YOU HAVE A CHOICE

TO BE HEALTHY OR NOT TO BE.

You read Shakespeare in high school, right? We all did. To me, each act was like being stuck in the eye
with a red hot poker, repeatedly. Fast forward 30 years. Nary a day passes (just kidding). Not a day
goes by without an attempt, often ill-fated, to convince patients that they are not victims of their
DNA, the microscopic strands of genetic material passed on from mommy and daddy. However, for
sociopolitical reasons, and particularly as of recent, this "victimized" mindset is pervasive. And it’s flat-
out wrong! Why? Because health is a choice.

True, Shakespeare may be exacting his vengeance on my subconscious, whatever the mechanism may
be, Hamlet’s profound words in the nunnery still resonate with me: "To be or not to be, that is the
question." You can choose to be healthy or not to be, but it’s certainly not a right (as is promulgated).
No one owes you anything. Your health is a privilege and you must earn it.

It will take effort on your behalf, but the capacity to attain health is resident within you. Sure there
are complex biochemical processes running in the background 24/7, on autopilot if you will, but you
still have a great deal of control. You can intervene and steer the ship by providing proper signals to
your body, by making the right choices: eating properly, strength training regularly and keeping stress
at bay, for example.

So take matters into your own hands. Choose to be (healthy), because you can. This is my charge to
you.
 TREAT ONE

TREAT THEM ALL.

Aging is the lethal interaction between time, our genome (DNA) and the environment. What do I
mean by "the environment?" Not the weather outside, but what to our body is exposed. Of course,
this may include UV radiation from the sun, but there are much more sinister "environmental" factors
out there. And these are the things that kill us dead. Over time. Diseases just don’t occur overnight.
They are the result of accumulated cellular damage caused by insulin resistance, inflammation and
free radical toxicity. Sounds complex, right? Not really. Understand simply that in the context of poor
lifestyle choices, your body is literally being assaulted from the inside out. The lining of your blood
vessels is aggressively attacked by biochemical bullets known as "free radicals," damage-inducing free
electrons that, distilled down, tear holes in anything and everything. This is how radiation kills cancer
cells: by damaging them with lethal free radical blows to their DNA.

The aging process occurs similarly albeit far slower (insidious free radical damage) in the context of
inflammation and insulin resistance. And here’s the thing: Nearly every age-related disease is
underpinned by these three entities. Diabetes, hardening of the arteries, Alzheimer’s disease and
even cancer are similarly rooted. What does this mean to you? It means that if you take measures to
prevent one, you are preventing the others. There are no prevention protocols for coronary artery
disease that are truly distinct from those for diabetes. Why? Nearly all age-related diseases are the
same. Call them what you’d like, they truly differ only in bodily geography. Did you know that
Alzheimer’s disease is also known as Type III diabetes? Go figure.
 OPTIMAL BIOCHEMISTRY =

OPTIMAL HEALTH.

The human body is an adaptive organism. It responds to the external environment, that being
nutrition (your gut is actually outside of the body, remember), level and intensity of activity and other
stressors, some negative, others positive. Over time, these stimuli induce changes in the body,
biochemical changes. Sure, you can be exposed to poison ivy and develop a rash due to a biochemical
hypersensitivity reaction, but that occurs on the outside. I’m talking about the aging process and more
specifically the development of age-related diseases: coronary artery disease, cancer, diabetes and
Alzheimer’s dementia to name a few. We all know people, family members and friends, whose lives
these dreaded diseases have devastated. At base level, they are the result of chronically deranged
biochemistry caused by poor lifestyle choices. That’s right. Think back to your initial email. You have a
choice: a choice to be healthy or not.

