How you think can lead to heart disease or happiness
Did you know that thinking you aren’t doing enough exercise can be worse for you than not doing enough? I find this a fascinating area because when I work with people looking to improve their health and performance with lifestyle medicine, I consistently underestimate how important mindset is.  For example, aside from my work with scoliosis, I specialize in helping busy professionals reach optimal performance at work and in life.  Usually, someone comes to me with a problem or a goal. They may have high cholesterol and want to bring it down naturally, or they may want to optimize their lifestyle for longevity and continued high performance at work. As an aside, I find that osteopaths and other manual therapists need this type of coaching the most, and I’ll explain why in a minute.  But first, I want to share with you this research study. Stanford University researchers conducted it and suggested that how people perceive themselves can be linked to shorter lifespans. The researchers found that individuals with negative self-perceptions, such as thinking they were less physically capable or less active than others, were more likely to experience health problems and die earlier than those with positive self-perceptions. The study analyzed data from over 6,000 participants, who were followed for several years. The researchers considered factors like age, socioeconomic status, and overall health to ensure these variables did not influence the results. Surprisingly they noticed that the people who thought they were less physically capable or less active than others had a higher risk of developing health issues, including heart disease and other chronic conditions, ultimately leading to a shorter lifespan. This is why it’s important that busy professionals, including all my osteopathic colleagues, pay attention to this. While you are busy building your business and serving your clients, you are also exposed to an insidious feed from social media and mainstream media. It’s telling you to move more, to exercise more, and if you know it’s important but continually put self-care in second place in your life, it can affect you.  The key is to plan your days, weeks, months, etc, so that you build the right amount of activity for you. This doesn’t have to be gym time; for example, one of my clients in New York just gets off the subway one stop earlier than before, and she manages to get 40 minutes extra walking into her day without a huge time sacrifice.  In addition to movement, we must pay attention to sleep, nutrition, community, stress, and what we put into and on our bodies.  Companies like Hintsa have used this holistic approach to performance coaching to help the best athletes in the world sustain high performance (Lewis Hamiton uses a Hinsta coach) and can also help busy professionals enjoy a fast-paced life while avoiding burnout and unseen pitfalls.  If you want to know more about mindset and health, below is a link to a recent video I made, but also you can DM me if you have any questions about your situation.    [embed]https://youtu.be/EBOXcSRKPfA[/embed] Sources: https://news.stanford.edu/2017/07/20/self-perceptions-linked-shorter-lifespans/  
Moving Naturally
I recently had a chance to go on a survival course in the heart of the jungle on the side of El Hoyo, a volcano, outside the city of Leon in Nicaragua. It was an experience that challenged me both mentally and physically. Over three days and two nights, I returned to nature by learning to hunt and move quietly through the forest. What was striking to me was how much I moved my body. Ducking under branches, climbing over fallen trees, holding my breath, and trying not to sweat as something to hunt came into view. In the evenings, we built a fire and cooked what we had caught, in our case, an Iguana and a rabbit...the volcano provides... But I was amazed at how sore I was. I'm meant to be a movement guy. I recently ran 50 miles and climbed seven volcanoes, all within two weeks, not even a pulled muscle. However, there is a difference between hiking and hunting. In just 3 days, my ears got better at identifying bird calls and judging distances. I worked my jaw and teeth hard, picking the meat of the unusual bones. My breath control became more acute, and somehow, my balance improved. (I'm not recommending everyone go hunting, but simply bird-watching or trying to take animal photos will have the same effect).  In the evenings, I sat cross-legged by the fire; this position was once my nemesis. I fixed that by removing the chairs in my house and sitting on the floor for a year. Now, sitting crossed-legged isn't a pleasure, but it's tolerable.  But sitting there, tending the fire, and thinking about how humans have been hunting and sitting by fires for tens of thousands of years, and yet most people in the 'developed world have yet to do it. It seems like such a waste of our innate skills, like driving a Ferrari and never taking it out of first gear.  Our bodies are capable of much more than what we use them for. I now know a few physicians that prescribe camping for stress, and I fully agree. Getting out there and going through a nature reset can profoundly change your physiology and state of mind. If you want to learn more about how lifestyle medicine can help you obtain optimal help, just email or DM me, and I’ll get back to you.  If you want to see a short video of my adventures, check out my new YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/FG_jOtlVLkA
