From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND
Virtually in every one of my books I talk about the fundamental importance of exercise for everybody, and how exercise creates a healthy foundation upon which to build a thriving body, mind and spirit. And I am very vocal about the fact that the absence of exercise in your life is a major contributing factor to illness and disease and general unwellness. Even Dr. Google agrees with me on that point.
Stay Strong
An increasing number of younger men have been asking me about “fitness” which I believe is the desired outcome of consistent physical activity or exercise. Fitness is a way of being, in terms of physical strength and ability, cardio endurance, and flexibility.
Today I’m going to talk about fitness, and how different exercises like strength training, walking and yoga are essential to fitness for younger men.
But first, let me tell this new athletic generation that I’ve got their backs and I can prove it. Our Team at RnA ReSet has wanted to promote out Recovery Minerals to athletes for years but the athletic community has been targeted by fraudulent supplement companies selling products tainted with drugs and contaminated with toxins and heavy metals. In reaction, clubs will not allow their players to use supplements that are not sports certified. We work with the NSF Certified for Sport Testing Program, which ensures that there are no drugs or contaminants in products. Several of our products are now Certified for Sports and we will be able to keep our athletes healthy with the right minerals and vitamins.
Back to the blog!
What Dr. Google or an MD might say about fitness
You’ll probably get more information from Dr. Google than from your MD about fitness because typically doctors don’t have the time to explain how different types of exercise can contribute to your fitness level.
In a nutshell, Google AI says you can improve your fitness levels with a combination of the following:
- Aerobic exercise: consistent, aerobic exercise includes walking, jogging, swimming
- Strength training: two days a week do exercises that target all muscle groups including squats, push-ups or weight training
- Flexibility and balance: yoga, balance boards and stretching helps flexibility and balance.
What Dr. Google thinks you should eat
Men who are interested in enhancing their fitness are told to follow a healthy diet with lean protein, complex carbs, fruits and vegetables and to limit sugar, processed, fatty foods and alcohol.
What a load of… carbs
While it’s not intended for men who are strength training or doing shorter bouts of exercise, carb loading is a strategy used by endurance athletes to boost the stores of glycogen in their muscles, so they have more fuel to burn and less muscle fatigue. Of course, if you don’t burn off the extra carbs they will end up in fat cells.
Typically, carb loading is done between one and three days before an endurance event of 90 minutes or more of running or cycling. During this time the person eats between 2.5 and 4 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day. This translates to 375 to 600 grams of carbs per day for a 150-pound person. Let me put that amount in perspective. A low carb or Keto diet advises only 50 grams of carbs a day; 350-600 grams is a lot of carbs.
The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of carbs for men is 130 grams per day. As you can imagine, I’ll have a lot to say about this loading of carbs which can lead to digestive problems, weight gain and disordered fat burning capability.
Electrolytes
Dr. Google does want you to drink electrolytes, especially during long, sweaty, intense workouts but otherwise suggests that replenishing sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium is unnecessary if you have a healthy diet and sufficient daily water intake.
Sodium: 500 mg per hour during an exercise/workout, but not to exceed 2,300 mg per day.
Potassium: 3,500 to 4,500 mg per day.
Calcium: 1,500 mg per day.
Magnesium: 400–420 mg per day for men and 310–320 mg per day for women.
Unbelievably, magnesium is typically not added to sports drinks that mostly blast you with sodium, sugar and sometimes caffeine.
What I say about fitness for younger men
It’s important to take honest note of your current level of fitness before entering into any kind of exercise regimen. On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being ideal, peak fitness, take note of where you honestly fall on this scale. You don’t have to share this number so don’t lie to yourself and end up getting hurt.
If you rated yourself at a 7/10 or more, you’re already doing a great deal to enhance your fitness level. If you fall at 6 or under, then I want to make sure that you work incrementally towards your fitness goal.
I must warn you that any intense exercise program, no matter your fitness level, can make you crash. Stop watching those YouTube videos where the 400-pound guy starts running, lifting and doing squats like a pro. That’s all hype – trust me, they started slow.
