Is a low fat or low carbohydrate diet better? Is paleo a fad or the real deal? Can I still eat whole grains without getting a leaky gut? Should I take a calcium supplement? How do I get enough Omega-3 fatty acids? Do I really need to fork over double the price for organic blueberries? Is it really necessary to kill myself with high intensity interval training five days a week? What about free weights vs. machines, or cross-fit versus team sports, or running vs. swimming?

These are the questions that might cause anxiety-induced night sweats if you dare to delve into the alligator pits of health and wellness advice. The information space on this subject is a mess—a minefield of contradictions and confusion infused with corporate influence and the biased perspectives of health gurus like Chuck Norris selling their scientifically tested elixirs guaranteed to bring us all health and longevity if only we buy and subscribe to their new fountain of youth.

These rabbit holes of contradiction and confusion are too easy to get trapped in only to give up and take the easy out of fast food and couch surfing. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I have drawn from my own health journey and in-depth interviews with three local experts to boil down the confusion into some universal truths. In this article you will find no moneyed influence, no biased attachment to agenda-based scientific studies, and no new age tricks or fountain of youth nonsense. And, let me spoil the plot a little bit early: It’s not that complicated.

Asking the Wrong Questions and the Importance of Nature

Let’s start by dispelling the question in the title. The ongoing debate between low carbohydrate and low fat diets is an exercise in futility. You can find reputable scientific studies and their associated health guru advocates to support either perspective. The problem is that it’s very much the wrong question to ask.

When I interviewed my three expert sources for this article, I asked a different question: What are the basic universal truths of health and wellness that apply to all of us? Their answers had absolutely nothing to do with finding the right mix of carbs and fats.

Mike Aguilar is the owner of Start Fresh Fitness and is a registered dietitian and multi-certified personal trainer. He is passionate about his craft and, as I write this, is still inundating my inbox with profound thoughts and advice on health and fitness. His universal foundational principles took me a bit by surprise. Expecting him to start with eliminating added sugar and processed foods (which I will get to later in the article), Aguilar said “water, sleep, and exposure to nature.”

Now, most of us know that sleep, hydration, and getting outside are important. But, what is the connection to nutrition and diet? “These things have a big impact on how we process food,” Aguilar told me. “More stress leads to poor eating habits. Bad sleep contributes to poor digestion.”

Aguilar encouraged me to think of the human body as its own ecosystem. Nature ecologists know that a healthy ecosystem consists of interrelated components and processes. When aspects of an ecosystem are removed or degraded, it causes ecological damage or even system failure.

In the human body, the equivalent of ecological damage can take the form of inflammation, metabolic disorders, obesity, and other chronic ailments. Addressing, or preventing, these degradations of our biological ecosystems requires a holistic perspective, starting not with what we eat, but with more fundamental aspects of how we exist. Things as simple as learning how to breathe more deeply and deliberately, or walking through the trees, or seeking real social interaction.

Aguilar explained that we humans are wired to move when we are stressed. But in the sedentary life that many of us live, our most stressful moments often come at times when movement is restricted, like sitting in traffic, or stuck in a cubicle with a boss breathing down our neck. This lack of a stress outlet can then lead to inflammation and pain, which can then lead to depression, which can result in stress eating. It’s a vicious cycle.

When it comes to food, Aguilar suggests a mindset change to be more deliberate with the entire food consumption process. Make the process of buying, preparing, cooking, eating, and cleaning up a deliberately prioritized and joyful part of the day. Revel in the healthy food choices we have and then relish the process and the nourishment gained. Creating a habit of prioritizing this as a lifestyle choice will make it easier to focus on healthy choices and to reject the quick fix, which is often the less healthy option.

“It’s amazing how many clients I’ve had,” said Aguilar, “who struggle to carve out a dedicated 20 or 30 minutes to eat without stress or distraction.” This is not just about making healthier food choices. Our stress levels when we eat, according to Aguilar, influence how we process what we eat. “You can’t rest and digest your food when you are eating in a fight or flight mode.” Stress eating, or eating in a stressful environment, actually increases fat storage and indigestion regardless of what it is that we are eating.

Food Responses and Blood Sugar

Dana Sowards is a nutrition consultant, board certified sports dietitian, and owner of adashofdana.us, a performance nutrition website and business. When I spoke with Dana, the enthusiasm and commitment to her profession were apparent.

I asked Sowards the same question as I asked Aguilar: What are the universal principles of a healthy lifestyle that can apply to everyone? “I love this topic,” Sowards said, “because there is so much noise out there.”

“It’s really pretty simple,” said Sowards. “It’s about tuning into what makes us feel our best.” Okay, that is a simple concept, but I sensed that the complication comes with the execution. As we discussed this I recalled Aguilar’s advice of being more deliberate with our food consumption. Here Sowards focused more on being more deliberate with our food responses. How did you feel after dinner? How did you sleep that night? Do you have regular digestion processes?

This does seem like a bit of common sense. But how often do we really take the time to think about how the last meal made us feel physically and mentally? How often do we evaluate our energy levels and sleep patterns in association with what and when we eat? Rather than starting with a specific regimen, Sowards suggests a process of experimentation and observation.

Getting into more specifics, Sowards suggests that the single most important clinical indicator of dietary and metabolic health is blood sugar. And, more specifically, it’s the extent to which our blood sugar fluctuates throughout the day. “How we manage blood sugar,” Sowards said, “is the center of our metabolic health.” It has less to do with the ratio of carbs to fats and much more to do with the quality of the carbs and fats we ingest. “If we have drastic swings in blood sugar,” Sowards said, “the fall on the other end [of the sugar high] causes a craving for more sugar.” And we are back to another vicious cycle.

How do we smooth over our blood sugar peaks and valleys? This is where the quality of our food comes into play, and here again, we find some simple universal truths that apply to everyone. First, we should minimize added sugar and highly processed foods.

