Friday, October 28, 2011
Technology helps!
One of my patients, a businessman and father of four who found himself 45 lbs overweight woke up one morning, didn't like what he saw in the mirrow and turned it all around. He started training and modified his diet and managed his stress. He lost 50 lbs over the course of one year and started competing in triathlons. He is now a very accomplished triathlete and has found that exercise was a great way to manage his stress. At his last visit he told me about a new app: myfitnesspal.. This tool tracks your weight, activity and diet. The app has a huge dictionary of food items and gives you the nutritional content. As long as you are honest about your intake it gives you the straight scoop on days to get to your target weight.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Smart at Heart
Friday, August 27, 2010
Happy Friday!
Welcome to my blog. I think it is appropriate that my inaugural blog will be written on a Friday. Fridays are the days most of us wind down our professional brain and wind up our creative, athletic, social brain. My personal view is that we should try to live more of our weekdays with a weekend philosophy by taking time to treat ourselves to social time, exercise, reading and fun.
I will try to navigate the somewhat complicated world of medical research and give my readers understandable practical interpretations of new studies as they come out and possibly to demystify some of the better studies that are already out there!
Today I thought I would mention a study that I was fortunate enough to be part of that was done here in Boston. Dr. Greg Lewis and a group of physicians and scientists affiliated with MGH and the Broad Institute have used a new technology to the effect of exercise on individual metabolic signatures in humans. This study involved the use a mass-spectrometry-based system to examine and profile large numbers of metabolites.
The study included people performing exercise tests as well as 25 runners who were participating in a study of heart function and who all completed the 2006 Boston Marathon were also studied. Changes were seen in the metabolic profiles of the runners which differed from individuals who exercised for shorter periods of time. The marathon runners in addition to demonstrating heightened fat, glucose and carbohydrate metabolism also exhibited a drop in their amino acid levels suggesting that these amino acids are likely used to help maintain energy levels during prolonged exercise.
Stay tuned, there will be more information in this exciting area coming down the road.
Bottom line, train safe, train smart and keep running- and be sure to eat well for optimal performance.
Reference: Sci Transl Med. 2010 May 26;2(33):33ra37.
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I will try to navigate the somewhat complicated world of medical research and give my readers understandable practical interpretations of new studies as they come out and possibly to demystify some of the better studies that are already out there!
Today I thought I would mention a study that I was fortunate enough to be part of that was done here in Boston. Dr. Greg Lewis and a group of physicians and scientists affiliated with MGH and the Broad Institute have used a new technology to the effect of exercise on individual metabolic signatures in humans. This study involved the use a mass-spectrometry-based system to examine and profile large numbers of metabolites.
The study included people performing exercise tests as well as 25 runners who were participating in a study of heart function and who all completed the 2006 Boston Marathon were also studied. Changes were seen in the metabolic profiles of the runners which differed from individuals who exercised for shorter periods of time. The marathon runners in addition to demonstrating heightened fat, glucose and carbohydrate metabolism also exhibited a drop in their amino acid levels suggesting that these amino acids are likely used to help maintain energy levels during prolonged exercise.
Stay tuned, there will be more information in this exciting area coming down the road.
Bottom line, train safe, train smart and keep running- and be sure to eat well for optimal performance.
Reference: Sci Transl Med. 2010 May 26;2(33):33ra37.
o
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