A Simple Way to Get Stronger and Perform at a Higher Level

Being healthy and physically fit doesn’t have to be complicated. But it does require some attention to the scientific details. 

If you want to feel and perform well, you’ll need to optimize your vitamin D3 level. Studies have clearly shown that  vitamin D3 improves muscle reaction time, strength, balance, and coordination.  You can refer to a previous post on this subject here.

But wait.  There’s more! 

A new study entitled Nutrients:  Vitamin D and Human Health published in the journal Nutrients showed that vitamin D3 facilitates faster muscular recovery and prevents tissue damage following intense exercise. 

Researchers assessed the vitamin D level and the amount of force a physically-active adult could exert before and after intense exercise. Each study participant performed intense exercise by pushing against a force plate with one leg while the other leg acted as a control. The subjects’ strength was tested on days one, two, three, and seven following the exercise.  Based on their measurement data, it was clear that participants with the highest vitamin D3 levels also had a faster rate recovery and less muscular damage. 

How well does your body transport oxygen from your lungs to your muscles?  Does it digest proteins and utilize carbohydrates as effectively as it should?  Has your athletic performance started to decline?  Do you frequently feel fatigued or have difficulty recovering from physical or mental stress?  

Posing any one of these questions to your doctor might get you a standard, serum chemistry profile as a general screen to rule out disease.  And while insights from this type of laboratory testing can be helpful, they don’t provide any direct or relevant information about the basic, physiological processes that drive your potential for health.

At Core 4 Nutrition, determining the connection between your biological well-being and your functional performance capacity is our specialty.  Through the use of a series of unique assessments—all performed at home with a simple finger stick, saliva, or urine sample—it’s possible to identify and restore your body’s most essential nutrient needs.

I have been asked a number of times, “What’s so special about the Core 4 assessments? Can’t I just do a few extra tests the next time I go to my doctor?”  

Why Supplement Programs Fail

I was recently speaking to a coach who regularly shares the Core 4 Nutrition Program concept with his clients.  He told me that while many of his athletes were enthusiastic about getting started, others were skeptical—one of the most common symptoms of MLM (multi-level marketing) product let down.

I also spoke to three athletes who simply didn’t “believe” in taking supplements, citing a “healthy diet” as a panacea for their nutritional needs.

Unfortunately, the nutritional supplement market is too often tainted by expensive, yet ineffective, products that invariably over promise and under deliver.  After having spent a large sum of money on magic solutions that never really materialize, many users of nutritional supplements become disillusioned.

But those who have adopted an anti-supplement stance—based on a bad experience, disbelief, or misinformation—are missing the proverbial boat.

As a physician specializing in sports performance nutrition, I know two things:  Even the “healthiest” and most well-balanced of diets fall short when it comes to satisfying the human body’s nutrient needs.  And that the correct combination of the right supplemental nutrients taken in the proper amounts can have a dramatic impact on improving both cellular health and functional fitness.  During the past few years, I have amassed thousands of laboratory results to support these conclusions.

Nutritional supplements can work.  And they can work very well.  When they don’t, there’s a reason—or reasons—why.  Typically, a supplement program will fail when:    

Core 4 Education: Navigating the multivitamin maze.

One of our prime directives at Core 4 Nutrition is to educate people on the power of whole-food supplement support. If you are still taking a synthetic multivitamin, I hope this post will inspire you to do things differently.

When evaluating multivitamin formulas, it’s important to know that the quality of one product’s ingredients can vary.  The inexpensive, mass-marketed one-a-days contain minimal amounts of synthetic nutrients—just enough to meet the government’s RDA or recommended daily allowance of nutrients necessary for preventing disease, not promoting health.  Their more expensive, designer-label counterparts often contain hundreds of vitamins and minerals, all of them synthetic and difficult for the body to use. 

Don’t waste your hard-earned money on products that don’t work.  Learn the basics before you buy.  First, become familiar with the three most common types of multivitamin formulas:

Low Vitamin D: Like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

If you've been reading my posts, you already know that an optimal vitamin D3 level will strengthen your immune and metabolic systems while improving your muscular performance and recovery capacities.      

A recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shown that vitamin D3 is even more important because it prevents the onset of chronic disease and actually increases the human lifespan.  Researchers found that raising serum vitamin D3 levels above 50ng/ml in those who were deficient reduced their disease mortality rate by 20 percent and increased their life expectancy by a full five years.

To put these findings into perspective, consider this:  Having a low vitamin D3 level carries the same health and life expectancy risks as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day for 15 years! ...

Core 4 Education: What is a fatty acid?

This will be the first periodic post of a our Core 4 Nutrition Education Series. In these posts,I will be discussing in detail the what, how and why of the four critical factors that we have found time and time again that people need to optimize in order to look, feel and perform at their best.  These factors include vitamin D, omega 3 fatty acids, whole-food derived antioxidants including nitric oxide and whole-food derived micronutrients.  

