Want To Live Longer ? Do Strength Training

Regular physical activity promotes general good health, reduces the risk of developing many diseases, and helps you live a longer and healthier life. For many of us, "exercise" means walking, jogging, treadmill work, or other activities that get the heart pumping.

But often overlooked is the value of strength-building exercises. Once you reach your 50s and beyond, strength (or resistance) training is critical to preserving the ability to perform the most ordinary activities of daily living — and to maintaining an active and independent lifestyle.

Studies attest that strength training, as well as aerobic exercise, can help you manage and sometimes prevent conditions as varied as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and osteoporosis. It can also protect vitality, make everyday tasks more manageable, and help you maintain a healthy weight. This report answers your strength training questions and helps you develop a program that's right for you.

The average 30-year-old will lose about a quarter of his or her muscle strength by age 70 and half of it by age 90. "Just doing aerobic exercise is not adequate," says Dr. Robert Schreiber, physician-in-chief at Hebrew SeniorLife and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Unless you are doing strength training, you will become weaker and less functional."

What is strength training?

Strength training encompasses any of the following:

•  Free weights, such as barbells and dumbbells

•  Ankle cuffs and vests containing different amounts of weight

•  Resistance (elastic) bands of varying length and tension that you flex using your arms and legs

• Exercises that use your body weight to create resistance against gravity.

How much do you need?

A beginner's strength-building workout takes as little as 20 minutes, and you won't need to grunt, strain, or sweat like a cartoon bodybuilder, either. The key is developing a well-rounded program, performing the exercises with good form, and being consistent. You will experience noticeable gains in strength within four to eight weeks.

Getting started

Buying your own equipment is one option. Health clubs offer the most equipment choices, but of course, you have to pay monthly fees. Books and videos can help you learn some basic moves and start developing a routine. Hiring a Professional Personal Trainer is the safest and fastest way to get you where you want to be..

However you start, go slow so you don't injure yourself. Discuss your new exercise plan with your doctor and explain the level of workout you expect to achieve. Mild to moderate muscle soreness between workouts is normal, but back off if it persists more than a few days.

8 tips for safe and effective strength training

Strong muscles are important for healthy bodies. One way to keep muscles in shape is with strength training. But performing muscle-strengthening exercises the wrong way can do more harm than good. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid injury and keep your program on track.

1. Always warm up and cool down properly.

2.Use proper form to avoid injuries and maximize gains. You can learn good form through a class or one-on-one sessions with a certified exercise professional.

3.Breathe out when you are lifting or pushing; breathe in as you slowly release the load or weight. Never hold your breath while straining. This action, called the Valsalva maneuver, can temporarily raise your blood pressure considerably and can be risky for people with cardiovascular disease.

4.Don't lock your joints; always leave a slight bend in your knees and elbows when straightening out your legs and arms.

5.Don't be so eager to see results that you risk hurting yourself by exercising too long or choosing too much weight. And remember that it's important to rest muscles for at least 48 hours between strength training sessions.

6.If you've been sick, give yourself one or two days off after recovering. If you were ill for a while, you may need to use lighter weights or less resistance when you first resume exercising.

7.Strength training exercises should not cause pain while you are doing them. If an exercise or movement causes significant pain, stop doing it! When performing an exercise, stick with a range of motion that feels comfortable. Over time, try to gradually extend that range.

8.Listen to your body and cut back if you aren't able to finish a series of exercises or an exercise session, can't talk while exercising, feel faint after a session, feel tired during the day, or suffer joint aches and pains after a session.

If you haven’t exercised on a regular basis in the last three years, you are much better off getting professional help. An experienced, qualified Professional Personal Trainer will save you from months, possibly years of pain and frustration.      

 

 

What Are You Waiting For ?

Every year, through the LA Success Fitness Training program, I help men and women lose weight, gain strength, and transform their health.I've been doing this for nearly 35 years now. In the last few years I have noticed something very strange happening in the fitness industry.

From what I can tell, clients are always getting lectured about how they look, or about how they'll be stricken by all kinds of terrible diseases if they don't start to eat better. All they hear about is Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome x, obesity.hyper-tension ,blah ,blah,blah.

But this sort of shame and hysterical negativity doesn't motivate most people, regardless of the goal. In fact, the whole approach feels condescending, annoying, and overwhelming.So forget all the bad stuff; at LA Success Fitness  Training I believe in giving people something hugely positive to shoot for. Getting back into “The Game of Life”.

