For the past six weeks I’ve been experimenting with a very high fat diet where I’m getting 65% of my calories from fat. No, that’s not a misprint. The vast majority of my calories are coming fat, and a good chunk of that has been saturated fat. The very same fat you’ve been told to avoid for decades because it would “damage your heart, build up in your arteries, increase your risk of cancer and even lead to obesity.” Curious about how this was affecting my body, I scheduled a full blood panel with our doctor. After seeing the results of that blood work, I shared with my doctor the details of my diet and how I teach people that fat is actually beneficial. She warned me that while this diet may be working for me, I may be the exception to the rule.

Gary Taubes, in his ground-breaking book “Good Calories, Bad Calories”, dug through TONS of research and found something surprising. Fat, touted as harmful for your diet, is a lie. And it’s a lie that has been covered up and repeated so many times, it’s been accepted as truth. We all know what that’s like – we all have that one friend whose stories are so far out of whack but so often heard, that we begin to believe them. I was guilty of thinking this way too; most of us at some point have been. However, not only did Taubes’ studies uncover the truth about saturated fat and cholesterol – both wrongly put on the “naughty list”, but new studies are now showing just how beneficial they really are[i].

One study centered on coconut oil, which is a fantastic oil to use for cooking and baking, in shakes, and when topically applied, is a detoxifying agent for skin. Coconut oil is very heavy in saturated fat. It has higher saturated fat content than red meat, which by the way, has more monounsaturated fat than it does saturated. Yet, thanks to the misguided war on red meat and saturated fat, we’ve come to believe that red meat is loaded in this stuff. But I digress. A Brazilian study showed that when middle-aged women replaced their intake of canola oil with the EXACT number of calories from coconut oil, an interesting thing happened. Their HDL (good cholesterol) increased, triglycerides lowered, and they lost abdominal fat. By including more saturated fat from coconut oil in the diet, regardless of the calorie content, several markers for heart health and diabetes risk drastically decreased. I’ll bet they looked younger and more vibrant as well.

It’s unfortunate. We’ve been told for decades to avoid these foods and build our diet around “good” carbohydrates. Yet, sadly, a high carbohydrate diet can promote weight gain for most people, decrease their HDL, and increase their triglycerides; this is in complete opposition to what conventional dietary wisdom says will happen. And yet we wonder why our children are obese at such young ages, and why our health across the nation is worse than ever. Even my doctor wonders why the vast majority of her male patients don’t have HDL numbers as good as mine.

Personally, I don’t believe it’s “simply” a matter of will-power, or one of individual responsibility. There are tens of thousands of people who spend hours at gyms and fitness clubs throughout the country, but who are frustrated that the pounds just won’t come off. I see it every single day. These folks tell me they’re eating healthy foods, have cut back on saturated fat and cholesterol, and are increasing their whole grain consumption. Are you seeing the pattern yet? This is NOT WORKING. Living a lifestyle with these parameters only causes us to avoid the foods – the REAL foods – that help to control our appetites, our weight, and lower our risk of disease.

So, how has a diet of high fat and high cholesterol worked out for me? Below is a picture of my results. Look specifically at the numbers circled in red.

These numbers squash even my claims that saturated fat and cholesterol are the “bad guys”. We’ve been told that red meat, eggs, and bacon increase our blood cholesterol. But I eat these foods everyday and it looks like I’m doing just fine. In fact, I’m doing better than a lot of people. The studies I’ve mentioned prove that though your total cholesterol may go up, it’s your HDL that’s holding the torch, and the LDL that’s struggling to catch up. When she saw my HDL of 71, my doctor’s eyes widened, “I almost never have guys with levels that high.”

If you’re not familiar with triglycerides, they are another piece of the puzzle that can clue us into our health status. When levels get above 150, doctors will get worried that you are at a higher risk of heart or diabetes issues. Mine clocked in at a low 45. My high fat, low-carbohydrate diet lowered my triglycerides. My daily shot of fish oil doesn’t hurt either.

How can you predict the future of your heart health? Take your triglycerides and divide them by your HDL. This is your triglyceride to HDL ratio (TG:HDL). As your ratio creeps above 3.0, the risk of heart problems is increased. Aim for 2.0 or lower, which is optimal. My TG:HDL ratio is a svelte .63.

At this point, I should note that genetics are not on my side. Heart disease runs rampant on both sides of my family, affecting both parents at an early age as well as my father’s parents. As the saying goes, “genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.” By steering clear of the lifestyle habits on which I was raised, I was able to avoid that smoking gun. High blood pressure also runs in my family and mine is usually “normal” at 120-125/80-85. While on this low-carb diet my blood pressure has only improved and is now usually at 110-115/65-75. No surprise here as a high carb diet will elevate insulin levels which in turn will raise blood pressure. Plus, you retain more water on a high carb diet which will also increase pressure. If anything, I’ve been adding more salt to my diet lately because I’m eating more vegetables. It’s no wonder so many people have high blood pressure these days. They’re just following conventional dietary wisdom.

