because of their ability to reduce inflammation. In the JUPITER Study, statins lowered CRP, which is- guess what- a measure of systemic inflammation!

And here's what backfired for the pharmaceutical company. This study confirmed the fact that cholesterol is largely irrelevant. The patients in the JUPITER Study were at risk not because their cholesterol was high (it wasn't) but because they had high levels of inflammation.

The statin drug lowered their inflammation, and any lowering of inflammation improves risk factors for heart disease, not to mention overall health. Let's not forget those nasty side effects of painful muscle cramping and recent studies that show extreme cognitive dysfunction from statins.

Wouldn't an aspirin be better? And better yet, Omega-3?

Statins are the "Frankenstein" medication of our time. And Dr. Lundell exposes the reasons why in his excellent book.

The bottom line is that Inflammation is a very, very serious thing—it's a silent killer.

Cholesterol is not. My advice? Take Omega-3 fish oil, the most anti-inflammatory compound on the planet and one that has exactly zero side effects. With fish oil available, why in the world would someone choose a statin as their anti-inflammatory drug of choice?

The simple steps to begin healing your heart outlined in Dr. Lundell's book, "The Great Cholesterol Lie" will absolutely astonish you.

Go here now and silence that deadly killer - inflammation.

Are Stress Hormones Ruining Your Health?

2009-09-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Save $30 on My Personal Anti-Aging Program

This is a sample from The 7 Pillars of Longevity, Pillar V: Stress.

Normally $99, you can get this learning system for just $69 in September when you use coupon code YOUNGER.

Do you want to know my secrets for looking younger, feeling younger, and living longer? If so, check out The 7 Pillars of Longevity »

100 Day Countdown of 2009

2009-09-23T10:04:00.001-07:00

We all began this year at GO, and all roads lead to a final rendezvous; the difference is what we've done en route. Goals set, actions taken, and results realized determine if you get to call this year a success or not.

September 23rd is an important date as it marks the 100 day countdown of 2009.

With that in mind, I have put together a number of questions for you to consider as you progress toward the finish line and call this year a wrap:

1. What specific results have you achieved so far this year?

2. Are you healthier, wealthier, and wiser?

3. Are you winning, losing or just holding ground?

4. What results are you committed to achieve by the end of the year?

5. How have you grown and what have you learned this year?

6. Is there any unfinished business that needs to be tended to in your life?

7. Are you actively pursuing what's most important on a daily basis?

8. What habits do you need to change to ensure better results?

9. What is the key issue that inhibits your ability to perform at your best?

You must live to answer and honor these questions, because when it comes to the last 100 days of the year, every day and everything you do counts.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you an exciting opportunity to finish the year strong-it's called the 100 Day Finish Strong Challenge!

I Love a Worthy Challenge!

One thing we all have in common is that we all love a challenge. For some it could be a goal that puts you to the test, an obstacle that says you can't beat me, a belief system that is begging for a breakthrough, or even a mountain that just dares you to climb it.

Whatever it is, you're attitude should be BRING IT ON, as there's nothing quite like a good old fashioned challenge to see what you're made, to push the boundaries and tests your limits as it is ONLY when we overcome these trials that we get to reap the sweetest rewards.

Meet Gary

Gary Ryan Blair, otherwise know as The Goals Guy has put together what I believe to be the most comprehensive approach to goal setting and performance enhancement.

The 100 Day Finish Strong Challenge is a structured 14-week performance improvement program where challengers compete against themselves to achieve a number of challenging goals and finish the year strong.

You and other competitors from around the world will be provided with a performance plan, a disciplined implementation process, daily measurement systems, and a very unique accountability tool along with specific tactics and strategies to attain your goals.

Free Special Report!

Gary is offering a powerful special report for free which is titled: How to Create Your Own Big Bang!

This report in my opinion is worth its weight in gold as it shows you how to create monumental performance gains. I encourage you to get your copy right now.

So what are you waiting for? The clock is ticking and if you want to seriously improve your life and corresponding results, I encourage you to check out the 100 Day Finish Strong Challenge today as it will be one of the smartest decisions you'll make all year.

