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A Novel Thought: What If We Taught People (All People) How to Eat for Health?

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In today’s cultural (some might even say political) soup in which we find ourselves swimming today, it seems no matter where one might turn – sports, health and wellness, finance, the food industry, education, and more (the list is potentially endless) – there’s vehement discussion about real and perceived inequalities, systematic failings, prejudice, and pain.

In the context of the work we’re doing here at Older Bolder Fitness and my prior career as a physician, I’m particularly fascinated by the discussions coursing through the medical and health and wellness arena addressing many of these issues. It goes without saying that some deeply rooted, critical issues are finally being pushed to see the light of day, and as well some of the chatter out there is simply outrageously misinformed, misdirected, and most critically – badly misses the mark of truly improving health and wellness (and perhaps even societal integrity) for all in society.

Those genuinely interested in improving health and wellness for all will be hearing much more about today’s hot topics, including health disparities for people of color, social determinants of health, the purported linkage of health and social justice, medical comorbidities and differential outcomes by race, and of late, differential COVID-19 mortality rates by race.

IMHO much of today’s discussion is long on vivid and moving recitations of problems and pathology and damned short on genuine, boots on the ground, practically implementable solutions.

In particular, today’s stodgy, monolithic medical establishment, increasingly corporate owned and managed, has become much more of a “repair shop”, utilizing often amazing technology to address the inevitable consequence of lifestyle diseases, worsened by abysmal nutrition and a dearth of physical activity. This same medical establishment has presided over the greatest decline in health and wellness of the American population in the nation’s history over the past 30-40 years, at the same time watching the cost of care explode at an alarming rate, sadly yet to be addressed by “organized medicine” or politicians of any stripe.

On one hand, you could argue the situation looks grim; on another hand, what if there were solutions at hand that could tangibly produce results within a few short years?

What If We Taught People (All People) How to Eat for Health?

If one were to believe and implement the principle that the simplest solution is most likely the right one (a permutation of Occam’s Razor, and yes I understand that his original constructs were much more complex), what if we taught all people how to nourish their bodies for health and wellness?

[An aside – if you really want to talk about social equity and justice, you’re by definition talking about everyone in said society. I get the current environment that we’re operating in these days, and that the emotional currency of the day is about people of color. That said, societal health and wellness is an all color, all race, all people issue, plain and simple. Arguments to the contrary (when it comes to societal health and wellness) are based on other agendas, agendas that won’t lead to productive solutions.]

The shockingly simple act of reducing/ceasing the consumption of refined carbohydrates, shifting to whole food carbohydrate sources in thoughtful moderation, eating moderate amounts of nourishing proteins, and eliminating the consumption of toxic, refined seed oils and replacing them with easily-proven healthier fats would improve the health (addressing many of the problematic co-morbidities you’re hearing so much about these days) of millions of people.

Add in simple exercise, walking being perhaps the simplest form of exercise available to almost everyone on the planet today, and the improvements would be even more impressive.

The savings in health care dollars expended would in all probability count in the billions in a matter of a few short years (ie, cut the number under treatment for T2DM in half in two years), and the improvement in quality of life would be immeasurable.

Empowering individuals to take charge of their own health and wellness is an incredibly powerful concept, and there’s plenty of room for adjusting best practices to address unique cultural influences. Is it truly possible? Hell yes it is. Is it likely to happen? We’ll see….

Step Away from the Madness Today

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In my six decades walking this orb, I’m not sure I remember a more tumultuous time than the past few months.

Granted, I was blissfully unaware of the news of the day during the tumult of the 60’s, another era when racial and other divides rock our Nation to the core, though with the ever-present prattle of media these days (and there’s much more to the media game today) I’m convinced these are some of the most stressful days passed on the planet and in America in particular in decades.

Complicating our ability to process all the “news of the day” is the fact that what have historically been trusted media sources (I should clarify perhaps that these comments focus on news media) have seemingly evolved into purveyors of opinion as much or more than fact, and they (pick your poison here – evidence appears to support they’re all guilty of this) overtly alter or omit key facts that would otherwise put a different spin on the story.

Add to that the reality that emotions are running raw, not just other people you might see on video rioting in our Nation’s capitol or burning Minneapolis, but people you know, interact with, and perhaps live with have been impacted deeply.

