Water for Health and Performance

Nearly all the bio-chemical reactions that occur in body cells depend on water and electrolyte (sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, phosphorous, magnesium, etc.) balance. These balances are not only vital to maintaining life but also affect physical and mental performance. Water is the most abundant component of the body (60 per cent + by weight). It is believed that it was Mike Colgan of the Colgan Institute who referred to the body as a "Hairy protein bag full of water". This bag of water has many holes which allow for leakage. These holes include skin pores which allow for perspiration (skin leakage) the kidney/bladder system which expels wastes carried by water and the respiratory system which must he moist or breathing would be very dry and painful. Adequate hydration is very important in the maintenance of body temperature. When muscles contract they generate heat which must be dissipated from the core to the body surface and adequate water to maintain adequate blood volume is vital. Blood, kidney, heart and lungs are made of 80 per cent or more water. Muscle, spleen, brain, intestines, and skin are 72-75 per cent water. Even bones are 22 per cent and fat tissue is 10 per cent water. On a normal, moderate temperature, inactive day you would lose 1.5 liters (6 glasses) of water through kidney filtration (urine production) and another 0.750-1 liter (3-4 glasses) through the skin and respiration. So an average person needs 8-9 glasses per day just to replace average losses. It is true you get some of that from fruits, vegetable, other beverages and food. My "rule of thumb" for water requirements has long been—weight in kgs./2 = gm of water/day. Caffeinated, alcoholic and many carbonated beverages have a diuretic effect and actually increase the daily fluid requirements. One should choose pure water or high quality sport beverage in some circumstances. Naturally, daily fluid requirements will vary with environmental conditions, clothing and exercise intensity and duration.

Even mild dehydration-1 per cent of body-which would represent approximately.75 to 1 liter of water (1 per cent of 75 Kg = 750 ml.) can create a reduction in muscle performance and start to show dehydration symptoms. Early symptoms are headaches, dry eyes (ask any contact lens wearer what happens after a couple of glasses of wine), drowsiness, loss of concentration, irritability. If the dehydration is 2-3 per cent, serious performance inhibition occurs. Dr. David Costill demonstrated that at these low levels of dehydration 1-3 per cent even the time for 1500 metres was inhibited. The time for a competitive 10 K was reduced by 2.5 minutes which is serious in a 30 min 10 K. Muscle cramps are also a sign of inadequate fluid replacement and electrolyte loss, particularly calcium and magnesium. Even "Lactate threshold"—an indicator of maximal work performance ability is lowered which is not a good thing in high intensity, endurance competition. Thicker blood, fast heart rate, negative changes in blood pressure is other symptoms. Don't wait until you are thirsty to decide to drink. Fluid replacement is part of a daily plan. Thirst is a sign—too late—of dehydration, performance is already impaired. You actually lose significant fluid just sitting in an air conditioned car or office. Frequent drinks of water during a long automobile trip will reduce apparent road fatigue. The same applies to sitting at your desk. A friend has a water bottle holder mounted on the dash of car to encourage convenient hydration while driving. Here are typical water losses during exercise: 1 hour of weight training = 227 gm; 45 minutes of swimming = 283.75 gm, a softball game = 454 gm; 5 mile run = 681 gm, 45 minutes of full court basketball = 681 gm; bicycling for 1 hour = 936.37 gm. and a marathon = 3291.5 gm. As the environmental temperature, exercise intensity and or duration increases, you need to drink more and may want to switch to a quality sport drink (one made with a glucose polymer like maltodextrin rather than table sugar and 6-8 electrolytes rather than just sodium and potassium) to avoid a condition known as Hyponatremia or water intoxication caused by electrolyte loss and excess water intake. During the famous Daedalus man powered flight over the Aegean Sea (energy equivalent of 3 non-stop marathons) in 1988, the athlete lost only 1.5 Kg and had normal blood chemistry at the end. He drank a cup of high quality sport drink every 15 minutes for just over 4 hours. Cool beverages are absorbed better than room temperature or warm beverages.

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Drink or not to drink?

In the ideal world, we would eat everything organic, like it was less than 100 years ago. However, in this less than ideal world, at least from a nutritional view point, we find food processors, manufacturers and purveyors determined to impress their investors with great "bottom line" profits through whatever means our free enterprise system allows. Unfortunately, nutritional consideration is not first in the priority lists of most Fortune 500 companies involved in the manufacture, distribution and sale of food products. There are over 6,000 web pages, according to Aspartame Truth Information web site, devoted to discussing, revealing, berating and defending this non-nutritive item which has infiltrated a huge segment of the food market. The desire to reduce the calorie content of our meals, in order to manage weight and the wish by those on sugar restricted diets (primarily Diabetics) to enjoy the taste of sweet, is the two driving forces in this market. Here a phrase "non-nutritive" is used because artificial sweeteners provide no nutrition to our diets nor is the taste of sweet a fundamental necessity for optimal health. All tastes are acquired and for those with a "sweet tooth" will find that if they increase the protein consumption in their diets, the "sweet tooth" will become much less powerful.

Aspartame is the artificial combining of two naturally occurring amino acids—phenylalanine and Aspartic acid. Questioning the efficacy and safety of this product is the subject of the majority of the 6,000 web sites. One of the reasons for using aspartame is the quest to reduce calories and therefore lose or maintain body weight. However, there is some evidence, disputed by the manufacturers of course, that the sweet sensation provided by artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, can through a "neural/humeral" connection cause the pancreas to secrete insulin regardless of the blood sugar levels. Insulin is the storage hormone and inhibits fat mobilization, thus defeating the original goal to lose fat. With elevated insulin, which does not combine with blood sugars, you get an increase in appetite and a craving for carbohydrates. This has been reported by several researchers and of course denied by the research of the manufacturing companies. The other major criticism is that the Phenylalanine component degrades into methanol, which quickly converts into formaldehyde and accumulates in cells. Accumulated formaldehyde can become toxic to nerve cells over time. The industry claims that the methanol levels in question are well within safe limits and recognized by the FDA in the US and the Health Protection Branch in Canada.

