Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Natural treatments for the most common medical problems. The lifestyle advice that helps our clients (and can help you, too).

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Wondering about natural treatments for high cholesterol? Blood pressure? Diabetes? Autoimmune disease? Thyroid? Lots of clients come to us after being diagnosed with something new (and scary). We help them eat, exercise, and supplement to turn things around.

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On the face of it, what we do at Precision Nutrition — helping people lose weight and look and feel their best — must seem like lots of fun.

In many ways, it is. We help our clients work healthy eating and exercise into their lives in ways that work for them, and then 12 months later I get to share their inspiring nutrition-coaching stories, full of challenges, doubts, perseverance, and triumph — along with their amazing before and after shots.

I’ll admit, those aspects are really exciting.

But most of our clients come to us for a reason that’s much more serious than wanting to look better.

Check this out:

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A remarkable number of the people who sign up for our nutrition coaching programs are dealing with a specific health problem. Many are on multiple prescriptions and OTC drugs.

And they’re not cool with that.

They used to feel all right. But then they went to the doctor and got scary news, like having:

It’s a turning point.

Since a lot of these health problems don’t have obvious symptoms (or don’t have symptoms that you’d know how to trace until you’re diagnosed), a lot of clients say that it feels like going from “healthy” to “unhealthy” overnight.

They don’t want to be on meds for the rest of their lives. They want to feel — to be — healthy again. They want control.

The good news: There’s help. And often, another path.

Sure, I like helping people get into shape and improve their daily habits. But honestly, giving people the information, accountability, and support to address these types of health problems through nutrition and other lifestyle choices is far more exciting to me.

Because this is the kind of stuff that truly changes — or even maybe saves — lives.

That’s why I called my friend Dr. Spencer Nadolsky. He’s a board-certified obesity and family medicine physician (as well as a certified PN Level 1 and 2 coach). Together, we came up with guidelines for dealing with these health problems naturally.

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High cholesterol

Clogged artery and atherosclerosis disease medical concept with a three dimensional human artery with blood cells that is blocked by plaque buildup of cholesterol as a symbol of arteriosclerotic vascular diseases.

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that has a lot of important roles in the body. In other words, we need it.

But when you have too much cholesterol, the lipoproteins carrying it can get caught in the artery walls, combining with calcium, fat, cellular waste, and fibrin (a material involved in blood clotting) to form the plaques that cause clogs.

It’s important to know that high cholesterol isn’t just one thing: You could have high total cholesterol, high LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and/or high triglycerides (another measure of fat in the blood).

So, why’s it high? Well, sometimes high cholesterol is genetic. Other times it’s from eating too much saturated fat (from animal foods) and not enough plants.

What your diagnosis means

A basic cholesterol test usually includes a lipid profile, and has a few key components.

1. Lipoprotein cholesterol

Lipoproteins transport cholesterol around the body (basically, imagine passengers riding an inner tube in a water ride, and you get the idea).

A typical test includes:

  • Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, aka “bad cholesterol”. In general, you want the number of these to be lower.
  • High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, aka “good cholesterol”. These bring cholesterol back to the liver for recycling and processing. Higher numbers here are usually good.

2. Triglycerides

Another type of fat in the bloodstream, triglycerides are also linked to heart disease. They are stored in fat cells throughout the body. Usually, you want these to be lower.

3. Total cholesterol

This is the total level of cholesterol in your blood.

Cholesterol tends to go up with age, but it doesn’t have to. Many populations, especially in regions that still eat traditional diets, have good blood chemistry throughout their lives.

The good news: Research shows that lowering your cholesterol sooner rather than later can curb your risk of cardiovascular disease.

(For more on understanding your lab tests, see LabTestsOnline.com.)

What you can do about it

Statin drugs and other blood lipid lowering chemicals are often seen as a quick fix.

Yet these drugs can come with side effects like memory loss, difficulty concentrating, lowered exercise tolerance, muscle pain, and depression — which, ironically, make it pretty tough to prioritize lifestyle changes that could turn your health around.

While these meds may be needed in many cases, revamping your diet can be a powerful supplementary — or even alternative — treatment.

If your LDL cholesterol level is between 160 and 190 and you don’t have heart disease, diabetes, or other risk factors, Dr. Nadolsky says, ask your doc about lifestyle changes you can make before going on meds.

If your LDL level is above 190, most doctors will insist on a prescription — unless they can trace your levels to an obvious diet choice (for example, more than one of Dr. Nadolsky’s patients have seen cholesterol go down when they rein in their Bulletproof Coffee habit).

Using these lifestyle strategies can help you avoid meds (or reduce the amount of time you’re on them).

Diet

When body fat goes down, cholesterol and especially triglycerides go down.

So if you’re overweight, consider changing your habits to get to a healthy weight. (Luckily, most people see benefits from even a little weight loss, perhaps just a few pounds. You don’t have to become an underwear model to be healthy.)

Dr. Nadolsky says a diet based heavily on plants is a good bet.

This will help you:

You don’t have to give up meat completely. Just add more plants.

Some ways to get there:

  • Add one serving of vegetables and/or fruits to each meal. Look for colorful plants (such as dark leafy greens, orange carrots, or purple berries), and add a handful or two to each meal.
  • Look for whole grain substitutes where possible. Think wild or brown rice instead of white; sprouted bread instead of white bread; or oats instead of your regular breakfast cereal. Adding these whole grains may lower your risk of clogged arteries by 30 percent.
  • Add a serving of legumes. Foods like beans, lentils, and chickpeas not only taste good; they’re high in fiber, which binds to cholesterol in the digestive tract.
  • Add nuts, seeds, fatty fish (such as salmon), avocado, and olive oil. They contain healthy fats, which lower LDL and raise HDL (“good” cholesterol).

If you have high triglycerides, try lowering your sugar intake. Since your liver uses sugar to make triglycerides, less sugar means less excess blood fat.

Exercise

Working out — especially a combo of cardio and resistance work — helps lower cholesterol by:

  • helping you lose body fat (remember: less body fat equals less blood fat);
  • changing certain enzymes that can decrease your triglycerides; and
  • helping lower stress (which also contributes to poor cholesterol profiles and CVD).

If possible, do a little something every day. Even a 20-minute walk after a meal can tidy up triglycerides.

Work up to about 5 hours a week, and try to do a mix of low- and high-intensity activity, including weights, intervals, and low-intensity cardio. All activity — whether in the gym or not — counts!

Supplements

Each of these supplements could independently play a role in helping manage cholesterol levels. (Which means you don’t have to take all of them to see benefits). Of course, always talk to your doctor before taking supplements for a medical condition.

  • Fish oil: Omega-3 fatty acids from fish may lower triglycerides by as much as 30 percent. Dosage: approximately 4 g per day.
  • Berberine: This plant alkaloid may help lower cholesterol by upregulating LDL receptors on the liver, thereby decreasing the LDL in your bloodstream. Dosage: 500 mg 2-3 times a day.
  • Spirulina: A type of blue algae, research shows that spirulina may help reduce LDL cholesterol and triglycerides by 10 percent and 24 percent respectively. Dosage: 4,500 mg per day.
  • Red rice yeast extract: It contains the same ingredient found in statin drugs — so should be taken only under your doctor’s supervision. Dosage: 600 to 1200 mg twice a day with food.
  • Plant sterols/stanols: These may be effective at blocking cholesterol absorption. Dosage: 2 g per day.
  • Soluble fiber: It can help lower cholesterol by trapping cholesterol in the gut and reducing absorption. Dosage: 5-10 grams daily.

By the end of the Precision Nutrition program, Ken’s resting heart rate had gone from 96 beats per minute to 59. His blood pressure reading was 110/60. And after his cholesterol test, his doctor called him. “Nobody your age is supposed to be this healthy,” his doctor said. “I need the information about this program so I can give it to my other patients.”

Type 2 diabetes

iStock_000061704940_Small

In Type 2 diabetes, there’s a problem with insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas when blood sugar goes up, usually after a meal.

Insulin resistance and/or an inappropriate insulin response can prevent glucose from being properly stored. This leads to chronic high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by:

  • obesity (especially fat in the abdominal cavity)
  • cardiovascular disease
  • systemic inflammation
  • muscles that don’t store nutrients well

What your diagnosis means

Type 2 diabetes dramatically increases the risk of premature death and disability.

For example:

  • At least 65 percent of people with diabetes die of some form of cardiovascular disease, like a heart attack or stroke.
  • Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 20 to 74 years.
  • Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure.

What you can do about it

Your doctor may have put you on one or more medications to stimulate insulin production, inhibit glucose production, or improve insulin sensitivity.

Regardless of what med(s) you’re on, lifestyle changes are the foundation of treating type 2 diabetes.

Diet

Any eating style that helps you lose weight is going to improve your blood sugar level. That’s because when fat in the abdomen and surrounding your organs goes away, insulin resistance starts to go away, too, Dr. Nadolsky says.

There are lots of arguments for a moderate-carb Mediterranean-style diet, which research shows can control blood sugar control and reduce waist circumference better than other diets.

That’s because the diet:

  • reduces the processed sugars and starches that you’re consuming, helping decrease blood sugar.
  • replaces saturated fat (from foods like butter and red meat) with healthy fats (from fatty fish and olive oil).
  • increases plant intake, which provides phytonutrients that may improve insulin sensitivity and fiber, which slows your sugar absorption.

Exercise

Working out helps control Type 2 diabetes by:

  • improving blood sugars and insulin sensitivity (especially high-intensity interval training);
  • reducing body fat;
  • improving cardiovascular function; and
  • reducing stress.

Work with your doctor on your exercise plan, since diabetes affects how your body metabolizes energy. Considerations include:

  • what type of medication(s);
  • when you take it;
  • your blood sugar levels before exercise (and how your blood sugar responds during exercise);
  • what you’ve eaten before exercising; and
  • what type of exercise you’re doing.

Supplements

Always talk to your doctor before taking supplements for a medical condition.

  • Berberine: This plant alkaloid may help type 2 diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity. Dosage: 500 mg 2-3 times a day.