The Importance of Whole Foods

Erik Hansen is a holistic health, wellness, and performance coach and owner of Enliveenergy.com. His answer to my question was a simple but profound one-liner: “Whole foods will always be our best food choice,” said Hansen.

This tied into where Sowards was going with choosing the right foods to regulate blood sugar. But, what, exactly, are whole foods? “A whole food is exactly how it comes from nature,” said Hansen. “Processed foods will always create a nutritional deficiency. Nature never isolates anything.”

“But buying whole foods is more difficult and expensive, isn’t it?” I asked. Hansen wasn’t having that. “Is it really easier to buy fast food?” He challenged. “Highly processed foods create an emotion in us,” Hansen said. “There is an art and science [used in the food industry] to create a flavor-addictive, or hyper-palatable food profile.”

This brings us once again back to Aguilar’s advice, reiterated by both Sowards and Hansen, of being more in tune and deliberate with our relationship to food. Part of this, as Hansen clarified, is about breaking away from the influence and emotions that are created by the billions of research and development dollars that processed food companies and fast food chains pour into creating the most addictive products—a little more sugar there, just the right crispy texture there, and some catchy brand marketing to tie it all together. Did you ever see a great advertisement for a bowl of mixed greens?

If we, as individuals, make a conscious decision to be more deliberate in our relationship with food, we make it easier to break away from the temptation of target-marketed and hyper-palatable processed food products. If, as Sowards suggested, we pay closer attention to how the food we eat makes us feel, sleep, and poop, we will reprogram our relationship with food in a way that will allow us to crave what’s good for us.

The Basics of Nutrition

All foods that we eat are made up of three macronutrients which are fats, carbohydrates, and protein. We cannot survive without consuming at least some of all three. When it comes to fats and carbs, there are healthy and unhealthy options. Like Erik Hansen advised, whole foods are always better than processed foods. Added sugar, for example, is pure carbohydrate, but it’s a simple carbohydrate with little nutritional value. Similarly, trans fat is an industrially processed fat which is terrible for us. But the high fat content of an avocado or a fillet of salmon is very good for us.

In general, Dana Sowards advised me that it’s better to not try to minimize fat or carbs, but to balance them. However, a highly active athlete who burns a lot of calories might benefit by favoring a slightly higher carbohydrate intake while a more sedentary person should actually favor a slightly lower carbohydrate intake and higher healthy fat consumption. This may seem a bit counterintuitive after decades of bad information promoting so-called “low fat” diets, but know that eating fat doesn’t mean getting fat. Eating too much sugar (a simple carbohydrate) is more likely to cause unhealthy or unwanted weight gain.

Getting enough protein is important, and a good rule of thumb if you want to measure it is to consume about one gram of protein per pound of your body weight per day. Opinions do differ on this one, but consider that given the same overall calorie intake, if you consume less protein, you will be consuming more fats or carbs or both. You cannot escape the triple constraint of the three macros. If you cut back on one, you will add more of another. A good approach for the average person is to balance them out rather than try to minimize any of them.

Beyond the three macronutrients, nutrition quickly gets very complicated. There are the micronutrients, amino acids, gut bacteria, supplements, glycemic index, sodium, and on and on and on. These are often the areas that generate raging debates among health professionals and self-proclaimed gurus with conflicting scientific studies and sometimes dubious influences. We will not delve into this here and will close with a reminder that 90% of the battle is in the simple universal truths of living healthy. Eat whole foods. Minimize added sugar and ultra-processed foods. Make food preparation and consumption a deliberate part of your day, as Mike Aguilar said. Get enough sleep. Walk and move. And get outside.

Exercise vs. Movement

You may have noticed that I have not even mentioned exercise. This is deliberate. Too many people start with “working out” and look at their nutrition profile as an afterthought. Here I can speak to my own health journey a bit because I made the same mistake in my 30s after receiving a gut punch from a doctor about having “borderline high” cholesterol and being told I could “stand to lose a few pounds.”

I was a skinny cross-country runner in high school who could drink a six-pack of sugary soda every day and eat a steady diet of frozen chicken nuggets or Taco Bell. This might work okay when you’re eighteen, but it catches up to you when you’re approaching thirty. To get back in shape I took to running again—first a mile, then before long a regular 5k. Other than slightly improving my endurance, it did little good.

Fast forward to age forty, another doctor, and another concern about “borderline high cholesterol.” This doctor, however, was a paleo diet fanatic and gave me a bunch of paleo propaganda. She said she thought I could get my cholesterol down through diet and didn’t even mention exercise.

I didn’t buy fully into the paleo cult, but it did send me down a multi-month path of self-learning about nutrition. I learned how wrong the old food pyramid was. I learned about macronutrients (fat, protein, carbs), micronutrients, amino acids, metabolic health, and the like.

I eliminated sugary drinks and minimized added sugars and ultra-processed foods. Within weeks, I dropped the persistent extra ten pounds and reduced my cholesterol levels back down to normal. But better than that, I felt ten years younger—more agile, more active, more energized. All without even lifting a dumbbell or lacing up running shoes.

The moral of that story is, to live a healthy lifestyle, start with what you eat, not with what you can lift. As the saying goes “abs are made in the kitchen.” What we eat and how we eat heavily influences how we benefit from exercise, not the other way around.

So, what do our three health gurus say about exercise? Here again there was a consistent theme of simplicity. Let’s start, first of all, by calling it “movement,” not exercise. Think about how a human being moved during the course of a day about 15 thousand years ago. That human probably would have done a good amount of walking and maybe a little light running (rarely a sprint). They would have been carrying something, reaching up or out for some things and bending down to the ground for others. And they probably threw and caught something during the day.

