Resistance Training Makes You Look Younger
With the aid of powerful pharmaceutical drugs, people are living longer. I think we can all agree on that.  But the drugs don’t add health span (the number of healthy years a person has). I don’t think that keeping people alive for longer in nursing homes with pharmaceuticals is what people get excited about when we think about living longer.  By contrast, exercise is one of the most effective ways of adding healthy years to a long life. It can do this in several ways, from reducing cancer risk to improving cardiovascular health. But you may not know that exercise can improve skin health, one of the most visual external markers of age.  Think of the skin of someone who smokes a lot, drinks a lot, doesn’t eat well, and never exercises compared with the skin or someone who is very health conscious. There’s a difference, right?  That’s why skincare is a multi-billion dollar industry because so many of us want younger-looking skin.  However, can we have younger-looking skin without applying products or taking drugs?   The answer is YES.  Exercise has been shown to help skin health, but what type is best? A recent study out of Japan compared aerobic training (an activity previously linked to anti-aging activity in the skin) with resistance training in 61 healthy sedentary middle-aged Japanese women over 16 weeks.  Both forms of exercise significantly improved skin elasticity and upper dermal structure, and resistance training specifically improved dermal thickness, while aerobic exercise did not.  This is important because dermal thickness, which is the thickness of the skin, decreases as we age, so improving it is a good thing.  Also, resistance training helps decrease inflammation and increase muscle which has long been linked to longevity! Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-37207-9?_kx=t4If0nOfpNdZ-HC1xYBPDO82IcYl_wFMhDzAApaDTNA%3D.HKMsXE
Decreasing LDL Cholesterol Without Medication
I recently took a blood test and was surprised I had high LDL cholesterol.  But I’m a 45-year-old male, and it is pretty standard for men to get a shock diagnosis this out of the blue. Sometimes it’s high blood pressure, but most of the time, it’s a cholesterol problem. This made the results of my blood test all the more surprising. I practice the lifestyle medicine I preach. My diet is pretty clean; I manage my sleep, exercise, and manage my stress.  Stereotypically high cholesterol is attributed to people a little older, overweight, and who generally eat poorly and don’t exercise. In the UK, high cholesterol affects 60% of people and has been attributed to about 6% of deaths yearly.  Cholesterol is a fatty substance almost every cell uses in the body. The liver mainly makes it and recycles any excess. It’s pushed out into the blood, where the body uses it. However, sometimes the balance between production and recycling is unbalanced. This can lead to an increase in cholesterol, and the current theory is that the rise in LDL can lead to excess being deposited in the arteries leading to narrowing blockages and heart attacks.  A 2019 landmark study published in The Lancet medical journal involving data from nearly 400,000 people in 19 countries established for the first time that levels of non-HDL, or “bad cholesterol,” in the blood are closely linked to the risk of heart disease across the entire life course, and there’s now a growing school of thought that young people should know their cholesterol levels earlier so they can make suitable lifestyle adjustments or take statins. These drugs have been proven to reduce cholesterol. Now there is some controversy here. Some doctors think that the ‘war against cholesterol’ might be motivated by the profits of the drug companies, that they aim to get everyone on statins, and that the evidence to say that high cholesterol is linked to heart disease is shaky. You can learn more about this topic with the book “The Great Cholesterol Myth” by Jonny Bowden and Stephen Sinatra. Personally, I’m not a fan of any pharmaceutical intervention and don’t like the side effects of statins, so I prefer to fix things naturally where possible. Also, I’m not talking about total cholesterol, just LDL, as HDL cholesterol has been given the all-clear when it comes to heart disease.  In the UK, the guidelines for LDL are:
  •  3mmol/L or less for healthy adults
  •  2mmol/L or less for those at high risk
In the US, they use milligrams per deciliter and recommend your blood levels to be 100mg/dL or below, which is 2.6 mmol/L  My results were 136mg/dL on Jan 5th, 2023, and reduced by 42% to 78mg/dL in March 2023. Even though the body produces cholesterol, our diet can affect it. A diet high in saturated fat, not exercising, being overweight, smoking, and drinking alcohol can increase cholesterol.  None of those things applied to me, but the Inside Tracker App noted that cooking with a lot of coconut oil can lead to increased LDL. I use coconut oil in my cooking, so one of the first things I did was cut that out. Then I returned to my osteopathic routes and thought about what naturally removes cholesterol from the body. It is recycled and removed by combining liver and bile stored in the gall bladder. I started eating a small salad containing bitter greens to stimulate the liver bile before my main food. I also put olive oil on the salad. The bitter green stimulates the liver to produce bile, and the fat in the olive oil stimulates the gall bladder to contract and release more bile.  This primed my digestive system to be more efficient at removing excess cholesterol. Interestingly eating a small salad before the main course is how many European countries traditionally eat, and they know this helps their digestion which is why they do it. Those two simple lifestyle changes were enough to reduce my LDL by 42% in 3 months, the same if not more than the decrease most people see with statins without any side effects. If you have high cholesterol and want to change things naturally, send me an email, and we’ll discuss your unique situation and make a plan for you to lower it without having to take statins.  Sources:  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32519-X/fulltext
Lifestyle medicine: How to Live a Longer, Healthier Life
As an osteopath passionate about aiding individuals on their journey to recovery from various health issues and injuries, I have always been deeply committed to the idea that holistic wellness extends beyond just the physical aspects of our bodies. Drawing from my background in sports science and personal training, my approach to helping people attain better health has evolved into a multifaceted methodology encompassing physical and psychological dimensions; we can also call this lifestyle medicine coaching.  Over the years, I've been shaping my practice using a wide range of techniques, including thorough physical assessments, comprehensive case histories, and targeted interventions to facilitate the healing process. However, I desired to delve even deeper into the realm of healthcare, which led me to explore the fascinating field of lifestyle medicine. In pursuit of expanding my coaching capabilities to offer a more comprehensive approach to healing, I recently enrolled as a Hintsa Performance Coach. They are a high-performance coaching company based in Finland. The company started life by offering comprehensive support to Formula 1 racing drivers but has since taken this knowledge and learned how to provide it within other professional sports environments and to people in the workplace. Hintsa's holistic philosophy resonated with me, as it centers around a metaphorical wheel with the core or purpose of one's life at its epicenter. This essence represents the discovery of one's life purpose—a process that involves introspection and self-inquiry, guided by thought-provoking questions such as:
  1. Who are you at your core?
  2. What do you want?
  3. Are you in command of your life?
The journey to understanding one's purpose paves the way for cultivating habits and practices that foster health across many areas of a person's life. This wheel extends outward, representing key areas of focus that makeup lifestyle medicine:
  1. **Nutrition**: Nourishing the body with balanced, wholesome foods.
  2. **Biomechanics**: Ensuring optimal physical alignment and movement mechanics.
  3. **Mental Energy**: Optimizing cognitive abilities and emotional well-being.
  4. **Sleep and Recovery**: Prioritizing restorative sleep patterns for regeneration.
  5. **Physical Activity**: Engaging in suitable exercises for overall fitness.
  6. **General Health**: Taking proactive measures to safeguard well-being.
For example, using this approach, I lowered my LDL cholesterol by 58 points, from 136mg/dL (potentially unhealthy)  to 78mg/dL, optimized for my age and sex, and this took just three months. There are many other small changes that I've made in my life after I applied the principles of high-performance coaching using the lifestyle medicine model to myself, and I summarize many of them in this video: [embed]https://youtu.be/KRYUucHrOt8[/embed] My journey as an osteopath has evolved into a holistic pursuit of well-being, encompassing the physical aspects and the intricate interplay between the mind, body, and purpose. The integration of lifestyle medicine principles, as exemplified by Hintsa's philosophy, has changed my life. Still, through coaching my clients, I have enabled many of them to start these transformative journeys of self-discovery and healing themselves. Whether they come to me because of a recent health scare, high cholesterol is the most common reason, or they just want to get rid of chronic pain, I use this integrated approach of science-backed insights to help them reach their goals and ultimately add health span to their lifespan. Find out if lifestyle medicine coaching is for you. Email me at ed@edpaget.com, and we can jump on a quick call to see how I can help you. 
Childhood Obesity
I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Carol, an MD who is board certified in general pediatrics and obesity medicine but prefers private coaching for people with obesity. We got into a great discussion about how to help parents and children lose weight and how to deal with the consequences of obesity. One hugely concerning thing is the prevalence of obesity in our children. The CDC in the US notes that between 2017 and 2020, obesity prevalence was:
  • 12.7% among 2- to 5-year-olds
  • 20.7% among 6- to 11-year-olds
  • 22.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds. 
And the rates are on the rise!  Why is this? Doctors agree that consuming more calories than the body needs and not getting enough physical activity is one of the main causes. But factors such as genetics, family habits, and environmental influences can also contribute to the development of obesity in children. Personally, I feel that our modern way of life is so far removed from our physiology that most kids today haven’t got a chance. I have 2 kids and give them a choice between anything pre-packaged and sweetened and some real whole-food vegetables; I’m afraid to say they will take the sweet stuff every time.  The sad part is that childhood obesity can have serious health implications, especially an increased risk of developing chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Obese children may also face psychological and social challenges, such as low self-esteem and bullying or shaming, as Dr Carol points out. What can be done? Prevention is key; this starts by helping parents with education and understanding. Yes, ironically, budget can be a factor as some of the calories dense, unhealthy food can be cheaper than other more healthy food, but this is not always the case. One of my colleagues, Barb Sheldon, who was featured on episode 2 of the Your Lifestyle Is Your Medicine Podcast (https://edpaget.com/?cat=search_podcasts&s=barb) [embed]https://youtu.be/XZ89j7XUyk4[/embed] Notes that not many people have the knife skills to prepare fresh food. She teaches knife skills to her clients so they can feel comfortable preparing vegetables.  This type of education needs to be country-wide or even global. You see, the problem, at the moment, is mainly concentrated in developed countries, but as other countries with large populations develop, scientists have noticed an increase in obesity. I see this where I currently am in Nicaragua. Kids and adults will prefer drinking Coca-Cola over water; for some, it’s their only drink! If you and your family struggle with obesity, I suggest seeking someone like Dr Carol or myself who can give you a holistic approach to weight loss. We address factors like sleep, stress, purpose, and community which, when combined with nutrition and physical activity, make Your Lifestyle into Your Medicine  DM me. I'm always happy to chat!