“I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic before I started Precision Nutrition Coaching. I had pills to take, check-ups, tests… It cost a lot of money, and I wasn’t addressing the real problem. But now I haven’t been to the doctor in over a year, except for one routine check-up. My doctor’s amazed at the progress I’ve made.” – Precision Nutrition Client

High blood pressure

3d rendered illustration of arteriosklerosis

In the past, you hardly paid attention to these two numbers rattled off by the nurse at your doctor’s office.

Now, you’ve been told your blood pressure is chronically high, and suddenly you need to understand them.

  • The top number (systolic) is the pressure in your arteries during a heartbeat.
  • The bottom number (diastolic) is the pressure in your arteries while your heart is resting between beats.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is related to the stiffening of blood vessels and arteries, and can be caused by:

  • A problem with your kidneys’ salt balancing function
  • Hormone imbalance
  • Immune problems
  • Genetics
  • Being sedentary
  • Excessive alcohol intake
  • Excessive sodium intake (usually from processed foods)
  • Being overweight or obese
  • Stress

What your diagnosis means

Blood pressure has a significant effect on how healthy you can hope to be in the future.

High blood pressure can put you at risk for all sorts of health problems. If the pressure damages the blood vessels in your:

  • eyes, you could end up blind.
  • kidneys, you could end up on dialysis.
  • heart, you could end up with a heart attack.
  • brain, you could end up having a stroke or developing Alzheimer’s.
  • legs and arms, you could end up with peripheral vascular disease.

What you can do about it

Just like the 35-year-old man above, if you address your blood pressure now, you cut your risk of related health problems and death substantially.

Diet

Here again, getting (and staying) at a healthy weight and body fat level is your goal. Fat cells produce substances that promote pressure-promoting inflammation throughout the blood vessels and heart.

Some guidelines:

  • Add one serving of vegetables and/or fruits to each meal. The more plants in your diet, the better. This will help you lower your sodium intake and also increase intake of nutrients like potassium and magnesium, which help lower blood pressure by improving vessel elasticity.
  • Include healthy fats: Add a couple of portions of fatty fish per week. Consuming healthy fats is linked to lower blood pressure, likely because of omega-3s’ influence on eicosanoid production, which helps control vessel dilation and platelet aggregation.
  • Reduce processed foods. This is one of the easiest ways to lower your sodium (salt) intake. Cutting sodium intake from 6,000 mg per day (that’s a typical intake in North America) to 2,300 mg or less can lower blood pressure 10 points without any other changes.
  • Limit alcohol. About one drink a day — especially red wine — can lower blood pressure slightly (particularly in women); more than that can contribute to high blood pressure by promoting high triglycerides (blood fats) and weight gain.

Exercise

Exercise helps you get and stay at a healthy body weight. It also helps your blood vessels stay elastic and your heart work more efficiently.

Incorporate a mix of low-intensity cardio, high-intensity interval training, and resistance work. Weight training or other structured workouts — at least 5 hours of exercise per week — can be especially effective in helping to lowering blood pressure.

But be careful: Using the Valsalva maneuver can bump up blood pressure during lifting, so opt for shorter sets with longer rests, and watch your heart rate.

Since stress can make high blood pressure worse, also consider recreational physical activities that de-stress you — such as walking or hiking outside.

Supplements

Each of these supplements could independently play a role in helping manage blood pressure. (Which means you don’t have to take both to see benefits). Of course, always talk to your doctor before taking supplements for a medical condition.

  • Magnesium: Supplementing may reduce blood pressure if you’re deficient, so get tested first. Dosage: 400 mg per day.
  • Coenzyme Q10: This antioxidant may help decrease blood pressure slightly. Dosage: 100 mg per day.

“My doctor was amazed at how quickly and completely I was able to lower my blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol… Neither of us thought this would be possible without medication. Now we’re both believers.” – Precision Nutrition Client

Autoimmune disease

medical 3d illustration - female having backache

In autoimmune diseases, your immune system (wrongly) attacks healthy organs and tissues in your body. Experts don’t know exactly what causes autoimmune diseases, but it’s likely a combination of genetics and environmental factors.

Autoimmune diseases are on the rise, now affecting 24 million people in the U.S.

Common autoimmune diseases include:

  • rheumatoid arthritis
  • lupus
  • type 1 diabetes
  • inflammatory bowel disease,
  • multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis
  • thyroid condition like Graves’ disease or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (also see the Thyroid condition section below).

While there are treatments for autoimmune problems, there aren’t (yet) cures.

What your diagnosis means

With more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases, many of which share symptoms, it can be difficult for your doctor (and stressful for you) to pinpoint the problem.

Common symptoms include:

  • fatigue,
  • dizziness,
  • low-grade fever,
  • gastrointestinal problems,
  • headache,
  • fever,
  • itchy skin, and
  • redness and swelling.

Treatment depends on the specific autoimmune disease you’ve been diagnosed with. While researchers haven’t identified cures, some of these diseases can go into remission.

What you can do about it

If you’ve got an autoimmune disease, you may have noticed you have good days and bad days. Sometimes the disease may flare up, often without warning. Sometimes it may calm down. It can be hard to know why, or what’s causing the changes.

And sufferers can feel powerless.

Gather data about yourself

One way to help yourself feel more in control is with a symptom diary.

This can help both you and your doctor identify patterns, such as whether particular foods, types of exercise, or other factors such as sleep, stress, or hormonal changes seem to affect symptoms.

In particular, consider tracking what you eat and whether you notice any changes in symptoms.

If you have a food sensitivity or intolerance, then your diet may be wreaking havoc on your gastrointestinal tract, damaging intestine cells and allowing food particles and other junk into your bloodstream.

These types of triggers — perhaps innocuous to many other people — can worsen inflammation; your body’s immune response may rage against the perceived invaders.

Diet

There’s no one-size-fits-all “best diet” for autoimmune conditions. However, looking for food sensitivities and eliminating foods that seem to worsen your symptoms is a good start.

If you’d like to explore this further, consider doing an elimination diet, in which you eliminate whole categories of food for a few days, then reintroduce foods one by one, making note of any reactions you have.

If you notice a reaction, consider eliminating the culprit food from your diet permanently (of course, talk to your doctor).

Ask your doctor about food allergy and sensitivity testing. The latter is still being studied, but the findings could still be illuminating, especially in conjunction with an elimination diet.

What about the Paleo-style diet for autoimmune diseases that’s getting attention these days? Dr. Nadolsky says there’s some evidence that the diet may help by reducing inflammation, but this is totally hypothesis-based at this point.

Exercise

Autoimmune symptoms like fatigue, weakness, aches, and chronic pain can make it tough to get to the kitchen for your coffee in the morning — let alone to the gym.

But, conversely, finding a way to work in low-impact exercise can help reduce symptoms significantly.

Exercise can:

  • boost your energy,
  • improve your mood,
  • improve flexibility and mobility,
  • release pain-targeting endorphins,
  • reduce inflammation, and
  • relieve depression and anxiety.

Talk to your doctor about how to make exercise work for your specific autoimmune condition.

Supplements

Always talk to your doctor before taking supplements for a medical condition.

  • Vitamin D: may modulate the immune system (especially in multiple sclerosis patients). Dosage: 1,000-2,000 IU per day; get tested for a more tailored dose.
  • Probiotics: These beneficial bacteria may help improve gut health, potentially reducing inflammation and autoimmune issues. The problem: There are so many different strains that it’s hard to know which to take, the dosage, or the efficacy. But there’s no harm in trying a few strains of bifidobacterium and lactobacillus, Dr. Nadolsky says. Dosage: 1-5 billion CFUs per day.

Precision Nutrition client David removed gluten — and sure enough, he started to feel better. Yes, it was tough to give up on breads and pastas and other starchy gluten-containing treats. But as it turns out that it’s easier than he imagined to prepare wholesome, nutritious food that tastes great and doesn’t stimulate his autoimmune response.

Thyroid condition

Thyroid - Female Organs - Human Anatomy

The thyroid gland is one of the “master controllers” that regulates nearly every major metabolic function in the body.

If you’ve been diagnosed with a thyroid condition, your thyroid might be producing too much of the hormone (hyperthyroidism) or too little (hypothyroidism).

Thyroid disorders can be caused by iodine deficiency, but that’s rare in affluent countries.

Hyper- or hypothyroidism most commonly arise from autoimmune problems, in which white blood cells and antibodies mistakenly attack the gland’s cells, causing damage and dysfunction.

What your diagnosis means

In hyperthyroidism, it’s as if your body’s “motor” is revving at high speed.

Symptoms can include:

  • racing heart and palpitations
  • trouble sleeping
  • tremor and nervousness
  • weight loss
  • hair loss
  • muscle aches and weakness
  • diarrhea and overactive digestive system
  • sweating and trouble tolerating heat
  • exophthalmos (bulging eyes)

With hypothyroidism, the “motor” slows down. Symptoms can include:

  • unexplained weight gain
  • inability to lose weight, even with a solid eating and exercise plan
  • tiredness, fatigue, lethargy
  • depression and losing interest in normal activities
  • forgetfulness
  • dry hair and skin
  • puffy face
  • slow heart rate
  • intolerance to cold
  • constipation
  • brittle nails
  • muscle cramping
  • changes in menstrual cycle

What you can do about it

Hypothyroidism is controlled with hormone replacement that’s specific to the individual patient’s needs.

But correcting the thyroid imbalance doesn’t produce weight loss overnight. If you have a thyroid issue, you’ll still benefit from addressing nutrition, exercise and lifestyle factors.

Diet

If your thyroid problem is the result of iodine deficiency (rare in the developed world, where most people use iodized salt), focusing on getting more iodine is key. Foods to focus on include iodized salt, fish, and seaweed.

Ask your doctor if you should limit soy, which contains substances that can contribute to a goiter (excess tissue) on the thyroid. Soy only seems to cause thyroid problems when iodine intake is low and soy intake is high.

