Dr. Mitra Ray talks about Exercise Induced Oxidative Stress, Exercise and Diet.

Part 1
What I’m about to tell you is considered heretical by many, but it’s the absolute truth. At the risk of seeming self-important by including myself in the company of Copernicus and Galileo (both found guilty for their notions that the Earth revolved around sun, rather than the other way around), I’d like to assert that heresy can change the way that we view our whole world (even our whole universe!), and thus the way we live our lives.

So what’s the big blasphemy, you ask?  Here it is:

Until you are eating right, you have no business exercising.

The free radical damage created when you exercise is so great that, unless you are consuming a huge variety of anti-oxidant rich and nutrient dense food, the net loss to your health is greater than any gain you receive from exercise. That’s right… I’m saying that there are people out there who have no business doing anything more strenuous than taking a leisurely walk outdoors in order to get a bit of fresh air and sunshine. But before you decide that this is your get-out-of-jail-free card with regards to exercise, we should talk about what it actually means to “eat right,” what you can do to get yourself there quickly, and what I mean by exercise.

Typically, when a person decides that they are ready to take their health seriously, one of the first things they’re taught is to begin to exercise. There’s all sorts of logic to this, as the benefits of exercise are manifold and dramatic (more on that, and how to reap its benefits, later), but it’s actually not the first thing that a person should do when they set out to get healthy.

For many people, adding exercise to their lives is easier than dramatically changing the way that they eat. And we have been taught that if you exercise enough, you can eat just about anything and stay healthy. If you exercise enough, you may be able to keep the scale weight stable, but that’s a far cry from being healthy and, in fact, you may become unhealthier in certain ways if you exercise vigorously but don’t eat the right food.

The very nature of exercise is to break down tissue in the body. The body responds by building stronger tissue, which is how muscles increase in size, and why you’re able to lift greater amounts of weight, or run further distances, over time. One problem with this, however, is that in addition to building stronger muscles, the body also builds protein carbonyls, which are oxidized protein from free radical damage. Free radical damage is something that the body is equipped to deal with if it is getting adequate nutrition, and if it isn’t exposed to any pollution, chemical or environmental toxins, or physical or emotional stress of any kind. That is to say, if you lived in a pristine environment, where the air, soil, and food were always fresh and unspoiled, with no chemical pollutants, and if you were always happy and stress free, your body could combat free radical production, provided that you ate a whole-food, plant-based diet, rich in a wide spectrum of fruits, vegetables, and grains, and that you avoided all preservatives, sugars, and additional fats. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t live in that world. I’d like to someday, but for now I have to accept that the air, water, and soil are polluted. I also have to accept that I become stressed at times, and it turns out that mental stress is a huge contributor to free radical production.

Additionally I enjoy exercise, which creates a huge amount of free radicals. Given that I can only partially control the environment I live in, I have to rely on the food that I eat to combat the free radical production in my body. The challenge is that although a diet rich in plant-based, whole foods is necessary to repair free radical damage, it’s not sufficient. It’s just not enough given the world that we live in, the stressful lives that we lead, and the extra damage created by exercise. Eating our fruits and vegetables is vital, but it’s not enough. This is when supplementation with an anti-oxidant rich, whole-food based product is essential. Juice Plus+® is one such product, and while there are others on the market, none of them can boast the more than fifteen different, double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized clinical trials that have been conducted on Juice Plus+®.

Three of these studies were specific to exercise, and executed by top exercise physiologists (Bloomer, 2006; Lamprecht M. O., 2007; Lamprecht M. O., 2009). And two of these studies were conducted on the elite military Cobra forces in Austria during a 28 week intense training period. Amongst the markers of health measured, they noticed that the Juice Plus+® group had produced much less protein carbonyls and had fewer illness days. And the harder they trained, the more they benefited from the whole food nutrition available in Juice Plus+®. This is significant because what every athlete wants is fewer illness days and quicker recovery time between trainings, which would be accomplished by reducing the amount of free radical damage in the body as a result of exercise.

Until you’re getting your phytochemical needs met through whole-food supplementation and/or from your whole-food, plant-based diet, I recommend that you avoid strenuous exercise. Instead, take a 10 – 20 minute walk at a relaxed pace. Allow yourself to use the time to focus on your breathing, to enjoy the fresh air, and to rejuvenate, rather than focusing on building muscle or endurance. Another option is to take a yoga class that focuses on restorative poses, and save the power yoga until you’ve got your nutrition handled.

Sources:
Bloomer, R. G. (2006). Oxidative Stress Response to Aerobic Exercise: Comparison of Antioxidant Supplements. Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise, 38 (6), 1098-1105.

Lamprecht, M. O. (2009). Protein Modification Responds to Exercise Intensity and Antioxidant Supplementation. Medicine & Science in Sports & Medicine, 155-163.

Lamprecht, M. O. (2007, December). Several Indicators of Oxidative Stress, Immunity, and Illness Improved in Trained Men Consuming an Encapsulated Juice Powder Concentrate for 28 Weeks. The Journal of Nutrition, 2737-2741.

