July 25, 2024 6 min read
Did you know low levels of thyroid can bring on not only low energy and weight gain, but also contribute to depression and brain fog?
This can make thinking, problem-solving, and just coping with the everyday stresses of life much harder.
With the rise in hormone-blocking toxins in our environment, processed foods and processed sugars, and the low amount of protein most of us consume, low thyroid is affecting more and more people, especially among women and the elderly.
But there’s one more thing affecting this — low magnesium. Magnesium is necessary for thyroid to be produced inside the body. Yet it’s being processed out of our foods more and more every year, until more than half the people in the US are now magnesium deficient.
In this article we dive into what thyroid is, how low thyroid occurs, how it affects our mood, energy levels, mental alertness, and our ability to think and cope with the problems of everyday life and what we can do to raise it.
July 23, 2024 5 min read
We know about amino acids, hormones, and how different foods affect our ability to build lean muscle, burn fat and stay healthy.
But if we want to achieve maximum levels of energy, recovery, health and performance, and build the most lean muscle, then we need to go down to the cellular level.
After all, our bodies are just one big mass of some 100 trillion cells all bonded together.
How well we're doing is an exact reflection of how well our cells are doing.
July 21, 2024 8 min read
Getting good sleep is one of the most important things we can do, not just for muscle building and fat loss but for our mood, energy levels, and overall health.
Sleep is when our body is able to recover and repair cells, a lack of it even affects our aging process, speeding it up internally, as well as visibly causing wrinkles and sagging skin.
During the first few hours of deep sleep is when many hormones, including growth hormone and IGF (major fat-burning hormone) are released.
Getting enough sleep also helps to keep cortisol levels lower and balance estrogen, testosterone, progesterone and thyroid.
So if we want a lean, toned or muscled body, then we need deep sleep every night for full recovery, muscle building, natural fat loss and hormonal balance.
Yet a third of Americans get poor sleep, and those with the worst sleep generally have poor health.
So what causes this and what can we do to not only get better, deeper, more refreshing sleep, but also to reverse the effects of poor sleep?
Let’s dive in and see.
July 18, 2024 6 min read
Many people think of bodybuilding as just trying to build the biggest muscles we can. And that’s not quite true.
Bodybuilding is about building one’s ideal physique. And, while that includes achieving bigger muscles, it also means achieving balance, symmetry and aesthetics.
But there are those who do try for building the biggest muscles they can, which there is nothing wrong with.
Unfortunately, many of them employ substances which, while helping to achieve their goals faster, and in some cases achieve more than they could naturally, also result in serious health conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, something which is becoming more and more prevalent amongst bodybuilders today.
In this article we’re going to cover the use of steroids and insulin injections, why they're used, how they work, and how these significantly increase the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes down the road.
July 16, 2024 8 min read
Cortisol is one of the most important hormones in our body. It’s been called the “stress” hormone because it’s released during moments of stress.
But it’s also the hormone that wakes us up in the morning, that starts the healing process in our body after any injury or workout, and that provides us with energy and mental focus when we’re “running low.”
But unfortunately, when cortisol levels go too high, it becomes something else.
It can cause muscle loss and prevent muscle gain, cause fat storage and prevent fat loss even when we’re exercising, cause low energy levels, cause us to feel stressed, cause poor sleep, and even slow or prevent healing and recovery.
If you have trouble with any of the above, it’s likely that higher than normal cortisol levels play a part.
But that’s when it’s too high. And, unfortunately, for many people in society today, it already is too high.
So let’s dive in and see what cortisol is, how it works and how we can balance our levels.
July 14, 2024 5 min read
In this article we're going to cover something that is key to increasing the overall endurance, performance, and recovery ability of an athlete.
But while it's very important for an athlete, or anyone into fitness of any sort — it’s also important for anyone who is just wishing to raise their overall health and energy levels.
This is because, no matter where we're starting from, very high or very low, if we address it, we can significantly raise not just our energy production and performance abilities, but our overall health, across the spectrum, possibly even removing health troubles we thought were: "just they way it is."
It's called VO2 Max. V is for Volume, O2 is for Oxygen, and Max is for Maximum.
