Circadian Rhythm.   Biological Rhythm.    Body Clocks.

We’ve heard the words. We might use them in casual conversation. We might even preach to our clients the importance of them. But if put on the spot, would we be able to accurately and specifically define them? How about effectively adding them into a program or workup for our patients or clients?

All of those words and more stem from the overarching area of Chronobiology.

Would it surprise you to learn that you could supercharge your client’s results just by sprinkling in a bit of timing know-how?

Let’s take a look:

Chronobiology is a multidisciplinary field of study where scientists research the rhythms of living organisms. Oddly, prior to the last few decades, much of the work revolved around plants. Since it branched out to animals, and finally humans, our understanding of the effects of the physical, solar, lunar and environmental cycles has skyrocketed. 

Here’s the rundown.

As humans, we have a circadian master clock which runs on a 24 hour cycle based on light and dark information. This clock resets when sunlight hits the eye. That’s why blue light limitation has become so popular for maintaining our sleep cycles, and thus, our better health. 

So, we have this master clock which is a group of cells called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) housed in the hypothalamus of the brain. As it goes, when we name something the “master”, it usually follows that there are other pieces of the puzzle which are less masterful. This is no different with our body clocks

These “less-masterful” entities are called peripheral clocks and reside in every tissue in the body. They oversee things like insulin release, fat storage, energy production and body temperature. Many of them both receive as well as send messages back to the SCN. All of them interact with our behaviors and the environment around us such as food intake, physical movement and body temperature. Among other things, they wake us up, send us to sleep, make us grow, tell our bodies to recover, assist movement, and help us digest.

Why do we care?

Okay, we’re talking clocks, right? 

Lots of clocks. 

Imagine an entire shop filled with hundreds of clocks. When they tick along in sync with each other under the direction of the master clock, the shop is filled with a melodious tick-tock song. When one or two get behind, it’s distracting to the ear. Add in a few more and the cacophony will send you running out the door. 

In our bodies this chaos is called circadian desynchrony (CD). Obviously, this is not a desirable state of being in a body that strives for homeostasis, balance and harmony.

Let’s talk about you…

Whether you realize it or not, you probably use chronobiology every day. Think about any client you have. When they first walked through your door, you noticed many things in an instant including their age and what they were wearing.

Their age told you of their journey through the years. (Circannual rhythm.) 

Clothing (and a glance out the window) told you of the season. Both of these fall in the category of chronobiology called infradian rhythms which have a cycle of more than 24 hours (monthly biannually or yearly) 

You invite them to sit down and you discover a bit more. You might ask about their eating habits, energy levels and what kind of work and exercise they do. From those things you know their rhythms of digestion, hormone release, productivity/focus, and energy production.

These are a second aspect of chronobiology called Ultradian cycles or things that happen multiple times in a 24 hour period. 

And lastly you might ask about their sleep and wake cycles. These bring us back to that 24 hour circadian rhythm and the all-important master clock.

Here’s what you might be missing:

Still thinking of that client…

What might not be outwardly apparent is that most people on the planet since the invention of the lightbulb are desynchronized with their master clock due to artificial light. Add to that a few irregular meal times, some weird sleep patterns and even an air conditioner over their desk at work and their internal clock shop sounds like a 5th grade orchestra warming up. Not only does the noise make you want to run for the hills, desynchronization has been correlated to everything from metabolic disease to neurological disorders to cancer. 

What can you do about it?

Meet the givers of time: …light…food…exercise

Okay, we’ve established that timing is everything. We have the master clock that sets the rhythm based on light. Then we have our peripheral clocks that listen to the master clock, but they also take cues from our behavior; how we eat and exercise. 

Back to our clock shop.

The tissues involved in digestion (stomach, endocrine, gut, etc.) have an optimal operating rhythm that is in sync with the master clock. When an individual eats at those specific times, the digestive system is ready to work and everything is primed for performance. Digestion is super efficient, delivery of nutrients to tissues is optimal, energy production is peak.

The result is a bevy of clocks in sync which is a beautiful thing!

But say, we skip meals and have midnight snacks. Skipping meals tells the body a story of scarcity (not a great thing unless you want to pack on the pounds). Then, that doughnut at midnight sets off a series of events. Not only is the digestive system not primed for food, but the alarms go off and the tissues report back to the master clock that it’s daytime. The master clock, getting its information from the eye says, “Nope.”. Suddenly our clocks are out of sync. 

Same goes with exercise.

Studies show that if you exercise out of sync with your natural rhythm, it actually has adverse effects like increased insulin resistance, decreased focus and coordination leading to higher possibilities of injury and even delayed melatonin release.

But how do you line up those clocks?

Here’s where true personalization comes in:

As a health professional, you already recognize that every client is an individual with different histories, present habits and future goals. What the study of chronobiology adds is that each person is endowed with a unique set of rhythms.  Their clocks tick in a completely personal way. Therefore, synchrony creates a distinctive song in each body. 

What does this mean?

Every person has certain times in the day where they perform mental tasks better or are more ready to move or digest. Add to that the times of day when they most need to socialize or be in nature or rest and the possibilities for pinpointing the precise intervention for that specific person unfold. When you understand the chronobiology of a client, you get a glimpse into the timing of their hormone release. Then, you can synchronize specific activities with the correct hormone release for that task and BAM! Success is simple!

Let’s get specific:

Say your client’s cortisol peaks super fast in the morning and their body temp is up super quick after rising. Essentially, they are ready for action. If you recommend exercise, hard mental tasks and complex productivity steps early in the day, they will ride the wave of their hormones, thus working with their natural rhythms.

Another client’s melatonin sticks around a bit longer in the morning, pushing that cortisol peak later in the day. These things, along with a natural drop in insulin sensitivity and greater cardiovascular efficiency in the afternoon, prime them for a trip to the gym later in the day.

And this is just the beginning. There are as many configurations as there are hormones in the body and people who walk in the door of your practice. 

