Questions & Answers

Exercising during pregnancy has obvious benefits for the mom, such as keeping weight gain under control, maintaining fitness level, and relieving stress, but until recently, little has been known about the positive effects on the unborn baby.

Research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Physiological Society implied that exercise has cardiovascular benefits not only for the mom, but for the developing fetus as well. Dr. Linda E. May and colleagues from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences hypothesized that fetuses whose mothers exercised would have better autonomic nervous system function than fetuses not exposed to exercise.

The answer to this question seems pretty simple, but it’s actually a bit more complicated than you might imagine. There are definitely going to be folks who say, “Yes, without a doubt, supplements are needed.” There will also be those “naturalists” who won’t advocate any supplement at any level for anything. I have to admit…I fall somewhere in the middle. There are several supplements that have been studied extensively and seem to pass the test when it comes to safety and efficacy, but does that necessarily mean you need to take them? Good question, huh? The point of writing this little article arose because some members have brought up the issue of supplements and their cost, and whether they really need them to reach their goals. Let’s take a closer look at this hot button issue.

Let’s face it… When it comes to weightlifting, there’s a whole lotta cheating goin’ on.

At its roots, cheating comes from never really learning good form in the first place. Many people simply “learn” by watching others. Often, this is not good enough. The subtleties and nuances of technique are difficult for the inexperienced to see, if they can be seen at all! Exercise is a science, and the movements of exercise need to be learned.

Also, the tendency to cheat increases as the weight / load increases. This is not to say that using light weights guarantees good form. It doesn’t. But the two things that result in cheating / loss of form are actual load and perceived load.

Actual load is the weight on the bar. It’s just that simple.

Perceived load is relative to how fatigued you are. Fatigue can be local or systemic. Local fatigue involves the muscle or muscles you are working. Systemic fatigue means your cardiovascular system is taxed. Both can spell trouble when it comes to keeping good form.

I don’t mean to imply that cheating the weight up (or down) is necessarily a bad thing. Used as a tool by an experienced lifter, it can be a powerful intensity technique. But, believe it or not, there is a proper form to this kind of cheating!

Is it just me, or does it seem like every Olympic race results in a new world record? This trend has been increasingly prevalent at the recent Games, and it makes sense – every four years, Olympians train to be faster, bigger, and better than in previous years.

But there are also a couple of tricks modern athletes have up their sleeves: better technology, better science, and better sports medicine. There are three primary factors that allow elite athletes to perform seemingly superhuman feats. They are:

• Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max)
• Lactate threshold
• Running economy/efficiency

You’ve all had that experience. You eat a nice meal and then go to bed thinking all is just fine…until you wake up in the middle of the night with the sweats and a stomachache. The most likely culprit for that sickly feeling is food poisoning, a fairly common occurrence in the United States. According to the CDC, there are approximately 76 million cases of foodborne illness each year, with 325,000 resulting in hospitalization and 5,000 resulting in death.

Despite the fairly high prevalence, most people probably aren’t all that concerned about foodborne illnesses. In fact, there are a number of safeguards in place to minimize risk to consumers, not to mention the food safety guidelines we should all be following when handling food items at home. Let’s take a closer look at food safety in general and address some practical tips you can use to keep yourself safe and healthy.

I want you to do a little experiment. Get an ice pack, and get a watch with a timer. Put the ice pack on your thigh, and start the timer. After 1 minute has elapsed, remove the ice pack.

Now take a look at your skin. What color is your skin where the ice pack was laying? For most, the skin will look white / blanched.

Now put the ice pack on your other thigh and leave it there for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes have elapsed, remove the ice pack.

What color is your skin now? Most people will find that their skin will be red. And if your skin turns red after only 5 minutes, you’ll probably find that it turns really red after 20 minutes.

When your skin begins to cool, the initial reaction is constriction (shrinking of the diameter) of blood vessels. This happens after a short period of time (1-2 minutes for most people). The result of constriction of the blood vessels is that “whiteness” or blanching.

Read on for the conclusion of Rick Schaff's article, "Vaccine Dangers". Make sure to check out the previous two installments to catch up: Vaccine Dangers - Part 1 and Vaccine Dangers - Part 2.

My Personal Thoughts

I grew up like most of us, believing that vaccines have saved the world from every dreaded disease since smallpox. However, as I dug deeper into naturopathic studies, holistic medicines, and alternative methods of healing, my mind opened to include other ways of thinking. As I learned about nutrition, the human body, and the immune system I began to realize that vaccines did not seem be the best options for optimum health in many situations. I’ll never forget the day I was studying graphs that tracked the rise and decline of many different diseases. In every one of them it showed diseases at their height and how they naturally began to decline as sanitary living conditions improved. All the graphs showed the same thing over and over; when vaccines were introduced during the history of a disease’s path, they had virtually no effect on the natural decline path of the disease. In fact, most graphs reflected a small spike in disease regeneration upon the vaccine introduction. What the graphs showed me was that vaccines have been given way more credit than they deserve throughout history. That information, coupled with the previous data I have shared was enough for me to re-think my position on all vaccinations and to examine more closely what specific vaccinations may be truly beneficial. I started asking myself questions like, “what’s so wrong with chicken pox or measles?” If a child has a strong immune system, it seems to me like these uncomfortable bouts of illness will only serve to help build up their immune systems naturally. The alternative is to try and vaccinate our kids against every known illness and inadvertently put them at a greater risk by overloading their systems with toxins. Jenny McCarthy brought up this exact point on Larry King Live and said, “I’ll take measles any day over autism.”

