Today let’s talk about eggs. I love them. I eat them almost every day. In many ways they are among nature’s most perfect and complete foods. And yet, an egg is not always an egg. How naked is your morning breakfast? Well that depends on just what kind of eggs you choose.

When it comes to eggs, the most important things to consider are the health and life of the chicken who laid it, and what we do to it before it gets to our breakfast plate.

1. Where did this egg come from?

The most naked is an egg from a pastured chicken who eats grass, pecks at grubs and insects, and is allowed to roam. The egg from this chicken is rich in nutrients, its yolk a deep, dark yellow and packed full of the good stuff. Mother Earth News compared the nutritional profile of these pastured eggs to those from conventionally farmed chickens, and found they had:

• 4 to 6 times the vitamin D content
• 2/3 more vitamin A content
• twice the Omega-3 fatty acid content
• 3 times more vitamin E, and
• 7 times more beta carotene

Wow. That egg packs some punch. This egg is definitely an egg.

Factory Farmed Chickens

At the other end of the spectrum is the egg from a factory farmed chicken. Here we’re talking about chickens kept indoors, not allowed to engage in their natural behaviors, not fed their natural diet, and dosed regularly with antibiotics and hormones. Eggs from these chickens are a pale comparison to their nutrient-dense, pastured counterparts. Not so naked.

Of course there are various stages in between these two extremes. I go into a full explanation in Chapter 6 of my book, Eat Naked, if you’d like the full skinny on the source of your eggs.

2. What happened to my egg?

Regardless of where your egg came from, when it comes to keeping it naked, we want to eat the whole egg. Yes, folks, even the yolk. See that list of vitamins above? Every single one of those is found in the yolk, not the white. It’s the most nutrient dense part of the egg, and the fat in it is essential for your body to access all those nutrients, which are fat soluble. You also need that fat to properly digest the protein in the egg white. A naked egg is a whole egg.

In a misguided attempt to void our diets of fat and cholesterol, the egg yolk was demonized and egg whites were all the rage. Sadly, this trend caught on and still hangs tight in some circles. But what about the cholesterol in the yolk? you ask. Shouldn’t we avoid it as much as possible?

Let me share a few mostly-ignored facts about this maligned nutrient. Cholesterol is vitally important and responsible for many crucial functions in your body, only one of which is to provide repair material for arterial damage. This damage is the result of inflammation, which occurs with diets heavy in sugar and processed foods, not with dietary intake of cholesterol. In fact, your body creates its own cholesterol, so if you eat more your body produces less, or if you eat less your body produces more. So please, eat the whole egg, cholesterol and all. An egg white isn’t whole, and thus isn’t naked.

And now we come to the liquid egg product. Capitalizing on our collective fear of fat and cholesterol and our never-ending desire for things to be quick and easy, several of these products came on the market, shouting loudly from the refrigerated shelves their claims of zero fat, zero cholesterol, and thus the implicit zero guilt. Here, we have taken a beautifully simple and nutrient-rich food, liquefied it, pasteurized it, removed the most important nutrients, added all sorts of preservatives, emulsifiers, colorings and flavors (even sugar!), and then marketed it as a healthier option than the original. This, my friends, is the food industry at its most devious. A truly perfect and naked food disassembled, rearranged, and reassembled into a shadow of what it once was. This egg is absolutely NOT an egg.

And so we go from a natural, whole food to a a far lesser version, guided by misinformed trends or commercial interests hiding in nifty marketing, and we see that an egg is not always an egg. What eggs are you eating?

The first signs of decline in testosterone can be vague: low energy levels, increased irritability, decline in mood, poor memory and poor cognitive performance, or loss of morning erections.  While decreased libido and erectile strength are often associated with falling testosterone levels, they are actually some of the later symptoms, with other symptoms showing much sooner.

Many times my patients come to me telling me their doctor has told them their total testosterone levels are “normal.”  This means the number is within the “normal” lab range, which is huge and doesn’t take into account relative changes in testosterone levels or symptoms.  It also doesn’t consider the fact that optimal testosterone levels are much better for a man’s health than low normal levels.  Nor does it take into account free testosterone, which is the active form of testosterone in a man’s body.  What may be “normal” may not be normal for them. And certainly may not be optimal.

Optimal testosterone levels should be between approximately 700 g/dl and 1100 g/dl.  When levels fall below that, you can experience the symptoms of low testosterone. Performance across many areas in your life may begin to suffer.

So how do you know if hormonal therapy is right for you? If you’re in the West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, or Los Angeles area, schedule an evaluation with Dr. Mike Carragher.  If you live out of the area, we can take care of you as well, requiring only an annual visit to The Body Well for your anti-aging Age Management Program.  Dr. Carragher will request a blood panel, schedule a comprehensive evaluation, and discuss the best individual treatment options for you.

