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Page 1 of 7 Fitness Essentials: 6 Things you should know before you start a Wellness or Fitness Program 1. The 1st fitness essential for men and women is checking testosterone levels: Testosterone as you know is the master hormone of men. Much of what many know about this hormone is based on the national news hysteria about steroids, and many have drunk and swallowed down these myths, wholesale to their own detriment. The truth is this year over 2000 people will die from over-the-counter pain medicine use, none will die from the use or abuse of testosterone. Why am I stating this? The reason is much of the hysteria many of us prescribe to about this hormone is the reason you have so many men and women over 50 who desperately need this hormone in their body but won’t use it. That’s right, women over the age of 50 need this hormone just not to the same levels as men do. Many say it causes cancer. I mean I can’t blame you; many 1930 biased based doctors say the same thing. I wonder though if testosterone in large amounts cause cancer, why aren't the hospital full of 20-year-old boys with cancer as they have testosterone in the blood in large amounts. Hmm… Makes you think. You see many people over 50, all they know or choose to believe is what the doctor says but the truth is there are many doctors who say the opposite, but they have only found the ones who believe it causes cancer. Changing your mind. Many of you have seen the huge steroid filled bodybuilders who are obviously abusing large amounts of testosterone. The unfortunate reality of what you see is that many of you reading have used those images to completely cut yourself off from testosterone therapy, which would save your life. Many of you reading this know what I am saying, as many of you have not had an erection in years, many women have not had the desire for sex in years. To a man who has low testosterone a woman looks like a car. To women who have lower testosterone levels men look like couches. Both male and female have lost their drive and focus because your testosterone levels are low. But you’re too much of a man or woman to ask your doctor, right? I mean both men and women with low levels of testosterone get anxiety when they are alone because sex may come up right. Do you think that is real life? In this regard guys and girls if you had a minuscule of the testosterone the steroid abusers have in their body, many of you would be totally different people. Today ladies and gentlemen there are doctors that know about testosterone replacement, and that it is healthy, and quite needed. They know how to watch

Page 2 of 7 it and make sure you’re safe. They have studies over years of it being used to restore life and health to many men and women. You see for many men and women over 50 what you don't know is hurting you badly. It’s stopping you from really living. The average 25-year-old produces 10 mg of testosterone a day and for most over 50, 10 milligrams a day will make a totally new you. You will feel strong, focused, and aggressive. So why did I begin here. Many of you are on diets and trying to start an exercise program and you can’t recover and feel horrible for days after training, you can’t sleep, your anxious and unfocused why? Your testosterone levels are not what they should be. So before embarking on a wellness and Fitness program go to the doctors and ask him/her to run a full blood profile on you to check the following levels: Testosterone, growth hormone, igf-1, tsh, shbg. Why? You know before football season they have training camp, right? The purpose of training camp is for the athletes to get in shape. They add or subtract things that will make the team more effective during the season. Athletes prepare and get in shape to play. You are trying to get well, and this will most likely involve exercise etc., but your testosterone levels are low, so you can’t recover from exercise, hell you can’t even muster up the focus to exercise, you can’t sleep properly when the levels are low, neither is your metabolic rate good when the levels are low. You must and I repeat must, raise your testosterone levels to youthful levels for maximum effect of any program long term.

Page 3 of 7 2. The 2nd fitness essential for men and women is raising growth hormone: This topic in our society is one of the most mysterious, and usually obscured by myths and half-truths, for those of us over 50. This hormone can be truly critical as this is another hormone that if it is truly low, can result in many issues in the way of aches, pains, loss of skin elasticity, and a reduction of fat metabolism. Growth hormone is a master hormone that you need in your body in decent amounts. Now I am not going to give a doctorate talk about this hormone, but I will say that in many testosterone replacement cases, growth hormone is also found to be low. This hormone is just as critical to women as it is to men, so women this hormone is very, very important to you, for the same reasons it is for men. You see all the hormones are like an orchestra. If one of them is low the others are either low or out of balance or tune. Now hold your horses, unlike testosterone replacement, I am not advocating that you replace your growth hormone. Though you can, I want you to understand what it does for the body. When growth hormone levels are low, it causes other hormones that work in tandem with growth hormone to be low like IGF-1. Adequate growth hormone causes your liver to produce higher levels of IGF-1. This results in faster metabolism, faster healing of injuries, better sleep, better skin, and stronger immunity. Growth hormone is released by the pituitary gland in the brain, and it causes IGF-1 to be released in the liver. When IGF-1 levels are elevated, your joints are better lubricated, sleep is improved, skin elasticity is restored, fat loss etc. Growth hormone levels being proper a is a major thing for people over 50. The reason is, at 50 is when you start to have your first encounters with arthritis, osteoporosis, lack of energy, sleep issues etc. You see growth hormone also helps the body produce collagen which is the soft tissue between the joints in the body and handles joint health. You can tell when you have low levels of growth hormone as the repair factors of the body slow down. You have aches and pains, and your sense of well-being is altered. I remember when my testosterone was 1st replaced, my libido bounced right back but my joints still felt painful very stiff etc. So, what am I saying. Again, I am not a doctor and I am not advocating that you do what I and many others are doing to increase their growth hormone, but I share it with you so you can know there are other options besides sitting in pain and grinning and bearing it. I and many others have been restoring our growth hormone levels with the use of growth hormone secretagogues. These secretagogues are amino acid formulations that cause the brain to release more of your own growth hormone naturally. I can tell you after 2 to 3 weeks on theses secretagogues your joints, fingers, skin, and fat burning abilities are vastly improved. Your joints feel 30 to 80 percent better and all you must do is take theses by mouth.