Vaccines contain elements considered by many to be dangerous, and one of them is mercury. According to Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D., Assistant Director PG Research Foundation, Darien, Illinois: “Mercury is a cumulative poison. Repeated exposure is very dangerous.” Yikes! A popular preservative used in many vaccines is a substance called Thimerosal, which is made up of about 50 percent ethyl mercury. Thimerosal is used to prevent bacteria from growing in multi-use containers of vaccines, including flu shots. Ironically, mercury isn’t necessary to prevent bacteria from growing. This potential problem could be eliminated by mass-producing only single ampoule vaccine containers; however, that would be more expensive to make, which would cut into profits or raise costs. Again, mercury is a cumulative poison, which means rather than being expelled, it slowly builds up in the body with serious consequences such as destroying brain cells and nerve cells. Even “trace” amounts of this toxic metal can be damaging to your health.

Unfortunately, we are repeatedly exposed to trace amounts of mercury from many different avenues and this continuous exposure is a problem. Therefore we must take every precaution to eliminate and reduce all exposure if we want to remain healthy. As a result of mounting pressure from many sources, the pharmaceutical companies are currently making a big effort to remove thimerosal from many vaccines. I wonder, however, why they are spending so much time and energy to remove a chemical that they claim is safe?

A friend of mine called the other night and was frantic about the decision of whether or not to vaccinate their infant son. I don’t blame them for their concern; if I had a child I would be incredibly concerned as well. Despite the fact that the medical community believes vaccinations for infants are absolutely essential for disease prevention, there are a growing number of health care professionals who do not believe this to be true. The popularity of flu shots is also becoming a concern, as more people learn about the potentially dangerous toxins contained in some of these shots.

Model and actress, Jenny McCarthy appeared on Larry King Live to talk about her son, who developed autism immediately after being vaccinated with ten different shots. She was confronting a representative from the medical community who firmly believes there is no link between autism and vaccinations, and that her son’s autism could not have been direct result of this procedure because there is no “scientific data” that links autism to vaccinations. McCarthy was livid, and said as soon as her healthy son was vaccinated, he died in front of her for two minutes, and since then was never the same. She also said that she speaks with a thousand mothers a week who have had similar experiences. Her question was, “How is this anecdotal evidence not justified as scientific evidence when thousands and thousands of people are telling you the same thing over and over?” It’s interesting to note that McCarthy is not ANTI-Vaccine. She believes vaccines can be beneficial, but not in the way they are scheduled or with the amount of harmful ingredients they contain. Her biggest complaint was that in 1983 there were ten shots required for infants and in 2008 the number has more than tripled to thirty-six. She, like many others, believe that the chemicals in these vaccines places an enormous burden on a child’s developing system and are the main contributing factor to this disorder.

Growing gas prices and a flagging economy are translating to some poor nutritional choices at the supermarket, officials say. And what about the millions of Americans who don’t have access to any produce, much less affordable fruit and vegetables? Public health agencies in locations such as New York and Iowa state are tackling this problem with veggie-mobiles. Programs like Veggie Vans and Farms to Folks offer ways to get fresh, locally-grown produce at reasonable prices. Pennsylvania, Chicago, and Louisiana are quickly following suit with programs of their own. So next time you’re at the grocery store, cringing at the skyrocketing produce prices, see if there’s another alternative!

From our youth, we are trained to do things we are strong at and then work on developing those strengths to their maximum potential. When we reach adulthood, we attempt to find a job centered around our strengths, whether it’s becoming a golf pro or a good accountant. With that said, it only makes sense why the same practice is often used in the gym.

I can’t help but think of “Joe Musclehead”. You probably know Joe. He’s been going to the gym for a long time. He’s like the gym mascot, actually. Everyone seems to know this guy. He likes to grunt a little extra when he works out to impress all the girls with his manly upper body strength. He seems to really love to bench press. As a matter of fact, if you really think about it, you may realize you’ve never seen him on a leg machine.

The reason I bring up Joe, whose character I exaggerated, is to point out our natural desire to work in our strengths – even in the gym.

As you know from that time you waited a half hour for the elliptical, or got into a staring contest over a machine, the gym is a public space with limited resources. Even members of the biggest and most comprehensive gyms have issues. Do your part by following the athletic code of conduct – written and unwritten – and ignoring the jerks who don’t.

The LA times recently ran an expose on something that’s simply a fact of life for many outdoor exercisers: poor air quality. We’re currently in the midst of “smog season,” which runs from May 1 to October 1. The combination of heat, sun, air pollution, and smoke may cause lung irritation and shortness of breath even in the healthiest of athletes.

People are more likely to overeat when they’re stressed out, especially when the problem is work-related. Don’t fall into this common dieting trap. Instead of allowing your stress to pig out, try to zero in on the clear, logical part of your mind that knows it’s a bad idea.

Grill-outs, picnics, barbeques, and more – your summer social calendar is probably nearing capacity as we speak. Even though temptation will abound, here are a few quick tricks you can use to enjoy all of the friends, family, and good weather without any of the guilt.