Get back on your game today!  Call (323) 874-9355 or email drmike@thebodywellusa.com to schedule an evaluation.

Be Well, Do Well

The sad truth is that most physicians are severely undertrained when it comes to nutrition and exercise, two of the most crucial components to preventing and treating disease. After you read this short article, you will probably know more about exercise than your doctor. So my suggestion? Read it and then give it to your doctor so he or she can be educated and share the knowledge with his or her other patients.

Has your doctor told you that you should be doing more aerobic exercise to reduce your risk of heart disease, improve cholesterol levels, and lose weight and age more healthfully?

He (or she) is right. But only partially.

The term “aerobics” was coined by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, an M.D. and exercise physiologist, and Col. Pauline Potts, a physical therapist, both in the U.S. Air Force.  Cooper observed that people with muscular strength did not necessarily have endurance.  His research led him to publish the groundbreaking book, Aerobics, in 1968, which described his research and contained exercise programs based on his findings.  From there, “Aerobics,” as we know it, was born.

Since then, most physicians have recommended primarily aerobic exercise to people as they age, leading to a very common public misconception.  Take a look around at your fitness club or just observe the physical activity people around you do.  For the most part,  young people are all lifting weights and older people are all doing cardio.  Aerobic exercise has long been thought to be the best exercise for preventing cardiovascular disease as well as treating it.  So as most people get older, they do less and less weight-bearing exercise.

This is not the ideal scenario for healthy aging!

The truth is, in fact, we should be doing MORE weight lifting as we get older.  As a specialist in Age Management Medicine, I recommend it to all of my patients.

Many doctors tell their patients not to do too much weight bearing exercise or heavy lifting if they have heart disease, for fear it would be dangerous for them, compromise oxygen flow to the heart, and increase their risk for heart attack.  Not true.

Recently, the American Heart Association organized a panel of experts which shook it all up.  These scientists advised physicians to begin recommending weight-bearing exercise to their patients, even the ones with heart disease.  The panel went so far as to even recommend weight bearing exercise to some who even had recent heart attacks, if they are monitored closely.

The fact is, BOTH forms of exercise, aerobic and resistance training, work together to prevent, reduce, or even eliminate heart disease.

One way both forms of exercise do this synergistically is by controlling, reversing, or preventing Type 2 Diabetes.  Both forms of exercise help increase insulin sensitivity (so your body metabolizes glucose faster), and both decrease fasting insulin levels and decrease insulin reponse to glucose (so you store less fat).

Both aerobic and resistance exercise also help control blood pressure – reducing risk of stroke, heart attack and congestive heart failure. Aerobic exercise does a great job lowering systolic blood pressure (the top number); both aerobic and resistance exercise help reduce diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number). This makes it much easier for the heart to to pump blood throughout the body. Both forms of exercise also strengthen the heart muscle, making it work much more efficiently.

As well, weight bearing exercise increases hormonal release as we engage fast-twitch and super-fast twitch muscle fibers anaerobically.  As a result, human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone release are improved.  Weight bearing exercise takes advantage of something called the “hormonal effect of exercise,” helping us to increase metabolism and literally burn fat while we are sleeping.  At The Body Well in the West Hollywood and Beverly Hills area, we do specialized testing to find out what our clients’ aerobic thresholds are and design specifically tailored short exercise programs that take advantage of this hormonal effect and it is hugely successful for decreasing % body fat.

Dr. Cooper, the father of Aerobics, has come full circle, now recognizing that as we age we need more and more weight bearing exercise and strength training. Cooper recognizes that up to age 50, people lose about 4% of their strength and muscle mass per decade. After age 50, the loss increases to about 10% per decade. By age 60 the average person will have lost about one third of his or her muscle mass—UNLESS we reverse the process through resistance exercise and weight training.

I recommend the following combination of aerobic burst conditioning and strength training for aging adults.

I encourage you to incorporate these recommendations into your Healthy Aging program. And to teach your doctor a little something.

Be Well.  Do Well.

Have you ever tried to completely eliminate sugar from your diet for a little while?

The one sure-fire strategy I’ve seen for dealing with all three of these issues at once is a 14-Day Sugar Control Detox. It’s intense, but it works. We’ve had 100% success rate with clients who’ve followed the protocol to a T.

I have extremely exciting news for you. Just last week, The Body Well Nutritionist, Margaret Floyd of Eat Naked, and Chef James Barry of Wholesome2Go launched an online version  of this 14 Day Sugar Control Detox, complete with instructional videos, meal plans (all based on recipes from The Naked Foods Cookbook), grocery list, and all sorts of other great tools. Now you can guide yourself through this protocol on your own schedule, whenever and wherever you are.