The literature reports a myriad of health problems ranging from behavioral and neurological disorders to immune system breakdowns leading to cancer, arthritis, MS, Parkinson’s disease, ALS and Alzheimer’s disease. Others report headaches, epileptic seizures, allergies and mood swings. All such allegalcions are denied by the industry as they report their research.

Independent research finds problems with aspartame research. An analysis of 164 peer reviewed medical studies by Dr. Ralph Walton of Northeastern Ohio University found that of the 90 non-industries sponsored (independent) studies, 83 (92 per cent) identified one or more problems with aspartame. Of the 74-aspartame industry sponsored studies all (100 per cent) claimed that no problems were found with aspartame. Little comfort for the consumer. 

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Health and Fitness

Health and Fitness is a very important factor in all physical activities and Martial Arts is no exception. Therefore, in this chapter we will be covering all aspects of physical and mental training. "Before partaking in any physical activity get a full medical check-up from your physician."

In 1993, the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) attracted extensive media attention when it reported that Chinese restaurant food is unhealthy. A meal of kung pao chicken, the centre claimed, is comparable to "four McDonald's quarter pounders." In the months that followed this news, the CSPI focussed on several other types of food—including Italian food, Mexican food, and movie-theater popcorn—that, according to the centre's findings, contained unhealthy levels of salt and fat.

The centre declared that fettuccine Alfredo is "a heart attack on a plate," that eating "chile rellenos is like eating a whole stick of butter," and that a medium-sized container of movie-theatre popcorn with butter-flavoured topping contains "more fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big-Mac-with fries lunch, and a steak dinner with all the trimmings combined."

In response to this ever-growing list of dangerous foods, Mike Rooky, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, undoubtedly expressed the frustrations of many Americans when he wrote, "I can save the Center for Science in the Public Interest a lot of bother and expense. All it takes is a simple announcement: If something tastes good, it is probably bad.

If something tastes really dull, it is probably good." In a humorous tone, Rooky asked, "Who knows where the food nags will strike next? A deli?" Ironically, delis were one of the CSPI's subsequent targets: It proclaimed that an egg-salad sandwich "makes a Dairy Queen banana split look like a diet food."

The CSPI's campaign against unhealthy food and the reaction to it illustrates the uneasy relationship that often exists between health experts and the American public. Health officials—with the help of the news media and advertisers—produce a constant stream of information about the health effects of various foods, beverages, chemicals, drugs, lifestyles, and activities.

These reports ceaselessly implore the public to adhere to dietary and fitness guidelines that are continually being updated, revised, and amended. Because these recommen­dations are in constant flux—and often contradict one another—frustration such as that expressed by Rooky is commonplace. Some people adopt the attitude that because risks are ubiquitous and health problems are unavoidable, it is futile to attempt to alter one's behavior to avoid the inevitable.

Daniel Minturn, a shipping clerk interviewed by Richard Wood bury in Time magazine, succinctly summed up this philosophy as he prepared to eat a cheeseburger: "Everywhere you turn, it's a warning for this and a warning for that. So what's wrong with just now and then going out and enjoying what you want?" In fact, health experts who challenge the CSPI's claims suggest that Minturn's attitude is the correct one. Elizabeth M. Whelan, the president of the American Council on Science and Health, argues, CSPI's diet advice is "lite" on science and "reduced" in common sense. It overlooks the fact that what is important is one's overall diet, not the occasional consumption of any specific food. The key to healthy eating is a balanced, varied, moderate diet—and there is room in that overall scheme for fettucini and popcorn. Whelan and others accuse the CSPI of oversimplifying nutritional science. These critics contend that the restaurant foods cited by the CSPI are safe in moderate amounts, and that the CSPI ignores the fact that the degree of risk posed by fat and salt intake varies among individuals. For example, Jacob Sullum writes in National Review, "While too much (salt) aggravates certain kinds of hypertension, there is no Medical reason for people in general to avoid it." Similarly, he argues that although "a high-fat diet may increase the risk of heart disease in some people, that does not mean that fettuccine Alfredo, kung pao chicken, and chile rellenos are poison." Not only do experts debate the dangers posed by fat levels in particular foods, they also disagree about the risks and benefits of different types of fat. The food guide pyramid developed and issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1992 recommends using all fats and oils "sparingly." However, according to Michael Mason, a staff writer for Health magazine, this advice is misguided because it fails to differentiate between kinds of fat.

While saturated fat has been linked to heart disease, Mason notes, monounsaturated fat may actually benefit the cardiovascular system. Mason argues that by lumping all fats and oils together, the USDA calls for cutting olive oil, which is a source of monounsaturated fat. Simultaneously, according to Mason, while the pyramid advises cutting fats and oils, it allows for two to three servings per day of red meat, which is high in saturated fat. To rectify these inconsistencies, Mason endorses an alternative pyramid that was developed in 1994 by the Harvard School of Public Health, Old ways Prevention and Exchange Trust, and the World Health Organization. Based on the traditional Mediterranean diet, the new pyramid recommends eating red meat only a few times a month and calls for daily use of olive oil.

