Pharmaceutical-Grade Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)

By Dr. Ray Strand

Presently, nutritional supplement companies are not required to follow any standard of quality manufacturing. They are basically unregulated. Even if they follow what is known as food-grade Good Manufacturing Practices(GMP), they are only required to have about 20% of what they say is on the label actually in the tablet. Unless you take supplements from a nutritional company that follows pharmaceutical-grade Good Manufacturing Practices, you really have no assurance that what is on the label is actually in the tablet. Companies that voluntarily (they are not required by law to do this) produce their products in a pharmaceutical-grade fashion like USANA are required to have 100% of what is on the label in the tablet. In fact, some will even guarantee their potency.

I always encourage my patients to take pharmaceutical-grade nutritional supplements. This is the only way I can be assured that my patients receive what I recommend. When my patients bring a particular bottle of supplements into my office and want me to evaluate what they are taking, I must first determine that the supplements are pharmaceutical-grade. If they are not, there is really no need for me to even look at the label. There is no way I could actually know what patients are getting.

Website to debut next week

Keep an eye out for the new YRC website. I will be sending a link out next week. It will include a schedule of runs/workouts.

Very exciting!

Can't I Get Everything I Need from a Healthy Diet?

By Dr. Ray Strand, M.D.

I told my patients for years that they did not need to take supplements and that they could get everything they needed by eating a healthy diet. When I began to realize that RDA’s had nothing to do with the types of diseases I was trying to prevent, I had to rethink my decision not to recommend supplements. As I mentioned earlier, the optimal level of vitamin E is 400 IU. Why just not have my patients eat 400 IU of vitamin E. They would only need to eat 33 heads of spinach or 28 pounds of butter or 5 pounds of wheat germ each day to get that much vitamin E. The optimal level of vitamin C is about 1000 to 2000 mg daily (the RDA is only 60 mg). My patients would only have to eat 18 large oranges or 80 avocados to get that amount of vitamin C from their diet.

I certainly believe that we must supplement a healthy diet with 8 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables along with those good fats and good proteins. However, there was no way my patients could receive health benefits from optimal levels of nutrients without supplementing their diet. It became very obvious to me that my patients needed to supplement their diet with high-quality, complete and balanced nutritional supplements for the best protection against chronic degenerative diseases.

Click HERE to find out more about the top rated nutritional supplements on the market - USANA.

Kara Goucher's Mind Gains

Kara Goucher always had huge talent, but she also had crises of confidence that sabotaged her big races. Goucher's admissions about her psychological struggles are rare for an elite athlete, but they will ring true to all of us.

Click here for the full story - Kara Goucher's Mind Gains at Runner's World

The wrong crowd

By Kristin Armstrong

My mom used to warn me about getting in with the wrong crowd, the "fast crowd," she called it. When I went to high school in Atlanta for a couple years, the fast crowd was at autobahn speed. I never could quite figure out how to merge. Then we moved to Minneapolis my junior year and the speed suited me much better.

I hadn't thought about the wrong crowd, or the fast crowd, in years.

That was until yesterday morning at the workout. I am used to waking up at the crack to meet my friends for a run, or even hauling myself out of bed to log some solo miles, but I am not yet used to stumbling into a crowd of strangers at 5:30 in the morning. Paige, Katie, and Amy were with me, so I was not without familiar faces, but it's odd to wake up in a large group of runners, gathered under harsh fluorescent lighting in a training room in the parking lot of Run Tex. We waited, with sticky-up morning hair and beeping Garmins, while Gilbert explained the workout du jour. Then we took off in a giant pack for our warmup. It was here that I began to shake off my sleep, with the movement of the mass and the sound of footfalls surrounding me.

We split up into groups for the meat of the workout. Paige is a faster runner than I am so by virtue of our friendship and my newbie status in the group, assumptions were made and my lot was cast into a group that gave me pause. I never run with shirtless, skinny, fast-looking men. My regular sweat sisters probably look equally imposing, but since I know them, they are friendly territory. The women in this group looked fast and serious. Except for Paige, who looks fast and fun (maybe because I know her?) It hit me there, the thought that I was getting in with the wrong crowd, the fast crowd.

