there is no finish line...enjoy the ride...

What Are You Made Of?

My regular guest blogger, Dr Les Davidson and I align on most health related topics and this week is no exception.  Of the people that actually monitor their body weight, I wonder how many understand what makes up the number on their scale, and why is it important.  That’s the topic of today’s post by Dr Les.

Besides our nation being just lazy, the obesity epidemic gripping North America may be in part due to what I call, “health illiteracy”.  So many people have preconceived ideas of what “healthy” is, but in actual fact they score very low on the health literacy scale when it comes to nutrition, diet, body weight, fitness, sleep, stress, etc., and even lower on execution.

Specifically related to Dr Les’ topic of weight, I’m experiencing this “illiteracy” first hand as I train for the hardest amateur bike race in the world this August - Haute Route.   This 7 day stage race starts in Geneva and finishes in Nice France and covers 860km through the beautiful French Alps.  But it's not the distance that makes this race so grueling; it’s the 21,000 meters (68,000 feet) of climbing over the Alps that makes is so hard.  Below is the profile of the 7 days of racing facing the 600 participants of Haute Route. 

 

Given the amount and severity of climbing involved, special attention to a rider's body weight and its composition is of primary concern to every participant.  There’s a reason why cyclists pay more attention to their weight than international super models, and it has little to do with vanity.  In fact, it has everything to do with how much power a rider can produce for every kilogram of body weight.  And the relationship between power output and weight has greater sagnificance when long, steep mountain climbs are involved.

At the beginning of January, I weighed 171lbs, but to race Haute Route, I would have to shed between 15lbs to 20lbs to increase my “power-to-weight” ratio to over 4 watts/kg.  Losing weight is just half the battle, as one must also be mindful of what type of weight that's lost.  In my case, I want to lose body fat, while maintaining or even increasing lean muscle mass. 

There’s an old saying in business, “If you can measure it, you can manage it”.  So, at the beginning of February I started measuring my body fat using skin fold calipers.  By focusing on the quality and even more importantly, the quatity of food I consumed, I now weight 156lbs.  During this time I also gained 4lbs of lean muscle, so effectively I’ve lost 19lbs of body fat since January.  Since fat occupies more volume than muscle, I’ve also lost an inch from my chest, waist and hips, so I actually appear much thinner.  Below is my progression of weight loss and muscle gain since I started recording this information in February.

And here in lies the “health illiteracy” issue.

It seems in North America you can be overweight, or even obese, and no one will ever mention that you have a serious and potentially life threatening health issue.  In fact, a recent study found that over 60% of parents with overweight children considered them to be of normal weight.  But if you’re thin, as in healthy thin, people take it upon themselves to point out that you’re too thin and don’t look healthy.  Can you imagine the reaction you would receive if you told a friend that she was overweight and didn't look healthy?  The duel standard is because of three reasons:

1. Given there are so many overweight and obese people in North America, our mental model of what constitutes a healthy weight and size has been skewed over the decades.  People of a healthy thin composition are now in the minority and look different to the majority of overweight North Americans.
2. Most people are illiterate when it comes to what a healthy size and weight should be.  Just like the majority of people no longer know what represents a healthy food portion.  As a result, the bigger is better attitude prevails.
3. Finally, weight loss is generally associated with serious illnesses such as AIDS, Cancer or Eating Disorders.  My good friend Pierre LeClair who I coach was once 250lbs.  After losing 80lbs last year, he tells me people that haven’t seen him for a while ask him if he’s sick because he looks too thin, even though he’s the healthiest he’s been in decades.

This is obviously frustrating to a guy like myself that’s uber aware of my health and fitness, but more importantly, it draws attention to the fact that so many people are “health illiterate” which has negative consequences at both individual and national levels. 

Dr Les, has done a great job of framing the issue, why it’s important to understand what you’re made of, monitoring techniques, and how to bring yourself back to a healthy and well proportioned size. 

As always with much of what I share, “knowledge is power, but action flicks the switch”. 

Enjoy the ride….Rob

 

What Are You Made Of?

by: Dr Les Davidson

What are you made of? Or stated more technically, what is your body composition? Are you a lean, mean athletic machine, or are you getting a little soft?  Every year billions (with a “b”) of dollars are spent on weight-loss endeavors in North America. Beyond the obvious — looking good at the beach — is there any reason to be concerned about the composition of your body.

As a competitive wrestler throughout high school and university, the scale was a constant companion because we were grouped according to our weight classes for competition.  I learned quickly that the quality of my weight was crucial; reducing extraneous fat became an important objective. Forty years later the challenge to maintain an optimum fat to muscle ratio is still there but my motivation is less about competing and more about remaining healthy and active. In order to do that, I need to pay close attention to my body composition.

Body composition is simply a measurement of lean body mass (bones, muscles, ligaments and organs) compared to fat mass which is referred to as adipose tissue. Technology allows us to accurately measure the amount of lean mass versus fat mass. These measurements are expressed as percentages of overall weight and knowing these percentages and what they indicate is important to your health.

A certain amount of body fat is essential to insulate our body, protect our organs from trauma, provide energy, and to assist hormone production necessary for reproduction. The amount of essential fat will vary dependent on sex and age but there are recommendations for ideal body fat percentages. The table below from the American Council on Exercise is typical fat percentages.

	Male	Female
Essential fat	3-5%	10-16%
Competitive Athletes	6-13%	14-20%
Recreational Athletes	14-18%	21-24%
Average	19-20%	25-31%
Obese	25+%	32+%

 

An equally important variable is where the fat is located; excess fat found at the waist (also known as central obesity) is associated with increased risk to our health. Our waists are thickened not just by the fat we can feel but also because excess fat accumulates around the organs (visceral adipose tissue).

Historically, we believed this fat to be an inert storage of extra energy. Medical science has now come to understand that adipose tissue is a major endocrine organ that produces hormones associated with insulin resistance and general body inflammation. The conditions associated with excess fat are often discussed as separate syndromes but in reality, they are a group of interrelated issues that cascade into ill health. Insulin resistance and inflammation leads to Metabolic Syndrome or Syndrome X — conditions associated with an elevated risk of Type Two diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease. There is also strong evidence that Metabolic Syndrome increases risk for certain Cancers. Then there is the impact that excess adipose tissue has on the musculoskeletal system with increased back pain and damage to the weight-bearing joints of the lower extremities. In my office each day I see patients impacted by being overweight. It may not cause their back, hip or knee pain but it aggravates their symptoms and limits their ability to be as active as needed to regain good health.

Determining your risk:

Body weight alone is a poor indicator of body composition as it does not differentiate between lean tissue (bones, muscles, connective tissue and organs) and body fat. There is no single ideal percentage of body fat for everyone. Estimating body composition is attempted with the body mass index using the variables of weight and height (weight divided by height squared). More accurate methods using DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) or hydrostatic weighing (calculating what sinks (lean mass) versus what floats (fat) when the client is submerged under water) are often difficult for most individuals to access. Using calipers to measure skin folds or employing Bioimpedance are affected by the skill of the person measuring and the formulas applied, but can be easily mastered with a little practice. At our office we employ the bioimpedance method. With careful attention to patient hydration and selection of the optimum formula, we have had results that match closely to results of the DEXA scan.

Another method to stratify those who have high levels of body fat ignores the percentage of lean mass and body fat and focuses instead on the amount of belly fat. Measuring your waist circumference may be a more sensitive test because, as I mentioned, Intra-abdominal or visceral fat (regardless of overall body fat) has a particularly strong correlation with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancers and other life shortening diseases. There are three ways that this measurement is used to quantify risk:

1. Waist circumference, Absolute waist circumference (>102 cm in men and >88 cm in women)
2. Waist–hip ratio (the circumference of the waist divided by that of the hips of >0.9 for men and >0.85 for women)[19]
3. Waist circumference divided into height. This has been described as the index of central obesity. (0 .5 or greater is suggested as a sign of increased risk. More specifically the range for women was suggested to .47-.54 and for men as .51-.58).

