The New Improved Maximum Heart Rate Calculator for Men and Women

Ironically…I have seen people lie about their age to their treadmills… but all this time it is your treadmill that has been lying to you.

Heart rate formulas are designed to help you understand your optimum heart rate training zone.

The popular age predicted maximum heart rate (MHR) formula:

Max Heart Rate = 220 – age  

Was created in 1970 yet remains widely referenced in exercise physiology textbooks, by personal trainers, and is the formula programmed in cardio machines and heart rate watches… but what may surprise you is that the equation was never actually validated by any clinical study.

It’s true…I was alerted to watch the January 23^rd episode of Dr. Oz, and was horrified when an online search exposed the following sensationalized teaser:

“THE MOST UNDERPERFORMED SURGERY YOU SHOULD BE GETTING!”

Note: There is no question mark at the end of that statement… Instead Oz emphasizes his endorsement with an exclamation point!

Care to take a guess on what surgery the daytime talk show host who plays a know-it-all doctor on TV is recommending?

I’ll give you a hint:  The procedure surgically removes up to 95% of your stomach and bypasses the digestive tract leaving a stomach about the size of your thumb which limits nutrients, coupled with a circumvented digestive tract that further dramatically limits nutrient absorption.

If you guessed:  Gastric Bypass – ding-ding-ding… you win

Don’t believe me check it out for yourself: http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/gastric-surgery-you-should-be-getting

The video clip prophesizes what can only be described as a medical miracle:

“It’s the most underperformed surgery you should be getting. Lose weight instantly, prevent heart disease, cancer and reverse your diabetes overnight”

The self-proclaimed: “Americas Doctor” made the ridiculous statement that only 1% of the potential candidates are actually having this procedure. Oz went so far as to insinuate that anyone with a BMI as low as 30 might consider surgery? So, for the one hundred million plus Americans (100,000,000) the Dr. Oz gastric bypass infomercial was targeting…pay no attention to the man in front of the Dr. Oz show curtains.

One of the biggest myths that continues to perpetuate (especially with women!) is that cardio exercise will build, strengthen, create shape or tone muscle. The other big myth is that cardio burns fat better than strength training.  Wrong again, when it comes to burning fat weight training reigns supreme.

Cardiovascular training aka “cardio” as the name implies benefits the cardiovascular system – namely your heart, lungs and blood vessels that carries nutrients and oxygen to tissues and removes carbon dioxide and other waste products.

While cardio is a vital and important component to any comprehensive exercise / lifestyle program, it is weight training / resistance training that creates shapes and tones muscle.

Reebok learned this expensive lesson when agreeing to pay out $25 million dollars in refunds to customers who bought its “toning” shoes.  According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Reebok falsely advertised its EasyTone line of shoes when they claimed the shoes would activate more muscle and that the shoes would strengthen, shape and tone glutes, hamstrings and calves more than regular walking shoes.

Unable to support the claims, Reebok agreed pay out $25 million in refunds.

I am routinely asked if a high protein diet causes stress on the kidneys or worse, could result in kidney disease and if too much protein leads to bone loss.

The short answers are:  No

Both mistaken beliefs are the textbook definition of backward thinking.

So what’s the truth?

Studies show that the degeneration of the kidney is slowed somewhat in patients who are experiencing renal (kidney) failure on a low protein diet. I remind you this observation was made for patients who HAVE kidney disease.  So, somehow the illogical reverse conclusion was devised that therefore high protein diets must cause kidney failure!  Which of course is not true nor am I aware of any case or study that support protein causes damage in a healthy kidney.

The similarly flawed assumption persists that high protein diets cause bone loss due to increased excretion of urinary excretion in attempt to maintain PH balance. It IS true that osteoporosis can be detected by elevated calcium excretion in the urine (Osteoporosis is the condition where bones becoming weak and brittle as a result of new bone tissue not being created as quickly as old bone tissue is wasting).

In a study published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition observed that calcium leeching occurred on vegetarian based incomplete protein diets causing lower bone density. Animal source proteins are complete proteins and increased bone density.

I was recently asked a question from my Free App Restaurant Nutrition user base. Will eating too fast cause you to gain weight… true or false?

Short Answer: True *

Assuming the question is interpreted to mean: will the person gain excess “fat” by eating fast opposed to slow if they are sitting in front of an unlimited amount of food.

The reason is that it takes time for the signal of fullness to be sent from the stomach to the brain, so the faster one eats then potentially the more energy can be consumed.  It is noteworthy that the fullness signal is not sent due to the amount of energy / calories that are consumed, but rather from stretch receptors via the vagus nerve that connects the gut to the brain due to solely to the volume of food.

At some point in life we have all experienced muscle soreness, which begs the questions: Why does it happen? How much soreness is a good or bad thing?  And what can be done to minimize discomfort when beginning an exercise program?

The first and most commonly asked question between grimaces and groans when struggling to get out of bed, reaching for your toothbrush or sitting on the throne the day after your first workout is: How did this happen… why am I so sore today, when I felt great leaving the gym yesterday?

Post exercise soreness or the more accurate clinical descriptor: Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is a phenomenon that occurs thanks to our innate and primitive survival mechanism known as the fight or fight reflex.

Surprised?

Fiber may be the best supplement to lose excess fat and maintain a healthy body composition with the added bonus of being a very economical solution.

Fiber should be a staple of your diet for a number of reasons. Number one, the typical North American diet is low in fiber estimated to be only 10 grams daily on average, when 30 – 60 grams may provide healthful benefits. The New England Journal of Medicine found that 50 grams per day lowered insulin levels in he the blood.

This is the time of year many of us make resolutions to get in better shape, lose some excess fat, improve our eating habits  become more active … the list goes on and on

Naturally everyone starts out with the best of intentions … but somewhere between January 1^st and February 15^th most have relegated back to their former lifestyle habits and put the aspirations of a better U aside until next year…

Why is that?

Well there is a number of reasons why people fail…

In fact ill give you ten reasons – and ten solutions to help you get you on and stay on the right track

It’s that time of year where millions of people decide to go on a diet, usually drastically cut back on food, or the start an exercise program without professional guidance and typically start out with an equally unsustainable plan or worst of all combine the concepts of diet and exercise with the vague at best advice of eating less and exercising more that inevitably ends in frustration, burning out and a better luck next year attitude.

Luck is not a part of the solution… Tune in this Saturday at 6:00 pm PST to the Grant Roberts Unified Lifestyle Radio Show to revolutionize your way of thinking this year by adopting the mentality of a sustainable lifestyle. Grant will explain the top 10 typical mistakes and the 10 solutions to get you on and staying on the path to comprehensive fitness.

Guests:

Scott Hopson from PTA Global joins Grant in advising listeners what to look for when hiring a personal trainer and advice and a special offer to anyone who wants to become a certified personal trainer.

and

Fred Heim from Power Plate joins Grant to discuss vibration and acceleration training using Power Plate technology, a novel training apparatus the can be used to warm-up, stretch, strength train, improve flexibility and bone density, even has built in massage setting and a personal trainer video guidance system built right in.

They say laughter is the best medicine… well, except if you are diabetic, then insulin would be the best medicine.

What if you want to improve heart health? It would stand to reason that improving overall health and taking preventative action like engaging in exercise and showing an improvement in risk factors would actually be a good idea.

The Daily Show on Comedy Central recently aired a segment and a Bill H.R.3472 that was sponsored in 2009 by Former Democratic Congresswoman Kathleen Dahlkemper designed to reward individuals with lower health insurance premiums who for example exercised, ate healthy and did not smoke.

• Democrats liked it because it focused on prevention

• Republicans like it because it was a cost effective solution

However the Bill was killed by political lobby groups trying to protect self interests. If you think it was Tobacco, Sugar or Fast Food Lobbyists… think again.