I learned as a young wife and mother, many years ago, that the word "stress" was often a catch-all term used by most doctors when they did not know what was causing my list of maladies. I even had one doctor use the term "hypochondriac" with me, because he did not have an answer for the symptoms that were causing my rundown immune system. . . . very disturbing. Actually, the terminology did not bother me as much as the lack of answers and remedies.
Grateful for inspiration that eventually directed me toward holistic alternatives, I consider myself fortunate to have found the needed answers from a considerate and well-trained alternative health care provider in Colorado, who was able to work with me and improve my stamina and immune system.
For over sixteen years now, every time we have a health problem in my family that I cannot solve (believe me - we typically search "many" resources of do-it-yourself help), I eventually turn back to a trusted alternative health care provider. (Now that I live in Scottsdale, Arizona, that person is Dr. Mark Force.)
Recently, my daughter has been having some health problems. Nothing major, yet significant enough to be annoying and disconcerting. After trying things on our own, with no positive change, we finally decided it was time to go see Dr. Force.
While patiently listening to my best "guess-timates" of what was causing the symptoms, Dr. Force went through his usual routine for zeroing in on the cause. After some time, he finally asked her, "What is troubling you, or bothering you, and is causing you so much stress?"
I could not believe my ears! My first thought was "there is that word, again!" Could this be true? Could my trusted friend and primary health care provider be reverting to that "catch-all", medically-traditional diagnosis, because he did not have an answer? . . . No - not this doctor.
Fortunately, Dr. Force did more than most doctors. He explained how stress wears down the adrenal glands, which in turn can throw off the hormonal balance (even thyroid) - basically affecting every aspect of the body's ability to function properly.
I know my daughter, being a "typical twenty year-old", is having worries about what she should do with her life, and what direction she should take with her schooling. I also know she has hidden emotions, for several years, caused by her parent's divorce and several subsequent moves. Yet, I had no idea that this type of stress, caused by internal anxieties, would affect her health so dramatically.
As I expected, Dr. Force had a holistic remedy that he recommended, and she will be able to take a new direction for improving her body's ability to withstand the effects of stress. I guess coming from him, the word "stress" is not such a "catch-all" word, after all.
With this in mind, our first article this month has been contributed by Dr. Force regarding stress and its physical effects on the body. It may be that some of the symptoms listed sound familiar. For those of you who have a question for Dr. Force, you may want to email him, or if you are fortunate enough to live in Scottsdale, Arizona, you may want to call and set up an appointment to see him.
Not only is he very well educated in a variety of alternative methodologies, there is also the added bonus that he is a delightfully warm and kind person. We are grateful for his expertise.
To finish off our newsletter this month, we have our fourth article in the continuing series on weight-loss by Stephanie Jenkins. This section is about exercise. Though I would not normally consider this a fun topic, I must admit, she has written an exceptional article filled with information that was educational for me.
I am sure you will find this article equally enlightening. Have a great month!
Stress is so pervasive that no one is without its effects. The level of stress and how you deal with it defines whether you are ill, or well, and how much health you enjoy.
How can you tell if you are suffering from the effects of stress? Below is some background on stress, along with a list of symptoms associated with this ubiquitous problem.
Stress is any stimulus to the system (body) that requires your body to respond or adapt.
Your body always responds to stress in exactly the same manner, as far as physiological responses, regardless of the type of stressor that is involved.
Your body is self-healing and self-maintaining, if the overall burden of stress on your system does not overcome the ability of your body to adapt.
Significant chronic stress will always weaken the adrenal glands (located immediately above your kidneys) and result in functional hypoadrenia.
Stress is the most common reason for chronic conditions that do not heal or respond to standard treatments, and is an extremely common problem.
It has been estimated by some physicians that approximately 50% of chronic and degenerative diseases are the result of the "exhaustion phase" of stress.
Symptoms or Clinical Presentations of Stress
Blood Sugar: fatigue, fainting spells, learning difficulties, mood swings, insomnia, difficulty with waking during the night, hard to wake, poor short-term memory, short attention span
Electrolyte Balance: impaired nerve conduction and muscle function, heart palpitations, intercellular edema (worse at menses), high or low blood pressure, dehydration, excessive urination (15-20 times a day)
The Lasting Solution to Weight-Loss: Part 4 - Exercise Expertise
Stephanie Jenkins
In the previous newsletters, I discussed the "setpoint" (the weight-regulating mechanism that controls our body weight), and how it can be changed to achieve permanent weight loss.
In this month's edition, I will discuss how exercise can change the body's setpoint. I hope these articles are answering questions for you, and that this solution makes sense. Now the key is to implement these ideas into a program that changes your lifestyle and finally works!