Along with contradictory information on nutrition, the public also receives mixed signals on exercise. For example, during the 1970s and 1980s, experts recommended that Americans engage in vigorous exercise for a minimum of thirty minutes a day, five days a week.

In 1993, however, new guidelines were released jointly by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The CDC and the ACSM called for moderate exercise and said that the recommended daily amount of activity could be "accumulated in short bouts" rather than during one workout, as was previously recommended. Then, in 1995, a study authored by Win Lee, an assistant professor of medicine at the Harvard School of Public Health, concluded that vigorous exercise—but not moderate exercise—was associated with greater longevity, suggesting that only vigorous exercise could help people live longer. Reflecting the public's confusion, an Associated Press article reporting on Lee's study began, "Run! No, walk. No, run!"

The uncertainty caused by such contradictory information can lead some people to become discouraged and to adopt a careless attitude about their personal health and fitness. However, amid the cacophony of competing recommendations, a few generalizations can safely be made. Most experts agree that some exercise is better than no exercise, and most agree that the best diet is a varied one low in saturated fat. In Health and Fitness: Opposing Viewpoints authors examine diet, exercise, and other things for instances. What Behaviors Pose the Greatest Health Risks and Benefits? Are Exercise and Weight-Loss Treatments Beneficial? Are Alternative Therapies Viable? Is the Health Care Industry Effective? Throughout these chapters, issues that affect the health and fitness are discussed and debated.

Maybe you've never done much in physical fitness, but you would like to learn about it and see what's involved. Or maybe you have been exposed to some aspects of exercise, but don't feel that what you learned was balanced and comprehensive enough. Maybe you've noticed signs of aging and disuse in your body, and want to do something about it.

Most books, videos and television programmers dealing with health and fitness are narrow in who they're aimed at, the methods they promote and the information they provide.

Aging and longevity research has shown that physical exercise is the most important single factor for a healthy long life. In the many thousands of years of human evolution, it's only during the most recent fragment of time that large numbers of us have had the dubious luxury of inactivity.

We live under sedentary conditions that are alien to the way our internal organs, skeleton and musculature evolved. Exercise returns us to a more natural condition. Reaction times and hormones tend to remain at more youthful levels for physically active people. You don't need long gut-wrenching workouts to benefit. You need a persistent long-term programmed of moderate intensity. Fitness requires some effort on your part. Don't let anybody tell that you can get health and fitness gains without some effort. However, a well-directed programmed will minimize the effort and maximize the gain.

Few Questions Related to Health and Fitness:

· What are the three basic categories of exercise and their priorities for health and fitness?

· Considering the diet that most people eat, what are the main problems?

· When it comes to making adjustments to improve our fitness and health, how long should we continue these before we can resume our old bad habits? A few months? A couple years? Until we find somebody to date? The rest of our lives?

Read on if you would like the answers to those questions. Exercise Answers

Physical exercise falls into three categories:

1. The leading priority is cardiovascular fitness, which is exercise aimed at the heart muscle. The main concern in fitness is to stay alive and a strong heart helps in that regard. Cardio-vascular fitness exercises work large muscle groups in a light persistent manner so that those muscles demand increased blood and pumping action from the heart. Typical examples are running, biking, and aerobics. Research indicates that cardio-vascular (CV) sessions lasting about 30 minutes every day are sufficient for most fitness purposes.

Most people are unaware that for each individual there's window of exertion that CV workouts should fall within to get the desired effects. You'll be shown how to determine the intensity level of exercise necessary for you to get an optimum conditioning effect from your CV exercise sessions.

2. The next priority in physical fitness is stretching the major muscle groups and strengthening the lower back. The value of a long life is diminished if a person is stiff, partially immobile or in nagging back pain. It's remarkable how little exposure and emphasis this point gets. The only equipment you need is your living room floor. Stretching exercises should be done a few minutes daily.

Keeping the lower back muscles flexible and strong should be a high priority in any fitness plan. There's a tendency for men to discount stretching exercises and concentrate on strength training. That's not smart. Physical prowess is greatly enhanced by limberness. In most sports, the best athletes have a flow of motion that is simply not possible with stiff weak back muscles.

3. The last fitness priority is strength training. This is the type of exercise that gets the most attention. Weight­lifting can make you look good but it shouldn't be the first priority in fitness training. A barbell set, a weight bench and a good workout plan are all that's needed. Used with common sense, working out with barbells is as safe as any other method. The strength training routine takes about 30 minutes, every day. Over a period of months, the average person can improve their strength greatly and make their appearance more youthful and attractive. This applies to women as well as men. Women normally don't gain muscle mass like men sometimes do with intensive weight training but they do gain a more healthy, youthful athletic appearance.

(The overall plan is to work out 5 or 6 days a week for about 30 minutes each time. You alternate the days between cardiovascular and weight-lifting exercises, with a little overlap that will be described later. In addition, every day you spend several minutes doing stretching routines. In addition to exercise, many people should adjust their diets away from excessive quantities of food, and away from food that is loaded with fat and sugar.)

Healthy changes in exercise and diet should be lifelong, not for some limited pe io cif t nee. Changes that are realistic for a lifetime have to be sensible—not extremist fad-oriented or requiring so much time or effort that they become burdensome and get abandoned. Sensible methods that can become lifelong habits are what you will see here.

Working Out

Exercise in the most comfortable convenient room in your house or apartment. Have a TV and a radio/tape player there, so that you can merge the time with entertainment. It should be a brightly-lit area and if you have children, it will be a good influence on them to see you exercising. Don't confine your work-out area to the basement or garage. The idea is to make it as enjoyable and convenient as possible, and to make it as habitual as possible.