Even further muddling our efforts to sort the wheat from the chaff so to speak is the toxic venom that has infiltrated and captured so much of social media these days. One of my personal goals for 2020 was to dial back social media consumption, and I was well on the way before the world changed in late February. Dipping a toe back into social media waters, often spurred by loved ones in my inner circle, has shocked me to the core at times – the level of hatred, vitriol, and misinformation (or outright lies) expressed is astounding.

My point?

You must be very very thoughtful and careful about the media you consume these days; we all have to take a break from the onslaught of images and cascades of emotion being channeled your direction. Make no mistake, much of what you’re seeing (if you’re immersed in the media) has been crafted carefully to invoke deep emotion, and we as humans simply aren’t built to sustain that fight or flight emotional reaction level for hour upon hour, day up day.

You need a break, you need to recharge those mental and emotional batteries, and you above all must keep the physical and nutritional components of your life in fine working order to sustain the challenges each day seems to bring.

Turn your damn phone and TV off, especially in the hours leading up to bed – a good night’s sleep is imperative these days.

Get outside and play – it needn’t be a huge production: hike, bike, game night with the kids, family movie nights, have a picnic and cook at your favorite local park. Read, paint, have a music immersion day, even creative hours in the kitchen can be magical.

A core necessity of your life mission is to take care of yourself so you can take care of those you love around you; you’ll still have time to save the world when you’re called to help out. Don’t fall for the trap that disorder and chaos is the only path to the future – that’s one of the great deceptions of these days, and will be proven false as it always has been throughout history.

Rest, refresh, replenish, and serve those around you.

On Becoming More Resilient: Five Cornerstones

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During these most unusual days I’ve made it a goal over the past few weeks to spend at least part of my time interacting with family, friends, and coaching clients challenging them to think about how they can become more resilient.

Merriam-Webster’s defines resilient as tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change, as well as capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture.

Interpreted in light of this spring’s current events, the concept of being resilient implies much, much more than simply surviving life’s challenges (despite the media’s incessant droning on about survival). The world and her collected humanity have seen many a pandemic before, and will so again; the resiliency of the human race is damned impressive, and the historical record of such seems much under-appreciated these days.

So how might one become more resilient?

Becoming More Resilient: You Are What You Eat

The phrase “you are what you eat” is oft attributed to Anthelme Brillat-Savarin who wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826: “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.” (Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are).

Whether or not that attribution is correct, there’s no doubt at this point in time that the food we partake is the single most critical determinant of our long-term health and wellness.

My own story is a perfect example of this, and if you’ve not yet made the choice to eat to pursue optimal health, now’s the perfect time to jump in. The challenge of course if finding the right food plan for your unique physiology and circumstances; following some common-sense principles will lead you, more quickly than you might imagine, to a plan that works. (Need some help sorting out options? I can help).

Becoming More Resilient: Lean Body Mass Wins the Day

The fact that lean body mass correlates directly with a human’s ability to survive disease and disaster has been long established; modern medicine, along with popular society, seem to have forgotten this simple axiom, with devastating results.

Need a refresher on lean body mass? Read more here.

As data pours in related to COVID-19, obesity appears to be the single most significant co-morbidity reported, particularly in younger age bands. It doesn’t matter where you are today, get started now.

Becoming More Resilient: Functional Fitness Matters More than Ever

Maintaining functional fitness throughout life doesn’t require mind-boggling commitments of time, effort, or resources, yet might yield the most impressive returns over time of any investment of time, effort, or resources you can make, ever. By simply walking (perhaps with an occasional sprint throw in for fun and good measure) and completing thoughtfully specific body weight exercises, impressive fitness levels can be gained (and maintained).

And as an added bonus, recent data (take this report from UVA within the past week) shows impressive exercise-induced benefits in battling viral invaders and recovering from their impacts.

Volumes have been written about the beneficial impacts that exercise has on human physiology (and mind/spirit); now more than ever you need to lace up those walking shoes and get to it.

Becoming More Resilient: Connections Count

It’s damned revealing that during a time in history when humanity is ostensibly more connected than ever by technology, in reality time spent wandering through the morass of social media clearly makes us less happy, less productive, and we’re reporting a sense of loneliness at near epidemic levels.

Genuine and authentic connections with other humans count. We all need a trusted circle of friends and family; I get it that not everyone wants to play, but you need to find those that do, and work hand in hand to develop authentic relationships you can lean on when the waters of life grow rough (they inevitably do at some point).