I think the look of doubt and fear must have passed over my face like a shadow. Paige was probably concerned that I was going to bolt, towards my car. She hissed at me, "You belong here, now run." And I didn't have a second to think about it because we were off before I could start my watch. There was no talking, only breathing. We did a long, fast loop around Zilker Park first, maybe a mile, to give Gilbert an idea of our pace. Then we started the workout: 5 by 1,000 meters. Our rest was the jog across the grassy field to return to our start line. The darkness started to lift, so each loop looked different with the light. Loop three was the hardest, as always, without the freshness of the start or the barn sour of the finish. Number four is okay, because you can tell yourself, "Just one more, honey." I chugged a cup of Gatorade before the final 1,000m, hit my watch, and we took off. I was so happy to still be hanging in there that I pushed it towards the finish, Paige and I silently churning side by side, picking up speed. We trimmed over 20 seconds! You know it's humid when you high-five your friend and sweat sprays.

I jogged to my car as my cool-down, not wanting to make my brother Jon late for work. I wrapped my soggy body in a towel before entering my car and drove home, windows open, music on, smiling. Paige was right. I have worked hard this summer, I do belong with the people who intimidate me. She is also right when she reminds me that it's always better to be struggling at the end of a faster pack than leading a slower pack. If we want to get better, we have to deal with being uncomfortable.

Maybe we make too many assumptions about ourselves, our limits, and where we think we belong.

Don't be misled by product labeling...

Here's a link to a story about vitaminwater. Coca-Cola is being sued by a non-profit public interest group, on the grounds that the company's vitaminwater products make unwarranted health claims. No surprise there.

Coconut Oil & Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs)

Every day I have at least one natural peanut butter, local honey, and unrefined coconut oil sandwich on rye or pumpernickel bread. The key is to spread the coconut oil (Which has a similar cosistency as the PB) on the bread, then throw it in the freezer for about 5 minutes. This allows you to spread the peanut butter on top of the coconut oil easier, and also allows time for the honey to soak into the opposite side of the sandwich.

The following is an article from Hammer Nutrition re: the benefits of coconut oil and medium chain triglycerides (MCTs).

Clinical research once responsibly condemned the “toxic health-compromising effects” from consuming Coconut Oil. This research specifically referred to “Hydrogenated Coconut Oil.”

Coconut oil is rich in fat. Too many fatty acid calories can compromise health. Health benefits from 1-3 tablespoons per day of extra-virgin-unadulterated Coconut Oil are remarkable. This is due are to a high content of medium-chain saturated fatty acids such as capric acid, caprylic acid, and lauric acid. Unlike most other dietary oils, virgin Coconut Oil cannot nor does not contain trans-fatty acids (due to its very low content of unsaturated fatty acids). Coconut Oil does not contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases and may indirectly reduce the risk of may types of cardiovascular diseases (due to the absence of polyunsaturated fatty acids).

The health benefits from 1-3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Coconut Oil are:

1. Prevents Ischemic Heart Disease
2. Inhibits or kills harmful microbes such Helicobacter pylori, Hemophilus influenzae, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger, Giardia lamblia Protozoa, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), and HIV virus
3. Increases the body’s Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
4. Lowers elevated total serum cholesterol levels
5. Stimulates the conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone
6. Increases HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels
7. Increases production of Interleukin 10
8. Lowers LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels
9. Lowers VLDL (Very-low-density lipoprotein – “bad”) cholesterol levels
10. Lowers elevated serum Triglycerides levels
11. Lowers Interleukin 1 (beta) levels
12. Lowers Interleukin 6 levels
13. Lowers Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) levels
14. Lowers Lipoprotein (a) levels

USE ONLY: Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

AVOID:
1. HYDROGENATED COCONUT OIL – It does NOT possess health benefits
2. RBD COCONUT OIL – This is a refined, bleached, deodorized Coconut Oil. RBD Coconut Oil is subjected to high heat, filtered through clays to remove impurities, and processed with sodium hydroxide to prolong shelf life, due to the lesser quality dried Coconut (copra) used in its production. This one will not do as much harm as #1, but it is not as good as the extra-virgin selection.