If your thyroid condition is autoimmune, an undetected food intolerance could be to blame. Scientists are still exploring the connection between food intolerance and autoimmune problems, but there’s some evidence that gut dysfunction — aggravated by food intolerance — can trigger the inflammation that worsens some thyroid diseases.

It’s plausible (though not certain) that addressing food intolerance early, before irreversible damage is done to the thyroid, may help you avoid hypothyroidism, Dr. Nadolsky says.

Talk to your doctor about food sensitivity testing and trying an elimination diet, which helps you identify food intolerances.

It’s important not to eliminate foods before your doctor has the chance to test you for a disease such as celiac, an intolerance to gluten.

Exercise

While regular exercise can help improve some of the symptoms of thyroid conditions, get advice from your doctor before ramping up your routine.

Since hyper- and hypothyroidism mess with your metabolism, exercising before your condition is under control can be dangerous.

  • With hyperthyroidism, where your metabolism is already revved up, working out can cause you to overheat, and could even cause heart problems.
  • With hypothyroidism, your heart rate is slowed, meaning exercise could be too much work for you at first.

Supplements

Always talk to your doctor before taking supplements for a medical condition.

  • Probiotics: If your thyroid condition is rooted in autoimmune issues, these may help. Again, experts still don’t know which strains or doses are most beneficial. There’s no harm in giving it a shot, though. Try bifidobacterium and lactobacillus, Dr. Nadolsky says. Dosage: 1-5 billion CFUs per day.
  • Iodine: Consider taking this if your thyroid problem is iodine-related. Dosage: Ask your doctor.
  • Selenium: It’s involved in the production of thyroid hormone. Dosage: 200 mcg per day.

She pauses for a moment, maybe thinking about all the obstacles she faced— her age, the thyroid condition, the cancer, the move, the restaurant meals, the traveling, the loss of her sibling. “Really, there’s no reason not to succeed at this,” she finally says. “Precision Nutrition Coaching is so well thought out and so well designed. If I can do it, anybody can.”

What to do next

If you’ve gotten a scary medical diagnosis lately — or struggled with some mild to moderate chronic health problems that affect your quality of life — you’re not alone.

We’ve seen literally thousands of clients with health problems, ranging from the most severe (such as terminal cancer) to small everyday annoyances (like chronic sinusitis or skin rashes).

A new diagnosis is always a delicate dance — even before you start introducing meds and lifestyle changes.

Here are some general guidelines for navigating it all in a way that works for your life and health.

1. Don’t go into the woods alone.

Build a support team — the bigger the better. This can include:

  • doctors and other healthcare providers
  • pharmacists who can advise you on medication use
  • family and friends
  • nutrition coaches, fitness trainers, and other folks who can help you make lifestyle changes and discover what you can do, even with potential limitations
  • counselors and therapists to help you deal with the mental and emotional consequences of health problems
  • etc.

Depending on your diagnosis, there may be “rehab” programs available (such as cardiac rehab) to help you move through the early stages of treatment.

Having a person with you at medical appointments can help you remember important information. When we’re anxious or overwhelmed with a new diagnosis, we may not remember or process things.

2. Choose your information sources carefully.

With a fresh diagnosis (or puzzling set of symptoms), we often run to Dr. Google and the health blogger world for advice. We can end up feeling confused, overwhelmed, and considering weird options like an all-banana diet or tuning into the vibrations of the universe.

Be a critical consumer. Look for scientific evidence and research.

Ask your doctor (or other healthcare providers) what information sources they recommend. Demand credibility.

3. Work with your doctor. Follow instructions.

Don’t self-diagnose or self-treat.

If you’ve been prescribed meds, take them.

4. If you change your diet or exercise, or add any supplements, check with your doctor and/or pharmacist.

You may not be aware that even common, “safe” OTC drugs and supplements (such as a calcium supplement, or aspirin) could interact with your medications.

5. That said… ask questions, and advocate for yourself.

Some doctors are quick to prescribe meds without giving you a chance to fully explore lifestyle changes, Dr. Nadolsky says.

Be curious. Ask questions. Could you hold off on meds (or stop taking them) while pursuing healthier habits? Explore this.

Again, don’t stop taking meds without getting approval from your doctor.

6. Learn about your own body and health.

Keep a symptom diary. Track changes from day to day. Look for patterns. Map out your own unique physical landscape.

In particular, many diseases get worse when we’re stressed, or when we eat foods that our bodies don’t like.

Bring this diary when you visit your doctor. This process can help both you and your doctor solve any health mysteries. You can also write down your doctor’s instructions to help yourself remember.

7. Check all medication side effects.

Medicine — both prescription and over-the-counter — have powerful effects on metabolism, appetite and digestion, body composition, physical performance, and overall wellness.

If you’re struggling to get results with a solid health and fitness program, underlying health conditions and medication use might be playing a role. If you suspect this, talk to your doc, and consider getting a nutrition coach.

8. If you work in health or fitness, consider learning more.

Client results depend on your understanding of their underlying health issues, medications, symptoms, and motivations for changing their habits. Precision Nutrition’s Level 1 Certification Program for health and fitness professionals teaches you how to work with clients’ special medical conditions, how to address medication use, and so much more.

Want some help?

If you’re looking for natural lifestyle strategies to help you eat, move, and live better, we’d be happy to help. In fact, we’ll soon be taking new Precision Nutrition Coaching clients.

You see, we accept new clients every 6 months, and coaching spots typically sell out in hours.

However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else. Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.

So put your name on the list below — because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.


References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

The post Natural treatments for the most common medical problems. The lifestyle advice that helps our clients (and can help you, too). appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

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Monday, November 16, 2015

A Surfer’s Guide to Avoiding Ankle Injuries

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‘John John’ Florence, who has completed his film ‘View From a Blue Moon’ was sidelined by ankle injury. He began a physical-therapy regimen that not only repaired damage but aimed to prevent future harm.
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Monday, November 9, 2015

That fit person who’s ‘got it all together’… doesn’t. Take it from us: Everyone else is struggling, too.

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Seem like everyone else is better, fitter and healthier than you? Like you’ll never be that ‘fit person’? If so, we’ve got some surprising news for you. Plus 7 steps to feeling more “OK” with you.

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Fifteen years ago, thousands of male clients came to trainers with one burning wish: Make me look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

TM and Copyright 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved.
(TM and Copyright 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Courtesy: Everett Collection)

Who could forget Pitt’s lean, sinewy, anti-establishment Tyler Durden, all abs and dirt and knuckles and free spirit?

For those male clients, Tyler Durden was That Guy.

That Guy gets romance and adventure, kicks life in the ass, and rides off into the sunset.

That Guy doesn’t have to clean out eavestroughs, or slog through freeway traffic. He doesn’t have bad knees or get heartburn after eating a chili dog.

That Guy doesn’t say “uff” when he bends over to tie his shoes. His doctor isn’t telling him his rotator cuff is messed up, or that his blood cholesterol is too high. He’s not worrying about how to parent teenagers.

Female clients, of course, often have That Woman as their ideal. The jacked, gun-toting arms of Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in Terminator 2 sent a generation of women racing towards biceps curls in the 1990s.

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, Linda Hamilton, 1991. ©TriStar Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
(©TriStar Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection)

Generally, though, That Woman may be somewhat more domestic than That Guy. (A little more First Lady Michelle Obama than freedom fighter, perhaps.)

That Woman fits into all her clothes (especially wedding dresses). She rocks Lululemon leggings and skinny jeans… even after having three angelic children.

If you are a female client who idealizes That Woman, you know this because That Woman is at your kids’ school picking up her well-groomed offspring.

She looks fabulous and together. She’s into Pilates or running or Crossfit or kale juice or something else that seems to keep her full of energy.

She’s a lawyer or a neurosurgeon or an international diplomat or perhaps a stay-at-home mother, but whatever she does, she excels at it and is fulfilled. She uses hashtags like #honored and #grateful and #blessed, and means it.

Meanwhile, you’re shoving aside banana peels and empty soda cups to make room for your kid’s dog-hair-encrusted car seat. And you’re wearing your husband’s track pant bottoms with baby spit-up on them, because they’re the only things that fit you right now.

If only we could become That Guy or That Woman.

They’re OK. Awesome, even.

And we’re not.

Right?

Wrong.

This might sound kind of weird, but…

As coaches, we know our clients’ secrets.

In our case, around 30,000 clients’ worth of secrets.

Now, this doesn’t mean we’re creepy peepers.

We’re discreet and committed to confidentiality. One trusted and caring coach sees one client in total confidence and privacy.

But at some point, the baggy sweat pants have to come off so we can do body measurements.

At some point, a camera captures your image, so we can observe your progress visually.

At some point, you share your cholesterol test or thyroid hormone panel with us, so we can talk about what it means.

At some point, you tell us your daily routine, so we can see how to make changes.

At some point, you tell us honestly what’s going on, so we can help you.

That’s when it gets real.

And that’s when we both learn:

Everyone is not OK.

If you don’t have the big picture, as we do, it seems like Everyone Else is doing so much better than you.

It seems like Everyone Else can handle their lives. Everyone Else quickly learns the habits we teach.

Everyone Else is losing weight or gaining muscle or getting fitter so much faster and more effortlessly than you. Everyone Else has everything you don’t.

It feels like you are the only person in the world with your problems.

The truth is:

There is no Everyone Else.

There are only imperfect, wonderful, messy, very-much-human beings with hopes and fears and desires and neuroses and jobs and lives and kids and dogs or cats and family demands and toilets that need unclogging and lines-becoming-wrinkles and hangnails and alarms that go off too early and a love of chocolate-chip cookies… and all the rest of reality.

Like you.

Like me.

Like all of us.

“We’re all bozos on the bus,” said Woodstock MC Wavy Gravy in 1969, “so we might as well sit back and enjoy the ride.”

Elizabeth Lesser, author of Broken Open and a TED speaker, adds: “If we’re all bozos, then we can put down the burden of pretense and get on with being bozos.”