By the way, my wife and I have found that the deepest and best relationships we’ve shared with friends over time have grown organically out of shared experiences pursuing worthy activities helping others.

Becoming More Resilient: Purpose, Problem Solving, and Pivots

A fascinating principle was taught to me by a mentor years ago, and it was ironically related to purpose. His argument was that the most successful people in world history, with few exceptions, were those who chartered their life course around helping others solve or fix some problem faced in every day life.

One of his key points was that life on this globe always has (and always will) present for most of us challenges that at times seem overwhelming; it’s inescapable and at times a harsh reality, yet with every challenge comes an opportunity to adapt, change, improve, grow, and perhaps even help others along the way. Having a strong purpose in life can make problem solving good (or great) solutions even more accessible.

Finally, rarely does life proceed according to our best crafted plans. The ability to problem solve and pivot to something adjacent or new is an impressive skill that takes some cultivating and practice. And while your crystal ball predicting your future is a bit cloudy today, with changes coming in society over the next few months there will likely be multiple opportunities to pivot to something new (and maybe even better) coming soon.

Be prepared to pivot for the win.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes, Podcasts, and More 4 March 2020

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As the world remains riveted to the updating news on the COVID-19 outbreak, I’ve gathered a few resources that you should peruse if you’ve not already. Granted, the story is evolving quickly, and the the links following are CDC biased – count me among the many who would argue the CDC has made a boatload of errors and missteps regarding the outbreak thus far, but they are the organization tasked with aggregating and disseminating information regarding the outbreak in America. More to come…

CDC COVID-19 situation summary page.

CDC COVID-19 main landing page with links out.

COVID-19 mapping tool from Johns Hopkins CSSE.

CDC COVID-19 guidelines for health care professionals.

CDC COVID-19 travel restrictions and advisories.

Hand washing at airports – an Occam’s razor approach to pandemics?

Nutrition and Fat in the News This Week

On the lighter side, a cartoonist takes on the food pyramid.

Eat less, live longer.

2020 American Diabetes Association standards of care. (I’ve not had time to read in detail, but potentially another swing and a miss on the optimal dietary approach.)

So perivascular fat might be a good player?

Fitness and a Few Other Odds and Ends

Crossfit wants grandpa to work out in the box.

Sleep for athletes (part 4 in a series).

A quick riff on the imposter syndrome.

Heads up runners and walkers: pedestrian deaths are up.

Podcast I Enjoyed This Week

Paul Saladino MD dishes on the carnivore diet.

Food, Glorious Food

Harrison Ford’s boring diet. Healthy? Yes. Interesting and sustainable over the long haul? Probably not…

History of Sichuan peppercorns.

Spicy Salt Roasted Shrimp

Reclaiming Health and Fitness After 40: Five Quick Thoughts

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A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to reconnect with a friend from residency days back in Salt Lake City in the mid-80s; we were residency mates there in the University of Utah hospital system before he headed back home to San Diego to set up his practice and later found his own company.

My friend had something of an unusual story; he was a gifted mechanical engineer who later went into medicine with a goal of designing adaptive equipment for people with profound neuromuscular disease and injury. He was a delight, one of those rare hyper-intelligent and inquisitive people we all (rarely) have occasion to meet, and was an uber-fit skier, distance runner, and surfer.

Without boring you with details, through a mutual connection in England, he’d heard of my recent health transformation, and ended up calling to chat one afternoon. We covered a lot of ground in an hour, but he was particularly interested in what I’d done to reclaim my health and lessons I’d learned along the way. He shared that he had an adult “child” in her mid 40s who desperately needed a lifestyle and fitness change, and he was at the end of his rope trying to encourage her to start. He shared, among other things, that she felt she was “too far gone” to ever make a meaningful impact.

Thinking about it on the fly as we talked, I offered him five quick thoughts about reclaiming health and fitness after 40 gleaned from my own experience.

It’s Never Too Late to Start

I am profoundly and utterly convinced that it’s never too late to jump in with both feet, start moving physically, and reshape one’s approach to nutrition. At 57 I did just that, and started from a point of metabolic and physical disaster – 412 pounds, unable to tie my own shoes some days, with so many aches, pains, and symptoms I’m embarrassed to list them all. Now, just a bit over three years later, I’ve lost nearly 200 pounds and 20+ inches at my waist, am more fit than ever, and am even training for sprint competition in Senior track and field events upcoming.

