Vinegar: The new miracle salad dressing

The fat-loss wonder that also does windows!



It is the only window cleaner I ever put on my salad. Now, it helps you shred fat, too!!!

Ordinary household vinegar -- used to make oil-and-vinegar salad dressings or pickles -- appears to turn on genes that help fight fat, researchers in Japan report.
Vinegar has been used as a cure-all for many ills for centuries. Modern medical evidence is slowly adding credence to some of the claims. In recent years, research has suggested that the main chemical in vinegar, called acetic acid, can help control blood pressure and blood sugar.
 
The current findings suggest that vinegar might help a person lose weight or fight obesity. The researchers gave acetic acid or water to mice via a stomach tube. All were provided a high-fat diet to eat normally.
Researchers found that the mice fed the acetic acid (vinegar) developed up to 10% less body fat than mice who drank only water. The amount of food eaten by the mice was not affected.
It’s believed that acetic acid turns on genes that produce proteins that help the body break down fats. This action helps prevent fat buildup in body, and thwarts weight gain.
So consider finding a way to make vinegar a regular part of your diet. The easiest and most nutritious way is probably a daily salad with vinegar and oil dressing!
But if you choose to drink your vinegar mixed with water, drink it from the bucket BEFORE you wash your windows with it!

The findings are scheduled to be published in the July 8, 2009 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The Fit Doc's Check in! 5/25/09

The Fit Doc's Check In!


Summer is finally here. (It may have been around a while where you live, but just recently came to my neck of the woods in Wisconsin!)

Watch those margaritas and junk-food barbecues. You are an athlete in training. Don't mess up all that hard work.

Three quick tips:
1. If you will be drinking, have a sparkling water before your first and after every alcoholic beverage.
2. Eat a healthy snack before you go so you won't be as tempted to pig out on chips and taco dip!
3. Talk about your workout program. Whichever one you are doing, tell friends about it! This will keep it at the front of your mind and remind you that you don't want to sabotage your goals!


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Kudos:

Two notes courtesy of Fit Doc Team Coach Todd Stanich. He's coaching a couple of people who are having great early success:

Louise, from BC reports:

"Hi Todd thanks for the info on supplements. I will order some from the web site. I try very hard to eat one ingredent foods only. You know real veggies real fruit and I limit my dairy.

I'm not sure how often we should take our measurements but I wanted to know if my six turbo jam workouts last week really made a difference. Wow did they ever. I lost a total of 4 inches and lost 3 lbs.

It was great to see results that fast and has made me kick it up a notch! "

Louise is on the Beachbody Turbo Jam program

Scott, from Wisconsin reports:

"Pretty much been sticking to the meal plan and have lost 7 lbs this week..."

Scott is is in Week 1 of Beachbody P90X

Congratulations Louise & Scott on the awesome progress! Keep up the great work!

A Doctor in Network Marketing?

I get funny looks from time to time.

People look at me, kind of confused and curious. "What is a doctor doing in network marketing?"

If you asked me if I would be in this business a few years ago, I would definitly have said no. But, obviously, I changed my position about it. The following tells why.

First of all, I found products that I was excited about. I had personally used p90X as well as Beachbody's supplements and online support community. Since I had never in my life gotten results anywhere near the type I had gotten with Beachbody, I was already excited about, and was already sharing that excitement with others. It was about results. I had found something that worked for me, so I naturally wanted to let my friends know so they could get great results, too.

Secondly, I realized that by coaching others to get fit, I was more consistent with my own program. I wanted to be a good example to the people I coach, which made me more consistent with my own healthy lifelstyle.

But gradually, as I learned more and more about the business model, I have learned how smart it is financially for me (and almost everyone else) to become involved in network marketing.

There are 3 big business reasons I'm in network marketing.

1. Leverage.
In medicine I put in long hours, and while I make a good income, when I am not working, I am not earning. Robert Kiyosaki calls it the E quadrant. It is the place most doctors, lawyers, and accountants live. It means that there is a limit to my income, because I am the only person generating it.

In the MLM business, I can create a passive income stream in my spare time that earns money whether I am working at it or not. It gives me a way to leverage other people's time in addition to my own. I do not have that ability in my medical practice.

2. Income Diversification.
As too many of us have learned recently, even jobs that seemed secure can be subject to loss. In the case of medicine, we face declining reimbursement from insurance, uncertainty about government run healthcare, and increasing competiion from other hospitals and provider groups. What appeared as a very stable career may not be as safe as once thought. Building a secondary business is a hedge, or safety net, to protect against an uncertain future.