So let’s get started with our topic for today, what is a fatty acid and maybe more important, why should you care? 

For many years, fats have had a bad reputation because of incomplete or incorrect information. The reality is that fats are essential for life and we should not be afraid of them. To better understand how fats contribute to your good health, it is essential to understand that there are two very different kinds of fats—the good fats that our bodies need and the bad fats that cause degenerative disease....

For Higher Levels of Nitric Oxide. Let the Sun Shine In!

Chalk another one up for Mother Nature’s infinite wisdom.

While unprotected sun exposure is still actively discouraged by many health care professionals, scientific researchers continue to document—in rapidly increasing numbers—its many benefits (discussed in a previous post).  Lower blood pressure, a decreased risk of both heart attack and stroke, a heightened sense of well-being, and improved athletic performance were among the powerful and healing benefits.

Many active, health-minded people now understand that getting the appropriate dose of sunlight is critical for optimal health and performance because it fuels the skin’s ability to produce an adequate supply of vitamin D3.  But the positive consequences don’t stop there.

It turns out that the skin acts as a storage depot for nitric oxide (NO).  And that sunlight plays a critical role in activating the physiological processes that convert stored forms of NO (from dietary nitrates found in green vegetables and red beets) into the bio-available form of NO that can actually be used by the body. 

Greater Energy, Better Endurance, More Muscle: Why More Protein is Not the Answer

If you are interested in maintaining or gaining muscle or even just supporting muscle recovery, you know that protein is important—not only for energy, but for physical growth and repair.  It seems logical, then, to think that more protein is better.  But this simply isn’t the case.   

You don’t need more protein, they need more amino acids.   

The body requires access to a total of 22 different amino acids, which play a role in its ability to produce energy and maintain optimum, physical function.  Eight of the 22 amino acids are defined as ‘essential’ because they are not manufactured by the body; they must be derived from dietary proteins and/or an essential amino acid supplement.   Without an adequate supply of essential amino acids, the body cannot build muscle, develop stamina or recover well from strenuous, physical activity. About 75% of all athletes are deficient in at least one essential amino acid and, as a result, fail to recover quickly or completely...

Nitric Oxide: The Key to Unlocking Your Health and Performance Potential

One of the most powerful features of the Core 4 Nutrition Program is its measurability.  The use of nutritional supplements can contribute to significant, long-term health and fitness improvements.  But to be useful, these results must be measurable.  Otherwise, it’s difficult—if not impossible—to know if you are taking the correct amount of the right nutrients.

In assessing the nutritional status of hundreds of active men and women, we have learned about the critical importance of nitric oxide or NO—a powerful molecule that promotes, protects, and preserves cellular health.  In fact, nitric oxide is the key player responsible for delivering oxygen-rich blood to every cell, tissue, and organ system in the body.  Low NO levels have been linked to poor performance and the onset of many chronic diseases.   

Are You the Man You Want to Be?

Stop for a moment and really think about how you feel.

What percent of the man are you today compared to 5 or 10 years ago?

We all get older but your physical, mental and sexual vitality do not have to drop off the cliff.

So truthfully ask yourself the questions below :

How much has your sex drive declined?

Are your erections as strong and lasting as they used to be?

What percent of mornings do wake up with an erection?

Do you find it harder to gain or maintain muscle tone?

How much extra weight, particularly around the mid-section do you carry?

The Illusion of Health

I ran into an old friend recently.  Within the context of catching up on the past several years, I mentioned my work in developing nutritional assessments and restorative products.  I went on to share with him that my research with over 500 accomplished—yet nutritionally-deficient—athletes had led me to the conclusion that most people aren’t fundamentally healthy, even if they exercise, eat well, and take nutritional supplements. 

I then proceeded to ask him about his current level of health and well-being. He admitted to struggling with ongoing bouts of low energy; and to losing the fight against the 20 extra pounds he had been carrying—for quite some time.  While his small business was growing, he wasn’t deriving that much personal satisfaction from his success and he had completely lost interest in doing triathlons because he was performing so poorly. 

He said these concerns had recently prompted him to spend $2000 for an executive health evaluation. In addition to a through physical exam, he had extensive blood work, an EKG, and body fat analysis done.  And after completing his full-day work-up, he was happy to report that nothing was wrong—his doctor said that despite being a few pounds overweight, he was perfectly healthy.

The Male Hormone Balancing Act

Optimal hormone levels are the key to a full and long life.

You have probably heard this before. But do you really know what hormones are?  Or why they are so important? Let’s answer these questions, once and for all.

Hormones are a bit like a military defense system.  They reside or are created in specific glands (the barracks) like the testes, adrenals and thyroid.  There, they await messages from your brain (the general), who directs their transmission to your cells (the troops) where a specific function is carried out.  Since each messenger has a specific and unique message to transmit, (testosterone, for example, controls growth and repair; the adrenal glands control blood sugar and fat storage; the thyroid regulates energy and metabolism) it is easy to see that the battle can easily be lost when imbalances exist.