All Entries Tagged With: "health"

Preventative Health & Medical Diagnostics

Whether you are fifteen or fifty, depending on your lifestyle and family’s history of disease, you may be at increased risk for specific medical conditions or currently suffering from ailments without even being aware of the causes.

While proper nutrition and adequate physical activity are both important components of preventative health and maintaining a healthy body, there are other factors, both environmental and genetic, which affect our overall health.  Since illnesses, diseases, and nutritional deficiencies can often exhibit similar symptoms, it can be difficult to determine what the exact cause of a specific problem is.

Whether you’ve displayed specific signs or symptoms of a disease and are looking to determine the cause, or simply want to assess your current state of health, the most reliable option for evaluating disease, deficiencies or illness is through medical diagnostic testing.  There are a variety of testing methods and equipment used to diagnose specific medical ailments or conditions, each unique to the particular problem and affected body system.

The application of a ‘routine medical testing’, such as blood sampling, is typically for broad diagnostic purposes.  For example if you are admitted to the emergency room with various symptoms of illness but no apparent cause, doctors will run a panel of tests and blood work to obtain a general profile of your health.  Standard diagnostic tests are used as a baseline for medical practitioners to establish medical diagnosis. These tests are usually non-invasive or minimally invasive, involving biological samples testing using either blood or urine.  There are however, other various diagnostic procedures used to identify and diagnose specific disease, illness, deficiencies or hampered organ and body function.

Since at Lucas James Personal Training we’re concerned with educating our clients and overall health, we’ve taken the time to briefly describe the most common diagnostic tests for various ailments. 

• Kidney Function: Involves a urinalysis diagnostic test for routine urine examination to identify abnormal cells, debris, bacterial infection, and bio-chemicals that are indicative of various illnesses. A urine culture can be created from the urine sample to grow a larger bacteria colony in a controlled laboratory environment to diagnose any bacterial urine infections.

• Skin Cancer Screening: Involves a semi-invasive procedure where physicans take biopsies (skin samples) of abnormally appearing growths or areas of the skin in order to detect cancerous cells, precancerous cells, infections, and other abnormal skin conditions.  There are both needle biopsies, used to take a small sample of the area in interest to test, and more surgical procedures to remove tumors where abnormal areas of the skin are removed to test for cancer or other skin disease.

• Lung Function: The most important indicator of body oxygenation is Oxygen Saturation testing. This is an indication of how well your blood cells are transporting oxygen to the rest of your body i.e. organs, muscles etc. Your red blood cells must carry sufficient oxygen to your body tissues to you’re your alive. Normal O2 saturation is 95%-100%.  Individuals with lung disease or other respiratory conditions will have either fewer red blood cell production or inhibited function resulting in decreased oxygen saturation

• Heart Function:  Stress tests are among the best diagnostic tools for diagnosing heart disease, as well as a useful method for estimating the risk of developing heart disease in individuals with heightened risk factors such as hyperlipidemia or high cholesterol. In order to determine how efficient your heart function is, i.e. how hard your heart has to work to send blood to the rest of your body, physicians will implement a stress test, also known as a ‘treadmill test’ or ‘exercise tolerance test’. This measurement indicates if your heart is receiving enough blood flow and oxygen when working under stress, such as during exercise. Stress tests are often given to individuals experiencing chest pain or other symptoms of cardiovascular disease, based on previous medical examination and EKG monitoring.  The test can also be used as a means for continual assessment during treatments for heart disease to gauge the safety of a prescribed exercise program.

• Cholesterol Testing & Lipids profile: is a simple blood test that assesses your high-density Lipoprotein levels (HDL) or ‘Good Cholesterol’, Low-density Lipoprotein level (LDL) or ‘Bad Cholesterol’ and total blood triglyceride levels (fat).  Each of these are indicators of high cholesterol and fat which when elevated, are risk factors for various metabolic diseases and cardiovascular disease.

• Body / Cellular Inflammation: (Hs-CRP) testing through blood samples, measures C-reactive protein levels which when elevated are indicative of  body inflammation.  Inflammation doesn’t necessarily mean a swollen body, but is a general measure of disease due to bacterial, viral, fungal infections and general body stress due to a diseased state.  For example, individuals with cancer often have elevated CRP levels due to the stress on their body cells.

• Liver function: Can be tested by examining the levels of specific enzymes that are indicative of liver damage.  For example, ALT and AST are biomarkers of liver injury measured through blood testing. Both levels are elevated with damage to the liver and reduced liver function.