How does that translate to our modern lives? The good news is that replicating this natural movement does not require killing yourself in a gym six days a week unless you are training for something specific like a strongman competition or triathlon. For the average person who just wants to feel better and be healthier, this is about moving naturally—walking, reaching, bending, throwing.

“All we need to do is move naturally,” said Hansen. “Exercise machines do not move naturally.” According to Aguilar, “walking is crazy under-rated.” According to Sowards, “walking is one of the best ways to regulate blood sugar.”

The message here is that most of the benefits of exercise (or movement) come with the easier stuff, like walking. Sowards also recommends “gentle movements like Yoga—something that teaches you to slow down.” While slowing down to exercise may seem counterintuitive, it should also be a bit of a relief to know that you don’t have to “hit the gym” with the bros to see who can lift more, or “max out your heart rate” in a high intensity interval. Those things certainly can refine and improve your athletic prowess if you want to go there, but they are not the place to start for general health and wellbeing. Start by going for a walk and then think about what Aguilar would call “natural patterns of movement.” Think about that stone age human and the way they would have moved throughout the day and do things to mimic that.

Motivation to Move

What about motivation? Isn’t that the biggest challenge for many of us? I know it is for me. Sowards reminded me of something I already knew, which is that, once you start, you’re done. She suggests that all you have to do is commit to that first ten minutes of activity. Even if you only do that ten minutes, you’re still better off than the same ten minutes on the couch watching “The Voice.” But, Sowards told me she finds that most of the time when people start with ten minutes, then they find it much easier to keep moving for more.

This is certainly true for me. The hardest step is the first one. Take action. Groan and complain while doing it if you have to, but take the action, and your mind and body will thank you soon enough.

I would like to come back to one of the first pieces of advice offered by Aguilar as one of the universal principles of good health, and that is exposure to nature. This is about much more than Vitamin D (although that is important). Immersion in nature has enormous benefits both physically and mentally.

There is a reason that most of us have images of nature or wildlife as our screensavers. Our modern lifestyles and technologies are ripping us away from our connection to nature. Like Aguilar’s advice to be more conscious with food, we should also be more deliberately aware of our natural surroundings—the trees, the sky, the flowers, the snow, the rain, the views, the bugs, and all the rest. When you go for that walk, don’t just put your head down and charge ahead. Walk with deliberate awareness of and appreciation for the natural surroundings. Try to walk over grass or dirt if you can. Look around you—at the clouds, the sun, the moon, and notice the breeze in the air, or the bird that just flew by. Use the parks and open spaces available nearby and be grateful for the gifts of nature. And come back inside renewed and calmed by your experience.

So, who did win the debate between low carb and low fat diets? The answer is neither. According to my sources, we should not be trying to minimize either carbs or fats. We should instead be trying to eat healthy carbs and healthy fats, along with sufficient protein.

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The post Who Won the Low Carb vs. Low Fat Diet Debate? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Photo: Christian Erfurt

Funny how playing with letters in words can change meaning and make such a difference. 

After COVID, what are things you can do differently to get out of a rut in your life? Will you stay online, go back to an office, go back to a gym? We all get in ruts with health and wellness. Take time to rearrange and mix up the ‘letters’ in your life to get out of any current rut.

Here’s a few weekly tips to help you out of a rut:

• Set a goal to try at least 3 new recipes.

• Try at least 3 new workouts.

• Listen to 10 new songs.

These changes can be fun while helping rewire neurons in your brain to help you be more adaptable.

You can control whether you rust or not, and that is where humans have more power than objects. When abandoned, uncared for, or left in bad shape, things rust. People can be like rust. If you don’t take care of yourself, your arteries can clog, your skills can deteriorate, and you can fall into bad shape. It is important to take time to be active, eat well, and stay happy to stave off “rust.” Be strong, prevent rust, and keep moving to avoid “rust” from forming in your body.

Remember, rest is a key element to balance in your life. Consciously find time to rest, however you see fit… but not too much. Rest is a time to rebuild, refresh, and recover from all your hard work preventing rust and getting out of ruts.

Balance some hobbies, rekindle relationships, or take time to be thankful. We may have found ways in the last year to be smarter, more efficient, more authentic, and more balanced. Keep the forward hustle while still looking back to know what you have gained from the past year.

Hop out of those ruts to prevent rust, but get rest when you are done. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to make changes to “letters” in your life to create new words with new meanings.

Gary Gianetti has an M.S. in Allied Health and holds certifications in health, fitness, and exercise sciences. When he’s not coaching, he enjoys outdoor adventures on foot, rock, wheels, and in the air with his little ones and his wife. He is the founder of Healthy Altitudes…For Your Life.

The post Ruts, Rust, and Rest | Health … For Your Life appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Winter in Colorado is unquestionably beautiful: we have majestic mountains, brilliant sunshine, and, of course, snow. Winter is December through February, with average February temperatures in Boulder peaking at 48 with lows of 23 degrees. Brrrrrr. We have colder temperatures and shorter days (which is hard for a night owl like me who wakes up at noon only to have the sun set at 4 or 5). Colorado is also known as a healthy place to live. In fact, Boulder has routinely ranked highly as one of the fittest cities in the country. Whether those rankings take into account the decrease in activity during the winter months is unclear.

And yes, we all know, Colorado is an amazing place for winter sports. Some very special people with an affinity for freezing temperatures and early mornings make magic happen with every winter snowfall, driving up the mountains to land backsides and 1040’s and other tricks with mechanics I can’t comprehend. Those folks are few and far between.