Translation? If you show your body the proper signals including an anti-inflammatory diet, regimented
strength training and supplement regularly, if you make the right choices, your body will respond in
kind. At the biochemical level. Inflammatory biomarkers (CRP and homocysteine) will decline as will
insulin resistance (HbA1c). And these are things that you can measure on routine lab work! Yes, the
toils of your labor are manifested in your biochemistry. Not only will you feel great but you’ll look
great on paper too. So strive to be better, not only mentally and physically, but biochemically. You’ll
find nearly always, that the former is an emulation of the latter.
 METABOLISM 101

How many times have you heard this one? "He has a fast metabolism, and that’s why he’s thin," as if a
"fast metabolism" is some sort of elusive genetic endowment. We’ve talked about this in previous
emails. You are lesser a product of your genes than you may believe. Sure there are predispositions to
a particular body type, endo, ecto and meso-morph, but despite these, you can make appreciable
changes to your physique by optimizing your metabolism.

So what is metabolism? Distilled down, metabolism is the sum of all biochemical processes, both
anabolic and catabolic and those by which cellular energy is produced. An optimized metabolism, one
associated with health and longevity, is fueled predominantly by fat as opposed to carbohydrate, and
in particular glucose. This will result in a leaner you regardless of your body type (a function of your
inherent sensitivity to carbohydrate). And how do you coax your metabolism to preferentially utilize
fat (that unsightly spare time you desperately want to deflate)? Easy. The details will be discussed in
later emails. For now, understand that it is not a matter of reducing calories as promulgated by
popular diets, but merely living in a low-insulin state.

By choosing low glycemic index carbohydrates, eating ample fat and supporting your hard-earned
muscle with adequate protein intake, you will drive insulin levels down and by virtue, condition
your metabolism to burn fat as opposed to sugar. This similarly occurs during the fasted state. But
what did I say about reducing calories, long-term at least? You want to avoid it like the plague, as this
will decimate your metabolism. Rev it up instead! Stay tuned.
 A LEANER YOU.

A HEALTHIER YOU.

Only 10% of an iceberg sites above water, right? In a similar vein, the benefits of a leaner physique far
outweigh its superficial, aesthetic appeal. You see, for the most part, the acquisition and maintenance
of a low, yet healthy body fat percentage in the context of adequate skeletal muscle mass is a
function of optimal biochemistry. What do I mean by this? Well, the benchmarks I use in my clinic are
as follows: If you are a male, strive for a 50% skeletal muscle mass (SMM) to body weight ratio.
Females? Your goal is 45%. Exceptions aside, to meet these standards, you must be living in a low-
insulin state (one which confers health and longevity, right?) yet maintaining healthy levels of skeletal
muscle. And often the two don’t go hand in hand (think of an aged-appearing marathon runner with
sub-optimal levels of skeletal muscle mass, yet a single digit body fat percentage), but you can
condition your body to not only have its cake but eat it too. I know, that analogy is poor contextually,
but you get my drift.

You do not have to sacrifice muscle mass to shed fat off your waistline. In fact, your goal is just the
opposite, to preserve muscle at all costs, because it’s the most metabolically active tissue in your
body. The primary determinant of your metabolic rate is your skeletal muscle mass! Not only does
muscle confer protection against diabetes and a host of age-related diseases (BMJ. 2008 Jul 12;
337(7661): 92–95), but also it preferentially burns fat in the wake of an intense strength-training
workout. Translation? Muscle is your fat-burning engine. Does it surprise you, therefore, to learn that
the best way to slim down is to add muscle to your body? It shouldn’t. Now hit the gym.
 NO SUCH THING AS A DIET

NUTRITION FOR LIFE.

Patients often ask me, "How long do I need to stay on the diet you prescribed?" Umm… What diet?
"Diet" is a four-letter word in my office. Why, because diet implies a short-term solution as if you’re
slimming down for the senior prom in six weeks. This is simply not the case. Unfortunately, most
commercial weight loss programs advertise "quick weight loss" schemes that have entrained the
minds of everyone who has watched at least fifteen minutes of TV. Motivated by profit and reliant on
volume, their goals are to sell dreams to the masses. Reality? Such weight schemes fail to deliver long-
term while decimating your fat-burning capacity in the short-run. Why? Because as muscle is shed and
metabolic rate slows in the context of a programmed caloric deficit, your fat-burning capacity comes
to a screeching halt. You’ve inadvertently swapped your turbocharged engine for that of a jalopy. So
ignore the 3 AM infomercial. Instead, choose the healthy solution.