Page 4 of 7 3. The 3rd fitness essential for men and women is Sleep: When it comes to sleep, I can think of nothing more important to your current and ongoing wellness. Sleep is the fountain of youth, the repair and regenerative center of the body and handles all things good in the body. After the age of 50 sleep can become compromised due to a variety of reasons. Many of us on our road to wellness completely disregard sleep or the lack thereof as a factor. The problem with this is the more we lack sleep or sleep poorly this compromises the repair factors and restorative factors in the body. This in turn causes many harmful hormones to be released in our body as we continue to sleep poorly. Poor sleep is and has derailed many careers and creative ideas, it has stopped or stalled many comebacks and many wellness efforts, it has stalled many attempts at higher education and many attempts to get fit and well. Without good sleep the energetic and creative factors are under constant stress. If you notice a person who lacks sleep, they are grumpy, lack creativity, lacks patients, and they are completely not effective. I have been delayed many, many months getting this talk together because I’ve had severe sleeping issues. When the infomercial is on showing the workout equipment or the new diet. When the celebrity trainer is sharing his new workout, or when the commercials are on about the new meals and its effectiveness, they never mention this. Your sleep or lack thereof is either lifting you up or pulling you down. Bad or poor sleep effectively derails your metabolism. I remember being a 300-pound man and I could eat a bagel and a cup of tea and not be hungry all day. Many would applaud this lack of appetite, but during this phase I was losing no weight at all. Surprised? You see what I did not know was that I was holding toxic water, and toxic chemicals in because of my lack of sleep. Poor sleep insomnia, and broken sleep is for many over 50, stopping the new you from coming to life. Let’s fight this enemy as it is an invisible enemy that must be defeated.

Page 5 of 7 4. The 4th fitness essential for men and women is vitamins, minerals, and supplementation: The use of vitamins, minerals and supplementation is a topic that many over 50 have a stone age mindset on. I talk to and have worked with several people over 50 who don’t have the slightest clue about supplementation, vitamins, or minerals. When it comes to wellness there is a category that I call generalized information. This generalized information is what most males and females know about vitamins, minerals, and supplementation and that unfortunately is not much. You have a 1930’s minded man, who says he doesn’t need them and that he gets the proper vitamins and minerals from his food. The unfortunate reality is that the soil in most of the modern world has been depleted since the early 1930’s and a glass of milk today has 30 percent less vitamin D than it did in 1930. This coupled with the fact that many people male and female don't know how to take vitamins and minerals. That’s right, just putting them in your mouth in some cases is not enough, as crazy as that sounds. What I have found is that this is an area where many men and women especially westernized men and women fail. Vitamins and minerals and lack thereof are the beginning causes of some of the blood sugar, blood pressure and related chronic illnesses we have. The improper use of omega fish oils is the reason many say they have used it and it does not work for them. You see omega fish oils are better metabolized and work best when taken with another fat as a transport into the cell. The same is true with some vitamins and minerals as some need to be eaten with fat to be properly digested. What I have found is many vitamins and minerals work very well to bring about cellular protection and over all vitality when used in the right amount, and at the right times, in the presence of adequate food and water. That’s right, your improper combining of vitamin and minerals are the reason many have very, very poor immune function right now. In the westernized world vitamin C deficiency is a leading cause of cellular oxidation and mitochondria degradation. The average person for many years has been low and deficient on vitamin C, a key vitamin in reinvigorating cells in the body and allowing cells to absorb nutrients along with protecting cells from unneeded early replication. Ladies and gentlemen, I could not be more serious than to say this. These little missing key nutrients over time is helping to bring about the faster, ungraceful physical and mental demise, you see in many men and women over 50. The average adult over 50 is under a tremendous amount of stress and environmental hazard and needs proper supplementations of vitamins and minerals to thrive, not just survive. Many I have worked with when they started a proper immune vitamin and supplement regimen notice marked drops in blood pressure, improvements in blood sugar, lower cholesterol, and more flexible arteries when arterial flexibility was tested. I urge you when beginning a wellness program understand that you must and I repeat must have a good baseline immunity supplement program.

