A Quarter of US Citizens Are Inflicted With This.

It is estimated that at least 25% of us have, "Metabolic Syndrome," and it really is a killer.  If you develop it, you're much more likely to  move into heart disease and diabetes.  It is particularly troubling that there is an increased risk of dementia with aging.

That's the bad news.

The good news is there is something you can do about it.

Go to your doctor and get a blood test.  He can measure your triglycerides, HDL "Good" cholesterol, LDL "Bad" cholesterol, blood pressure and plasma glucose.  And if you are overweight, well, you know you have to take care of that anyway.

What to do:

• Work out:  You've got to get in 30 to 60 minutes a day.

• Lose the gut: As little as 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can reduce insulin levels, blood pressure and risk of diabetes.

• Eat Healthy: You know about this - move to the Mediterranean Diet: vegetables, fish, healthy oils, and whole grains, beans and lean meats.  It goes without saying that you need fiber rich foods.

• Stop Smoking:  I know, easier said that done, but you know it's killing you.

• Quit Drinking Diet Soda:  New studies show artificial sweeteners cause insulin release and insulin resistance.

•  Green Drink:  You can buy a number of "greens drinks" that are sold at health food stores.  One of my favorites is Greens Plus.  They don't taste good, but they don't taste bad either.

• Add psyllium husks:  Buy some chia  and add it to your greens drinks or foods.  This is a big one because studies show these awesome fibers reduce mortality rates by a whopping 61%.

• Reduce red meat.  Yeah, I didn't want to hear it either, but new studies show it increases your risk of Type II diabetes.

• Take Supplements:  You should try: (1) Antioxidants, (2) Grape Seed Extract, (3) cinnamon, (4) bitter melon. (5) Fenugreek, (6) Vandium as well as my normally recommended supplement routine.

• Cholesterol Control. You should consider Niacin and soluble fiber, red yeast rice, and Coenzyme Q10.

Stress seems to also increase the symptoms of  metabolic syndrome and so getting plenty or rest, meditation and  a heavy dose of living your life on purpose can go a long way toward recovery.

I'd work toward trying to tackle most of the metabolic syndrome issues by changing your lifestyle.  If that doesn't work there are a number of prescription medications for high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.

References:

How Do You Treat Metabolic Syndrome? www.WebMD.com, Here. 

Staying on Program: Top News and More, www.DoctgorOz.com, by Mike Roizen, MD, Feb 28, 2011.  Here.

Natural Remedies for Metabolic Syndrome.  By Cathy Wong.  www.About.com.  Here.

Cholesterol Control: The Alternatives, By John Casey, www.Webmd.com.  Here.

The Best Supplements for Insulin Resistance, www.LiveStrong.com, By Tracey Roizman, D.C. Here.

Happiness Secrets

HAPPINESS SECRETS

I recently heard an interview with Darren Hardy, the Editor of Success Magazine.  He talked about a very rich man that he and his father visited when they found out he had cancer.

After the visit was over, the old man called Darren back into talk with him and the old man gave this advice, “The time I spent developing wealth, I wish I had spent developing relationships.”

I think what he was saying is that he spent all his energy building wealth and it never gave him the happiness he wanted.  Only on his death bed did he discover that happiness may lie in the things we may take for granted, such as the people we love and the relationships we've developed.

I've been thinking a great deal about happiness as I plan this next stage of my life.

I am making a concerted effort not to get trapped once again by thinking money or stature, or significance in other’s eyes will making me happy.

Sure I may want the new car, house or wealth, but isn’t it just because I have the illusion that those things will make me happy?

Well, fortunately we won’t have to experiment on our own.  There are now a whole host of scientific studies on happiness.  Truth be told, what we often think will make us happy doesn't  and true happiness may be found in the simplest of places.

Frank Kern, in his seminar, Core Influence, talks about when he achieved all the toys – a big house, Ferrari, Mazaratti and time to goof off and how he was more miserable than he had ever been.  It seems only when he decided to serve the people he wanted to serve that he found more happiness.

But happiness is just a feeling, isn’t it?  Well yes and no.  Studies done at prestigious universities such Harvard have looked at all aspects of happiness: personal happiness, economic happiness, state happiness and geographical happiness.

And they've pasted together a pretty good data base of the things, thoughts and strategies actually make people happy.  Certainly it is worth a look and should be the backbone of any life blueprint.  

Here’s what they've found:

You control about half your happiness level.  That’s the good news and bad news.  Apparently about 50% of our happiness is preset by genetics.  The good news is that we can control about 40%-50% of our happiness.

2.    Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness.  You've always heard it, but apparently what we've been told (but never really believed to be true) is that you can’t buy your way to happiness.  Once we get to the place where we can pay our bills and pay for the lifestyle we have become accustomed to there is little statistical difference than someone who may earn $70,000 and a billionaire.  One exception to this is that people who give away a lot of money are much happier on average.  Either way, I am looking at the fact that if we want to be happy, we need to have at least a level of financial certainty.