• Diabetes: A diabetic state is typically determined by blood glucose & insulin resistance testing.  Both types of the disease will cause hampered insulin function.  Type-I diabetes is a genetic disorder where the pancreatic beta-cells that create our bodies insulin are impaired.  Due to the lack of functioning insulin, our body can’t take sugar from the blood to our organs and muscles to use as energy.  With type-II diabetes, poor diet causes hampered insulin efficiency and a similar end effect.  When specific conditions are concerned, such as inhibited blood flow due to capillary deterioration of the eyes, doctors can see changes in the blood vessels with a special test called fluorescein angiography. During this test, a chemical will temporarily make the blood vessels fluorescent to show any leaks. In terms of decreased eye function, the substance can be injected into an arm or hand  while during an eye examination.

• Back/ Spine/ Nervous system: An MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a noninvasive technique used in visualizing different body tissues. An MRI of the spine can reveal any abnormalities in the vertebral discs, nerves, spinal cord, and surrounding back muscles.  A benefit of MRI use is that it does emit any radiation.  It functions by using radio waves, magnetic fields and  computer processing to create in-depth images. MRI pictures are created from multiple segmented slides or slices, forming a cross-section of the area being viewed. Due to the spacing of the image slices, doctors get detailed representation of a particular area with the advantage of a scaled map.

• Bone Density/ Osteoporosis- Both men and women older than 50 will typically begin to lose bone thickness and density as they age. Exercise and various nutritional interventions and pharmaceutical treatments can help prevent and even restore bone loss. When bones are thin the condition is reffered to as osteopenia. When they are severely thin and structurally compromised the condition is called osteoporosis. A test called bone densitometry can use x-rays to determine the thickness and strength of your bones for diagnosis. There are different types of equipment and x-ray scanners such as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and radiographic absorptiometry.  However, there are also other methods that do not use x-rays such as quantitative ultrasound.  These measurement are important because bone density tests provide a precise measure of whether you have osteopenia or osteoporosis.

• Gastro-Intestinal – To examine any upper GI disorder a barium swallow or upper GI series is performed.   An x-ray test is used to examine the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine. It can be useful for diagnosing G.I cancers, ulcers, narrowing of the esophagus, and some instances of inflammation in the intestine. Swallowing liquid barium allows for contrast on the x-rays. The barium temporarily coats the lining of the upper GI tract, making the outline of these organs visible on the x ray.

• Anemia & Vitamin Deficiencies:  People with anemia have fewer red blood cells than normal. In vitamin related anemia,  related to a lack of vitamin B-12 and folate, red blood cells appear large and underdeveloped. In advanced deficiencies, the other components of whole blood, white blood cells and platelets, appear abnormal under microscope inspection as well.  Since  Folate and vitamin B-12 deficiencies can exhibit similar symptoms, they are both measured simultaneously.

How to Read Nutrition Facts, Information & Labeling

Choosing between McDonalds, Starbucks or Subway might be the toughest dietary choice you’ve had to make recently.  But for the rest of us who struggle with interpreting the nutrition information and data on a nutrition facts label at the super market, it often feels like we’re reading an ancient manuscript.  That’s why our expert nutritionist Jason Apfel, at Lucas James Personal Training, has broken down food labeling into a few simple steps so you can easily understand all that nutrition mumbo-jumbo!

If you’re concerned with maintaining a healthy body weight, the most important nutrition fact to note is proper serving size and portioning for each food or meal. With this in mind, the first place to look on the nutrition facts label is the serving size and the number of servings per package.  Why is this so important? Well, while you may be eating healthy foods, it’s just as important to eat the right amount of food to ensure healthy weight maintenance, weight-loss or growth, all of which depend on your total daily calorie intake.

Remember, when you take in more calories than your burn throughout the day, even when engaging in exercise, you’ll gain weight. Vis-versa, if you eat less than you burn, you’ll loose weight.  When weight-loss is concerned, you need to reduce your calories by a total of 3,500 calories per week, or 500 each day, to loose one pound of body weight.  You can keep track of calories through noting the proper serving size on any food product package.  Serving sizes are now standardized for similar foods to make it easy to compare like-products.  The measure for serving size is even provided in the same units, such as cups or pieces per serving, to make items easier to compare.                                         *American Heart Association Image

Aside from the obvious reasons, why is serving size important? It ultimately influences the listed amounts of everything else on the nutrition label such as carbohydrates, fat, protein etc. This is because the amount of each listed nutrient is based on the portion size.  For example: the larger the portion, the more grams of each nutrient listed. Often foods that are unhealthy, such as butter or processed chips, have relatively small serving sizes to make them appear healthier than they are! Ask yourself “How many servings do I consume”? To help you keep track of calories.