In the end, I help clients make better, healthier choices, consistently and consciously. Such as:

* Eat better.

* Exercise more intelligently.

* Manage stress.

* Sleep and recover better.

* Take better care of themselves.

* Have fun -- yes, fun! -- living actively and healthily.

The result? Research-driven, life-changing, body transformation.

So if you're:

* interested in looking and feeling better

* willing to accept help and support

* eager to make better eating and movement decisions

* gain an understanding on how to manage your weight

Then LA Success Fitness Training is exactly what you need.

What are you waiting for ?

No ,seriously.

What are you waiting for ?  

Big Benefits Of Plain Water

     “Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink.” Unlike Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, who was surrounded by undrinkable salt water, most of us have an unlimited supply of clean water to quench our thirsts.Yet many of us turn a blind eye to it and instead reach for other beverages throughout the day, like sodas, juices, coffee, and tea, despite warnings from health experts over recent years about the added calories in sweetened beverages and the health benefits of plain water.

      Now a recent study in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics provides even more evidence that we should choose water over other drinks if we want to control our weight. For the study, researchers from the University of Illinois looked at data on the eating (and drinking) habits of 18,311 adults as recorded in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2005 and 2012.

      Survey participants were asked to recall their dietary intake over two separate days. They reported their consumption of plain water (which included tap water, water from fountains and water coolers, and bottled water) as well as their consumption of other beverages like soda, fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, and sweetened bottled waters. Participants were also questioned about their intake of “energy-dense, nutrient-poor” foods, like cookies, ice cream, chips, and pastries.

    On average, participants drank 4.2 cups of plain water a day and took in 2,157 calories. About 125 of those calories came from sweetened beverages, and about 432 calories came from energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods.
      The researchers found that the participants who drank the most plain water in their daily diet consumed fewer total calories, drank fewer sweetened beverages, and took in less total fat, saturated fat, sugar, salt, and cholesterol. In fact, they discovered that increasing plain water consumption by one to three cups a day could decrease calorie intake by 68 to 205 calories a day. That could add up to a lot fewer calories over time — and result in significant weight loss.
     These results support prior research on this topic, which has shown that drinking water before meals and that substituting water for sweetened beverages can cut down on calorie intake and improve weight control. That means people interested in losing weight and improving their overall health could benefit from incorporating more plain water into their daily diet.
    So next time you’re thirsty, instead of ignoring your kitchen sink at home or the bubbler at work, take a moment to savor the one drink that’s free, refreshing, and actually good for us: plain old water.

The Truth About Yogurts

Did you know that almost ALL yogurts are flat out bad news for your waistline?

"Light" yogurts, for instance, are absolutely terrible for you, and for more reasons that one.First, most "light" yogurts are loaded with artificial sweeteners and/or high fructose corn syrup.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is one of the top 3 WORST ingredients you could ever consume.  First, as it's name suggests, it's made of primarily fructose, a sugar that easily spills over to fat storage when consumed in sizable quantities.And artificial sweeteners are...well...artificial.  Do you really want to put chemically altered, man-made ingredients that don't exist in nature into your body?  Us either.

Second, HFCS is made from genetically modified corn.                                 

Third, HFCS spikes blood sugar and insulin like almost no other food or ingredient.

Bad news all around.

Bottom line, just because something is low calorie (i.e. "Light") doesn't make it a healthy choice, or even a choice that will positively affect your fat loss goals.

What about "fat free" yogurts?

Well, hopefully we all know and understand by now that fat isn't bad.  Fat is a critical nutrient to both your health and your fat loss efforts and actually helps to naturally stabilize many important hormones in your body that play a key role in optimizing your body's fat-burning environment.

Secondly, most fat-free yogurts are LOADED with sugar.  Here's a plan:  Let's get rid of the naturally occurring healthy fats and load up on sugar instead!  Sounds like a plan to me...a really bad one.

So does that mean you should be avoiding all yogurts?

No, in fact there's ONE type of yogurt that we highly recommend you use as part of your fat-burning diet...and that's Organic Plain Greek Yogurt.

First, Greek yogurt has double the protein of regular yogurt, so you get more protein punch in every spoonful.

Second, by choosing the plain variety you avoid all the extra, unnecessary, artificial ingredients along with calorie-boosting excess sugar.

Lastly, by going organic you'll avoid the hormones and antibiotics that are otherwise generally injected in the typical cow.