The American Dietetics Association still supports the idea that saturated fat plays a role in increasing our odds of Type 2 diabetes. Yet, if we look at my A1C levels above, which is an average of blood sugar over the past three months, I’m well below the pre-diabetic category, let alone the diabetic one. Some health practitioners believe that 4% is ideal, so personally I’d like to see my number even lower. But after six weeks of this lifestyle, I’ve been able to bring down my fasting blood sugar by almost 10 points.

These recommendations of antiquity, in my opinion, immensely contributed to the obesity epidemic we see today. In fact, many of us don’t see it at all; we take it as the norm. But our “norm” shouldn’t be to expect heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s as inevitable. Regular physical activity and REAL food will heal your body and your mind; which may give your doctor a stroke, metaphorically, of course.

So, eat up America! Red meat (from pasture/grass-fed cows), organic/local eggs (yes, yolk included), and organic bacon is back on the menu. Skip the stuff that comes in packages and anything that has a shiny and colorful “healthy” sticker on it. Remember this: health doesn’t come packaged like a toy in a cereal box, or down the chip isle at the organic store. All we have to do is eat REAL FOOD.

http://www.ajcn.org/content/91/3/535

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20071648

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19751443

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20354806

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20683785

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21951982

Thirty six million Americans take a statin every day, generating annual sales of 26 billion for the manufacturers, and making two statins – Lipitor and Zocor – the top two best-selling drugs in the USA. Numerous doctors are coming forward and taking a different stance on statin usage.

Osteopathic physician Dr. Joesph Mercola has stated the following, “That these drugs have proliferated the market the way they have is a testimony to the power of marketing, corruption and corporate greed, because the odds are very high— greater than 100 to 1—that if you’re taking a statin, you don’t really need it.”

Is Dr. Mercola alone? Hardly! In fact, way back in 1977 five studies came to the conclusion that total cholesterol is a not a risk factor for heart disease. What about the touted “bad” LDL cholesterol (that actually serves beneficial roles in the body)? The same studies showed that LDL is marginal at best for predicting heart problems, and that your Triglyceride:HDL ratio was the best predictor of heart disease.

In fact dozens of studies show that low levels of cholesterol (below 150) increase our risk of cancer seven-fold, and levels below 160 can increase one’s risk of stroke and mental diseases. To me this makes perfect sense as our brain is heavily dependent upon cholesterol to properly function. More than twenty studies show that seniors with high cholesterol live longer than those with low cholesterol.

Dr. George Mann who is part of one of the longest running trials spanning three generations describes the cholesterol topic as, “Greatest scam in the history of medicine”.

The question begs to be asked; if total cholesterol is meaningless for heart health, why are statins prescribed, and do they actually show to be of benefit? Dr. Dwight Lundell, heart surgeon who has performed over 5,000 heart surgeries explains what the research actually shows behind statin medications:

• Do modestly lower heart attack rates in middle-aged men with heart disease
• DO NOT lower death rates in men who do not have heart disease
• DO NOT decrease death rates or heart attack rates in women
• May not be beneficial due to cholesterol lowering effects, but are anti-inflammatory

Whether or not a statin should be prescribed to you is easy, just look at the first three bullet points above. Which category do you fall into?

What about the side effects of statin drugs? I could devote a whole article to these, but in short they include: memory loss, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart failure, muscle aches and pains and tendon/ligament damage. Some of the side effects can be lessened by discussing Co-Q10 (better yet Ubiquinol) supplementation with your doctor. Statin medications can deplete Co-Q10 levels in the body by 50% in just thirty days. Co-Q10 is vital to every cell in your body for energy production and especially for your heart.

To summarize, statin drugs carry a host of side effects and are proven to only be effective for an extremely small percentage of the population. The fact that they are anti-inflammatory leads me to question, are there safer alternatives out there that can accomplish the same thing? Be in charge of your health and work with your doctor to come up with the best strategy to improve your health. Very rarely will the best answer be in a prescription bottle.

A few really great videos on the subject can be found here:

http://vimeo.com/12515845

http://vimeo.com/12516115

all will provide valuable insight to improving your health, if you have a dog or cat or

know someone that does,  the 2nd lecture will be of vital importance for your pet’s health.

We just lost one of our dog’s to cancer, and the information at this seminar has been shown

to increase their lifespan by 20%. If only I had known this years ago, then our dog could

have been with us for another 1.5 years.

