Brando's Blog

Darren Fletcher's Ulcerative Colitis

It was anounced this week that Darren Fletcher, the Manchester United and Scotland midefielder has had to take time off due to suffering from Ulcerative Colitis.

Some medical experts have suggested that he might not ever be able to return to top level football with this condition.

As a top international footballer worth millions of pounds, you naturally assume he has the best experts around him to help, right?

Well, my good friend Jade Johnson, an Olympic Long Jumper, thought she had the best team around her before she met the likes of Warren Williams, CHEK Practitioner, Bruce Butler, ART Practitioner, Paul Chek, founder of the CHEK Institute and myself. She now calls us, along with her 'Jumps' coach and 'sprint' coach, her dream team.

So what's that got to do with Darren Fletcher. Well, in my clinical experience, a medical approach is not effective at curing ulcerative colitis. It requires a holistic, lifestyle and functional diagnostic nutrition approach.

Acute problems like broken legs and life-threatening conditions require a medical approach. However, chronic conditions, like bowel issues, require a lifestyle approach.

I have worked with many clients with bowel problems including Crohn's Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Ulcerative Colitis and they are all doing great now. Knowing how to become a Health Detective and finding out the cause of the problem and knowing how to stamp out the causes is the way to go.

Treating the symptoms with medication, in my opinion, means we might never see Darren Fletcher on the football pitch again which would be a shame for him and all footaball fans, especially when there are ways to erradicate the problem naturally without harmful drugs or surgery.   

A Healthy Lifestyle Reduces The Risk of Cancer Shocker!

Today it was announced that according the The British Journal of Cancer, 40% of all cancers in the UK can be prevented by following a healthier lifestyle.

Those of you who follow my blog regularly will probably say, "Tell me something I don't already know", right?

I am pleased that this information has been released by the Journal of Cancer rather than the constant brain-washing of the population from medical and media organisations that the only answer to cancer is chemo, radiotherapy or surgery. None of those approaches deals with cause and often times are ineffective in the long term.

However, I think the effects of lifestyle can reduce cancers by far more than the stated 40%. Dr William Kelley had a near to 100% success rate with cancer patients using diet and lifestyle factors only. 

Dr Bruce Liption, a world leading micro-biologist suggests that less than 5% of all diseases are genetic, which means that over 95% of all chronic diseases are caused by the environment (which includes lifestyle).

Just this morning I saw a video (below) of Dr Terry Wahl's explaining how she overcome the so-called incurable Multiple Sclerosis through diet and lifestyle alone. Diet and lifestyle really are the best medicine.

 

This is why I get so much reward from my work. I help people improve their lifestyles and then sit back and watch how their health and quality of life increases. After being in this profession for over 15 years, it still amazes me how diet and lifestyle can change someone's health and outlook on life so much.

Some people would describe their improvements in health as miracles, as many would with Dr Wahls' achievement! It's not a miracle, it's just how we how evolved over millions of years. Give your cells what they are designed to be fueled by and they do their job amazingly well. Filling them full of poision isn't the recipe for health and happiness!

CHEK Exercise Coach - London October 2011

Last week I was teaching CHEK Exercise Coach at The Albany in London.

I had eight eager students all keen to learn coming from all over south England and one student from Finland.

As always with a CHEK course, it was a great group of people to teach. Whilst many of them had late nights completing their homework, they did really well on the course and I think were pleased with the demands I placed on them for the five days.

It's so great to watch people grow in such as short amount of time.

I also always like to make my courses relaxed with a fun atmosphere too. I think people learn better that way. Not sure my Bruce Forsyth comedy schooling-style jokes were up to the standards of the course content, but hey, you can't have it all.

 

To Stretch or Not to Stretch? Part 2

In the first part of this blog-post, I discussed how important a pre-workout stretching and mobilization routine is in the base conditioning phases of training.

However, As the training becomes more intensive and moves into maximal strength, power or speed training, then this type of pre-stretching can be detrimental. If a muscle is stretched beyond its normal range or for too long, the nerve impulses that supply the muscles can be down-regulated. This means the muscles will produce less force.

Prior to maximal strength, rapid movements and competition, pre-event stretches and warm-ups should be performed. The reason this is essential is to prepare the bodily systems required prior to your workout or event to maximise your performance. By preparing the neuro-muscular system, cardiovascular system and respiratory system, you will be ready to perform at your best whilst minimising the likelihood of injury. The likelihood of injury is reduced because when muscles are warm, the tissues are less viscous and able to move through a wider range of motion and are therefore less likely to tear when moved quickly, through a wide range at speed.