Greek Yogurt is our #1 pick for mid-meal snack and we enjoy a serving of Greek yogurt just about every day.  We recommend you do the same.

The other great thing about plain Greek yogurt is that you can make it in any flavour you like. Just add fresh berries,honey even jams or preserves. To create the perfect health snack just sprinkle a little protein powder in,stir it up and there you go. A delicious, healthy you can have anytime.

 

How Intense Workouts(and overtraining) Can Wreck Your Results

Here’s how to know what’s TOO MUCH when it comes to exercise.

In the fitness industry, everyone’s obsessed with “more”. More cardio. More squats. More gym time. More calorie restriction. But if you’re not careful, “more” can lead to overtraining, injury, and illness. Here’s how to know what’s TOO MUCH when it comes to exercise.

I’ve been a Professional Personal Trainer (PPT) and Strength and Conditioning Coach for nearly 35 years and I’ve seen many of them treat their bodies like teenagers learning to drive a car.

Vroom.                                                                             

Full speed ahead on killer workouts! Max effort each time! Add another hour of cardio!

Screeeech !

Get hurt. Get sick. Feel discouraged.

Vroom.

Cut calories! Weigh and measure everything!

Screeeech !

Lose control. Feel even more discouraged.

I see this cycle of alternatively slamming the gas, then brake, then gas, then brake constsntly.

When they decide to get moving, they go hard.

They throw everything — energy, time, resources — at their their weight loss, strength gain, or health goals. They feel invigorated and energized, high on their new workout drug.

Have you tried Workout X? they ask their coworkers.

Have you tried Diet Y ? It’s incredible. I lost 4 stone in 5 days!

This full throttle approach seems to work for a little while.

Until… it doesn’t.

One day it’s hard to get out of bed. Shoulders and knees ache a bit. They get a bit of a cough or feel run down.

A week later they miss an easy lift. They reach for the ice pack. No big deal.

The week after, they’re dialing their chiro or physio’s office. Or lying on the couch with a back spasm that feels like giving bellybutton birth to a sea urchin.

What happened? Where did it all go wrong?

The problem isn’t the exercise, or even the intensity.

The problem is not balancing stress with recovery.

Training vs. straining.

Exercise is a stressor. Usually a good one. But a stressor nonetheless.

If you exercise intensely and/or often, you add stress to a body that may already be stressed from other life stuff like work, relationships, travel, late nights, etc.

This isn’t a bad thing. Exercise can indeed help relieve stress.

But in terms of a physical demand, we still need to help our bodies recover from all the stress we experience.

How well you’ll recover (and how much extra recovery you might need) depends on your allostatic load — i.e. how much total stress you’re under at any given moment.In other words, those days when you were late for work and your boss yelled at you and you spilled ketchup on your favorite shirt and you were up all night caring for a sick child — and then you went to the gym and tried to nail a PR?

It’ll take longer for you to recover from that workout than it would have if you’d done it on a day you slept well, woke up to sunshine, and had a terrific breakfast.

The right amount of exercise, at the right intensity, and the right time:

We train. We learn. We get healthier and stronger.

Too much exercise, with too high an intensity, too often:

We strain. We stress. We shut down. And break down.

Mission Control: Our bodies.

Overtraining isn’t a failure of willpower or the fate of weak-minded wimps. Our bodies have complex feedback loops and elegant shutdown systems that actively prevent us from over-reaching or pushing ourselves too hard.

Two systems are at play:

•Our central nervous system (CNS) acts like a car engine regulator. If the engine on a car revs too high for too long, it shuts down. Similarly, if we exercise too much, our train tries to protect our muscles by reducing the rate of nerve impulses so we can’t (or don’t want to) move as much. And we certainly can’t work as hard.

•Local fatigue, the result of energy system depletion and/or metabolic byproduct accumulation, makes your muscles feel really tired, lethargic, and weak. Using our car analogy, this is sort of like running out of gas.

Training too frequently and intensely — again, without prioritizing recovery — means that stress never subsides.We never get a chance to put gas in the tank or change the oil. We just drive and drive and drive, mashing the pedals harder and harder.

If we “lift the hood” we might see:

•Poor lubrication: Our connective tissues are creaky and frayed.

•Radiator overheating: More inflammation.

•Battery drained: Feel-good brain chemicals and anabolic (building-up) hormones have gone down.

•Rust: Catabolic (breaking-down) hormones such as cortisol have gone up.

As a result, you might experience:

•Blood sugar ups and downs.