In other words…

  • we can stop worrying about being the only person who isn’t fit enough, smart enough, together enough, getting enough things done in a day, a good enough mom / dad / worker, whatever.
  • we can pursue fitness, nutrition, and health goals that are actually realistic and attainable — and feel good about what we do instead of inadequate.

Here are 7 ways to start feeling more OK, right now, in your own imperfect, messy life.

1. Reboot your expectations.

In our article The Cost of Getting Lean, we explored the trade-offs that you might make for a given fitness goal.

The key messages:

Getting into reasonable, moderate shape isn’t too complicated.

All you need are small consistent changes here and there. Walking the dog after dinner, perhaps a weekly class at the gym, or packing an apple in your lunch will generally do the trick.

Getting into pretty good shape is a little trickier, but can be done if you’re committed.

You might need to focus more on food quality and portion sizes, work out a bit more, be more careful with your indulgences. Still, do-able if you’re so inclined.

Getting into film-shoot-ready or magazine-cover-ready shape is a whole other game.

You give up your life to do this.

You eat out of Tupperware. You measure everything that goes into your mouth. Your entire routine revolves around eating (or not eating), working out, and sleeping so you have enough energy to work out again.

Now here’s the secret.

People in the third group — the ones we often imagine are Everyone Else — are professionals who make their living that way.

99.99 percent of you are not those people.

They only look like that for a few hours or days. But they might pour thousands of hours of work and maybe thousands of dollars of money into that project of getting super jacked and ripped. Brad Pitt had an entire staff of well-paid professionals making sure he rolled into his shoot looking that way.

Which means that even the 0.01 percent still don’t look like that all the time.

Nor are their lives awesome.

In fact, arguably, their lives are much less awesome.

Because they’re eating three ounces of plain cold chicken out of Tupperware at a family barbecue before they go and do their third workout of the day.

(Actor Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy complained to British GQ that Brad Pitt “ruined it for everyone” by creating unrealistic body expectations, so Hunnam was forced to go and work out two and a half hours a day on top of a 14-15 hour shooting schedule.)

In short:

  • Getting into slightly better shape, or a slightly healthier routine, doesn’t take much effort. That may be what is realistic for most of us, right now.
  • Getting into epic shape takes tremendous sacrifice… and kinda sucks. It probably isn’t worth it for most of us, right now.
  • Getting into epic shape creates other problems. Because of the demands of their job, cover models are often less happy, healthy, and balanced than the average person. (If you’ve ever chased this dream, you may have discovered this firsthand in the form of workout injuries, anxiety and depression, disordered eating, hormonal disruption, social isolation, and a host of other problems.)

So if magazine covers are off the table at the moment, what can you do?

2. Find realistic role models.

There are more “fit and healthy” people than you imagine. They might not look like you expect.

“Fit and healthy” comes in many sizes, shapes, and abilities.

Look around.

The gray-haired octogenarian standing at the bus stop. Did you know that despite her arthritis, she pops a painkiller and gets out to her dance class four times a week?

The rotund guy that delivers your mail. He walks 10 miles a day as a postman.

Your child’s preschool teacher. She only has 20 minutes a day to exercise, but she does them faithfully, hitting her exercise bike and Netflix every day before she comes to corral your kid. (Then she tries to spend all recess playing tag with 4-year-olds.)

What if you shifted your perspective to “good enough”, “a little bit better”, or “trying”?

What if you looked for small moments of health, fitness, and wellness everywhere?

What if you focused on doing what you could, today, anyway?

3. Embrace the struggle.

It’s not going anywhere.

Grappling with pain — whether that’s actual pain and suffering, or just small daily annoyances — is part of being human.

As adults, we recognize life’s complexity and richness. Wanting to “be perfect” or “have it all” is not an adult wish. It’s a child wish: to have all the toys, all the time, even your sister’s.

Everyone has a struggle. You might just not see it.

For instance:

  • 48 percent of our female clients and 33 percent of our male clients take prescription medication.
  • Of our clients taking medication, 33 percent of women and 24 percent of men take antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication.
  • 36 percent of our clients have injuries. And many struggle with chronic pain.
  • 27 percent of our female clients and 17 percent of our male clients are over 50 years old. (Even if you’re healthy, aging brings its own challenges.)

Many of these challenges are invisible.

You often can’t see pain or disability. You often can’t see psychological distress. Unless you see someone pop a pill, you don’t know what they’re taking.

And guess what — the PN staff struggle with the exact same things.

  • We have injuries. Or had them. Or will have them.
  • We’ve struggled with mental and emotional health sometimes. Or often.
  • We’ve struggled with addictions — whether that’s to work, or exercise, or food, or alcohol, or anything else that someone could get hooked on.
  • We’ve gained too much weight, or been scrawny, or gone weeks or months without working out.
  • We’ve been the ones wearing the baby barf sweatpants.

No matter what the challenge is, at least a few of us have faced it, and certainly none of us are getting any younger.

Someone who looks fit may be at the end of a long and difficult journey.

  • Like the cancer survivors whom we coached through post-treatment rehab.
  • Like people who are coming back from an injury or illness.
  • Like our courageous coaching clients who have chosen to do PN Coaching two, three, or even four times to really learn the habits and make the progress they want to make. That’s years of work.

They’re all being “good enough” — just showing up and trying their best in an imperfect situation.

4. Recognize and respect your not-OK-ness.

It’s OK to not be OK. None of us are 100 percent OK.

At the same time, sometimes things are really not-OK.

For instance, if you’re experiencing things like:

  • chronic insomnia or poor quality sleep
  • chronic pain or lack of mobility
  • frequent injuries and/or illnesses
  • chronic and debilitating depression, anxiety, or other mental health concerns
  • chronic social isolation and relationship difficulties
  • chronic lethargy and lack of energy
  • feeling like you need alcohol or recreational drugs to function
  • concerns with food, eating, and/or exercise that seem to be taking over your life and/or harming your health…

… then you could probably benefit from making some changes.

Sometimes, being in the depths of not-OK — for instance, having a debilitating gym injury, getting a scary medical diagnosis, or ending a relationship — is exactly the wake-up call we need to start working on being a little more OK.

Pay attention to your “dashboard indicator lights”.

Are your current struggles and imperfections more like garden-variety ups and downs? If they are, that’s just fine. It’s all part of being human.

On the other hand, if something feels really off, you might need a little extra help. You might talk to a trained coach, counsellor, or other health care professional.

Learn to heed your own signals. Know when not-OK is actually not OK, and requires extra help.

5. Learn to be OK with being “not OK”.

As PN coaches, much of work is actually helping our clients get a little more comfortable with discomfort.

If you’re a coaching client, you might hear phrases like:

  • Step into the discomfort.
  • Let things be a bit messy.
  • You are human. You are normal. You are not a weirdo. You are not alone.

You might also hear questions like:

  • How might you make things a little bit simpler for yourself?
  • What does it feel like to sit with the discomfort of change?
  • How could you stretch yourself just a bit?

Life is never going to be completely OK, 100 percent of the time.

The trick is to learn how to be OK with that not-OKness, and work on making things just a little bit better.

6. Take small steps towards slightly more OK.

If there’s a lot of invisible suffering in the world, there are also a lot of invisible successes and joys too.

  • Nobody besides the newspaper delivery person sees you running at a dark 6 AM. But you know. And you’re proud of your dedication.
  • Nobody besides your doctor knows you need anti-anxiety medications or anti-inflammatories or some other drug to function. But you know. And you’re proud of weighing your options and deciding on what’s best for you, even if that choice isn’t “perfect”.
  • Nobody besides your grocer sees you picking out leafy greens and lean protein to put in your shopping cart. But you know. And you’re proud of passing by the Nutella and Oreos that once called your name when you struggled with binge eating.
  • Nobody besides the inside of your brain sees you grappling with the “right choice” in a situation where you don’t have to make the right choice. But you know. And when you make that choice… you’re proud of yourself for sticking to your values.

Maybe that “right choice” was pausing for ten seconds to review what matters most to you.

Maybe you were just following your shopping list when you grabbed those leafy greens.

Maybe you think that effort was so small, it didn’t “count”.

But here’s a coaching secret: the steps that lead to success? They’re almost all small things.

Success comes from putting small things on top of small things on top of small things.

7. Find your work-arounds.

Do you need accommodation or help? Find it. Get it.

Work on creating a system that you trust to help yourself.

  • If you have one body part that’s not working very well, explore other movement options, or workouts that don’t depend on that body part.
  • If you don’t like cooking alone or working out alone, find someone else to do this with. Grab a buddy for Sunday chili-making day, or hit a group class.
  • If you’re having trouble “finding time” for things, get out a calendar and start planning. Book appointments for everything, even grocery shopping. Track your time use so that you know when you’re wasting time. Then, set alarms and reminders, stick up Post-it notes, and carve out 15 minutes a day to ditch Facebook and hang out with the squirrels during a walk in the park instead.

Coaching secret: Most people aren’t “naturally” good at most things.

The people who look like they’re good at things are getting help, and/or have a trusted system to guide them.

When we start accepting our own limitations — our own “not-OKness” — that’s when we start making changes for the better.

We embrace the small improvements that add up over time.

We treat ourselves with more compassion and evolve past an “all or nothing” attitude.

We pick ourselves up after we fall down, and we make course corrections when we need to.

And we ask for help when we need it.

Best of all, the more we accept being not OK, the more life feels… well, a little more OK.

What to do next

Gather data.

If you’re feeling not-OK, start recording what and why.

Write down all the ways in which you don’t feel OK.

Analyze your data.

What is regular not-OK (tendonitis, having a bad day, eating a waffle over the sink for dinner, etc.) and what is not-OK worth checking out (chronic illness, debilitating depression, etc.)?

Calibrate your expectations and check your blind spots.

What are you trying to do? Write out the things you are trying to accomplish or achieve right now.

Now review those expectations.

Would a sane, kind, wise friend or mentor tell you those expectations are realistic?

(If you actually have a sane, kind, wise friend or mentor, ask them for advice.)

Using their advice (real or imaginary) as a guide, re-consider your expectations. How could you adjust them to make them more realistic and attainable?