Keep in mind extra virgin coconut oil has an excellent addictive flavor; therefore limit yourself to 1-3 tablespoons/day.

I have not heard of coconut oil being used during exercise, but rather as a general health substance. Supplements of Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) have been around for a long, long time, coconut oil is loaded in them, and the majority of the studies done have looked at endurance cyclists to determine the effectiveness of MCTs on increasing endurance performance. Researchers have studied both the use of muscle glycogen when MCTs are consumed and the effect that MCTs have on cycling times. In these studies the endurance cyclists engaged in moderate to intensive exercise while ingesting an MCT supplement, an MCT supplement plus a carbohydrate supplement, or a placebo (an inactive substance). The results of these studies suggest that MCTs oil does not reduce the use of muscle glycogen or improve endurance performance.

One well-known nutritional scientist writes that studies using MCTs with healthy, non-obese men and women not on low-fat diets reported that the subjects fat oxidation increased and protein oxidation was reduced, both good things. The subjects didn’t lose weight but the MCTs were burned for energy, which helped to spare muscle tissue. The problem is that for this effect to occur 51% of the diet must come from MCTs and that much fat in the diet, no matter how seemingly beneficial it may be, is too much. In addition, high amounts of MCTs have been known to cause stomach distress in a lot of people. That’s why I’m not a big fan of the use of MCTs during exercise – they may be helpful, though the research suggests otherwise (or, at the very least, is inconclusive), and the amount that is required is quite high, which may create some significant stomach distress during exercise.

We use what is called lysolecithin in Perpetuem. Dr. Bill Misner writes, “Lysolecithin is a modified form of phosphatidylcholine in which one fatty acid residue has been removed from the glycerol moiety of phosphatidylcholine. A benefit from consuming lysolecithin with carbohydrates and proteins in solution is prevention of retrograde-staleness with maximum nutrient absorption.” Basically, with the lysolecithin component you have a unique and healthy fat that not only provides a calorie source (and helps to lessen hunger pangs), it also increases the “shelf life” of the protein component. Protein, once mixed in solution, will eventually spoil unless you add a lot of preservatives to the mixture (which we don’t want to include in any of the fuels). Using lysolecithin allows us to maintain the integrity of the protein component for a longer period of time and without having to resort to artificial preservatives.

Bottom line: As an athletic performance-enhancing substance, it does not appear that coconut oil and their naturally occurring MCTs have been proven to be beneficial. For general health, however, it appears that coconut oil possesses a number of benefits.

REFERENCES:

*** Jeukendrup AE. Oxidation of orally ingested medium chain triglyceride (MCT) during prolonged exercise. Med Sci Sport Exerc 27 (Suppl.): S101, 1995.
*** Jeukendrup AE, et al. Effect of medium-chain triacylglycerol and carbohydrate ingestion during exercise on substrate utilization and subsequent cycling performance. Am J Clin Nutr 67: 397-404, Seaton TB, Welle SL, Warenko MK, Campbell RG. 1986. Thermic effect of medium-chain and long-chain triglycerides in man. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1986, 44:630-634.
*** Van Zyl CG, Lambert EV, Hawley JA, Noakes TD, Dennis SC. 1996. Effects of medium-chain triglyceride ingestion on fuel metabolism and cycling performance. Journal of Applied Physiology, 1996, 80:2217-2225.

YRC - What do you want it to be?

I'm curious - What do you want from a local running club?

To help keep you accountable? To be able to meet more runners in the area? To run with faster runners to help improve your speed? To share info with others, and to learn from others as well? Structured schedule with speed workouts mixed in with long runs? Or something else?

My vision may be different than yours. The beauty of this is the fact that we can all provide our input and hopefully we can mold this into a great thing for everyone.