•Depression, anxiety, and/or racing thoughts.

•Trouble sleeping or early wakeups.

•Food cravings, maybe even trouble controlling your eating.

•Lower metabolism due to decreased thyroid hormone output.

•Disrupted sex hormones (which means less mojo overall, and in women, irregular or missing menstrual cycles).

Here’s the thing.You don’t get to decide if you need recovery or not.Your body will decide for you.If you don’t build recovery into your plan, your body will eventually force it.

The more extreme your overtraining, the more you’ll “pay” via illness, injury, or exhaustion. The more severe the payback, the more “time off” you’ll need from exercise.

That’s a bummer. Now your car has stalled, or worse — gone backwards. Argh.

What drives people to overtrain?  

1. Some depend on intense exercise to feel good about themselves.

They might tell themselves it’s “for their health” or “to get the perfect body”.But, the truth is, many people depend on their extreme exercise regimen to feel good about themselves.

Take this story from a client of mine.

Early on in the program, a client’s weight went up a few pounds on a particular measurement day. I went on high alert.

I called her and could hear the treadmill rolling in the background. “Uh, what are you doing… right now?”

Turns out she was into her 40th minute of a 60 minute “post-measurement day guilt workout”.

I yelled, “Get off the *&%! treadmill… Now!”

Right then and there we made each other a promise: Stick to the rules. Every client receives a set of rules they must stick to. No exceptions and rule number 1 says “ Do exactly what I instruct you to do “.

She was terrified of eating more and doing less. But, after her first week of “eating more and doing less”, she lost 3 pounds.

A few months later, she’d lost 10 pounds and 6% body fat. She looked healthy, fit and amazing. People would ask for her secret.

Those intense, laborious workouts can feel good. Almost… too good.

Strenuous exercise releases chemicals that kill pain and make us happy… temporarily.

By the way, these chemicals are also released when your body thinks you’re in big trouble and about to die. Their evolutionary job is to help us float away in a happy painless haze as the saber-toothed tiger is eating our arm off. So in a sense, they’re stress-related chemicals.

For some people, these chemicals become a “hit”.

Pushing their bodies to the limit and working hard becomes their drug.

2. Intense exercise gives you a sense of control over your body and life.

It’s drilled into people’s heads via popular media: If you want control over how your body looks, hit the gym (and then hit it again).

Here’s another client’s story, in their own words:

I have trained and dieted for over 10 years, each time hoping that this training round would be the one that got me thinner.But the harder I worked, the more frustrated I got. Which I used to propel myself harder, over more miles.The more I trained, the hungrier I was. It was a massive battle against appetite, all day long.

I never got thinner. Sometimes I gained.

I got stressed out, cold after cold after random infection, and increasingly unhappy with myself.For me, what I needed to finally drop those last 5-10 pounds wasn’t exercise for 1-2 hours a day, it was to go harder for shorter periods of time, and give myself enough downtime to recover.It became so much easier to achieve a slight energy deficit when my body felt more at-ease, less pushed to the limits all the time.Muscles stayed and got stronger. Fat shrunk away.

People who overtrain often want to try hard and do their best to reach their goals. They think they’re “doing what it takes”.

If some exercise is good, more must be better, right?

3. Most people don’t know that overtraining can work against them.

My new clients who have been overtraining are often shocked to learn they’re doing too much. Nobody’s ever told them that there’s a “sweet spot” for exercise that balances work and recovery.

Usually, people learn about the risks of overtraining the hard way — like this client who came to me unable to shake this nagging injury.

"Last week I injured my ribs and back. Not enough to put me out of commission, and it’s not serious, but it was a real pain in the ass.Certain positions and actions (like sneezing) felt like a knife in my side. I had to cut certain exercises out (e.g. push-ups), and I couldn’t jump rope or sprint, either."

I cut his workouts to every other day, and I  cut back on the weight , and for the intervals, scale back the intensity.

Now here’s the interesting part: When he was done with the workouts, he felt really good, as opposed to the fall-on-the-floor wiped out feeling I usually have. And he wasn’t sore the next day either.

In fact, he has been really looking forward to these workouts.

He thought: Hey, this is fun!

But then he had this other nagging thought: Am I just a wimp?

Anyway, all this got him thinking: What the hell am I working out so hard every day for? Should I be killing myself? I’m not a competitor. Nobody knows or cares how fast I run or how much I squat. He starting to think he should be ending a workout feeling like “I could do that again right now if I had to.” I call that “training”.