Clearly your mileage may vary, but I have clients now in their 80s who’ve made similar changes and reshaped their approach to life. It’s never too late.

Reclaiming Health and Fitness After 40 Is a Long Game

Expectations can be an interesting beast to tame, at least for most of us. We’re an impatient society, and often fall prey to tall tales and crazy promises to shed improbably amounts of excess weight and gain extraordinary levels of fitness over very short time frames (30 days wonders) by following some magic diet, taking a wonder supplement, or copying the routine of a sculpted gym barbie with an Instagram following.

Attaining optimal health, fitness, and wellness at any age is a long game, most often measured in months if not years, but particularly for those of us north of 40. It’s a lot more enjoyable journey if you embrace the long view, and don’t sweat the day to day and week to week stuff.

Reclaiming Health and Fitness After 40 Might Take Baby Steps, But Take ‘Em

Talking with my friend, we agreed that life in today’s world, at least for the majority, is astoundingly sedentary. Many sit all day at work, commute sitting, come home and eat a poorly composed meal, and then sit on the couch for the next four hours before tossing and turning at night and starting it all over again.

Thoughtfully incorporating movement into the day can make a world of difference when starting from fitness ground zero; we’ve all heard the suggestions (park at a distance and walk in, get up and walk 10 minutes every two hours, etc), and these steps are easy to incorporate into one’s day. I’m a HUGE fan of walking outdoors, still do it daily to start my day myself, even on sprint training days, and just about every one on the planet can do it with minimal investment in time and equipment.

Baby steps turn into meaningful fitness routines over time.

Reclaiming Health and Fitness After 40: Embrace the Aches and Modify

One of the things I learned with my 30+ years in medicine is that the human body, despite its astoundingly complex design, function, and capacity to repair itself, is nonetheless designed to wear and tear over time. It’s inevitable, though manifests differently and at unique times for all of us.

The point: we all have our various aches and pains, joints that have been injured or have advanced markers of degeneration (read wear and tear); some days you’re going to be more sore and achy than others. Accept that reality, and modify, modify, modify exercise and fitness to accommodate your function on a given day. Remembering that you’re playing a long game makes this strategy more sensible too.

Personally I’ve been astounded at what a difference rebuilding functional strength has made in my own “aches and pains” related to prior orthopedic injuries, and just general activity and functional tolerance. Of course, that’s in part related to the last point…

Personally Optimizing Nutrition Makes Life So Much Better

Finally, I suggested my friend gently remind his daughter that there is a far, far better way to fuel the human machine than via the SAD (standard American diet). The point I tried to convey was simple from our perspective – the food we eat now is so much tastier, interesting, and flavorful than any we’ve consumed over the years, AND is so much healthier – less inflammatory (there’s that aches and pains concept again), less atherogenic, and more physiologically sensible given the science that has evolved over the past twenty years.

Personally I think for almost everyone walking on the planet, metabolic flexibility is the holy grail of nutrition – not being in ketosis or rigidly adhering to some arbitrary set of dietary rules. There is no one size fits all nutrition plan. Metabolic flexibility is key for anyone at any age, but perhaps even more meaningful for those of over 40, busy with all that life has to offer.

The challenge, of course, is to find the nutrition plan that resonates with your own particular physiology and metabolism, and make the tweaks and adjustments that work for you. It can be done, and again, it’s never too late to start.

Enjoyed the call JS, best of luck with your daughter and I’m happy to help any way I can.

Picking the Low Hanging Fruit: Dial Back the Carbs

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It’s been several days since I wrote about picking the low hanging fruit (the simpler, foundational principles) along one’s journey to restore (or improve) your overall health and wellness. Last week I offered up some simple principles related to protein and incorporating more movement into your daily routine.

Of note, my thoughts today are aimed at those who are following an approach to nutrition and food much more aligned with the Standard American Diet (the infamous SAD approach), not necessarily those thoughtful folks who have already begun to take a hard and discerning look at the healthy – and the unhealthy – aspects of their nutrition plan.

So How Many Grams of Carbohydrate Does “the Average American” Eat Per Day?

Good question, and when you get right down to it, defining the “average carb intake” of any group or population is devilishly difficult to do with genuine scientific accuracy, though there are plenty of ways to ballpark the numbers fairly closely.

For example, let’s look at carbohydrate intake suggestions from the venerable Mayo Clinic, written in February of 2017 –

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that carbohydrates make up 45 to 65 percent of your total daily calories.