Approximately 500,000 Coloradans skied in the 2013-2014 season, according to Curbed. That’s just 9 percent of Colorado’s estimated 5.2 million population; To be clear, those 500,000 Colorado skiers account for about 5.6 million of the state’s 12.6 million skier visits, nearly half, and you read that correctly: more people ski our slopes annually than live in our state. Finally, we can’t forget that there are also other winter sports, including sledding, luging and more. But really, the majority of us don’t work out as much as we should and those of us that try to workout often feel like skipping the gym on a frosted morning or a snowy day is just what the doctor ordered. *raises hand in shame*

Staying active is important, though, regardless of the weather, and getting regular exercise is essential for physical – and mental – wellness. Colorado residents are not immune to mental illness. Nationally, 6 percent of individuals are affected by seasonal affective disorder, and an additional 14 percent suffers from the winter blues. While maintaining an active lifestyle will not cure these conditions, it has been proven an effective tool in reducing symptoms.

Winter can make squeezing in regular activity more challenging, but it is not impossible, and since we’re not even close to being the experts, we talked to a few folks that are.

Let’s Meet the Team

Jim Pascucci, a competitive CrossFit athlete, started and owned Integral CrossFit for seven years until they changed the name to Integral Health and Fitness about a year ago. Integral is a gym and home to Jim’s Rolfing practice in Niwot. Rolfing affects body posture and structure over the long-term through soft tissue manipulation and movement education. “I wanted to integrate the two: exercise and body therapy.”

Patrick Purtell is 44 years old, father of one, and happily married for near 12 years. He’s also the only one we talked to who’s a regular workout guy, not a professional athlete or trainer/coach, although he has an athletic background. He’s been working in the IT industry for over 18 years and the bulk of his day “revolves around sitting in front of a computer screen. Also, Patrick tells us, he is “an ex-smoker of almost 15 years and quitting smoking was the catalyst for taking up running and jogging.”

Stacy Fleming recently opened one of the wildly popular fitness franchises, “THE MAX Challenge”; it’s the first one in Colorado. She comes from 22 years working in corporate America and “was looking for a more fulfilling career where I can help people make healthy life decisions and create a welcoming community where all people, from all fitness levels, feel they can exercise and get healthy”. THE MAX Challenge combines fitness classes with nutrition and motivation so members can see fast and lasting changes to their health, appearance and fitness levels in 10 weeks.

[Editor’s note: Our managing editor will be attending the inaugural class at THE MAX Challenge, which began January 7, as part of his health and wellness training and writing projects. He also attended classes last February at Define: Body + Mind, where he took Barre, Cycling and Yoga/ Mind-Ball/Hammock classes.]

We asked our pros a few questions about how they handle winter workouts and keep their clients motivated.

Winter Programs

What sorts of winter workouts do the our pros use to stay fit and active in the winter? Jim’s winter program is not much different from “any other time of the year except more is done inside. Because we are a gym based program we are not affected by the weather except for running,” he tells me. “Programming is based on … weightlifting, gymnastics and cardio. We mix and match these three modalities to create workouts for our classes and private clients,” which means you can get a lot done without having to be outside.

People wouldn’t think of running as a winter workout activity. By people, I mean me, but I’m guessing you, too. Patrick is a runner, so I was interested in how he maintains through the cold. “For 2018 my goals were to run an average of 65 miles a month, keep my average run time to around 8 minutes 30 seconds a mile, and to run several half marathons,” which is an incredible level of activity for anyone. He typically runs three times a week, between 7 and 11 miles in length.

“Luckily,” he says, “Erie has tons of trails so I have a half dozen routes I use depending on a length of run, how I physically feel at the time, weather, etc.” In a weird twist that I was expecting, Patrick prefers “to run in cold weather, the colder the better as far as I’m concerned”. But why? For Patrick, “there’s an extremely gratifying feeling finishing a run when the thermometer is hovering around the zero mark. Not only did I finish the run but I also beat Old Man Winter [Editor’s note: not a real person so far as we can tell]. It’s all about those small wins, right? “I will not run when there’s a lot of snow or ice on the trails themselves, as it’s easy to get hurt in those conditions so I don’t even try”. There you go, folks. Stay safe out there. Some days actually are days off when it’s cold.

Motivation

Staying motivated to workout in the winter is what concerns us most. I can’t even get out from under my covers when it’s cold. Jim doesn’t have an issue with the cold at Integral, since it’s all indoors. Keeping classes small and having competent coaches is the trick. Also, he says, “we are not a gym that emphasizes the ‘sport’ aspect as much as the longevity aspect. Being strong enough to get up off the ground if you fall, being able to chase your kids… Having an ‘adaptive capacity’ which allows you to weather some adverse event better,” which is to say, working out is about living your life to the fullest and most able. A lot of the motivation to train comes from making it fun and having others who are there training and suffering with you.

Patrick is blunt in telling us, “it’s difficult to get motivated and stay motivated when it’s cold, dark, and/or snowing out. Being completely honest, I always contemplate my sanity as I’m walking out of my warm (and dry) house.” It’s the workout process, Patrick tell us, the run, when “all the noise fades away and I’m completely focused on the task at hand. For me, running is great way to get exercise and [be] in total control of how difficult or easy to make it.”

Speaking for THE MAX Challenge, Stacy says the “program historically does the best in the winter and spring months. Members are thinking about their New Year’s resolutions and spring/summer bodies”. Accurate, Stacy, but how do you keep members showing up? Knowing that the program is primarily for weight loss and strength building means folks are motivated to finish and the program “also helps build strength and endurance for those winter activities, ”which someone not in the right shape would feel prohibited from doing.”

Having a bit of accountability can be a big motivator. “We contact our members if they miss a class to ensure they are well, and ensure we are doing everything possible to encourage them to come to class the next day.” I’ve never followed through on a workout program without knowing my failure to show up was noticed and affected others.

Stacy points out that, “each of our 50 classes during the challenge is unique, no two workouts are the same. Members are interested to attend class and get in a new unique workout they’ve never done before”. We also love variation.