And what’s even more exciting? This online program - which will be on sale starting May 4th for $95 – is available to you for FREE with a preorder of The Naked Foods Cookbook. Yup, you read that correctly. You get lifetime access to this program (and any future updates to it) for FREE with proof of purchase of our upcoming cookbook.

Call them crazy. Call them over-generous. Margaret and Chef James (and we!) are just so excited about both of these new products that they’re rolling them into one offer.

This is a limited time offer and expires at exactly midnight, May 3rd, 2012.

Read all the details, order your copy, and get access to your 14-Day Sugar Control Detox Program RIGHT HERE .

Enjoy!

Dr. Mike Carragher

Prescription for Successful (Distance) Anti-Aging and Hormonal Optimization:

• Come in and visit us at least once a year. The climate in Southern California is the nicest in the country. Why not schedule an appointment while you’re visiting? Better yet, stop in to see us while you’re on vacation. Enjoy Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Malibu and receive the best anti-aging care in the country.
• You can have your blood work sent to us prior to your appointment for Dr. Mike Carragher to review before your visit.
• Schedule an in-person Age Management Evaluation.  This will cover several diagnostic tests including: a physical exam, fitness testing, and neurocognitive testing.  You will then meet with our fitness experts, our nutritionist, and with Dr. Mike Carragher, who will review your results with you and prescribe a plan of action. This will include: a nutritional plan, exercise plan, mental agility plan, hormone therapy if indicated, and other age management protocols.
• At home, keep up with your personalized Age Management Program. Remember to follow your customized plan and take any medication you’ve been prescribed.  If you have any questions, our team is at your disposal.
• Follow-up labs can be done locally and we will handle consultations and plan changes over the phone.  We can also coordinate care with your Primary Care Physician.
• Have questions? We’re here to help!  Please call if you need more information or have any questions about our Age Management Programs. Call us at 1-323-874-9355, or email at drmike@thebodywellusa.com.

At The Body Well in West Hollywood, we carefully test for deficiencies in testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, thyroid, insulin, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone and human growth hormone (HGH). Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, or West Hollywood residents can contact us to schedule a comprehensive evaluation to assess their current hormonal state.  We then create custom solutions for each client to optimize function and return you to your optimal hormonal state.  We also have programs available for out of state and international clients.  Contact us at (323) 874-9355.

In addition to looking better, feeling more energetic and sexy and having more self-confidence, decreasing body fat results in a decreased LDL (bad) cholesterol, decreased triglycerides, improved insulin sensitivity, reduced total cholesterol, improved HDL (good cholesterol) and decreased inflammation, therefore slower aging!

Here are the 4 keys to decreasing body fat:

1. Control your blood sugar and insulin levels.  Insulin is a hormone that is released by the pancreas in response to sugar in our diets.  With elevated insulin levels, you can’t burn fat for energy.  It is physiologically impossible.  Controlling your blood sugar by eating a low glycemic diet keeps insulin levels low so you can burn fat for energy.
2. You have to exercise. Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise are critical.  At The Body Well in West Hollywood, we customize 20-minute workouts for our clients that incorporate both aerobic and anaerobic exercise.  Anaerobic exercise is especially key because it engages the muscle fibers that will release testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH).  Beverly Hills weight loss clinics cannot compare to being shown a way to change your physiology and body composition so you can turn your body into a fat burning machine.  The more lean body (muscle) mass you have the more calories you burn at rest.  You can literally burn fat while you are sleeping!
3. Sleep more.  According to a study published October 5, 2010, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, when dieters got a full night’s sleep, they lost the same amount of weight as when they slept less; however, more than 50% of the weight they lost was fat versus only 25% in the group who cut back on sleep.
4. Optimize your hormones.  Almost across the board, research studies show that if your hormone levels are optimized, you have more likelihood of having a lower body fat percentage than if they are suboptimal.  Have an experienced Age Management Physician evaluate you for suboptimal hormone levels.  At my clinic in West Hollywood, human growth hormone (HGH), testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, thyroid, insulin, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone are all measured carefully so we can optimize your levels of these critical hormones.

Armed with the right information, and not falling prey to the latest quick-fix, you can truly transform your body in a way that has you looking and feeling better than ever while decreasing your risk for chronic degenerative diseases.  And slowing down the aging process!

1. Don’t smoke

2. Avoid overexposure to the sun (while still maintaining optimal Vitamin D levels)

For the face, The Body Well Esthetician Shani Darden recommends a simple skin care program using:

A) gentle cleanser

B) exfoliator

C) toner

D) quality retinol product

E) moisturizer

Stay away from alcohol-based products as they are excessively drying. Exfoliation is key because excess dead skin cells need to be removed before any moisturizer will penetrate the skin. Retinol products will also help slow the development of fine lines and wrinkles as well as brown spots.

Shani also does custom facials at The Body Well.