Consider a few small next steps.

One of the hallmarks of not-OK-ness is that it often feels paralyzing. It’s like swimming through peanut butter.

Action is the antidote to paralysis.

Whatever you can do, no matter how tiny, do something to affirm your basic OK-ness, even when things don’t feel OK at all.

Assemble your team.

Do you need to add people to your “Project OK” team? Such as a trusted buddy or family member, a coach, counsellor, or other health care provider?

If so, find them and recruit them to Project OK.

Ask for what you need. Let them help.

Start building a system.

OK-ness is not a do-it-yourself project. Nor does OK-ness happen spontaneously.

Along with helpers, you need systems to be OK. Things that remind you, guide you, help you, fill in the gaps for you, and generally help you stay more or less on track.

Want some help?

If you’d like some help staying consistent with your exercise and eating plan, we’d be happy to help. In fact, we’ll soon be taking new Precision Nutrition Coaching clients.

You see, we accept new clients every 6 months, and coaching spots typically sell out in hours. However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else.

Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.

So put your name on the list below —because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

The post That fit person who’s ‘got it all together’… doesn’t. Take it from us: Everyone else is struggling, too. appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

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Precision Nutrition

The post That fit person who’s ‘got it all together’… doesn’t. Take it from us: Everyone else is struggling, too. appeared first on Workout Tips.


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Monday, November 2, 2015

Personal Trainer Who Makes Star Athletes Suffer

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Mackie Shilstone, who devises punishing workouts for pro athletes including Serena Williams and Peyton Manning, never goes easy—especially not on himself.
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WSJ.com: What’s Your Workout

The post Personal Trainer Who Makes Star Athletes Suffer appeared first on Workout Tips.


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What do the data really say about essential oils?

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Outrageous claims aside, essential oils do have actual health benefits. Here’s the real deal, including data from our very own (and very successful) self-experiments. 

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Earlier this year, I willed my testosterone level to increase by 26 percent.

I also successfully wished my 10-years-and-counting knee pain away.

And I used some magic vapor to reduce the number of sick days in my family (which includes three germy kids).

What sort of wizardry is this?

Just a little science. And a healthy dose of therapeutic essential oils.

I know, I know. The claims about essential oils — that they can help with sleep, mood, hormone levels, and more — can sound like scammy, woo-woo nonsense. The worst “health” advice the Internet has to offer.

Yet there’s intriguing scientific data suggesting that some of the potential benefits of essential oils might just be a reality.

For example:

  • I’ve seen several case studies showing 25-35 percent increases in testosterone among hypogonadal (low-testosterone) men who ingested essential oil from blue spruce. (Spoiler alert: I saw the same increases when I experimented with blue spruce myself).
  • Frankincense essential oil comes from resin of the boswellia tree. Boswellia is highly touted in the supplement world for joint pain and arthritis. Ironically, some of the same people taking boswellia in supplement form still end up mocking the use of essential oils. (Personally, I found it to be really helpful for my occasional knee pain).

Sure, you argue, small scale trials and simple case studies don’t “prove” or “disprove” anything. But these are more than speculation and anecdotes.

In my opinion, they’re enough to start a conversation, maybe even spark laboratory scientists to start looking more deeply into what essential oils do in larger groups and more controlled settings.

As always, it usually takes science a little while to catch up.

In the meantime, I’ve been experimenting with the help of my friend and colleague, Tom Nikkola.

Tom knows everything there is to know about the current state of the science on essential oils. He’s an impressive writer and researcher in his own right, and — full disclosure — he believes enough in the merits of essential oils that he’s now focusing his career on them full-time: He joined his wife’s website, through which they sell and educate about essential oils.

Biased? Maybe. At the same time, he delivers a fantastic roundup of essential oil intel.

What follows is the best, most helpful, and most comprehensive essential oil article I’ve seen to date.

Enter Tom…

iStock_000011132894_Small

What are essential oils?

Essential oils are the volatile liquids found in a variety of plants, trees, shrubs, and citrus fruit rinds. They’re what give herbs, flowers, and fruits their distinctive scents.

They’re also some of the oldest known “natural health products”.

For several thousand years, people all over the world have been extracting these oils using methods such as steam distillation, cold pressing, resin tapping, or absolute extraction.

Essential oils aren’t there by accident, or just because a flower decided to smell nice. The chemical components help the plants function and fight pathogens, disease and stress.

For instance, these components can:

  • act as chemical messengers and hormones;
  • protect the plant from bacteria, fungi, and viruses; and
  • protect the plant from environmental stressors such as heat.

These active compounds are such small molecules that humans can easily absorb them through the skin, nasal passages, lungs, and digestive system.

Since plant physiology is similar enough to our own, we can get therapeutic benefit from some of the oils’ constituents.

Of course, every essential oil affects the human body in different ways, based on the dozens (or hundreds) of compounds in each oil.

For example, peppermint has more than 40 known constituents. (And probably a bunch of unknown ones). It’s been shown to:

  • soothe the digestive system,
  • relax tight muscles,
  • be mentally and physically stimulating, and
  • help lower blood lactate levels during exercise.
Pure peppermint essential oil’s many known constituents.
Pure peppermint essential oil’s many known constituents.

From skeptic to believer

I have to admit, I started out as a major essential oil skeptic. My wife first brought some oils home and got pretty deep into researching and using them.

I thought it was a crock.

Despite all of the research studies I’d read, professionals I’d learned from, and nutritional products and supplements I’d designed for top companies, I hadn’t seen much info on essential oils.

I work in the fitness industry, and it’s usually at the forefront of natural products and alternative therapies. Since no one in fitness was talking about these oils, I mistook this lack of dialogue for a lack of data.

To me, essential oils smelled nice, were used in mind-body programs, and were popular with non-scientific New-Agey types. Not scientists.

But I was sharing a house with someone who kept insisting there was good science. So I decided to take a deeper look. I even did some self-experimentation.

  • I immersed myself in the available research and books on essential oils. (There’s more than you think.)
  • I did before-and-after blood testing and experienced a marked improvement in my hormone balance. For example, I saw a 34 percent increase in my testosterone levels using blue spruce oil.
  • A little later, I ruptured my distal bicep tendon deadlifting. Not a thrilling experience, to say the least, but I took it as an opportunity to test the effects of certain essential oils on supporting the healing process (in conjunction with nutrition, exercise, physical therapy and cryotherapy). The rehab team frequently commented about how quickly I was recovering (and how great I smelled). In the end, I was back to normal deadlifts in half the time the surgeon said it would take.

Over time, based on the research and my own experience, I became a believer. In fact, I kicked myself for not looking into these natural products earlier.

At the same time, I had — and continue to have — some concerns.

Like many products in the health and fitness space, essential oils are the subject of many outlandish claims that are either patently false or unverifiable.

Here’s my take on what the science and personal experimentation shows… and where I remain cautious, even skeptical.

How do essential oils work?

The three most common methods for using essential oils are:

  • topical application,
  • inhalation, and
  • ingestion.

Most pure essential oils can be used all three ways — but be careful: Not all essential oils are pure.

Inhalation

Essential oils are most known for their odor (hence the term aromatherapy).

Inhaling essential oils stimulates any of more than 1,000 receptors in the nasal cavity, which transfer signals through the olfactory bulb to the limbic system, the center for our emotions. From there, they can affect the autonomic nervous, endocrine, and immune systems.

When essential oils reach the lungs, they pass from the alveoli into the capillary blood vessels. Once in the bloodstream, they are small enough to pass through the blood-brain barrier.

Inhaling certain essential oils may:

  • help improve mood, emotions, and libido;
  • support sleep quantity and quality;
  • increase focus or alertness; and/or
  • reduce feelings of stress or occasional anxiety.

Topical application

You can apply essential oil on its own or diluted with a “carrier oil” (such as avocado, coconut, olive, or sesame).

Diluting essential oils:

  • minimizes the sensation on the skin and slows absorption (especially important if you’re using the oil on a child),
  • allows you to spread the oil across a larger surface, and
  • helps the oil’s effect last longer.

After penetrating the skin, essential oils can act locally (for instance, on your knee if you’ve rubbed the oil on your knee).

Or they can act systemically, throughout the body. If you’re looking for a systemic effect, one of the best places to apply the oil is the soles of the feet, since the pores there are large and essential oils are thus absorbed quickly.

Topical use of certain essential oils may:

  • help target specific areas such as the sinuses, lymph system or the stomach
  • have many of the benefits associated with inhalation; and/or
  • relieve muscle soreness or joint stiffness from workouts, or other minor aches and pains.

Ingestion

The ingestion of essential oils might be one of the most debated topics in alternative health today.

I would not, under any circumstance, recommend ingesting cheap, perfume-grade essential oil. Although most pure essential oils can be ingested, there isn’t always a good reason to do it.

Research indicates that ingesting certain essential oils may:

  • help us digest and absorb food;
  • help relieve occasional digestive distress;
  • help relieve symptoms of digestive issues like gingivitis, colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and dysbiosis;
  • support the immune system; and/or
  • support normal inflammatory levels.

Personally, I’ve noticed my stomach feels much better after consuming certain essential oils with food. I’ve also heard this from many other people. So take that for what’s it worth.

Heads up: The first time I took blue spruce oil, I dropped it in a capsule and swallowed it with a tall glass of water. A few minutes later, I burped and it tasted like I’d eaten a spruce tree.

Essential oils are hydrophobic, meaning they rise to the top when mixed with water. Taking them with a fat-containing meal or a small amount of carrier oil helps disperse them through the digestive system (and eliminates pine-forest burps).

Where’s the science?

One of the arguments against essential oils is that there isn’t enough human research on them: Without multiple double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, what do we really know?

Simply put, this isn’t true. There has been a significant increase in published research on essential oils in recent years, as you can see below:

Essential-Oils-by-Year
Research on essential oils has been increasing annually since the 1980s.

Scientists are beginning to test various oils and their constituents.

Unfortunately, we’ll probably never see as many double-blind, placebo-controlled trials on essential oils as there are on pharmaceuticals or patented supplements.