Part 2
What should athletes (and the rest of us) be eating?
Whether you’re a competitive athlete, a weekend warrior, or someone who exercises regularly for fitness and enjoyment, you’ve likely been told that when you exercise you need a great deal of protein. Even the most serious of athletes can thrive with just 8-10% of their total calories coming from protein, but more than 10% is not healthy for them or anyone else. The catastrophe that is the Standard American Diet is filled with processed foods and animal products, which are acid-producing foods. Over time this release of acid creates metabolic acidosis, which seems to create a muscle wasting response. In a study conducted at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, researchers found that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables offsets the wasting of muscle tissue due to metabolic acidosis.
Generally when people think of acidic foods, citrus foods come to mind. In reality, foods should be considered alkaline or acidic based on the residues that are created in the body and excreted in the urine, rather than whether they are alkaline or acidic themselves. Thus the renal acid load (the acid load on the kidneys) can be measured through analysis of urine. What becomes clear is that fruits and vegetables are metabolized to alkaline residues and therefore prevent metabolic acidosis and muscle wasting. And they are the richest source of the phytonutrients that act as natural antioxidants and natural anti-inflammatory agents. These should be the staple of an athlete’s diet.
We’ve been taught that milk and cheese are healthy sources of calcium and protein, but their protein profile is so high that the body responds by leaching calcium bicarbonate from bones. This is the beginning of the osteoporosis spiral: the bones grow weaker, and then people feel that they need to consume more dairy in an effort to increase calcium intake. But the body can’t handle the protein load from the extra dairy, and the cycle of leaching and alkalinizing begins again. It’s not just dairy, however, that’s dangerous to eat. Any protein, whether it is from animal sources or from soy, creates acidosis when too much is consumed. And you’d be surprised by how little protein is actually “too much” protein.
The most protein that the average person will ever need to consume in their lives is when they are a baby. Babies need lots of protein and fat to support the tremendous growth of muscle, bone, and brain that occurs during the first two years of life. But here’s the kicker: this super diet that a baby needs should be comprised of approximately 6% protein! Breast milk, nature’s perfect food, is made up of 6% protein. That’s it. At no other time during a person’s life is there more need for protein than during infancy. So if Mother Nature designed breast milk to have 6% protein, then that is all we ever need in our diet to be healthy. However, it is hard for people, especially athletes, to shake the belief that they don’t need all that protein. That is because whenever you reduce your protein intake, it takes time for the body to adjust to the new diet and there is a period of detoxification that can make a person feel weak. There are other confounding factors that are beyond the scope of this article. However, the stakes are high and it is important to explore the long-term benefits of a more plant-based diet. With a variety of plants (whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, beans, nuts and seeds) it is impossible to get less than 8% of total calories from protein. Plants are also a source of slow-releasing proteins which are more healthy than the quick hit of animal protein. Just as slow-releasing complex carbohydrates are more healthy than fast-releasing simple sugars, slow-releasing plant proteins are more beneficial than fast-releasing animal protein.
So how has it come to be that as a culture we consume so much protein? The diet industry, and its fascination with high-protein, low carbohydrate diets is partly to blame. But the diet industry and the doctors and nutritionists who are part of it were first duped by the food industry. It is the food industry that has driven our desire, and perceived need, for large amounts of protein in the diet.
Whey is a byproduct from the creation of cheese, and for centuries it’s simply been thrown away. But the dairy industry saw an opportunity to reuse this waste product, and protein supplements were born. Today, you can walk into any gym or health food store and find whey-based protein products that are marketed as healthy means of building muscle. Even worse than athletes believing that they need huge amounts of protein is that this myth has trickled down to the rest of society so that even sedentary people are making high protein shakes with whey (or soy) protein, convinced that more protein and fewer carbohydrates are the keys to weight loss and health. And people are giving their children high protein snacks, shakes, and bars, believing these to be healthy alternatives to junk food like cookies or candy bars. While junk food is never a good choice, young children certainly don’t need to be consuming these high protein meal replacement bars and drinks. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are what kids should be snacking on in order to build muscle and fuel their brains. It is quite useful, in fact, to think about the analogy of food as fuel when we discuss how athletes, and the rest of us, should eat.
For the human body, the “gasoline” that fuels are the macronutrients in our food: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. These macronutrients provide the calories and building blocks for the body. The most effective source for energy turns out to be complex carbohydrates as found in whole grains. For this reason, whole grains are essential to the diet of an athlete, and to anyone who is exercising regularly. Acceptable whole grain choices are: all types of rice, other than white rice; quinoa, which is naturally high in protein, and has a nice chewy texture and pleasant taste that works well in recipes where rice is usually called for; buckwheat; amaranth; spelt; steel-cut oats; and millet. Chickpeas are an excellent source of protein, and can build muscles just as well as meat can.
If macronutrients are the “gasoline” that fuels the human body, then the micronutrients found in plants are the “oil” that protect this delicate human machinery. Just as we need to regularly put new, clean oil in our cars, we regularly need to replenish the plants in our diets. Plants have so much to offer, and eating a rainbow variety (every color fruit and vegetable that you can find that’s grown locally and organically) will serve to keep you healthy – to keep your engine running smoothly. You want to eat fiber rich, anti-oxidant packed, nutrient dense leafy greens every day: kale, chard, bok choi, spinach, collard greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens, arugula, etc. They are excellent in a “Green Drink”, which is the fruit and vegetable breakfast smoothie that I drink every morning (see Green Drink recipe), but they’re great lightly sautéed in a bit of water, with a squeeze of lemon, or stir fried with garlic (again with water – there’s no need to use oil) and a heap of your other favorite vegetables, served over the whole grain of your choice. Greens aren’t just high in fiber and pretty in color. They truly are the “oil” that protects the various tissues in your body, all of which have unique needs. For example, too much exercise contributes to macular degeneration, but dark greens are high in luteins which can protect against macular degeneration. Luteins also may prevent clogging of the arteries, and are a powerful anti-inflammatory. And luteins are just one example of the manifold benefits that come from eating a wide range of fruits and vegetables.
The bottom line is that athletes need to be eating whole grains, fruits, and vegetables all day, every day, to keep their motors running. They also need to supplement with an anti-oxidant rich, whole-food based product like Juice Plus+®. Athletes literally cannot eat enough fruits and vegetables to get all of the nutrients they need to combat free-radical damage, so the right source of supplementation is key for them.

