Real Health & Fitness

The Surprisingly Potent Asian Food that Delivers Health Benefits More than Fish Oil…

According to a new study, krill oil has effects similar to fish oil on serum lipids, oxidative stress and inflammation — but unlike fish oil, it works even with lower doses of EPA and DHA.

EPA and DHA provide a variety of health benefits, including for your heart, your eyes, and illnesses caused by inflammation. However in fish oil these omega-3 fats are in triglyceride form, whereas in krill oil they are in phospholipid form.

According to the study:

“A total of 113 participants … were randomized into three groups. Thirty-six were given 6 capsules of 3g krill oil a day, with 543 mg of EHA and DHA; 40 were given 3 capsules of 1.8g fish oil a day, with 864 mg of EPA and DHA … The remaining 37 received no supplementation … [T]here was a significant increase in plasma EPA, DHA, and DPA in both the krill oil and fish oil groups … and no significant differences were seen between the fish oil and the krill oil groups. The EPA + DHA dose in the krill was 62.8 % of that in the fish oil.”

Sources:

• Lipids October 2010 10.1007/s11745-010-3490-4

If you read the study above you will find that krill is actually superior to fish oil when it comes to optimizing cholesterol profiles. Something many of us are concerned with.

This study showed that a krill dose that provides 1/3 less DHA and EPA had a far more profound influence on the HDL and triglyceride to cholesterol ratios, which are well established as two of the most potent blood predictors of heart disease.

This likely due to krill’s phospholipid liposomal structure, which allows far superior absorption compared to fish oil, and the astaxanthin that is present in krill. So you never heard of Krill oil???  Read on.

History of Krill Oil

Krill, or Okiami, as the Japanese call it, has been a cherished food source in many Asian countries since the 19th Century, or even earlier. As with so many health practices, like acupuncture and natto, the Asians had things figured out long before most Westerners.

Krill benefits your health by providing two of the most important nutrients we know of: the animal based omega-3 oils, EPA and DHA, and a potent marine based carotenoid antioxidant called astaxanthin.

The benefits of omega-3 fats truly run the gamut, from mental and behavioral health at any age, to preventing premature death from a number of diseases. Proven benefits of omega-3 fats include:

• Coronary heart disease and stroke
• Essential fatty acid deficiency in infancy (retinal and brain development)
• General brain function, including memory and Parkinson’s disease
• ADHD
• Autoimmune disorders (e.g., lupus and nephropathy)
• Osteoporosis
• Crohn’s disease
• Cancers of the breast, colon, and prostate
• Mild hypertension
• Rheumatoid arthritis

One of krill oil’s major advantages over fish oil is its superior potency, which is demonstrated clearly in this study. Researchers gave subjects only 62.8 percent as much krill-based EPA/DHA as the fish oil group, yet both groups showed equivalent blood levels—meaning that the krill was more potent.

What is it about krill oil that makes it so special?

Your body absorbs krill oil faster and more completely because of its phospholipid structure.

Krill’s Weapons of Mass Nutrition: Phospholipids and Choline

Unlike fish oils, krill oil carries omega-3s in the form of phospholipids—liposomes or little packages that deliver the fatty acids directly to your body’s cells. Scientific evidence to date has shown that the safest and most effective carriers of EPA and DHA are these phospholipids.

Unfortunately, standard fish oils lack this phospholipid complex. Instead they contain omega-3 fatty acids in the less-beneficial form of free triglycerides.

This unique relationship between the phospholipids and omega-3 fatty acids greatly facilitates the passage of the fatty acid molecules through your intestinal wall, and from there directly into the tissues that desperately need them, like your brain. This makes the fats in krill oil significantly more bioavailable than those in fish oil. In fact, recent studies show that krill oil is absorbed 10-15 times as well as fish oil.

About 80-85 percent of fish oil is never absorbed from the intestine, which causes about half of those who take it to have  a non-medical condition I call; “burp back,” which can be unpleasant enough, and many end up discontinuing it even thought the health industry has been preach’en the benefits of fish oil for years.

When you consume fish oil, your liver has to attach it to phosphatidyl choline in order for it to be utilized by your body.  This is not a bad thing but just one more process not needed with Krill Oil.

krill oil ALREADY contains phosphatidyl choline!

Krill oil is already in the physiologically correct form, so your body can immediately absorb and use virtually 100 percent of it.

Phosphatidyl choline is composed partly of choline, which is the precursor for the vital neurotransmitter acetylcholine (which sends nerve signals to the brain), and for trimethylglycine, which protects your liver.

Choline is important to brain development, learning and memory. In fact, choline plays a vital role in fetal and infant brain development so it is particularly important if you are pregnant or nursing.

But krill’s superiority doesn’t end there.

Krill is Supercharged with Astaxanthin— Don’t you just love all these new words? – What is this? the Most Potent Antioxidant on Earth

Krill oil contains one of the most potent antioxidants ever known called astaxanthin, which provides huge health benefits to you, as well to the oil itself. Astaxanthin is a carotenoid antioxidant that is exponentially more effective in quenching dangerous free radicals than beta-carotene, alpha-tocopherol, lycopene and lutein, other members of its chemical family. Astaxanthin protects your cells, organs and body tissues from oxidative damage.

This has been particularly interesting and studies show that astaxanthin’s ability to help prevent sunburn, radiation damage, cataract formation and the most common cause of blindness, age related macular degeneration to name a few.