Not because they don’t work. But because…

Essential oil research is really expensive.

With as many as a few hundred constituents per plant, each offering a different health benefit, study designs can vary dramatically.

For example, there’s evidence that chamomile oil has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, and may help with:

  • symptoms of the common cold
  • cardiovascular conditions
  • colic/diarrhea
  • eczema
  • gastrointestinal conditions
  • hemorrhoids
  • osteoporosis
  • sleep quality
  • diabetes
  • wound healing
  • anxiety

Chamomile may even boost quality of life in cancer patients.

To do large-scale, repeatable studies on just one of the effects observed from this essential oil would be quite expensive.

No one wants to pay for the research.

Supplements and pharmaceuticals are often patented. Companies that own the patents do whatever studies they need to prove that their products work.

But plants that essential oils come from are living things in the public domain and therefore can’t be patented. Where there’s no patent, there’s often no profit.

The body of evidence is too muddy.

Plants grown outside their normal environment will not produce the right mix of constituents for therapeutic use. Oils that weren’t distilled properly lose constituents.

Unfortunately, some research studies have used these sub-par oils, which yield sub-par results.

At the same time, that doesn’t preclude good science being done on essential oils.

Dr. John Berardi’s experiment:
Essential oils for testosterone and growth hormone

Case studies suggest that blue spruce oil and balsam fir oil can support optimal testosterone and growth hormone levels, respectively. Dr. Berardi decided to try this out on himself. Here’s his report.

Method

Step 1: Get a baseline
For baseline measures, I tested morning-fasted levels of dozens of blood chemistry markers. (I used the WellnessFX Wellness Complete package).

This included hormonal markers like:

  • total testosterone
  • free testosterone
  • sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG)
  • insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)
  • luteinizing hormone (LH)
  • follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)

Step 2: Add experimental substance
After that I ingested 4 drops of blue spruce oil + 4 drops of balsam fir oil with breakfast and again with dinner for 8 weeks.

To do this I simply added 4 drops of each oil to an empty supplement capsule, closed it up, and washed it down with water at each meal.

During this time I kept my diet, exercise program, and usual routine the same.

After 8 weeks I repeated the same morning-fasted blood tests.

Results

Total testosterone (+26%), IGF-1 (+18%), and free testosterone (10%) all went up.

This makes sense as LH (+78%) and FSH (50%) both increased pretty substantially.

IMAGE 1.essential oils

Comments

8 drops/day of blue spruce and balsam fir did increase markers of Testosterone and Growth Hormone… for me.

To demonstrate that this isn’t an isolated thing, I recently saw a report where 3 hypogonadal men were given the same dose of blue spruce oil and this is what happened.

IMAGE 2.essential oils

Also, a good friend of mine saw a 34% increase in total testosterone (from 815 ng/dL to 1079 ng/dL) with blue spruce oil. So maybe this works for men across all ranges of Testosterone production.

IMAGE 3.essential oils

To give you some context, the first 4 measures are “baseline”. These are testosterone levels collected over 2 years and, as you can see, they’re pretty stable.

The 5th measure was taken after a few months of using blue spruce alone (8 drops a day; no other major lifestyle changes). As you can see, a 35% increase above the averaged baseline.

The 6th measure was taken after cutting back to 4 drops a day; no other major lifestyle changes. And the 7th measure was taken after going back to 8 drops a day; no other major lifestyle changes.

Sure, none of these data are part of a peer reviewed research project. But they’re enough — at least for me — to think it’s worth further investigation.

Specific oils and their benefits

Here’s a summary of some of the more interesting published research available to date on essential oils. (For a full list of references, see the reference section at the end of this article).

Peppermint

May improve athletic performance

In studies, one drop of peppermint on the tongue, or in mineral water was associated with:

  • improved grip strength, vertical jump, and standing long jump, visual and auditory reaction time, and heart rate variability both five minutes and 60 minutes after use
  • improved lung capacity and blood lactate after 10 days of daily ingestion. Carbohydrate metabolism increased, suggesting an increase in energy production in muscle tissue. Heart rate during exercise also improved.

Inhalation of peppermint:

  • decreased quarter-mile run time
  • increased push-up performance and grip strength

May improve GI health

  • Peppermint has been shown to relieve discomfort and occasional abdominal pain by relaxing the smooth muscle of the digestive tract.

May give you good looks

  • Peppermint was also shown (in an animal study) to significantly stimulate hair growth.

Lavender

Lavender is the most often used essential oil in the world. It’s also the most adulterated, as the demand far exceeds the supply. The oil is distilled from the flowers.

May improve sleep

Inhaling lavender before or during the early stages of sleep:

  • enhanced deep sleep, and/or
  • improved sleep quality.

May improve relaxation and calm

Inhaling lavender:

  • can lower autonomic nervous system arousal (i.e. the stress response), including lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and skin temperature;
  • has been shown to lower cortisol levels; and/or
  • can stimulate alpha wave brain activity (which tends to happen when our brain is “idling” — daydreaming or meditating)

When lavender and rosemary (which have somewhat similar scent profiles) were compared, lavender was relaxing while rosemary was stimulating.

May decrease pain

Among women who’d had Caesarean sections, those in the lavender group showed a significantly lower level of perceived pain at four, eight and 12 hours post-op.

May improve focus and trust

Lavender reduced reaction time, which would be expected being since it is sedating. But interestingly, it helped enhance attention during a long-term task.

Smelling lavender also increased feelings of interpersonal trust.

Citrus

Citrus oils are cold-pressed from the rind of the fruit.

May calm us and boost our mood

Oil of bergamot (which is part of the citrus family) can calm the nervous system; support sleep, increase relaxation and alleviate occasional feelings of anxiety.

Orange essential oil may do the same.

May stimulate us

Lemon and grapefruit, on the other hand, may boost our mood, wake us up, and get the brain moving. (Which is perhaps why many cleaners are lemon-scented.)

Other interesting findings

In studies:

  • Pepper, tarragon, fennel and grapefruit fire us up: Each of these essential oils each stimulated sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity 1.7 to 2.5-fold. Pepper oil increased adrenaline concentrations.
  • Rose and patchouli oils chill us out: These inhibited SNS activity. Rose decreased adrenaline levels.
  • Jasmine improved sleep quality. Jasmine is often used as a perfume, as many find its aroma seductive.
  • Inhalation of neroli (bitter orange) by postmenopausal women lowered blood pressure, increased sexual desire, lowered stress levels and stimulated the endocrine system.
  • The essential oil of Laurus noblis (bay laurel), which is typically thought of as a spice for cooking, when inhaled, enhanced alertness and reactions to unpredictable stimuli.
  • Animal research shows that ingesting essential oils can aid in symptoms from digestive issues such as colitis, intestinal dysbiosis, colitis.
  • About 2-3 drops per day of lemongrass reduced cholesterol levels in adults with high cholesterol levels.
  • Essential oils high in beta-caryophyllene (found in cloves, rosemary, hemp, and hops) have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Beta-caryophyllene (BCP) is most highly-concentrated in copaiba, from a group of South American trees in the Copaifera genus. Interestingly, this constituent is also found in cannabis.

More at-home experiments with essential oils

About 300 essential oils are available worldwide. Some oils have a more pronounced effect on one person than they have on another.

If you want to experiment yourself, get a high-quality, cold-air, ultrasonic diffuser, and 10-12 essential oils. As you gain experience, you’ll learn to mix oils together for various effects.

For some examples, check out this less scientific anecdotal data from my own DIY experience:

  • Sleep: My lights-out formula is a combination of orange, cedarwood, ylang ylang and a few coniferous oils. (Some people swear by lavender, but it doesn’t work for me.)
  • Energy: I use peppermint or a rosemary-black pepper blend before workouts.
  • Mojo: Blue spruce supports my hormone balance. (To be clear, I’m a guy. If you’re female, make sure you get the right mix for you, and of course, if you’re pregnant or considering it, use caution.)
  • Mojo 2: When my wife uses just a drop of jasmine essential oil as a perfume, I have a hard time keeping my hands off her.
  • Digestion: A tarragon-ginger-anise-patchouli blend helps with my occasional digestive issues.
  • Concentration and creativity: Citrus oils, spearmint and onycha in the diffuser on my desk smell great and keep me focused and productive.

What to do next

As we look to the future, we ought to pay attention to the past. Humans might not have known pharmacology or been able to identify the constituents found in essential oils 3,000 years ago.

Early health and medicine was trial, error, and observation. Using anecdotal evidence to learn about health benefits is okay, too.

Essential oils will likely become far more mainstream in the health and fitness world over the next few years.

Until then, consider these next steps:

1. Start with healthy-lifestyle basics.

While essential oils can have a powerful effect on our health, they can’t do it alone. We still must support our bodies with proper nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle choices.

Once those are solid, essential oils might help you get that extra little bit of improvement. Oils may even make fitness and health come easier, since they can boost your mood and help you recover better.

Our emotions have a significant effect on our decision making. When we’re stressed, bummed out, or irritated, it’s much easier to reach for junk food and skip workouts, so I do feel strongly that inhaling essential oils throughout the day can help us make better basic lifestyle decisions.

2. Try essential oils out for yourself.

Be objective, collect careful measurements, and if possible, try a control (such as a similar-smelling oil, or different methods of application).

Start with a clear baseline and change one variable at a time (such as oil type or method of ingestion) so you can track changes. Self-experiments (like this and this) are fun and really enlightening.

3. Stay scientific, skeptical and curious.

If you’re comfortable with research, spend some time reading in PubMed, or check out some of the papers or books referenced in this article.

If you happen to be a university or grad student, consider researching essential oils. Based on the current state of the art, I can think of dozens of interesting research questions worth answering.

4. Be wary of grandiose health claims.

Nothing cures everything. Even if something has very real effects, those effects will probably be small to moderate.

It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: Medical problems should be dealt with under the advisement of a competent healthcare practitioner. Though essential oils may help with certain symptoms or issues, they are not a replacement for medical therapy if that is what is advised from your healthcare practitioner.