Reducing the risk:

1. Diet: You cannot exercise at the same pace you can eat so it is critical to moderate your calories regardless of the protein, fat or carbohydrate content of your food or the amount you exercise. Look for food in a natural state with no “improvements” by the food industry (such as partially hydrogenated fat, preservatives or high-fructose corn syrup).
2. Exercise: Just remember we are designed to move and not doing so compromises our health. Vary the intensity and duration and include resistance activity. This challenge becomes greater as we age because hormonal shifts make building lean mass harder and layering on fat easier
3. Sleep: Sleeping too little or of a poor interrupted quality increases insulin resistance and raises cortisol the stress hormone. (See Rob’s blog, The Sleep Mistake Many of Us Make)
4. Stress reduction: Being overwhelmed or on heightened alert increases the sympathetic nervous system activity. This releases cortisol and directly increases belly fat. Moderating our moods by eating or drinking too much is often seen in response to stressful situations.

The body has tremendous recuperative powers if it is provided with the right inputs. March is Nutrition month and I would like to encourage you to think of the importance of quantity as well as quality of your food! Exercise is critical for good health but it can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet! Don’t pursue some unrealistic and media-hyped expectation for your body.  People come in all shapes and sizes but no shape is improved by an expanding layer of belly fat.

Pay more attention to what you’re made of. This will be good for your health and you just might look better on the beach this summer!

Four Common Diet and Exercise Myths Dispelled

Is it any wonder why so many North Americans are frustrated with the barrage of mixed messages regarding their diets and the roll of exercise?   It’s my attempt to provide some clarity to many of misconceptions that guide people to their lifestyle choices, and as a result I write about and often share other articles that I feel assist in making informed health decisions for yourself and your families.

That being said, I came across an excellent article by Dr Mark Hyman that exposes four myths about health and lifestyle choices that I’ve written about in the past, but has consolidated them into one article.  Dr Hyman dispels the following common myths:

Myth 1: Diet Soda and Diet Drinks Don’t Make You Fat or Cause Type 2 Diabetes

Myth 2: Eating Fat Makes You Fat

Myth 3: Being Overweight Is Your Fault

Myth 4: Exercise Your Way to Weight Loss

As I’ve often said, “Knowledge is Power, but Action flicks the Switch.  Dr Hyman has provided clarity to 4 of the most common myths about diet and exercise, and after reading this; it’s up to you to put this information into action.

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

 

How Diet Soda Makes You Fat (and Other Food and Diet Industry Myths)

By Dr Mark Hyman, MD

How do you lose weight? Substitute diet drinks for sugary drinks. Eat low-fat foods. Just eat less of the bad foods -- it's all about the calories. We are told, "Just have more willpower."

These ideas are false. They are food and diet industry propaganda that make and keep us fat and sick. Lies by the food industry combined with bad government policy based on food industry lobbying are the major cause of our obesity and diabetes epidemic. Now, more than 35 percent of Americans are obese, and almost 70 percent are overweight. This is not an accident but the result of careful marketing and money in politics.

We are told it is all about making better choices. If we all took more personal responsibility, we could stop this obesity and diabetes epidemic. We have been told there are no good or bad foods, that the key to weight loss is moderation. And, of course, if we all just exercised more, all of us would lose weight. These myths hold us hostage. So, what doesn’t the Food and Diet industry want you to know?

Myth 1: Diet Soda and Diet Drinks Don’t Make You Fat and Cause Type 2 Diabetes

Diet soda DOES makes people fat? Really? How does that happen?

If losing weight were all about the calories, then consuming diet drinks would seem like a good idea. That's certainly what Coca-Cola wants us to believe in their new ad highlighting their efforts to fight obesity. They proudly promote the fact that they have 180 low- or no-calorie drinks and that they cut sugared drinks in schools by 90 percent.

Is that a good thing? In fact, it may be worse than having us all drink regular Coke (and the other food giants making diet drinks also push the same propaganda). A new 14-year study of 66,118 women (supported by many other previous studies) found that the opposite seems to be true. Diet drinks may be worse than sugar-sweetened drinks, which are worse than fruit juices (but only fresh-squeezed fruit juices).

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, discovered some frightening facts that should make us all swear off diet drinks and products.

1. Diet sodas raised the risk of diabetes more than sugar-sweetened sodas!
2. Women who drank one 12-ounce diet soda had a 33 percent increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, and women who drank one 20-ounce soda had a 66 percent increased risk.
3. Women who drank diet sodas drank twice as much as those who drank sugar-sweetened sodas because artificial sweeteners are more addictive and are hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar.
4. The average diet soda drinker consumes three diet drinks a day.

You might say that people who are overweight and just about to get diabetes drink more diet soda, but they scientifically controlled for body weight. And they found the artificial sweeteners increased diabetes independent of body weight!  This and other research shows how diet sodas make people fat and sick.

And that diet drinks may be even worse than regular sugar-sweetened sodas! How does that happen?

• Artificial sweeteners are hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, activating our genetically-programmed preference for sweet taste more than any other substance.
• They trick your metabolism into thinking sugar is on its way. This causes your body to pump out insulin, the fat storage hormone, which lays down more belly fat.
• It also confuses and slows your metabolism down, so you burn fewer calories every day.
• It makes you hungrier and crave even more sugar and starchy carbs like bread and pasta.
• In animal studies, the rats that consumed artificial sweeteners ate more, their metabolism slowed, and they put on 14 percent more body fat in just two weeks -- even eating fewer calories.
• In population studies, there was a 200 percent increased risk of obesity in diet soda drinkers.

I love Taylor Swift. I met her last summer. She is a wonderful person with great integrity. I don't think she knows about this research, and I hope someone shares it with her so she can save millions of children and fans from drinking Diet Coke because she endorses it.

Bottom line: There is no free ride. Diet drinks are not good substitutes for sugar-sweetened drinks. They increase cravings, weight gain, and Type 2 diabetes. And they are addictive.

Myth 2: Eating Fat Makes You Fat

The diet and food industry has brainwashed us to eat fat-free foods, which seems like common sense. Eating fats makes you fat. Right? But the science tells us otherwise -- not all calories are created equal. And even though fat has more calories per gram (9 calories vs. 4 calories of carbs and protein), eating fat can help you lose weight.

This low-fat idea was based on bad science. Our government told us in the 1970s to go on a low-fat diet and to eat 8-11 servings of rice, bread, and pasta a day. And unfortunately, we listened. This was the beginning of our obesity and diabetes epidemic. The food industry happily created a flood of fat-free foods.

But the science has proven that eating fat doesn't make you fat -- sugar does. And it is sugar, not fat, that raises your cholesterol despite what people and most doctors still believe. A 20-ounce soda is fat-free, but that doesn't make it a health food. If cookies were fat-free, then you can eat the whole bag, right?

But the fat is replaced with flour and sugar, and the result we now have is one in two adults with diabesity -- that's pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes -- and almost one in four teenagers with pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes. We did a 10-day sugar-free detox with our online community, and 600 people lost more than 4,000 pounds in 10 days!

So why does eating fat free make you fat and diabetic?

In a recent Harvard study, Dr. David Ludwig found that in two groups eating exactly the same calories, the group that had the low-fat diet (which means higher in sugars and starches) burned 300 calories less per day. Their metabolism was slower than the group eating the higher fat and higher protein diet.

If you ate the higher-fat, higher-protein diet (of exactly the same calories), it is the equivalent of running for one hour a day. In other words, if you just swap out sugars and starches for good quality fats and protein, it will be like you added an hour of free exercise a day to your life without any change in calorie intake!

Bottom Line: The key point here is that all calories are not the same. Swap out sugar and starch for good fats such as nuts, avocados, olive oil, and grass-fed animal products or wild fish. Be a "qualitarian." Focus on quality, on real food, and the rest takes care of itself.

Myth 3: Being Overweight Is Your Fault

The food industry would have us believe that controlling our weight is about personal responsibility. Tell that to a 200-pound 5-year-old with diabetes and liver failure. Our taste buds have been hijacked by the food and diet industry. We are programmed to like sweet, salt, and fat tastes.

And those slick combinations of sugar, fat and salt in junk and processed food have hijacked our taste buds, our brain chemistry, and our metabolism. These foods are biologically addictive. We are held hostage by the food industry and we blame ourselves. This is food terrorism!

How does food addiction happen?