Exercise and eating the proper types of food, as discussed in my previous articles, are the two most critical factors in the weight control process. To put it bluntly, if we do not get involved with a regular exercise program, we will continue to be unsuccessful at keeping weight off.
With our busy, stressful lifestyles, it is easy to put exercise very low on our priority list. The value of exercise is much more than utilizing calories. As a matter of fact, it takes a great deal of effort to use enough calories to lose even a pound of fat.
For example, walking burns about five calories per minute. There are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so we would have to walk about 11-1/2 hours to lose one pound. This sounds exhausting and impossible.
Remember, however, that there are compelling reasons to exercise besides burning calories. Exercise is essential in lowering the setpoint. It also maintains the body's muscle mass, accelerates the metabolic rate, and increases the enzymes that burn fat.
Furthermore, exercise changes the body's chemistry, which improves the sense of physical and mental well-being, and increases self-esteem. The following discussion of these factors emphasizes the importance of beginning an exercise program and sustaining it throughout life.
Lowering the Setpoint
The most important reason to exercise is to re-adjust the setpoint of the weight-regulating mechanism. The body seems to sense that a mobile (active) person needs to be thin. This can be seen when a person who has been physically active with their work, changes to a desk job. They inevitably gain weight.
A decrease in fat always occurs as a result of regular exercise. The loss of fat varies from person to person, even if they are on the same diet and exercise program. The reason for this is due to the number of fat cells they may have. If the number of fat cells is higher than normal, it will be necessary to carefully control the type of food consumed.
Longer periods of exercise will also be needed to achieve the same reduction in total fat. The total number of fat cells is affected by the length of time the person has been overweight, how excessively overweight they are, and their genetic predisposition.
Maintaining Lean Body Mass
The serious drawback of dieting, without exercising, is the loss of lean muscle in comparison to the loss of fat. Low calorie intake triggers a body process called gluconeogenesis (the process of converting protein to glucose).
This process breaks down muscle tissue and uses it, instead of sugar, for energy. Because of this, a person who diets may lose some fat, but typically half of their weight-loss will be from loss of muscle.
Of course, this looks good on the scales because total weight is coming off, but any muscle loss decreases the ability to burn fat and maintain normal energy levels.
Both carbohydrates and proteins can be changed to fat and stored in the body. However, fat cannot be changed to any other product. Fat can be removed from fat cells only when it is burned in the muscles for energy. When muscle mass decreases through dieting, the capacity to burn fat is diminished.
Exercise actually increases muscle mass and turns the body into a better fat burner. We must focus on the positive result of "inches" being lost with an effective exercise program, and try not to be discouraged when we find that increased muscle mass actually can weigh more than the fat that was lost. This common initial occurrence associated with exercise will change, when within a few weeks the increased muscle mass will actually accelerate fat loss and calories burned during exercise.
Increasing the "Resting" Metabolic Rate
One of the many important roles of exercise is that it causes the metabolic furnace to burn at a higher level. If you exercise regularly, it is difficult for the body to conserve energy. You can increase the metabolic rate three to eight times just by moderately exercising.
An added benefit of exercise is the residual effect. After exercising, the metabolic rate remains high for several hours later. The regular exerciser's body is ready and able to burn energy at any time, as opposed to a sedentary person whose body is conserving energy, while they keep excess weight.
Both carbohydrates and fats are burned in the muscle for energy, by using specific fat-burning enzymes. When muscle biopsies from endurance athletes are compared to those of physically inactive people, it can be seen that athletes have a greater number of fat-burning enzymes. Studies have also shown that untrained people could increase those same enzymes by doing any type of endurance exercise for several months.
Picture a molecule of fat being released from a fat cell at the beginning of an exercise period. If there is sufficient muscle tissue that needs energy, and the muscle cell has fat burning enzymes, the fat particle will move into the muscle and be burned.
On the other hand, if a person has decreased muscle mass because of dieting, and few enzymes for fat metabolism because of inactivity, the fat particle will simply float around the system for a while. Eventually, it will return to a fat cell for storage.
Changing the Body's Chemistry
In order to get sugar (glucose) into the cells, so it can be burned for energy, insulin (a hormone) is essential. However, if we have excess insulin, it can actually cause increased fat storage. The majority of obese people have excessive insulin. This is because the cells are resistant to insulin, and the body produces more to overcome this resistance.
Exercise actually increases the responsiveness of cells to insulin. Besides insulin, other hormones are positively affected by exercise. Adrenaline and cortisol (stress-related hormones) are actually metabolized by exercise. As a result of endurance exercise, endorphins (small morphine-like chemicals) are secreted in the brain.