Lose 40lb without dieting or setting foot inside a gym
Below is an article written by Liz Kershaw that first appeared in the Telegraph on May 15th, 2023. I wanted to share it with you as I really resonated with her honesty about losing weight and doing it without dieting. I also wanted to let you know what I was thinking. Therefore I’ve added my thoughts to the text in italics. You’ll read a few paragraphs from Liz, then my thoughts. _______________________________________________________ In the UK, 64 percent of adults are now overweight or obese. The NHS is spending billions on treatments for the millions of people with diagnosed conditions directly related to being overweight. Should the state be paying to repair the damage we do to our own bodies every time we fill our faces? Perhaps instead, we should all be expected to be honest with ourselves, take some personal responsibility, use our common sense, and bring on the determin­ation and willpower. That’s what I think. (Ed - There are many reasons for people to become overweight; some argue genetics play a role as humans have evolved to save calories, not expend them; some argue it is hormones, but we have the same genetics and hormones as previous generations, so we need to look closer at the food we eat.  It is designed to be high sugar, high fat, cheap and addictive, so the willpower method is hard, but as we’ll see, it's not impossible.) Because I did just that five years ago, and it works. I’m not claiming to have done anything special, unique, or clever. I’ve just been honest with myself.  Imagine stuffing a rucksack with a bulky nine 4lb bag of potatoes and lugging it around on your back all day and all night. That’s some burden. A real hindrance to mobility that takes its toll on you physically and mentally. You’d be uncomfortable, inconvenienced, exhausted, and miserable. It’s not a good look, either. But that’s what I was doing to myself five years ago. Not with raw spuds, but nearly 40lb or three stone of fat that had got under my skin for me to carry around. When I realized that in May 2018, it was such a shock that it instantly changed my self-image, my attitude to food, and ultimately my health and quality of life. The wake-up call was a photo of me smiling obliviously by a pool in a swimsuit. The new one-piece that I’d had to buy in size 18 for my holiday because it was such a stretch to get into last year’s model. My friend took the snap and handed me her phone – I was horrified at what I saw. My burgeoning belly had meant bikinis were no longer an option, so my thickening torso was all trussed up in a tight Lycra one-piece. There, in the bright French sunshine, my thunder thighs, flabby arms, chubby cheeks, and a deepening crease in my double chin were all laid bare. I realized I’d actually disfigured myself with food. (Ed - I’ve not heard people say this before, but it’s an interesting admission of guilt.  For example, let's say I love extreme sports and injure myself; I would take responsibility for the injury and agree with people if they said I did it to myself.  By contrast, when people overeat and become obese, society has not yet allowed us to say that the damage people cause to themselves is their fault; responsibility is laid at the feet of things like the social economic spectrum, cheap fast food, addictive additives, etc, all these things play a role, but ultimately there is only one person who puts the food in your mouth). There was nobody else to blame. I’d simply eaten more than I’d burnt up. I hadn’t been pigging out. My body was just using less food as I aged and slowed down. But I hadn’t adjusted my intake.  My weight (bulk, actually – let’s be honest) had been creeping up slowly since I’d turned 50. It hadn’t bothered me on a day-to-day basis. I was conscious of the folds of fat gradually forming around my middle, but I’d been kidding myself that being tall (5ft 9in), I could cover it up and carry it off. Just pull on some sturdy pants and surrender to the next size up. But by 2018, the odd pound here and there had mounted up. As I discovered when I got back home, I braced myself and stepped on the scales. I weighed 14½ stone, 203lb, or 92kg.  I couldn’t fool myself any longer. I was fat. And fed up. I was turning 60 in just under three months, and I was certainly looking older than I wanted to. Right. I couldn’t actually turn back the hands of time, but I could get a grip and look younger by stopping the rot and damn well turning my life around. (Ed-Weight gain can be insidious like this.  Especially if you surround yourself with people who are also gaining weight, no one notices until you get some blood work back that says you are pre-diabetic, have high cholesterol, and your BP is borderline high.  That’s the first warning most people get, but really it’s there every day, looking back at you in the mirror.) For starters, I promised myself I’d be in better nick by my big birthday. At my party, I would be wearing something lovely that I’d left hanging around for years in a wardrobe bulging with beautiful clothes – in three different sizes (12, 14, and 16) that I couldn’t get into anymore. That was my first incentive.  