The truth about Cholesterol and heart disease - 11/Jun/2010
What do you think of first when you see the word cholesterol? Heart disease?? We?ll you?re definitely not alone. Cholesterol and heart disease have been synonymous since the 70?s when a scientist named Ancel Keys (1) published a major study, spanning seven countries on how diet affects the heart. Key?s conclusion: Cholesterol causes heart disease and saturated fat increases cholesterol and hence saturated fat causes heart disease. This began the fat free craze that literally swept the nation?fat became nationally demonized as the cause of heart disease (along with weight gain). And the high carb, low fat diet became the face of the ?healthy heart? American diet. The study became so engrained that an entire new national program was developed, the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP). NCEP?s objective is to help educate people of the dangers of high cholesterol and how to best prevent heart disease. Now, that seems like a great program?right? I mean our tax money is actually going toward something that helps the general public and as supposed to some major private conglomerate that uses our money to increase their pay checks. Well, there?s only one problem. The ?landmark? study, which all dietary recommendation for a health heart was based on, was found to be flawed. Not too long after Key?s study came out in 1970, an English doctor named John Yudkin, a professor of nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College in London College wrote a book, ?Sweet and Dangerous? in which he re-analyzed the data from Key?s study and found the study to be flawed. He specifically noticed that Key?s hand selected the countries that showed positive correlation between fat and heart disease, while conveniently leaving out other countries that didn?t fall nicely into his hypothesis. According to Dr. Yudkin, the data showed a much stronger correlation between sugar consumption and heart disease, than fat/cholesterol and heart disease. Interestingly enough, thirty years after Dr. Yudkin?s critical analysis of Key?s data, Dr. Georg Mann (associate director of Framingham Study) arrived at the same conclusion. This prompted him to take it a step further and investigate the relationship of cholesterol to heart disease. And not surprisingly, according to his team of researchers which included many notable scientists and doctors, they found little correlation between fat/cholesterol and heart disease.(2) After the study was concluded Mann stated that the notion of fat/cholesterol causing heart disease is ?the greatest health scam of the century? Here are more significant studies (4) that have since clearly dissociated the relationship of fat/cholesterol and heart disease: In 1994, Journal of American Medical Association published a study that completely dissociates cholesterol level to heart disease morality for people over 70 yrs old. A well known study in France called the Lyon Diet Heart Study (3) followed 600 people that have already have at least one heart attack. They were all sedentary and in poor shape. The group was divided in to two groups. One group ate a commonly recommended high carb, low fat (low cholesterol) diet and the other group ate a diet a ?Mediterranean Diet? high in healthy fats and oils along with fruits and vegetables. The result was nothing short of amazing. Halfway through the study the group on the ?Mediterranean Diet? had a 72% decrease in coronary event and 56% decrease in mortality without any changes in their cholesterol levels. The results were so impressive that halfway through the study, they switched everyone over to the ?Mediterranean Diet?. Possibly the most famous study came out in 2006. It was a study about a cholesterol lowering drug called Vytorin. The case was controversial because the study was finished two years prior, but wasn?t made public until two years later, because the results were horrible. The drug lowered cholesterol better than other cholesterol lowering drugs like statin, but it also increased plaque build up and increased arterial wall thickening. Both major contributors for heart disease. Medical evidence shows that half of all people that have heart disease actually have normal cholesterol levels, and many people with a healthy heart have an elevated cholesterol level. So now that we know that fat/cholesterol just got a real bad rep for no good reason. The next obvious question is what really causes heart disease? The answer depends on multiple factors which includes genetics, lifestyle, stress factors, but from a dietary stand point the biggest causation seems to be sugar and insulin. It?s not your imagination?sugar and insulin seems to be the culprit for pretty much everything that?s wrong with our dietary health. Your insulin hormone can be looked at as the gate keeper to your health. Insulin is a hormone secreted by your pancreas and it?s job is to maintain an even blood sugar level. This is vital, since elevated blood sugar levels cause serious havoc to your body and can lead to many illnesses, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease. The more your insulin is involved, the more likely you?re going to have health issues. So here?s what happens in your body after you have a meal. Let?s say that you just ate a typical carbohydrate rich meal with some pasta and bread. When you eat, each food (macronutrient) gets broken down into their respective digestible components. Protein into amino acids, carbohydrates into sugar and fat into fatty acids. All components go through your liver first. Your liver decides what to do with your basic components. So, after a meal high in carbohydrate foods, your going to have a lot of sugar going to your liver. And before it gets there, it passes by your pancreas where insulin is secreted. The more sugar there is the more insulin is secreted by your pancreas. And interestingly, the amount of insulin secreted allows your liver to make the necessary decision on what to do with all the sugar. When sugar enters the liver it has three choices. 