But the same caveat applies: 

When your program harnesses the power of clocks ticking in sync, your clients feel strong, strive toward their goals with ease, enjoy life more and stick to it. They excel…and all things improve.

A final note:

Our desire is to create the perfect plan for each client to achieve their desired results in the shortest amount of time possible with the least effort expended. That is true efficiency. Adding the chronobiological component into our already effective programs takes our client/practitioner success to the next level. And who doesn’t want to do that?

To learn how to apply precision methods and technology solutions to your service offering and effectively add chronobiology and more to your practice, check out our Level 1 Course for Health Professionals.

References

Circadian disruption and human health: A bidirectional relationship – PMC (nih.gov) 

Abbott SM, Malkani RG, Zee PC. Circadian disruption and human health: A bidirectional relationship. Eur J Neurosci. 2020;51(1):567-583. doi:10.1111/ejn.14298

Article with tons of notations on studies of circadian desynchrony 

The suprachiasmatic nucleus controls the circadian rhythm of heart rate via the sympathetic nervous system – PubMed (nih.gov)

Warren WS, Champney TH, Cassone VM. The suprachiasmatic nucleus controls the circadian rhythm of heart rate via the sympathetic nervous system. Physiol Behav. 1994 Jun;55(6):1091-9. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(94)90392-1. PMID: 8047576.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1006749107

Christian Cajochen, Jakob Weber, Alejandro F. Estrada,Kumpei Kobayashi,Virginie Gabel,

Circadian and homeostatic sleep-wake regulation of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA): Effects of environmental light and recovery sleep, Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health, 19, (100394), (2022).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100394

Impact of the human circadian system, exercise, and their interaction on cardiovascular function

Circadian rhythm disruption and mental health – PMC (nih.gov)

Walker WH 2nd, Walton JC, DeVries AC, Nelson RJ. Circadian rhythm disruption and mental health. Transl Psychiatry. 2020;10(1):28. Published 2020 Jan 23. doi:10.1038/s41398-020-0694-0

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306452210011103?via%3Dihub

1. Shuboni, L. Yan,

Nighttime dim light exposure alters the responses of the circadian system,

Neuroscience,Volume 170, Issue 4,2010, Pages 1172-1178,  ISSN 0306-4522,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.08.009.

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/106/3/e1373/5922806?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

Leilah K Grant, Charles A Czeisler, Steven W Lockley, Shadab A Rahman, Time-of-day and Meal Size Effects on Clinical Lipid Markers, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 106, Issue 3, March 2021, Pages e1373–e1379, 

Time-of-day and Meal Size Effects on Clinical Lipid Markers 

https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/40/11/1573/36945/Influences-of-Breakfast-on-Clock-Gene-Expression

Daniela Jakubowicz, Julio Wainstein, Zohar Landau, Itamar Raz, Bo Ahren, Nava Chapnik, Tali Ganz, Miriam Menaged, Maayan Barnea, Yosefa Bar-Dayan, Oren Froy; Influences of Breakfast on Clock Gene Expression and Postprandial Glycemia in Healthy Individuals and Individuals With Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Diabetes Care 1 November 2017; 40 (11): 1573–1579.

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpregu.00355.2002

Exercise elicits phase shifts and acute alterations of melatonin that vary with circadian phase

Orfeu M. Buxton, Calvin W. Lee, Mireille L’Hermite-Balériaux, Fred W. Turek, and Eve Van Cauter

American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 2003 284:3, R714-R724   

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/7/1597/htm

Maury, E. Off the Clock: From Circadian Disruption to Metabolic Disease. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20, 1597. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20071597

 Circadian rhythms and athletic performance : Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (lww.com)

WINGET, CHARLES M.; DEROSHIA, CHARLES W.; HOLLEY, DANIEL C. Circadian rhythms and athletic performance, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: October 1985 – Volume 17 – Issue 5 – p 498-516

RELATIONSHIP OF ENDOGENOUS CIRCADIAN MELATONIN AND TEMPERATURE RHYTHMS TO SELF-REPORTED PREFERENCE FOR MORNING OR EVENING ACTIVITY IN YOUNG AND OLDER PEOPLE – PMC (nih.gov)

Duffy JF, Dijk DJ, Hall EF, Czeisler CA. Relationship of endogenous circadian melatonin and temperature rhythms to self-reported preference for morning or evening activity in young and older people. J Investig Med. 1999;47(3):141-150.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2018.00219/full

Lin Hui-Hsien, Farkas Michelle E.Altered Circadian Rhythms and Breast Cancer: From the Human to the Molecular Level  

Frontiers in Endocrinology VOLUME=9   2018  10.3389/fendo.2018.00219   ISSN=1664-2392 

Look at next week’s schedule. What if you could breeze through all those appointments, fit in a few urgent cases and take Friday off?

Are you done laughing?

Oh, I didn’t mention the best part. Your clients are smashing their goals like superheroes on crime.  

Here’s how you can live that scenario not just next week, but every week.

Know your client’s priorities.

Did you roll your eyes?

Perfect. 

Now, I invite you to hear me out. 

The goals and reasons your clients put on their intake form have nothing to do with their true priorities. Understanding these priorities does not involve six deep conversations, an intricate values test and a mind map. 

It involves basic biology.

How they were made, what drives them on a chemical level and how their DNA is expressing at this moment in time will intersect at the precise point where action equals results. 

The Power of Precision

If we’re really going to clear your schedule next week, we need to get specific.

You know the client that comes in with the weight loss goal, has tried everything and sits on the precipice of several life-threatening diseases, so this time they’ve got to make it happen? Our professional eye looks at the client, draws a line to the future goal and tackles the obvious things first. This client’s priorities look like numbers; both on the scale and in their bloodwork. 

But what if this client’s biological priority is family? 

Instead of the obvious discussion about what’s on their plate and how often they hit the gym, what if our first question is ‘How’s the family?’

We’re not just making conversation here. 

This person’s biological necessity is to make sure that everyone that they call family; from those in their household, to those in their workplace and community, stays safe. If there is turmoil around them, they will not allocate resources for themselves. 

