Amazing Results!

It is no secret that we love our clients and do our best to serve them to the greatest extent of our abilities. Tim came to us at Personal Best Fitness with the intent to lower his risk of heart disease and the risks came with that. Click Tim's picture to listen to his testimonial or Click HERE.

He lowered his Bad Cholesterol, upped his Good Cholesterol, lost body fat, gained muscle, completed his 1st ever Half Marathon, then 2 more!! Then he bought a bike and rocked his first Duathlon! Most importantly he reduced heart plaque to further his life with his wonderful wife and 4 children. Tim is an inspiration.

And by the way ... if you're serious about taking your overall health and fitness to the next level, why not take advantage of your FREE Fitness Consultation? (a $65 value)

During this consult, you'll receive detailed information on how to get fit and trim that's tailored to YOUR body.

There's no obligation and it's totally and completely free. To sign up, click here

Portion Distortion

by Mari-Etta Parrish RD, CSSD, LDN

It doesn’t take a mathematician to tell you that you can’t solve a problem you don’t see. 70% of obese people think they are just overweight and 30% of overweight individuals think they are normal weight. So how do you know if your weight is a problem? It isn’t necessarily because your doctor told you so. In fact some reports show that only about 40% of people with a weight problem have been told by a physician or health professional that they are overweight.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is currently the gold standard for comparing your weight and associated health risk. However, most Americans use other fellow Americans to gauge if they are overweight. Indeed, you may not seem to have a weight problem compared to most Americans. 66% of Americans are overweight and 33% are obese. The people that surround you may not be the best comparison. The American Heart Association recently released a study demonstrating this very fact. In the study, when individuals were shown body images and asked which looked closest to what they perceived their body image to be, 80% of obese individuals and 40% of overweight participants chose images that were thinner than their actual size. 86% of overweight or obese children underestimated their weight as well. Since the new norm is “overweight,” more of us perceive “overweight” as acceptable, remaining in denial of the risk excess pounds pose to your health and the cost associated. People that don’t believe they have a weight problem, thin or overweight, are less likely to engage in healthful practices. Knowing your BMI and striving to stay in the optimal weight range it suggests is important. Your risk for future disease, death, and health complications are minimized when BMI is within normal range.

So you are a not a fan of BMI and haven’t weighed as much as the chart says you should since you come out of your mother’s womb? A new tool, Waist to Height Ratio (WHtR) may soon replace BMI as the industry standard for determining if your weight is a risk to your health. Research that has followed weight and health outcomes for years shows that , although BMI is an accurate and useful prediction tool, waist to height comparison may be even more accurate, especially for predicting cardiac related complications. WHtR suggests that if your waist is more than half your height you have a problem. This method better targets “apple” shaped individuals who have been proven more at risk for cardiac disease as they harbor more visceral fat around their organs. WHtR gives leniency to folks that are pear shaped, carrying their weight in their hips, butt, and thighs. Whether you go for BMI or try the new WHtR, find out if your weight is something you should be addressing. Portion distortion doesn’t just apply to food any more.

How to Slash Up To 5 1/2 Years Off Your Brain's "Age!"

You probably already know that exercise and proper diet keeps your body "young." But did you know you can also keep your mind young (quite literally)? In fact, I've just come across a study that suggests you can reverse your brain's age... by up to 5.5 years!

The study, published in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet, set out to find if folic acid could affect mental performance.[1] Dutch researchers took 818 participants aged 50 - 70 and split them into two groups. One group received 800 mcg of folic acid daily for three years. The second group received a placebo. At the start of the study, all of the participants were given a battery of memory tests to measure cognitive performance.

So what happened?

The group that took folic acid showed a HUGE improvement on the standardized memory tests given at the end of the study. In fact, they did so well that they knocked 5 1/2 years off their ages when it came to their test performance. And that was the AVERAGE. Some folks erased even more years on their mental "age."Bottom line: If you want to keep your memory sharp, seriously consider supplementing with 800 mcg of folic acid daily. You can find it at most grocery and health food stores.

In the end, keeping your brain healthy should be just as important as keeping the rest of your body in tip top shape. This is especially true if you're nearing your 50s. It's estimated that anywhere from 50-75 percent of Americans over 50 complain of mild memory problems. And as the baby boomer generation continues to age, it's expected that around 7.7 million will develop life-threatening mental decline (diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's). So do everything you can to keep both your body AND mind in great shape.