I wish you a great home stretch during these last 100 days and encourage you to dream big dreams and take the necessary actions to make them reality.

What Exactly is a "Low-Carb" Diet Anyway?

2009-09-23T09:32:00.001-07:00

Having just finished the revised and expanded edition of my 2004 best-seller Living Low Carb (out in January, in case you were interested!), I've been thinking a lot recently about low-carb diets.

Specifically, I've been thinking about definitions.

How exactly do we define low-carb, anyway?

For years, low-carb suffered from bad publicity. Atkins- a superb nutritionist and very smart guy- couldn't shake the stigma of recommending "pork rinds" (a recommendation that was taken out of context) and people who didn't know any better thought his diet forbade all carbohydrates (it most certainly doesn't).

Then there was the ketosis confusion. Ketosis- a harmless metabolic state that the body goes into when carbohydrate intake is very low- became identified with low-carb diets largely because early editions of Atkins' books stressed ketosis as a desirable goal for the first stage of the Atkins diet (which limited carbs to 20 grams a day).

But very few low-carb diets put the body into ketosis.

Then there was the American Dietetic Association and its spokespeople, who frequently have a questionable relationship with the truth. These folks even characterized Barry Sears' "The Zone" as a low-carb diet (even though the majority of calories on the Zone Diet come from carbs!)

So what exactly is a low-carb diet?

The American Dietetic Association designates "low carbohydrate diets" as less than 130 grams a day (or 26% of calories from a 2000 calorie diet). Though I hardly think this is "low", it seems to be a decent working definition, given that most Americans consume a whopping 300 grams of carbs a day! (Just for the record, carbohydrate consumption before the epidemic of obesity averaged 43%, just about what is recommended by Dr. Sears in "The Zone".)

According to Richard Feinman, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and head of the Nutrition and Metabolism Society (of which I am a proud member), 26%-45% of calories from carbs is a good range for what we might call "moderate" or "controlled" carbohydrate eating. According to Feinman, less than 30 grams a day should be referred to as a "very low carbohydrate ketogenic diet"; the term "ketogenic diet" should be reserved for the therapeutic approach to epilepsy, for which it works quite well.

Some low-carb diets for weight loss limit carbs strictly (20-30 grams) for the first couple of weeks (the Atkins Induction Phase), then add them back gradually. Many health professionals and weight loss experts believe that you can get most of the benefits of "controlled carb eating" with anywhere up to 100 grams a day. In a recent blog, I talked about a study in which they used a vegan version of Atkins that contained 130 grams of carbs a day and everyone still lost weight and had improvements in their risk factors for heart disease to boot.

Remember- hard as it is to believe- your body has no physiological requirement for carbohydrate. That's not to say you shouldn't eat carbs- you should!

But if you're looking to lose weight and improve your health, you should get the vast majority of them from vegetables and fruits.

Carbs from fruits and vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, fiber and other good stuff that your body thrives on. And you can eat more vegetables and berries than you can imagine and still stay in the range of 100-130 grams of carbs a day! Add to that about 100-120 grams of protein and about 60 grams of fat, and you've got a blueprint for health and weight management that will work for just about anyone.

Do You Really Need to Take Supplements?

2009-09-14T13:36:00.001-07:00

Save $30 on My Personal Anti-Aging Program

This is a sample from The 7 Pillars of Longevity, Pillar III: Supplements.

Normally $99, you can get this learning system for just $69 in September when you use coupon code YOUNGER.

Do you want to know my secrets for looking younger, feeling younger, and living longer? If so, check out The 7 Pillars of Longevity »

Change Your Life in 100 Days

2009-09-14T13:11:00.001-07:00

What if I were to follow you with a camera crew 24 hours a day 7 days a week for the next 100 days while you went for your goals?

I bet 3 things would happen....

You would START doing the things you say you need to do.

You would STOP doing the things you know you shouldn't be doing.

You would MAKE monumental performance gains and change your life.

This is ALL possible through the discipline of accountability. Accountability serves and protects your character, credibility and commitments. It ensures that what you want to accomplish gets accomplished.

Throughout every area of your life it's important to understand that ALL unfinished goals, projects and relationships are the result of broken promises, unfulfilled commitments, and lack of accountability.