We might spend hours across weeks dialing in their diet, exercise and even mindset with only a few small changes in their numbers. 

These are the bodies that will carry extra weight for survival. So in times of stress, the numbers on the scale will rise. 

Why? 

Because biologically they are predisposed to give, nurture and care for others. And to do all of that, you have to have extra. This is a beautiful biological response that harkens back to times of hardship and famine. So, in trying to bring these numbers on the scale down by increasing the exercise (stress) and decreasing the food (also stress), we are working against nature itself. 

You might have noticed by now that the biggest player here is stress. 

Remember that point of intersection we talked about before? 

When we can remove stressors from this point, the client’s biological priority, then that frees up resources to tackle the other pillars of health. 

Contained in our simple question, ‘How’s the family’, is the magical key to unlocking stellar results. 

Look at it from your client’s perspective. They stepped off the scale that morning and stepped into your office braced for the standard protocol: diet and exercise delivered through your brand of expertise. 

What happens in their body and mind when you ask that simple question? “How’s the family?”

Barriers drop. Stress melts. Their mind turns full-force toward the real cause of their distress. Maybe it’s a coworker or a child, a neighbor or a dear friend, or even that they don’t feel they have someone to call family. 

Back to you.

You don’t have to be qualified to assess their psychological status to have a simple conversation. You don’t have to have the answer to why their son is failing math or why their neighbor just built an enormous wall between their backyards or whether they should quit their job. You just have to know that their biology is craving stability and safety in this realm. And it is not getting what it craves.

For that session, your protocol might look like directing them to identify a single person in their world that they can completely relax around. Someone that doesn’t offload their problems. Someone that doesn’t expect anything from your client except their company.

What you don’t do is more important than what you do.

Now. this probably isn’t something you want to put on the header of your website: “I’m not going to do anything, and you’ll want to come back for more!”

But in reality, you didn’t give them a prescription that heaped on the stress. You didn’t tackle the priorities they stated on their intake form. You probably didn’t do anything you learned in your certification or degree.

Instead, you gave them the precise protocol their biology craved.  

You are a magician.

So, there are priorities and there are biological priorities. When we work in alignment with the way that each person is created and how they are presenting in this moment, we facilitate the most significant outcomes possible.

Back to you and your schedule.

When you dive beneath the surface-level desires scribbled on intake forms to tap into the rich vein of your client’s true motivations and needs, you enter the realm of absolute efficiency. 

Then you sail through your weeks, turning challenges into triumphs (and even reclaiming your Fridays!). It sounds like a dream but Precision Health is here now. It is grounded in the undeniable science of individuality where action is informed by the most authentic version of each person. It’s where the efficiency of our strategies multiplies, not by doing more, but by doing right.

If you want to get more precise with your clients and spend less time for better results…and maybe get your Friday’s back, too, check out our Level 1 Course for health professionals.

As we stand on the precipice of this year’s end and next year’s beginning it’s natural to pause, take a breath and look over our shoulder at the path we’ve traversed. Across the year here at PHA, each month we’ve explored a different landscape that, when put together, defines the overall quality of our Precision Life. Let’s take a moment to journey through the highlights and lessons, examining the topography of our experiences.

Happiness: The Landscape of Joy 

Whether it’s a triumphant client WIN, a cherished family event, or a professional milestone, the elements which define our happy moments are biologically and psychologically based. This makes them personal at a molecular level.Take a stroll down memory lane by scrolling through the photos on your phone – a visual diary of joy and accomplishment. Reflect on the landscape of happiness. What does it look like for you? Where were you? Who were you with? What were you doing in those most vibrant moments?

Environment: The Nourishing Petri Dish of Well-being

Our surroundings influence us on a biological level, turning genes off and on by the moment and across the days, weeks, months. Pause and consider the spaces, people, and places that shaped your daily life. How did they support you, challenge you, change you; silently sculpting your experiences?

Genius: The Forest of Your Biologically Predisposed Strengths

Your neurons fire and wire and your hormones ebb and flow, continuously crafting and supporting your natural gifts. This is the internal scene that sets you apart from every other person on the planet. Reflect on the skills, talents and abilities that make you shine in your industry and your community. Recognizing and leaning into your expertise is the key to continuous growth and fulfillment.  

Learning: The Terrain of Your Knowledge, Your Way

Who you are on a cellular level, right through to the chemicals that surge through your tissues and the way your muscles move in response to stimuli determines what methods of information absorption work best for you. From lessons learned to skills acquired, consider how you leaned into your biological strengths to expedite learning and retain information longer. What settings, structures, protocols and subjects defined the topography of your knowledge acquisition?

Love:  The Scene of Connection and Communication 

From the care we take with ourselves to the way we engage with other people, places, situations and things, how we love is biologically unique to us. Who were the clients that brought a smile to your face? What colleagues did you connect with? How did you deepen your relationships with those close to you? What skills did you level-up, places did you explore and things did you acquire? These elements combine to craft your specific landscape of love.

Stress: Settings that Evolve Strength

It’s tempting to define our lives by the stressors we encounter, conquer and succumb to. Instead, challenge yourself to look at the methods, timings and modalities which help you naturally flow through life’s peaks and valleys. When do you feel bulletproof? How do you intentionally add stress to spur growth and resilience? What activities increase your zen? Evaluate the elements of your ideal stress habitat. 

Sleep: The Land Where Chronobiology is King

Sleep quality sets the scene for life. Being rested or not largely determines how you experience the world, interact with what it tosses your way and work out ways to craft your future. The formations in our best sleep terrain are largely decided before birth. Your chronobiological rhythms, daily energy flow and natural brain states are biologically and psychologically unique to you. Whether you assess the data from your wearable, flip back through the pages of your dream journal or simply reflect on your sleep habits and hygiene, sweep your eyes across what constructs support your ability to rest. 