And what is that? A commitment to proper nutrition, lifelong. A well-designed macronutrient program
will not only position your metabolism in the "sweet spot," encouraging your body to burn fat instead
of sugar but will also temper free radical damage and inflammation, both underpinnings of age-
related disease. On this regimen (a modified ketogenic plan), your body will slowly gravitate towards
its ideal weight (barring any significant changes in activity level and/or macronutrients). I repeat,
slowly. There is no need for calorie reduction. In fact, I want you to eat at your basal metabolic rate
(calorically speaking) to preserve metabolically precious muscle. So how much protein, carbohydrate
and fat should you consume each day? Sit tight. I have a few things to teach you firstly. Until
tomorrow…
 YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, REALLY

AN INTRODUCTION TO MACRONUTRIENTS.

This age-old adage should truly be changed to, "You are what you burn," because those of us who
preferentially burn fat as opposed to sugar, metabolically speaking, are not only going to be leaner
but healthier, longer. So how does one accomplish this? It’s easier than you think and works one
hundred percent of the time. Why? The science never fails. Your body rigorously adheres to certain
physiologic principles. Show it the proper signals, and it responds in kind. One such signal is called a
macronutrient. At base level, "macros" are the basic components of food you eat. Let’s keep this
simple.

Know this. Carbohydrates are an energy source, plain and simple. There are essentially two types, low
and high glycemic index (GI) varieties. High glycemic index carbohydrates (sugar, rice, bread) taste
sweet; low ones don’t (broccoli, kale, lettuce, onions). High glycemic index carbohydrates "instruct"
the body (through the hormone insulin) to store all surpluses as fat, while low glycemic index
carbohydrates, nearly invisible to the body, "instruct" it to burn fat by maintaining insulin levels at
bay. Do you now understand why eating Twizzlers on the couch at 10 PM is a bad idea? You’re
signaling the body to store fat and accelerating the aging process by encouraging free radical release.
Distilled down (and this is a generalization): High glycemic index carbohydrates are bad and therefore
should be avoided, low glycemic carbohydrates are good.

So you want to know which carbohydrates are considered low-GI versus those that are considered
high GI? My threshold is different than most. In my practice, I only allow carbohydrates of glycemic
indices <40. This maintains insulin levels at bay, driving fat loss, lowering bodily inflammation and
free radical burden. More of this later when we discuss insulin.

Protein. That’s the stuff that bodybuilders eat to get big, right? Well, sort of. Proteins are the basic
building blocks of muscle, but they also are integral to a myriad of metabolic reactions (You’ve heard
the word "enzyme," I assume? Those are proteins.), the transportation of molecules and DNA
replication. Absent proteins well… you would be absent.

But forget about the biochemistry for now. Understand simply that you must eat adequate amounts
of protein daily to support your muscle mass and to promote tissue recovery (in the wake of heavy
strength training sessions). Your very "metabolically expensive" muscle will otherwise be shed and
shed fast. This will result in metabolic slowdown - particularly in the context of a caloric deficit -
something you desperately want to avoid.
 Fat. Like carbohydrates, fat is an energy source. It’s also the unsightly stuff around our waistlines.
Your spare tire is nothing more than a large energy storage depot, the product of overconsumption of
carbohydrates and therefore high levels of circulating insulin. Eating fat doesn’t make you fat. That’s
a myth. On the contrary, eating fat and in particular anti-inflammatory fat such as that from cold
water fish, makes you leaner. Huh? You heard me. The consumption of fat encourages the body to
burn fat. It also supports the body calorically speaking, boasting 9 kcal/gram. So don’t believe the
hype! Eat fat liberally and unapologetically.
 EATING FAT DOESN'T

MAKE YOU FAT.

