Christian's Blog

Hey National, 

Hope the week is going well. I often get asked about supplements, which ones are great, and what amounts should be dosed. 

In clinical nutrition class, we have to memorize popular and effective supplements and the doses that the research has deemed efficacious. It's taught by one of the leading nutritional experts in the States, Dr. David Seaman. I love Dr. Seaman's anti-inflammatory diet and supplemental approach to disease, prevention and health promotion. The new integrated/functional MDs are catching on that most disease processes, such as the biggest killers in America (heart disease, stroke, some cancers, Alzheimer's, hypertension, etc., etc.) are rooted in chronic inflammatory processes! 

The three biggest physiological disruptions in a person in a chronic inflammatory state are: 

1. Excess Pro-Inflammatory Chemicals (TNF, IL1, etc.)
2. Decreased ATP production (mineral/vitamin def)
3. Increased Oxidative Stress (Free radicals >> antioxidants) 

Dr. Seaman recommends his 'Basic' Supplemental Suggestions: 

1. Multi Vitamin
2. EPA/DHA 1-3g/day
3. Vitamin D 1000-10,000 IU
4. Cal Mag (1:1 and 400-1000mg/day)
5. Probiotics 

The general supplemental guidelines we have to memorize for the quiz this week: 

1. Multi Vitamin
2. Mag 400-1000mg/day
3. Calcium 1:1 cal:mag
4. EPA/DHA 1-3 g/day
5. CoQ10 >=100mg/day
6. GLA 200-500mg/day
7. ALA 2 gr/day
8. Vitamin D 1000-10,000IU
9. Lipoic Acid 200mg BID
10. Acetyl-L-Carnitine 500mg BID
11. Ginger 2-6 g/day
12. Turmeric 1-2g/day
13. Garlic 1g/day (5mg allicin)
14. Proteolytic Enzymes
15. Bacteria
16. Fiber >10-15 g/day
17. White Willow  1-4g/day
18. Glutamine  4-8g/day
19. Hydroxyapitate 1000mg
20. Glucosamine Sulfate 1500mg/day
21. Chondroitin Sulfate  1200mg/day
22. MSM
23. Vitamin C  500-1000mg/day
24. Vitamin E 400-800mg/day
25. Citrus Bioflavanoids  2000mg/day
26. Proanthocyanids/GT extract 1-2 caps/day
27. Cayenne  300-600mg/day
28. Gingko 120 mg/day
29. Ginseng 200 mg TID
30. Saw Palmetto 160 mg BID
31. Valerian Root 150-300 mg/ b bed

Whew...that was a lot! Obviously you SHOULD NOT TAKE ALL THESE SUPPLEMENTS, but if you're interested in taking a few, here's a cool research for what sort of dosage you'd be looking at.

Have a great healthy week,
CC

Hey National, 

Hope everyone had a great week and weekend. As a student at National you'll find that once you're in the flow of the trimester and tests, assignments, and quizzes are rolling around, the weeks have a tendency to just fly by. After about Week 10, I start getting bored with my classes and I'm in the mood for fresh material and a new start. Now onto more interesting stuff....

BulletProof Coffee For A BulletProof Morning

"I don't always drink coffee… but when I do I drink BulletProof coffee."
-- Most Interesting Coffee Drinker in the World

One of the biggest sets of complaints and biggest obstacles to achieving health revolves around breakfast. People don't have enough time. People don't know what to eat. People are tired or mentally sluggish 2 hours after eating...etc., etc., etc.

I have stumbled upon a solution from Dave Asprey aka The BulletProof Exec. Since, blood sugar stabilization and healthy fats are essential for sustained energy, and increased mental performance throughout the day (remember your brain is 80% fat), Dave conjured up this incredible "biohack" for your morning routine. Toss the insulin-raising, energy-sapping, fat-storing toast, bagels, oatmeal, and cereal in the morning and get a load of coffee mixed with...2 Tbsps....of Grass Fed...wait for it...BUTTER!?!!?!

Am I serious? Yes. Will it cause heart disease? No. Know Your Fats by Dr. Mary Enig put that whole fat scare to rest years ago. This recipe I had to try when I read it and I must say it's incredible! The odd thing was it actually TASTES GOOD and produces LASTING ENERGY and MENTAL CLARITY. I wish I thought of this sooner! 

My Twist: I add a heaping scoop of chocolate protein powder for extra protein in the morning to take better advantage of the fat loss properties explained in the 4 Hour Body (30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking had the highest correlation with fat loss effectiveness of all other lifestyle changing habits!)