When you hear the term ‘calories’ you may think amount weight.  However, calories actually provide a measure of how much energy you receive from eating a given amount of a specific food. Calories come from the three main macronutrients Carbohydrates, Fats and Proteins, not from micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. Each of the main macronutrients contains a different amount of energy or calories per gram.  For example, carbohydrates and proteins contain 4 calories per gram while fats contain 9 calories per gram, making them more calorically dense.   Aside from the biochemical structure of fats and the way they are metabolized, fats are ‘worse’ for us when weight-loss is concerned, because they contain more calories –making it harder to loose weight.

Some foods are also higher in calories than others. For example, fruits and vegetables tend to be lower in calories, especially fat, and are devoid of saturated fats found in animal products.  Plant foods also typically contain more minerals and vitamins than animal products do.  On the flip side, animal products such as milk and meat tend to be higher in protein content and important minerals such as iron and calcium.

Since calories are really a measure of energy, the calorie section of the label can help you manage your weight through energy balance as previously described. It’s crucial to remember that the number of servings and portion size you consume determines the actual number of calories you take in.

Nowadays, when deciding on your favorite restaurant and fast-food items the calorie content and even nutritional information is available on the menu depending on where you live.  This may be startling, but recent legislation had required every large restaurant chain in the nation, including fast food chains, to provide caloric information on their menus and drive-throughs. This new federal law passed in 2011 by the Obama administration requires restaurant chains that are comprised of twenty or more locations to disclose the caloric content of their food items, as well as a description of the daily recommended calorie intake for a healthy person (~2000 calories per day. The legislation takes this one step further, requiring that vending machines also list the amount of calories in the food items they’re selling.

So next time you’re considering a Big-Mac at McDonalds, Frappucino from Starbucks, or tuna sub from Subway, you might just be staring down at a sign, reminding you how bad some of these food choices are.

Just how bad are some of these items & what should you eat instead? Well, just for fun we’ll fill you in!

At Subway:

AVOID- Their 6″ version of a Tuna Sammy has 530 calories and 31 grams of fat, and over 1000 mg of sodium (more than half your recommended daily intake).

The Healthiest Subway Options:

-6″ Ham Sub has 261 Calories, 4.5g fat, 17g protein and 39g carbs

-6″ Roast Beef has 264 Calories, 4.5g fat, 18 g protein and 39g carbs

-6″ Roasted Chicken Breast has 311 Calories, 6g fat, 25g protein and 40g carbs

-6″ Subway Club has 294 Calories, 5g fat, 22g protein and 40g carbs

-6″ Veggie Delight w/o cheese has 200 Calories, 2.5g fat, 7g protein and 37g carbs

-6″ Honey Mustard Turkey w/ Cucumber has 275 Calories, 3.5 g fat, 22g protein, 42g carbs.

At Startbucks:

AVOID – A Peppermint White Hot Chocolate has 730 calories, A Mint Chocolate-chip Frappucino has 680 calories, and a Tazzo Green Tea Frappucino even has 650 calories!

AVOID the Blueberry Scone with 460 calories and 22 grams of fat.

The Best coffee:  Drip coffee has only 5 calories! A little extra if you decide to add a splash of dairy.

The Best breakfast selection:  Starbuck’s ‘Perfect Oatmeal’ is fiber-packed with heart healthy oats and only has 140 calories. If you add their ‘Perfect Nut Medley’ containing almonds, pecans and walnuts add an additional 100 calories to the total.

At McDonalds:

AVOID – The Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese contains 740 Calories, 42g of fat (19g saturated fat) and 1380mg of sodium. Even their Grilled Chicken Club has  570 Calories,  21g of fat (7g saturated fat) and 1720mg sodium (almost a total day’s worth of sodium!!!)

The Healthiest McDonald Options are:

-The English Muffin with only 140 Calories, 2g Fat, 4g Protein and 25g Carbs

-The Chicken McGrill w/o mayo has 340 Calories, 7g Fat, 26g Protein and 45 g Carbs

-Their Hamburger has 280 Calories, 10g Fat, 12g Protein and 35g Carbs.

Blood Type Diets: A Controversial Dieting Phenomena

If you’re looking to a diet for weight-loss solutions you may have recently stumbled across the ‘Eat Right for Your Type’ diet, otherwise known as the ‘Blood-type’ diet which encourages people to eat certain foods and avoid others based on their A, B, AB, or O blood type. Scottsdale, AZ based celebrity trainer Lucas James shed some light on the ‘Blood-type’ diet plan.