Page 6 of 7 5. The 5th fitness essential for men and women is insulin resistance: Insulin resistance (IR) is a pathological condition in which cells do not respond normally to the hormone insulin. The body produces insulin when glucose starts to be released into the bloodstream from the digestion of carbohydrates in the diet. Normally this insulin response triggers glucose being taken into cells, to be used for energy, and inhibits the body from using fat for energy. The concentration of glucose in the blood decreases as a result, keeping blood sugar within the normal range even when a large amount of carbohydrates is consumed. When the body produces insulin under the condition of insulin resistance, the cells are resistant to the insulin and are unable to use it as effectively, leading to high blood sugar. Beta cells in the pancreas subsequently increase their production of insulin, further contributing to a high blood insulin level. This often stays undetected and can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes or latent autoimmune diabetes of adults. Although this type of chronic insulin resistance is harmful, during acute illness it is a well-evolved protective mechanism. Insulin resistance is an enemy men and women over 50 are facing. Many of us when trying to get well and fit have no idea that we are insulin resistant and are not utilizing glucose properly. This issue causes our metabolism to slow down and causes us to not utilize fat efficiently. Insulin resistance is easily treatable and if you have it, it can be a wall against your overall health, well-being, and energy reserves. It leads to type 2 diabetes and heavy abdominal fat storage. If you’re on a wellness plan and are not addressing insulin resistance your wellness plan many of the times can be severely derailed. There are easy ways to treat this issue and it is very important to address it when we are attempting to get well. As we age naturally, we slowly move toward a diabetic state. Now that, coupled with average diet and exercise, along with the 30 or more pounds we are carrying when we are 50 makes it easier to be insulin resistant. I am sure many of you reading have been through a phase when you worked out diligently and exercised for weeks just to have the scale go up and your belt get tighter. Insulin resistance may be the problem as if you’re not handling glucose properly, it severely impairs your wellness results. Signs of insulin resistance: hunger, lethargy, weight gain in midsection, thirst, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, heavy buttock, and visceral fat.

Page 7 of 7 6. The 6th fitness essential for men and women is detoxification: In the industrialized world we live in today we have been and continually are exposed to toxins. Toxins from food, water, medicine, plastics, you name it we are exposed. It should be no surprise that we as a species should detoxify ourselves. Now unlike most health-conscious wellness writers I am not going to spend a huge abundance of time beating up any specific food group, macro nutrient or eating fad, as that’s what most do when people are trying to tell you to completely drop sugar, white flours, bread, and fried food. I will say all those things should be eaten with restraint but should not be dropped totally from the diet. We all know that by the age of 50 many are set in our ways as I am and can attest to this. So, what I will say without trying to scare you is that when you are on the quest to get well and fit, that there is nothing better than a good detox program that is convenient, safe, reliable and one that does not call for us to give up all foods for 2 days or more. A detox that combines all the best of nature’s plant life that will go in and clean our lower and upper intestines, arteries, bodily organs, and blood that we can use daily or monthly. This is such a critical piece of getting well and fit. Why? Most of us when we decide to get well will start out with some kind of exercise program, and diet. The truth about the diet piece is that many times it’s a shot in the dark, as to will it be effective for us or not. This is where a good detox comes in. You see with many of us the detox will usually eliminate the guess work from choosing a diet, as when the detox is good it will reduce inflammation and bring the body back into balance. The better programs out there usually bring about a 3-to-5-pound loss of weight in the first 7 days. Wow what a positive start to a wellness program. Many of you know what I am saying. You start a wellness program and 3 weeks in nothing, no results, nadda. What happened, you don’t know. Why? Many of our bodies are out of balance. A good detox will help us get into balance without full commitment to a confined eating regimen, before we see what our body can do, just by being detoxified.