5. Use high-quality oil.

It’s estimated that only 2 percent of essential oils are of therapeutic quality. The rest are made simply to smell nice.

When we talk about health benefits, we’re referring to high-quality, therapeutic essential oils, not the cheap stuff.

6. Get guidance.

Few people actually know what they’re doing. If you’d like some help with self-experimentation or exploring the research, we recommend doing it with the help of an experienced coach or healthcare practitioner.

Don’t go into the woods without science!

Eat, move, and live… better.

The health and fitness world can sometimes be a confusing place. But it doesn’t have to be.

Let us help you make sense of it all with this free special report.

In it you’ll learn the best eating, exercise, and lifestyle strategies — unique and personal — for you.

Click here to download the special report, for free.


References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

The post What do the data really say about essential oils? appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

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What do the data really say about essential oils?

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Outrageous claims aside, essential oils do have actual health benefits. Here’s the real deal, including data from our very own (and very successful) self-experiments. 

++

Earlier this year, I willed my testosterone level to increase by 26 percent.

I also successfully wished my 10-years-and-counting knee pain away.

And I used some magic vapor to reduce the number of sick days in my family (which includes three germy kids).

What sort of wizardry is this?

Just a little science. And a healthy dose of therapeutic essential oils.

I know, I know. The claims about essential oils — that they can help with sleep, mood, hormone levels, and more — can sound like scammy, woo-woo nonsense. The worst “health” advice the Internet has to offer.

Yet there’s intriguing scientific data suggesting that some of the potential benefits of essential oils might just be a reality.

For example:

  • I’ve seen several case studies showing 25-35 percent increases in testosterone among hypogonadal (low-testosterone) men who ingested essential oil from blue spruce. (Spoiler alert: I saw the same increases when I experimented with blue spruce myself).
  • Frankincense essential oil comes from resin of the boswellia tree. Boswellia is highly touted in the supplement world for joint pain and arthritis. Ironically, some of the same people taking boswellia in supplement form still end up mocking the use of essential oils. (Personally, I found it to be really helpful for my occasional knee pain).

Sure, you argue, small scale trials and simple case studies don’t “prove” or “disprove” anything. But these are more than speculation and anecdotes.

In my opinion, they’re enough to start a conversation, maybe even spark laboratory scientists to start looking more deeply into what essential oils do in larger groups and more controlled settings.

As always, it usually takes science a little while to catch up.

In the meantime, I’ve been experimenting with the help of my friend and colleague, Tom Nikkola.

Tom knows everything there is to know about the current state of the science on essential oils. He’s an impressive writer and researcher in his own right, and — full disclosure — he believes enough in the merits of essential oils that he’s now focusing his career on them full-time: He joined his wife’s website, through which they sell and educate about essential oils.

Biased? Maybe. At the same time, he delivers a fantastic roundup of essential oil intel.

What follows is the best, most helpful, and most comprehensive essential oil article I’ve seen to date.

Enter Tom…

iStock_000011132894_Small

What are essential oils?

Essential oils are the volatile liquids found in a variety of plants, trees, shrubs, and citrus fruit rinds. They’re what give herbs, flowers, and fruits their distinctive scents.

They’re also some of the oldest known “natural health products”.

For several thousand years, people all over the world have been extracting these oils using methods such as steam distillation, cold pressing, resin tapping, or absolute extraction.

Essential oils aren’t there by accident, or just because a flower decided to smell nice. The chemical components help the plants function and fight pathogens, disease and stress.

For instance, these components can:

  • act as chemical messengers and hormones;
  • protect the plant from bacteria, fungi, and viruses; and
  • protect the plant from environmental stressors such as heat.

These active compounds are such small molecules that humans can easily absorb them through the skin, nasal passages, lungs, and digestive system.

Since plant physiology is similar enough to our own, we can get therapeutic benefit from some of the oils’ constituents.

Of course, every essential oil affects the human body in different ways, based on the dozens (or hundreds) of compounds in each oil.

For example, peppermint has more than 40 known constituents. (And probably a bunch of unknown ones). It’s been shown to:

  • soothe the digestive system,
  • relax tight muscles,
  • be mentally and physically stimulating, and
  • help lower blood lactate levels during exercise.
Pure peppermint essential oil’s many known constituents.
Pure peppermint essential oil’s many known constituents.

From skeptic to believer

I have to admit, I started out as a major essential oil skeptic. My wife first brought some oils home and got pretty deep into researching and using them.

I thought it was a crock.

Despite all of the research studies I’d read, professionals I’d learned from, and nutritional products and supplements I’d designed for top companies, I hadn’t seen much info on essential oils.

I work in the fitness industry, and it’s usually at the forefront of natural products and alternative therapies. Since no one in fitness was talking about these oils, I mistook this lack of dialogue for a lack of data.

To me, essential oils smelled nice, were used in mind-body programs, and were popular with non-scientific New-Agey types. Not scientists.

But I was sharing a house with someone who kept insisting there was good science. So I decided to take a deeper look. I even did some self-experimentation.

  • I immersed myself in the available research and books on essential oils. (There’s more than you think.)
  • I did before-and-after blood testing and experienced a marked improvement in my hormone balance. For example, I saw a 34 percent increase in my testosterone levels using blue spruce oil.
  • A little later, I ruptured my distal bicep tendon deadlifting. Not a thrilling experience, to say the least, but I took it as an opportunity to test the effects of certain essential oils on supporting the healing process (in conjunction with nutrition, exercise, physical therapy and cryotherapy). The rehab team frequently commented about how quickly I was recovering (and how great I smelled). In the end, I was back to normal deadlifts in half the time the surgeon said it would take.

Over time, based on the research and my own experience, I became a believer. In fact, I kicked myself for not looking into these natural products earlier.

At the same time, I had — and continue to have — some concerns.

Like many products in the health and fitness space, essential oils are the subject of many outlandish claims that are either patently false or unverifiable.

Here’s my take on what the science and personal experimentation shows… and where I remain cautious, even skeptical.

How do essential oils work?

The three most common methods for using essential oils are:

  • topical application,
  • inhalation, and
  • ingestion.

Most pure essential oils can be used all three ways — but be careful: Not all essential oils are pure.

Inhalation

Essential oils are most known for their odor (hence the term aromatherapy).

Inhaling essential oils stimulates any of more than 1,000 receptors in the nasal cavity, which transfer signals through the olfactory bulb to the limbic system, the center for our emotions. From there, they can affect the autonomic nervous, endocrine, and immune systems.

When essential oils reach the lungs, they pass from the alveoli into the capillary blood vessels. Once in the bloodstream, they are small enough to pass through the blood-brain barrier.

Inhaling certain essential oils may:

  • help improve mood, emotions, and libido;
  • support sleep quantity and quality;
  • increase focus or alertness; and/or
  • reduce feelings of stress or occasional anxiety.

Topical application

You can apply essential oil on its own or diluted with a “carrier oil” (such as avocado, coconut, olive, or sesame).

Diluting essential oils:

  • minimizes the sensation on the skin and slows absorption (especially important if you’re using the oil on a child),
  • allows you to spread the oil across a larger surface, and
  • helps the oil’s effect last longer.

After penetrating the skin, essential oils can act locally (for instance, on your knee if you’ve rubbed the oil on your knee).

Or they can act systemically, throughout the body. If you’re looking for a systemic effect, one of the best places to apply the oil is the soles of the feet, since the pores there are large and essential oils are thus absorbed quickly.

Topical use of certain essential oils may:

  • help target specific areas such as the sinuses, lymph system or the stomach
  • have many of the benefits associated with inhalation; and/or
  • relieve muscle soreness or joint stiffness from workouts, or other minor aches and pains.

Ingestion

The ingestion of essential oils might be one of the most debated topics in alternative health today.

I would not, under any circumstance, recommend ingesting cheap, perfume-grade essential oil. Although most pure essential oils can be ingested, there isn’t always a good reason to do it.

Research indicates that ingesting certain essential oils may:

  • help us digest and absorb food;
  • help relieve occasional digestive distress;
  • help relieve symptoms of digestive issues like gingivitis, colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and dysbiosis;
  • support the immune system; and/or
  • support normal inflammatory levels.

Personally, I’ve noticed my stomach feels much better after consuming certain essential oils with food. I’ve also heard this from many other people. So take that for what’s it worth.

Heads up: The first time I took blue spruce oil, I dropped it in a capsule and swallowed it with a tall glass of water. A few minutes later, I burped and it tasted like I’d eaten a spruce tree.

Essential oils are hydrophobic, meaning they rise to the top when mixed with water. Taking them with a fat-containing meal or a small amount of carrier oil helps disperse them through the digestive system (and eliminates pine-forest burps).

Where’s the science?

One of the arguments against essential oils is that there isn’t enough human research on them: Without multiple double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, what do we really know?

Simply put, this isn’t true. There has been a significant increase in published research on essential oils in recent years, as you can see below:

Essential-Oils-by-Year
Research on essential oils has been increasing annually since the 1980s.

Scientists are beginning to test various oils and their constituents.

Unfortunately, we’ll probably never see as many double-blind, placebo-controlled trials on essential oils as there are on pharmaceuticals or patented supplements.

Not because they don’t work. But because…

Essential oil research is really expensive.

With as many as a few hundred constituents per plant, each offering a different health benefit, study designs can vary dramatically.

For example, there’s evidence that chamomile oil has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, and may help with:

  • symptoms of the common cold
  • cardiovascular conditions
  • colic/diarrhea
  • eczema
  • gastrointestinal conditions
  • hemorrhoids
  • osteoporosis
  • sleep quality
  • diabetes
  • wound healing
  • anxiety

Chamomile may even boost quality of life in cancer patients.

To do large-scale, repeatable studies on just one of the effects observed from this essential oil would be quite expensive.

No one wants to pay for the research.

Supplements and pharmaceuticals are often patented. Companies that own the patents do whatever studies they need to prove that their products work.

But plants that essential oils come from are living things in the public domain and therefore can’t be patented. Where there’s no patent, there’s often no profit.

