The Life Plan (24 page)

Exercise can prevent, delay, or even reverse the serious complications of diabetes, namely, vascular disease of the brain, heart, kidneys, eyes, and legs.

Abnormalities of blood fats (high total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol) are major risk factors for vascular disease of the heart, brain, kidneys, eyes, and legs. Regular exercise reduces total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, raises HDL cholesterol, and lowers LDL.

Aerobic exercise and resistance training can help reduce blood pressure. Many men who adhere to a regular, specifically prescribed aerobic exercise program like mine can reduce their blood pressure without taking drugs—avoiding potentially toxic side effects and the considerable expense of long-term drug therapy.

Daily exercise is an essential strategy for achieving and maintaining optimal weight.

High-intensity strength training will prevent and actually reverse bone loss and other degenerative bone diseases.

Resistance training prevents muscle loss that accompanies aging, a major cause of disability and premature death.

Nate, a 58-year-old patient, was shocked to discover he had osteoporosis in his hips and lumbar spine. A thin guy, at 5-11 and 170 pounds, Nate never thought he had health issues. But his slim build and low testosterone levels fit the profile of the typical man with early onset osteoporosis. I told Nate that the best way for him to reverse bone loss was to start a vigorous resistance training program. I also started him on hormone therapy to replace his testosterone and thyroid hormone deficiencies, and I had him follow my Life Plan Diet. Within one year, he was able to reverse his osteoporosis.

As we age, the most dramatic and significant decline we experience is in our lean body mass and strength. These two muscular functions ultimately determine our quality of life. And nowhere is this more evident than in the aging syndrome known as sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass.

Sarcopenia is defined as having an 18 percent or greater loss of lean body mass when compared to men in their 20s. It accounts for decreases in basal metabolic rate (BMR), muscle strength, and overall activity levels. As your BMR declines, so do your energy requirements. However, most men don’t reduce caloric intake as they age, causing body fat to gradually increase each year as they lose muscle tissue. For example, the average 25-year-old man has 20 percent body fat, but by 55 that jumps to 30 percent and by 75 it’s 35 percent. It typically begins in your early 40s, progressing at 3 to 5 percent for that decade and increasing to 10 or 20 percent per decade after 50. The average man can expect to gain roughly one pound of fat every year between the ages of 30 and 60, while losing about a half pound of muscle mass each year.

The problem with this equation is that it affects not only the way you look, but the way you feel and how fast you age. The pounds you gain are making you look older and out of shape, and affect every other aspect of your health. At the same time, the loss of muscle mass makes you look and feel weak because you
are
getting weaker. From age 60 onward, your energy levels will decline and frailty ensues, affecting your bones and your ability to move around. The largest loss of muscle mass occurs between the ages of 50 and 75—with an average loss of 25 percent. Mostly the disease involves type II (fast-twitch) muscle fibers, which are linked to strength.

Elevated fasting insulin level (hyperinsulinemia) may be the most powerful predictor of heart disease. Constant surges of blood sugar ensue, rendering insulin less able to do its job and requiring more of it to meet our daily metabolic needs. This vicious cycle slowly cripples the immune system, makes you fat, increases your blood pressure, and brings on serious degenerative diseases, including the major cause of death in this country—heart disease.

Both aerobic and resistance training can help reverse insulin resistance. The more you burn fat (as opposed to glycogen) for energy during aerobic training, the more sensitive you become to the insulin your body produces. As your body fat disappears and your muscle mass increases, your insulin resistance diminishes, taking a huge burden off your pancreas so it can now secrete less insulin throughout the day. The greater your sensitivity to insulin, the more effective you become at removing sugar from your blood, keeping blood sugars and insulin levels in a healthy range and burning your own body fat for energy.

Generally speaking, six areas contribute to the disease:

Diminished protein metabolism

Decline in natural hormone levels

Spinal cord changes