You should analyse the movement patterns of your sport or workout and use warm-up exercises that closely mimic those movements.

As you warm-up, you should begin slowly and gradually increase the speed until you reach speeds close to that of your sport. By the end of your warm-up you should have a light sweat, but you should not over-do the warm-up and waste vital energy.

If you are in a phase of training that use rapid movements you should still perform corrective mobilizations and stretches. The only difference is when you perform them. You can perform them as part of your post event warm-down (cool-down) or prior to bedtime. This helps to remove metabolic waste from the muscles and anecdotal evidence suggests that stretching post exercise helps to reduce muscle soreness.

If you want more information, you might want to check out my new book, “Anatomy of Sports Injuries for Training and Rehabilitation”.

 

Happy stretching!

 

To Stretch or Not to Stretch?

There is a big debate as to whether you should stretch before and/or after training and how you should warm-up prior to workouts or competition. 

There is evidence that suggests that stretching prior to exercise has no benefit and it can be detrimental to performance. There is some truth in these statements.

However, everything has to carefully be put into context with each individual situation. Muscle balance and posture are crucial to optimising performance and reducing the likelihood of injury. So here’s my question. Do you want to train or compete with tight muscles and therefore poor muscular balance? Quite clearly, no!

So here’s the deal. In rehabilitative, corrective or base conditioning phases of your training plan, corrective mobilizations and stretches are used to lengthen the short, tight and facilitated muscles in the body. These are normally the tonic  or postural muscles, but every individual is different.

A simple way to check this is to perform stretches for each muscle group (like in Paul Chek’s book, “How to Eat, move & Be Healthy!” pages 96 and 97) and if you feel tightness or discomfort in the targeted area, add it to your mobilizing and stretching program. Ideally, you should seek a full assessment by a qualified professional, such as a C.H.E.K practitioner, physiotherapist or strength & conditioning coach.

This pre-workout mobilization and stretching will allow the muscles to work through a wider range and for their antagonistic muscles to strengthen through a more optimal range without the risk of being inhibited.

Tune in next time to find out how this differs when in different phases of training... 

CHEK Conference San Diego 2011

The CHEK Conference is taking place this September in San Diego California.

Having attended and presented at the conference in 2008, I am very pleased that I have been invited to speak again.

Paul Chek, The Founder of The CHEK Institue has produced an introductory video to the conference and all the presenters.

 

If you are interested in learning the most cutting edge information on health and performance, then you want to check out this conference. Taking place in San Diego, you'll also be able to enjoy some great weather and beautiful beaches and ocean views.

For more information, check out the web address at the end of Paul's video. It's only one month away, so if you don't want to miss out on some of the greatest minds in the industry, you'll have to move fast.

I hope to see you there!

First Attempt at Liver Pate

OK, so I have made my first attempt at making liver pate. 

Even though I seriously lack any skill or creativity in the kitchen, I managed to make a reasonably good job of it. 

I was a little surprised that it actually looks almost edible. And guess what? It actually tastes amazing!

I got the idea for the recipe from the "Primal Blueprint Cookbook", (see below) with just a few adjustemnts based on the foods I need to elimate due to sensitivities.

So you want to know what was in this pate right? The pate was made from the following ingredients:

• 0.275kg Pigs Liver
• 1/2 pack of butter
• 4 small Carrots
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp Dried Thyme
• 1 tsp Dried Rosemary
• 2 pinches of organic Celtic Sea Salt 

I simply cooked the ingredients, put them in a blender and viola, pate!

The Food of Choice

If you've read my recent blogs, you will know that I recently took the Mediator Release Test to find out what foods my immune system is reacting too and therefore causing internal damage.

So I was faced with a few challenges as every body is when required to eliminate certain foods from their diet.

As always, I keep a positive spin on things and initally realised that beef and lettuce would be the main foods that I would need to find alternatives for.

Then I realised that the lamb, chicken and pork burgers that I buy from my local farm all contain pepper. So do all their burgers and sauasages, so they are all out of the question now.

So my challenge is to come up with easy to make snacks. So I first went to my Metabolic Typing® Cookbook. Unfortunately, due to my reactive foods, most of the recipes there weren't able to spark any ideas. As you may of gathered, Gorden Ramsey I ain't!!!

Then, I turned to a book I have had sitting on my book shelf for some time, "The Primal Blueprint Cookbook" and until now haven't even opened. I opened the book hoping to perhaps find some recipes for making pate or burgers that do not include my reactive foods and would be easy to make and taste good.