1 - Get directly transported for immediate energy use (ie. brain) 2 - Get converted into glycogen for storage in muscles and some in the liver 3 - Convert all other excess sugar into triglycerides (fat) As the liver is metabolizing sugar, the stimulation of insulin also triggers another metabolic process that produces cholesterol. The cholesterol being produced is then combined with the triglycerides, made from excess sugar, to make Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL). When the triglycerides get dropped off the VLDL becomes Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL), commonly known as the ?bad? cholesterol. LDL is commonly associated with plaque build up in your arteries. But that?s not the entire story. LDL actually has two types, one is harmless and the other can be harmful depending on the circumstances. Without getting into too much detail, the LDL only becomes harmful if it?s damaged through oxidation and then exposed to excessive amounts of sugar. Again, it comes down to too much sugar. So, if you?re cholesterol level goes up and you see you have an elevated LDL, you need to know which type of LDL is elevated. If it?s the harmless type, you have nothing to worry about, and if it?s the other type, just make sure that your sugar consumption is low so that it doesn?t become harmful. According to Harvard Medical School research headed by J. Michael Garziano. (5) The most significant indicator of heart disease is the ratio of triglycerides to HDL. Their study showed people with the highest ratio (triglycerides to HDL) had sixteen times greater risk for heart attack than people with the lowest ratio. So keep your triglycerides low and your HDL?s high, to ensure a healthy heart. Just to clarify, since I really haven?t talked too much about fat, consuming dietary fat (except trans fat) does not increase your level of triglycerides. And, in fact eating saturated fat is completely fine for your health, as long as you?re consuming low amounts of sugar. But I?ll get into the whole fat subject on another day. Sadly, even with all the studies and information indicating that fat/cholesterol isn?t what causes heart disease, and that sugar consumption is the real culprit. The NCEP is still spreading false information. Political and financial reasons are probably the main reason behind this. The makers of cholesterol lowering drugs sell approximately 20 billion dollars annually. And these powerful pharmaceutical lobbyists practically own the politicians. Even worse, the American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending cholesterol screening for kids as young as 2 years old and treating kids with statin (cholesterol lowering drugs) as young as 8 years old. (6) So, if you?ve been stuck on lowering your cholesterol by eating low fat foods to keep your heart healthy?it?s time that you stopped worrying so much about fat/cholesterol and start watching your sugar intake. Since all carbohydrates break down to sugar, your best bet is to eliminate or ?really? limit refined carbohydrates (grains) and stick to unrefined carbohydrate foods (vegetables and fruits with low sugar contents) that has much less impact on your insulin as well as having lower sugar content. So here?s how sugar and insulin can increase your risk of heart disease: * Carbohydrate foods = sugar * Sugar increases insulin * Insulin stimulates cholesterol * Sugar increases triglycerides * Cholesterol + triglycerides = VLDL * VLDL - triglycerides = LDL * Excess sugar can damage (possible harmful type) LDL , and initiate plaque build up * Ratio of triglyceride to HDL is the best indicator of heart disease And here?s the best way to prevent heart disease: * Control your insulin levels by limiting your sugar intake to minimize triglycerides * Limit (or eliminate) refined carbohydrate foods and consume unrefined carbohydrates instead Did your doctor put you on a low fat, restricted diet to keep you cholesterol in check? Does your diet consist of mainly low fat foods and foods generally high in carbohydrates? Did you know that cholesterol level has little to no bearing at all on the health of your heart? What did you think about the article? I?d love to know what you think. Please post you comments below. P.S. Much of the information of this article came from the book ?Living Low Carb? by Jonny Bowden Phd. CNS. Which I highly recommend. If you want to know how nutrition affects your body, this book is a must. Please note that I?m not affiliated with him or the product in anyway, it?s just my own personal recommendation. References: (1) ?Coronary Heart Disease in Seven Countries?, Circulation 41, suppl. 1 (1970): 1-211 (2) Coronary Heart Disease: The Dietary Sense and Nonsense - London:Janus, 1993 (3) Michel de Lorgeril, et al., ?Mediterranean Diet, Traditinal Risk Factors, and the Rate of Cardiovascular Complications After Myocardial Infarction: Final Report of the Lyon Diet Heart Study,? Circulation 99 (1999): 779 - 785 (4) ?Living Low Carb Life? - revised edition, Jonny Bowden PhD, CNS (5) ?Fasting Triglycerides, High Density Lipoprotein and Risk of Myocardial Infarction? Circulation 96 (1997): 2520 - 2525 (6) Stephen R. Daniels, Frank R. Greer, and the Committee in Nutrition, ?Lipid Screening and cardiovascular health in childhood,? Pediatrics 122, no. 1 (July 2008):198 - 208
How Lack of Oxygen Stops You From Burning Fat - 23/Apr/2010