With that reality in mind, I wanted to share with you an exciting opportunity to achieve every goal you set, to enforce ultimate accountability into your life, and show you how you can make monumental performance gains.

Gary Ryan Blair (aka The Goals Guy) has put together what I believe to be the most comprehensive approach to goal setting and performance enhancement.

It's called the 100 Day Finish Strong Challenge and it begins on September 23rd, which happens to be the final 100 days of the year.

Free Special Report and Video

Gary is offering a powerful special report and video for free which is titled: How to Create Your Own Big Bang!

Watch the video »

This report in my opinion is worth its weight in gold as it shows you how to create huge performance gains quickly. I encourage you to get your copy right now.

100 Day Finish Strong Challenge »

Vitamin B6 May Lower Heart Attack Risk in Women

2009-09-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

In an article published online on August 10, 2009 in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, Harvard researchers report an association between higher plasma levels of vitamin B6 and a reduction in the risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in women.

The study included 144 participants in the ongoing Nurses' Health Study who were diagnosed with myocardial infarction. The women were each matched for age, smoking status and other factors with two participants in the same study who did not have a history of heart attack at the time of the heart attack cases' diagnoses. Stored fasting blood samples were analyzed for plasma pyridoxal 5' phosphate (PLP), which is the predominant form of vitamin B6 that exists in circulation, and homocysteine, an amino acid which, when elevated, has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Higher levels of PLP were correlated with greater dietary intake of vitamin B6, lower body mass index and lower levels of homocysteine. The researchers uncovered a significant association between plasma PLP levels and reduced heart attack risk. Women whose PLP levels were among the top one-fourth of participants at greater than 70 picomoles per milliliter had a 78 percent lower adjusted risk of undergoing a heart attack compared to those whose levels were lowest at less than 27.9 pmol/mL. When the women were analyzed according to age, those aged 60 and older whose PLP levels were among the top quarter were found to have a 64 percent lower risk than those in the lowest quarter, while those who were under 60 in the top fourth of PLP had a 95 percent lower risk.

The authors remark that the study's findings are consistent with the role of vitamin B6 as a cofactor in the conversion of homocysteine to cysteine. The vitamin also plays a role in the transport of important minerals such as magnesium across cell membranes. The authors observe that the results of some research suggest that factors other than diet that control vitamin B6 levels could eventually be found to be more important in reducing heart attack risk.

The current prospective study is the first, to the authors' knowledge, to examine the relationship of vitamin B6 levels with heart attack in postmenopausal women. "Our investigation revealed that a lower fasting concentration of PLP is significantly associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction in predominantly postmenopausal women, a relationship that may be causal," they write. "Future studies are needed to better understand both dietary and nondietary determinants of plasma and tissue vitamin B6 status and their role in the prevention of myocardial infarction and other chronic diseases."

If you want to supplement your diet with more B6 I recommend this brand of PLP Vitamin B6 which is similar to the kind used in the study but it also contains magnesium to help with PMS symptoms.

Diet Boot Camp Challenge I Winner

2009-09-08T10:51:00.001-07:00

It's time to announce the winner of the first ever Diet Boot Camp Challenge, and the winner is...

Pamela S.!

Pamela has been consistent about posting, has supported her fellow Diet Boot Campers and inspired others, and she herself has had admirable results. Here's what she wrote after week eight:

"I lost 8 pounds, four inches off my waist from 39 to 35 and my hips are now 43". I feel like I'm 20 years old. I have so much energy and joy. I've found exercise that makes me happy and hope to keep moving on to the life of my dreams."

Well, it doesn't get much better than that!

My greatest hope for the Diet Boot Camp Challenge was that it would bring people together. True, the main reason most people got involved was to lose weight, but many- like Pamela- have written that they've learned lessons and found inspiration that goes well beyond anything that can be measured on the scale.

Take Christopher Loch, who wrote "Now I know I just need to make smaller goals that are more attainable and as I reach them, reset the bar a little higher".

He also wrote: "My Word can be Law in the Universe (just like God's). This kind of integrity goes above and beyond the weight loss applications and extends into all other areas of my life."