Yep. This one I have to beat into people’s heads. Repeatedly. I know it sounds paradoxical and
counterintuitive, but it’s true. I suspect, to some degree, that the resistance stems from the vilification
of fats in the 80’s. Remember everyone was on a low-fat diet? Sadly, some still are and, at the
advisement of their doctors.

Fleeting are the "grey-haired doctors with the stethoscopes" though. And with them go their dogma
that fat is bad. Truth be told, it’s the carbohydrates that you should be worried about and in
particular, the high glycemic index carbohydrates. Chronic consumption of them is a death sentence,
priming the system for age-related diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. Fats, on
the other hand, especially the anti-inflammatory types (omega-3 fatty acids, for example), exert
protective effects on the body and in fact reduce the incidence of some diseases. Ever hear of the
French paradox? The proof is in the pudding (or the butter).

To boot, fats stabilize insulin levels, and in effect dampen spikes that may turn off fat burning. [Fiber
does similarly albeit via a different mechanism.] Eating fat also teaches the body to burn fat by
increasing or upregulating those enzymes responsible for fatty acid oxidation. If you don’t "show your
body" fat, it will be less efficient at burning it off your waistline. Makes sense, right? So attempt to
increase your fat intake (from almonds, olive oil, coconut oil and avocado) and reduce your daily
carbohydrates to less than 100g. In several weeks’ time, you will more likely crave fatty foods than
the carbohydrates to which most are addicted. Eat up! Don’t be scared to butter your steak. Just stay
away from the baked potato.
 LOW INSULIN

LONGER LIFE.

In the wake of the last email, I wanted to touch upon another way through which sugar does its dirty
work. When you eat a Snicker’s bar, blood sugar rises rapidly and biochemically assaults the inner
lining of the blood vessels. The culprits are so-called called "Advanced Glycation End-products" or
AGE’s. Yes, the name is fitting.

AGE’s are like the brownish crust on a crème Brulee. The chemical reaction occurring at your dinner
table as the waiter is scorching your dessert is very similar to that taking place in the lining of your
blood vessels: proteins reacting with sugar in a hot environment. When you eat simple carbohydrates,
and in particular fructose, there is a high likelihood of AGE formation. Fructose molecules react with
or attack proteins in the arterial wall, directly damaging the endothelial cells, a primer for the
development of atherosclerosis. Also, AGE’s impair the cells’ ability to release nitric oxide, a potent
blood vessel relaxant. Absent this, your blood pressure will rise and cause more vascular damage.
Worsening matters is that AGE’s are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s
dementia and erectile dysfunction.

The body’s response to high blood sugar (that does not occur in the context of a low GI meal) is the
secretion of insulin. This pancreatic hormone signals the body to dispose of glucose by either burning
it or storing the surplus as fat. At low levels, insulin is protective of the blood vessels, clearing
potentially damaging sugar from within them. But, high circulating levels exert just the opposite effect
within the blood vessel and elsewhere in the body.

Chronic exposure to simple carbohydrates will elevate insulin levels chronically. Make sense? Of
course it does. Here’s the problem: Over time, the body becomes less sensitive (or more resistant) to
insulin. Translation? More insulin is required to dispose of a given amount of sugar in the blood. And
this perpetuates the problem. Vicious cycle. Diabetes: a gateway disease to other age-related or non-
communicable diseases (NCD’s).

