Exercise Beats Medication for Mental Health!

 

You heard that right – yet another study has shown that regular exercise can be more effective than medication for the treatment of mental illness – such as depression!

The latest study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine – looked at 97 studies making it one of the most extensive research reviews to date.

The study found that regular exercise of 12 weeks or less were highly effective for improving mental illness symptoms and that higher-intensity exercises showed greater improvements for depression and anxiety.    Notably the study also concluded that all kinds of physical activity can significantly reduce symptoms!

The groups that benefitted most from physical activity were people with depression, women who were pregnant and postpartum, people with kidney disease, HIV-positive people and even totally healthy people.

The study concluded that a little exercise can go a long way in improving mental health symptoms and that all types of physical activity studied were helpful.

Visceral Fat and Cardiovascular Disease

 

Visceral fat (the fat stored deep in the belly and surrounding your internal organs) is a strong predictor of your risk for cardiovascular disease including heart attack and stroke!  Visceral fat negatively impacts metabolic health resulting in these increased cardiovascular risks.  Body shape is directly related to levels of visceral fat and there are two classic patterns:  apple vs pear shape.   The Apple Shape also known as Android Fat Patterns means you tend to store your fat in your gut and torso whereas Pear Shape – also known as Gynoid Fat Pattern - means you tend to store your fat in your hips and buttocks.    Apple shape is much more common in men and Pear shape is more common in woman.   However, woman often shift from a Pear Shape to an Apple Shape after menopause because of the dramatic hormonal shift, and this shift is directly associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

A great way to know your fat pattern and associated risk is getting a Styku Scan – www.styku.com which can give you a handle on your level of visceral fat and associated risk.

Lowering Visceral Fat

Both exercise and caloric restriction can help reduce bodyweight and bodyfat levels.  A meta-analysis of 40 randomized controlled trials looked at the effects of exercise and calorie restriction on visceral fat (measured with MRI or computed tomography).

The study showed that both exercise and caloric restriction reduced visceral fat.   However, the study showed that there was a dose response effect for exercise - but not for caloric restriction - meaning that exercise provides progressively more benefits the more exercise you do!

The take home message is to find ways to increase your activity level and work on healthy eating habits!

Is Sugar Sabotaging Your Weight Loss?

 

Many people notice that eating breakfast makes them hungrier throughout the day, and this is probably NOT their imagination!   In this case the culprit is likely what they eat.  Specifically, refined carbohydrates, including sugar, can drive hunger particularly if they are consumed with little fat or protein.

A recent study tested this hypothesis with 16 healthy young women between the ages of 18 and 30 who had a stable body weight for the last 3 months.  Anyone with diabetes or on medications that affect appetite was excluded along with people who were allergic to any part of the meals given as part of the study.

Participants fasted for a minimum of 8 hours prior to the study.  In the morning participants came to the laboratory and were given a standardized test meal consisting of passion fruit juice, one cup of coffee, French bread and 5 grams of margarine.   The two drinks had no sugar added and the participants were instructed to sweeten to their preferred taste.

The sugar container given to the participants was weighed both before and after its use by each person to know the amount of sugar each person added to their drinks.   After completing the entire meal participants did not eat or drink anything (except water) until lunchtime.

Lunch was served 3 hours after breakfast and consisted of pasta with tomato sauce, and participants were instructed to eat until they felt satisfied. 

Study Results

The participants were divided into two groups based on the amount of sugar they elected to add to their breakfast.   The high sugar group added about 25 grams of sugar to breakfast while the low sugar group only added 14 grams of sugar. 

  

Both groups were evaluated for their perception of hunger and satiety.     The high sugar group had significantly higher levels of hunger during the three hours after breakfast AND consumed significantly more pasta at lunch!

Take Home Message

Avoid high sugar breakfasts such as standard breakfast cereal, fruit juices (eat fruit don’t drink it!) and consume 15 – 20 grams of protein and a small amount of fat.   Also try to add higher fiber carb choices like berries instead of banana, adding spinach to an omelet, etc.      Examples include an omelet with spinach with berries or a shake with protein, greens, and small amount of MCT oil for fat.

