Arizona Lava Tubes Camp-Out

Posted on September 17, 2012 | Comments Off on Arizona Lava Tubes Camp-Out

My son’s boy scout troop and I camped out near Lava River Cave last weekend.  We were about 15 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona, in the Coconino National Forest.  Most of the locals refer to the cave simply as “the lava tubes.”

“Any tender young scouts in there?”

Our campsite was on the south side of FR 812, a quarter mile east of FR 171, at the base of Antelope Hill.  The Forest Service allows dispersed, primitive camping just off the dirt roads in the area.  The roads could be a problem for passenger cars if it rains much.  We were fortunate to have perfect weather: clear skies, high of about 80°F and low of 32°.  I think the wide gap between high and low reflects the altitude of 8,000 ft above sea level.

After setting up camp, we hiked to the top of Antelope Hill, about 1.5 miles round trip.  It’s a moderately strenuous walk since we went straight up rather than doing switchbacks.  You blaze your own trail.  The scouts caught and released a 3.5-inch long horned lizard at the top.  I hear they’re fairly common up here.

Mount Humphries as seen from Antelope Hill

After some campfire skits by the scouts we hit the hay, listening to bugling elk and howling coyotes during the night.  The cattle were even louder, but the noises didn’t interfere with sleep.  Some of us were caught off guard by the low temp during the night.

After breaking camp the next morning, we drove the 1.5 miles to Lava River Cave and dove right in, so to speak.  Round-trip mileage for the cave is 1.5-2 miles.  I and many of the others in our group had never seen anything like it.

It was an enjoyable trip and I can see why troop 131 makes it every two or three years.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Notes

Other adults in attendance were Scott H, Ryan W, Mark Z, Kathy S, Paul G, and Jeff L.  The scouts were Paul P, Matthew Z, JD H, Nathan H, Cole W, Christian R, Trevor L, Jacob F, and Riley G.  Let me know if I left anyone out.

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Salt Restriction May Do More Harm Than Good

Posted on September 10, 2012 | Comments Off on Salt Restriction May Do More Harm Than Good

Unfairly demonized?

I’ve been a salt-restriction skeptic for a couple decades.  The American Council on  Science and Health has a brief review of the latest research on salt restriction, and it’s not supportive of population-wide sodium restriction.

Remember, table salt molecules contain one sodium atom and one chloride atom.  Salt-restricted and low-sodium diets are usually designated by the amount of sodium, not salt.

That being said, I do believe some individuals have elevated blood pressure related to relatively high sodium intake.  This may apply to one of every five adults with high blood pressure.  To find out if you’re one of the five, you could go on a low-sodium diet—1.5 to 3 grams a day—for one or two months and see what it does to your blood pressure.  Get your personal physician’s blessing first.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Huge U.S. Study Confirms Health and Longevity Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet

Posted on September 3, 2012 | Comments Off on Huge U.S. Study Confirms Health and Longevity Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet

This is a reprint of the very first blog post I ever did, from December 24, 2007, at my old Advanced Mediterranean Diet Blog.  

We now have results of the first U.S. study on mortality and the Mediterranean dietary pattern.  380,000 people, aged 50-71, were surveyed on their dietary habits and scored on their conformity to the Mediterranean diet.  They were visited again 10 years later.  As you would expect, some of them died.  12,105 to be exact: 5985 from cancer, 3451 from cardiovascular disease, 2669 from other causes.  However, the people with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean diet had better survival overall, and specifically better odds of avoiding death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.  Compared to the people with low conformity to the Mediterranean diet, the high conformers were 15-20% less likely to die over the 10 years of the study.  The study authors, funded by the National Institutes of Health, noted eight similar studies in Europe and one in Australia with similar results.

Nothing to do with this post…I just like this picture

Once again, my promotion of the Mediterranean diet is vindicated by the scientific literature.  I’m not aware of any other diet that can prove anywhere near this degree of health benefit.  If you are, please share. 

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference: Mitrou, Panagiota N., et al.  Mediterranean Dietary Pattern and Prediction of All-Cause Mortality in a US Population,  Archives of Internal Medicine, 167 (2007): 2461-2468.


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14 Indispensable Weight-Loss Tips

Posted on September 1, 2012 | Comments Off on 14 Indispensable Weight-Loss Tips

“Look…the soda’s not for me, OK?”

 

These have worked for lots of my patients.  Take what works for you and discard the rest.