Type II diabetes, unlike juvenile or type I diabetes is characterized by high blood sugars in the context
of high (not low) levels of circulating insulin due to the "insulin resistant" state. Now, remember,
insulin is a storage or anabolic hormone, one of the most powerful in the body, in fact. Bodybuilders
take advantage of this and inject insulin in the same manner as a diabetic (a very dangerous practice,
by the way). Here’s the problem, in the context of a poor, sugar-laden diet, high insulin levels drive
not only fat storage but also the storage of cholesterol in your arterial walls, the proverbial one-two
punch, a true recipe for disaster. Does it surprise you that the majority of type II diabetics are obese
and that most die of vascular disease? It shouldn’t.
Similarly, it should be no surprise to you that type II diabetes is a preventable disease (unless you are
a Pima Indian), just like obesity. It’s simply a matter of making the right choices or more specifically,
showing your body the right signals. High levels of circulating insulin equate to accelerated aging and
an early death. Low levels? Just the opposite.

So how does one maintain low levels of insulin lifelong? It’s easy. Lots of healthy fats, low glycemic
index carbohydrates only and moderate protein intake. Strength train regularly as per the protocol
in Get Serious, and keep stress in check. Now sit back and watch the magic happen. But not really.
 INFLAMMATION AND HOW TO

EXTINGUISH THE FIRE.

Inflammation, like cholesterol, has been vilified in recent years given its intimate relationship with
aging and age-related disease. Truth be told, we need inflammation for a variety of processes, namely
wound/muscle repair (that soreness you feel after a rigorous bout of strength training is inflammation
at work) and our immune response to pathogens. The fact that your temperature rises to 102 degrees
when you get sick is a manifestation of an intact immune system and a mounted inflammatory
response, without which you would die, plain and simple. As with everything in America however, we
seem to operate under the notion that "more is better." That notion nearly always proves untrue.
Such is the case here.

You see, nearly all age-related diseases have an inflammatory component to them, or I should say a
chronic inflammatory component. Acute inflammation is beneficial to the body while chronic
inflammation is disastrous. Why? With chronic inflammation comes damage. And as damage
accumulates, disease begins rearing its ugly head. Diseases such as cancer, diabetes, coronary artery
disease, and Alzheimer’s dementia are deeply rooted in inflammation.

So what causes the inflammation to occur in the first place? Well put it this way, it’s a direct response
to environmental stimuli, and I don’t mean getting too much sun during Spring Break. I’m talking
about chronic exposure to things that, akin to that flu bug floating around, cause the body to mount
an inflammatory response, absent infection. You don’t need antibiotics (although some studies
demonstrate that low dose antibiotics may extend life), although you need to take measures to quell
inflammation, long-term, else risk the early onset of age-related disease.
And what are some of the things you can do to temper inflammation? Surprise, surprise, these may
sound familiar:

• Minimize the consumption of high GI carbohydrates. Instead, eat lots of vegetables.

• Eat lots of anti-inflammatory fats

• Olive oil

• Coconut or MCT oil

• Avocado oil
 • Fish oil (particularly omega-3 fats)

• Strength train regularly as per the protocol in Get Serious.

• Get adequate sleep and keep stress at bay.

• Supplement aggressively with high-doses of omega-3 fatty acids, curcumin (a derivative of

turmeric) and discuss the addition of low-dose aspirin with your physician.

• Take a daily probiotic.

And here’s the best part: Nearly all age-related diseases have common underpinnings. If you take
measures to prevent one, you prevent them all. It’s as simple as that. This stuff isn’t rocket science or
brain surgery for that matter.
 KNOW YOUR

GLYCEMIC INDEX.

People talk about carbohydrates or "carbs" with equipoise, as if they were are created equally.
Reality? The difference between so-called "high glycemic index" carbohydrates and "low glycemic
index" carbohydrates is the difference between fat and thin.

So what is glycemic index or GI? It is the relative increase in blood glucose (sugar) when a certain food
is consumed. Relative to what? Glucose. It has been arbitrarily by rated 100, while foods such as
beans and onions have indices less than 25. Sweet vs. not. Exactly. So why is this important? Think
insulin. Figure it out?