New research shows that industrial food full of processed sugars, fats, salt, and chemicals are powerfully addictive. And sugar is the worst culprit. One animal study found that sugar is more addictive than cocaine. When rats were given the choice between mainline cocaine right into their veins or sweetened water (in fact, they used an artificial sweetener), they found that sugar was eight times more addictive than cocaine. Even the rats already addicted to cocaine switched over to diet drinks!

And what's even more interesting is that while cocaine and heroin activate only one spot for pleasure in the brain, sugar lights up the brain like a pinball machine. If these foods are addictive and drive overeating, then the whole idea of moderation just doesn't work. Hey, just have that one line of cocaine or that one hit of heroin.

We can't stop eating, but we can stop eating junk and sugar! So we have to take back our taste buds, take back our brain chemistry, and take back our bodies from the food and diet industry. How do we do that?

Bottom Line: By eating real food -- chicken, fish, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, beans, and a little whole grains will reset your taste buds and your brain chemistry automatically.

Myth 4: Exercise Your Way to Weight Loss

The food industry and diet industry push exercise. Even Michelle Obama's childhood obesity initiative focuses on exercise in its name, Let's Move. But it should be really called Let's Eat Real Food.  Here's why. Sugar-sweetened drinks make up about 15 percent of our calorie intake every day. But you have to walk 4.5 miles to burn off one 20-ounce soda, which contains 15 teaspoons of sugar.

You have to run four miles a day for one week to burn off one supersize meal. If you have one supersize meal everyday you would have to run a marathon every day! You can't exercise your way out of bad diet -- except if you run a marathon every day.

Drinking 32 ounces of Gatorade after a workout is a dumb idea, unless you run around like Kobe Bryant on the basketball court for 48 minutes. There are better ways to replenish your energy and electrolytes than colored sugar water with a few minerals sprinkled in. To paraphrase my friend Bill Clinton, "It's the food, stupid!"

Bottom Line: Exercise is critical to long-term health and weight loss, but you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet.

Thankfully, science is shedding light on the ideas that keep us fat and sick. Unfortunately, scientists don't have billion-dollar marketing budgets. But we as a community of thinking people wanting real information can speak out, can spread the word and turn the tide of obesity and chronic disease together.

Believe ‘A Calorie is a Calorie’? Coke says it is....Think Again!

I read the following article today by Dr Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF, and President of the Institute for Responsible Nutrition. 

I’ve shared Dr Lustig’s research and information in the past and given Coca Cola’ latest slick new 2 minute ad – Coming Together on YouTube suggesting to their consumers that a Calorie is a Calorie, thereby implying that it’s the fault of the general public for the obesity epidemic because they offer reduced and low calorie options (claiming no culpability on their part) is reprehensible, but predictable.

 

Dr Lustig’s research below is certainly timely given this slick piece of marketing and something every person that cares about their health and the health of their families should know and understand. 

Let's be clear, companies like Coca Cola, PepsiCo, and others that market processed foods are no friends of yours, mine or our families when it comes to selling products that are harmful to our health and the health of our families. They care only about revenues at the expense of a healthcare system that are struggling and on life support, while giving little consideration for their customers that are addicted to their unhealthy products.

Think about your health the next time you reach for the “Real Thing”, because you're not only paying for their products, you're also paying for a dying healthcare system.

I’ve copied the full article written by Dr Lustig for your convenience below.

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

Still Believe ‘A Calorie is a Calorie’?

By Dr Robert Lustig

If you do, you fly in the face of mounting and incontrovertible evidence that some calories -- in particular, "sugar calories" -- are jeopardizing both your and your family's health. Physicians and politicians who cling to the dogma that "all calories should be treated equally" imperil our country's health care system, food supply and standing in the world for the next hundred years.

A calorie is a measurement of energy (a matter of physics), not a value judgment on where that energy goes (a matter of biochemistry). As my book Fat Chance explains, you get sick from inappropriate energy storage (in your liver and muscle), not defective energy balance (bigger love handles). Nonetheless, "a calorie is a calorie" continues to be promulgated by the food industry as their defense against their culpability for the current epidemic of obesity and chronic metabolic disease. But it is as dishonest as a three-dollar bill. Here are just four examples that refute this dogma:

1. Fiber. You eat 160 calories in almonds, but you absorb only 130. The fiber in the almonds delays absorption of calories into the bloodstream, delivering those calories to the bacteria in your intestine, which chew them up. Because a calorie is not a calorie.
2. Protein. When it comes to food, you have to put energy in to get energy out. You have to put twice as much energy in to metabolize protein as you do carbohydrate; this is called the thermic effect of food. So protein wastes more energy in its processing. Plus protein reduces hunger better than carbohydrate. Because a calorie is not a calorie.
3. Fat. All fats release nine calories per gram when burned. But omega-3 fats are heart-healthy and will save your life, while trans fats clog your arteries, leading to a heart attack. Because a calorie is not a calorie.
4. Sugar. This is the "big kahuna" of the "big lie." Sugar is not one chemical. It's two. Glucose is the energy of life. Every cell in every organism on the planet can burn glucose for energy. Glucose is mildly sweet, but not very interesting (think molasses). Fructose is an entirely different animal. Fructose is very sweet, the molecule we seek. Both burn at four calories per gram. If fructose were just like glucose, then sugar or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) would be just like starch. But fructose is not glucose. Because a calorie is not a calorie.

Up until now, scientists have shown that sugar is "associated" or "correlated" with various chronic metabolic diseases. For instance, the increase in sugar consumption over the past 30 years paralleled the increase in obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Areas that drink more soda (e.g., the American Southeast) experience higher prevalences of these diseases. But correlation is not causation.

Which direction do the data go? Does sugar cause obesity and metabolic disease? Or do obese people with metabolic disease drink soda? You can't tell, because you only have one point in time -- the snapshot, not the movie. In the February 27 issue of the journal PLoS One, my colleagues Dr. Sanjay Basu, Paula Yoffe, Nancy Hills and I put this issue to rest, because we now have the movie.[1]

We asked the question, "What in the world's food supply explains diabetes rates, country-by-country, over the last decade?" We melded databases from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAOSTAT), which measures food availability, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), which measures diabetes prevalence, the World Bank World Development Economic Indicators, and the World Health Organization Global Infobase. We assessed total calories; meat (protein); oils (fat); cereals (glucose); pulses, nuts, vegetables, roots, and tubers (fiber); fruit excluding wine (natural sugar); and sugar, sugarcrops, and sweeteners (added sugar). We controlled for poverty, urbanization, aging, and most important, obesity and physical activity.

Bottom line -- only changes in sugar availability explained changes in diabetes prevalence worldwide; nothing else mattered.

Total caloric availability was unrelated to diabetes prevalence; for every extra 150 calories per day, diabetes prevalence rose by only 0.1 percent. But if those 150 calories per day happened to be a can of soda, diabetes prevalence rose 11-fold, by 1.1 percent (and Americans on average consume the added sugar equivalent of 2.5 cans of soda per day, so that's 2.75 percent!). And this effect of sugar was exclusive of obesity; controlling for body mass index did not negate the effect. Even more important, we showed that the change in sugar availability preceded the change in diabetes (that's cause, not effect); and we showed directionality -- those countries where sugar availability rose showed increases in diabetes, while those where sugar availability fell showed decreases in diabetes. This is a very robust signal, with little noise. While epidemiology can't prove scientific causation, the data allow for objective inference. Sugar drives diabetes worldwide, and unrelated to its calories.

When you do the math, fully one-quarter of the world's diabetes is explained by sugar alone.

The food industry has contaminated the American food supply with added sugar to "sell more product" and thereby uphold their Wall Street mandate to increase profits. Of the 600,000 food items in the American grocery store, 80 percent have been spiked with added sugar; and the industry uses 56 other names for sugar on the label. They know when they add sugar, you buy more. And because you do not know you're buying it, you buy even more.

The outcome: By the year 2050, one-third of all Americans will have diabetes. Trustees of the Medicare program predict that Medicare will be broke by 2024. No health care for you. Yet just six weeks ago, Coca-Cola had the temerity to introduce its two-minute ad "Coming Together," in which they say: "All calories count" because a calorie is a calorie; if you're fat, it's your fault (they claim no culpability); and because they make non-caloric drinks, they're part of the solution. The problem is that a calorie is not a calorie; if non-caloric drinks are the solution, then by inference they're saying that caloric drinks are the problem.