Advice

Patrick has some advice for folks who want to get more active in the winter: “ Think of your workout as x-amount of time that you’re focusing on yourself. It’s easy to caught up with work or being a parent and focusing on everyone else but yourself, which is fine, but at some point you’ll need some ‘me’ time.” We couldn’t agree more. Stay active, friends, and remember that there are a million reasons to workout through the winter.

Don’t let Jack Frost steal your spirit.

The post Winter Workout: Slump Survival Guide appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Boulder triathlete Sue Shaedle.

Boulder County is proud of its Olympians and other elite athletes, but even here, professional athletes are a rarity. Most area runners, cyclists and skiers, even those who are sponsored and travel all over, have careers and a family life they work around. As time moves on and genetics kick in, competitive athletes and weekend warriors alike face diminishing returns. That’s usually when they learn to stop chasing dreams of gold and enjoy performing at their personal best.

Exercise scientists usually peg peak endurance at 35 years of age, with slow declines thereafter into the 60s. All athletes lose the race against time, but endurance athletes in general are outperforming the times and distances of the generations before them. These advances are founded upon improvements in nutrition, sport medicine and a refusal of more athletes to accept “too old” as an excuse.

Dave Jones during the Race Across America.

Dave Jones, of Longmont, is a FedEx pilot who’s been active most of his life. Over the years, he’s gone from recreational mountain biking to longer endeavors like cycling across the country. That’s something he’s done twice now, this year finishing the Race Across America as part of a four-man team (all fellow pilots) in less than seven days.

At 53, Jones can easily be called “ripped” when he’s at his cycling weight. He said diet has always been his weakness, and traveling around the world on a nontraditional schedule hasn’t helped either. Yet a lifetime of fitness and the addition of weight training have enabled him to push his limits. Next year he plans to transform himself from an endurance cyclist to a sprint-distance track cyclist.

When his doctor retired, Jones was referred to Dr. David Tusek, whose patients include several elite athletes, even a world champion track cyclist in the masters (over 50) division. For Tusek, modern medicine isn’t just about performance, it’s about optimal living. They two hit it off. “I just like his point of view toward health and modern medicine,” he said. Jones takes his training serious, up to a point. “Life is life, and life is to be enjoyed. I tend to push myself too hard and I’m trying to throttle that back.”

OPTIMIZATION

Besides the annoying reminders from friends, turning 40 marks the age doctors will run an extensive panel of tests. At that age, the body is changing in a way that it hasn’t changed in previous decades. Changes in diet, weight and energy levels often occur, and lethal risks can pop up. More bluntly, that’s when you’ll start to lose friends to disease and poor health.

“As a doctor, I’ve never treated a population. Yet all of our screening recommendations are meted out on massive population data,” Tusek said. “It’s great as a rough guideline – but you need personalized, unique interpretations.”

Tusek brought up the exponential growth of computers over the past 50 years, and how biotech is in a similar boom of rapid growth that the medical community is still deciphering. Yet despite all the recent medical advances, the typical checkup hasn’t changed. Many have argued it’s woefully outdated.

Dr. David Tusek in his Boulder office.

That’s where Diagnocity comes in. Beyond Tusek’s primary care practice, Diagnocity is an attempt to modernize health care and catch up to the available science, using some of the very new tests, to create a “prevention program to assess things that may or may not be early enough before things get bad.” He doesn’t think these test make sense for everyone, but his mission is to alert patients to these emerging tests, like genomics, and let them discuss and evaluate whether it makes sense for them, as individuals.

This isn’t biohacking on steroids, it is proactive medicine. Tusek argues that we as a society should be talking about these new technologies more. Casual sports fans may know that HGH stands for human growth hormone and is a banned substance for pro athletes, but not know why it is prescribed to patients. “I’m passionately convinced we need have to these conversations about things like ‘enhancement’ and ‘optimization.’ And what does that mean even? And is that ethical?”

At one end of the spectrum are people, especially tech industry biohackers, who take nootropics to enhance their brains, and at the other end are those who just want to find out what kinds of vitamins they may be missing from their diet. The side effects of eating better or taking a multivitamin definitely fall on the side of “least harm,” but for some there is always the hope of some new technology or pill that will unlock great potential.

For Tusek’s practice, he sees plenty of casual athletes with ordinary health concerns. But when it comes to options for those patients, he offers a lot more. “We have a lot of weekend warriors here in Colorado and they haven’t even had an EKG,” he said. Tusek said that’s something that competitive athletes, not just elites, should look into.

LATE BLOOMERS

The transition from active to competitive isn’t just for seasoned athletes. For some, it’s not until children are grown that they pick up a new pastime, especially ones with rigorous training plans. Through her daughter’s early childhood, Sue Schaedle stuck with “kid stuff.” When she turned 50, she decided to race a half-triathlon.

After she watched a full triathlon, she was inspired by the middle of the packers. “I know there’s so many pros in Boulder, half of them live in my neighborhood,” Schaedle said. “But it was seeing those other people come in later, you knew they had full-time jobs, and they were still able to do it.” So she made a full triathlon her new goal.

At 53, she’s still beating her recent personal bests at events like Bolder Boulder. “I started training for triathlon in August 2014, I began to experience considerable fatigue after my longer workouts, especially the runs,” she said. Her general practitioner suggested it was likely from working out too much for her age. She was underwhelmed and visited Tusek. He ran a panel of blood tests which revealed her deficiency in B vitamins and chromium. “Once I added these vitamins to my diet I felt less fatigued and much more energized.”

Schaedle said the bloodwork consult helped her feel more energized between workouts. While she takes a multivitamin to help out, she recognizes the importance of a sound diet for better health and performance. “Eating healthy, especially as you get closer to your ‘A’ race is also important.”