Tips for Adjusting to the Spring Time Change

 

It’s that time of year again – time to “spring forward” and set our clocks forward one hour next Sunday.  Resetting clocks in devices is simple.    Unfortunately, your body clock is not nearly as easy to reprogram.    This can come with real health consequences.  An hour time shift does not seem like a lot, but your body runs on a tight schedule and this one-hour change throws us off.

Scientists have documented that the shift to daylight saving time in the spring, when we lose an hour of sleep, is linked to an a much higher rate of attacks and car accidents.  The change throws off the sleep cycle and that is where all the problems come from.

Over the last 20 years, scientists have documented that, in addition to the master clock in our brains, every cell in our body has a circadian rhythm and time-keeping mechanism. The body and cell’s circadian rhythm help regulate important functions such as sleep and metabolism. And increasingly, there's evidence that when our habits — such as when we eat and sleep — are out of sync with our internal clocks, it can harm us.

When we disrupt our routines with erratic sleep or eating habits, it can increase the risk of metabolic disease. For instance, overnight shift workers are at much higher risk of developing diabetes and obesity. Research also shows that kids who don't have set bedtimes and mealtimes are also more likely to become overweight.

Regulating light exposure is key to regulating circadian rhythm.  It is the primary signal to turn on the body’s metabolic processes for sleep and rest to active and alert in the morning.

Maximize Exposure to Bright Light During the Day

It is important to maximize your exposure to daylight in the morning. This simple step is every bit as powerful as avoiding blue light at night.   Ideally get outside immediately upon waking – just five minutes of outside light can do the trick!    

Outdoor sunlight is about 1500 lux on a cloudy and 100,000 lux on a sunny day while indoor lighting typically maxes out at 500 lux!    Bright OVERHEAD light is the primary signal to shut-down melatonin production and wake up.    

If it is too cold to go outside consider buying a 10,000-lux light – ideal one that you can set to shine down on your face from above you.    

Minimize Evening and Nighttime Light

Exposure to light and electromagnetic fields from computers, phones, tablets, and T.V.’s all act as a stimulant, so it is important to minimize nighttime light exposure and blue light exposure in particular.  Blue light comes from artificial lighting.   Blue wavelengths – which are beneficial during daylight hours because they boost attention, reaction times, and mood – are disruptive at night.   Energy efficient lighting is packed with blue light as our electronics.

Turn off lights or dim them as much as possible.   If you must use a computer or your phone install blue light filtering programs on both that will adjust the amount of blue light emitted by your computer, phone, and tablets.    Flux – https://justgetflux.com is a free program for your laptop or tablet and the Twilight app for your phone.   Both allow you to set times and adjust blue light output of your devices automatically based on time of day! 

You can also buy blue blocking glasses to use in the evening.   This may seem gimmicky but there is very well-done research supporting the effectiveness of reducing blue light in the evening through these and other measures!

For night-time bathroom trips use a red-light nightlight as redlight does NOT disrupt sleep which is why you see it used by the military on ships and submarines!

Avoid Alcohol!

Alcohol intake is extremely disruptive to sleep and for many just eliminating it results in much higher sleep quality within a week.    Consider cutting down or completely eliminating alcohol intake particularly during the work week!

Stop all food and beverage by 8pm!

Ideally stop all food and beverage intake 3 hours before bed – late food intake can create digestive issues and late beverage intake can force bathroom trips disrupting your sleep.

Stay on a consistent sleep/wake cycle!

Get up and go to bed at the same time each day – this trains the body and mind.   It is NOT a good idea to sleep in on weekends – this just disrupts your circadian rhythm.

Minimize Caffeine intake after 10am!

There are slow and fast caffeine metabolizers and if you are a slow metabolizer it is critical to stop any and all caffeine intake by 10am!   

Exercise!