Sugar in excess is a toxin, unrelated to its calories. The dose determines the poison. Like alcohol, a little sugar is fine, but a lot is not. And the food industry has put us way over our limit.

The food industry will summon their spin doctors. They will yet again argue that the statistics are wrong, the interpretation is too broad -- but they will not be able to effectively refute the science. They haven't yet, and they won't succeed now. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and it's shining brightly on the food industry's practices. They will continue the propaganda, and try to sow the seeds of doubt. But they will be on the losing end of this battle. The UK and Australia have just this past week laid down stricter guidelines for sugar consumption. The people and scientists of the United States are onto them as well. It's just a matter of time before the politicians follow.

Robert H. Lustig, M.D., is Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF, and President of the Institute for Responsible Nutrition (responsiblefoods.org), at which the Doctors' Food Project is the first campaign. He is currently getting his Masters in Studies of Law at UC Hastings College of the Law. His YouTube lecture, "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" has been viewed over 3 million times. His book, Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease (Hudson Street Press, 2012), is in bookstores now.

Calories are NOT Created Equally

I’d like to share with you an article I recently read in Bicycle Magazine that’s excellent “food for thought” (pardon the pun).  And not just for cyclists, but for anyone that’s interested in maintaining a healthy weight.  It's often suggested that it doesn't matter if the calories you eat comes from a donut, or an apple, because a calorie is a calorie and the body doesn’t know the difference.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Let’s start with some basics.  There are 3,500 calories in every pound of body weight and when you exercise you burn a varying amount of calories depending on your activity and intensity. For example, I zap around 9 to 10 calories every minute when I’m riding my bike, which means a guy weighing 159 pounds like myself will burn between 500 and 600 calories on a typical one hour bike ride—roughly the calories in a 6-inch Spicy Italian Subway sub. (If you're heavier, you shed more calories; if you're lighter, you lose less.)

Most people that exercise generally overestimate how many calories they’re burning up during their workout.  And if they eat an energy bar and drink a sports drink, they’ve effectively cancelled any calorie burn.  According to Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, director of sports nutrition at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, “Surveys show that many exercisers overestimate the calories they burn by nearly double and unless every morsel has a food label, it's difficult to know how many calories are consumed and even harder to know how much you're burning."  And it goes without saying that your average couch potato has no clue what they’re consuming and unfortunately they couldn’t care less.  In fact, the only time they take an interest is when they’re told they have heart disease, cancer, or diabetes.

As mentioned above, a calorie is a measurement of the energy in food. And for years we've been told a calorie is a calorie. According to Bonci, "Foods close to their natural state, such as fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean, whole cuts of meat, require energy from your body to chew and digest them. They create a thermic response, which means you burn calories just processing them."

Bonci and other experts partly blame the preponderance of "lazy calories" for the current obesity epidemic. "Our food is so heavily processed, it's practically predigested," she says. "That fast-food burger you eat from McDonalds has gone through so much pulverization, you barely have to chew. We're losing the ability to burn calories as we naturally would during the eating and digestive process." And many of these same foods are calorie-dense, so there's more for your body to store.

Neither Bonci nor I suggest counting calories as it takes the joy out of eating and ends up a futile venture. Instead, fill your plate with active calories, like those found in fruits and vegetables. Such foods possess more fiber and water, which means you digest them slowly, feel satisfied longer with longer-lasting energy.  Consider them as, "free foods" and eat as many as you want.

By simply changing the composition of your plate, you will lose weight without worrying about hunger pangs, counting calories, or bonking episodes if you’re a cyclist like me. Below shows what a "high performance plate" should look like. Structuring your meals this way will allow you to fill up without filling out.

The Performance Plate

• One-quarter to one-third of your meal should consist of active and semiactive calories from protein such as lean meat, skinless poultry, fish, eggs and low-fat dairy.
• One-half should be active calories from fruits and vegetables (for the fill-and-chew factor).
• One-quarter should be active and semiactive calories from whole-grain starches: brown rice, whole-wheat pasta.
• Couch Potato calories should be consumed sparingly; and if you are overweight (BMI greater than 24.8) try your best to avoid them completely.

Active Calories

• Lean meat, fish, poultry
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Leafy greens
• Whole grains
• Beans and legumes

Semiactive Calories

• Fiber-rich cereal
• Whole-grain bread
• Low-fat dairy
• Soups

Couch Potato Calories

• Pastries, cookies, pies, cakes
• Fatty processed meats
• Chips, pretzels, snack foods
• Fast food

So being mindful of foods that are not only nutritious, but require energy to digest, you won’t have to starve yourself on one of those crazy diet programs that force you to count every calorie while depriving yourself the enjoyment of eating for pleasure as well as nourishment. 

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

I'm Not the Man I Was...I'm Healthy Now

I usually write a blog that coincides with the 1^st of January when people set their New Year’s Resolutions.  The number one Resolution people announce has something to do with their health. I generally explain the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and describe in detail the risks associated with the unhealthy alternative. This year is different.  I intentionally held off writing the same old message. 

First, I decided to write a post mid way through January, because according to statistics, 70% of all people that make New Year’s Resolutions have already abandoned their commitment to a new lifestyle and retreated back to their favorite couch in front of the TV while eating unhealthy food and washing it down with soda, beer or a glass of wine. 

Second, instead of “preaching” the benefits and risks associate with lifestyle choices, I decided to share a story written by Peter Leclaire.  I coached Peter last year and he finishing one of the hardest single day cycling races in the world.  What’s most impressive is when I started coaching Peter he weighed around 245lbs, and after 10 months of committing himself to a healthy lifestyle, Peter dropped his weight by 80lbs, to 165lbs and has become a lean, mean cycling machine.

It’s my hope that by reading Peter’s transformational story, you too will be inspired by what’s possible when you take action and make this Year’s Resolution the one that sticks for the rest of your life. 

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

 

My Journey to Health - by Peter LeClaire

Ever since Robert (AKA: Coach) asked me to write my story describing my transformational journey soon after racing Etape du Tour back in July of 2012, I’ve been struggling how to best write this. I had many ideas floating in my head where to start my story, how to fill in the middle and provide an ending with a call to action for those who like me were sitting on the sidelines.  Below is my story and I hope it inspires you to make the lifestyle changes I embraced, regardless of your age, your gender or starting weight.

My life, like many of yours, is fairly ordinary. I’m a 50+ year old guy that has time commitments of work, family, friends, etc.  I’m not an overachieving “AAA” personality with a strong take-charge mentality, but I am a passionate individual who generally loves what he does and sticks to it once started. This is especially true when people support and believe in me. This is where my story starts.

About 5 years ago I registered for my first charity bike ride, a back to back metric century (100km) in support of the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, one of the largest charity rides in Canada.  At this point I had never thought of a bike ride in terms of distance, only in terms of time. I was excited about being part of something bigger than myself and raising money for a great cause in addition to joining over 4000 cyclists with the same goal. What I didn’t realize was how hard it was to get my fat behind (and I mean fat) out the door and actually do some training. I had no real game plan except to put some time on the saddle. I was quite overweight and considered obese even though I was reasonably active in other sports, but it didn’t take me long to realize just how out of shape I was when I began climbing hills I found myself gasping for each breath by the time I reached the summit feeling the negative effects a poor cardiovascular system and carrying so much extra body fat. I’m happy to report that I can laugh at those days now, but at the time it was not only painful, but provided a view into my general fitness level.

I completed that first charity ride that spanned over a weekend and besides having fun, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment I immediately signed up for the next year’s event. This is when I realized the importance of setting a major goal for myself each year and cycling was the “vehicle” for me. Although I was still overweight, I participated in the Ride to Conquer Cancer four years in a row with the last two events being back to back 160km rides.  I erroneously felt that since I was doing all this riding I could reward myself with over abundant meals that were for the most part, unhealthy.