Mental Health: Waves of Thought, Gales of Feelings

From feeding our brains to working them properly to getting in that perfect brain state for flowy functionality, mental health incorporates a vast vista of biological predispositions and lifestyle choices. Take a look at yours. When does your brain feel in peak form? When have you felt the most ease, the best equipped to handle a curve-ball, and the clearest about your past, present and future? Look across the landscape of your best mental health and see where peace prevails.

Lifestyle: The Territory of Habits, Fiascos and Routines

Like rearranging the elements of our backyard for optimal practicality and pleasure, we can adjust the components of our lifestyle to align with our biology and psychology for top flow. Consider your daily, weekly and monthly practices and patterns. Where did you thrive? Where did your energy, vitality and enjoyment fall flat? It’s a balancing act that is intensely personal. The facets that you pull forward and those you push into the background will suit your specific genius, desires and intentions.

Mindfulness: The Property of Presence

When you gaze across the panorama of your mindful moments, how you collected them will be as specific to you as the contents they encompass. The only similarities with anyone else on the planet is the way they impact your life. In the chaos of the health industry, mindfulness emerges as a powerful tool to maintain the level of professionalism and decorum you need to support your clients. Explore your mindfulness techniques across the year and the ways they brought focus and serenity to your daily life.

Fitness: Moving Mountains

From the way each one of your 600 muscles is shaped to how they attach to the bones and move your limbs, everything about your physical body is unique to you. Naturally, then, the way you build strength, the times when you have the most stamina, the methods you use to recover are all precisely tuned to you, too. As you glance back across the landmarks of your fitness scenario, ask these things: Did you play up what your body is built for? How well did you utilize the stress and recovery cycles to optimize your biological strengths for a healthier, more resilient you?

Food: Fuel for Life

Do you cringe at the word ‘diet’ or recognize that it’s simply a way of life? Your way of life, just as every other aspect we have discussed, is distinctly your own. What you ingest has no more or no less significance than any of the other factors. With this lens, gaze across the scene of your yearly nutrition. How did you place your meals and the contents of your plates, cups and bowls to keep your body and mind running with powerful precision? Reflect on what worked well and explore opportunities for nourishment that align with your individuality.

When you’ve taken in all the nuances of the well-trodden path behind you and cast your eyes forward once again to the crossroads before you, we hope what you see is more vivid and detailed.  The brilliance of your individuality will light the way to a life more precisely tailored to your needs and a future filled with purpose, growth, and success. This is the Precision Life!

If you’re interested in learning how to apply precision methods and technology solutions to your service offering check out our Level 1 Course for Health Professionals

You’re running down the field, dodging in and out of gaps that seem to open just as you approach. You’re in flow.
You’re standing on the stage in front of a rapt crowd and the perfect words just roll off your tongue. Also flow.
You’re powering through today’s checklist with superhuman speed, tasks just seemingly checking themselves off. Yep, flow again.
We’ve all been there once or twice. Maybe more, if we’re lucky.
Achieving that perfect synergy between mind and body feels so great that we work hard to get back there.
Therein lies the fallacy of flow.
Anything that requires hard work actually takes us further away from the state that we so crave.

True flow is a biologically natural condition

When we look closely at the contemporary definition of flow, we really mean one thing. Productivity. That culls the list of acceptable activities down to a mere handful including athletic, creative and career pursuits. Essentially, we stick flow in such a small box that it’s nearly impossible to achieve without concerted effort.

Now, let’s see what happens when we set flow free from that tiny box.
Biological flow is when you meet the needs of your dominant neurotransmitters and hormones. It is true that everyone on the planet has an array of neurotransmitters and hormones surging through their bodies all the time. However, it’s also true that every individual is born with a biological need for a higher baseline and consistent turnover of one, in particular. This is the one that speaks the loudest and requires the most attention.

A funny thing happens when we listen to our most prominent biological driver.

We discover that each dominant hormone or neurotransmitter has preferences. These loud, opinionated chemicals are also pushy. They will push you toward things they love and away from things they don’t. On the inside, it feels like unconscious preferences or aversions.
On the outside, it looks like you have:
Strengths: Stuff you excel at and stuff you struggle with.
Passions: Stuff that energizes you and stuff that feels like a grind.
People: Individuals and social settings that lift your energy and those that deplete it.
Diets: Foods that rev you up and foods that let you fall flat.
Exercise: Movement that delights you or exhausts you.
Environments: Surroundings that bathe you in pleasure and conditions that inundate you with misery
Timing: Morning or night, long or short, all the time or seldom; everything above has an ideal time attached to it.

When you look at the list above, it’s obvious that these mouthy, bossy molecules are your greatest advocate for everything in the world that engages your biology.

Flow, with this understanding, is when you feel like yourself.

True biological flow looks like this:

A Crusader thrives under the traditional definition of flow. They are happiest when they are knocking down goals and checking off lists in the pursuit of their passion. When you add in a regular rhythm of easily digested foods, endurance-based movement, a group of respected and respectful colleagues aligned with purpose, you’re approaching flow. Add to all of that environmental conditions that are streamlined, limit distractions and support long work hours and you have a recipe for complete biological alignment. 

An Activator thrives in motion, whether that is acute problem-solving, thinking on their feet or running down the field, variety and movement are key. Surrounded by spontaneous-loving people, staying well fueled with lots of small snacks and guarding against the cold and winds, this is Activator flow.

A Connector could be the one running down the field, finding those gaps. They thrive in teams, on and off the field. When they stay fueled with fun, flavorful foods and plenty of sunshine, enveloped in colorful spaces with plenty of opportunity to express themselves, they enjoy flow.

A Guardian thrives when all of the basics of food, shelter, finances and health are met for those they love. Built to protect, their bodies crave lifting heavy things and all day movement, but need to fuel up early in the day to keep going.

A Diplomat thrives on their own time, in their own space. When they feed their brains knowledge, their bodies lots of good veggies and their hearts deep connection, this is when they thrive. Add to that walks in nature, peaceful and beautiful surroundings and heavy things to lift. This is a Diplomat in flow.