Doctors and registered dieticians will think I’m nuts…

For decades the importance of doing cardio for weight loss and improved health such as helping diabetes has been heavily touted as the go to form of exercise. However, recent research is showing a big benefit for Type 2 diabetics to start a weight (resistance) training routine.

Dr. Jonny Bowden, a board-certified nutritionist states, “A recent study shows that for every 10% increase in muscle mass to body fat there was an 11% reduction in insulin resistance and a 12% reduction in pre-diabetes. The best way to increase muscle mass is to lift weight; not do hours and hours of cardio.” Now, I should add, that it’s still good to do cardio, but cardio won’t help build muscle tissue. You have to challenge the muscles with weight, whether that is your bodyweight or through machines and dumbbells.

Another important reason to perform some kind of resistance training is that as we age (typically starting as early as 25), muscle is lost just from the aging process. You can however; help slow it down or even reverse it. By lifting weights, you are challenging your body, and in turn it will build new muscle tissue in order to meet that demand.

If you’re currently not doing a resistance training routine what are you waiting for.

Total cholesterol has been shown however to be important as it relates to cancer and stroke risk. In fact, low cholesterol has been shown to increase your risk of the above two health issues. In 1986 Japan recommended raising cholesterol because levels less than 160 have shown an increased risk of death by stroke. The MRFIT study during the 1980’s showed the same thing. Levels below 150 have shown a seven-fold increase in cancer risk.

I want to make one thing clear once and for all.  Eating cholesterol does not raise your cholesterol levels. That’s like saying eating fat makes you fat, which it doesn’t. In fact, if you remember from Part 1, LDLb is the type of cholesterol that can cause issues, and saturated fat actually lowers LDLb. Our bodies produce cholesterol, so although it sounds backwards, eat less and it will produce more. Eat more and it produces less. Recommendations to limit cholesterol intake just further add to the fear of eating foods that are great for us like eggs and the yolk.

We do need to be cautious of plaque build-up in the arteries, but eating cholesterol is not the danger. It has become evident in recent years that inflammation (remember this key word later near the end of the article) within the body is what causes plaque build-up and eventually heart disease. Inflammation can be caused by stress, smoking, viruses, trans-fats (partially hydrogenated oils), an imbalance of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in the diet and excess refined carbohydrates.

So, if inflammation causes plaque build-up, how do we measure it? You will want to have your doctor measure your C-reactive protein and homocysteine levels.

Why are these important? Basically, if you have high inflammation levels plaque will be deposited along artery walls to help heal damage from the inflammation, regardless if you have high or low cholesterol. But if you have low inflammation levels, cholesterol keeps circulating without getting deposited on artery walls.

Well then what do you do to lower inflammation levels and decrease triglycerides? Start by limiting foods that contain sugar, dextrose, agave, corn syrup or other forms of sugar. Not smoking and exercise are no-brainers as well. And don’t forget your fish oil (a natural anti-inflammatory), which will also lower triglyceride levels.

If you want more info on why eating cholesterol and saturated fat is not bad for you, and how to really improve your health, then come to my Healthy Lifestyles lecture on Friday, July 29th at 10am.

What if all we’ve been told about cholesterol was wrong or not entirely accurate? Weight loss coach and nutritional healing expert Dr. Jonny Bowden says the following, “Cholesterol is a relatively minor risk factor for heart disease compared with much more serious things like inflammation. And the emphasis on cholesterol to the exclusion of other more important risk factors has also led us to take our eye off the ball when it comes to a risk factor we can easily do something about without taking a single medication: triglycerides.”

Instead of focusing on our total cholesterol numbers, look at your triglycerides compared to HDL. According to the Journal of the American Heart Association, this ratio is a strong predictor for heart disease. In his book Good Calories Bad Calories, Gary Taubes references studies from the ‘70s showing that total cholesterol is meaningless; LDL is a very weak indicator and HDL levels are a better predictor for heart disease.

Why are triglycerides a big deal? Triglycerides trigger the liver to produce more cholesterol, particularly the small dense particles known as LDLb which are particularly harmful. So, we’ve been told all these years that LDL is bad or “lousy”, yet there are multiple types of LDL, one being harmful and the other harmless.

A Harvard-lead study author reported:

“High triglycerides alone increased the risk of heart attack nearly three-fold.

And people with the highest ratio of triglycerides to HDL – the “good” cholesterol – had 16 times the risk of heart attack as those with the lowest ratio of triglycerides to HDL, in the study of 340 heart attack patients and 340 of their healthy, same-age counterparts.

The ratio of triglycerides to HDL was the strongest predictor of a heart attack, even more accurate than the LDL/HDL ratio (Circulation 1997;96:2520-2525).”

According to Dr. Mercola, optimal ratio levels should be below 2.0. For example; if your triglycerides are 150 and your HDL is 50, then your triglyceride to HDL ratio is 3.0.