Congratulations to Pamela as well as to Christopher, and to every single one of you who participated and were up to the challenge of examining old (and disempowering) beliefs about food, weight and life.

You are all winners in my book... but Pamela wins all of this:

The Jonny Bowden Collection of Books

150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy
The Healthiest Meals of Earth
The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth
The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth

Weight Loss Coach
Handbook eBook

This fantastic e-book contains dozens of Jonny's most popular articles on motivation, stress, supplements, food and love, alcohol, diets, finding the best workouts and many other interesting and exciting topics. A real treat! Over 220 pages.

The Truth About Weight
Loss DVD

So much of what people think they know about weight loss simply isn't true. This DVD is the video recording of Jonny's sold-out presentation "The Truth About Weight Loss" at Harv Eker's Extreme Health seminar.

Healthiest Foods Starter Pack by Vital Choice

3 cans of Wild Red^™ Sockeye Salmon
3 cans of Albacore Tuna
Wild Salmon Sampler
(6 fillets)
Organic Salmon Marinade Mix
Organic Berry Sampler (3lbs)

Mega Omega Gift Pack
by Barleans

Strawberry Banana Flax Oil (16oz)
Lemon Zest Fish Oil (16oz)
Forti-Flax (16oz)

7 Imposters: Healthy Foods That Aren't

2009-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

You can't open a newspaper, website or iPhone app without reading about the dangers lurking on our dinner plate (OK I'm kidding about the iPhone app.) Trans-fats and high-fructose corn syrup are the demons d'jour and with the modern diet being what it is, the food police don't seem to be in any danger of running out of new material to warn us about.

Fair enough. But what about all the "health" foods we've been told are our nutritional salvation? Are they all they're cracked up to be?

There's no better place to start than with salmon, generally thought to be one of the best of the superfoods. And it is-- when it's wild. Farm raised salmon have up to 8 times the level of carcinogenic PCBs as wild salmon. Kept in crowded pens, they're fed grain and fishmeal and a ton of antibiotics. Wild salmon are a health food. Farmed salmon... not so much.

Then there's cereal, believed by many to be the center of a healthy breakfast because of its high-fiber content. But with few exceptions, most supermarket cereals are fiber lightweights. Most are loaded with sugar (contributing to mood swings and energy dips). Whole grains are better, but those who are sensitive to blood sugar fluctuations will have still have to be careful. The best cereals are old-fashioned oatmeal, and a few standouts like Fiber One and All-Bran. Look for those that pass the "5 and 5" rule: less than 5 grams of sugar, more than 5 grams of fiber. (You'll be surprised at how few make the cut.)

Granola bars are simply candy bars masquerading as a health food. Most are simply chewy versions of candy bars--they have very little fiber, lots of processed carbs, and a ton of sugar. You're better off "rolling your own" out of raw oats, chopped almonds, coconut flakes, raisins and a dollop of raw organic honey or molasses to hold it together.

Frozen yogurt is a prime example of the triumph of marketing over good sense. The only thing frozen yogurt has in common with real yogurt is that they're both white. Real yogurt- one of the healthiest foods on earth-- is loaded with live cultures which support your digestive health. The live culture content of most frozen yogurt is precisely zero. What's more, frozen yogurt is usually filled with chemicals, and the artificial sweeteners in the non-fat kind can cause cravings just like sugar. You're better off with real, creamy, organic ice cream. Just don't eat too much.

Though most of us have been led to believe canola oil is the bees knees, it actually isn't such a health bargain after all. The high temperatures needed to extract the oil from the rapeseed plant from which it comes make canola oil's highly touted omega-3's rancid and foul smelling, requiring them to be deodorized, a process which creates some trans-fatty acids. It also goes through caustic refining, bleaching and degumming. Unless it's cold-pressed and organic, stay away.

And what could possibly be healthier than an egg-white omelet? Give up? Whole eggs! While an egg-white omlette isn't exactly unhealthy, it's hardly as good as the real thing. The yolk contains the superstars of eye nutrition, utein and xeazanthin which need fat to be absorbed properly. Egg yolks are an important source phosphatidylcholine an important nutrient for brain health.