Well, high glycemic index carbohydrates drive blood sugar through the roof and what chases it down?
A concomitant spike in insulin. The pancreas releases insulin and in essence orders your cells to
remove sugar from the bloodstream. All surplus is stored as fat. So, in the context of high insulin
levels, fat is amassed and that Michelin around your waist inflated. But that’s not all. High levels of
this anabolic hormone also drive the growth of cancers and that plaque lying dormant within your
arterial walls. Bad news.

The trick is to stick to low glycemic index carbohydrates that may not taste as good as those M & M’s
but will maintain blood sugars and therefore insulin levels in check. Low insulin levels, signaling an
energy-deficient state, encourage the body to utilize its own energy stores, namely fat. Michelin
deflated, confidence inflated.

Low and high glycemic index carbohydrates: Same macronutrient outside the body, very different
effects inside the body. So make the right choice. Choose low GI. Choose health.
 LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX

NOT LOW CALORIE.

Everyone is preoccupied with calories. "How many calories does that have in it?" Or, "I can’t eat that,
it has too many calories." If you read between the lines of the last email, you now understand that
calories are less of a concern than the glycemic index (GI) in the context of fat loss and overall health.
"Keep calories low if you want to lose weight," it’s often said. In fact, caloric deficit is the method that
nearly all commercial weight loss (notice I didn’t use the term "fat loss") programs employ to drive the
scale needle southward. But at what cost? Your muscle! In a caloric deficit, you will lose
metabolically precious muscle. And as we touched upon before, your ability to burn fat is a function
of your skeletal muscle mass (SMM). It’s like your car’s engine. The smaller it is, the less gas (or fat, in
this case) it burns. And the opposite is true as well. So preserve muscle at all costs. How? By eating at
your basal metabolic rate and concerning yourself with the glycemic index of your foods rather than
fractions of a calorie. No, you won’t lose weight as quickly (relatively speaking), but the "weight" lost
will be predominantly composed of fat and to a much lesser degree muscle, particularly if you are
hitting the weights as you should be.

So how does one accomplish this metabolically trickery? Easy. Live in a low insulin (fat-burning) state
by consuming small amounts (50-100g) of carbohydrates daily and eating only those with glycemic
indices < 40. To support your fat-burning machinery (muscle), consume 1g of protein per pound of
lean body mass, and derive the remainder of your calories from fat. All said and done, 50-55% of
your calories will be "fat calories." Does eating fat make you fat? No! It’s those high GI carbs that do.
 HACKING YOUR FOOD

Nutrition Tips and Tricks.

- Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper:

Your metabolism has a rhythm that is regulated by light-dark cues, a circadian rhythm. During the
daytime, your metabolic rate is higher than it is at night. How do take advantage of this? Easy. Stack
the larger and carbohydrate-denser meals earlier in the day (and preferably around a workout) and
eat smaller meals towards the evening. This matches one’s metabolic rate with the energy (food)
consumed. Do you now understand why it’s bad to eat Twizzlers at 10 PM while loafing on the couch?

- No eating after 7 PM:

In the context of the latter statement, discontinue all eating at 7 PM nightly. This includes nightcaps!
Your metabolic rate is on the downturn in the evening (in parallel to your activity level). Do not
overburden the system therefore with food, and in particular, carbohydrates, as they will
undoubtedly be considered "surplus" given the lowered metabolic rate, and stored as fat. Insulin
levels should be kept as low as possible throughout the day, but in particular at night, else "that
sandwich before bed will sit on you."

- Fiber gummies:

I love this one. Remember we talked about glycemic index and the importance of sticking to low GI
carbohydrates to minimize insulin surges? The lower the GI of a particular food, the blunter the insulin
response and therefore the more robust fat burn. The addition of fiber to a meal lowers its glycemic
index by delaying absorption of sugar through the gut lining. Fibrous vegetables have fiber, but so do
gummies! Yep, fiber gummies are available at your local pharmacy. Take 1-2 before your meals. These
should help you attain your daily fiber goal of 25 grams.
 WHY MUSCLE IS IMPORTANT…

AND IT’S NOT JUST FOR LOOKS.