Yes – it’s true – for many a consistent exercise habit will dramatically improve sleep quality and duration!

Finish your morning shower with a cold shower!

While this may seem unpleasant at first cold showers dramatically ramp up the secretion of norepinephrine which is the brains primary stimulant.  See this blogpost for the many benefits of cold showers:  http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2022/04/can-cold-showers-improve-exercise.html

Seep is Key to Weight Loss!

 

Everyone knows that sleep is important, but did you  know that lack of sleep severely reduces your ability to lose weight and keep it off!  In fact a recent study suggests that missing out on just 30 minutes of sleep per day can increase your risk of obesity and diabetes.

There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but on one level it is pretty easy to understand.    If you do not get enough sleep you will not have energy to live a healthy, active lifestyle, and when you are tired it is very easy to skip workouts and spontaneously reduce overall activity.

Sleep: Your Body’s Best Friend

Sleep is important for just about all the systems in your body, and lack of sleep reduces cognitive function including reduced reaction time, impaired decision making and memory.  Sleep is also essential for the repair and recovery of the body.

Even if you think you get enough sleep you may still be suffering from the symptoms of sleep deprivation.   Unfortunately just a little sleep deprivation can have a significant effect on weight gain.

How Lack of Sleep Causes Weight Gain

Lack of sleep increases the levels of a stress hormone called cortisol, and cortisol increases appetite significantly.  Sleep deprivation also saps willpower and decision making ability so not only are you hungrier – you are more likely to make poor food choices.     Sleep deprivation is a stressor and when you feel stressed you tend to choose high carb foods which boost serotonin.

At the same time the body’s ability to handle carbs properly is reduced.    Your cells become less sensitive to the effects of insulin which is called insulin insensitivity.  Insulin insensitivity is what type 2 diabetes is all about.   If lack of sleep is a chronic condition you quite literally can make yourself gain weight and become diabetic!

In addition when you are really tired, a hormone called Ghrelin is boosted while Leptin levels drop.   This is quite literally a double whammy because Ghrelin increases hungers and Leptin tells you when you full and satisfied.   So you are hungrier and yet you do not feel as satisfied when you do eat so you eat more.

In fact, studies have shown increased calorie intake of over 300 extra calories per day in sleep-deprived people.

How To Improve the quality and time you spend sleeping

There are simple steps to keep lack of sleep from sabotaging your weight loss efforts.  The first step is to figure out your bedtime based on when you need to get up in the morning.    Count back a full 8 hours and set that as your bedtime.   You also want to go to bed and wake up at the same time all the time because having a consistent bed-time and waking time helps set your body clock.

It is also critical to get as much bright light exposure as possible as soon as you wake up - going outside for even 5 minutes and exposing your eyes to the bright blue light of the sun is as important as reducing your night-time exposure to light and blue light in particular.      Turn down your lights as much as possible during the evening and minimize screen time near bed time.   You can also install free blue light filter programs on your phone and computer - flux for computers and twilight app for phones.

It is also important to avoid all sources of caffeine except for first thing in the morning.     Caffeine is not a horrible thing, but too much to late can really have a big negative impact on your sleep.     Also avoid alcohol because drinking reduces the quality of your sleep as well.    Just cutting down or cutting out alcohol and caffeine often makes a dramatic difference in sleep quality within a week to 10 days.

The other key is making sleep a priority.  Sleep is directly linked to higher quality of life and resistance to illness and disease.    Sleep is as important as diet and exercise so make getting a good night’s rest a priority.

 

Does Eating too Little Really Prevent Weight Loss?

 

It can seem like this is true when you are trying to do everything you can to lose weight and nothing seems to be happening.  But is this really the case?    The short answer is NO!

So what is going on when you are eating a lot less and still not losing weight?   You have probably heard the phrase “calories in, calories out” many times but doubt its truth.     In fact the balance of calories burned and taken in DOES determine bodyweight and there are no exceptions even though it can seem like this is not the case.

In every case when scientists tightly control or measure intake and output of calories – the balance between calories in and out DOES cause changes in bodyweight.   