Then I went to Tesco for inspiration. I wanted to see what the three stones looked like. I made a pile of potatoes. I got some funny looks from shoppers, but that really brought it home to me. And gave me the resolve, the steely determination, and the willpower to take back control. By July 30, 2018, I’d ditched 18lb (four and a half bags of those spuds), and my red slinky satin dress wasn’t such a squeeze. By August 2019, I’d slowly but surely (this was not a crash diet) shed 35 lbs (almost nine bags of spuds) and was loving being able to show a (long, toned) leg in a size 12, 1960s-style white mini dress. (Ed-She mentions it is not a crash diet; that is key. Really it’s about losing weight in a sustainable way that incorporates things like exercise, nutrition, and sleep into your lifestyle). By January 2020, I was three stone (42lb) down and zipping up my skinny leather biker trousers again. And that’s how I’ve stayed. For five years and counting, I’ve completely changed my attitude to food. I now think of food as what it is. Fuel. I wouldn’t ruin my car by putting any old oily stuff in the tank. I wouldn’t persist in filling it out if it were already full. I wouldn’t store up cans of fuel in the boot, on the back seat or roof, and cart them around with me. So I won’t do it to my body now if I want to keep it running properly. This doesn’t mean that I’m some kind of smug, miserable food evangelist. I love my food. I love cooking and being cooked for. I spoil myself and others with all the things I enjoy. I just won’t eat or serve rubbish that brings no benefit to body or mind. I’m never hungry. Even though I only eat twice a day – breakfast (by 10 am), and dinner (by 6 pm) – with nothing in between. I drink a lot of coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. With milk. So plenty of calcium and vitamins. I love a glass of wine – but I also drink loads of tap water. (Ed-There is a big clue here; she only eats twice a day and is never hungry.  This makes sense; think back to why we eat 3 meals a day.  Originally this way of eating might have come about in order for us to get enough food for the manual farm labor or factory jobs that our predecessors had. They needed the extra calories, but our modern lifestyle with all the ‘labor-saving devices’ means we don’t.  Put simply; we eat too much). I walk a lot. And very fast. But I won’t run. That just pummels and wrecks your joints. And I like a swim. I get asked all the time whose book I bought or which diet I followed. But I just made it up myself, based on what we were taught in school biology lessons about food groups and nutrition. And on what I learned from my grandma, who taught me how to turn even the cheapest meat or fish and raw, fresh veg into tasty family meals. In her lifetime, due to poverty or rationing, she had to count the cost or points, and so, out of necessity, not choice, family food was simpler and healthier. And none of us was fat. So I went right back to those basics.  I’ve always cooked meals for me and my children using fresh ingredients. We’ve never eaten ready meals, take­aways, or sugary foods. Like me as a child, they’ve never even wanted chocolate. Easter eggs have been left untouched. Chocolate money in the Christmas stockings has been recycled from year to year but never eaten. And yet I’d still piled on the pounds. So I worked out that the only thing I could and needed to cut out were all the savory things I love but which fill up a plate and your stomach. They’re full of starch and sugars, which, as I don’t run marathons, I know I can’t possibly use, and so they end up being stored as fat. That’s anything with flour, rice, pasta, potatoes, and bread, for starters. Mostly white and beige food. And also foods that do you no good and that you just don’t need. Sweet stuff. I never liked it, so not eating sugary breakfast cereals, cakes, biscuits, chocolates, sweets, puddings, fruit, juices, and fruit yogurts is nothing new for me, and I have no sense of deprivation.  In fact, most factory-processed foods, including ready meals, sauces, soups, and even bread, are packed with sugars and preservatives. So I don’t touch them, either. (Ed-Luckily, Liz had not developed a taste for ultra-processed foods.  However, the good news is that it doesn’t take long to break the additions.  You only need a week or so without any sugar to realize how sweet everything is.  I recommend my clients do a sugar detox once a year and help reset their taste buds). I now realize I’m following a low-carb lifestyle as I fill my boots with protein – chicken, steak, lamb, salmon, cod, kippers, prawns, lobster, eggs, and cheese. And loads of veg – spinach, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, and tomatoes. All lovely grub and hardly a hardship. And no, it’s not more expensive because it’s all unbranded and VAT-free. Check your receipt next time you fill your supermarket trolley. You’ll find there’s no VAT on real food. The Treasury knows what we need. They don’t tax real food. (Ed-This applies to the UK but might also apply to other countries, as she says, check the receipt) I did it. So can you. Ed- For me, this article was a breath of fresh air.  