Dr. Chet’s Health Memos
If it’s in the health news today, I’ll be writing about it as soon as I read the research, both old and new. With my email Health Memos, you’ll know more about making lifestyle choices that will help you get and keep good health. These free, concise updates on health are emailed to subscribers twice a week. Subscribe today and get a free MP3, in English or Spanish, of Dr. Chet’s Top Ten Tips—Small Changes for a Healthier Life.
Memorial Weekend F&V Challenge
It’s time to reveal the consumer of the largest variety of fruit and vegetables over the Memorial Day weekend, but before I do, a couple of comments. If you would have typically eaten the vegetables and fruits anyway, good job. I know that readers who perceive themselves as eating enough servings were probably more likely […]
SIT to Get Fitter
Here are the results of the study on sprint interval training or SIT. There was an 11% increase in max VO2 after the first cycle, reduced down to 6.4% after the second cycle, and finished at an 8% increase. Were the subjects fitter? Max VO2 notwithstanding, they absolutely were fitter. The reason we know that […]
Sprint Interval Training
Keeping with the theme of using interesting training techniques from the last Memos on HIIT training, this next study took it one step further. The objective was to see how fast subjects could get fitter using a sprint interval training program. I think I need to define some terms here. When we talk about getting […]
HIIT: Specific Fat Loss
What were the results of HIIT training? The researchers found that there were reductions in overall weight as well as subcutaneous and visceral fat. What’s the difference? The fat just under the skin is subcutaneous fat; visceral fat is behind the abdominal muscles and around the internal organs and is more related to the development […]
HIIT and Fat Loss
One of the “facts” exercise professionals will tell you is that there is no such thing as spot reduction; by that I mean you cannot target a specific area of your body, let’s say your abdominal area, and lose fat by doing a targeted exercise such as sit-ups or leg lifts. You can make the […]
Spot Reduction? Maybe
Researchers collected data from four prior studies that put a group of sedentary overweight and obese men and women on a walking program. To determine the distribution of muscle, fat, and bone, they took MRIs of their entire body. That gave the researchers not only the amount of muscle and fat mass, but exactly where […]
Is Spot Reduction Possible?
One of the questions that I’ve thought about over the years is what happens to the skeletal muscle and fat mass in non-exercising parts of the body. If you’re a runner or a walker, what happens to your upper body? What happens to your lower body? Do you retain or even increase the muscles in […]
The Holiday Challenge
I hope you all have a safe Memorial Day weekend. Here in the northern hemisphere, it’s the official kickoff of the summer season that ends with Labor Day. I alluded to a challenge, so let me lay it out for you: I want you to keep track of all the vegetables and fruit you eat […]
Exercise Is Relative
The title of this Memo is a concept that can be difficult to understand, especially when you read the studies I’m going to cover after the Memorial Day weekend. I’m going to talk about high intensity and even higher intensity exercise. What I don’t want to happen is for you to begin to read them, […]
Where’s the Proof?
A series of articles and studies published recently have called into question the use of statistics in examining large health databases. It’s especially pertinent to nutrition research because placebo-controlled trials are virtually impossible. See if this sounds familiar: eating meat is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. The “association” is calculated by considering […]