Factors that affect calories burned

There are many factors that affect how many calories you burn daily, and the tricky part is that your body is designed specifically to adjust calorie output based on environmental conditions.  For example, prolonged low calorie intake WILL slow down your metabolic rate resulting in a significant drop in calorie burn.

By the same token if you are exposed to cold temperatures consistently your metabolic rate will increase in order to create heat necessary to keep your body functioning properly.

Another very important factor affecting your metabolic rate is your activity levels including exercise AND non-exercise movement or NEAT for short.  NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis and refers to the fact that ALL movement requires caloric energy.   

When scientists have studied people and used sophisticated techniques to monitor movement, they have discovered that the levels of NEAT vary considerably between people, and NEAT can make all the difference in the world between being fat or lean.

Factors that affect calories consumed

Calorie consumption is also affected by many factors including appetite which is very complicated in humans and strongly affected by psychological factors including stress and upbringing which influence our perception of hunger.       Other factors include macronutrient percentages in the diet referring to the percentage of protein, fat, fiber, sugar and starch in the diet along with meal frequency and size.

Why does it seem like calories in and calories out does not work?

We are not very good at correctly judging how much we are eating and burning!      Well-controlled studies show that people (even trained professionals!) consistently underestimate calorie intake and over-estimate calorie burn by up to 50%.

What about hormones?

Hormones like insulin, glucagon, growth hormone, testosterone, and others influence metabolism, lean mass, and fat mass they do not invalidate the energy balance equation.   

So What Can You Do?

Measure your food intake – use whatever tools you like including scales, measuring spoons, pictures, food logs, portion estimating tools, etc.     The key is getting a handle on what you are consuming by tracking EVERYTHING you are consume for a full week – the results will probably surprise you!

Track you daily activity levels – including exercise and non-exercise movement for a week using a movement tracker or app on your phone.   While far from perfect this also gives you a window into what you are doing which most of us are completely unaware of consciously. 

Choose whole, unprocessed foods – like eggs, meat, fish, vegetables and fruit.    That is where all the micro-nutrients (Vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant chemicals!) you need come from, and if you follow through on this you may find yourself losing weight without so much effort.

Adjust your proportion of protein, carbs, and fat – some people respond better to more carbs and fewer fats while others may respond better to less carb and more fat and protein.     There is no single diet that is best for everyone!

Get a Professional Coach – making consistent changes in your eating and activity habits can be very challenging – especially when you try to do it all by yourself.      Seek out a qualified and compassionate coach who can help you navigate these tricky waters.

Solving the Weight Loss Puzzle - Part 4

 

If you have not read parts 1 – 3 do so now.  Now that we understand that the three keys to losing bodyfat are: Resistance Training; High Intensity Interval Training, and Managing food and beverage intake let’s talk about how you really get a handle on doing all three!    

First, you need to establish a baseline to measure progress against which means assessing your current weight and percentage of body fat.   There are many effective ways to assess body composition (how much of you is fat and how much is lean tissue) but the most accurate is to get a Styku Scan.    Styku - www.styku.com is highly accurate and gives you a perfect picture of your body and all its measurement.   In fact there is no more accurate method to determine all your body measurements and be able to compare them accurately over time.

The Styku Scan also gives you a daily caloric expenditure estimate based on your height, weight, sex, measurements and level of bodyfat along with target calorie intake to reach your goal weight/bodyfat level.     Most Workout Anytime locations have a Styku Scanner and all members receive a complimentary scan, and premium memberships include monthly Styku Scans!

The next key is adopting some method to get a handle on your food and beverage intake and the new Workout Anytime Go App is the ideal place to do that!   the app is free to members and includes nutrition logging and tools like ability to scan food barcodes to get nutrition information.

Third you need to be able to measure your progress on the activity side of the equation by using a device to monitor exercise intensity and calorie expenditure and there are several good options such as Fitbit, Apple Watch and best of all Myzone.   My favorite devices are ones that include heart rate monitoring and not just movement tracking because during your workouts your heart rate response tells the whole story!     