I think I can say that my real transformation started two years ago when I was in France on vacation and had the opportunity to ride with Coach’s step brother Gerry Patterson who has been blogging about his cycling adventures and guided tours throughout the South of France. I contacted Gerry through his blog and we scheduled a guided day ride. The only thing I knew about our outing was that we were going for an 80km ride in the hills behind Nimes. I mean really, how tough could it be. I had a vision of a pleasant cycle through the rolling French countryside, but the reality was a far cry from what I had imagined in my head.  How naive was I? As much as I struggled that day, and I mean struggled as it was probably the hardest physical thing I had done in my life up until that point, it was an epiphany. Gerry was telling me about completing his first Etape de Tour race, or riding up the famous Mont Ventoux and it dawned on me that I would love to do a big mountain climb like that one day. I couldn’t believe I was actually thinking this because I’m the same guy that hated climbing any hill and used to ride out of my way just to avoid them.

The biggest part of my transformation was to set a big goal, and after listening to Gerry talk about his riding and racing adventures I proceeded to sign up for what would become the biggest physical challenge of my life, the L’Etape du Tour 2012 – Act 2. For those who don’t know, this was an actual Tour de France stage, but for amateurs. This particular race was 202km and located in the high Pyrenees Mountains.  It was the hardest stage of that year’s Tour de France.

It would be an understatement of colossal proportion to say this was a huge undertaking and probably something in my physical condition that bordered on impossible.  In fact, there were many times I thought to myself that I must be nuts to attempt such a physically demanding event. I knew I couldn’t do this alone and needed some guidance and structure to my training if I was going to accomplish this monumental task, and I had no idea how I was going to get it. Talk about setting an audacious goal.

It was at this time that I was introduced to Robert Armstrong by Gerry. Robert was looking for someone to train as he often does from time to time.  Gerry mentioned that I had signed up for the Etape du Tour race and recommend I contact his step brother for some training tips, as he coached him to his first Etape de Race.  Well be careful what you wish for, because I received more than a few coaching tips.  I think it was when I mentioned my weight to Rob that he realized I needed more than just a few coaching tips.  In fact, my challenge was a total life makeover.  Rob didn’t want to kill my dream of participating in this great race, but he said there was no way I could finish in my current condition and he was genuinely concerned for my long term health.  Rob didn’t charge me for his services, so he spent a long time qualifying my interest and personal commitment to the transformation plan and it wasn’t an easy process.  He told me that most people fail because they embark on these journeys for all the wrong reasons.  I basically had to convince him that I was worth his time, and I must have done a good job, because he took me on.  So as I said above, be careful what you wish for, because although Coach was supportive, he showed me no mercy.

Even though his training program was communicated via email, because he lives in Calgary and I’m in the Toronto area, I felt his encouragement every day. If this was to work he said, there has to be complete honesty between the two of us. Coach sent me new dietary principals that I had to follow without question and he expected I follow it to the letter before we even started on the cycling training program.  He told me things about myself that were hard to hear, but it was the wake-up call I needed.  Commitment to my general health, given I was obese was far more important than riding a bike in some race in France.  But cycling was also the catalyst to get me to the end point. He explained the many health reasons why getting my size under control from my current weight of 245lbs back to my senior high school weight of 170 lbs was important.  I just thought he was nuts when he suggested I could lose 80lbs in 9 months.

Changing my diet was difficult at first because it was based on the healthy foods I rarely ate, like Vegetables, Fruits, Salads, and a healthy balance of Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat.  He also said no alcohol until I was back to a healthy weight.   These were tough choices indeed.  Changing from a lifetime of self abuse based on bad food choices and avoiding sugars like soda pop & concentrated fruit juices, processed convenient foods, as well as simple carbohydrates was very difficult. These were all the foods that contributed to my weight gain and provided me with the comfort I desired.  This was a significant change, but after his big speech about commitment to each other, it was tough to let him down, but more important, I wasn’t about to let myself down.

The next step was making exercise a daily priority. Coach set up my program in 4 week periods. It started with approximately 7 hours of structured training per week, which progressively got harder and longer as the winter season wore on.  This was not to say that I didn’t grumble to myself more than a few times and that I was exhausted and tried to convince myself that couldn’t do this.  Every time that happened I focussed my thoughts knowing the big picture goal: a new me with a new healthy body with a newer outlook on life. Many of my friends witnessed my transformation right in front of their eyes as the excess fat started to melt away. As much as I was seeing and feeling the positive effects of Coach’s training program and dietary principles, I still remained focused on the big goal ahead, which was getting scarier by the minute as the Etape de Tour got closer and closer.

Since reducing a significant amount of body fat by the time the outdoor season arrived (by March/April I was weighing around 180), my overall riding significantly improved and my ability to climb hills was easier than I ever experienced. In addition to my new found energy, my wife was tossing out all my oversized clothes.  I had gone from a size extra large in everything I owned, to a size medium. I couldn’t remember the last time I wore a medium in anything, but there I was wearing a new skin tight cycling kit 2 to 3 sizes smaller than I did a short 6 months before. I finally started to look like a real cyclist.  That being said, the other challenge I had to get used to was accepting my own self identity.  Every time I pasted a mirror or caught my reflection in a window, I didn’t recognize the skinny guy looking back at me.  And it wasn’t just me, many of my long time friends that I hadn’t seen for months didn’t recognize this new person that remotely looked like the fat guy they once knew. 

I found it strange that when I was obese, no one ever told me I was too fat, but now that I’m a very healthy size, with a BMI of 24, people will tell me all the time that I’m too thin.  I think we have so many overweight people in our country that used to look like me, we’ve lost track of what a healthy person should look like, because having a healthy weight is no longer “normal” in this country and people feel it’s ok to point out that you don’t look like the rest of the fat population.

2012 was a big year for me. In late 2011 I finally met the woman of my dreams whom I was to marry in July prior to going to France for Etape. It wasn’t a bad way to spend a honeymoon and do some cycling at the same time. My wife got to proudly watch me complete my goal of competing in Etape de Tour and only 3 days later climb the epic mountain of Mont Ventoux with a new friend John who was gracious enough to open his home to us for a few days. Thanks to Gerry for taking me out on that ride a couple years ago for without that single act of generosity, who knows who I would be today. You never know where that turn in the road takes you.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s imperative to set goals to keep yourself motivated. I love my new life of opportunities and I plan to stay this way.  I continue to train under the guidance of Coach Rob and have already seen further improvements in my fitness levels.

So what’s on my agenda for 2013?

I’ve signed up for another stage race in France which takes place in Lac Annecy on July 7th. I’m going to climb the epic mountain of Alpe D’huez (13.7km, 8.1% grade, 21 switchbacks, 1071 meters of climbing).  And if that isn’t enough, I plan to ride the famous mountain in the heart of Provence, Mt Ventoux, not once, but three times in the same day from the three different start towns. And finally back home I’ll do a couple 160km+ races. 

I share the list above not to brag, but to highlight the opportunities that are available to me now that I’ve taken control of my health and made it a priority in my life. I can truly enjoy my passion for cycling. I’ll never go back to my unhealthy self.  Take it from a guy that was obese and take control of your life, set a goal that scares you to hell, build a plan that includes someone to support and motivate you and most importantly, take action.  As the Nike slogan goes, “Just do It”.  Coach would often say to me,“Knowledge is power, but action flicks the switch”.  Well, I think by now most everyone knows what’s required to live a healthy lifestyle, it’s not rocket science.  Flick your switch and you too can enjoy an exciting life that isn’t held back by any physical limitations. 

Best of health.....Peter LeClaire.

Alzheimer's - don't let it steal your life

Last week my uncle died and his funeral was held on Monday.  He lived in Edinburgh Scotland, so I wasn’t that close to him as I’ve lived in Canada all my life and we’ve only met a few times.  Even still, it was a sad day when I received this news.  I was further saddened when I heard my Aunt wasn’t able to attend his funeral because she suffers from Alzheimer’s and it would have been too confusing for her.  Alzheimer’s seems to run in my family, as two other Aunts of mine, who have both since passed away, also had this disease. 