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Habit of Fitness

The idea of making fitness a habit is important. People often associate "enthusiasm" with working out and getting fit. There's nothing wrong with bringing enthusiasm to a worthwhile Endeavour. However, it's not enough, it usually wanes, and it's really not the key ingredient.

Here's the important thing about a fitness programmed make it a habit. Make it a habit to Rio our cardio-vascular exercise regularly. Make it a habit to do our strong exercises daily. Ma e it a habit to do your weight-training exercises regularly. Make it a habit not to overeat. Habitually steer away from Liat and lusugar foods.

Developing a "fitness habit" is important. The idea is to abandon bad habits, like physical passivity, and get new good ones. Any exercise plan that isn't conducive to becoming habitual is a waste of time. If it's too difficult, or too time-consuming it's not a winner. The plan presented here is something you can make into a permanent part of your daily activities.

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Formation of Habit

Habits are developed by means of two basic factors: reward and repetition. When adults make changes in their lives through new behavior, they have go through the process of forming new habits. Enthusiasm by itself is not enough. It can get you started, but it's not the thing that maintains a change in long-term behavior.

As an adult, you have to decide what you want (a reward like looking better and being healthier).

Determine what you need to do to get it. Then start doing it repetitively

Losing weight and/or building up your muscles are not rewards that will occur immediately—they take at least some months. So the reward is delayed and to a large extent the formation of a new habit in physical exercise and diet depends mostly on repetition. But that's nothing unusual. Many of our habits grow from repetition and delayed reward.

Brushing your teeth several times a day doesn't yield any immediate reward. The payoff is a "non-event" the dentist not using his drill on you months into the future. But that ephemeral association doesn't deter most people from engaging in dental hygiene.

The delayed reward of looking better and avoiding health problems in the future shouldn't preclude you from forming new habits in the area of physical exercise and diet.

Building habits through repetition is easy. How many times have you driven an often-traveled route without thinking? Sometimes, it can get so habitual that even if you intended to divert off the course to go someplace else, you miss the turn off and follow the habitual course. That's the behavior that you want to get working for you in the areas that you choose.

You want to find it easier to follow your fitness programmed, than not to.

Here are some factors and techniques that might help you in developing positive habits.

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Favorably Alter Your Environment

If you want to encourage yourself to exercise regularly, then put your equipment in a convenient place. Don't put it down in the basement or in some room you never go into. If (you want to stop eating certain types of foods, then throw the route Lithe keeled in and avoid restaurants where they are served)

Stock up on the kinds of food you intend to eat. If you want to cut down on eating, minimize your time in the kitchen by preparing easy to make things) If you want to encourage yourself to do your cardio-vascular exercises regularly, keep your running shoes, skip rope or whatever equipment you use in plain sight. What you see—you think about. What you think about—you do.

Monitor Your Behavior

Creative Thinking

Maybe you find yourself in some irrelevant meeting listening to someone rattling on. Give yourself the luxury of escaping for a moment.

In your "minds eye"...

• · See yourself coming home this evening.

• · See yourself changing into your work-out clothes.

• · See yourself doing your exercises.

• · Feel the satisfaction you will have when you've done your workout.

This kind of visualization works in a couple ways. It's a good method to implant a thought that will recall itself at the right time. But when you add good feelings to the visualization you not only tend to remember to do it, but actually want to do it.

General, when you want to promote a certain activity by thought it's best to think positively about the benefits that come from carrying out the behavior, rather than thinking about the negative consequences of failing to do it. In other words—think_ positively.)

Set-up an Intermediate Reward System

Be Realistic

Crash diets put too much strain on the system. The methods involved in doing them are almost never supportable over the long-term, so people who crash down in weight, almost always vault right back up again.

Similarly, be patient in your muscle strengthening programmed. You will probably gain muscle strength quickly the first few months without it showing up very much in the mirror. Don't expect 30 minute weight-lifting sessions every day to result in you looking like a body-builder. However, this type of programmed will start visibly showing through in six months to a year. And over the course of several years, the average person will take on an appearance of an obviously fit person.

Support from a Partner?

You definitely do not want to miss or even alter the timing of your workouts because of difficulties in synchronizing two schedules. Schedule disruptions will damage your ability to form the fitness habit. And habit is the key. Most people will be best off developing the fitness habit on their own.

Just Starting Out?

1. To slowly accustom your muscles and heart to exertion. Doing too much in the starting phase can lead to serious muscle soreness. Obviously, doing cardiovascular exercise when you are out of shape has the risk of overtaxing the heart, and should be done cautiously and perhaps only after a physical examination by a doctor. Listen to your body, and use good judgment.

2. To learn the proper form of the routines. Do the exercises right, so you get the maximum benefit.

3. To ease into the habit of taking time each day for exercise. Be consistent and use repetition to ingrain a good workout habit in you.

How you start out on an exercise programmed is important. Overdoing things in the beginning can mess the whole thing up. Here's an anecdote about a guy who was in that position.

Get a calendar devoted solely to your physical fitness and/or diet programmers. Maintain it daily. Everyday mark down whether you followed the programmed, or did not. The days for which you failed should cause you a certain amount of dissatisfaction and impatience with yourself. Remember, repetition over time will make the desired behavior become easier to fulfill. Lapses just delay and make your goal's achievement more difficult.

Get in the habit of imagining and mentally rehearsing what you want to do. Several times a day, whether you are alone or not, take 20 or 30 seconds to imagine seeing yourself and feeling yourself doing your next scheduled workout.