Oxygen is something we all take for granted since we really don?t ever think about it. But it?s the most important element that?s responsible for the existence of life. Without oxygen there wouldn?t be any living thing on this earth! It?s amazing how the most important element in our life is taken for granted. It?s estimated that in the last 10,000 years the level of oxygen in the atmosphere has dropped by 50 %! Now 10,000 years may seem a long time, but in earth time, it?s just a blink of an eye. Scary thought considering the explosion of global population and industrialization is crippling our oxygen producing environment faster than ever before. And in addition to less available oxygen, we?ve also become less efficient at consuming oxygen. This means that you?re functioning with lower levels of oxygen in your body. Since oxygen is needed in essentially all of your metabolic processes including burning fat - without proper levels of oxygen, these metabolic processes slow down or get halted altogether, seriously compromising your health and stopping your weight loss and fitness progress dead in it?s tracks. Needless to say having enough oxygen in your body is critical for a healthy body. I?ll show you how to effectively increase oxygen levels in your body, so it can function at an optimal level, ensuring that your fat burning and weight loss efforts are realized to it?s maximum potential and protect you from any serious health problems. You have many metabolic processes occurring throughout your body at one time. A metabolic process that occurs in your body with the utilization of oxygen is called the oxidative process. And essentially majority of all these processes are oxidative in nature, meaning that oxygen is required. This is why, oxygen is an essential part of life. The by product of all oxidative process is a free radical, which in itself is quite destructive if it?s not gotten rid of. But when bound to oxygen, these free radicals are neutralized and eliminated. So oxygen is required for both the initiation of the oxidative process and the elimination of the harmful by products. Therefore, lack of oxygen in your body can cause toxic waste (free radicals) buildup and essentially force your body to have to operate in a toxic environment. And so it should come as no surprise that an oxygen deficient body is susceptible to developing all kinds of serious diseases and health problems, such as acid stomach, bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, bronchial problems, circulation problems, depression, dizziness, fatigue, irrational behavior, lowered immunity to colds, flu and infections, memory loss, muscle aches, overall bodily weakness, poor digestion and cancerous tumors?just to name a few. We breath about 20,000 times a day which is roughly equivalent to 10,000 liters of air. It?s amazing when you think about how much oxygen we take in a day. And with all that air our bodies still suffer from low levels of oxygen! The problem is, according to some experts, we?ve become completely inefficient breathers. A century ago, people had more oxygen capacity on average than people today. They were able to breath less and retain more oxygen. A hundred years ago people had an oxygen reserve of approximately 40 - 60 seconds compared to 25 - 30 seconds worth of oxygen storage seen today. And back in the day, they didn?t need to breath as much either?about 4 - 6 l/min compared to the current population that breathes much heavier at about 7 - 9 l/min. This is largely in part to do with the increase in the size of people as well. And so even though we breathe in more air, we can?t retain as much oxygen in our body, making us poor, inefficient breathers. So what?s causing our current population to become such poor breathers? Here?s a list of some common reasons why we?ve become so air deficient. * Poor posture - Posture believe it or not, plays a very large part in the breathing process. Having an upright posture is essential in allowing your rib cage and diaphragm to expand fully and maximize air intake. Nowadays people spend majority of their time sitting in front of computers or television in a slouched position severely compromising your ability to intake oxygen. * Chronic stress - Chronic stress causes many negative physiological effects including muscle tightness. Tight muscles caused from chronic stress are quite different from tightness caused by working out or doing other physical activities. These muscles are chronically tight and diminishes blood flow and hence reduces the amount of oxygen going into these areas. The constant lack of blood flow further perpetuates the problem and causes a vicious cycle leading to an overall lower oxygen content in your body. * Pollution - The quality of air has an inverse relationship with population and industrial growth. And so air quality steadily declines as industries and global population continue to grow. And even though environment protection and sustainability has gotten more attention as of late?it has long ways to go before enough impact is made to stop the destruction of our environment. * Allergies and Intolerances - As pollutants in the air increase and the presence of genetically altered foods become a mainstay, people are suffering more and more from all kinds of allergies and intolerances. Allergies and intolerants can cause inflammatory reactions in your body which can compromise your lung capacity and increase the need for more oxygen due to increased metabolic demands. * Poor diet and overweight - Eating unhealthy is one of the main reasons why people are becoming overweight and obese. Being overweight compromises every body function including breathing ability and lung