  1. Plan on grocery shopping, meal preparation, and taking meals to your workplace.
  2. Keeping a record of your food consumption is often the key to success.
  3. Accountability is another key.  Do you have a friend or spouse who wants to lose weight?  Start the same program at the same time and support each other.  That’s one of many ways to have accountability.
  4. If you tend to over-eat or snack too much, floss and brush your teeth after you’re full.  You’ll be less likely to go back for more anytime soon.
  5. Eat at least two or three meals daily.  Eat breakfast every day.  Ignore the diet gurus who say you must eat every two or three hours.
  6. Eat slowly and allow yourself time to enjoy the delicious recipes in this book; you’ll also be a better judge of when your’re full.
  7. Don’t eat while watching TV.
  8. Give yourself a specific reward for every 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of weight lost.  Consider a weekend get-way, jewelry, new clothes, an evening at the theater, a professional massage, etc.  Choose the reward in advance, to give you something to work toward.
  9. Don’t start a diet during a time of stress.
  10. Maintain a consistent eating pattern throughout the week and year.
  11. If you know you’ve eating enough at a meal to satisfy your nutritional requirements yet you still feel hungry, drink a large glass of water and wait a while.  Or try a sugar-free psyllium fiber supplement: three grams of fiber in 8 oz (240 ml) of water.
  12. Weigh yourself frequently: daily during your active weight-loss phase and during the first two months of your maintenance-of-weight-loss phase.  Weekly thereafter.
  13. Be aware that you’ll probably regain five or 10 pounds (2.3 or 4.5 kg) of fat now and then.  That’s normal.  Just get back on your original weight-loss plan for a month or two.
  14. Tell your housemates you’re on a diet and ask for their support.  You may also need to tell your co-workers and others with whom you spend significant time.  If they care about you, they’ll be careful not to tempt you off the diet.

Indispensable?  OK, maybe that’s a little over the top.  But each of these tips has  proven indispensable to at least one of my patients.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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In U.S. Adolescents, Diabetes and Prediabetes Doubled in the Last Decade

Posted on August 29, 2012 | Comments Off on In U.S. Adolescents, Diabetes and Prediabetes Doubled in the Last Decade

In June, 2012, the journal Pediatrics had an article stating that the incidence of diabetes and prediabetes in U.S. adolescents increased from 9% in 1999 to 23% in 2008.  The finding is based on the NHANES survey of 12 to 19-year-olds, which included a single fasting blood sugar determination.

The investigators offered no solution to the problem.  I’m no pediatrician, but my guess is that the following measures would help prevent adolescent type 2 diabetes and prediabetes:

I’m sure many of the adolescent type 2 diabetics and prediabetics are overweight or obese.  A 2010 study out of Colorado found a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet safe and effective for adolescents.  Fortunately, the decades-long ascent of the adolescent obesity rate in the U.S. seems to have peaked for now.

Steve Parker, M.D.

PS: I scanned the article quickly and don’t remember if the researchers broke down the diabetes cases by type 1 and type 2.  I’d be shocked if type 1 diabetes rose this much over the last decade.

Reference: Martinez-Gonzalez, M.A., et al.  Adherence to Mediterranean diet and risk of developing diabetes: prospective cohort study.  British Medical Journal, BMJ,doi:10.1136/bmj.39561.501007.BE (published online May 29, 2008).

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Quote of the Day

Posted on August 27, 2012 | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life.

—Christopher Morley

… or a woman

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Fat or Fit: Which Is Healthier?

Posted on August 25, 2012 | Comments Off on Fat or Fit: Which Is Healthier?

Men live longer if they improve or maintain their fitness level over time, according to research out of the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas. Part of that improved longevity stems from reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease such as heart attack and stroke.

Compared with men who lose fitness with aging, those who maintained their fitness had a 30% lower risk of death; those who improved their fitness had a 40% lower risk of death. Fitness was judged by performance on a maximal treadmill exercise stress test.

Body mass index over time didn’t have any effect on all-cause mortality but was linked to higher risk of cardiovascular death. The researchers, however, figured that losses in fitness were the more likely explanation for higher cardiovascular deaths. In other words, as men age, it’s more important to maintain or improve fitness than to lose excess body fat or avoid overweight.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference: Lee, Duck-chul, et al. Long-term effects of changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and bodly mass index on all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in men. Circulation, 124 (2011): 2,483-2,490

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My Fitness Experiment No. 4

Posted on August 23, 2012 | 4 comments

And now for something completely different….

Push-ups are one of Chris Highcock’s favorite exercises

If you’re new here, let me fill you in.  I don’t like to exercise.  But I want the benefits of exercise.  So I’m experimenting with ways to gain the benefits with minimal time involvement.  I want to keep my costs down, too.  I’ve already demonstrated I’m fit enough to be in the U.S. Army while working out only 70 minutes a week.

The guys at Whole9 had a series of blog posts on “the five best exercises.”  That’s where I heard of Turkish get-ups and man-makers (see links to YouTube demo videos below).

Everybody has their own ideas as to the Big Five exercises, the ones that are critical to any well-rounded strength training program.  The finalists typically are squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, bench presses, push-ups, overhead presses, and chin-ups (or pull-ups).  The Big Five aren’t necessarily the Five Best exercises.

Turkish get-ups and man-makers incorporate many of those big five moves.  For instance, the man-maker incorporates a squat, row, overhead press, and push-up.

I’m also interested in maintaining what I’ll call aerobic endurance: the ability to maintain a steady workload at a relatively high heart and breathing rate over a significant length of time.