Straight away, I found two recipes for pate that I can use with a little adjustment here and there, woohoo! My plan is to cook some up at the weekend and eat them during the week, saving my time during the week.

I'll let you know how the pate turns out.  

Now, I need to work out how to make some burgers without beef, wheat, onion and black pepper. 

My Food Sensitivity Test Experience - Part 2

Unfortunately, most Doctors are unaware of the MRT and they believe food sensitivity tests to be inaccurate or unreliable. This is true of most of the tests available out there.

The reason the MRT is so good is because it tests against three different mediators IgM, IgG and T-Cell reactions and against 150 different foods and chemicals.

Other tests generally only test against one type of response, such as the ELISA Test (IgG).

Other benefits of the MRT include: 

• A higher than 90% sensitivity and specificity
• A higher than 90% split sample reproducibility
• Measures the effects of antigen challenge on all circulating immune cells
• Mediator release is the key
• Accounts for both type 3 and type 4 reactions
• Tests reactions to both foods and food-chemicals

So what did my test tell me?

I was found to be Highly Reactive to the following:

• Asparagus
• Cheddar
• Green Pepper
• Lettuce
• Lima Bean
• Oats
• Salmon

 And, I was found to be moderately reactive to: 

• Acetoaminophen (Paracetamol)
• Apple
• Brazil nuts
• Beef
• Black Pepper
• Blueberry
• Capsaicin (active ingredient in chili peppers)
• Yellow #5
• Grapefruit
• Honey
• Lemon
• Maple
• Mustard
• Onion
• Pecan
• Rye
• Sorbic Acid (E 200 – preservative)
• Strawberry
• Tapioca
• Tyramine
• Wheat

Fortunately, for me it requires very little change to my current diet, with beef and lettuce being the main foods I need to eliminate from the list. 

So I’ll be eating more lamb to make up for the beef and more spinach instead of the lettuce.

 I’ll keep you posted on how I go throughout this 6 month elimination of these foods.

 

Eating More and Exercising Less Does NOT Cause Fat Gain - Part 5

In the last part of this blog, I will introduce you to the role of another hormone, 'cortisol'.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that cortisol is a stress hormone and is released during prolonged stress.

When the amount of cortisol released increases, it steals resources from a separate hormonal pathway. It steals the hormone pregnenolone to make progesterone, which is a precursor to cortisol. This mechanism is known as Pregnenolone Steal. Now, the downside to this is that DHEA, testosterone and estrogen (our growth hormones) levels are reduced.

As the growth hormones reduce, the ability to increase or maintain muscle tissue and therefore, metabolic rate is reduced. As metabolic rate is reduced, the ability to use fat as fuel reduces. Also, you may remember that testosterone and estrogen also inhibit lipoprotein lipase (LPL). LPL being the enzyme that helps to store fat in the fat cells.

So as estrogen and testosterone levels drop due to prolonged stress, the ability to store fat goes up!

When our bodies are under stress for a prolonged period of time the Adrenal glands (the glands that secrete cortisol) find it more and more difficult to respond to the stress due to fatigue (Adrenal Fatigue). As the amount of cortisol starts to reduce, energy levels go down, so you won't have the energy to exercise.

Whilst the cortisol levels reduce, the growth hormones remain low too, i.e. they don't bounce back. So you don't have the energy to exercise and you have a body set-up hormonally and enzymatically to store body fat. 

In addition, Cortisol and it's relationship to DHEA plays a significant role in the control of a number of systems in the body. For instance it plays a role in fat and carbohydrate metabolism, hormone balance, detoxification and other systems that directly affect fat usage and storage.

So if your Cortisol/DHEA ratio is out of balance, then you'll find it hard to lose body fat. 

In addition, when cortisol is high, it also inhibits thyroid function which plays a major role in your metabolism. So if you're stressed for long enough, it's likely your thyroid will slow down (hypo-thyroid) and you'll find it easier to gain fat and harder to lose fat and have the energy to exercise. 

Causes of chronic stress (known as adrenal fatigue) are very varied, but in today's society it nearly always includes a parasitic, bacterial and/or fungal infection.

Once the infection is removed and healthy lifestyle behaviours are in place, your eating right for your metabolic type, your gut is healed, your cells are detoxified and your steroid hormones are balanced, your body will slowly return to normal, including your normal weight and body fat percentage.

I hope this blog series has been helpful to you and that you realise that calories in versus calories out is just very poor science and doesn't work in the long term. 

If you would like more information on how you can finally achieve your ideal size and weight, please click here.