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.

Really?  How could a 48-year-old man suffering from fatigue, performance declines, and a noticeably-apparent weight loss issue be in perfect health?

The answer is:  He is not.  Unfortunately, when a medical doctor says you’re in “perfect health,” this typically means that he cannot identify or diagnose a disease state that requires a prescription drug.  But the absence of disease does not necessarily imply the presence of health. 

A few weeks later, I sent my friend some information about Core 4 Nutrition and the functional, physiological assessments we perform.  And he decided to purchase a PerformanceProfile for Men  in order to assess his vitamin D, omega 3, blood sugar metabolism, hormone, antioxidant, and nitric oxide levels.

The results?  He was not even close to being “healthy.”

His vitamin D and omega 3 were in the bottom 15^th percentile, within the ranks of those who are 20 times more likely to die from a sudden, cardiac event.  His metabolic profile showed significant signs of internal inflammation; his nitric oxide levels were rock bottom causing decreased oxygen flow to both his arteries and sexual organs; his antioxidant levels were depleted, and his testosterone levels—while not medically deficient—had declined more than 50% from optimal, which would certainly explain the source of his lack of motivation and life satisfaction.    

After delivering these results, my friend realized that it was time to make some changes.  He understood that while he wasn’t ill, he certainly wasn’t well—he accepted that his cellular health was suffering.  He threw away his closet full of synthetic supplements and replaced them with the Core 4.  He cut down on his endurance training efforts, replacing most of them with higher-intensity interval work.  He stopped drinking both soda and alcohol, and switched to a grain-free diet that was higher in lean animal protein and healthy fats. 

I spoke with him again just 6 weeks after he started the Core 4 Program.  He had lost eight pounds, was sleeping soundly every night, and had so much energy he was thinking about registering for an early-season triathlon.