PRESCRIPTIVE DIET

It’s easy to get stretched thin while juggling work, home life and peak training. That’s when some athletes look for someone else to do the cooking. Athletes can find healthy, calorie-controlled meals prepared by businesses like Real Athlete Diets Boulder. Its menu emphasizes a balance of carbs and protein with organic and local ingredients. For athletes, the added variety to their diet and time savings is a bargain. “It’s such a big trend, at least in our area,” said RAD founder Kelly Newlon. “People out here are on the bandwagon.”

Newlon grew up working in kitchens and ran in her spare time. She never connected her passions until two years ago, when she started RAD. The idea came when she was teaching in a culinary school and a friend asked to hire her as a personal chef. She turned down that request, but then recognized a business opportunity, and was surprised to find that no one in Boulder was already doing it.

During big races, like the Hardrock 100 ultra-run, Newlon and her team prepare meals for several sponsored athletes and their support crews. Catering now makes up the bulk of RAD’s business, but her athlete clients can still get personalized meal plans. “I wanted to work with elites at first,” she said. “But this is Boulder and that grew to active people.”

When advising runners and cyclists, Newlon emphasizes the importance of diversity on the plate. The pros are up-to-date on new studies on superfoods or protein and carb balance and may ask for tweaks to their dietary plan. For the most part, they listen to their bodies if performance lags. “Our clients are really sort of holistic,” she said. “The first thing they go to change is diet if something’s not right.”

Newlon said casual athletes are more often set in their ways when it comes to diet, often following set, or restrictive, plans. “Just because this is how you started your season, or you eat something on a daily basis, you can still re-evaluate that every quarter or season,” she said. “You can change a few things in diet and see improvements.”

BIGGER REPAIRS

Joanne Halbrecht, MD is an orthopedic surgeon with more than 20 years of experience. She’s established a reputation for being conservative on prescribing surgery, and usually recommends rehabilitation when there is no tear. No surgery, no steroid injections. “A lot of patients feel if they see a surgeon it means they’ll need surgery,” she said. “90 percent of the time, the people I see who don’t have a tear just need physical therapy.”

Working with athletic patients who feel in tune with their body and accustomed to some aches and pains can be different. Halbrecht said she encounters active patients who come to her after they’ve tried some therapy on their own, even activity modification, but stubbornly fought through inflammation which created a longer healing time once the right kinds of therapy were prescribed.

Traditional doctors may treat symptoms with over the counter anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, but do nothing to resolve the underlying pain. When that nagging pain doesn’t go away and requires surgery, Halbrecht will incorporate stem cells. Stem cell therapy has plenty of baggage associated with it, and some uses are less legitimized by medical studies than others. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections used to relieve ankle pains have been in use for decades, and while most patients report less pain one year later, the treatment does nothing for other patients.

Halbrecht uses stem cells in conjunction with surgery, since the intrusion has been made. She cited a French study which found that patients with bone marrow stem cells injected during rotator cuff surgery had a 10-year success rate of 87 percent, compared to 44 percent of those without cells.

It’s not always good news. The Boulder running crowd can be stubborn. They do get the knee problems, even meniscus tears and arthritis, and want to continue running long distances. Some even moved here specifically for running and biking. Halbrecht said the realities of genetics still trump medicine; “I used to be a runner, but when you start having knee pain it’s time to switch to a lower impact activity.” That’s when she recommends “wheels and water;” a switch to endurance cycling, swimming or water running.

One of the most common impediments Halbrecht encounters is poor posture. The 9-5 workday hunched over a keyboard causes bursitis, then the weekend comes and body is thrown into new, strenuous motions. That’s a recipe for injury, not because of the weekend pursuit, but the lack of activity the rest of the week. To help resolve this, she routinely puts patients in a posture shirt, which like the kinesiology tape seen on runners and swimmers at the Olympics, primes back muscles to engage.

PERFORMANCE BEYOND SPORT

If the discussion of performance sounds like the sole domain of athletes, it’s not. Health experts continue to expound the association between exercise and health. Cyclists and runners have long used their VO2 max, a measurement of maximal oxygen uptake, as a reference for training in different ‘zones’ below that benchmark.

In December, the American Heart Association released a statement recommending doctors consider a patient’s VO2 max as a vital sign. “A growing body of epidemiological and clinical evidence demonstrates not only that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a potentially stronger predictor of mortality than established risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes mellitus.”

Numerous studies show running can prevent those risk factors as well as improve moods and even re-wire brains to reduce symptoms of depression. So for people in their 40s and 50s who want to continue being active into their 60s and 70s, or just continue living past that age, 30 minutes of cardio is the best prevention. We asked our Masters athletes for advice for other aging athletes and they offered similar tips: eat enough protein, lift weights, get plenty of rest and have fun. That’s good advice for everyone, especially those who subscribe to the notion of living one’s best life.

The post Staying in the Game appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

You know you do it. Every winter, you pack on thick layers and a thicker tummy. You scarf that stuffing and snuggle down with the latest bit of literary smut.

It’s that bad break in good routines that lands you sick, sleepless and susceptible. Health and Beauty 360 targets the important routines that keep the whole family kicking when it’s cold outside. From pedicures to pet health, it’s a little something for every part of your person. The most important tip to take home this winter, however, isn’t to moisturize or wear the right shoes. It’s to give life a little one, two punch with a healthy dose of everyday essentials.

Exercise to prevent easy-come ice injuries. Eat normally. Don’t gorge (especially before bed), and don’t try to diet during the holidays. Crash diets not only destroy healthy bodies, but they wreak havoc on holiday happiness. We know it’s hard, but try to sleep on a schedule without the assistance of nightcaps.

After all, Health and Beauty 360 makes everything else too easy with tips for your:

Tummy
Hair and Nails
Face and Skin
Back
Feet
Pet’s Health

Plus, editor Andra Coberly underwent a renovation, Stairmaster, sadistic coach and all.