VO2 Max literally means the maximum amount, or volume, of oxygen that your cells are currently able to utilize during intense exercise, before you burn out.
Note the word currently.
Because when we raise the maximum amount of oxygen each cell can take in and use, so that they're able to and do use more, we end up raising energy production, performance, endurance, our ability to recover, and possibly even reverse conditions we thought would never go away.
And it's not hard to do.
So let’s dive in.
July 11, 2024 5 min read
This is the first issue in a series on Extreme Athletes, those who push themselves to the max to achieve their goals and, possibly, greatness.
But, while the information in this series applies very strictly to extreme athletes, it applies just as much to anyone else trying to achieve peak performance for themselves in fitness and athletics, while staying healthy overall.
Also, while we will cover points individual to specific sports, most of the information is applicable to all sports and performance, energy, and recovery as a whole.
In this first article we’ll start with one of the key, over-riding aspects to maximize not only the ability and performance of an elite athlete, but of anyone.
Because, when you put your body through as much stress and pressure as an athlete does, every one of your organs, muscles, nerves, bones, hormones, etc., all play a part.
And, while any weak links will bring down the rest, improving any weak spots in health will help increase the energy production and performance of the overall.
July 09, 2024 6 min read
Cholesterol is very firmly associated with lifespan. Just not in the way most people think.
In fact, according to newer research, levels of cholesterol in the ranges of 210-240 are associated with longer lifespans.
And lower levels of cholesterol lead to lower levels of energy, overall health and hormonal deficiencies among testosterone, estrogen and others.
In this article we cover how cholesterol actually operates in the body, what it actually has to do with high blood pressure and how it’s not quite the villain it’s been made out to be, but a vital part of our body’s proper functioning.
July 07, 2024 7 min read
Everyone wants soft, healthy, supple skin. Especially as we get older.
This is so much the case that about $17 Billion is spent on skin care products yearly. And most of these products, while providing short term results, actually result in worsening conditions over time. This is due to the, in some cases, incredibly toxic ingredients used in many of them including hormone disruptors, formaldehyde, chemicals also used as plastic softeners, carcinogens, allergens, solvents and even neurotoxins.
We even have collagen creams containing collagen peptides to help our skin which… are too big to enter through our pores. So they just wash right off of us in our next shower. In realty, if we want softer, healthier, firmer skin, we need to attack the problem from another angle — internally, by giving our skin what it actually needs to maintain its health and softness. Things that are in very few skin care products.
July 04, 2024 8 min read
Most people, when they hit 50, and definitely when they hit 60 or 70, start to lose muscle mass and strength. And most of them think this is just a matter of aging.
But, while aging is definitely a factor here, there is much more going on that is speeding up this process.
I’m 74 years old and I still run in Ironman Triathlons.
I’m strong, I’m lean, and I have more energy than many people half my age. And I’m not alone in this.
So, obviously, age isn’t quite the factor most people think.
But there are key differences between those of us who still keep our muscle and strength, and those of us who don’t. And they’re not genetic.
They’re points that anyone can apply to themselves to start increasing strength and muscle mass again, no matter how old they are.
July 02, 2024 4 min read
Most people think of electrolytes as something to take when they’re dehydrated. And this is true.
But there’s much more to it than that.
They allow your nervous system to function, your cells to function, and energy to be created.
When they’re low we can get brain fog, have headaches or back aches or feel exhausted.
They’re even necessary for protein synthesis for recovery and muscle building, and this slows down when we don’t have our electrolytes.
And they’re absolutely vital for hormonal creation and balance.
So let’s take a good look at what electrolytes are and what they actually do in the body. Because they’re very important.
July 02, 2024 5 min read
If you’re over 40 years old, you’ve probably noticed that weight loss can become harder.
When we’re younger, in our teens, 20’s and 30’s, we can often (not always) get away with a lot. We can eat more carbs without gaining weight, and keep up our energy and strength levels.
But after 40, things change. And this is a factor in aging. A factor related to changes in our hormones as we age.
From in-depth articles on nutritional benefits to updates on new product launches, stay informed and inspired on your journey to optimal health.