Apples- healthy. Apple juice- maybe not. One cup of apple juice has zero grams of fiber, 117 calories, and 29 grams of carbs of which 27 are sugar (and your typical serving is a lot more than a cup). Sorry, but that's not a health drink, it's sugar water with apple flavoring. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Wish I could say the same about apple juice, but I can't.

So what's the take home? Simple: eat real food. Food your grandmother would have recognized as food. Food you could hunt, fish, gather or pluck. Food as close to its natural form as possible. Food without a bar code. Whole fruit (not the fruit juice). Whole eggs (not the egg whites). Meat, eggs and milk from healthy, grass-fed cows and chickens that roam around pecking at worms (free-range). Any vegetable in the world.

Even if you don't hit the "bulls eye" 100 percent of the time, you'll still be way ahead of the game.

This Exercise Reduces Death by 75%...

2009-09-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Save $30 on My Personal Anti-Aging Secrets

This is a sample from The 7 Pillars of Longevity, Pillar II: Exercise.

Normally $99, you can get this learning system for just $69 in September when you use coupon code YOUNGER.

Do you want to know my secrets for living a longer, better, healthier, more exciting life? If so, check out The 7 Pillars of Longevity »

Cavemen with Designer Suits and Cell Phones

2009-09-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

Save $30 on My Personal Anti-Aging Secrets

This is a sample from The 7 Pillars of Longevity. In this 2 DVD set I reveal my secrets for living a longer, better, healthier, more exciting life.

Normally $99, you can get this learning system for just $69 in September when you use coupon code YOUNGER.

If you'd like to add years to your life (and life to your years) then check out The 7 Pillars of Longevity »

Exercise Isn't Good for Weight Loss?

2009-09-01T08:39:00.001-07:00

What if I were to tell you that exercise is fairly useless for losing weight?

Now before you accuse me of heresy, let me explain. There's no doubt that exercise is one of the best things in the world you can do for your health. It improves mood- in some studies as well as antidepressants- and it's great for your heart. Recent research shows that it even helps you grow new brain cells. And people who exercise on a regular basis have lower risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

But weight loss? Not so much.

Does that seem contrary to everything you've heard? Of course it does- but don't shoot the messenger.

Here's the truth: the exercise/ weight-loss equation is way more complicated than we've been led to believe.

Let's start with calories. Most people overestimate calories burned during exercise (by a long shot) just as they typically underestimate daily calorie consumption (ditto!) Forget what the computer readout on the Stairclimbers and treadmills at the gym say-- according to the Mayo Clinic, even high-impact aerobics only uses up about 511 calories an hour; walking at a pace of 3.5 mph barely uses 300. You can wipe that out with one medium meal at McDonalds--heck, you can wipe it out with a one big "low-fat" muffin from Starbucks!

Then there's the appetite factor. Exercise makes people hungry and people often compensate for exercise by eating more. I've seen people at the gym scarf down "energy" drinks that contain the calorie equivalent of two days worth of workouts.

Plus, there's good old garden-variety self-deception. Ever told yourself, "I can indulge with a Krispy Kreme today cause I just worked out"?. Sorry. That's like saying you saved some money by buying milk at Target so you might as well go to dinner at the Four Seasons. The math just doesn't work out.

Interestingly, the research is very clear that it's next to impossible to keep weight off unless you exercise regularly. But using exercise alone as a weight-loss strategy is- forgive the bad pun- an exercise in futility.

That's why the best trainers have a saying: "You can't out-train a bad diet".

Last call for the 2009 "Dr. Jonny Weight Loss Coach Certification" course

2009-09-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm very proud to announce that the Weight Loss Coach Certification Course is finally ready and will begin this month!

Coach Training Alliance, one of the finest and most reputable schools for life coaches, (and one of the few to hold the prestigious accreditation of the International Coach Federation) is now offering my new course in Weight Loss Coaching.