During your HIIT training sessions you want to elevate your heart rate between 85 – 100% of your maximum heart rate for 10 – 15 minutes of a half hour sessions.   You can estimate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220, but there are several other formulas available for estimating your maximum heart rate.   Here is a great article that walks you through three options: https://theathleteblog.com/calculate-maximum-heart-rate/ 

Fourth you need to keep a record of your resistance training exercises so that you can see whether you are making progress.   You can also do this using the new Workout Anytime Go app.  If you are not familiar with proper resistance training technique and exercises we highly suggest you find a trainer and invest in some personal training to learn proper form and resistance levels so you get the most from your resistance training. If you follow these guidelines and record your exercise sessions and food and beverage intake you will find that becoming a lean, mean fighting machine is not as hard as you think!

Solving the Weight Loss Puzzle - Part 3

 

If you have not read parts 1 and 2 please do so first!.  Now that we understand that the most important factor in controlling bodyweight is managing the energy you use each day with the energy you take in from food and beverages the next step is understanding the crucial difference between losing fat and losing weight!

In the beginning of any new diet there is typically a significant loss of water weight, and while comforting this is a temporary phenomenon and not permanent!    Also it is important to understand that real goal should be reducing levels of bodyfat while maintaining or actually increasing muscle mass.     

The reason is that muscle and fat are not the same when it comes to how you look and feel. Fat is stored energy and fat tissue takes up much more space than muscle or other lean tissue mass.  Take a look at the picture below to get a sense of how different 5lbs of muscle looks compared to 5lbs of fat.

As you can see muscle is much denser and firmer material than fat.  The practical implication is that if you were to lose 5lbs of fat and gain 5lbs of muscle - although the scale would not change at all – you (and everyone you know) would notice a big improvement in your appearance.   You would actually look smaller and feel firmer. 

In addition because muscle burns significantly more calories than fat while at rest your resting metabolic rate would be increased meaning you are burning more calories ALL the time — not just during exercise.  

It is very important to have a way to track your progress and the Styku Body Scan is ideal because you will literally see changes in your body and be able to accurately track your fat and muscle mass to make sure you are losing fat and not losing muscle over time. 

So the next question becomes “how do I lose fat and build or maintain muscle mass at the same time?”   

Regular Resistance Training aka strength training which stimulates your body to maintain or build muscle and bone tissue.

High Intensity Interval Training which maximizes calorie burn both during AND after the workout.  One of the best HIIT workouts is Sprint 8 - to learn more about it see this previous blogpost:  http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2019/03/is-hiit-really-better-for-fat-loss-than.html 

Managing your food and beverage Intake to ensure your calorie intake is slightly below your total calorie output to ensure your body has a reason to use fat (stored energy).

Maintain Adequate Protein Intake - it is very important to eat enough protein to prevent loss of muscle mass during weight loss.   Protein needs vary based on your size, age, and activity level but during weight loss you want to shoot for .8 - 1 gram of quality protein per pounds of bodyweight.   To learn more about protein needs check out these previous blogposts:   http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2021/06/everything-you-need-to-know-about.html and http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2021/06/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about.html .

While each of these components are important by themselves - combining them creates a much greater short and long term response.   Take any of the four components out and you will limit your results!

Reducing calorie intake (aka dieting alone) will initially result in greater fat loss than exercise for people who are beginning to exercise, BUT overtime your body will ALWAYS slow-down in response to any sustained drop in calorie intake.   

Exercise on the other hand is just the opposite — initially for an unfit person exercise makes a very small contribution to any weight loss because the person’s exercise capacity is low.  However, over time a person’s exercise capacity will improve.    So all forms of diet become less effective over time while exercise becomes more effective.

The key is addressing diet and exercise out of the gate and focusing on HIIT and Resistance Training in your exercise programming while watching your food and beverage intake!

Stay tuned for the final part of this article next week!