A Sensor craves routines and rules with systems and processes for everything. One or two close friends will be privy to occasional deep discussions, but for the most part they prefer their own company. Their minds crave knowledge, need constant, easily accessible fuel to keep up with continuous thought and a bit of highly technical movement to keep things in flow.

Yes, you can power down that field, walk confidently onto the stage or passionately tackle those checklists and hit momentary bouts of flow. But when you tune out the voices that tell you to try harder and work more just to hit an acceptable level of productivity, you leave quiet space to listen to the guidance of your dominant biological driver.

When we tap into the true science of flow, we learn that when we stop striving to ‘get in the zone’, that’s when we achieve it. 

If you are looking to get in flow the biological way and help your clients do the same,  learn more here.

Want to lose weight? Exercise and eat healthy.

More energy? Simple, eat right and exercise. 

What about reducing the risk of chronic disease? Duh! Move your body daily and increase your veggies. 

The starting point for most health professionals when it comes to helping their clients achieve goals is nutrition and exercise. Two absolutely foundational pieces of the health puzzle. But did you know there are other areas you could address that can in some cases, have just as much of an impact on our clients overall health as a change in activity and nutritional intake?

Let’s explore the uncommon areas of your clients’ lifestyle you might be leaving on the table in your consultation room and how to address these in your next session. 

Environment 

Assessing your client’s indoor places and outdoor spaces.

Why?

Because dampness in a home can cause molds harmful for health and clutter can restrict air flow, causing build up of dust and other allergens. In the outdoor setting, particularly if you live in a city or built up area, you have to consider air pollution which can contribute to heart disease and respiratory conditions such as Asthma, as well as noise and light pollution which can interfere with circadian rhythms and sleep cycles.

What can you do as a health professional?

Assess your clients’ indoor and outdoor environment to see if there are any potential stressors or factors that could be influencing their quality of life. Recommend frequent bouts in nature for those who live in built up areas and support the reduction of light and noise pollution to improve down time and sleep patterns.

Seek to increase your understanding around environmental issues relating to health so that you can better support your clients to make changes to their environment.  

Work

83% of US workers suffer from work-related stress, with 25% saying their job is the number one stressor in their lives. For many it is work that is the cause of poor health habits and the frustration for many health practitioners as it gets in the way of positive behaviour change. Whilst it may seem like the only solution you can provide to your clients is for them to ‘leave their job’. There are many things you can do to help reduce stress at work and actually use it as a place to practice healthy habits.

• Feeling a sense of purpose

When was the last time you sat with your client to discuss their deeper why? Working with clients on finding a sense of purpose can be a powerful way to increase motivation and increase feelings of both physical and mental wellbeing. When they are able to tie this sense of purpose into the work they do, it may help to reduce stress associated with their job, or it might just show them that what they are currently doing is not right for them. Either way it can open a positive conversation to take action on improving their feelings around the work they do.

• Becoming aware of natural strengths

Some of the major contributors to work stress are; poor team cohesion, lack of clarity, insufficient support and poor management/communication. Whilst you may not be able to control the work environment when it comes to management, you can support your client in ‘controlling the controllables’ by increasing awareness of their natural communication styles vs others to help foster better relationships and communication pathways. As well as creating more awareness around their natural strengths (and weaknesses) so that they can meet daily tasks with greater feelings of self-efficacy and clarity.

• Planning and Time-management

Gaining an understanding of your clients typical day at work can help you when it comes to setting realistic and achievable health goals that can work into the demands of the work environment. Supporting your client to plan these health goals into their working day and keeping them accountable to them may also naturally start to help create more structure and routine in other areas of their work schedule as they aim to add new healthy habits into their to-do list.

Workplace wellness has become a hot topic due to the significant risks associated with both physical and mental health. As a practitioner it is important that you have the tools to support people in all walks of life.

Social 

Wide-ranging research suggests that strong social ties are linked to a longer life. In contrast, loneliness and social isolation are linked to poorer health, depression, and increased risk of early death.

As a result, assessing a client’s social life and relationships should be as high up the list as looking through a diet diary or exercise history. Does your client spend quality time with friends, family members/loved ones? Are there any relationships that are currently causing stress? Does your client feel loneliness or isolation?

If diving deeper into relationships is not within your skillset or scope of practice, seek out a strong referral network with a psychologist or counselor, so that when you do begin to assess the social aspects of a person’s life, you can safely support your client by referring them to an expert to help deal with any deeper issues should they arise. 

Remember, ALL aspects of the environment can influence gene expression and consequently affect health. Just because a person is exercising regularly and eating healthy does not mean your work is done. Sleep, work, stress, social life, the environment all have important roles to play in the overall health picture. It is your duty as a health professional to understand the bigger picture of your clients lifestyle to formulate a personalized and integrative health program, which can and should of course involve other expert practitioners within your network to support as needed.

This is the future of client-centered, precision health care.

Want to learn more about assessing and managing these areas of your clients lifestyle AND join a network of health, fitness and medical professionals who practice with precision? 

Enroll in the PHA Level Course, details on the next intake can be found here

Poor sleep, or more specifically, circadian alignment can contribute to many different health risks due to its impact on both the physiology of the individual and the lifestyle patterns they undertake as a consequence of irregular sleep habits.

The more significant problem with poor sleep hygiene has to do with biology. The body operates on a 24-hour cycle, or circadian rhythm, governed by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) that serves as both the ‘master clock’ and regulator of peripheral clocks, located in various organs around the body. The central and peripheral clocks work to ensure the body maintains alignment with the natural changes in daylight and darkness. It is this rhythm that tells us to wake when it is light and rest when it is dark and supports the many hormonal and physiological functions that need to occur in order to support the body throughout.

This disruption of the natural circadian cycle affects how the body functions and interferes with the natural release of hormones and other processes within the body, leading to potential problems of the cardiovascular system, metabolism, digestion, immune system, mental health and even fertility and pregnancy.

So given the importance of not only sleep but alignment with the natural 24-hour light/dark cycle, what does this mean for clients who find it difficult to change their sleep patterns due to shift-work?