There wasn’t any of the usual political correctness of not using the word fat or avoiding blaming people for being fat. She was blaming herself, but that ultimately led her to take responsibility, not looking for a quick fix and making the lifestyle changes necessary for sustained weight loss. As we know, being overweight or obese also comes with an increased risk of comorbidities, so she may have decreased her chance of developing diabetes, Alzheimer's, high blood pressure,  heart attack, stroke, osteoarthritis, cancer, and mental health problems.  It’s speculative, as we will never know for sure, but this would also alleviate future stress on the medical system, her family, and her finances.  Her decision that day to change her life around might just have been the best decision she ever made.  Sources: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/liz-kershaw-lost-three-stone-without-dieting-gym/ https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03336/#:~:text=Adult%20obesity%20in%20England,BMI)%20of%2030%20or%20above. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/causes/#:~:text=Obesity%20is%20a%20complex%20issue,in%20the%20body%20as%20fat. https://www.emetabolic.com/locations/centers/owensboro/blog/crash-diets-can-cause-metabolic-weight-gain/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7721435/
Living Longer
Have you noticed a growing trend in people wanting to live longer? Back in 2013, Google co-founder Larry Page helped create Calico Labs, a company dedicated to researching and understanding aging. More recently, the Russian-born billionaire, Yuri Milner, announced the formation of Altos Labs, which has some pretty wealthy investors, including Jeff Bezos, for the same purpose. Are these companies being created actually to help people live longer, healthier lives, or are they really the experimentation grounds of billionaires who want to live forever? I don’t know.  However, some of the technology available to them is awe-inspiring and scary at the same time. If you are interested in this area, you may have heard of CRISPR (1). This tool allows scientists to edit certain parts of a DNA strand. For example, if you are thinking about a ‘test tube’ baby, I don’t think they are called that anymore but you know what I mean conception happens outside the body, and it is possible for the scientist to run a DNA profile of the two parents. Once that is done, they may notice that the mother has a gene that might increase the child’s chances of getting diabetes. They would then use CRISPR to edit out that gene. Or, from a more dystopian view, they could look at the father's genes and notice that he has a gene that may limit the baby’s height. Using CRISPR, it would then be possible to change these characteristics before the baby is born, essentially engineering a baby. The best or worst part of CRISPR is that it is relatively cheap…meaning that it will be accessible to people easily in the future. It has already been used to change the lifespan of mice (1) and also is currently being used in the effort to eradicate malaria by altering the DNA of mosquitoes so they can’t carry the parasite (2). Some claim that CRISPR is so power full that, in theory, it is possible to take the DNA of an elephant, take the DNA of a wooly mammoth and find the differences, then edit the DNA of the elephant, and ‘voila’ you have a wooly mammoth (3), real-life Jurassic Park stuff. The Altos Lab has also hired Shinya Yamanaka, who shared a 2012 Nobel Prize for the discovery of reprogramming cells to grow younger. This ‘reprogramming’ technique has been applied to mice, after which they show clear signs of age reversal. Some scientists call ‘reprogramming’ a potential ‘elixir of life’(4). Supporters of this technique claim it is possible to take a cell from a living 80-year-old and, in the lab, reverse’s its age by 40 years. However, it has not been tested in humans yet. These labs are beginning to experiment with genetic changes and cellular age reversal, but what if you want to add some healthy years to a respectable long-lived life? How do you do that without having access to a super lab? It’s really quite simple.  The answer can be found in Dan Buetner’s book, Blue Zones. These are areas of the world where there are more 100-year-olds than other areas. They also have some things in common. All the areas have a strong community; the older a person becomes, the more important they are in their community. The opposite of what we have in Western culture. They eat various food, but it’s always whole and locally sourced.  Again almost the polar opposite of most cities in the developed world. They exercise daily, not gym workouts but general whole-body movements usually built into their daily routines, like chopping wood or carrying water. They minimize stress. They don’t indulge in ingesting toxic substances into the body. All these things are pillars of lifestyle medicine, are free to access, free to use, and available to you right now! If you want to add healthspan to your lifespan, start implementing small but significant changes to your life using lifestyle medicine. If you want help with that, I’m here for you. Sources:
  1. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264168-crispr-doubles-lifespan-of-mice-with-rapid-ageing-disease-progeria/
  2. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-the-us-plans-to-release-24-billion-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-180979833/
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFIElM1outQ
  4. https://news.sky.com/story/jeff-bezos-amazon-founder-funds-new-age-reversal-company-opening-in-uk-12400621