So, if you get 2,000 calories a day, between 900 and 1,300 calories should be from carbohydrates. That translates to between 225 and 325 grams of carbohydrates a day.

Impressive, particularly in light of two things: first, there are impressive numbers of individuals who consume a far more than 60 percent of their daily calories from carbohydrates. And secondly, there’s been an explosion of very credible information over the past couple of decades, more so in the last decade, frankly destroying the concept that carbohydrates are our bodies preferred, principle fuel.

That said, where does one start when looking to manage carbohydrate intelligently?

Starting Your Approach to Dialing Back Your Carbohydrate Intake

Coming from the perspective of eating the Standard American Diet (SAD), once you’ve settled on a rational approach to protein intake, for most of us, it’s time to dial back the carbs.

How far? It really doesn’t have to be that complicated, and for all the chatter about carbohydrate intake floating about these days, I still find Mark Sisson’s diagram below – his carbohydrate curve – to be one of the must useful illustrations of the concept.

If you’re eating 300 grams of carbohydrate a day, dropping down to 150 or 100 grams/day isn’t necessarily going to happen overnight. You can drop quickly, we did years ago, though we’re sorta “rip the bandage off in one quick pull” kinda people, and our process wasn’t without some cravings and missteps along the way.

Part of the mechanism of dialing back your carbohydrate intake is based upon improving the quality of the carbohydrates you consume – eating fresh, whole foods and not highly refined, overly process, carb-dense preparations is a huge part of the game here.

For a little more detail, take a look at Carbs: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Part 1 is the Bad and Ugly, Part 2 The Good).

And Finally, Remember the Carb Game is Won By Finding Your Carb Tolerance Point

A critical reminder from a prior post – your optimal carb zone and macronutrient partitioning needs depend on a host of factors THAT ARE UNIQUE TO YOU; potentially including (a short list, just for example):

Your current objective(s): be it weight loss, athletic performance, cognitive improvement, general well being, longevity, etc.
Your current body composition: Are you overweight, underweight, lacking appropriate muscle mass?
Your overall metabolic health: Are you in full-blown metabolic syndrome with insulin resistance, on the edge, or “fairly healthy”?
Your overall level of activity: Are you a cubical-bound couch potato whose idea of a workout is the walk to and from the car in the parking lot, an occasional, casual walker, perhaps working a physically demanding job, or a gym rat?
Your overall general health: Do you have conditions that impact your body’s functions in a material way, such as joint problems (degenerative arthritis), heart disease or hypertension, poor sleep, or stress you can’t manage?
Your age: For example, protein requirements increase in the elderly, and the elderly’s protein requirements may be more impacted by higher activity levels.
Your current progress in your recovery journey: Your best macronutrient partitioning will change over time, pending where you are in your health and wellness journey, and as you purposefully get leaner, more fit, and thoughtful about how you fuel your mind and body.

There will be some trial and error, and some N=1 experimenting to find your sweet spot. Get started today, and we’re here to help guide you through the process if it seems a bit overwhelming. Git ‘er done.

KISS Your Food Plan This Week

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Spend any time on Instagram these days following folks in the Primal, paleo, keto, and other health and wellness arenas where thinking about food is a big part of the game, and you might get the idea that to eat well you’re going to spend hours in the kitchen prepping elaborate meals every day.

In reality nothing could be further from the truth.

One of the reasons we love eating a primal-aligned food plan is that, on most days, meal planning is simple, intuitive, damned tasty, efficient, and almost always a pleasure.

Oh sure, there will be days when you invest more time and effort in crafting an elaborate kitchen masterpiece worthy of the Instagram masters, but for the day in and day out routine, eating – and cooking – healthy food just doesn’t have to be that complicated.

The image to the right is a great example, these blackened mahi tacos (frozen mahi fillets from Costco) over our house guacamole in romaine leaves were fridge to plate in under twenty minutes; my wife was even traveling in Vermont last week when I made these and not available to serve as sous chef.

You’ve no doubt seen the bacronym KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid, which was a favorite of a mentor and business partner of mine back in Salt Lake City years ago (he was also know to wax eloquently on Occam’s razor as well – simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex ones).

In particular if you’re new to the Primal/paleo/Whole30/keto game, don’t get distracted by the elaborate food preps you see trotted by every day on social media. Keep it simple, keep it practical, keep it intuitive, and have fun with your food plan.