Heres’ my new plan:

  • Alternate man-makers (MMs) with Turkish get-ups (TGUs) for 20 minutes twice a week, with 1-2 minutes of rest in the middle of the session
  • Finish the sessions with high-intensity intervals (HIT) on a stationary cycle:  easy warm-up for 3 minutes then 1 minute of hard and fast cycling alternating with 1 minute easy coasting while I catch my breath, for a total of 6 fast/slow cycles (15 minutes on cycle)

I did my first session yesterday and it kicked my butt.  The MMs are the most vigorous; at some point I just couldn’t do any more due to breathlessness and weakness, then I switched to TGUs.  After I got my breath back, I returned to the MMs, then alternated back and forth.  I did both MMs and TGUs with 15 lb (6.8 kg) dumbbells.  I’ll increase my weights as able.  I’m not sure the stationary cycle HIIT adds much to this regimen.

Here are YouTube examples of man-makers by SEAL Fit and Travis, and Turkish get-ups by Max Shank, Gray Cook, and Till Sukopp.  Some man-makers incorporate one push-up, others do two (one before each renegade row).  Here’s an video example of HIIT on a stationary cycle.

MMs and TGUs are scalable for most folks who are starting out in poor condition.  For instance, man-makers require a push-up but many people can’t do even one.  In that case, do a knee push-up.

Again, if one is starting out in poor shape, burpees could be substituted for man-makers; they’re similar.  Burpees can be done with knee push-ups or regular push-ups.  As fitness improves, you graduate to regular push-ups and man-makers with kettlebells or dumbbell weights.

I’ll admit I have some trepidation about hurting myself with this program!

Steve Parker, M.D.

Update August 25, 2012

Not pertinent, but a cool picture

I dragged the old Schwinn Airdyne in from the garage, dusted it off, and replaced the batteries.  Worked like a charm even though no one’s ridden it for eight years.  This war horse is at least 15 years old; we got it used, like my set of dumbbells.  My natural “coasting” speed is around level 2.4; my “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” speed is about level 5.5.  I burned 200 calories over 15 minutes, which is about what I did with my treadmill HIIT.  With the MMs, I stuck with 15 lb (6.8 kg) dumbbells.  For the TGUs, I increased to 20 lb (9 kg).  The MMs and TGUs are tough; I’m breathing fairly heavily for the entire 20 minutes.  Not fun.

Update October 6, 2012

This thing is not fun.  But I haven’t missed a session.  I look for excuses to postpone the workout.  After the hellish man-makers and Turkish get-ups, I look forward to the 15 minutes on the bike.  I can’t see keeping this up for the long run unless it pays off big, fitness-wise.

I have to guard against slacking off on my bike performance.  On the treadmill, by comparison, I dialed in the treadmill speed and had to keep up or I’d fall off the back.  No such risk, or motivation, on the bike.

A couple weeks ago I increased the man-maker weights to 20 lb (9 kg) and the Turkish get-up weights to 25 lb (11.4 kg).  I don’t think I’ll be able to increase those weights any time soon; already I’m so short of breath at times that I have to stop and rest for a minute.

My body’s holding up OK.  At one point, however, I developed some mild pain and swelling in my left knee that I thought could be a problem.  It cleared up after a few days and hasn’t recurred.

I’ve completed six weeks of Fitness Experiment No.4.  After resting a few days, I’ll retest my fitness.

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Ever Heard of Farmageddon?

Posted on August 20, 2012 | Comments Off on Ever Heard of Farmageddon?

Tom Naughton of Fat Head fame reviewed a 2011 film called Farmageddon.  You might be interested.  Here’s how he starts off:

Chareva and I watched an excellent documentary over the weekend.  Farmageddon is a look at how our federal and state governments are beating up on small farmers who sell real food directly to the public.  If you still believe the fiction that we live in a free country, this film should change your mind.

Read the rest here.

-Steve

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How Soon Does Fitness Deteriorate After You Stop Working Out?

Posted on August 19, 2012 | Comments Off on How Soon Does Fitness Deteriorate After You Stop Working Out?

The answer varies from person to person and may be different for aerobic versus  strength measures.

I’m reminded of a quote from a famous violinist: “If I don’t practice for one day, I can tell.  If I don’t practice for two days, my conductor can tell.  If I don’t practice for three days, the audience can tell.”

I laid off all exercise for the last three weeks, partly due to a long vacation, partly to see how much my fitness would deteriorate.

Here’s what I found:

  • My time for the one-mile run increased from 8 mins and 54 seconds to 9 mins and 30 seconds
  • My maximum number of push-ups increased from 32 to 36
  • My maximum number of sit-ups increased from 32 to 34
  • My maximum number of pull-ups increased from 8 to 9

Closing Thoughts

Strength measures increased, surprisingly.  Was it just a good day, or did my muscles need the time off to rest and re-build?  Over-training is a real problem for some folks.  At 20 minutes of weight-training twice a week, I doubt I was anywhere near what most consider over-training.  I don’t fiddle-fart around during my exercise sessions, but I’m not puking either.

So I won’t feel too bad in the future if I take a couple or three weeks off from strength training periodically.

My endurance for running deteriorated significantly.  Is it related to the lack of strength training, the lack of treadmill interval work, or both?

Your mileage will vary.

Steve Parker, M.D.

 

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