Bulletproof Coffee Recipe 
(Original Post Here:  How to Make Your Coffee Bulletproof...And Your Morning Too) 

• Start with 4-500 ml (2 mugs) of black coffee brewed with my BulletProof mold-free upgraded coffee beans (this is important)
• Add 2 Tbsps. (or more, up to 80 grams, about 2/3 of a standard stick of butter) of Kerry Gold or other UNSALTED grass-fed butter
• Add 30 grams of MCT oil for max energy, weight loss and brain function (this is 6 times stronger than coconut oil, your next best choice)
• Blend with a pre-heated hand blender, Magic Bullet, or (best) counter top blender until there is a creamy head of foam. (It doesn't work well if you mix it with a spoon) 

Enjoy Your Morning that Stops Bullets,
CC

What's cracking, National (pun intended)?

Hope everyone is having a great week. As with the first couple weeks of every trimester you have some extra time to work on little side projects that interest you before you have to bear down and learn the class materials for midterms/finals. Talking with most classmates, nobody does anything for the first 3 weeks of classes unless they have a notoriously hard class (such as Tumors, Neuroanatomy, Biochem, etc). As always, I don't teach idleness, I always urge investments of time into exploring your curiosities. 

A couple quick ideas to become a better doc/lead a better life are:

1. Study past seminar notes.
2. Take out a book on nutrition from the library (or off Amazon/borrow from friend)
3. Grab some buddies and ask an experienced upper tri student to work on adjusting (consider setting up weekly meetings. That's how our Monday Gonstead adjusting gathering came to be, led by Jordan Bray. Go to the clinic and request him. He's the best in the clinic. Might as well go to the best. :)
4. Make a workout program based on restoring functional deficits and rehab.
5. Make a great healthy Paleo meal for dinner (optional: with friends/family).
6. Make your own supplements! (Haha How to do so is below!)

Idle (pre-midterm/final) time should not  be used for:

1. Watching TV
2. Being lazy
3. Doing anything not related to bettering yourself as a person or a doctor.

Seriously people, you are going to owe $150,000+ graduating from the same curriculum as 100+ chiropractic students. It begs the question: What are you doing that differentiates yourself from the rest of your class? Do you have a unique certification? Are you the best adjustor? Do you do acupuncture? Nutrition? Homeopathy? You get where I'm going here?

Sometimes difficult questions are the most important to start with. You'll thank me later when new patient John Smith walks into your office, instead of Joe Schmo, DC, down the street, because he heard you did something great and different and were getting the best treatment results. If your answer to, "Why should I come to you?" is "I got a great education at National" or "I'm a good people person" you have a rude world coming your way. Good marketing and people skills get people in your door, yes, but great treating and results keep them there and develop a referral practice you never have to market because your treatment results speak for themselves. I digress. :)

How To Make a SuperFood Supplement 

I've always been curious about supplements. I've probably tried every one on the market by now. I do A LOT of experiments on myself. The best selling and (most widely used/researched) are multi-vitamins. Multis are extremely practical since they are affordable and fill the gaps in your nutritional arsenal that are left from eating a sub-optimal diet of foods that are raising in a sub-optimal (and therefore less nutritionally dense) environment. 

The glaring problem I've found with multi-vitamins is they are synthetic and isolated. For example, Vitamin C is widely used as ascorbic acid in supplements. Research has proven it to be extremely valuable. However, why did nature pair it with bioflavonoids and other co-factors but Man decided to isolate just one molecule? Did we think we can outsmart nature simply because we found that the majority of the benefit is from a single molecule. That isn't the case in nature, nothing exists in isolation and the true biological potential comes in the synergistic relationship of MULTIPLE cofactors and coenzymes.

Nature pairs multiple compounds together not only for more bioavailability but also to increase metabolically beneficial actions. When you strip nutrients into single compounds, the body has to use its own stores to offset the co-factors missing from the "Vitamin Complex" and in some cases, according to Dr. Francis, the patient can experience a "rebound deficiency." In other words, you might be taking a Vitamin C complex but have symptomatology that mimics C deficiency because your body stores of the compounds that work with the C have run low because you've been taking an isolated, man-made synthetic supplement for a while.

So, how do we fix this, get our cake and eat it, too? In other words how do we still get the benefits of multi-vitamins while also respecting the healing wisdom of nature with nutritionally superior ingredients?

We use combinations of the most nutritionally dense (highest concentration of vitamins/minerals per ounce) foods/herbs on the planet...AKA = SUPERFOODS!

Through exhaustive research for a couple years and talking with many NDs and a few supplement company CEOs, here's the list I compiled. It features a broad array of foods that synergistically act as a nature's most potent multivitamin to give you lasting natural energy, boosting your immune system, improving your mood, increasing your metabolism, and overall making you FEEL WAY BETTER! Some even have said it can substitute for their morning coffee. 