The body of evidence is too muddy.

Plants grown outside their normal environment will not produce the right mix of constituents for therapeutic use. Oils that weren’t distilled properly lose constituents.

Unfortunately, some research studies have used these sub-par oils, which yield sub-par results.

At the same time, that doesn’t preclude good science being done on essential oils.

Dr. John Berardi’s experiment:
Essential oils for testosterone and growth hormone

Case studies suggest that blue spruce oil and balsam fir oil can support optimal testosterone and growth hormone levels, respectively. Dr. Berardi decided to try this out on himself. Here’s his report.

Method

Step 1: Get a baseline
For baseline measures, I tested morning-fasted levels of dozens of blood chemistry markers. (I used the WellnessFX Wellness Complete package).

This included hormonal markers like:

  • total testosterone
  • free testosterone
  • sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG)
  • insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)
  • luteinizing hormone (LH)
  • follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)

Step 2: Add experimental substance
After that I ingested 4 drops of blue spruce oil + 4 drops of balsam fir oil with breakfast and again with dinner for 8 weeks.

To do this I simply added 4 drops of each oil to an empty supplement capsule, closed it up, and washed it down with water at each meal.

During this time I kept my diet, exercise program, and usual routine the same.

After 8 weeks I repeated the same morning-fasted blood tests.

Results

Total testosterone (+26%), IGF-1 (+18%), and free testosterone (10%) all went up.

This makes sense as LH (+78%) and FSH (50%) both increased pretty substantially.

IMAGE 1.essential oils

Comments

8 drops/day of blue spruce and balsam fir did increase markers of Testosterone and Growth Hormone… for me.

To demonstrate that this isn’t an isolated thing, I recently saw a report where 3 hypogonadal men were given the same dose of blue spruce oil and this is what happened.

IMAGE 2.essential oils

Also, a good friend of mine saw a 34% increase in total testosterone (from 815 ng/dL to 1079 ng/dL) with blue spruce oil. So maybe this works for men across all ranges of Testosterone production.

IMAGE 3.essential oils

To give you some context, the first 4 measures are “baseline”. These are testosterone levels collected over 2 years and, as you can see, they’re pretty stable.

The 5th measure was taken after a few months of using blue spruce alone (8 drops a day; no other major lifestyle changes). As you can see, a 35% increase above the averaged baseline.

The 6th measure was taken after cutting back to 4 drops a day; no other major lifestyle changes. And the 7th measure was taken after going back to 8 drops a day; no other major lifestyle changes.

Sure, none of these data are part of a peer reviewed research project. But they’re enough — at least for me — to think it’s worth further investigation.

Specific oils and their benefits

Here’s a summary of some of the more interesting published research available to date on essential oils. (For a full list of references, see the reference section at the end of this article).

Peppermint

May improve athletic performance

In studies, one drop of peppermint on the tongue, or in mineral water was associated with:

  • improved grip strength, vertical jump, and standing long jump, visual and auditory reaction time, and heart rate variability both five minutes and 60 minutes after use
  • improved lung capacity and blood lactate after 10 days of daily ingestion. Carbohydrate metabolism increased, suggesting an increase in energy production in muscle tissue. Heart rate during exercise also improved.

Inhalation of peppermint:

  • decreased quarter-mile run time
  • increased push-up performance and grip strength

May improve GI health

  • Peppermint has been shown to relieve discomfort and occasional abdominal pain by relaxing the smooth muscle of the digestive tract.

May give you good looks

  • Peppermint was also shown (in an animal study) to significantly stimulate hair growth.

Lavender

Lavender is the most often used essential oil in the world. It’s also the most adulterated, as the demand far exceeds the supply. The oil is distilled from the flowers.

May improve sleep

Inhaling lavender before or during the early stages of sleep:

  • enhanced deep sleep, and/or
  • improved sleep quality.

May improve relaxation and calm

Inhaling lavender:

  • can lower autonomic nervous system arousal (i.e. the stress response), including lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and skin temperature;
  • has been shown to lower cortisol levels; and/or
  • can stimulate alpha wave brain activity (which tends to happen when our brain is “idling” — daydreaming or meditating)

When lavender and rosemary (which have somewhat similar scent profiles) were compared, lavender was relaxing while rosemary was stimulating.

May decrease pain

Among women who’d had Caesarean sections, those in the lavender group showed a significantly lower level of perceived pain at four, eight and 12 hours post-op.

May improve focus and trust

Lavender reduced reaction time, which would be expected being since it is sedating. But interestingly, it helped enhance attention during a long-term task.

Smelling lavender also increased feelings of interpersonal trust.

Citrus

Citrus oils are cold-pressed from the rind of the fruit.

May calm us and boost our mood

Oil of bergamot (which is part of the citrus family) can calm the nervous system; support sleep, increase relaxation and alleviate occasional feelings of anxiety.

Orange essential oil may do the same.

May stimulate us

Lemon and grapefruit, on the other hand, may boost our mood, wake us up, and get the brain moving. (Which is perhaps why many cleaners are lemon-scented.)

Other interesting findings

In studies:

  • Pepper, tarragon, fennel and grapefruit fire us up: Each of these essential oils each stimulated sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity 1.7 to 2.5-fold. Pepper oil increased adrenaline concentrations.
  • Rose and patchouli oils chill us out: These inhibited SNS activity. Rose decreased adrenaline levels.
  • Jasmine improved sleep quality. Jasmine is often used as a perfume, as many find its aroma seductive.
  • Inhalation of neroli (bitter orange) by postmenopausal women lowered blood pressure, increased sexual desire, lowered stress levels and stimulated the endocrine system.
  • The essential oil of Laurus noblis (bay laurel), which is typically thought of as a spice for cooking, when inhaled, enhanced alertness and reactions to unpredictable stimuli.
  • Animal research shows that ingesting essential oils can aid in symptoms from digestive issues such as colitis, intestinal dysbiosis, colitis.
  • About 2-3 drops per day of lemongrass reduced cholesterol levels in adults with high cholesterol levels.
  • Essential oils high in beta-caryophyllene (found in cloves, rosemary, hemp, and hops) have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Beta-caryophyllene (BCP) is most highly-concentrated in copaiba, from a group of South American trees in the Copaifera genus. Interestingly, this constituent is also found in cannabis.

More at-home experiments with essential oils

About 300 essential oils are available worldwide. Some oils have a more pronounced effect on one person than they have on another.

If you want to experiment yourself, get a high-quality, cold-air, ultrasonic diffuser, and 10-12 essential oils. As you gain experience, you’ll learn to mix oils together for various effects.

For some examples, check out this less scientific anecdotal data from my own DIY experience:

  • Sleep: My lights-out formula is a combination of orange, cedarwood, ylang ylang and a few coniferous oils. (Some people swear by lavender, but it doesn’t work for me.)
  • Energy: I use peppermint or a rosemary-black pepper blend before workouts.
  • Mojo: Blue spruce supports my hormone balance. (To be clear, I’m a guy. If you’re female, make sure you get the right mix for you, and of course, if you’re pregnant or considering it, use caution.)
  • Mojo 2: When my wife uses just a drop of jasmine essential oil as a perfume, I have a hard time keeping my hands off her.
  • Digestion: A tarragon-ginger-anise-patchouli blend helps with my occasional digestive issues.
  • Concentration and creativity: Citrus oils, spearmint and onycha in the diffuser on my desk smell great and keep me focused and productive.

What to do next

As we look to the future, we ought to pay attention to the past. Humans might not have known pharmacology or been able to identify the constituents found in essential oils 3,000 years ago.

Early health and medicine was trial, error, and observation. Using anecdotal evidence to learn about health benefits is okay, too.

Essential oils will likely become far more mainstream in the health and fitness world over the next few years.

Until then, consider these next steps:

1. Start with healthy-lifestyle basics.

While essential oils can have a powerful effect on our health, they can’t do it alone. We still must support our bodies with proper nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle choices.

Once those are solid, essential oils might help you get that extra little bit of improvement. Oils may even make fitness and health come easier, since they can boost your mood and help you recover better.

Our emotions have a significant effect on our decision making. When we’re stressed, bummed out, or irritated, it’s much easier to reach for junk food and skip workouts, so I do feel strongly that inhaling essential oils throughout the day can help us make better basic lifestyle decisions.

2. Try essential oils out for yourself.

Be objective, collect careful measurements, and if possible, try a control (such as a similar-smelling oil, or different methods of application).

Start with a clear baseline and change one variable at a time (such as oil type or method of ingestion) so you can track changes. Self-experiments (like this and this) are fun and really enlightening.

3. Stay scientific, skeptical and curious.

If you’re comfortable with research, spend some time reading in PubMed, or check out some of the papers or books referenced in this article.

If you happen to be a university or grad student, consider researching essential oils. Based on the current state of the art, I can think of dozens of interesting research questions worth answering.

4. Be wary of grandiose health claims.

Nothing cures everything. Even if something has very real effects, those effects will probably be small to moderate.

It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: Medical problems should be dealt with under the advisement of a competent healthcare practitioner. Though essential oils may help with certain symptoms or issues, they are not a replacement for medical therapy if that is what is advised from your healthcare practitioner.

5. Use high-quality oil.

It’s estimated that only 2 percent of essential oils are of therapeutic quality. The rest are made simply to smell nice.

When we talk about health benefits, we’re referring to high-quality, therapeutic essential oils, not the cheap stuff.

6. Get guidance.

Few people actually know what they’re doing. If you’d like some help with self-experimentation or exploring the research, we recommend doing it with the help of an experienced coach or healthcare practitioner.

Don’t go into the woods without science!

Eat, move, and live… better.

The health and fitness world can sometimes be a confusing place. But it doesn’t have to be.

Let us help you make sense of it all with this free special report.

In it you’ll learn the best eating, exercise, and lifestyle strategies — unique and personal — for you.

Click here to download the special report, for free.


References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

The post What do the data really say about essential oils? appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

Workout Tips
Precision Nutrition

The post What do the data really say about essential oils? appeared first on Workout Tips.


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