As for brain health, in addition to taking folic acid, you can start walking regularly. A study in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that walking just 40 minutes, 3 times a week can expand the size of your hippocampus - an area of the brain that's heavily responsible for your memory.[2]

And, start drinking more green tea. A study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that the polyphenols in green tea can help prevent Alzheimer's disease by stopping the formation of beta-amyloid proteins (one of the toxic proteins believed to play a role in the development of Alzheimer's.)[3]

Follow the tips I've given you here today, and you'll be on the path to having a sharp memory and a healthy brain for years to come!

And by the way ... if you're serious about taking your overall health and fitness to the next level, why not take advantage of your FREE Fitness Consultation? (an $65 value) During this consult, you'll receive detailed information on how to get fit and trim that's tailored to YOUR body. There's no obligation and it's totally and completely free. To sign up, click here

References:

[1] Durga, Jane, et al."Effect of 3-year folic acid supplementation on cognitive function in older adults in the FACIT trial: a randomised, double blind, controlled trial"The Lancet, Vol.369, Issue 9557, Pg.208 - 216, Jan. 2007

[2] Erickson, Kirk, et al."Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory" PNAS, Jan. 31, 2011

[3] Green tea (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate inhibits beta-amyloid-induced cognitive dysfunction through modification of secretase activity via inhibition of ERK and NF-kappaB pathways in mice.Lee JW, Lee YK, Ban JO, Ha TY, Yun YP, Han SB, Oh KW, Hong JT. J Nutr. 2009 Oct;139(10):1987-93. Epub 2009 Aug 5.

Why Your "Gut" Could Be Key To Losing Extra Fat

Who knew?

Recent research suggests your "gut" could play a role in helping you lose that stubborn belly fat.

(Ironic, I know!)

How's this possible? Well, it's all thanks to the "inner ecosystem" that lives in your body.

We've known about the "good" and "bad" bacteria that can thrive in our digestive systems. But here's what we didn't know...

"Good bacteria," also known as probiotics, can help burn off abdominal fat. This is as close to "spot reducing" as you can get!

The study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, studied the effects of probiotics on 87 overweight participants.1

One group drank 200 grams of milk with a probiotic supplement.

The second group drank 200 grams of milk with nothing else.

This was done daily, over the course of 12 weeks.

The results?

The milk-with-probiotics group lost nearly five percent of their abdominal fat!

But it doesn't stop there... they also lost over three percent of their subcutaneous fat (the fat that's just underneath the skin).

The control group that did not supplement with probiotics had no significant change in bodyweight or fat loss.

Pretty amazing, right!?

This supports another very recent study that suggests probiotics can be helpful in fighting obesity overall.

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden explored the effects of lactic acid bacteria on rats given a high-calorie diet.2

One group of rats were given the lactic acid bacterium from the uterus and into adulthood.

The second group did not receive the bacterium.

Both groups ate the SAME amount of food.

Those that got the bacterium weighed significantly less than those that didn't.

So how can you get some "good" fat-fighting bacteria into YOUR gut?

Here are a few tips:

1. Stay away from sugar and frusctose. Sugar serves as fuel for the growth of bad baceteria, yeast and fungi. All the kinds of wrong things you DON'T want growing inside you.

2. Eat more fermented foods. Anything pickled is a good bet, like cabbage or cucumbers.

3. Natto. This is a popular Japanese dish. It's fermented soy beans and it's rich in "good" bacteria.

4. Probiotic supplement. This is another option if you don't like eating fermented foods. You can easily find this at your local health food store.

And by the way ... if you're serious about taking your health and fitness to the next level, why not take advantage of your FREE Fitness Consultation? (an $65 value)

During this consult, you'll receive detailed information on how to get fit and trim that's tailored to YOUR body.

There's no obligation and it's totally and completely free. To sign up, click here

References:

1. Kadooka Y, Sato M, Imaizumi K, Ogawa A, Ikuyama K, Akai Y, Okano M, Kagoshima M, Tsuchida T., "Regulation of abdominal adiposity by probiotics (Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055) in adults with obese tendencies in a randomized controlled trial".Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jun;64(6):636-43. Epub 2010 Mar 10.

2. Karlsson CL, Molin G, Fåk F, Johansson Hagslätt ML, Jakesevic M, Håkansson A, Jeppsson B, Weström B, Ahrné S."Effects on weight gain and gut microbiota in rats given bacterial supplements and a high-energy-dense diet from fetal life through to 6 months of age."Br J Nutr. 2011 Mar 30:1-9.