Endorphins cause a feeling of well-being and can actually alleviate depression. Improving the mood, and decreasing stress levels, aids acceleration of the weight control process. This in turn has a positive effect on improved self-esteem.
The following exercise guidelines are known to be effective for decreasing the amount of fat in the fat cells, as well as increase the cardiovascular fitness of the body.
Type of Activity
Using large-muscle rhythmic activity for long periods of time is the most successful way to burn fat. Examples of this type of aerobic activity are jogging, bicycling, dancing, hiking, walking or swimming.
Aerobic exercise, (defined "with" oxygen) improves the body's cardiovascular system through increased blood supply to the muscles and enhanced oxygen delivery throughout the body. Aerobic activities involve the large muscles of the hips and legs, and can be done continuously for long periods. This is critical to the success of a fat burning program, because the metabolic and enzymatic changes mentioned will not occur unless you exercise for long uninterrupted periods of time.
Activities, such as golf and baseball, are ineffective in making the enzymatic change necessary for weight loss and fat control. These activities can be termed anaerobic ("without" oxygen).
Baseball is a good example of an anaerobic activity. These athletes run at a high speed after hitting a ball or running to catch a ball, but stand still otherwise. They develop their anaerobic or sugar pathways. These pathways are used specifically for developing large quantities of energy for short periods of time. A little amount of fat can be burned in this system. Although these athletes can become well conditioned for baseball, they cannot make changes for effective weight control without adding some type of aerobic conditioning.
Intensity
Activities done at moderate intensity produces best results for weight control. The belief that "if it does not hurt, you are not benefiting from the activity" is false. The body has separate pathways for metabolizing fat and sugar. Which pathway you use depends upon how hard you work.
It is best that a person who wants to control fat develops metabolic systems that burn fat. This means doing aerobic exercise four to six times per week, approximately 30-60 minutes, at a moderate intensity for optimum fat and weight reduction.
There are two ways to tell if the intensity level is too difficult. One way is to pay attention to your breathing rate. If breathing is too hard to carry on a conversation during exercise, the exercise level is too intense. Labored breathing occurs when you start using sugars as the primary source of energy.
Checking your pulse during exercise is another way to tell if you are working at the correct, moderate intensity. You can take your pulse on your neck or wrist. Count six seconds and multiply this number by ten. This equals your pulse per minute. The way to determine your maximum working heart rate is as follows:
220 - your age = maximum heart rate (MHR)
Multiply MHR by 80% = working heart rate (WHR).
WHR should be sustained for 30 to 60 minutes, for optimal fat loss.
Example:
220 - 40 years old = 180 (maximum heart rate)
180 x 80% = 144 beats per minute
(heart rate to sustain for the conditioned athlete:
70% of maximum heart rate is good for the average
person, and 60% for the beginner).
Duration and Frequency of Exercise
In terms of weight control, most people exercise too briefly. Forty-five minutes to one hour per day, 4-6 times per week, is ideal. Of course, you need to begin slower with 20 minutes, 3-4 times per week.
You can begin an aerobic exercise program with 10-20 minutes of walking for the first week. If all goes well and you are not feeling too fatigued the second week, you can increase to 25 minutes. Increase the duration by five minutes each week, until you are up to 60 minutes per day.
If you are not heavily overweight, you may be able to increase the duration by ten minutes each week. Do not be in a big hurry. If you have been inactive for sometime, it will take a while for the musculoskeletal system to get stronger.
It is more important to get the total duration at first, than to be at the proper intensity. Remember, whatever exercise is chosen, it must be continuous for the entire duration, at a moderate intensity for optimum fat loss.
A weight resistance routine (anaerobic routine) should be added approximately three times per week to develop muscle, while burning fat through your 4-6 times per week aerobic workout. Weight training strengthens and builds muscle, plus helps prevent osteoporosis.
Heavy weights are not necessary. Proper exercises, including form and breathing, are important for the best results. The basic rule is to exercise regularly.
To receive definite improvements in the cardiovascular system, regular exercise of at least three times per week or every other day is necessary. However, changing a particularly stubborn setpoint may demand daily aerobic exercise, which seems to be much more effective than exercising every other day. Experimenting with frequency and duration is possible, once the desired weight has been achieved.
It is important to remember, when beginning a new exercise program, to be kind and encouraging to yourself. The "habit" of exercise is critical, so as to minimize excuses for avoiding the scheduled routine. Finding time can often be more difficult than the exercise itself, so in the beginning it may be necessary to first focus on "practicing the schedule". Even if the intensity or the duration does not meet your expectations, at first, eventually those hours that are set aside especially for your individual benefit will become highly valued. You will see the results!
To direct your questions to Stephanie, or if you would like to schedule an appointment for a personal consultation, you may contact her via email at:
