Jonny Bowden's Blog, page 4

Why Is A Nutritionist Talking About Amy Schumer?

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”3/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1531429936383{padding-right: 10% !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column_text]This column is about the new Amy Schumer movie, I Feel Pretty.

You’re probably wondering, why is a nutritionist is writing about the Amy Schumer movie?

Well, for the same reason I wrote about Kate going to fat camp in This is Us. Which is that it touches on issues that every nutritionist deals with on a daily basis.

Look, I’m fully aware that anyone reading me wants to hear what I have to say about nutrition and health, not politics and media. But I’m also aware that nutrition is only part of the puzzle. Every aspect of human health—including our weight— is built on a number of different pillars of which nutrition is only one. These pillars include digestion, detoxification, sleep, plays-well-with-others, recreation, stress, exercise, relationships. Every one of them matters.

So in the spirit of “everything is connected”, let me explain why I’m writing about the Amy Schumer movie. Three reasons.

 

Number one: It’s about self-esteem.

I started as a trainer on the floor of the first Equinox gym ever built, in Manhattan 27 years ago, and over the years I saw hundreds of clients in my seven years as a personal trainer, and hundreds more afterwards as a nutritionist. Through my articles and website and at live events I’ve communicated with thousands. The majority of my clients have been women. A very large number of them have had self-esteem issues. A very large number of, let’s see, everyone has self-esteem issues. And there’s no way to underestimate how important self-esteem is in your health and well-being.

This movie is about self-esteem, It’s also about body image, something every trainer and nutritionist in America deals with multiple times on a daily basis.

 

Number two: Amy Schumer.

I’m about  to talk about a person’s appearance, and I’m sorry if we’re not supposed to say this stuff anymore because it’s not politically correct, but I’m going to say it anyway: Amy Schumer is not fat.

Now the whole question of whether you can be “fat” and sexy and confident and healthy is totally worthy of discussion (the answer’s ‘yes, duh!’), but it’s not the point right now. The point is that if we all collectively acquiesce to the preposterous idea that this beautiful healthy girl with a few curves is “fat”, man we are going down the wrong road.

Surprisingly, even a few of my closest women friends have told me, “well you know she has gained a lot of weight” in a whispered tone once used for statements like “you know, Aunt Mary has cancer”. I look at them like they’re off their rockers. I have many beautiful, sexy women friends in their forties who literally announce to me how fat they are every time I see them. I want to scream. YOU’RE NOT FAT, YOU’RE CRAZY. Stop buying into this shit! If Amy Schumer is your idea of a “fat girl”, you need a serious reality check. Please, people, don’t normalize this. Beauty doesn’t come in one size only.

Amy Schumer’s not only not fat, she’s also really good looking. There’s a scene in a bathroom where Amy’s character is talking to a girl who just oozes Maxim Magazine, and is supposed to represent what guys, god helps us, supposedly think of as perfection, with her “perfect” little body in the tight little dress with her  “perfect” little face, and “fat” Amy is gushing over how incredible it must be to be so perfect. Meanwhile I’m thinking that if I were single, and a genie jumped out of a bottle and gave me a fantasy choice of spending a consequence-free night with either one of them, I’d be outta there with Amy so fast the wind from the door slamming would knock the little 90 pound glam queen right off her seat.

And if you’re thinking of sending me hate mail because you think I love “fat” women, don’t bother. I don’t love or not love “fat women”—what I like is real women.

 

Number three: The message

I know that critics think this movie is sappy and preachy. I have two words for them and the first one I won’t say on my blog but it rhymes with a bird that quacks. And the second is “you”. This movie has a very important message and it delivers it in a beautiful and entertaining and meaningful way. The morning after Michelle and I saw it I was texting with every woman I know who has a girl child and urging them to get out and see this movie and to take their kids with them.

I urge you to do the same. I hope every girl over the age of eight sees this movie.

And guys of all ages, this might be a really good time to start re-evaluating what it means to be “beautiful” and “sexy”. Just sayin.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”Blog Sidebar”][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidearea”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Holidays and Emotional Eating

There’s no one reading this who doesn’t have a good idea of what the phrase “emotional eating” means, but just in case you’re not sure, here’s a clear and simple definition: Emotional eating is basically eating to make yourself feel better.

Food can do everything from relieving stress to relieving sadness to relieving boredom. It can provide sensual excitement. It’s associated with memories (good and bad). It can comfort a troubled soul and soothe an angry heart. Food is the true “drug” of the masses, completely non-partisan and non-discriminating in its ability to provide pleasure.

Views on what “causes” emotional eating differ, but not by a lot. As Marc David of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating writes in his essay, Emotional Eating- Is It Really a Problem?, “At our core, we are emotional beings—rich, complex, juicy, unpredictable feeling-filled creatures.”

He goes on to say:

We love, we celebrate, we laugh, cry, mourn, giggle, we break down, we rise up, we get hurt, we soar, we worry, we yell, we sulk, and wow – we’re powerfully passionate creatures – even those of us who seem quiet and content. So how could we NOT be emotional eaters? We love food. We love our favorite restaurant. We love how food makes us feel good. It’s time to get over it – if you’re a human and alive on planet Earth, you will bring emotionality to the table.