capacity. And the larger your are the more oxygen you need to function, but since your oxygen intake is compromised, you?re faced with chronic low levels of oxygen in your body. * Lack of exercise - Lack of exercise is the another reason for the overweight population in the US. Exercise is not only essential to helping lose weight, but it?s also necessary to help increase the efficiency of oxygen consumption. Exercise increases blood flow into muscles and hence increases oxygen transport into your body. And the most effective types of exercise you can do to increase your oxygen content is high intensity exercises. The intensity creates an energy/oxygen deficit and your body ends up having to work extra hard to replenish it. This essentially means your body intakes more oxygen during the recovery phase, after working out, to make up for the deficit. It also happens to be the best way to burn more fat?since you end up taking in more oxygen (which is required for fat burning) and expending more energy in the process. So even though the availability of pure oxygen in our atmosphere may have been cut in half, you can make sure that your getting enough oxygen in your body by implementing these simple changes into your life. So here?s a quick summary: * Avoiding sitting for long periods and stand up often. Watch you posture. Sit or stand up straight, pull your shoulders back and give you rib cage and your diaphragm the space it need to work properly and inhale and exhale as much oxygen as it needs to. * Try and avoid pollutants, allergens and intolerants. You may not be able to avoid getting stuck in traffic and inhaling fumes, but you can avoid eating genetically modified foods that can increase your susceptibility to allergies and intolerance. Stick to unrefined whole foods so you can minimize inflammatory reactions in your body. * Eat well and nourish your body. Eliminate all processed foods. Allow your body to get the necessary nutrients it needs from real unrefined whole foods so it can function at it?s optimal level. * Exercise and get in shape. The better shape you?re in, the more efficient your body functions, which means more oxygen your body can retain. If possible, incorporate high intensity exercises to really boost your oxygen intake and fat burning capacity. Are you low on energy and irritable? If so, you may be suffering from low levels of oxygen.
FREE advertising - 01/Feb/2009
Want to develop your personal training business? Well Ironworkz is offering free advertising space on our website. Simply send us your contact details including email address, and a little about you, qualifications, where you work from and anything else you wish to say. Also include a photo and thats it you'll be online.
Kristy takes on the world - 13/May/2007
15th IWSF World Water Ski Racing Championships ? NZ Training Squad announced. New Zealand Water Ski Racing 2007 World Championships to be held on Lake Rotorua and Lake Taupo 10-19 May 2007. The New Zealand training squad consists of 13 skiers across 6 divisions, including New Zealand?s only previous World Junior Champion from 2001, Kirsty Sloane. They are; Men?s: Ben Mayne (North Shore), Bevan Turksma (Hamilton), Chris Holman (Hastings), David Morris (Christchurch), Mark Priestly (Tauranga), Paul Morris (Nelson), Rick Powell (Taupo). Women: Hannah Humphreys (Gisborne), Kristy Sloane (North Shore), and Tracey Hanks (Hamilton). Junior Boys (Under 17) are Jaaron Fritz (Napier) and Michael Witheford (Auckland) and Junior Girls; Adelaide Cox (Wellington). Competitors will ski for up to an hour around 5 mile courses on both Taupo and Rotorua lakes, behind 21 foot (6.4metre) boats with up to 1500 horsepower at speeds up to 100mph (160+kph) Race One(12th May 2007): Kristy Sloane 7th at 96.42Kph average with a total of 935.44 points
Kristy Sloane former Junior World Champion Ski Racer	Its no easy sport
Members Area - 03/Mar/2006
Hi everyone, I have been getting a lot of requests asking what you get if you become a member? Well to save time and give you better access to oportunities Ironworkz Ltd., can offer I have established a guest entrance. HOW DO I ACCESS THIS AREA? Simply, click on "Members Area" then Login using the following: Password: guest Username: welcome Check it out, you will also see a typical training program. HOW DO I BECOME A MEMBER? You either become one of my personal clients or you can purchase a personal training program from Ironworkz and get 12months membership.
Seated Hamstring Curls Start Position	Seated Hamstring Curls Finish Position
Personal Trainers Management System - 12/Feb/2005
Check out our personal trainer management system. This system allows personal trainers to manage their trainer business and clients in a professional manner. It also allows their clients to manage their training sessions by allowing them to change session times by checking what sessions you have available. No longer do they need to feel frustrated that they can't get hold of you. Then the system will text you and advise you of the session change.NB Texting only available in New Zealand at this time, ask me if your area can be covered. Text messages are also emailed so not a problem for overseas customers. The automatic session management system deducts a paid session each time your client has a session. If they don't give 12hrs notice it is deducted thus making no shows pay for their sessions without the trainer having to ask for money. For more details contact us and ask for a free trial. This facility costs less than two sessions per month. For more details, cost and sign up go to PTMS tab above. Remember be into win 12 months free rental. See home page for details.

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