The ‘blood-type’ diet was created by naturopathic doctor Peter J. D’Adamo the author of Eat Right for Your Type: The Individualized Diet Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer & Achieving Your Ideal Weight.  D’Adamo proposed the diet under the notion that an individual’s blood type affects digestive function, where some foods are good for people of one blood type, and bad for others.

D’Adamo’s diet is based on the idea that lectins, or sugar binding proteins, react differently each different human blood-type.  Lectins in general have a role in the biological recognition of cells. For example, some viruses use lectin proteins to attach themselves to host cells during infection.  Dr. D’Adamo believes if you eat foods containing lectins incompatible with your blood type, you may experience inflammation, bloating, a slower metabolism, even diseases such as cancer.  However, such health claims have yet to be substantiated by the scientific and medical communities. The established biochemical research available, has yet to have found any difference in how the lectins react with a given human ABO blood type.  On the contrary, research shows that blood-type specific lectins are not found in foods (aside from two rare cases but occur more frequently in non-food plants or animals.

In term of nutrition, the ‘blood-type’ diet may suit enthusiastic dieters who don’t want to be involved in tracking calories or fat, but may restrict others looking for variety in their diets. This challenge can be made greater if there are more than one person in the same household with different blood types trying to follow the diet.  While aside from the science, there is nothing inherently wrong with the dietary recommendations for the diet, it can be difficult to maintain due to the strict guidelines.

For those interested, Dr. D’Adamo’s recommendations for each blood type are as follows:

Type O-People with type O blood fare best on intense physical exercise and animal proteins and less well on dairy products and grains, says Dr. D’Adamo. The leading reason for weight gain among Type O’s is the gluten found in wheat products and, to a lesser extent, lentils, corn, kidney beans, and cabbage, Dr. D’Adamo explains. Ideal exercises for Type O’s include aerobics, martial arts, contact sports, and running.

Type A-Those with blood type A, however, are more naturally suited to a vegetarian diet and foods that are fresh, pure, and organic. As Type A’s are predisposed to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, “I can’t emphasize how critical this dietary adjustment can be to the sensitive immune system of Type A,” says Dr. D’Adamo. Type A’s prefer calming, centering exercise, such as yoga and tai chi.

Type B-Type B’s have a strong immune system and a tolerant digestive system and tend to resist many of the severe chronic degenerative illnesses, or at least survive them better than the other blood types. Type B’s do best with moderate physical exercise requiring mental balance, such as hiking, cycling, tennis, and swimming.

Type AB-Blood type AB, the most recent, in terms of evolution, of the four groups and an amalgam of types A and B, is the most biologically complex. For this group, a combination of the exercises for types A and B works best, says Dr. D’Adamo.

All dietary recommendations and related views of the blood-type diet have been adapted directly from Dr. D’Adamo’s website: http://www.dadamo.com/program.htm

Amazing Gluts: Workouts for a Bigger Butt

Working out can be difficult, even with specific goals in mind.   Here are a few tips from the pros for those looking to enhance the glamour muscles we like to refer to as your booty!

Your gluteal muscles or ‘gluts’ comprise what we commonly refer to as your rump, behind, butt, booty…well you get the point! There are three gluteal muscles in total that make up the buttocks; the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus.  The gluteus maximus is the largest muscles of the three and one of the strongest muscles in our bodies.  Structurally speaking, the gluteal maximus inserts at the iliotibial or ‘IT’ band that runs from inside our thigh around the side of the hip to the femur.  The primary action of your gluts helps you move your thigh out to the side of your body, as well as rotate and extend your leg backwards. Since the butt is comprised of more than one muscle, there are a variety of exercises that can help you to strengthen and shape your gluts.

Exercises that use compound movements, or movements that involve accessory leg muscles can help to increase the size, shape, and power of your butt. A few examples of compound exercises include squats, plie squats and lunges, which involve multiple muscle groups including the hamstrings and quadriceps, along with the gluts.

Before starting your exercises, consult with a personal trainer or exercise physiologist who can explain and demonstrate proper form, alignment, and weight. Each of these components are crucial for safe and effective exercise.  One-on-one training accounts for individual fitness and health, which can help individuals to quickly reach their goals.

Always begin with a 10-minute warm up by walking, jogging or running on a treadmill, elliptical or other cardio equipment, as a bike, to increase your heart rate and the blood flow to your muscles.  Remember that when size is your goal, stretching prior to exercise can help increase muscle fiber length and enhance flexibility and range of motion during your workout.  This preliminary warm up will help to decrease your risk of injury!

Here are a few exercises to help firm, tighten and enhance your tooshie!