Like this photo? Check out more of Julia Vandenoever’s work at her website.

The post Health and Beauty 360 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Morning, noon and night, you never know when hunger will show her alluring visage and tempt you…Cookies? No? Something savory? Pupusas? Empanadas? How about a piece of pie? Ohhhh, Buffalo wings! Here, 16 ways to snack in Boulder County.

Morning Snacks
The second most important meal of the day

Doughnuts at Salt, Boulder
In a town without doughnut shops, Salt’s bistro-made doughnuts are a snack worth celebrating. They arrive warm from the fryer, five perfect dough rings to a plate, set in a thin puddle of sugar glaze. With some crunch around a soft interior and homemade flavor, they’re a separate species from those heavily frosted, filled and fried units sitting on supermarket shelves. But wait, there’s more! The small doughnuts come with a small cup of wonderfully rich cinnamon-laced warm liquid chocolate for dunking and sipping. This is a true snack because it concludes with finger-licking, plate scraping and, in extreme cases, plate-licking. The only problem: they’re only listed on chef Bradford Heap’s weekend brunch menu. We suggest they get added to the dessert menu too. Don’t make us quote Homer Simpson.—JL

Smoothies at Maiberry or Cefiore, Boulder
Smoothies are all the rage right now, with even the Golden Arches getting in on the game. They’re supposed to be virtuous; they’re supposed to be liquid nutrition fortified with bee pollen and wheat grass and antioxidants. But unless they actually taste good, they can be just a milkshake in disguise. For the real deal, head to Maiberry or Cefiore in downtown Boulder. Both boast fresh ingredients and delicious tangy yogurt, and each has its own particular smoothie flair. Whether you try a pineapple mango coconut concoction from Cefiore or the Berry Bad Boy from Maiberry, you’re sure to get the power packed pick-me-up you need.—LB

Breakfast apps at Centro, Boulder
Occasionally, a hankering hits: I’m in need of a brunch feast. Diner fare won’t do; no omelet will satisfy. It must be something with multiple, palette-pleasing courses. It’s a hunger to lounge in the sun, sip mimosas and down a whole heap of yumminess. Centro is calling. Once there, before our main courses arrive, we share coconut fried bananas with a heavenly vanilla anglaise, burnt grapefruit, breakfast tacos—creamy egg balanced with the pertness of candied onion—or maybe a bowl of sopa azteca filled with tender pulled chicken. It’s a foretaste to temper the hunger pangs of a late morning meal served in the sexy, vibrant energy of Centro’s busy dining room and happy patio, and it’s a precursor to more delicious things.—AC

Beignets or Biscuits at Lucile’s, Boulder & Longmont
As my husband and I enjoyed a leisurely Sunday breakfast at Lucile’s I asked his opinion: which would make a better snack, a beignet or a biscuit? “That depends on your audience,” he told me. For a business person, a couple of friends having coffee, or a mom running errands, he thought a beignet would be the better choice as a sweet treat with coffee; for someone looking for energy and fuel, he thought a biscuit would be best, paired with jam or sausage gravy and not requiring a cup of joe. I decided that I’m pretty lucky to have such a thoughtful dining companion.—LB

Mid-Day Snacks
Like an afternoon nap for your belly

Pie and coffee at Huckleberry, Louisville
“Just around the corner, there’s a rainbow in the sky. So let’s have another cup o’ coffee, and let’s have another piece o’ pie.” Back then pie was ubiquitous on America’s menus, but now it can be tough to find a café dishing tender crust and good coffee. Whether it’s mid-morning, mid-afternoon or mid-evening, we know we can enjoy the classic combo at the ever-cozy Huckleberry in Louisville. We love the blackberry pie full of tart fruit and the same butter-enriched crust that forms and crispy golden lattice on the sour cherry pie that’s blissfully absent the usual red goo. When the need for sweets strikes, an intense wedge of chocolate bourbon pecan and a perfect double espresso fills the bill and cuts the fog.—JL

Empanadas and Ceviche at Aji, Boulder
After hours of walking and shopping in downtown Boulder, I needed sustenance. I needed a place to rest and recharge and maybe sip a large and delicious ginger lemonade. I found it at the bar of Aji. Plied with a plate of hot and crispy poblano empanadas and a bowl of cool tilapia ceviche, marinated in fresh citrus juices, I began to feel my energy returning. The empanadas were a pleasant riff on chile rellanos—but with pie crust, which tends to make everything better—and the ceviche went down cool and fresh, a burst of protein to keep me going. Bring it on.—LB

Mortadella Sandwich at Café Aion, Boulder
While Oscar Meyer would still have us spelling b-o-l-o-g-n-a, the fact is they have nothing on Café Aion’s mortadella. This beautifully fatty, perfectly spicy mortadella, a cold cut similar to bologna, makes its way into a house-made baguette with arugula and pickled onions to create one of the best lunch-time snacks ever. Served with a side of hot-smoked paprika chips, you might just keep snacking and order yourself another.—AD

Pupusas Louisville Cart
First, it’s important to know what a pupusa is not. It’s not a taco or cornpone or polenta or fried mush, although it’s related to all of them. Rather, it’s a hand-formed disk of corn dough that’s filled and then griddled on both sides. It’s got a crunch that yields to a hot, soft interior. One of the few places you can sample the real deal is at a little red cart located at the corner of 95th Street and South Boulder Road in Louisville. Salvadoran natives Mario Ramirez and his mom, Elsie—she does the cooking—have worked hard to introduce this delicacy. Each is served with curtido, a tart, spicy Salvadorian-style coleslaw that’s the perfect foil for the griddle-fried richness. There’s no seating but most of the devoted following never go anywhere—you can see them munching away in the drivers’ seats.—JL

Pre-Dinner Snacks
Don’t worry. You won’t ruin your appetite.