When it’s all said and done, life is nothing more than a collection of experiences and memories.  All your worldly possessions don’t add up to much when you can’t recall the life you lived.  This horrible disease robs people of their most precious asset...their mind.  For me, the most frightening consequence of aging is the possible loss of my mental faculties. Utter the phrase “Alzheimer’s disease” – especially to someone like me who’s seen three family members touched by it – and people’s expressions tend to get a bit strained.

Although Alzheimer’s can affect younger people, it’s the most common cause of memory loss among the elderly. With the first baby boomers reaching age 65 in 2012, healthcare experts are predicting that many citizens will spend their final years either suffering from Alzheimer’s or caring for loved ones who have it. 

Alzheimer’s is currently the only condition among the top ten causes of death that cannot be prevented, cured or even delayed. While death rates for other major diseases like stroke, heart disease, HIV, and several cancers – have declined in recent years or at least remaining constant, those with Alzheimer’s continue to climb at an alarming rate. Despite this grim trend, in 2011 the National Institutes of Health spent about one-tenth as much for Alzheimer’s research as it did on cancer, heart disease and HIV/AIDS. 

Given the lack of focus and funding for this mental health illness, it’s going to be a while before any meaningful treatment for Alzheimer’s is forthcoming.  Like I’ve said many times before, what you do today has a profound impact on your health in the distant future, and this doesn’t only apply to your physical health, but also your mental health.  So you might want to take care of your brain today to avoid being a statistic in the future.  I suggest the following:

1. Avoid unhealthy brain habits: Stop smoking, avoid recreational drugs and limit alcohol consumption to a maximum of one (women) or two (men) drinks daily. Smoking damages the blood vessels that feed your brain, and substance abuse including social alcohol consumption destroys neurons that simply cannot be replaced.
2. Eat a healthy diet: When planning your meals, rely heavily on vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains and nuts. These foods contain vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other compounds that are essential for neurotransmitter synthesis, healthy nerves and robust circulation. Limit red meats, which can be artery-clogging and increase oily, cold water fish, which is excellent for normal brain function.
3. Exercise your body: 60 minutes of exercise daily not only protects your heart, strengthens your muscles and builds strong bones; it also helps delay the onset of dementia like no other medication. You don’t have to take up triathlons either, simple walking will do.  Walking improves balance, aerobic conditioning and cerebral blood flow.
4. Exercise your brain: A 2009 study in the journal Neurology demonstrated that people who read, write, learn a new language, do crossword puzzles, play board games or cards, play musical instruments or regularly participate in group discussions are less likely to develop dementia. The study’s authors reported that every mentally stimulating activity you undertake will delay the onset of dementia. Besides wanting to retire to the South of France where the ability to speak French is necessary, learning this language to exercise my brain is the second reason I picked up the Rosetta Stone program.  Who knows if I’ll be able to speak French fluently, maybe not, but it sure is fun learning and like physical exercise helping my heart, I know learning French is helping my brain.
5. Address your medical issues: If you have high triglycerides, high blood pressure, high lipid levels, or diabetes, or if you’re packing on more body fat than you should, see your doctor or medical provider to get these problems addressed immediately. Uncontrolled hypertension or chronically elevated blood glucose or lipid levels wreak havoc on your brain and contribute to memory loss. Studies show that people who are obese during their youth and middle age are 40% to 80% more likely to develop dementia than their healthy-weight counterparts.

More of us are living longer these days, and there’s no reason to believe you won’t be one of them. Making smart lifestyle choices right now just might keep you sharp-witted well into your twilight years.  Don’t let poor lifestyle habits today rob you of the only thing of true value in your future....your lifelong memories. 

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

Good information, Wrong interpretation

A good friend of mine once said that people can only hear the information that supports their own belief systems.  We see this all the time.  It’s why there’s polarizing opinions when it comes to topics like politics, or the existence of a God.  Regardless of the information, people will only hear what justifies the continuation of their own beliefs, even when the actual facts beg to differ.

I thought about this as I read the results of a recent study published by the British medical journal, “Heart”. This study was recently featured in articles within the Wall Street Journal and the Globe and Mail.  The study suggests that people that run too fast, for too far, for too many decades, may find themselves running to their early and ultimate “finish line”.   

My 87 year old father running in Greece

In the shadow of a national health crisis, where overweight and obese people represent the majority of the population, and citizens with chronic illnesses such as Diabetes, CODP, Cardiac Disease and various forms of Cancer are reaching epidemic proportions, I’m concerned that a health illiterate public will interpret the results of this study as an excuse NOT to exercise.  They will read the headline in the paper that says, “One Running Shoe in the Grave”.  As a result, this will fuel the belief system of many that if daily exercise isn’t good for runners, so why bother exercising at all. 

In actual fact, the study involved 52,600 subjects that were followed for three (3) decades, but what was glossed over was the fact that the runners in this group had an overall 19% lower death rate than the non-runners, and within the running group only the runners that ran longer than 40kms/week and faster than 13km/hour lost their mortality advantage. 

We’ve seen the impact of this kind of reporting from the past.  A study from a few decades ago suggested drinking a glass of red wine a day is good for your heart health.  Now we have a culture of social alcoholics who justify two to three drinks a day because it’s good for their heart health, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.  Let's be clear, alcohol should not be part of a person's health habbits.

We live in a world where people have limited attention spans and are bombarded with catchy buy lines and punchy sound bites; the headline of this running report should have read, “Long term study suggests that life-long runners enjoy a lower death rate than non-runners”.  Just like the headline of the wine report should have said, “Study finds that consuming more than one drink a day for women and two for men, leads to negative health consequences”. 

We now have a population that takes little to no interest in their personal health until they’re told by their doctor that they have a serious, possibly life threatening chronic disease and that's the moment they decide it's time to practice positive health practices.  And the sad part is many of these situations are entirely preventable. 

How are we supposed to motivate our children to be active and make healthy life choices when they watch their parents make poor choices?  Media that report the findings of studies like this recent running study have a responsibility to be mindful of the role they play in the health of the public.  Our hospitals and long term care facilities are full of people that got there because they were inactive and made poor lifelong health choices. 

This study contains valuable information for a very small number of aging runners that push the performance envelope in their training and racing.  These runners should consider the consequences of these findings and adjust their running programs accordingly. 

Finally, I’d like to report that my father who is pictured above turns 88 next year and has been walk/joggng 8kms to 10kms every day, (or about 56+km a week) for years and only stopped racing marathons when he turned 79.  While he stills enjoys excellent health, most of his friends and family that lived a sedentary life, are either ill, immobile, or dead.  I guess he and the many seniors like him are the exceptions to this study.

Enjoy the Ride....Rob

Action Flicks the Switch - an inspirational story

I’ve often said the intent of writing my blog is to provide people with information that when put into action will improve the quality of their life.  Except for the number comments and emails I receive from time to time, I really don’t know the personal impact I have on the thousands of people that tune in from time to time....that is until this past year!

The saying, “Knowledge is Power, but Action Flicks the Switch” is epitomized by Peter LeClair.   Let me introduce you to Peter.  Last summer, Peter weighed an unhealthy 245lbs (a BMI of 33.5 or considered obese) and at the age of 53, this kind of weight carries all kinds of health risks that I’ve discussed in numerous posts. 

Even at this weight, Peter is an avid cyclist and through a chance guided bike ride through the South of France with my step-brother (Gerry Patterson), I was introduced to Peter.  You see, Peter had a dream of competing in a bike race held every year in conjunction with the Tour de France.  The race is called Etape du Tour  and there are two events; Act 1 - held in the French Alps and Act 2 - held in the French Pyrenees.  Peter elected to participate in Act 2, the longer and more difficult of the two races.  Act 2 is a grueling 201km trek over four monster mountain passes unlike anything we see on this side of the North American side of the ocean and will be ridden by the pro riders in the Tour de France a few days after he rides it.  Every year, the Etape du Tour attracts approximately 9000 cyclists participate and this year was no exception.

When I first spoke to Peter, he told me about this dream and was looking for a little training advice, while at the same time telling me he was a “little” overweight.   You could imagine my reaction when his actual weight was revealed, because Etape du Tour is for the most seriously fit cyclists and although Peter was motivated, he wasn’t in any condition to attempt such a ride.  In fact, I told him his first order of business was to focus on his health. 

Every few years, I personally coach a few people; sometimes it’s an athlete wanting to improve their athletic performance; other times it’s to assist someone determined to transform their lifestyle.  With Peter, I did both. 

Since I don’t charge fees for my services, my only reward is to see someone like Peter transform their life while watching their physical and psychological changes.  I only have four criteria before working with someone, because if I’m going to invest my time I need to know they are equally motivated and driven by a larger purpose than just vanity.  These include:

1. 100% support from their significant other (it's almost impossible to make this kind of lifestyle transformation if the other people in the home aren't on the same page)
2. Committed to a long term (as in decades) purpose to why they’re making this change (short term goals like just losing weight won’t get you through the tough days)
3. Commitment to my suggested dietary and exercise changes (it took years to become unhealthy, it’s tough to replace bad habits with new healthy ones)
4. Take responsibility and agree that you alone are responsible for your health (good or bad)

Peter met my criteria in spades and we started working together in early October last year (10 months ago). 

Peter was initially focussed on wanting to weigh less than 200lbs in preparation for Etape, while I just wanted him to focus on his health.  To set the appropriate weight expectation, I asked Peter what he weighed in his final year of High School, and he said around 170lbs.  I said, “Well that’s the weight you will be next summer”.  Peter thought I was nuts, as a 75lb weight loss seemed unrealistic. I simply said, “Stop worrying about weight, because if you live a healthy lifestyle, your weight will take care of itself.”  There’s no reason why anyone should gain weight throughout their life if they eat properly, limit alcohol consumption and exercise regularly.  Most excuses I hear why someone gains weight throughout their life are simply that, excuses for a lazy and unhealthy lifestyle.

I won’t take you through the detail of Peter’s transformation program, other than to say, I provided him with a daily workout schedule and a dietary plan with general concepts and rules and Peter followed the program to the letter.  Again, knowledge may be key, but more important was Peter's dedication to turn this knowledge into action.

Peter’s journey just to get him to the Etape de Tour starting line is a great success story, as he had to lose approximately 1/3 of his body weight in addition to train hard enough to be sufficiently prepared to endure over 200km of the toughest cycling conditions that would make the most seasoned pro cyclist lose sleep with anxiety.  Peter not only met his goal, but surpassed it, as he transformed his lifestyle and attitude towards his personal health and as a side benefit he ultimately weighed in at a healthy 165lbs on race day.  A loss of 80lbs in 10 months.

Below is the transformed Peter, sporting his great riding form in his size MEDIUM cycling kit.

Providing Peter the information to make his transformation possible was important, but as the saying goes, “Information is Power, but Action Flicks the Switch.  And Peter flicked that switch.  He switched his dietary practices and for the most part followed my guidelines and rules.

And when it came to training, Peter rarely missed a scheuled workout (many in his basement as pictured above during the cold Canadian winter months), even when he felt like taking a day off.  And believe me it was a tough program, which had to be proportional to the event he was perparing for.  Peter demonstrated the kind of determination, commitment and never ending positive attitude that’s usually reserved for Olympic champions.  

The day before Peter competed in Etape, I emailed and told him regardless of how he performed in the race, he was already and winner.  Below, Peter standing in front of a motivational poster the day before the big race. 

Race day was this past Saturday (July 14) and I’m delighted to report that both Peter and my step-brother Gerry (who also raced Etape du Tour - Act 1 the previous weekend) completed the Etape du Tour - Act 2 in what were horrific wet and cold conditions.  I’m hoping Peter will provide a guest blog describing his journey back to health as his story is one of inspiration, determination and what it's like to live in the world of the possibility. 

Peter in full flight living his dream of health and competing in 2012 Etape du Tour. 

Enjoy the Ride ... Rob

Prevention Is Thy Cure

I don’t talk much about my day job, but let me start off by saying, I love what I do.  I get to work in an area that aligns with my passion for health by marketing solutions that improve the quality of life by leveraging technology.  Whether it’s Personal Health Records that enable citizens to monitor their own health and wellness, and that of their loved ones, or Remote Patient Monitoring thereby empowering individuals to self monitor their condition(s) and become more aware of their own health recovery.  All the solutions I sell to government and health institutions are designed to increase health quality, while reducing overall costs. 

I’m always surprised where I get the inspiration for my blog content.  The great thing about blogging is there is no preselected topic or a schedule to maintain.  I just write when something catches my attention and aligns with the purpose and theme of my site that I think you may be interested in reading.  And today, my inspiration came while meeting a healthcare executive that’s about to embark on an impressive transformational initiative that reminded me of an article I read in the Globe and Mail at the beginning of the year.  The title of the article was “Wellness Model Emphasizes Illness Prevention”.   (I’ve also copied the article below for your convenience)

I’ve often said the majority of North Americans don’t care about their health until they’re faced with a health crisis that forces them to care.  I’m often challenge when I say this, but how can you argue the fact that 50% of Canadian’s don’t meet the minimum physical activity and healthy eating recommendations, or 55% of Canadians and over 70% of Americans are overweight or obese.  Approximately 20% of Canadians still smoke (and amazingly, male smoking is back on the rise) and alcohol consumption has increased to the point that many no longer know or choose to care what is consider unhealthy.  The Heart and Stroke Foundation published a study conducted in 2010 that an amazing 9 out of 10 Canadians are jeopardizing the quality and length of their lives by ignoring these and other risk factors that they’re in complete control of.

In Canada, over 40% of your tax dollars feed an ever ravenous healthcare system, but did you know that the use of the system you pay into is wildly disproportionate.  People with one or more of the five major chronic illnesses consume over 66% of our health services.  If Canadian’s attitudes towards their personal health and illness prevention continue, the statistics above will surely worsen (and take note, the situation in the USA is even worse).  Healthcare institutions throughout North America and around the world are continually exploring options and solutions to keep up with the demand for health services, while at the same time the people that complain most about the quality of care are the same people that take little or no interest in their lifestyle choices that directly affect their health.   

Besides being a health advocate that is concerned about the quality of health of individuals and the greater population, I’m also a businessman that is witness to a healthcare system that has the potential of either bankrupting our country if current spending trends continue, or my larger concern is that the quality of life for so many will be compromised when governments and health institutions have the difficult decision of selecting which programs are to receive funding and which ones will not because of a lack of funding. 

So the day of waiting for the crisis has arrived at our door step.  The question is what can you do about it?  The answer has been under our noises for decades.  The cure to prevent many chronic illnesses and recover our critically ill healthcare system is one in the same....PREVENTION through healthy lifestyle choices. 

I’m not sure if we’re actually seeing more marketing and media push in the area of illness prevention, or if it’s just that I have a heightened sense of awareness given my passion for the topic and the career I’ve chosen.  Regardless, there seems to be more and more information available and the article below from the Globe and Mail is just one of many examples I’ve read or seen on television. 

I’ve often said, “If you don’t take time for your health today, you will have lots of time to be sick in the future”.  I’m not so sure this statement is entirely  true, because if things go unchanged and the health of North Americans continues to deteriorate at its current rate, we will run out of money to treat the volume of people with chronic illnesses and the expanding services they demand, and you may not have as much time to be sick in the future as you once thought. 

Make your health and the health of others a lifelong priority so you can “Enjoy the Ride”....Rob

CHRONIC DISEASE

Wellness model emphasizes illness prevention

The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Nov. 24 2011, 2:28 PM EST

Dr. John Haggie is a strong proponent of the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

As a surgeon practising in Gander, Nfld., he has first-hand experience with serious medical conditions that could be prevented with early intervention.

Among his examples, Dr. Haggie points to a patient who is about to lose her leg due to complications of type 2 diabetes. “This outcome could have been avoided at any number of points,” he says. “Better childhood nutrition and fitness could have prevented the obesity that led to the development of this woman’s diabetes. Better drug coverage could have improved her blood glucose management. Even something as simple as having her feet checked by a nurse, which costs about $20, could have saved this woman’s leg and tens of thousands of dollars to the health care system.”