Tip of the iceberg again. From an aesthetic (or superficial) standpoint, muscle looks pretty cool, right?
The word alone conjures up images of Adonis (or Wonder Woman), virility and health. Yet there’s way
more than meets the eye. Muscle confers benefits far beyond that which the mirror bears. We’ve
touched upon this before in the context of nutrition and why it’s so important to spare muscle at all
costs.

Muscle is metabolically active tissue remember. Pound per pound it’s not the most metabolically
active, not even close, but you have a ton of it, so its contribution to your basal metabolic rate is
significant. And here’s the kicker: it’s mutable. By showing your body the proper signals, you can add
muscle to your frame (and in doing so, likely lose body fat concomitantly). The resultant increase in
lean body mass works wonders.

Muscle burns both fats (fatty acids) and glucose to conduct its normal cellular housekeeping. In its
removal of both from the blood stream, muscle is effectively cleaning the vascular system. I always
tell my patients that muscles are "glucose filters," as nearly uniformly the acquisition of muscle
parallels a drop in HbA1c (equating to better blood sugar control). What does this mean? Well, over
time, it means less atherosclerosis, less cancer, less Alzheimer’s disease, you get the point.
Remember, all of these diseases are underpinned, to some degree, by blood sugar run rampant and
the ultimate development of an insulin resistant state. But there’s more.

Have you ever had back pain? What about knee pain? Most people have at one point in their lives.
Have you also noticed that when you workout, in time your aches and pains dissipate? This is due to
the body’s anti-inflammatory response to the training itself (mediated by so-called "resolvins" and
"protectins") and the joint-stabilizing effects of the newly added muscle. Remember muscles cross
and effectively encapsulate our joints. The stronger your muscles are, the more stable your joints are,
and the less prone they are to degenerative joint disease or arthritis. How ‘bout that? To boot, those
with more muscle have stronger bones, as the added muscle places added stresses on the bones. And
how do they respond? By becoming denser. So what’s the best way to prevent osteoporosis? Is it
Fosamax? Forteo? Think again. It’s something much less expensive and with only salubrious "side
effects": STRENGTH TRAINING.
 SKIP THE CARDIO...

STRENGTH TRAIN INSTEAD.

Those of you who frequent gyms can testify to this phenomenon. How many of you have witnessed
people signing up and lining up for a spot on the treadmill or the latest and greatest piece of
endurance equipment? As if it’s some sort of fast track to health? You can put your hand down. We’ve
all seen it. Wait… Is this you?

Here’s the deal folks. Strength training will afford you many times the gains of a stroll on the treadmill
and in much less time. No, you don’t need to spend hours on end in a gym; that’s a myth. It’s the stuff
of bodybuilding movies like Pumping Iron. The truth is that you can make dramatic changes to your
body by sticking to a very basic strength training protocol such as that outlined in the pages of Get
Serious. One hour per day, five days per week will not only grant you a leaner physique but vigor and
a renewed sense of confidence. You see, strength training induces long-lasting changes in the body,
unlike endurance training, the effects of which are transient. The benefits of that 60-minute jaunt of
the treadmill cease when you hit the "Stop" button. Not the case with strength training.

Electively traumatizing your muscles during a rigorous bout of strength training sets into motion a
stress response, a cascade of biochemical reactions that elevate reparative hormones such as
testosterone and growth hormone, anti-inflammatory mediators and antioxidants. The upshot?
Larger muscles, less potentially damaging glucose floating around your bloodstream by virtue of it,
and an increase in the expression of more than 100 genes associated with longevity. Don’t believe
me? Did you know that muscular strength is inversely and independently associated with death from
all causes and cancer in men, even after adjusting for cardiorespiratory fitness and other potential
confounders? Yes, according to a 2008 study published in the British Medical Journal, strength
training conferred survival benefits to the study cohort of 8762 men. Survival of the fittest? It rings
true again.
 SIT-UPS OR NOT

FOR 6-PACK ABS?