Dr. Bowden goes on to say the following, “Elevated triglycerides can be due to being overweight, being inactive, smoking, or eating a diet very high in carbohydrates. You can bring triglyceride levels down rather easily by reducing sugar in the diet.” Diets that are lower in carbs have been shown in numerous studies to cause triglyceride levels to drop quickly.

In part 2 I’ll finish  discussing why eating cholesterol is not bad for us, why inflammation is the problem and what you can do to decrease triglycerides and inflammation.

Squat:

Few exercises are more misunderstood than the squat. You’ll even hear doctors say they are bad on the knees. Wanna know what I think? If you hear someone say this, ask them how they go to the bathroom. Silly as that sounds,  at some point we all have to squat down to do such a task.

If we perform a movement in life, then we must train for it in the gym. Now, I’m not saying that someone with knee issues such as arthritis should be loading a bar up with 200 pounds and squat.  But, over the years I’ve come to learn that anyone can squat, the trick is finding ways to do so without pain and with good form.

Here are two tricks to do a perfect squat.

• Find a chair (if you’re a beginner or someone with knee pain, the taller the chair or any object you can sit on the better). Have a seat on the chair.
• Now, find an object that weighs 3-5 lbs and with both hands hold it straight out in front of you.
• Simply stand up and sit down. Now you are squatting.
• Be sure that you don’t smack down on the chair, rather slowly lower and have a seat. This will save all the force from plopping down from going up your spine.
• As you progress, you can do the same thing but instead of sitting, just come down far enough where you barely make contact with the seat and come right back up.

This is a great way to strengthen your leg muscles while doing something that will improve your quality of life especially as we become older.

Step Up:

Think about it. We all have to go up stairs at some point in our life, but as we age that becomes more difficult. So, what can be done?

If you’re a member of a gym, see if they have a Step Up machine. This will allow you to to adjust the height of the step depending upon your ability. The higher you place the step, the tougher it will be from a balance standpoint as well as strength.

If your gym doesn’t have one of these machines, you can simply do this at home with a set of stairs.

• Put one foot on the step, and step up with the other. Now lower the foot you just stepped up with. The key is to perform all your reps with the one foot up on the step for a set number of reps. Then you would switch feet and do the same.
• Again, the height of the step as well as any extra weight you hold will determine how tough it will be.
• It’s always best to start with just your body weight, and if your balance is really bad you can hold on to a railing lightly and progress to not holding on.

There you go, two exercises that we must all do at some point in our day, but become tougher as we age. Practice them in the gym or at home and start to feel stronger and move better.

The Worst

Shake Weight: Where do I begin to talk about the fail of this product? Saturday Night Live and South Park have had their fill of making fun of this worthless gadget.

Shape-Ups: see my previous article here about my thoughts on these rip-offs

Any “ab device” sold on an infomercial: While some of these might actually work the abdominals effectively, my gripe is how they market them as the sole solution to getting a smaller waist. Reducing belly fat takes more than just some fancy piece of equipment. It takes eating right while using a well-designed overall exercise program.

Spanx for Men?: Ok, so the male version isn’t called Spanx, but a clever someone decided that since many guys have guts these days, why not appeal to the desire for that slim waistline while still being able to down a few six-packs per week.

The Best

TRX: Portable, versatile and a time saver. Does it get any better? While it won’t make a well-equipped gym obsolete, this is one of the best holiday buys for that fitness enthusiast. Check out a video I shot last summer of me using one.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gift Certificate with a Fitness Professional: Know someone who is spinning his or her wheels or whose workout could use a freshening up? Sport Fit offers gift certificates for personal training.

Gourmet Nutrition: By far the best cook book on the market for the fitness crowd. You can pick up a copy from here.
“From the creators of Precision Nutrition comes a cookbook for people who love to eat great food, but hate that after-dinner guilt. For those who love to eat with style, but hate to look “indulgent.” for those who love to entertain, but want to do it right. Enter Gourmet Nutrition: the cookbook for the fit food lover. We’ve taken the healthiest ingredients and whipped them into nearly 300 pages of delicious culinary creations that you can serve with confidence to the most discerning foodie — or the most nitpicky nutritionist. We’ve included detailed cooking instructions and ideas for improvisation. And we’ve even photographed every recipe in beautiful color to show you just how appetizing healthy food can be. Gourmet Nutrition is the cookbook that’s as friendly to your body as it is to your taste buds, and it’s equally at home on your kitchen counter and your coffee table.” –Amazon

Stability Ball: A must have for any home gym. It’s versatility, price, size and effectiveness make it one of the best overall pieces of gym equipment you can have. You can get one for about $20 at your local Wal-Mart or Target.