By CEO Robert Forster, PT
By now everyone knows we need to be more active to be healthy. Since the dawn of the Industrial Age we have become increasingly sedentary as the need for manual labor has diminished and with that shift we have seen an epidemic of “lifestyle” diseases. Recent studies have shown 60 per cent of older US adults and 35 per cent of all adults suffer metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as three or more heath risks factors such as obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and vascular disease. These conditions are associated with our “lifestyle” choices.
The key to solving these issues is to get the right information to people who need it most, and at this we have failed miserably. Most Americans continue to think dietary fat is still the health villain even after experts all agree there is no evidence that consuming butter, bacon and beef is the cause of high cholesterol and clogged arteries. Instead it is the whole grains, and especially wheat, the very food we were told should replace fats in our diet, that causes chronic inflammation in the gut and leads to out of control cholesterol levels.
The same is true for exercise. When doctors prescribe an exercise program to prevent or reduce risk factors, most think they have to join a gym and participate in sweat drenched workouts until their muscles are exhausted and their joints ache. Nothing is further for the truth. High intensity junkies like CrossFit and P90X participants are not doing these workouts for health. A constant diet of high intensity workouts is unhealthy.
As you will read in this week’s feature article, exercise is medicine, and like medicine, it’s benefits are dose specific. There is an optimum dose and above that it is actually detrimental to your health.
PHASE IV staff are experts at helping people of all ages and abilities achieve their health and fitness goals with science based, easy to follow exercise prescription and dietary guidance.
Call PHASE IV today for your complementary health and fitness consult, and take the first step in creating the lifestyle and healthy body you always wanted.
310-804-5228