The main reward in a physical fitness programmed takes some time in coming. However, perhaps there are some things that you particularly enjoy that you can hold as rewards to yourself for following your programmed. Perhaps two weeks with no lapses should be rewarded by spending a little more than you normally would to see a good play, or for shopping.

You often hear about people setting very high goals and then driving themselves to fulfill them. You don't often hear how this can promote discouragement and failure. If you (want to lose 15 kg give yourself 15 to 30 weeks to do it in a steady progressive manner? Even if you could lose it faster than that, it's usually unwise to do so.

Can you benefit by teaming up with a partner? The idea is that you encourage your partner if they start slacking off, and vice versa. The problem is that a weak partner will undermine your efforts. In addition, you may wind up disrupting the formation of your work-out habits due to scheduling problems.

If you're just starting an exercise programmed after a long period of inactivity you should take it easy during the first month. The objectives during this beginning period are not to see how strong you are or even to get much of a workout. The priorities are:

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Weight Machines

Roomy had never been particularly athletic even in his high school and college days. He didn't have much of a base of knowledge to go from when his doctor advised him to lose weight and start getting some exercise. He was in his mid '30s, had a pot belly and mild high blood pressure. As part of a new year's resolution he joined an athletic club not far from work and resolved to start spending his lunch-times exercising, instead of in restaurants.

He didn't know quite what to expect from this unfamiliar environment the first day he walked into the work-out room. The place was filled with 20 or 30 machines specialized for exercising everything from the calf muscles all the way up to the neck. Ten or 15 people were in the room busily using the machines and he decided the best thing to do was simply to watch what others were doing and follow on.


After a few tries at the machines, he realized that he had no idea how much weight he should be using for a given exercise. A couple machines he had tried gave too little resistance, while others had so many plates selected that he could barely get one repetition completed (to his embarrassment). All the other guys and girls in the work-out room seemed like old hands at all this, leaving him feeling all the more obvious in his inadequacy. This got his hackles up and he elected to leave early and come back during the mid afternoon when he knew he would have the place more to himself. Then he could experiment with the machines and note what weights to use on each, away from the gaze of amused eyes.


As he had expected, the place was nearly empty when he returned. The aggravation of his earlier experience spurred him on in his determination to conquer the machines. He went from contraption to contraption experimenting with the number of weight plates for which he mild manage to make the cams and levers move along their prescribed paths.


His enthusiasm for the idea of getting healthy and fit grew as he drove himself to conquer every machine in the weight room. The full spirit of it all impelled him to forcing himself not to give up until he couldn't get out another repetition on each and every apparatus. Finally, he went to the showers feeling that he had really accomplished something. He had used his enthusiasm to confirm his commitment to himself to improve his health!


Unfortunately, while Rory’s enthusiasm gave him over to a spate of beginners' euphoria, his long-neglected muscles were soon to burst the bubble. They didn't appreciate such rough treatment after years of non-use. Roomy felt pain in every bit of his body the next morning. It was to be over a month before he went anywhere near that weight room again and then only after he had read everything and queried everybody he could on the right way to goes about weight training. He recalled that when he had learned to drive a car,


like everyone else he had taken it one careful step at a time. He hadn't just jumped behind the wheel and gone out on the freeway during rush hour.


Fat: Fat, perhaps no other word in our language is despised as much, nor focused on so intensely. Peoples are obsessed about fat—body fat—and how to get rid of it. We have been conditioned to view health and fitness in strictly black (fat) and white (fit) terms: A "fat" body cannot possibly be fit and healthy. This fat-versus-fit dichotomy, made popular in the 1970s with the publication of fitness guru Covert Bailey's "Fit or Fat?", has become the mantra of many a fitness and health professional. You don't have to read any more than the title to grasp the fundamental message of this perennial best­selling fitness bible: A person is either fit, or fat—but not both.


The implications of this myopic fitness philosophy are obvious: The road to a fitter and healthier body is a very narrow one indeed. In order for a fat person to become fit and healthy, that person must lose weight and become lean. This of course implies that "lean" is inherently good and "fat" is inherently bad. Not only is this lipophobic paradigm overly simplistic, it does not stand up against a substantial amount of medical and scientific evidence.

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Obesity Heart Disease Link Challenged

Take coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis), for example—the number one killer in the developing countries. Conventional wisdom tells us that obesity itself is a major cause of clogged arteries—the rationale being that more fat on the body equals more fat in the blood stream equals more fat build-up in the arteries. However, most of the studies that have looked at the relationship between body weight (or body fat) and atherosclerosis—via coronary angiography or by direct examination of artery disease at autopsy—find that fat people are no more likely to have clogged arteries than thin people.

In some instances results entirely opposite to conventional wisdom are observed. For example, in U.S. when researchers at the University of Tennessee evaluated coronary angiograms of more than 4,500 men and women, they found that the risk of having a clogged artery actually decreased as body weight increased. In other words, it was the fat men and women who had the cleanest arteries. Although this finding is exceptional, the preponderance of angiography studies of this nature do undermine the notion that obesity inevitably results in clogged arteries.

Furthermore, the findings from angiography studies are consistent with countless autopsy studies—dating back to the middle of this century—of the link between body weight (or body fat) and arterial disease. The large-scale International Atherosclerosis Project, for example, conducted in the late 1950s and early 1960s, concluded after analyzing 23,000 sets of coronary arteries—obtained at autopsy—that no measure of body weight or body fat was related to the degree of coronary vessel disease. The obesity-heart disease link is just not well supported by the scientific and medical literature.