The course takes place over ten weeks
It's done by teleseminar
It's a small-group format with plenty of interaction, practice sessions and time for questions and discussion
We'll focus on the skills needed to help clients reach their weight loss goals and- equally important- attain optimal health, energy and overall well-being in the process.
Those enrolled in the course will become licensed to implement my trademarked Diet Boot Camp program with individual clients and in groups

The course will be filled with nutrition and myth-busting information, and practical tips for effecting change and dealing with problems and pitfalls in the weight loss journey.

The International Federation of Coaching defines coaching this way

Coaching is partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

Right now, we're limiting the course to those who have some coaching experience, but will consider personal trainers, nutritionists and others in the helping professions.

Each course is limited to only 14 participants.

The start date is Wednesday, September 9 and there is still room for a few motivated folks! We'd love to have you!

If you're interested, you can read (and hear) more about the course here.

Fish Oil Rivals Antidepressants in Clinical Trial

2009-08-24T14:00:00.001-07:00

by Craig Weatherby

The results of the largest-ever clinical trial found that omega-3 fish oil may significantly benefit half of all people diagnosed with depression.

Specifically, fish oil seemed to help the 50 percent of depression patients who are free from diagnosed anxiety disorders.

Fish oil appeared to help these people about as much as the leading class of antidepressant drugs ... that is, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac and Paxil.

Participants for the trial were people diagnosed with moderate to severe unipolar (i.e., not bipolar) major depression who were unable to tolerate antidepressants, who refused them despite a physician's recommendation, or who were not helped by the drugs.

More than 430 patients with an episode of major depression were assigned to take either with omega-3 EPA from fish oil (1,050mg per day) for two months or an identical-looking placebo pill masked with fish odor.

Fish oil did not perform better than placebo, for the patients diagnosed with anxiety as well as depression.

Omega-3 EPA from fish oil did not perform better than placebo among the patients diagnosed with anxiety as well as depression.

But among those diagnosed with major depression - but not anxiety - the patients who took omega-3 EPA had significantly better scores than the placebo group.

As lead author Francois Lesperance, M.D., told Medscape Psychiatry. "... the level of improvement we saw in this subgroup is on a par with what has typically been reported with pharmacologic treatments." (Stein J 2009)

Findings apply to the half of all depression patients not usually studied.

These findings are important because they carry implications for about one-half of all depressed patients ... those who do not also display anxiety disorders.

And these people are often excluded from placebo-controlled studies of antidepressant drugs.

Dr. Lesperance made a key point: "Many depressed patients prefer to avoid drug treatment because of the stigma associated with such therapy, not to mention potential treatment-related side effects, and thus it's nice to be able to offer patients an alternative treatment that is similarly effective but without the risks." (Stein J 2009)

Most population studies show links between higher levels of omega-3's and reduced depression risk, and/or link low levels of omega-3's - or an excess of omega-6's versus omega-3's - to higher levels of depression.

Besides supporting normal mood, research shows that omega-3's - and higher than average omega-3/omega-6 intake ratios - likely benefit cardiovascular, brain, bone, and metabolic health.

Note from Dr. Jonny:

My favorite sources of Omega-3's are:

The Vital Choice brand of salmon is the ONLY fish I have discovered, via independent lab testing, to be free of harmful mercury and other toxins. Save 10% at Vital Choice when you use with the coupon code: DRJONNY
High Potency Fresh Catch Fish Oil by Barlean's contains one of the highest amounts of EPA and DHA in a two capsule serving: 783 EPA and 400 DHA plus another 1/3 gram of other omega-3's. It's pharmaceutical grade and one of the purest products I know of.
Omega Swirl by Barlean's looks and tastes like a smoothie but contains optimal levels of EPA/DHA. Your kids will have no idea they are eating a big dose of fish oil!

Sources

*Lesperance F et al. The efficacy of eicosapentaenoic acid for major depression: Results of the OMEGA-3D trial. 9th World Congress of Biological Psychiatry: Abstract FC-25-005. Presented July 1, 2009. Accessed at http://www.wfsbp-congress.org/fileadmin/user_upload/WFSBP_Final_Programme_090625.pdf

*Stein J. WCBP 2009: Omega-3 Supplements Provide Mixed Results as Antidepressant. Medscape Medical News, July 4, 20009. Accessed at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/705508