3.    Lottery Winners are only temporarily happy.  Yes, you guessed it – winning the lottery will make you happy, but hold on a second, research also shows that happiness will fade back to your normal level of happiness.  In fact, if you were to compare someone who suffered a terrible car accident and lost their legs with a lottery winner a year later, statistically you would not be able to predict which person would be happier.

4.    Relationships Produce Long-Term Happiness.  If you want to be happy, develop strong and healthy social and/or marital relationships.

5.    Experiences Matter, not Things.  People who do things together – take walks, vacations, attend children’s sporting events report higher levels of happiness than those who live in mansions and drive sports cars.

6.    Helping Others Is Important.  This should be another no brainer, but those that are compassionate and seek the well-being of others are happier.

7.    Become Who You Were Meant to Be. Happiness has something to do with living a legitimate life and seeking out our own special calling.

8.    Don’t Compete with the Joneses.  Interestingly, those who are happy generally live in homes, drive cars, and generally spend money, similarly to their peers.

One last thing, according to Dr. Martin Seligman, the author of Flourish and Authentic Happiness, there are five pillars of positive Psychology which he calls PERMA: Positive Emotion, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment.

In building a life I love and in providing a blueprint for a full and worthwhile love, the plan I am building must contain all of the elements above.

Last, as far as happiness goes, I’m going to stop writing this entry and meet my beautiful wife and my good friends for a drink at Slatterly’s.

Doug

Resources:

5 Reliable Findings From Happiness Research.  World of Psychology. John M. Brohl, PsyD.  http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/04/10/5-reliable-findings-from-happiness-research/

Success Toolbox: Weight Loss Explosion

Success Toolbox: Body – Weight Loss Products

Imagine you are athletic, vital, healthy, beautiful or handsome. What would your life look like?  Who would be in it?  What would you do?

If you look around, you can see a great, healthy and ripped body is the exception, not the rule.  While I live in Colorado and we have the greatest recreation in the world, biking, skiing, hiking, we still have our share of the unhealthy and overweight.

Unfortunately I am one of them – for now.

THE PROBLEM

To recap my present situation, I am 30 pounds overweight, with constant stomach and problems.  My cholesterol and sugar indicate I have Metabolic Syndrome.  My doctor says if my levels climb slightly higher I’ll be a diabetic.

I think a good deal of my physical problems have come from the stress of the failure of my company, where I felt I let people and myself and family down.

 

Yeah, so not good, huh?  Suffice it to say I have some real incentive to find the best diet and exercise plans.  I also need to concentrate on the psychological and spiritual side to help with the mind / body connection.

According to Live Strong, the top seven health problems, related to diet and lifestyle in America are:

• Cancer
• Stroke
• Respiratory Diseases
• Diabetes
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Kidney Disease, and
• Seticiema.

You don’t have to be an expert to see all of those issues are related in some way to weight, diet and exercise.

So, I’d be an idiot not to see what the top experts have to say about how I should attack these problems.

THE PLAN

The plan has to be workable.  

Sure, there are a number of fantastic programs out there that I have reviewed, and many I’ll recommend, such as P90X, or Weight Watchers, but for my overall life purposes, the plan has to be workable – for a lifetime.

That doesn't mean I won't use some of these products to jump start my progress, just that they don't appear feasible to use daily over the long haul.

So, I’ve come up with the following criteria:

• I has to be easy (no super complicated menus or plans)
•  It has to work, producing fantastic results.  (This goes without saying)
•  It has to be something I can live with and enjoy for the rest of my life.
•  It has to inexpensive.
•  It has to destroy the seven top killers listed above.
• The food has to be tasty.

Armed with the above criteria and having reviewed a numerous weight loss and health products (see below) and having experimented with many of them in the past, I have put together the best basic plan based upon concepts in the following:

• Body For Life by: Bill Phillips (basic diet and exercise plan);
• Fantastic Voyage.  Live Long Enough To Live Forever. By: Ray Kurzweil. (Kurzweil is probably the smartest man on the planet );
• The Body You Deserve by: Anthony Robbins (There needs to be a psychological edge;
• Eat Drink and Weigh Less by: Mollie Katzen and Walter Willett, MD; and
• You on a Diet, by: Michael F Roizen, MD and Mehmet C. Oz, MD (Oz seems to always be at the top of his game with new and innovative ideas).

I did not do what I should have, which is get measurements  for body composition and I encourage you to do so so you can measure your progress.

That being said, I've been on the lifestyle plan below for six days and I’ve lost 4 lbs.

STEP-BY-STEP

My plan is to give myself and you quick Action Plans so you can start NOW!

It is a day and age where there is information bombardment.  You could read forever and still not know where to start.  That stops now.

I have a basic .pdf Action Plan that can be downloaded if you give me an email list below, but here are the basics:

Meal Plan

I am eating six meals a day.  Each of those meals contains:

• A portion of lean protein (chicken, steak, cottage cheese, etc.) that is approximately the size of the palm of my hand;

• A portion of complex carbohydrate (oatmeal, potatoes, whole wheat);

• A big portion of veggies.