Sophisticated Fare at The Kitchen, Boulder
If you happen to be on Pearl Street and in need of a little something around happy hour, may we suggest you slip into something chic, namely, The Kitchen. Each weekday from 3–5:30pm is Community Hour with a menu of sips and nibbles designed for snacking and sharing. The selection includes veggies, meats, cheeses and sweets as well as a selection of adult beverages including a cocktail du jour. We noshed on the hummus, wood roasted vegetables and pork terrine, which turned out to be plenty for a light meal for two. Sophisticated tastes for moments when you crave a bit of sophistication.—LB

Pork Belly Sliders at Jax, Boulder
Jax has jumped on the pork belly wagon with these sliders. Served on a soft bun, topped with pickled vegetables and hoisin, these pork belly sliders are four bites of delicious. Sweet and sour, fatty and tangy, a flavorful and balanced snack for your pork needs.—AD

Bao at Zoe Ma Ma, Boulder
Later in the evening in downtown Boulder you’ll notice a steady stream of folks ducking around the corner at 10th and Pearl streets. They’ve got a jones that can only be sated with the Asian street food chef Edwin Zoe and his mom, Anna, are delivering at their new little eatery. Frankly, we’re hooked on Zoe Ma Ma’s bao, fluffy white rice dough centered with mildly seasoned barbecue pork and steamed. It’s pure comfort we’ve enjoyed as dim sum fare at Chinese eateries, but we didn’t know just how good bao could be when made from scratch. Sometimes we mix it up with the satisfying zong zi: sticky rice, pork belly, mushrooms, and lotus seeds steamed in a bamboo leaf wrapping, or the light vegan (not to mention gluten-less) potsticker stuffed with tofu, shitakes and garlic chives.—JL

Seasonal Small Plates at Sugarbeet, Longmont
One of the best appetizers I’ve had in a long time was also one of the simplest: slices of fresh Colorado peaches and basil leaves wrapped in proscuitto. I remember telling my husband as the juices dripped down my chin, “I could do this.” But the point is that I don’t have to, because Sugarbeet in Longmont does it for me. Their ever-changing happy hour menu of seasonal specialties is always a treat, and right now includes crispy fennel and artichokes with English Stilton, grilled asparagus with Haystack Mountain chevre, and Dooley Farms heirloom tomatoes with fresh burrata and crispy capers. If that lineup doesn’t get your mouth watering, you don’t deserve to call yourself a foodie.—LB

Late Night Snacks
Wings and So, So Much More

My guilty pleasure—or “diet breakers,” as I like to call them—is Buffalo wings. They are the all-time perfect snacks: Pick one up with your hands, dip, eat. And repeat. Here are a few of my local favorites:

West End Tavern, Boulder
These are the wings that took down Man vs Food. Adam Richman couldn’t beat the wing challenge, and really, who would want to? Richer than your average wing, these babies are served in a buttery, medium-spiced sauce that is both delicious and well-rounded. The Tavern’s meaty wings are not the type that one downs by the dozen; instead, a handful can satiate any craving. In the battle of life, these wings always win.

Pumphouse, Longmont
In this downtown Longmont institution, the wings are plump and never over-sauced and always on point. Pumphouse always pleasantly surprises me with food that comes to my table delicious, house-crafted and way above par. The wings are no different. Try them with Buffalo sauce, fiery habanero-chipotle, barbecue, Jamaican jerk spice or the crave-worthy spicy ginger-chili.

Buffalo Wild Wings Longmont & Broomfield
Yes, it’s a chain restaurant and a sports bar, but it’s also wing heaven. There’s no lack of options here: traditional, boneless (fried crispy), Asian zing, spicy barbecue, mild Buffalo, ranch, blue cheese and so on. Wings here are crisp-skinned, a bit smaller than at local restaurants but still meaty. At B-Dub-Dubs, the emphasis is on the saucy options. Feeling wild? Try the Caribbean jerk or the mango habanero.—AC

Tapas at The Med, Boulder
There’s a reason something becomes a classic, and the tapas menu at The Med is no exception. Sure, the restaurant is convenient and huge, able to seat seemingly hundreds of hungry tourists on a Friday night. But it’s also reliably delicious and a decent value. Get the hummus or the fried artichoke hearts and a bowl of olives if you’re just feeling munchy. Opt for the bisteca or the meatballs if you desire something a little more substantial. And do not leave under any circumstances without an order of the bacon-wrapped dates. Better make that two; you’re not likely to want to share.—LB

Atomic Poppers at Waterloo, Louisville
Poppers are a Super Bowl Sunday-type snack. Bite-sized and fried, they are practically made for people who don’t have the wherewithal to deal with fork or plate. But at Waterloo, these spicy little nuggets take on superior form: fire-roasted jalapeños filled with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. No greasy batter or tasteless peppers, these snacks are pure flavor and all heat, only mitigated by the cream cheese and a side of homemade ranch. And the bacon does what bacon does best: making these true snacks more delicious and worthy of a second helping.—AC

Fried Cheesy Stuff at Cheeky Monk, Westminster
We all get those moments when all you want is cheese and a basket of fries. Maybe it’s after a long week—or maybe after one too many beers—but it will always lead you to the Cheeky Monk. Recently, I slid into a large booth to sample all things fried and cheesy. With glasses of Belgium beer at our side, we dug into frites with aioli (lemon garlic and chipotle), cheese croquettes and moules frites…yes, frites and more frites. The croquettes, discs of fried Gouda, Fontina and Swiss, were stunning, perfectly salty and served with aioli and a berry sauce. The shoestring fries were crisp and well seasoned. The nontraditional bacon and blue mussels bathed in a creamy, rich broth that smelled like bacon and tasted like heaven. It was not the healthiest snack ever—a guilt-inducing splurge if I’ve ever had one—but worth every calorie.—AC

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