In this scenario, much of the advice given is unrealistic and impossible to implement, leaving many health professionals feeling like they are unable to tackle any issues surrounding sleep. Instead they choose to ‘park’ such goals and focus on areas of lifestyle that are easier to control. Whilst this may be a valid short-term coaching strategy, there comes a point where sleep hygiene must be addressed, particularly as the health risks associated with prolonged shift work are actually quite alarming. 

In shift workers, research shows a 30-40% increase in risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and interestingly, the longer you do shift work, the higher your waist circumference and risk of obesity. In fact, 4 days of disrupted sleep due to shift work can push your physiology into a pre-diabetic state and one night of sleep under 4 hours can reduce immune function by 70%. Shift work is also correlated to inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, lower energy levels and mental health conditions such as depression

So, aside from asking clients to give up their jobs, what else can we do as health professionals to support those who work shifts? We asked chrono-expert and PHA lead educator, Dr. Cam McDonald to share his top tips. 

1. Re-establish normal patterns of sleeping, eating and exercise as soon as possible after night shifts are over

The body likes to follow predictable patterns in alignment with the 24-hour circadian rhythm. The more you mismatch daily lifestyle habits with this rhythm, the more stress it creates on the body. Once a period of working shifts is complete, supporting your clients to quickly establish a routine of eating, working out and sleeping in alignment with the natural light-dark cycle should be of highest priority. 

2. During shifts, minimize food intake throughout the evening, focus on low/non-caloric fluids and aim to have all meals through the daylight hours. Try to keep your meal timings on a consistent pattern.

Much of the metabolic risk of shift-work comes from the irregularity in meal timings and quality of food. Put simply, the body likes to keep processes on a consistent rhythm and is not designed to digest large meals in the middle of the night. Here you can support your client by helping them to establish a consistent pattern around meal times each day, and ensuring they find easy to digest, low calorie meals such as soups or broths to consume during the night, keeping the consumption of main meals to the daylight hours.

3. Aim to use light movement, warm drinks, healthy crunchy snacks as ways of staying awake to reduce caffeine consumption as much as possible overnight.

Many shift workers use caffeine to give them more energy during the night. As previously mentioned, the body should be resting during this time and is already under a level of stress from being awake and at work. Using caffeine to get through the shift will only add more fuel to the fire through the release of stress hormones. Support your clients to find alternative ways to help them during the shift that do not involve the use of caffeine or other stimulants. Warm caffeine-free herbal teas can support alertness without the added stress and healthy foods that provide a crunch can help to increase alertness naturally. 

4. Support ‘morning sleep hygiene’ 

Improving overall sleep quality, regardless of the time you go to bed, will still be one of the most impactful things you can do to reduce the negative effects of shift-work. Here are some additional tips to support quality of sleep during the daylight hours.

• Create a ‘morning’ bedtime routine to prep the body for sleep
• Have a hot bath, practice meditation, breathing techniques, or stretch to calming music
• Use block out blinds or curtains in the bedroom with dark shades or a sleep mask
• Limit the use of electronics before falling asleep
• Wear blue light blocking glasses during work, on the way home from work and around the house before bedtime
• Consider using a white noise machine to block out any daytime noise that may affect the quality of your sleep

As you can see, all is not lost for those who work shifts. There are many strategies we can look to implement to offset some of the negative effects of circadian stress. If you would like to learn more about sleep, circadian rhythms and the practical application of chronobiology, check out this free webinar from Dr. Cam Mcdonald here.

References

Shift-Work Morbidity and Mortality

CVD – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29929393

CVD – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29247501

CAD – https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/481088

Clock genes and cancer – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5410358/

Mental health – https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10889

Desynchrony and it’s effects 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381191300921X

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654533/

Mindfulness is all the rage. Mindful eating, mindful moving, mindful sleeping. There’s so much “mindful everything” that it becomes “mindful nothing.” 

So let’s get clear on a few things. 

Mindfulness has nothing to do with having either a “full” or an “empty” mind. Some minds are naturally wired to be highly internally active. Other minds become active in response to external stimuli. It is not a competition about whose mind is more or less “full” or “empty.”

It’s about awareness. It is not about how much, or even what you think. It’s about noticing what you think, then choosing to do things that enhance your mental, emotional and physical health. 

The objective is to step away from the mind, rather than go further into it. To distance yourself from the chatter, self-doubt, stories and criticisms of yourself and others…and all the other hundreds of thoughts that take up our attention and energy every day.

Our mind is not supposed to make us stressed – but it can do that if we are not aware of what it is doing. The purpose of our mind is to solve problems, plan, create, interact and connect. If we don’t take time to separate from our minds, it can go into overdrive trying to create and solve problems that it can’t – trying to change the past, the future, other people, or conditions beyond our control.

So what do we actually want to achieve when we say we want to be “mindful”?

We want to feel calm. Relaxed. Clear. We want to be able to “think straight” so we can use our minds for their intended purpose.

In order to get our minds back on track, we usually have to “get out of them” for a bit. If we keep pushing ourselves to “stick at it” when we’re getting foggy, irritable, stressed or negative, we’re not getting any closer to achieving whatever it is we’re trying to do. We’re really just making it harder.

It is usually our body that signals to us that we’ve been in our mind too long. We feel tired. Sluggish. Stiff. Hungry. Restless. Cranky. Anxious. Defensive. Overwhelmed.

So what do we do when we get the signs?

There’s really just three basic steps to follow…

1. Notice how you are feeling. 

Are you getting cranky and irritable? Overwhelmed and confused? Anxious and upset? All of our negative and uncomfortable emotions come when we start feeling pressured – and our bodies are telling us it’s getting to be too much. (Pressure doesn’t have to always make us feel bad – If you’re feeling good, it means you’re handling the pressure well, so keep on doing what you’re doing!)