Thinner not Necessarily Healthier

The same could be said for the notion that thin people are healthiest and can expect to live longer than everybody else. Contrary to the prevailing medical mindset, the "thin-live­longest" studies frequently cited by the more vocal of the anti-fat crusaders are far outnumbered by studies demonstrating that body weight—aside from the extremes—is not really all that strong a predictor of death rates, or overall health for that matter.

A 1996 publication by researchers at the National Centre for Health Statistics and Cornell University illustrates perfectly. After analyzing the results from dozens of published reports on the impact of body weight on death rates, encompassing

more than 350,000 men and nearly 250,000 women, the researchers found that moderate obesity (no more than about 22.7 kg. in excess of the so-called ideal body weight) increased the risk of premature death only slightly in men, and not at all in women, during follow-up periods lasting up to 30 years. In fact, the researchers found that thin men even within the range recommended by the current U.S. government guidelines had a risk of premature death equal to that of men who were extremely overweight. The researchers warned in their summary comments that "attention to the health risks of underweight is needed, and body weight recommendations for optimum longevity need to be considered in light of these risks."

In America the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company introduced its tables of "ideal" weights in 1942 the company called them "desirable" weights in 1959, and did away altogether with the terms "ideal" and "desirable" in 1983 we have been operating under the weight loss industry-reinforced assumption that weighing more than what the height/weight charts say we should weigh is a sure sign of poor health and greatly increases risk of premature death. However, the majority of body weight-mortality investigations have shown that weighing 90 pounds, or 30 pounds, or even 50 pounds in excess of the height-weight chart recommendations is associated with little, if any, increased risk of an early check-out.

For example, the current U.S. government guidelines indicate that a 5'4" woman should weigh between 111 pounds and 146 pounds, and a 5'10" man should weigh between 132 pounds and 174 pounds. According to the 1996 study previously mentioned, a 5'4" woman and 5110" man could weigh close to 200 pounds before their risk of premature death goes up appreciably (excess body weight seems to be riskier in men than in women). This suggests that there are a great many "overweight" Americans especially women who are agonizing unnecessarily about those numbers on the bathroom scale.

So if being a little fatter than average might not be so bad, and being thin (at least for men) might not be so good, what does this say about body weight and health? If the concept of an ideal weight is little more than statistical fiction, should we just chuck the bathroom scale, kick back on the sofa with a bag of chips in one hand and the remote control in the other, and nestle into total couch-potato-hood of course not (although chucking the bathroom scale is probably a good idea). It's just that body weight, and even body fat for that matter, do not tell us nearly as much about our health as lifestyle factors, such as exercise and the foods we eat. Consider the following scenario.

Randomly select a few hundred men and women (matched for age and smoking habits) and divide them into two groups based on body fat: lean and fat. Next take each person's blood pressure, draw some blood and determine each person's serum lipid levels, and have each person perform a glucose tolerance test (to get an idea of each person's insulin sensitivity). You will find, on average, higher blood pressures, unhealthier blood lipid profiles, and poorer glucose tolerance/insulin sensitivity in the group of fat men and women.

Does this mean that the higher body fat levels caused the health problems? No. It just means that you are more likely to find these kinds of metabolic disorders in fat men and women. But associations do not prove cause-effect. Just because you are more likely to observe high blood pressure, elevated blood lipids and glucose intolerance in fat persons does not prove that body fat is the cause of these health problems, nor does it mean that a fat person has to become lean in order to resolve these health problems. The proof of this assertion is quite straightforward. Get these fat men and

women to start an exercise programmed and eat healthier foods and see how they do. Numerous research studies have done just that. A few examples are described below.

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Weight-related Health Problems

Results from the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) clinical trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997, proved that blood pressures can be effectively lowered by simple changes in diet, without losing weight. Among 133 men and women with high blood pressure, just eating more fruits and vegetables, and consuming low-fat dairy foods with reduced saturated fat, was sufficient to reduce systolic blood pressure by an average of 11.4 mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure by an average of 5.5 mmHg, within two weeks after changing their diets. The reductions in blood pressures were comparable to those observed with initiation of pharmacotherapy—but without the side-effects which sometimes accompany antihypertensive medications. Most significantly, the blood pressure reductions were achieved without any weight loss.

To prove that it's fat in the diet—and not fat on the body—that is the primary cause of blood lipid abnormalities, such as high cholesterol, researchers at the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland, placed 54 middle-aged men and women on a low-fat (-24 per cent of total calories) diet for six weeks. Total cholesterol dropped from 263 mg/dl to 201 mg/dl in the men, and from 239 mg/d1 to 188 mg/cil in the women. Body weight did decrease modestly, by about 2 pounds.

The subjects were then switched back to their usual diet (-.39 per cent of total calories from fat) for six weeks. Total cholesterol levels returned to their original levels—despite absolutely no change in body weight—requiring the researchers to conclude that the fat content of the diet, not weight change, was responsible for the changes in cholesterol levels.

Combined exercise and nutrition programmed have provided even more compelling results, as illustrated by the changes observed in the more than 4,500 men and women who have completed a 3-week stay at the Pitkin Longevity Centre in Santa Monica, California. The Pitkin programmed consists of eating a low-fat, high-complex starch, high-fibre diet (with no emphasis on rapid weight loss) and daily moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise

Within three weeks the average cholesterol level dropped from about 234 mg/dl to about 180 mg/dl; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (the unhealthy kind) decreased from around 151 mg/dl to 116 mg/dl; and triglycerides were reduced by one-third (from 200 mg/dl down to 135 mg/dl).

