Another big announcement guys! Free Heath and Nutrition Seminar

Another big announcement guys!  Free Heath and Nutrition Seminar

Health and Nutrition for Law Enforcement and Family

On Saturday March 24, 2012 from 8:00 am-5:00pm at the FWPD Training Academy in classroom F, I will be giving a lecture for law enforcement officers and civilians!  Topics will include:

• Evolution of food
• Nutrition fundamentals
• Basic physiology
• How to lose fat and build muscle
• Identify and reduce health risk factors
• Modern diseases and their connection to foods
• Making sense of it all
• Dispell nutrition myths
• and more!

  

The class is free and will have limited seating, so please sign up early.   Bring a friend. TCLEOSE credit will be given to law enforcement officers attending. 

Here are the details:

When:     Health and Nutrition Seminar, Sat 8am-5pm,  March 24, 2012

        
Where:   City of Fort Worth Police and Fire Recruit Training Academy-Classroom F
                1000 Calvert St. Fort Worth

There will be a lunch break given during the class. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with health issues or just wanting to learn how to improve their health and fitness then attend one or both of these classes. Learn valuable information on how to look and feel better, improve performance and health and even add a few years to your life!

Law enforcement officers wanting TCLEOSE credit will need to provide a PID # when they attend the class.  I encourage everyone to bring a pen and paper to take notes.  Here is the link with class info and how to register.  You can also contact me through my contact information on this blogsite.

Sign up soon, they will fill up fast.  I will see you guys there!

Can Nutrition and Exercise be Medicine?

Its been a while since I posted an article, over two months, so I figured I would get back in with a short article and a few good links. 

Before I get into the article, I want to give a shout out to John Pascal from Krav Maga Worldwide.  He is one of their lead instructors and works with LA County. Excellent instructor and very professional organization.  I just got back from my second Krav school instructed by John, which was outstanding, and would highly encourage those involved in Law Enforcement or Military to check out. 

Now on to today's topic: Can nutrition and exercise be medicine?  First, I want to emphasize that I am not a doctor and recommend before you make any changes in diet or exercise, always consult with your doctor.  Now that I got out of the way, lets think back to when we were kids.  What were we given when we had a cold or even a fever?  Chicken soup and Sprite maybe a hot bath?  When I was growing up, I had a friend who was Korean and it was common in their to house to use fish soup as a cure all for just about everything.  It might be important to note the soup was extremely spicy, I tried it.  If someone had a cold or congestion, it would clear it right up.  So home remedies are nothing new, and quite often work great.  We live in a different day and age.  Now there is a pill for just about everything and other pills for the side effects from the original medication.  We are bombarded with advertisement for new medicines or a new treatment for the latest new ailment.  Unfortunately, much of what we are exposed to about medicine is industry driven and can be very misguided.

So can nutrition and exercise be used as medicine?  Let's take a look.  Nutrition is what we put in our body and exercise is what we do with our body.  I will keep the nutrition part relatively short since I have written so many articles on them in the past.  Here are some good guidelines for nutrition:

• eat lots of veggies, raw if possible
• occasional fruit, nuts and seeds
• eat wild caught seafood or grassfed meats
• avoid gluten
• avoid processed foods
• avoid processed oils (most vegetable oils at the grocery store are processed)
• keep sources of Omega-6 fats low
• if not eating wild caught or grassfed meat, supplement with Omega-3
• keep carbs low, unless you are trying to gain weight
• consume probiotics in the form of fermented foods, such as kefer yogurt
• get adequate sunlight, if not, supplement with Vitamin D
• eat foods high in magnesium like dark green leafy veggies, or supplement with it

I know that is a basic list, but it is pretty much a Paleo-ish type diet.  By following this, we keep insulin down which reduces risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and slows aging by reducing oxidative processes of the body.  By keeping insulin low, we also reduce the amount of cortisol our body produces.  What does this mean?  Well, simply, lower cortisol levels means stronger immune system...so we get sick less, hmmm.  These guidelines also support a healthy gut which means a healthy brain and hormone levels.  Vitamin D and magnesium are critical for neurological function and hormone production and regulation.  It is interesting to note that magnesium reduces LDL oxidation and increases nitric oxide which inhibits clot formation and lowers blood pressure.  In plain English, it prevents cardio vascular disease.  I digress.  These guidelines also help keep antioxidant levels high (fights cancer) and reduces inflammation which is linked to all degenerative diseases.  Not to shabby huh?  Its also pretty simple.

Now, on to exercise.  I have written several articles on types of exercise, programming and strength training and I am big advocate of strength training.  If you haven't read those articles, please check em out.  When it comes to exercise it is important we understand there are different types and they all have their place depending on a person's goals.  A typical week for me might be a distance run, a metcon or two, some boxing, playing frisbee or football and a couple strength workouts within a week.  Now, when I am peaking for an event I will change my training and add more conditioning and high intensity interval training.  When I am trying to put on some muscle, I do only strength training making Olympic lifts the foundation.  Then if I wanna lean out for summer, I back off the carbs and strength training and throw in a lot of aerobic work.  So as you see, it depends what a person's goals are. 

Here are some things to consider.  The higher the intensity, the greater the need for recovery.  So, if a person is doing metcon or CrossFit training four or five days per week, the stress response or cortisol levels are going to be so high that they will eventually experience adrenal fatigue, a compromised immune system and ultimately crash or burn out which defeats the purpose.  The same thing can happen with strength training or any other type of training.  The trick is to allow the body enough recovery to time to make the improvements or adaptations.  With that in mind, here are some benefits of exercise:

• improve insulin sensitivity
• reduce body fat..which means less lipokynes, fat hormones, that cause serious problems
• improved mobility
• decrease risk of injury
• increased muscle mass, which burns fat
• increased cardio respiratory endurance
• improved mood, behavior and memory
• increased bone density
• increased testosterone and HGH levels

I can go on, but this is a great start and with a few simple guidelines.  One of the arguments I always get is "Well it's just too expensive to eat healthy," or "I can't afford a gym membership."  Consider this, a few extra dollars a week, which leads to a healthier, happier you, or eat crappy and look and feel crappy and spend a lot of money on medical expenses.  A no-brainer here.  As far as exercise goes, no gym is required.  Get out and do some sprints, air squats, push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, or go play some frisbee. 

Here is an article about how barbell training is "big medicine" from Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength website.  It is a little lengthy, but poses some strong arguments for the importance of exercise.

Here is a great video, not too long, that is very impressive and inspiring: Dr. Wahls video about MS.  Its really cool, check it out. 

Take care, and until next time, go get some sprints in and pick up something heavy.