Solving the Weight Loss Puzzle - Part 2

 

If you have not seen part 1 take a moment to review it.  So what is the key to weight loss anyway?   Although there is a lot of press out there stating that “Calories do not count” and “just focus on eating healthy” the fact is that regulation of bodyweight and bodyfat (two different things!) are primarily controlled by the balance of energy you take in from food and beverages (calories) and the energy you use to maintain all your cells and fuel all movement.    So why are people (including some very bright researchers as well) saying that calories don’t count?

First because a lot of research that is quoted was done WITHOUT controlling calories taken in and using participant recall to estimate calories taken in.  Here is the problem with this – we are lousy at estimating calories taken in.   In fact even trained dieticians frequently underestimate their calorie intake by 40%!  Imagine running a business and underestimating your bills by 40%!  In literally every case when food intake is precisely controlled or measured through a process using “doubly labeled water” (which can be used to measure food intake with 100% accuracy without having to measure and provide food) people do in fact lose weight based on calories in and calories out!

Second because there is confusion about a process that is built into every human being called “Metabolic Adaptation”.    Simply put your body adjusts to any prolonged reduction in calorie intake (regardless of the type of diet!) by reducing resting metabolic rate.    In addition if the reduction in calorie intake is really large your level of spontaneous physical movement will be reduced.  This process is based on hundreds of thousands of years of humans living in a world where adequate food intake was NOT guaranteed and in fact people frequently were forced to not eat for prolonged periods of time.  So the ability to reduce the body’s need for energy was a fundamental survival mechanism encoded in all our genes!

For example if you take a group of people of about the same height, weight, age, sex and activity level who require 2,000 calories per day to maintain their current bodyweight and drop their calorie intake to say 1,500 calories per day all of them will lose weight/fat initially.    However within a 2 – 3 month span all weight/fat loss will cease even if they continue to eat exactly 1,500 calories per day and maintain the same physical movement profile because as you lose weight/fat the body ALWAYS responds by lowering resting metabolic rate.    So unless you INCREASE physical activity ALL DIETS become less effective over time regardless of how “healthy” they are!

Stay tuned for part 3 and learn the difference between weight loss and fat loss!

Solving the Weight Loss Puzzle - Part 1 of 4

 

Have you tried to lose weight and failed? If so, you are not alone. 95% of the people who try to lose weight fail to reach their goal, and even less are actually able to maintain their weight loss once they achieve their goal. Obesity and the associated disease diabetes are increasing exponentially in the America despite the many published health warnings about the health risks associated with being overweight.

Why are people unable to lose weight? People are hopelessly confused about the factors controlling bodyweight regulation. This is not surprising when you understand that every single program, book, and guideline developed by various diet “experts”, including our own government, lacks crucial information, contains misinformation, or contains myths. The list of experts and programs seems endless: The Keto Diet, The Paleo Diet, The Carnivore Diet, Dr. Atkins, Dr. Andrew Weil, The Pritikin Diet, Sugar Busters, Protein Power, Dr. Dean Ornish, and all the rest. To make matters worse much of the “information” from different experts seems to be completely contradictory.

Take this short True/False quiz to see how much you really understand about controlling your weight and bodyfat levels.

Eating a low fat diet is the key to losing weight
Eating a low carbohydrate diet is the key to losing weight
Most obese people have a slow metabolism
Obesity is a genetic disorder
Some people have a slow metabolism and some people have a fast metabolism
Exercise is not really effective for weight loss
You can eat all you want and lose weight if you do not eat carbohydrates
Low carbohydrate diets are unhealthy
If you eat foods in the right combinations you will lose weight
The key to weight loss is eating healthy not counting calories
Americans are eating more fat than ever before
Americans are eating less fat than ever before

Sound familiar? It should. All these statements have been made by various “experts”. Unfortunately, all but the last one is FALSE. If you want to control bodyweight you have to understand ALL the factors that govern bodyweight regulation and how they apply specifically to you. Stay tuned for part 2 of this article next week to learn more!