Protein programmed participants lowered their blood pressures by an average of 5-10 per cent, and more than one-third of the men and women with high blood pressure were able to discontinue antihypertensive medications. Those with type II (adult onset) diabetes also experienced tremendous improvements: 39 per cent of those taking insulin and 71 per cent of those on oral hypoglycemic agents were able to discontinue medication entirely.

All of these improvements in health profile while on the Pitkin programmed were observed within three weeks. Although participants do lose weight (typically about 5 per cent of their initial body weight), statistical analysis indicates that less than 5 per cent of the improvements in health can be attributed to changes in body weight. Most important to the question at hand is the fact that most men and women who enter the programmed obese leave the programmed obese—but with one major difference: They no longer have the health problems thought to be caused by excess body fat. Just as risk factors for heart disease can be affected by changes in lifestyle independent of changes in body weight the actual disease itself can be influenced by lifestyle modification—without changes in body weight. The results of the Cholesterol Lowering Atherosclerosis Study illustrate. Eighty-two moderately overweight middle-aged men with heart disease were placed in a two-year intervention programmed designed to reduce consumption of dietary fat. Men who reduced their fat intake to 27.5 per cent of total calories showed no new fatty deposits in their coronary vessels (as determined by examination of coronary angiograms taken before and after the two-year study). On the other hand, men who failed to make significant changes in fat intake (34 per cent of total calories from fat) didn't do as well—they all showed some evidence of new lesions in their coronary vessels. Because neither group lost any weight during the two-year study, the researchers concluded, in a 1990 article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, that "the appearance of new [coronary artery] lesions can be influenced without weight change by voluntary selection of acceptable foods."

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Health and Longevity

All this evidence suggests that as far as one's health is concerned, lifestyle is far more important than body weight. This goes for longevity prospects as well, as the ongoing-- since 1970 Aerobics Centre Longitudinal Study at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research, in Dallas, Texas, demonstrates. Data on more than 32,000 men and women indicate that the fittest men and women have the lowest death rates regardless of what they weigh. In other words, a heavier-than-average person who is physically fit has a better chance of living a long life than does a thin couch potato Furthermore, a separate analysis of nearly 10,000 of the men in this study who performed at least two exercise stress tests separated by an average of about 5 years (thereby allowing the researchers to evaluate the impact of changes in physical fitness on subsequent death rates), revealed that improving physical fitness level reduced death rates during the 5+ years of follow-up. Men who were initially classified as unfit (defined as being in the bottom 20 per cent of fitness levels for a given age), but who via increasing physical activity improved their fitness level by the second fitness examination, reduced their mortality rate during the subsequent 5+ years of follow-up by 44 per cent.

Most significant in terms of the weight debate was the fact that the improved longevity prospects were not at all dependent upon weight loss. Results from the ongoing Harvard Alumni Study provide similar results: Sedentary Harvard alums who increased their level of physical activity experienced a 23 per cent reduction in all-cause mortality rate. Because alums who lost weight were no better off health wise than those who did not lose weight, the reduction in all-cause death rate observed in the more physically active men was in no way attributable to slimming down.

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Exaggerated Health Hazards

Despite all this evidence suggesting that lifestyle is far more important than body weight in terms of health, and that it might be more prudent to focus on getting people fit and healthy rather than trying to make them thin, the weight loss industry still barrels along like a runaway freight train. Aside from the cultural obsession with slimness, health professionals have done much to sanctify this quest for a lean body primarily by fueling a medical rationale for fat phobia: Obesity is a major killer. The most blatant but unjustified—example of this scare tactic is the widely publicized claim that obesity kills 300,000 Americans every year. Former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop asserted as much when he launched his Shape Up American campaign in 1994. Since then, this figure has taken on a life of its own, appearing in scientific and medical journals and mentioned repeatedly in the media—each time reminding us of the "fact" that obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death.

The problem, however, is that there is absolutely no way to prove this assertion. In fact, the most frequently cited source of this statistic, a 1993 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows just how misinterpreted this statistic actually is.

The article, titled "Actual Causes of Death in the Untied States," attributes the 300,000 deaths per year to "diet/activity patterns"—not to obesity. Obesity is a physical trait; diet and physical activity are behaviors. To equate them not only is unjustified, it is absurd. While poor diet and lack of physical activity may lead to obesity, the truth of the matter is that the studies used to generate the 300,000 figure looked at the health impact of poor diet and sedentary lifestyle across the entire weight spectrum, not just among fat persons, (There are a great many less-than-healthy couch potatoes with poor dietary and exercise habits who—via luck of the genes—will never be fat).

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Peanut Butter or Pasta?

Peanut butter or pasta? That is the question asked by many endurance performers as they read some of the new sports nutrition research literature. Following decades of athletes subscribing to the gospel of carbohydrate loading, a new paradigm is raising questions.

Is Fat the Fuel of the Future?

Research published by groups in Denmark, Buffalo, New York, Australia and South Africa are all placing a favorable twist to the concept of "fat loading" as a functional option to carbohydrate loading.

The Danish study reported that the running time to exhaustion, on an 80 per cent of Max VO2 task, was similar in both the high fat diet and the high carbohydrate diet groups following 4 weeks of training while on their respective diets. It also showed, through respiratory exchange ratio (RER) measurements, that the high fat group increased their energy expenditure from fat as training progressed—suggesting an adaptation in progress.

The Buffalo, NY studies showed similar results with no negative blood chemistry indicators indicated.

South African studies compared a high fat group to a high carbohydrate diet group on three types of exercise performance. As expected, during short periods of high intensity (anaerobic type) exercise there were no differences. However, when exercised to exhaustion, differences appeared. The high carbohydrate group lasted 50 per cent longer on high intensity bicycle exercise tests than the high fat group.