Because I am on the go a great deal, I need to make the breakfast, lunch and snacks repeatable and easy to make.

I have what I call a Power Chili that I can make once a week and it contains the perfect mix of what I need and tastes great!  I also plan on using meal replacement shakes for ease of use.  It may have a bit too much salt, but I’ll trade that for some convenience.

Insider Secret: Add your email below and I’ll send the the Power Chili recipe.

Insider Secret: Many of the recipes below can be found at www.transformation.com.

Sample:

Day	8:00 AM	10:00	1:00	4:00	7:00	9:00
1	1 Cup Egg Beaters and ½ cup steel cut oatmeal	Meal Replacement shake + broccoli or other vegetable	Big Salad: Tomato, lettuce, Chicken and cucumber with vinegar and olive oil.	Hand full of almonds and serving of dried green mango	Teriyaki Salmon with asparagus and small baked potato	Cottage Cheese and dried mango
2	3 egg whites and 1 whole egg with an apple	Meal replacement shake or cup of my Power Chili	Cucumber and tomato salad, ½ cup cottage cheese	Can of water packed tuna with low fat mayo and pickles	Chicken fajita wrap (grilled chicken breast with veggies and whole wheat wrap)	Cottage Cheese and dried mango
3	1 Cup Egg Beaters and ½ cup steel cut oatmeal	Meal replacement shake or cup of my Power Chili	Big Salad: Tomato, lettuce, Chicken and cucumber with vinegar and olive oil.	Piece of chicken breast and veggies	Pork tenderloin with salad and baked potato	Cottage Cheese and dried mango
4	Fortified French Toast	Meal replacement shake or cup of my Power Chili	Turkey burger on whole wheat with lettuce and tomato	Hand full of almonds and serving of dried green mango	Asian Beef Stir Fry	Cottage Cheese and yogurt cup
5	3 egg whites and 1 whole egg with an apple	Meal replacement shake or cup of my Power Chili	Big Salad: Tomato, lettuce, Chicken and cucumber with vinegar and olive oil.	Hand full of almonds and serving of dried green mango	Grilled Fish Tacos	Cottage Cheese and apple
6	1 Cup Egg Beaters and ½ cup steel cut oatmeal	Meal replacement shake or cup of my Power Chili	Chicken fajita wrap (grilled chicken and veggies in a whole wheat wrap)	Can of water packed tuna with low fat mayo and pickles	Steak, baked potatoes and steamed broccoli	Cottage Cheese with Green Salad
7	WTHIW	WTHIW	WTHIW	WTHIW	WTHIW	Cottage Cheese and dried mangos

You may notice I have "WTHIW" for the 7^th day.  One of the criteria is that I don’t have to fully leave my life behind, so either Saturday or Sunday, I have a, “free day” where I can eat whatever I want.

I fully understand the above meal plan has more dairy and meat than may be recommended by Anthony Robbins or Ray Kurzweil; however, this is a life plan – you have to enjoy eating or you won’t follow through.

Also, during the day I’m drinking either green tea or a greens drink (more on this later)

I’m also looking into supplementing with a thermogenic or green coffee extract.  (More on this later).

Workout

I’m not going into particulars here (I'll do that later), but I’m dividing the week up between cardio and weight lifting as follows:

W	Monday	Tuesday	Wed	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	Cardio	Weight Lifting Upper Body	Cardio	Weight Lifting Lower Body	Cardio	Cardio	Walk
2	Weight Lifting Upper Body	Cardio	Weight Lifting Lower Body	Cardio	Weight Lifting Upper Body	Cardio	Walk
3	Weight Lifting Lower Body	Cardio	Weight Lifting Upper Body	Cardio	Weight Lifting Lower Body	Cardio	Walk
4	Cardio	Weight Lifting Upper Body	Cardio	Weight Lifting Lower Body	Cardio	Cardio	Walk

Inside Secret:  Bill Phillips has this down to a science.  You can download the Body for Life Daily Fitness Assessment and The Training –For-Life Experience Daily Progress Reports at: www.bodyforlife.com.

We’ll discuss specific exercises in the future, but for now, you’ll find everything you need at www.bodyforlife.com.

Supplements:

I’m taking a huge amount of supplements that should have a positive effect on my numbers.

We don’t have enough time on the quick start to go into this fully, but suffice it to say you should run on over to www.RayAndTerry.com.  This is Ray Kurzweil’s site.  He has a pretty good question and answer test you should take to figure out your exact supplementation.

Inside Secret:  Most of the supplements you find on Kurzweil’s site can be purchased more cheaply at Sam’s or Costco.

Next Time.

When I discuss health and fitness next, we’ll cover:

•   The top 15 Supplements you should not be without.
•  Five secrets to rev up your metabolism and shred weight.
• A top workout plan to gain muscle and lose fat.

As always, if you have any comments, ideas or products you would recommend or if you just want some advice, drop me a line below.

Doug