The opposite would be pushing myself to the limit frequently, feeling completely pooped after a workout. I call that “straining”

It seems pretty obvious  you won’t make a lot of fast progress by “training”, but on the other hand, you gotta wonder: How long can you keep going if I am “straining”?

Sometimes, less is more.Putting in a consistent good effort over the long haul is much more sustainable than cycles of “crash and burn”.

This client’s slow and steady efforts paid off — he lost 20 pounds and 10 percent of his body fat in 6 months.

More importantly, he recovered, stayed uninjured, and kept having fun.

Do what truly works.

Look, if “pump till you puke” and hours of treadmill torture worked, I’d make my clients do it.

But it doesn’t work.

So I don’t do it.

Exercise should make us feel, look, perform and live better… not crush us.

Movement should help us function freely… not incapacitate us

What if you could leave the gym feeling energized, not exhausted?

What if, instead of doing more, you could do better?

Recovery: Overtraining antidote.

Here’s your first tip: “Overtraining” isn’t exactly the problem.

The problem is more like “under-recovering”.Your body can actually handle a tremendous amount of work… if you recover properly and fully from that work.

Your stress-recovery pattern should look like rolling hills: For every up (training or life stress) there’s a down (recovery).

For every intense workout, there’s an equally intense focus on activities that help your body repair and rebuild.

This doesn’t mean you need to retreat to your dark and quiet blanket fort and get massages every day… although that does sound awesome.

Check out my recovery tips below.

Free your mind, and your body will follow.

When you factor in recovery as a crucial part of your training regimen, a funny thing happens.

You start to think of training completely differently.

What if you could “exercise” on a continuum — where every movement “counts”?

What if you could balance high with low, heavy with light, work with play in a natural, organic rhythm?

Here are some ways to find balance.

An effective physical activity routine incorporates:

1.Resistance training

2.Intervals

3.Active recovery

4.Fun

You can do that no matter how much time you have to devote to physical activity. No pain,No gain is insane. Be sure to schedule in recovery days or an active recovery the same way you schedule and plan your training days.

Train Smarter.... Not Harder !

Overcoming Morning Stiffness

      Do you find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, because of too much pain? Does it take you an hour or two for your body to 'warm up' and your joints and muscles to loosen before you can tackle the tasks ofthe day? You are not alone.            Morning stiffness is one of the more common complaints doctors hear about from patients with fibromyalgia, arthritis, rheumatism and those whose bodies no longer rebound after a day of activity--even gardening--like it used to.

    Don't let morning stiffness cut your day short, by starting it later...And while most people reach for muscle relaxants like Motrin and pain relievers like Ibuprofin to get them going, you don't need to. The basic causes of morning stiffness are lack of daily physical activity, being overweight, havinga poor diet, not sleeping properly, and being in an environment that tends to be cold and/or damp. Exercising on a daily basis (even walking while swinging your arms) is a great way to release those feel-good endorphins, get the blood moving and help clear nasty toxins from the body
     Being overweight causes you to carrying unnecessary poundage, which puts strain on your joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments. A poor diet that is high in simple carbohydrates causes weak muscles, bad posture and lethargy.A poor sleeping posture can lock your body in a bad position for hours, causing reduced blood flow to the local muscles, and a buildup of lactic acid, causing stiffness.     Living or working in cold or damp environment causes muscles to stiffen because the cold or damp affects the blood flow throughout the body.
      You can be happy to know that what is causing your morningstiffness can be avoided or corrected... Here are 10 easy thingsyou can do to make a big difference in your life.

1) Be sure to get ample deep sleep, so your body can repair andrecharge. Forget about those troubles or conversations or tasks that need addressing; they can be handled tomorrow. Also, be sure to sleep either on your side or on your back--as stomach sleeping causes unnecessary stress on the low back and spine.

2) If your room is drafty, seal the windows or door. If it is cold, trya space heater or using extra blankets to prevent that cold or dampness from stiffening your body.

3) Do some easy stretches while lying in bed, then sitting up inbed--such as bending to the front and sides. This will stretch andloosen the muscles and help flush them with more blood.

4) Take a hot shower. This serves as a means to induce sweating, promote blood circulation and release muscle spasms. Simply stand under the hot water and... relax.

5) After you are warmed up from the shower, do some gentle kneebends--as far as you can go without falling! You can hold on to something for balance, if needed. You don't have to go all the waydown, either. These exercise almost 90% of the skeletal muscles. Find a counter, table or chair and use your hands for support. Then exhale and squat as low as you can go, then inhale and stand up again. Do 10 of these to get the morning blood flowing and creakyjoints silent.