That said, most of us can agree that eating in order to cover up, deal with, or escape from difficult feelings is probably not the greatest idea. Not the least of the reasons why is that we never really feel in control of our eating when we’re eating to self-medicate, and we’re extremely likely to binge on all the stuff that ultimately makes us feel worse than we did before we started the binge.

Psychologists identify five major areas around which out-of-control emotional eating tends to happen:

 Unawareness. Not being conscious of what or why you’re eating. (Most eating while watching TV falls in this category, as does eating while driving, walking, or being in a heated conversation.).

weight-loss
Food is One of Your Only Pleasures. This is the same problem many people have with drugs. It’s hard to get someone to modify their behavior if that behavior is the only real source of happiness in their life.

weight-loss     
It’s hard to tolerate certain feelings. Food is one of the best and most available distractions for any difficult or unwelcome feelings

holidays
Body Hate. “Negativity, shame and hatred rarely inspire people to make long-lasting great changes, especially when it comes to our bodies or our sense of self”, writes psychologist Jennifer Kromberg, PsyD, (in Psychology Today)

weight-loss
Biochemistry. Cravings can be (and are) stimulated by certain combinations of fat, sugar and salt, and certain foods (like processed carbs) stimulate hormones like insulin (also known as ‘the hunger hormone’) which make cravings all that harder to resist.

Here are a few suggestions:

Wait 15-60 seconds. Ask yourself if you really want what you’re about to eat. Ask yourself what the consequences of eating it will be. Ask yourself if it’s worth it. Note: Most cravings subside within 15 minutes, so tell yourself you can have whatever it is you crave— you just have to wait 15 minutes. Then go take a walk. If you still want the craved food when you get back, have at it. You probably won’t want it but if you do, bon appetite.

wait
Take a page from the 12 step programs. Don’t get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. It’s a recipe for disaster.

hungry
Try mindfulness. Unconsciousness is the handmaiden of emotional eating. Try paying attention 10% more than you usually do. Eating while doing nothing else but eating can be a revelation. Seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Holidays and Emotional Eating appeared first on Jonny Bowden.

Tips For Dealing With Holiday Stress (and why it matters)

Stress is one of the major promoters of degenerative diseases. In my book, The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer, I called it one of the “Four Horsemen of Aging”, and in Dr. Sinatra’s and my book, The Great Cholesterol Myth, we call it one of the four major promoters of heart disease. It’s not just “all in your head”.

In some cases, stress alone can bring on an outbreak or attack (alopecia, herpes, even a heart attack), but in every case stress makes existing diseases and conditions worse and recovery slower. The overproduction of stress hormones like cortisol actually shrink a portion of the brain called the hippocampus (involved in memory and thinking), while weakening your immune system and directly contributing to belly fat.

(Interesting factoid that tells us something about what we really pay attention to. The fact that stress directly contributes to belly fat motivates far more people to do something about stress than its effects on the brain and the immune system!)

The holidays are a uniquely stressful time for three reasons: Food, family, and time. First, there’s more food around than at any other time of year, and most of it is delicious, terrible for your waistline, and usually irresistible. Family is wonderful but everyone’s family comes with their own unique set of stressors and upsets—no one is exempt. Finally, there are more things to do and less time to do them in. The trifecta of these three variables creates exponential increases in stress.

Here are some tips to help you navigate the season with minimal damage (and maximum joy!)

1. Look for the Higher Ground. In business, the “higher ground”

argument is the one that unites people. If everyone’s arguing

Hillary vs Trump, instead of getting in the weeds about details

(while your blood pressure goes through the roof) try saying

something like, “Look, we may disagree about the details, but we

both want the best for the country.” That’s the “higher ground”

argument—it unites rather than divides, and, in doing so, lowers

(rather than raises) stress. (Note: the Higher Ground Argument

works great in romantic relationships as well and beats the hell out

of who-did-what-when!)

2. Take a breathing break. Take a four minute “time out” for yourself.

You can do this exercise anywhere from the bathroom to your car

(even a closet will do in a pinch). Sit quietly, close your eyes, and

set your time for four minutes. Breathe. Deeply. Consciously. Think

count of seven in, hold for four, slow exhale on five. Even four

minutes—a couple, few times a day—will lower blood pressure,

change your brain waves and calm your soul. (Remember, deep

breathing is incompatible with anxiety.)

3. Supplement. During stressful times there’s an added strain put on

your body as it struggles to get through basic biochemical processes

in the midst of what is essentially a metabolic hurricane. Several

supplements can help.

a. TruNiagen. TruNiagen is the first compound that has been

clinically demonstrated to boost levels of NAD+, which is the

basic spark plug needed for every cellular action from making

energy to burning fat to detoxification. Stress puts a lot of

demands on your NAD+ stores, which also diminish as we age.

The only way I know to keep your levels of NAD+ levels where

they need to be to handle the added demands of high-stress

periods like Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day is by taking

TruNiagen (which I do daily).

b. Vitamin B5—Vitamin B5- also known as pantothenic acid—is

eaten up alive by stress. During holidays and other stressful

time, it makes sense to take a supplement. The adrenal glands

—which are the ones that respond to stress by secreting stress-

related hormones—depend on B5. Another vitamin that’s eaten

up by stress is vitamin C, so an extra 500mg-1000mg a day

during this time would certainly not hurt.

c. Ashwagandha Ashwagandha is an ancient herb/botanical used

for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine. It’s classed as an

adaptagen (like ginseng), meaning it acts kind of like a

thermostat for your moods and energy. When you’re running

hot (too anxious, nervous) it calms you down, and when you’re

running cold (low energy, fatigue) it picks you up.

d. Natural Vitality Calm Powder.

This is a great, magnesium-based drink that’s wonderful for relieving

stress and anxiety. It’s also great before bedtime

Finally, sip green tea! Seriously. Green tea contains a terrific compound called L-theanine, which is an amino acid that really helps with relaxation. In fact, L-theanine is prescribed in Japan specifically for anxiety. L-theanine is the reason that green tea drinkers don’t tend to get the jitters—it modifies the effect of caffeine. You can also buy it as a supplement in 200mg doses. The best one is made by SunTheanine.

The post Tips For Dealing With Holiday Stress (and why it matters) appeared first on Jonny Bowden.

Holidays and Emotional Eating

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”3/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1531430210797{padding-right: 10% !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column_text]There’s no one reading this who doesn’t have a good idea of what the phrase “emotional eating” means, but just in case you’re not sure, here’s a clear and simple definition: Emotional eating is basically eating to make yourself feel better.

Food can do everything from relieving stress to relieving sadness to relieving boredom. It can provide sensual excitement. It’s associated with memories (good and bad). It can comfort a troubled soul and soothe an angry heart. Food is the true “drug” of the masses, completely non-partisan and non-discriminating in its ability to provide pleasure.

Views on what “causes” emotional eating differ, but not by a lot. As Marc David of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating writes in his essay, Emotional Eating- Is It Really a Problem?, “At our core, we are emotional beings—rich, complex, juicy, unpredictable feeling-filled creatures.”

He goes on to say:

We love, we celebrate, we laugh, cry, mourn, giggle, we break down, we rise up, we get hurt, we soar, we worry, we yell, we sulk, and wow – we’re powerfully passionate creatures – even those of us who seem quiet and content. So how could we NOT be emotional eaters? We love food. We love our favorite restaurant. We love how food makes us feel good. It’s time to get over it – if you’re a human and alive on planet Earth, you will bring emotionality to the table.

That said, most of us can agree that eating in order to cover up, deal with, or escape from difficult feelings is probably not the greatest idea. Not the least of the reasons why is that we never really feel in control of our eating when we’re eating to self-medicate, and we’re extremely likely to binge on all the stuff that ultimately makes us feel worse than we did before we started the binge.

Psychologists identify five major areas around which out-of-control emotional eating tends to happen:

 Unawareness. Not being conscious of what or why you’re eating. (Most eating while watching TV falls in this category, as does eating while driving, walking, or being in a heated conversation.).

weight-loss
Food is One of Your Only Pleasures. This is the same problem many people have with drugs. It’s hard to get someone to modify their behavior if that behavior is the only real source of happiness in their life.

weight-loss     
It’s hard to tolerate certain feelings. Food is one of the best and most available distractions for any difficult or unwelcome feelings

holidays
Body Hate. “Negativity, shame and hatred rarely inspire people to make long-lasting great changes, especially when it comes to our bodies or our sense of self”, writes psychologist Jennifer Kromberg, PsyD, (in Psychology Today)

weight-loss
Biochemistry. Cravings can be (and are) stimulated by certain combinations of fat, sugar and salt, and certain foods (like processed carbs) stimulate hormones like insulin (also known as ‘the hunger hormone’) which make cravings all that harder to resist.

Here are a few suggestions:

Wait 15-60 seconds. Ask yourself if you really want what you’re about to eat. Ask yourself what the consequences of eating it will be. Ask yourself if it’s worth it. Note: Most cravings subside within 15 minutes, so tell yourself you can have whatever it is you crave— you just have to wait 15 minutes. Then go take a walk. If you still want the craved food when you get back, have at it. You probably won’t want it but if you do, bon appetite.

wait
Take a page from the 12 step programs. Don’t get too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. It’s a recipe for disaster.

hungry
Try mindfulness. Unconsciousness is the handmaiden of emotional eating. Try paying attention 10% more than you usually do. Eating while doing nothing else but eating can be a revelation. Seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tips For Dealing With Holiday Stress (and why it matters)

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”3/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1531433572728{padding-right: 10% !important;padding-left: 10% !important;}”][vc_column_text]Stress is one of the major promoters of degenerative diseases. In my book, The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer, I called it one of the “Four Horsemen of Aging”, and in Dr. Sinatra’s and my book, The Great Cholesterol Myth, we call it one of the four major promoters of heart disease. It’s not just “all in your head”.

In some cases, stress alone can bring on an outbreak or attack (alopecia, herpes, even a heart attack), but in every case stress makes existing diseases and conditions worse and recovery slower. The overproduction of stress hormones like cortisol actually shrink a portion of the brain called the hippocampus (involved in memory and thinking), while weakening your immune system and directly contributing to belly fat.

(Interesting factoid that tells us something about what we really pay attention to. The fact that stress directly contributes to belly fat motivates far more people to do something about stress than its effects on the brain and the immune system!)

The holidays are a uniquely stressful time for three reasons: Food, family, and time. First, there’s more food around than at any other time of year, and most of it is delicious, terrible for your waistline, and usually irresistible. Family is wonderful but everyone’s family comes with their own unique set of stressors and upsets—no one is exempt. Finally, there are more things to do and less time to do them in. The trifecta of these three variables creates exponential increases in stress.

Here are some tips to help you navigate the season with minimal damage (and maximum joy!)

1. Look for the Higher Ground. In business, the “higher ground”

argument is the one that unites people. If everyone’s arguing

Hillary vs Trump, instead of getting in the weeds about details

(while your blood pressure goes through the roof) try saying

something like, “Look, we may disagree about the details, but we

both want the best for the country.” That’s the “higher ground”

argument—it unites rather than divides, and, in doing so, lowers

(rather than raises) stress. (Note: the Higher Ground Argument

works great in romantic relationships as well and beats the hell out

of who-did-what-when!)

2. Take a breathing break. Take a four minute “time out” for yourself.

You can do this exercise anywhere from the bathroom to your car

(even a closet will do in a pinch). Sit quietly, close your eyes, and

set your time for four minutes. Breathe. Deeply. Consciously. Think

count of seven in, hold for four, slow exhale on five. Even four

minutes—a couple, few times a day—will lower blood pressure,

change your brain waves and calm your soul. (Remember, deep

breathing is incompatible with anxiety.)

3. Supplement. During stressful times there’s an added strain put on

your body as it struggles to get through basic biochemical processes

in the midst of what is essentially a metabolic hurricane. Several

supplements can help.

a. TruNiagen. TruNiagen is the first compound that has been

clinically demonstrated to boost levels of NAD+, which is the

basic spark plug needed for every cellular action from making

energy to burning fat to detoxification. Stress puts a lot of

demands on your NAD+ stores, which also diminish as we age.

The only way I know to keep your levels of NAD+ levels where

they need to be to handle the added demands of high-stress

periods like Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day is by taking

TruNiagen (which I do daily).

b. Vitamin B5—Vitamin B5- also known as pantothenic acid—is

eaten up alive by stress. During holidays and other stressful

time, it makes sense to take a supplement. The adrenal glands

—which are the ones that respond to stress by secreting stress-

related hormones—depend on B5. Another vitamin that’s eaten

up by stress is vitamin C, so an extra 500mg-1000mg a day

during this time would certainly not hurt.

c. Ashwagandha Ashwagandha is an ancient herb/botanical used

for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine. It’s classed as an

adaptagen (like ginseng), meaning it acts kind of like a

thermostat for your moods and energy. When you’re running

hot (too anxious, nervous) it calms you down, and when you’re

running cold (low energy, fatigue) it picks you up.

d. Natural Vitality Calm Powder.

This is a great, magnesium-based drink that’s wonderful for relieving

stress and anxiety. It’s also great before bedtime

Finally, sip green tea! Seriously. Green tea contains a terrific compound called L-theanine, which is an amino acid that really helps with relaxation. In fact, L-theanine is prescribed in Japan specifically for anxiety. L-theanine is the reason that green tea drinkers don’t tend to get the jitters—it modifies the effect of caffeine. You can also buy it as a supplement in 200mg doses. The best one is made by SunTheanine.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”Blog Sidebar”][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidearea”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The Best Anti-Aging Supplement You Never Heard Of

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The hottest story in anti-aging these days is the story of NAD.

Now let’s be clear—none of us like to use the term anti-aging anymore. It’s passé and silly. We can’t turn back the clock, which is what “anti” aging implies. Most of us who work in this field prefer the term age management medicine, which much more accurately captures the idea of aging smartly, gracefully, and happily. Being older no longer has to look like it did in your dad’s day. Age management is about dying young at an old age. It’s about “squaring the curve” of life so that—rather than experience a slow, painful, decline into senescence starting around age 50, we live at the top of our game (more or less) till just about the end when we die a quick, peaceful death with minimum disability, preferably sometime after age 90.

OK, now that we’ve got the vocabulary sorted out, let’s talk about what we really care about—extending the “healthspan”— the number of years in which we can perform with vigor, enthusiasm and passion, fully engaged with life, with minimum dysfunction.

Which brings me to the NAD story.

See, the truth is that aging starts way beneath the radar, at the cellular level. We may notice skin wrinkling, lack of energy, low libido, tired eyes—but way before that stuff starts to happen, our poor cells have gotten tired and run down. Cells, after all, have an awful lot of responsibilities. For one thing, they have to produce something called ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is the molecular unit of energy your body uses to do absolutely everything in life that you do– from blinking your eyes to dancing the Macarena. Growing hair and nails? It requires ATP. Talking? Ditto. Dancing, running a marathon, exercising, thinking, meditating or mamboing, everything runs on ATP, and ATP generation depends on the health of the cell.

Then there’s detoxification. While there are plenty of companies offering expensive and trendy juices for “detoxing”, the truth is that you’re detoxing all of the time, and detoxification starts in the cells. So does fat burning. And the list goes on.

So what does this have to do with this thing called NAD, anyway? What is NAD? Why do we need it, how do we get it, and why does it even matter?

Glad you asked.

NAD—which stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide— is what’s known as a “coenzyme”. (A good example of a well-known coenzyme is CoQ10, a popular supplement for energy whose name is short for coenzyme Q10.) A coenzyme is a compound that is necessary for the functioning of an enzyme. Coenzymes make stuff happen. You can think of them as spark plugs. You could have the most incredible, expensive, custom-made McLaren Mercedes, but guess what? If you don’t have spark plugs, that fabulous expensive transmission won’t turn over. Nothing will work. We’ve all seen the movies—if you want to disable someone’s car, you don’t put it up on blocks and remove the engine—you just pocket the spark plugs. Nobody’s going anywhere without those tiny, inexpensive—but absolutely essential—parts.

So NAD is the coenzyme—the spark plug—that’s needed for absolutely every one of the cellular operations I just mentioned, the ones that—when they slow down or go offline—make you feel and look old and tired.

And guess what happens as we grow older?

NAD stores plummet.

When the supply of NAD in the cell is low, the cell goes on a “budget”, much like a company that’s had its cash flow cut in half. Non-essential operations slow to a halt. The company—or in this case the cell—tightens its metaphorical belt. Important functions get sidelined. The cell begins its inevitable decline. And the visible signs of that are the ones we all know too well, the ones that send half the population of Beverly Hills to the plastic surgeon’s office.

Scientists have pondered the problem of disappearing NAD stores for a long time. Figuring out how to replace or increase our NAD stores has been one of the most vexing problems in the field of age management. The obvious answer—NAD supplements—don’t work. Instead, we need a biohack to trick our cells into making more of the stuff.

And that biohack is finally here. It’s a special form of vitamin B3, discovered by biochemist Charles Brenner, with the unwieldy name of nicotinamide riboside, and sold under the proprietary name TruNiagen™. TruNiagen™ is creating a storm in the age management world because it has been demonstrated to significantly increase our NAD stores. And if you think that isn’t a really big deal, read on.

Remember resveratrol? Terrific supplement. Resveratrol comes from the skins of dark grapes and has long been known as an “anti-aging” supplement precisely because it “turns on” longevity genes known as the SIRT (Sirtuin) genes. And that’s great. But you know what?  Resveratrol can’t actually make contact with those genes and turn them on unless there’s NAD. Even the best resveratrol  needs the NAD spark plug– without that spark plug, resveratrol can’t make its magic.

That’s why I’m personally doing everything I can to keep my NAD levels as high as they can be for as long as possible, and that means a daily dose of TruNiagen™ (which can be purchased directly at TruNiagen.com.) Together with nutrients like resveratrol ), curcumin, vitamin D, omega-3s and magnesium,  it forms a “stack” that goes a long way towards keeping your cells happy and functioning, reducing inflammation, and “squaring the curve” of aging.

My Top 9 Things To Do And Take During Cold Season

First, let’s be clear. Despite the fact that there are about 7 gazillion over-the-counter “cold remedies” that promise symptom elimination, the truth is that nothing’s going to cure or prevent colds. And yes, they’re a pain in the butt.

But did you ever notice how whenever “something’s going around” some people get sidelined and others seem to be unaffected?

I think it’s a lot like hurricanes and houses. You can have a nasty tropical storm, but if your house is built like a brick you-know-what, it’s probably going to stay standing while if your house is built of balsa wood, it’s not. If our “house”—our body, our immune system, our general health—is robust, it’s going to be much more likely to be able to withstand the effects of any “bug” that’s going around, whereas if you’re run down and nutritionally depleted to begin with, that bug’s going to come get you and put you on the sidelines for up to a week!

“No fun!” as they say in the Twitter-sphere.

So here are my top things to do to keep cold season from sidelining you, or—if it happens to get you—to shorten the length of time you’re out of commission.

Eat real food. Fast food, processed carbs, vegetable oils—all create inflammation, a promoter of every disease we know of. Inflammation—like stress– weakens everything and makes you more vulnerable to “what’s going around”. Real food fortifies you. It makes a big difference!
Manage your stress. Although meditation is the best proven technique for lowering blood pressure and stress, all kinds of things will work. Take a walk (preferably around greenery). Take a relaxing magnesium bath (my favorite for this is Natural Calm Bath . Read a Danielle Steele novel. Sit quietly for a few minutes and take deep breaths- 7 counts in, hold, exhale for 4. Any or all of these techniques will help keep stress at (hopefully) manageable levels. Remember, stress makes everything worse—it can bring on episodes of diseases, make existing ones worse, make recovery slower, and generally screw you up hormonally. So pay attention to it!
Take the basic vitamins. Micronutrient deficiency weakens the structure of your “house” and makes you even more susceptible. A high-quality multiple vitamin like the men’s or women’s multi in the Rainbow Light Vibrance premium line will cover all the basics. I’d also recommend omega-3, magnesium, and vitamin D.
Zinc: Your cells need this mineral to fight bacteria and viruses. Your body has no specific storage sites for zinc, so take it on a daily basis. If you do get sick, zinc might help shorten the length of your illness. I recommend 15mg a day during “regular” times and 50mg a day at the first sign of a cold or “coming down with something”.
Black Elderberry: One of the most powerful berries in the world is black elderberry. And they’re phenomenal for the immune system. But unfortunately, you won’t find them at the grocery store. (They’re impossible to find and taste horrible.) What you will find is a tasty and effective extract of black elderberry sold over-the-counter as Sambucol . It can reduce the severity of symptoms– and shorten their duration—by up to four days. The gummies are great for kids because they contain no artificial flavors or colors.
Vitamin A: It’s an immune system booster like almost nothing else, even though few people outside the health professions know this. I recommend 50,000 IUs for three days in a row if you start to feel something coming on.
Olive Leaf Extract: This stuff is really good—there’s good research showing it’s effective against a wide range of microbes. I take it all during “sick season”—it’s a great immunity booster. My favorite is Barlean’s Olive Leaf Complex.  You want the olive leaf complex (not the extract) because it contains so many synergistic compounds.
Coconut oil. Coconut oil—as opposed to MCT oil, with which it’s often confused—contains a high amount of lauric acid, a fatty acid which is known for its immune boosting, anti-microbial activity.
Garlic. It’s the original medicinal food, and a ton of research shows it has multiple health benefits. It’s antiseptic, anti-fungal, and a well-known immunity booster. You get the most benefit when you chop it up and add it to the pan right before you finish cooking.

And here’s a bonus for you—ginger tea. Ginger isn’t as well known an immunity booster as some of the others on the list, but ginger has a multitude of effects—and it’s anti-inflammatory. You can make a tea out of it or add it to freshly pressed juice, which is what I do almost every day when I make juice with my Hurom slow juicer.  Or you can infuse your water with lemon and ginger. And- it goes without saying—don’t forget your vitamin C, at least 500-1000 mg a day!

 

The Best Anti-Aging Supplement You Never Heard Of

The hottest story in anti-aging these days is the story of NAD.

Now let’s be clear—none of us like to use the term anti-aging anymore. It’s passé and silly. We can’t turn back the clock, which is what “anti” aging implies. Most of us who work in this field prefer the term age management medicine, which much more accurately captures the idea of aging smartly, gracefully, and happily. Being older no longer has to look like it did in your dad’s day. Age management is about dying young at an old age. It’s about “squaring the curve” of life so that—rather than experience a slow, painful, decline into senescence starting around age 50, we live at the top of our game (more or less) till just about the end when we die a quick, peaceful death with minimum disability, preferably sometime after age 90.

OK, now that we’ve got the vocabulary sorted out, let’s talk about what we really care about—extending  the “healthspan”— the number of years in which we can perform with vigor, enthusiasm and passion, fully engaged with life, with minimum dysfunction.

Which brings me to the NAD story.

See, the truth is that aging starts way beneath the radar, at the cellular level. We may notice skin wrinkling, lack of energy, low libido, tired eyes—but way before that stuff starts to happen, our poor cells have gotten tired and run down. Cells, after all, have an awful lot of responsibilities. For one thing, they have to produce something called ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is the molecular unit of energy your body uses to do absolutely everything in life that you do– from blinking your eyes to dancing the Macarena. Growing hair and nails? It requires ATP. Talking? Ditto. Dancing, running a marathon, exercising, thinking, meditating or mamboing, everything runs on ATP, and ATP generation depends on the health of the cell.

Then there’s detoxification. While there are plenty of companies offering expensive and trendy juices for “detoxing”, the truth is that you’re detoxing all of the time, and detoxification starts in the cells. So does fat burning. So does the creation of chemicals needed to protect your DNA. And the list goes on.

So what does this have to do with this thing called NAD, anyway? What is NAD? Why do we need it, how do we get it, and why does it even matter?

Glad you asked.

NAD—which stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide— is what’s known as a “coenzyme”. (A good example of a well-known coenzyme is CoQ10, a popular supplement for energy whose name is short for coenzyme Q10.) . A coenzyme is a compound that is necessary for the functioning of an enzyme. Coenzymes make stuff happen. You can think of them as spark plugs. You could have the most incredible, expensive, custom-made McLaren Mercedes, but guess what? If you don’t have spark plugs, that fabulous expensive transmission won’t turn over. Nothing will work. We’ve all seen the movies—if you want to disable someone’s car, you don’t put it up on blocks and remove the engine—you just pocket the spark plugs. Nobody’s going anywhere without those tiny, inexpensive—but absolutely essential—parts.

So NAD is the coenzyme—the spark plug—that’s needed for absolutely every one of the cellular operations I just mentioned, the ones that—when they slow down or go offline—make you feel and look old, sick and tired.

And guess what happens as we grow older?

NAD stores plummet.

When the supply of NAD in the cell is low, the cell goes on a “budget”, much like a company that’s had its cash flow cut in half. Non-essential operations slow to a halt. The company—or in this case the cell—tightens its metaphorical belt. Important functions get sidelined. The cell begins its inevitable decline. And the visible signs of that are the ones we all know too well, the ones that send half the population of Beverly Hills to the surgeon’s office. Meanwhile, NAD deficits show up as degenerative disorders of the organs, particularly the heart and the brain.

Scientists have pondered the problem of disappearing NAD stores for a long time. Figuring out how to replace or increase our NAD stores has been one of the most vexing problems in age management medicine. The obvious answer—NAD supplements—don’t work. Instead, we need a biohack to trick our cells into making more of the stuff.

And that biohack is finally here. It comes in the form of a special form of vitamin B3, discovered by biochemist Charles Brenner, with the unwieldy name of nicotinamide riboside. (You can read more about the fascinating NR story on www.AboutNR.com Nicotinamide riboside—sold under the proprietary name TruNiagen(TM) – is creating a storm in the age management world because it has been clinically demonstrated to increase our NAD stores. And if you think that isn’t a really big deal, read on.

Remember resveratrol? Terrific supplement. Resveratrol comes from the skins of dark grapes and has long been known as an “anti-aging” supplement precisely because it “turns on” longevity genes known as the SIRT (Sirtuin) genes. And that’s great. But you know what?  Resveratrol can’t actually make contact with those genes and turn them on unless there’s NAD. Even the best resveratrol you can get needs the NAD spark plug– without that spark plug, resveratrol can’t make its magic.

In fact, without the spark plug of NAD all kinds of other things don’t work, either. Take DNA damage, for example. To get an idea of how much damage is inflicted on our DNA on a regular basis, a study analyzed exactly how many DNA breaks happen daily. Want to know the answer? There are 10 DNA breaks PER CELL every single day. That’s an awful lot of DNA damage. And your cells require NAD in order to repair them. When NAD supplies are short, those DNA breaks don’t get repaired and that can lead to really deep do-do. And while this is speculation, being able to repair DNA breaks may help prevent at least some forms of malignancy.

That’s why I’m personally doing everything I can to keep my NAD levels as high as they can be for as long as possible, and that means a daily dose of TruNiagen (which can be purchased directly at TruNiagen.com,  a website from which I receive no financial compensation). Together with nutrients like resveratrol , curcumin, vitamin D, omega-3s and magnesium, it forms a “stack” that goes a long way towards keeping your cells happy and functioning, reducing inflammation, and “squaring the curve” of aging.

 

Stuff I Dig

From time to time, I’m going to list a bunch of things I’ve come across that I really like a lot, stuff  you might not have heard of but that I think you will really enjoy. I’ll stick to about five things per “Stuff I Dig” blog, and the things I feature will be all over the cultural map.

I don’t expect everyone to be moved by or interested in all the things I find moving or interesting. But I”ll bet you find some of these stuff I list here to be a total delight, either because it makes you think or it makes you feel (or it makes you do both).

There’ll be authors, podcasts, books, articles on politics, interviews, musicians, skin care products, essays, blogs and websites. If it was unusually impactful for me, I’ll pass it on in this series of blogs.

Let’s start with five of my favorite things for October 2017. I love all of them. I hope you find a few you love too.

 

1.  Podcasts:  The Tim Ferris Podcast.

Tim Ferris is an extremely bright, thoughtful guy who made his fortune in Silicon Valley, then became an iconic biohacker, and the author of blockbuster books like The Four Hour Workweek and The Four Hour Body. He’s also a world-class interviewer. Download The Relationship Episode,  where he interviews Esther Perel, whose work I’ll be talking about in the next Stuff I Dig column.

 

2.  Music: Allen Stone.

Allen Stone is an awkward-looking white boy from Washington State with the soul of an angel and the voice of Al Green. With frizzy red hair and thick coke bottle glasses, he sings and writes unbelievable, feel-good music that just pours out of some miraculous place and spreads love and joy wherever he and his band perform. Anytime he’s on tour within 100 miles of LA, I’m there, and I’m usually high for two days afterwards. Here’s a great sample of what he does.

 

3.  Essays: Mark Manson

Mark Manson started out as one of those NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) guys who studied Neil Strauss’s The Game, became a notorious Hollywood Pick-Up Artist, and wrote a successful book on how to get beautiful girls (Models). Then, much like Strauss, he got bored with it, and started turning his attention from the challenges of picking up models to the challenges of living a meaningful and authentic life. (His next book was the NY Times best-seller, The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F…….. ) He’s a terrific writer whose subject is anything that impacts how people relate to each other, and his essays are consistently wonderful. You can check him out here: https://markmanson.net

 

4.  Politics: “Were Trump Voters Irrational?”

Written by Keith Stanovich, the author of The Rationality Quotient and a professor emeritus of applied psychology, this article is thought-provoking, challenging, fair, balanced and extremely well-argued. It also arrives at surprising—and counterintuitive—conclusions that will challenge people on both sides of the political spectrum. This article takes some time to read but it’s totally worth it.

 

5.  Skin Care: Annmarie Skin Care.

I’ve tried a lot of skin care products in my life—including the very good (but outrageously expensive) stuff by Perricone—and I can honestly say that for now, this is the best stuff I’ve ever used and it’s great for both men and women. It’s all organic, there isn’t a toxic chemical in any of their formulas, it smells and feels unbelievable and it makes my skin look great. You can try a trial pack to see what I’m talking about.