Squats
Stick your butt out, bending slightly first at the hips (3 – 4 count), then at the knees, going down until your upper leg becomes parallel to the floor. (The idea is to simulate sitting back in a chair.) Your knees are not to extend past your toes. Aim for a 90-degree angle between your thigh and your shin. Do 8 – 12 repetitions per set, depending on your fitness and experience level.

Plie squats
With your legs in a plie-position — legs apart a little wider than your hip width, toes slightly turned out so they are pointing away from your midline, and hands on hips — squat down to no farther than a 90-degree angle, making sure that your knee does not extend past your toes. Unlike the regular squat, you don’t bend forward at the hips, just straight down. Do 8 – 12 repetitions.

Dumbbell Squat

This weight training exercise is going to give your butt a round, firm look. In other words, it helps you develop your gluteal muscles. And by building muscle, you are increasing your metabolic rate, which accordingly gives you the benefit of fat burning. Stand with feet hip-width apart and squat with abs in and knees behind your toes. Squeeze butt to stand up straight. Repeat for 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps. Add weights for more intensity.

Pilates Hip Lift

Lie on your back with your calves resting on a swiss ball. Bend your knees and keep your legs together. Exhale and roll your bottom and lower back off the mat very slowly until your legs are straight and your body is in a straight line.  Inhale and stay in this position for about 5 seconds. Squeeze your butt and the back of your legs.

Exhale and roll back to your starting position. Repeat 10 times.

Static lunges
Stagger your legs, one in front of the other, far enough apart so that your front knee does not go past your toe, forming a 90-degree angle (upper leg parallel to the floor) as you lunge forward. Allow your back knee to bend down to assist in lowering the body; it should approach, but not touch, the floor. The idea is to drop the back knee while the front leg stabilizes the back leg and the body. Switch legs and repeat. Start off doing 8 – 12 lunges per leg. As you advance, you can work up to 20 lunges per leg.

Hamstring curls
This is performed using a machine at the gym. Lying face down, position your body on the machine with your knees just below the edge of the pad and your ankles under the rollers. Knees need to be slightly bent. Press down with your hips as you slowly curl your heels towards your butt. Do 8 – 12 repetitions.

Leg extensions
Using the machine that resembles a chair, place your legs under a pad and lift your legs until they extend to form a straight line. Start with minimal weight, and be careful not to hyperextend your legs out to a straight line. You don’t want your knees to lock. Do 8 – 12 repetitions.

Stair Climb

Walking up the stairs / walking on a treadmill on an incline or up a hill
Walking uphill uses all leg muscles, including the gluts. When walking on a treadmill, pick a speed that you are able to walk on a grade/incline of at least 2 percent; gradually work your way up in grade as your fitness level increases. For walking up stairs, similar to stairs at a stadium, use long strides, allowing your lower body to do the work while your upper body acts as a stabilizer; keep your abs tight and pump your arms. When walking down stairs, be careful not to allow all of your body weight to come down at once; this incorporates your lower body as well and protects your knees.

Biking

Biking is an incredible cardio workout for your heart and targets almost every muscle in your hips, thighs and booty. Pedaling and balancing during side-to-side weight shifts demand a lot of work from your gluts. Your butt, in short, is the main source of your cycling power. Biking, therefore, initiates strenuous movements that can tone up your butt much faster than all of the above exercises combined.

2011 New Year’s Resolution to Lose Weight?

Is your 2011 New Year’s Resolution to lose weight, start exercising or to get healthy? Celebrity personal trainer, Lucas James has special weight loss plan designed just for men and women! Start a fitness training program today and get the results you deserve!

When you work with Lucas James you will receive the following benefits!

• Quick Body Fat Loss
• Fast Weight Loss
• Inches off Wast and Legs
• Loss of Overall Body Fat
• Body Shaping and Sculpting
• Mental Clarity and Focus
• More Sexual Appeal
• Increase Energy
• Better Attitude About Body
• High Self-Esteem
• Cardiovascular Conditioning and Fitness
• Increasing Endurance
• Lower Resting Heart Rate
• Better Looking Skin
• Thicker Hair
• Increased Sports Performance and Strength
• Improved Muscle Strength,
• Better Muscle endurance, and Muscle Flexibility
• Improving Coordination and Balance
• Enhancing Immunity to Sickness and Diseases
• Reducing Stress and Anxiety
• Increasing Libido, Performance and Size
• Overall More Attractive

New Year’s Resolution Special!

- 2 Weeks FREE Personal Training

- $100 Worth of Supplements and Vitamins

- Custom Meal Plan and Diet!

- Professional Workout Program!

Call! 602-400-8506

*Valid for a limited time only, call for rules and regulations.