6) Drink the best water you can get. Often the tap water in our cities is not the freshest or safest. Even cities like London have traces of psychiatric medicines and estrogenic-like compounds in its tap water--and these toxins build up in our systems over time, causing pain.  

7) Eat better. Cut down on simple carbohydrates and start reading labels to avoid consuming more toxins. Simply eliminate all foods with artificial color, enriched white flour and artificial flavors  or sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose andaspartame). If you don't know what it is, or have difficulty pronouncing it, avoid ingesting it.

8) Learn some coping mechanisms and stress management techniques, so that you're not lying awake all night thinking about your problems. Learning how to deal with toxic people in your life will both allow you to sleep better and reduce the stress-induced muscle spasms that cause pain.

9) Get some regular exercise. The idea is to go out and do somesomething physical with your body. Even a simple routine of10000 steps a day (buy a pedometer!) will greatly improve your health!

10) Be the fashion police! You want to dress appropriately for these cold months, and you might do well to sleep in flannel pajamas or sweats. Remember, cold air causes muscles andjoints to stiffen.

     These simple tips followed with a little dedication, along with some minor lifestyle changes and changes to the living environment, can help you overcome morning stiffness in no time.

The Truth About Tequila And Your Bones

Tequila could reverse osteoporosis!
Drinking tequila is good for your bones!
Have a Third Margarita — Because Tequila’s Great for Your Bones!

Talk about misleading headlines! These are prime examples.
It’s true that a newly published study found that a substance in tequila (called agave tequilana, or tequila agave) might help maintain bone health. And that it could lead to new treatments for osteoporosis. But consider the details:

• The study was performed on mice who had had their ovaries removed. This is by no means a perfect model for human osteoporosis.
• The mice were treated with a type of agave tequilana, not tequila, for only eight weeks.
• When compared with untreated mice, the treated mice were found to have larger thigh bones, and samples of their thigh bones contained more of a protein linked with bone growth (called osteocalcin). However, there was no long-term treatment with agave tequilana beyond the initial eight weeks, nor was there any assessment of whether this treatment would prevent osteoporosis.
• The researchers suggested that sugars in the agave tequilana interacted with bacteria in the intestinal tracts of the mice to encourage absorption of minerals needed to build bones. So, a “healthy intestinal microbiome” may also be required for this approach to work. 

What’s the catch?
       I think this new research is intriguing. It’s entirely possible that certain types of agave (a plant that produces a honey-like nectar) could turn out to help people maintain or improve bone health. And considering the health impacts of osteoporosis — hip fractures, loss of mobility, and complications that can lead to death in some cases — such an advance can’t come too soon.
But any study in animals has to be considered highly preliminary. It’s simply unknown whether the results of this study apply to humans. In addition, the animals did not drink tequila. They were treated with a chemical found in tequila. So, the suggestion that we (humans) might improve our bone health by drinking margaritas is, in my view, just a way to grab attention. Even if we could fast forward a few years and confirm that agave tequilana improves human bone health, it’s unlikely that the treatment would be in the form of tequila.
    Unfortunately, many people don’t read past the headlines. This is one time when that would be hazardous. The health impact of the alcohol in tequila — and the sugar content of agave — are just two of several “downsides” that could come about if you were worried about your bone health and took the headlines too literally.Haven’t we been here before?
  This new study on “tequila for osteoporosis” reminds me of past studies touting the health benefits of chocolate,wine or coffee. The same week as the tequila story broke, other researchers reported that certain substances in red wine and coffee could improve cardiovascular health by changing the intestinal bacteria. Again, the study was in mice.
     Claims that some of our favorite foods and drinks are actually good for us are not new. Some claims are better supported than others. For example, the evidence that coffee consumption may reduce the incidence of certain types of liver disease in humans is compelling. Still, it’s relatively rare that doctors actually “prescribe” these foods to prevent or treat disease. Perhaps they should. But, enthusiasm for doing so is tempered by concerns that excessive consumption may cause other, unhealthy effects.
Stand by.
     We’ll need much more research before tequila or anything in it can be recommended for bone health, or any other health concern. Until then, I hope medical writers — and readers — will be careful in how they interpret preliminary research. It’s one thing to hope that what you like is also good for you. It’s quite another for that to be any more than wishful thinking.