If you suddenly begin an exercise program that’s way too advanced for your (un)fitness level, you can hit the wall with muscle pain, heart palpitations, and exhaustion. You may just drop the program altogether if you jumped into the deep end instead of starting with some gentle laps.
Walk before you run!
It doesn’t matter what your buddy is doing at the gym, you need to focus on what feels right and sustainable for you.
What’s your (blood) type?
Here’s a system that may give you some clues to the type of exercise your body might prefer. If you are an O blood type, you require lots of exercise to help metabolize an animal protein diet. A good exercise program for you includes vigorous walking, swimming, or bicycling, with yoga thrown in for flexibility and relaxation. As an A blood type, you do better with yoga, tai chi, and walking because on a vegetarian diet you have fewer heavy foods to metabolize and eliminate. Abs and B blood types fit somewhere in between. You can look up websites about the Blood Type Diet for all the details.
Supplements to support your fitness
In addition to the healthy diet, exercise and lifestyle choices that I talk about in all my books, here are some suggestions for supplements that men can get started on to support your fitness goals.
Hydrate
What’s the best way to start? Hydrate with sea salt water and supplement with picometer magnesium and picometer multi-minerals and slowly begin an exercise program –begin by walking!
Add Electrolytes
Sea salted water spiked with picometer magnesium and picometer multiple magnesium
Here’s a quote from one of my previous blogs to emphasize the importance of hydrating and mineralizing when exercising.
Intense exercise can deplete your mineral stores to dangerous levels. All that sweat dripping off your body is loaded with minerals. With new extreme fitness modalities like CrossFit becoming “the new frontier”, and competitiveness increasing to new heights, today’s athlete is demanding more from their body and depleting more minerals than ever. As a result, Sudden Cardiac Deaths are increasing in young athletes¹ due to inadequate hydration and mineral loss. So, what are your options for maintaining a healthy level of nutrients in your system during and after intense exercise?
- Sip sea-salted water to help keep cells hydrated and functioning.
This is the foundation of your hydration and remineralization strategy. Drinking water is great, but if you don’t take enough minerals, water won’t even find its way into your cells and begins to collect in extracellular tissues, especially feet, legs and hands. You can develop “sausage fingers” and swollen ankles. So, spike your water with sea salt. Measure your body weight in lbs. and divide that number in half and drink that many ounces of water a day. Add 1⁄4 tsp of sea salt (for its 72 minerals) in every liter of drinking water. Choose a water with some color to it so you know it still contains minerals.
- Add magnesium to create energy and relieve cramping.
Magnesium’s most important function is the creation of energy in the trillions of cells making up our body. Magnesium is a cofactor in the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in several steps in the Krebs cycle, which is how human cells create energy. Magnesium is also THE Recovery mineral. It relaxes muscles, including the heart. So, it can easily ward off the cramps associated with intense exercise.
- Replace what you sweat out. Add electrolytes.
Electrolytes are positively or negatively charged ions that conduct electrical activity. They are like the motor oil in your car–they don’t make the engine run, but they are essential to keeping your body running smoothly. Proper function of the nervous, cardiac, and muscular systems depends on maintaining adequate electrolyte levels. A lack of electrolytes during exercise can lead to muscle fatigue, dizziness, and nausea.
Water moves to areas of the body where electrolytes are most concentrated. Therefore, electrolytes play a critical role in balancing hydration throughout the body, especially when electrolytes and water are being lost through sweating.
Common electrolytes include magnesium, sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, and bicarbonate. There are many commercially marketed electrolyte drinks you can buy at the corner store, but they’re usually nothing more than sugar water, food coloring, and one or two electrolytes (usually just sodium) – but never magnesium. So, it’s important to find a high-grade source of electrolytes. I recommend a picometer multimineral liquid that can be added to your sea salted magnesium water.
I know you’re reading this blog because you’re already tapped into the kind of information I share about illness and disease and their underlying explanations, solutions and interventions to achieve health and wellness. And I know you’re likely frustrated because you’re in possession of this information that could help someone you care about. Please forward this blog to someone you care about who is interested in disease prevention and longevity for younger men.
Be sure to call our knowledgeable Customer Service if you have any questions or if you want to take your supplement program further.
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future