2. Notice your thoughts. 

What have you been thinking about? While there could be a real circumstance that’s tough, feeling the pressure of it comes from our mind worrying about it, telling us to hurry up, wondering what people think of us, replaying things that happened… When we notice our thoughts we can more easily realise that they are what have made us feel bad. We don’t need to beat ourselves, or anyone else, up over this. We just need to notice. Then keep moving.

3. Do something that gets you back in your body.

This can be as simple as taking some deep breaths. It works, even if only for a time, because it shifts your focus away from your thoughts, onto your breath, and back in your body. Breathing doesn’t get your admin finished, the chores done or the disagreement resolved. But that is not the purpose. You’re not trying to solve the problems right now. You’re shifting your focus away from the problems and onto recharging yourself. Then when you return to the issue your mind is better able to navigate and solve it.

If that’s all a bit too philosophical for you, don’t worry. Really, just do something. Do something that’s not the thing you’re stressed about.

What is best for you to do, and when to do it, will depend on your unique biology. This is where personalisation and precision comes into play. 

Movement?

Smashing out some burpees is precisely what will work for certain bodies and minds because it allows for a rapid release of energy. The dynamic movement generates an immediate shift into the central and temporal zones of the brain, which makes the person feel free. For others, this will actively increase their stress due to the rapid plane of movement changes, decreasing their oxygenation and increasing cortisol. 

Stillness?

In contrast, sitting in quiet stillness will trigger safety and calm in certain people’s nervous systems. It releases the pressure to manage movement, allowing a shift into the frontal zone of the brain, which creates focus.  In other people, this scenario will actually trigger alarm because it means isolation from others and restriction of movement.

This is why even a mindfulness practice must be personalised to a person’s unique biology. Otherwise, what may be intended as “stress reduction” could actually be stress enhancement. Personalised mindfulness tips and techniques, right down to notifications in your optimal timing, are precisely what the Shae™  Suite provides.

To discover how biology influences the mind, and to become a precision health provider, sign up for our industry leading course today. 

What if you’ve been doing fitness bootcamps and your body would thrive on pilates instead?

What if you have been forcing your clients to follow in your footsteps, when they need something completely different?

The birth of precision health

We all recall the Human Genome Project (HGP) – the much anticipated collaborative effort that is the foundation for research into the treatment of disease known as precision medicine.  Completed in 2003, it was understood that once the genome was mapped we would have the blueprint to our bodies and start the guidebook to our health.

Upon the publishing of the human genome, Francis Collins, Director of the National Human Genome Research Project stated “It’s a history book – a narrative of the journey of our species through time. It’s a shop manual, with an incredibly detailed blueprint for building every human cell. And it’s a transformative textbook of medicine, with insights that will give health care providers immense new powers to treat, prevent and cure disease.”

Precision medicine recognizes that we as individuals are each unique, that accordingly we have different health needs and health risks, and that we will respond differently to various treatments and medications.

The HGP has also provided knowledge that has spawned an array of commercial enterprises dedicated to providing you with your own personalized menu of potential health conditions and inherited risk factors. Most of us have seen ads offering to map our genome – we only need to provide a saliva sample. While this data is interesting, and may rule out certain health concerns while confirming others, it falls short of being able to recommend practical application of the data. It turns out that there is another factor, a factor that moves the information along the spectrum from ‘might be beneficial’ to ‘essential knowledge’.

While our individual genome does represent our own personal blueprint, like any plan, it can be altered. Gene expression, or Epigenetics, speaks to the modification of our genes based on environmental factors. Factors like stress, sleep, diet and nutrition, physical activity and exposure to chemicals can alter the epigenome – the suite of chemical compounds that tells the genome what to do. Without modifying the underlying genes, the epigenome interacts with DNA and changes how genes are expressed. Your epigenome is you.

How does it work?

The normal development of cells is strongly influenced by epigenetic processes. Environment or lifestyle factors combined with nutrition and even diet on its own can cause epigenetic changes that may turn certain genes on or off.  There are two primary mechanisms for this:

1. DNA methylation where proteins attach chemical tags to the bases of the DNA molecule and can then turn genes on or off by affecting interactions between the DNA and other proteins.
2. Histone modification whereby DNA in cells is wrapped around histone proteins that are wound into chromosomes inside the cell nucleus. These and other proteins can interact with each other which determines whether that region of DNA will be used or ignored.

In addition, non-coding RNA and Chromatin-associated proteins are also involved in this process.

Yes, it’s complicated.  But because of this, you have a phenotype – defined as the manifest characteristics of an individual collectively, including anatomical and behavioral traits, that result from both its heredity and its environment. In other words, you are the sum of your epigenome, and you are unique. A fundamental truth of the genome and the epigenome, is that no two are exactly alike. And knowing that, we must acknowledge that one-size-does-NOT-fit all and that, therefore, a personalized approach to health is required. 

Precision health, actually.

“We must recognize the complex network of interconnected physical, hormonal, skeletal, and environmental processes that influence who you are. You are a dynamic being, changing every moment of every day, depending on your environment, your diet, your exercise, and the people you spend time with. For this reason alone, it’s important to recognize that your dietary, fitness, and mental needs will change frequently” explains Matt Riemann, PHA and Shae founder and personalized health expert.

What does it mean for you and your clients?

It means that your genes are not your destiny. It means that you can influence the expression of your genes. It means that you have much more control over your lifelong health than you knew.

We have varying degrees of control over the stressors in our lives, the amount of sleep we get and the toxic chemicals we come into contact with, but with diligence, we can minimize stressors and exposure to harmful substances and maximize sleep and integrate stress relieving and reducing strategies into our lives.

What we do have more consistent control over is our level of activity and exercise regimen and, more relevant here, our nutrition. When we understand that we require a personalized plan and approach, we can leverage these for optimal health.

Enter Nutrigenomics 

Nutrigenomics is the study of the interaction of nutrition and genes. Nutrition research has traditionally focused on the assumption that all individuals have the same nutritional requirements. More recently, great strides have been made in the field of nutrigenomics and studies show that nutrients can alter gene expression. Now we understand that because we are each unique, one person’s superfood can be another’s poison.