And those of us who aren’t athletes, and who like to bike, swim, run, or do yoga for general fitness and enjoyment, should be eating the same exact stuff: a whole-food, plant-based diet with tons of leafy greens, and fruits and vegetables in every color of the rainbow, along with a whole-food based supplement like Juice Plus+®. Your kids can eat this way, too!

Part 3
The first article in my series on exercise focused on the nutritional needs of people who exercise. Contrary to current recommendations on exercise, weight loss, and diet, I urge people to avoid any strenuous physical activities unless the resulting increase in free radical damage, or exercise-induced oxidative stress, is being offset by consuming plenty of antioxidants from whole foods.

But let’s say you are balancing exercise-induced oxidative stress with enough fruit and vegetable nutrition in your diet: you’re eating a wide variety of organic vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and you’re supplementing with a product like Juice Plus. What’s next? What’s the best way to exercise?

In terms of weight training, most personal trainers and exercise manuals would have you focus on the large and visible muscle groups in your arms, legs, chest, butt, and abdomen. Building these muscles will give you peripheral strength and may help you look good, but they won’t provide much in the way of deep strength and true health. The most important muscles to build and train are the ones that you can’t see, but you can feel, which are referred to as core muscles. Core strength is the most important aspect of a healthy physique, and focusing on these critical muscles will not only give you strength and stamina, over time it will help you to tone and highlight the muscles that we all want to show off in our arms, legs, bellies, and butts. But you have to do the deep, inner work first. As with a building or a sculpture, you’ve got to build from the inside out; when the foundation is strong, the upper floors and extremities are strengthened as well.

Gravity takes a huge toll on the spine, and the only thing that can offset this is core strength. Even though I eat well and am very physically active, my spine still has problems and is compressed. Most people are in the same boat as I am, or a boat that’s even less sea-worthy. If you don’t believe me, go get an x-ray: if you’re over 40, you have discs that are starting to degenerate, which can be very serious.

Rule #1 when it comes to exercise and moving your body is: learn how to walk straight. If you can support your weight and hold yourself up using core strength, your spine will thank you, and many aspects of health will be positively affected.

Another mistake that fitness trainers and do-it-yourself-exercisers make is that instead of focusing on core strength and posture, they focus on cardiovascular fitness. Cardiovascular activity is excellent for someone who is eating well, and there are great benefits to huffing and puffing while exercising (especially outdoors), but most people don’t do enough strength training. While most of us desire a six-pack, there are more important muscles to strengthen and build than the rectus abdominal muscles that you can see. It may look good, but won’t actually contribute to your health and longevity. What you really want to focus on and engage are the big transverse abdominal muscles that start under the ribcage and go all the way down your abdomen. I think it’s valuable for anyone interested in exercise to get an anatomy book and learn about the small muscles that hold up the spine, as well as all of the other muscle groups in the body.
Pilates and yoga classes are excellent places to learn about core muscles and to begin to work on deep muscle strength. As a certified yoga instructor I’m often asked about Bikram, or “hot” yoga. I don’t generally recommend hot yoga because I believe that the body needs a great deal of airflow, ideally found outside. In an over-heated room, it’s easy to overstretch and injure yourself without knowing it. Instead, I prefer to do yoga in a comfortably warm room, so that the body heats from the inside out, rather than jacking up the temperature in a room and making you feel hot on the outside before your muscles are actually warmed up.
Finally, it’s important to remember that it’s hard to have that six-pack, or those slim, toned arms, if you don’t eat right. A plant-based, whole-food diet will get you there faster than traditional stomach crunches or bicep curls. Animal products contribute to that beer-gut that most men dread, and cutting them out is the first place to start when attempting to exercise and gain health.