At moderate intensity exercise the high fat group cycled 87 per cent longer than the high carbohydrate group. The latter probably represents the recreational marathoner, the ultra marathoner or the Iron Man competitor whereas the former represents the competitive marathoner. (An intuitive observation not a scientific fact.)

As more studies on the subject appear, the investigations are focussing on the how and why does this happen, at what intensities is the information applicable and does the type of fat make a difference. There are also observations centred on the suggestion that a high fat diet triggers the production of aerobic related enzymes in muscle which allows for more aerobic energy to be available. (There is no anaerobic mechanism for fat metabolism.) There is also speculation that fat loading increases the amount of intra-muscular (between the muscle fibres) fat which is more available for metabolism' than the subcutaneous fat and that serves to spare muscle glycogen for longer periods.

I have no conclusions to offer yet. Simply stay tuned with an open mind as this subject unfolds. And remember that muscle glycogen depletion is only a limiting factor in endurance events lasting over 1.5 hours at relatively high intensity. I know of ultra marathoners who consumed peanut butter from the jar during a race.

Happy running while you wonder.

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Health Recovery

Once intense exercise is completed, recovery of spent glycogen and replacement of metabolized "Branched Chain Amino Acids" (leucine, isoleucine and valine) becomes the focus. Research from the University of Texas published in the early 90's, verified by others since, reported that drinking a carbohydrate (glucose polymer) mixed with a protein containing a high BCAA profile (whey protein isolate), in a ratio 3:1 in favour of CHO, provides optimum glycogen recovery and enhances muscle recovery. It reduces muscle soreness and reduces any feeling of "heavy legs" following exercise.

Depending on how long and intense the work-out some re-hydration with the high quality sport drink may be indicated following exercise.

To feel your best, stay healthy, perform best and recover fast follow some of these guidelines.

1. Eat high "nutrient dense" fruits and vegetables to obtain antioxidants.

2. Eat high quality protein, approximately 1 gram/1/2 kg of desirable weight/day to help build healthy immune cells. Eat 20-30 grams of protein in the hour before training or competing. Never eat more than 35 grams of protein in a single meal.

3. Eat high quality nuts, seeds, cold pressed oils as sources of EFAs.

4. Supplement with Soy Protein isolate drinks, EFAs (lecithin, EPA, GLA, flax seed oil) and antioxidants,

5. Use a high quality sport drink during and after long, intense, hot environment runs.

6. Recovery Drinks (3:1 in favor of CHO) have shown excellent results.

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Right Snack Snack Right

Snaking in the morning, snaking in the evening, snaking any old time-might become a new consumer theme song. Recent surveys say that snaking is on the increase and this has brought forward a deluge of expert advice (including this column) on how to snack in a healthy way. Unfortunately much of this well-meaning advice is both incorrect and a prescript-ion for nutritional disaster.

A "SNACK" by definition is "a small meal eaten between regular meals",

Today an entire industry has evolved around a concept of providing convenient, quick, no-preparation snacks. In earlier years snacks were prepared in a home kitchen and usually had some nutritionally sound redeeming qualities. Today most snacks are purchased and presented in a bag, box, bottle or plastic wrapper and they tend to have a lengthy, non-refrigerator shelf life with questionable nutritional value.

Healthy snacks are (not just can be) an integral part of a healthy way of eating. Experience and science show that to maintain good levels of energy—without sharp peaks and valleys-we should eat every three hours. We should also start the day with a responsible breakfast that helps to set blood sugar levels and hormone patterns for the day.

This absence of a good breakfast (that should include a reasonable serving of protein-more than a tablespoon of peanut butter or a single glass of milk) creates a spike in the blood sugar that raises insulin sharply and that causes blood sugar to drop quickly (we call it hypoglycemia) and leaves us hungry and can be the physiological explanation for the morning coffee break. These coffee breaks are the worst-case scenarios for poor choice snacks.

Upon recently reviewing several dozen articles and web pages on snacks I find that conventional wisdom is directing consumers to choose snacks that, although they contain vitamins and minerals, create insulin disasters. Chronically elevated insulin levels are responsible for chronic or frequent hunger, fat storage, inhibition of fat metabolism and a host of other health problems. I am referring to those conventional choices like dried fruit, muffins, bananas, boxed cereal, pretzels, bagels, dried fruit bars, many energy bars, popcorn, and rice cakes.

Wise, higher protein, higher fiber and essential fatty acid sources would include:

o Small bag of almonds, cashews or pecans.

o Half an apple (or other fruit choice) with one gram of cheddar cheese.

o Half cup of plain 1 or 2 per cent yogurt. Cottage cheese and fruit.

o One gram of smoked salmon, shrimp, crab, or tuna on a high fibre cracker.

o Beef jerky (preferably home made).  

Hard-boiled egg and half an apple.

o One cup of 1 per cent or 2 per cent milk and 6 almonds.

o Any colorful, raw non-root vegetable with any of the above protein choices.

o High protein "energy" bar.

o Small soy protein drink mixed in milk or water never juice.

Plan your snacks and don't wait until you are hungry. Happy snaking.

Celebration Eating

Celebrations, special events, festivals are all times when we "indulge" in our favorite comfort foods. It has been suggested that the highest rate of absenteeism from school occurs one or two days following a special holiday, The reason suggested is that we tend to over eat or eat too many of the wrong things during such events and it overloads our immune system, which in turn, causes some form of illness. I dislike starting on the negative but it does serve to draw your attention to the concern.

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