This is another common misconception, and it’s understandable. People assume that I spent hours
per day doing sit-ups to attain the look on the cover of Get Serious. In actuality, I do none. Not only
are they lousy for your low back, but they also accomplish very little in terms of having those abs
shine through. There is only one way to access what most consider the benchmark of a "ripped"
physique: a low body fat percentage. Does that come from a thousand sit-ups a day? NO. Absolutely
not. A low body fat percentage comes from low insulin levels, a product of low simple carbohydrate
intake (barring any strong genetic tendencies towards a particular body type).

What am I saying here? I’m saying, "Stop buying the 3 AM infomercial gadgets that guarantee you abs
of steel, yet deliver nothing." Why? Because absent proper nutrition, your promised six-pack will
remain a one-pack and in short time, that miracle product will double as a clothes hanger. It’s the part
of the sales pitch they leave out. Why? Because eating well takes discipline and commitment, qualities
that many people lack. And for similar reasons, the obesity rate is on the rise, right? Hasn’t anyone
told you that if something is too good to be true, it likely isn’t? Same applies here.

So what’s the secret? There is no secret. The only way to attain that chiseled abdomen is to reduce
your body fat to relatively low levels. On the misinformation superhighway (the internet), it is said
that you need sub-ten percent body fat to uncover that six-pack. Not true. Again, I defer to the cover
of Get Serious. There I stand with a body fat level near twelve percent. So it can be done! It’s not that
difficult to shed body fat if you just know how if you follow the basic principles outlined in previous
emails. It’s all about low-insulin. Health is a manifestation of a low-insulin state in the context of low
inflammation. The six-pack abs mean nothing quite frankly. They’re just a "side effect" of health.
 BE STRONG, LIVE LONG

A BACK TO BASICS APPROACH.

You can spend your time seeking out the latest and greatest fitness equipment and fancy training
protocols, but I’d save my money if I were you. If you want to build muscle and lose body fat, revert to
the basics. Don’t fall for any trickery. My neurosurgical partner of late paid $250.00 for training
sessions during which they had him jumping around in a sand pit reportedly to "enhance quickness."
Thousands of dollars later and nothing to show for it, he asked me for advice. And sound advice he
received: There are no shortcuts. To build lean muscle mass (and no ladies, you will not turn into a
bodybuilder), you must lift weights, heavy weights and focus on compound movements. This is the
premise of the protocol in Get Serious. So skip the biceps curls. Instead, choose the following:

SQUATS: In my opinion, the king of all exercises. Squats are just that. While bearing a weighted bar on
your shoulders, squat down and stand back up. Simple, yet intense. A full-body workout unto itself.
Squats are the foundation of many exercise protocols. You’ll soon find out why.

OVERHEAD PRESS: Conjure up the image of an old time strongman hoisting a bar sky-high over his
head. That’s the overhead press. Although primarily an upper body exercise, the overhead press
stresses the abdominal muscles and the lumbar extensor muscles as well.

PULL/CHIN-UPS: Gymnasts do these. Thousands and thousands of these. Why? Because they build
tremendous upper body strength and protect the shoulder joint when performed properly.

DEADLIFT: Another "Don’t leave home without it." Deadlifts are on par with (and some say surpass)
squats in their strength-building capacity. Why? They impose massive stress on the body, the entire
body. And no, they’re not bad for your back. As with every other movement, technique is paramount.

BENCH PRESS: For ill-defined reasons, the bench press has always been the barometer of a person’s
strength. Unbeknownst to many, it too works a large portion of the body although is predominantly
an upper body movement that heavily stresses the shoulders, triceps and chest.