As president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Haggie is promoting a transformation of the health care system that will focus on illness prevention and health promotion. “The current acute disease model of health care is 20 years out of date. Today, the biggest burden on the system comes from largely preventable chronic diseases and their complications,” he says, noting part of the challenge in promoting health is that many highly effective interventions are based in the community, not in hospital or doctors’ offices (for example, programs to encourage youth fitness and smoking cessation initiatives). As a result, they are not funded by medicare.

“We have to convince the government to invest in primary and secondary prevention initiatives. The evidence shows that an upfront investment more than pays for itself down the road,” says Michael Cloutier, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Diabetes Association. He notes that just a two per cent reduction in diabetes prevalence rates would result in a nine per cent reduction in direct health care costs.

Unfortunately, the tools and medications that promote health are not accessible to all Canadians. Almost two-thirds of people with diabetes report that they cannot afford to comply with their prescribed therapy to effectively manage their disease. “A lot of people have to choose between paying for their rent or for their medications. Many more – especially those in remote and lower income communities – cannot afford healthy food. The result is more diabetes-related complications, poorer quality of life for these individuals and an increasing strain on our health care system,” says Mr. Cloutier. “We need to create a standard of care for chronic disease management across Canada.”

The Canadian Medical Association is advocating for co-ordinated investments in health promotion and disease prevention that will eliminate these gaps.

“Our goal is to ensure that by the end of the end of the next Health Care Accord, Canadians will have the best health in the world,” says Dr. Haggie.

“There is no reason why we can’t do that. By emphasizing health promotion now, we will see results by 2020.”

Common Sense Isn’t So Common Anymore!

I just finished my annual two week cycling training camp at my place in Arizona.  It's a place where the weather is more conducive to early season cycling, unlike my home town of Calgary where you can still get caught in a freak snow storm in the middle of a 100km ride.  My feelings about Calgary weather are another topic and not what I’m writing about today. 

As I was returning home and waiting for my plane in the Phoenix Sky Harbour airport, I stopped at the bookstore to get something to read for the 3 hours flight back to Calgary, so I picked up the current issue of Bicycling Magazine when I came across an article that I just have to share with you.  The title of the article is: “Why Johnny Can’t Ride” and I’d like to hear from you on this one.  I hope I’m not the only one that thinks the “Nanny State” filled with “Helicopter Parents” has gone too far.

I wrote a post a while back titled, "Childhood Fitness, Where Did It Go".  The topic was about the absence of kids playing in the streets and parks because of many factors including, over-protective parents that can’t let their kids out of their sight for more than a nano-second, and the fact that today’s children are addicted to video games and monitors (TV, Computers, etc), which are both contributing to the probability if a child is under the age 16 they will live a shorter and less healthy life than their parents (if that can even be possible, judging by the current health of North Americans adults today). 

The more I read this article about Adam's situation, the more piss-off I got.  It’s a long article so let me give you the “Cole’s Notes Version”.

This is a story about a seventh-grader at Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs, New York.  His name is Adam Mario and he’s getting a firsthand lesson in civil disobedience. The 12-year-old and his mother, Janette Marino, are defying Saratoga Springs school policy by riding his bike to school; yes, you read that correctly, for biking to school.  Something we as kids took for granted and were encouraged; in fact, we had two ways to get to school back then; you either walked, or rode your bike.  Adam rides about 4 miles (6.4km), each way to school and his mother rides with him to ensure his safety.   By the way, this is something my mother at that age would never do, nor would I want her because I enjoyed the confidence my parents had in me, not to mention the feeling of independence.  So when Adam and his mother arrived at his school, they were met by school officials and a State Trooper who informed them that such an act was extremely dangerous, strictly prohibited and she would have to come back to the school and pick up his bike.  They went on further to say the only two modes of transportation to and from the school were bus or car.

Janette Marino believes they didn’t do anything wrong and that it’s none of the state or school’s business what form of transportation she uses to get their son to school, as long as he gets there on time.  Besides, Adam would be one less child why the school has to buy another polluting bus, or idling car that sits in front of the school during pick up and drop off time.  The Marino’s  are part of a small, but growing number of parents challenging the sedentary habits of today's youths and what they view as overanxious "helicopter parenting”, where “Free Range” children is considered irresponsible parenting.  To these modern day parents, the thought of sending their children out the door to participate in unsupervised play, or to let them walk to school themselves is simply unthinkable.  So the Marino's basically said to hell with you; try and stop us.

Riding his 21-speed Giant mountain bike to school benefits Adam Marino's health and the environment, but state and school believe that biking and walking (which is also banded, believe me, I can’t make this stuff up) are too dangerous for middle school aged children to handle, although no walking or bike accidents have ever been reported on the school’s road.

So that’s the summary of this story; read the full story to fill in the gaps and I’m sure you will shake your head like my wife and I did.  There are many social issues one can comment on a story like this, especially given the health of the typical North American.  Given the theme of my blog I will focus on two that I believe are contributing negatively to the health of our children:

1)      Helicopter Parenting

2)      Health is Not a Priority

Helicopter Parenting:  I’m not sure when it happened, but over the decades since I was a kid, parents have become so protective of their children, it’s now affecting their health.  And for the most part, they fear something that’s not real and only in their mind.  This fear is further manifested when they hear about the one or two child abduction cases that are sensationalized by the media.  They fear if their children play too out of their sight that bad shit will happen to them, when in fact this kind of smothering is one of the causes why we have so many obese children.

My father who’s now 87 told me a great when he was a young lad of 7 or 8 years old, growing up in Scotland.  He and his best friend set out to ride their bikes from Edinburgh Scotland to Blackpool England a distance of 320km (one way) with no parent supervision.  They had a map, (which they could read and understand), a few shillings in their pockets to buy some food and shelter, and good health to get them there and back!  Remember, I’m talking about two 7 year old boys and the only thing my Grandmother said to him as he set off, was to ride safe (oh yea, and they weren't wearing helmets).  This could never happen in today’s culture, because every stranger is considered a potential kidnapper, or worse and what would happen if their little sweethearts fell.  Not to mention, most children are so out of shape they could never physically consider such a trip.  Finally, today's children are driven to all their activities, so they have no idea how to navigate much further than a few hundred meters from their front door.  If today’s Child Services ever caught wind of such parental freedom for their children, they would have locked my Grandmother up for being an irresponsible parent.  (By the way, the two lads only made it as far as Carlisle in Northern England, because they realized they would run out of money.   Even still, they rode a total distance of 320km and spent a couple nights on their own staying at youth hostels!) 

This story is so extreme by today’s standards, were “Free Range” play for children is such a rarity.  Except for organized hockey where my father was the coach, we never participated in any organized play, however we were always playing sports in the fields, climbing trees, riding our bikes, playing touch football and scrub baseball.  And there was never a parent watching over our shoulder.  This unnatural act that parents have developed prevents their children to roam free and play naturally.  By restricting the movement’s like we see today, says to children that their parents can’t trust them to be responsible for their decisions and actions.  No wonder children are so rebelious today.  And when combined with the Nintendo Culture of sitting their little fat behinds in front of a monitor for 5 to 6 hours a day you have a major contributor to the obesity epidemic we find in our young people today.

Health is Not a Priority: the fact that the majority of North Americans are not healthy means that health is no longer a priority in many people’s lives.  The statistics don’t lie and the costs to our healthcare system are out of control as a direct outcome.  If health isn’t a priority for the parents, it’s certainly not going to be a priority for their children’s.  Children emulate the actions of their parents, not their words.  So if they see dad sitting on his fat ass all weekend watching sports on TV, while eating junk food and drinking beer, instead of actually participating in a sport, they will do the same.  If the family eats highly processed, or  fast food from one of the many unhealthy convenient fast food restaurants, because mom or dad are too lazy to prepare something healthy, well this sets in motion a lifestyle of poor eating habits, which leads to all kinds of degenerative diseases. 

So as I read this article about Adam Marino and the Nanny State at the Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs, I realize what a bizarre world we live in.  A world that’s so up-side-down, that something as healthy and natural as walking or riding a bike to school is considered dangerous to your health and should be prohibited. 

If you’re of a certain age, leave a comment and tell my readers about a story of “free range” play you used to do as a kid before the helicopter parents and the nanny state stepped in and ruined the fun we used to enjoy and take for granted as we explored our neighbourhoods and beyond.

Enjoy the Ride.....Rob