 

 

As always, let me know what you think! Hit me up on twitter @jonnybowden or write to info@jonnybowden.com.

Warmly,

Dr. Jonny

Why I’m Breaking Up With Whole Foods

Like most relationships, my love affair with Whole Foods started off great. I loved the narrative:  three hippies get together in the mid-1980’s to start a store that’s an alternative to “Big Food”—a store devoted to selling foods that actually make a difference to your health. Beautiful, organic produce. Raw milk. Grass-fed beef. What’s not to like?

We didn’t have anything like Whole Foods in New York City in the 1990’s, just a bunch of small, dark “health food” stores selling Tigers Milk bars and wheatgrass juice. When I arrived in southern California some fifteen years ago and discovered the city-block size Whole Foods right down the street from me in Woodland Hills, I took it as an omen. I knew right then that moving from New York City to Los Angeles had been the right decision.

That was then.

The first sign of trouble in paradise came when I started noticing the “low-fat” and “no-fat” options crowding out real whole foods.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not the food police. If people choose to follow low-fat or no-fat diets, that’s their personal prerogative. As a nutritionist, I think low-fat foods are a huge mistake, and the research shows they don’t do any of the things we think they do. But I certainly don’t want to limit anyone’s access to such foods, despite the fact that nothing about them is even remotely “whole”. Remember, by definition, a “whole” food contains everything that was ever in the food. Does milk come out of the cow without the fat? Removing fat from a whole food like yogurt to make “no-fat yogurt” is the same thing as removing the bran and germ layers from wheat to make white bread. And if that’s what you want, you have every right to have it, and stores have every right to sell it.

What they don’t have the right to do is call it a “whole food”.

It was perfectly fine with me if Whole Foods wanted to sell the adulterated products known as “low-fat” and “no fat”.  It only became a problem when it was no longer possible to find real yogurt in the yogurt department. The no-fat and low-fat options—which are, let me remind us, highly processed foods not occurring in nature—were crowding out the real foods. On two occasions, I couldn’t locate one single full-fat—i.e. “whole food”—yogurt or kefir in the entire store.

 

 

 

 

 

Then there was the time that Whole Foods decided to rate the health value of their offerings using a system called the ANDI food scores, ANDI standing for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index. Sounds like a cool idea, right?

Not so fast.

The ANDI system was designed by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, a rabid vegan who pretty much believes that if you eat a food that comes from an animal, you will drop dead on the spot. (OK, I’m exaggerating, but you get the idea.) So in Fuhrman’s highly biased system, anything that contains saturated fat gets points deducted, anything that contains cholesterol gets points deducted, and anything that includes pro-inflammatory “vegetable oil” (i.e. industrial seed oils like corn oil and soybean oil) gets extra credit. This is like rating political candidates on an “objective” scale that was designed by the most partisan and extreme politicians in Congress. Asking Joel Fuhrman to “rate” foods is like asking Rand Paul to rate Obamacare, or Nancy Pelosi to evaluate Trump. The point is there’s nothing objective about the ANDI system—it rates vegan foods high and everything else low, and is about as objective about food as the Taliban is about religion.

For me, though, the final nail in the coffin of my Whole Foods romance came when I was buying my favorite curry chicken salad at the prepared foods department, a department where Whole Foods really shines. As she was scooping the salad into the container, the clerk proudly informed me that they were no longer using regular mayonnaise, but had switched to “Veganaisse”, some vegan mayo crap made of soy milk and canola oil.

OK, listen up, Whole Foods. I don’t want your vegan mayo. More importantly, I don’t want you to be deprived of the opportunity to eat whole natural foods that I—and an increasing number of my colleagues in medicine and nutrition—think are perfectly healthy (such as real mayonnaise or full-fat yogurt) just because of the biased dogma of your nutrition guru.

Clearly, whoever makes decisions like the one to substitute “Veganaise” for real food must be unaware that there has been a vocal and outspoken movement among medical and nutrition professionals questioning the whole low-fat madness of the last few decades. A large number of published studies in the last seven years have absolved saturated fat of a causative role in heart disease, and no one—including the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee—still thinks cholesterol in food matters a whit.

Obviously Whole Foods doesn’t agree.

And then, of course, there’s this.

And let’s not even talk about the self-righteous claims that Whole Foods makes about never selling anything with high-fructose corn syrup, while meanwhile crowding the aisles with all sorts of products sweetened with agave nectar, which has far more fructose than even high-fructose corn syrup despite its undeserved reputation as a “healthy” sweetener.

So, sadly, my love affair with Whole Foods (the store) is over.

On reflection, I don’t think I’d be as angry and disappointed if Whole Foods were just another store. Where I live, there are many grocery stores– like Ralph’s, for example—that offer a wide variety of junk foods for those who want them alongside a terrific assortment of first-rate organic produce and other healthy fare. But they don’t self-righteously proclaim that they sell only “whole” foods. They are what they are—a supermarket that offers junk AND good stuff.

That’s also what Whole Foods is. A supermarket that offers both good stuff and complete junk, mostly at inflated prices.

I’d like them a lot more if they’d change their name and stop pretending that they’re something they’re not.