CC's SuperFood Formula

1. Camu Camu
2. Dong Quai
3. Kola Nut
4. Cayenne
5. Rose Hips
6. Chlorella
7. Spirulina
8. Nutritional Yeast
9. Astragalus
10. Turmeric
11. Noni
12. Purple Dulse Seaweed

Where do I order?

• MountainRoseHerbs.com - Best source for most of these.
• BulkFoods.com - Best source for the nutritional yeast. 

Cheers Everyone,
Christian

Hey National, 

Check this out: Lack of education is not the reason people are overweight! GAAASSPPP! What did I say? What? Controversy!

If you haven't noticed, the amount of overweight people in the United States has dramatically increased in the last two decades. Hmm. Why? Is it because they haven't gotten on the bandwagon of the paleo diet because they're still scared of the high fat and cholesterol consumption? Do they just have bad information about diets? Or is it something more? 

Most people assume people just need to be more "educated" to become healthy or lose fat or build muscle--a belief that's so deeply held, it's become an invisible script in society. "Ah, if we just educate these fat people and show them a calorie chart, they'll wake up from their uncontrolled and overzealous binging and realize the critical importance of eating less!"

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

As Clotaire Rapaille wrote in his terrific book, The Culture Code: "Years ago, Tufts University invited me to lecture during a symposium on obesity… Lecturer after lecturer offered solutions for America's obesity problem, all of which revolved around education. Americans would be thinner if only they knew about good nutrition and the benefits of exercise, they told us. Slimming down the entire country was possible through an aggressive public awareness campaign…

"When it was my turn to speak, I couldn't help beginning with an observation. 'I think it is fascinating that the other speakers today have suggested that education is the answer to our country's obesity problem,' I said. I slowly gestured around the room. 'If education is the answer, then why hasn't it helped more of you?'

"There were audible gasps in the auditorium when I said this, quite a few snickers, and five times as many sneers. Unsurprisingly, Tufts never invited me to lecture again."

We already "know" we need to exercise more, eat healthier, control our sugar intake, and maintain our hydration. So why don't we?

That matrix--the difference between what we KNOW and what we actually DO--is where I think the true questions of change need to be asked and answered. 

Short answer: When it comes to changing human behavior and getting results, implementation trumps information.

Stay tuned for next week's blog as we explore topics I've coined: Age of Implementation and Habitual Evolution and how they can help us change our health care problems in the country.

I propose a goal for myself: By the time I graduate to interview extremely healthy and successful people and study what habits they implemented into their lives to 'build in' health without even thinking about it.

Cheers,
CC

WAAZZZZUPPPP! (Remember when that was the cool thing to say?)

I strolled by the magazine section at Jewel Osco the other day and not to my surprise every other cover had something along the lines of 'SUMMER BODY,' 'SLIM DOWN in 6 weeks,' 'Tone your Beach Butt,' etc. Haha. It got me thinking. Since I want to keep this blog up with the Jones', I'll do my quick version of a tabloid magazine headline. 

How To Get a Beach Bod: The 10 Rules You Probably Won't Read in a Magazine

Note: This is the 80/20 version. The 20% of workout/diet advice that will deliver 80% of your results. Some of it's unconventional. But it will work. Try me. I'm going to do it starting when my rule number 8 comes in from Amazon. I'd like to turn my 2-pack into a 6-pack again. 

"Out of Clutter, Find Simplicity" - Albert Einstein

1. Eat 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up.
2. Do not eat anything white.
3. Eat simple meals.
4. Only drink water. Drink half your body weight in ounces per day.
5. Eat a piece of lean protein at each meal.
6. Don't eat fruit.
7. Fat-burn cardio 3x week for 20-40min. HR @ (180- your age) +- 10. (So I'm 23. My heart rate goal is 157-147.) Monitor it.
8. Take Cissus Quadrangularis 2400mg 3x day.
9. Workout Plan (2x a week):
   2 Sets of 5 Reps on Bench
   2 Sets of 5 Reps on Squat
   2 Sets of 5 Reps on Seated Cable Row/Lat Pulldown
   Your Favorite Core Exercises for 20 min.

10. Get 8 hours of sleep. No less.

I could give you detailed physiology, published research, and witty reasonings. Or I could give you a checklist of 10 things that I know will work and are easy to do. What does it look like in real life?

• Morning Breakfast: 3 eggs and some spinach
• Lunch: Salad with grilled chicken
• Dinner: Beef and veggie stir fry
• Supplement: Cissus Quadrangularis. Maybe a whey protein powder if you have a hard time consuming enough protein at meals.
• Water: 6-8 glasses throughout day
• Exercise M-F (take the weekends off to relax and recoup). Choose cardio M/W/F 20 min. and lifting T/Th. That workout takes about 20-35 min. See YA. Too easy.

If you have questions just email me.

(The picture is of my roommate's dog chilling with me on my back porch…awesome.)

- CC