Part of the reason why astaxanthin is so effective in radiation induced damage is that it is produced by the microalgae Haematoccous pluvialis when its water supply dries up, forcing it to protect itself from ultraviolet radiation. The krill consume the microalgae, and the astaxanthin becomes concentrated in their oil. Alas, can it even be a fountain of youth for softer skin?

Omega-3 Fats Are Incredibly Fragile.

Omega-3 fats are loaded with highly perishable double bonds that are particularly susceptible to oxidative damage from heat, pressure, or oxygen in the air. It doesn’t take much to damage these fragile double bonds and when they are damaged the oil is essentially rancid and biologically useless.

Therefore the vast majority of fish oil on the market today is actually rancid before you even open the bottle, as it doesn’t contain this antioxidant. When exposed to air, fish oil  will oxidize within a matter of minutes, and once oxidized, it won’t benefit you in the least— besides tasting bad and giving you that “burp effect” it will actually ADD to your body’s oxidative load.

Not only is astaxanthin a fantastic free-radical scavenger for you, but it also acts as a powerful natural preservative, making krill oil 200 times more stable and resistant to oxidation—preventing the DHA and EPA from going rancid.

Besides acting as a natural preservative, astaxanthin has been found to have widespread health benefits, including:

• Preventing and treating a great number of eye diseases
• Boosting immunity
• Improving cardiovascular health
• Stabilizing blood sugar
• Protecting your brain
• Lowering inflammation
• Reducing your risk of cancer
• Preventing sunburn

And this list of positives is growing by the day!  So next time your thinking about protecting your heart and vascular system take a bigger step and try some Krill oil.

To your health,

Coach Bob

Forget the jokes about being all bought and paid for guys, – It’s More Serious Than a Vanity Issue!

Did you know that the vast majority of people today have excess abdominal fat? The beer belly, muffin top, call it what you like, it is no joking matter. The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body or wearing certain shirts or going shirt-less this summer.

However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.

How do I know if I have too much abdominal fat?

There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.

The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase the risk your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.

If you take a simple tape measure and a calculator you can get a pretty good handle on where you stand from a health safety basis.  Measure your chest and measure your belly around the belly button.  Now divide the chest by the waist and arrive at a ratio. (The higher the number the better)  Now do the belly and the hips .  Here the lower the number the better.  If you simply subtract the hips from the belly you will get an idea of just how much you need to lose in abdominal fat to get a healthy one to one ratio.

Part of the reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into your body on a consistent basis. It also produces hormones that will actually make you even fatter if you are stressed out or under pressure.

If you care about the quality of your life and your loved ones, reducing your abdominal fat should be one of your TOP priorities! Real Fitness has a number of programs that can assist you in losing this dangerous body fat.

There’s just no way around it. Besides, a side-effect of finally getting rid of all of that excessive ugly abdominal fat is that your stomach will flatten out, and if you lose enough stomach fat, you will be able to visibly see those sexy six pack abs that everyone wants. Hey, even if your goal is to be able to see the bathroom scale in the morning you will have come a long way to being healthier as well as extending your life.

So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat? Is there actually a REAL solution beyond all of the gimmicks and hype that you see in ads and on commercials for “miracle” fat loss products?

The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely NO

quick fix solution. There are no pills or supplements of any sort that

will help you lose your abdominal fat faster. Also, none of the gimmicky ab rockers, rollers, or ab belts will help get rid of abdominal fat either. You can’t spot reduce your stomach fat by using any of these worthless contraptions. It simply doesn’t work that way. Some of you may think there is a special exercise that will do it.  Bad news; you’re wrong.

The ONLY solution to consistently lose your abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound nutritious diet full of unprocessed natural foods with a properly designed strategic exercise program that stimulates the necessary hormonal and metabolic response within your body. Both your food intake as well as your training program is important if you are to get this right.  At Real Fitness we can help you to any degree you want.  If you really want to attack this problem we have a program for that.  If you wish to chip away at it and have us monitor your nutritional intake, we have a program for that for as little as $10.00 per month.  IT’s your body, your life and we’re here to help you no matter how serious you are about changing your numbers and flattening out your belly.

Now the important thing to realize is that just any old exercise program
will not necessarily do the trick. The majority of people that attempt getting into a good exercise routine are NOT working out effectively enough to really stimulate the loss of stubborn abdominal fat. I see this everyday at the gym.

Most people will do your typical boring ineffective cardio routines, throw in a little outdated body-part style weight training, and pump away with some crunches and side bends, and think that they are doing something useful for reducing their abdominal fat. Then they become frustrated after weeks or months of no results and wonder where they went wrong.

The only reason most people fail in their fitness goals to lose belly fat is that they have good intentions at first to adopt a new lifestyle, yet after a few weeks or months, they abandon their good intentions and slip right back into
their old bad habits that gave them the excess body fat in the first place. Why – simply put they do not see the results they expected.

We want you to succeed in finally getting rid of that extra abdominal
fat that is not only UGLY, but also DANGEROUS. We have accountability programs that we can manage for members who come in every day as well as those who live hundreds of miles away.  One will work better than the other but both will work if you are motivated to keep going in that positive direction towards a healthy life style.

Don’t waste another day allowing that nasty abdominal fat to kill your
confidence as well as contribute to your risk for MAJOR diseases. You can do it with us at Real Fitness or you can do it on your own.  With a little help from us or a lot of help and direction start losing belly fat today.  The choice is yours.  Remember this; your decision will not only effect you but everyone you love and who cares about you.

To your health,

Coach Bob