3. Investment returns.
Some people look at network marketing businesses as a waste of time. While more millionaires have been produced in MLM that any other industry, they point out that most people only make a couple hundred dollars a month. That is the absolute wrong way to look at it! The fact that with a reasonable amount of work and very little investment, people can make hundreds of extra dollars a month is one of the best parts about MLM.

I look at it from the perspective of, "What would I have to invest to make the passive income I make with Beachbody?"

For instance, if you made $200 per week with Beachbody, that comes out to about $10,000 per year. Not exactly chump change.

But what would you have to invest to earn that same amount of money?

If we consider the average return of the stock market to be about 8%, then you would need to invest $125,000 in the market to earn that same $10,000.
Of course that kind of consistent return is far from guaranteed! From 1999 to 2009, the total return was negative. You could have put $10,000 in the market in 1999 and walked away 10 years later with $1000 less than you started with! And I'm sure many of us are still licking the wounds from the astounding 40% drop in one year that we recently went through.

If we look at a safer investment like CD's or money markets, what kind of investment would you need to earn $10,000 per year? At today's rates of about 2%, you would need to invest half a million dollars to walk away with a $10,000 return!

So as you can see, network marketing can give you returns far greater than with the market, with minimal financial investment and little risk. An investment of effort at the start can easily lead to an income of $200 a week (or far, far greater). To get that same return I would need to invest $125,000 in the stock market and hope for a good year or half a million dollars in a CD or money market account.

Network marketing can provides the kind of return even a doctor could get excited about.

After knowing that, if people still look at me funny, it must be because I have a drip of Shakeology on my chin!

Slash your risk of heart disease!

AHA Urges Exercise to Cut Cardiac Risk in Diabetics

(Adapted from medscape) June 10, 2009 (Dallas, Texas) — At least two and half hours per week, spread out over at least three sessions--that's the amount of moderate-intensity exercise recommended by the American Heart Association for reducing cardiovascular risk in people with type 2 diabetes, according to a scientific statement published online June 8, 2009 in Circulation.

That's 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, 5 days a week.

If you just can't find 30 munutes 5 days a week, 30 minutes of "vigorous-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise" 3 times per week can be an alternative, but both options are considered minimums, according to the document. In addition, "moderate- to high-intensity" resistance training three times per week is highly recommended.

The document is rich with evidence from the literature to support the recommendations.

It reviews likely physiologic mechanisms by which exercise improves CV risk factors, such as improvements in insulin sensitivity and blood vessel function, as well as potential risks of exercise training. Recommendations on counseling and other strategies to help people stick with it are included. And it describes how some patients, especially the many who may start out deconditioned or are limited by comorbidities, can begin lightly and work their way up to the training goals.

References
Marwick TH, Hordern MD, Miller T, et al. Exercise training for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Impact on cardiovascular risk. A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation 2009; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.192521. Available at: http://circ.ahajournals.org.

How to Step Away from the Donuts!

"Just back away from the donuts, sir, and no one will get hurt."

Even a Beachbody Coach will get tempted from time to time.

As you know, I just started another round of P90X this week. I'm happy to report that I passed my first big test of this round.

Yesterday, was Wednesday. In our operating room, Wednesday means Maris day. Maris, a volunteer who works every Wednesday on second shift, LOVES to bake. She's pretty darn good at it, too. Maris bakes enough goodies to give a sugar high to a medium sized army. She brings plates, tins, and pans full of every home-made goody you could imagine to a little room just off the recovery room every Wednesday evening.

Picture that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where the Pirates are in a cave filled with all the Treasure of Davy Jones, except instead of gold and jewels, the cave is filled with brownies and chocolate macadamia nut cookies!

Yesterday, after working for 13 hours, I dropped a patient off in the recovery room only to see Maris's smiling face. That could only mean one thing- the cave was stocked!

I thought about it for a few seconds, then decided to check it out.

All I could think of was not how good it would taste, but how good it would feel to keep on walking. So I did. And let me tell you, it felt great!

There are two reasons I was easily able to resist the temptation of the goody cave.

Number one- I had prepared ahead for a long day and packed enough clean food so that I could eat several small meals throughout the day and not get overly hungry.

Number two- I had "Stacked my Why's." You may have heard me talk about the importance of your "WHY" in getting you to change your behavior to achieve your goals. Stacking whys is simply finding multiple reasons to adopt the behavior you want and fight off the behavior you want to avoid. My usual whys include wanting to be healthy, live long, be able to chase around small children in the next few years, and to be a good example as a coach. In addition, a new why is to get in great shape and look good for my wedding in 3 months.

All I had to do was think about my whys, and my course of action became clear. Walking away was the only choice.

As Tony Horton asks, "Which will it be for you today? The pleasure of discipline or the pain of regret?"

Slowly, carefully, step away from the donuts!