This is important news for the prevention and management of chronic disease as the impact of diet on conditions like heart disease, diabetes and obesity has clearly been shown.

And it’s important news for those of us who want to preserve our health and support the health of others. 

So, how do you go from knowledge to application?

Now that you know that you are unique, that your genes are not your destiny, that your phenotype is the current version of you and that you can control your health and well-being, you are probably asking “how”? 

How do you know what’s right for you specifically? And importantly, how can I quantify this in my clients so I can be sure I am giving them the correct advice?

We now know that your genome is not the current expression of you and that we need to go beyond a DNA based diet and into a personalized lifestyle plan for best results. There is one lifestyle platform based on epigenetics designed specifically for health professionals to identify your clients phenotype, determine ideal lifestyle choices for optimal health and deliver recommendations in real time. Likened to ‘Siri for your health’, it makes being healthy simple. It’s ph360’s Shae™ and you can learn more today.

Some people may be surprised, even shocked, to see that ph360/Shae may occasionally recommend animal protein to people despite their personal preference for plant-based proteins. I’m certain there are many vegans and vegetarians out there thinking “How could an advanced science-based program like this promote meat?!”

Well, ph360 uses that science and evidence-based research to personalize a diet specifically to you and your body’s needs. Instead of saying “You are right for this type of diet”, ph360 calculates the pros and cons of all foods to find the diet that is right for you, and that includes all kinds of animal proteins.

To address some of those common misconceptions about plant versus animal proteins, let’s clear the air with some myth-busting facts for everyone.

Myth #1: Animal protein is unhealthy

You may have heard claims that meat consumption isn’t healthy because of its effects on cholesterol (an issue that has now been debunked), and yet others talking about it being bad for triglycerides, obesity, cardiovascular disease and the list goes on. But it’s important to separate the studies that focus on processed foods, (1) deep fried foods, (2) or other unhealthy preparation methods and sources, from those that look at quality organic fish or lean meat. Studies on the occasional poultry, lean meat or fish consumption have found benefits for conditions like dementia (3), cancer (4), cardiovascular disease (5), and many other conditions (6).

Myth #2: As mammals, our diet should be based on our physical form

Meat-eaters will say humans don’t have the large fermentation vats (like cows and rhinoceroses) to process all that fiber. Vegetarians speak of our lack of canine teeth and jaw strength (like dogs and cats) to rip through raw flesh.

Unlike other animals, humans can cook and process the food we consume – even organic whole foods. Whether we’re processing flour, making a smoothie, or even cooking foods like taro and kidney beans to make them palatable and safe to eat, we have developed many ways to integrate a wide variety of foods into our diet. With this fact in mind, comparing ourselves to other animal species simply doesn’t make sense. We are omnivores who process our foods for improved digestion, flavor, texture, variety and even medicinal purposes. Let’s not think about our nutrition like animals but like humans.

Myth #3: We should only eat what our ancient ancestors ate

Let’s not go into a lengthy discussion about the evolutionary perspective of meat-eating to evaluate approaches like the paleo diet or caveman diet because, let’s face it, it’s a somewhat silly argument too. Lives were much shorter in paleolithic times, to the point that we can’t be certain they wouldn’t have been affected by chronic diseases that are also correlated with age. Whether we look at historical trends of physical activity, differing living conditions, or a life span of 20-50 years compared to our 80, there simply are too many assumptions that must be made to establish any argument about longevity and chronic disease when trying to compare us to our ancestors.

Humanity has evolved and adapted to many different and varying situations. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking at the traditional diet of the Okinawa, Andes, Lakota, Hopi, Inuit or other cultures, past meat-eating doesn’t justify a meat-filled diet today and neither does a historically vegetarian population justify a solely plant-based diet.

In fact, our diet should be based on who we are today and what we need for our current lifestyle and metabolic status. ph360 does, in fact, often encourage a reduction of animal proteins, even vegetarianism or veganism for some people…just not everyone.

There could be various reasons why ph360 may encourage some high quality sources of animal protein in the diet. In the next myth-bust we’ll reveal some of these reasons. Keep in mind that not all of these examples will apply to everyone. That’s the whole point with the shift toward personalized health – it’s unique to you. SOME issues will affect SOME people more than others. To be healthy, we just need to do what is right for OUR body. While tailoring a unique food, exercise and lifestyle program to an individual has been time consuming and costly in the past, ph360 can now accomplish this feat in mere seconds.

Myth #4: Everyone can get all the optimal nutrition they need from a vegan diet alone

Studies (7), (8), (9) have shown that although people who avoid meat tend to be more health conscious, vegan and vegetarian diets need to be well planned to obtain nutritional adequacy because it can be easy for nutritional deficiencies to occur when eliminating large food groups. This is especially true for very restrictive diets.

Vitamin B12: Unfortunately, B12 is one of those special vitamins primarily found in animal sources. Though it’s possible to get enough B12 from fortified foods (not always great because it’s not natural and can be highly processed), and there are a few vegetable sources of B12 10, most vegans and vegetarians need B12 supplements in their diet (11), (12). Though it may be ok to have a vegan or vegetarian diet for a while or even cleanse without meeting your need for vitamin B12, this lack shouldn’t be prolonged because it’s a very important vitamin for many parts of our health, including mental (13) and cardiovascular (14).

Iron: Although vegetables do contain iron, and both vitamins C and B12 can be used to improve iron absorption, plants contain non-heme iron which is less easily absorbed by the body than heme iron that comes from animal sources (15). Cobalt, zinc, copper, molybdenum, gallic acid, phytates and phenols all interfere with iron absorption so the program is often calculating which are the best sources of bioavailable iron that your body needs (16), (17).

Zinc: Because of their amino acid content (like histidine and methionine), the most bioavailable form of zinc comes from animal sources, while non-heme iron, fiber, tannin and phytic acid (all common in plant sources) impede zinc absorption (16), (17).

Manganese: Tannins, oxalates, phytates, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, cobalt and insoluble fiber all hinder manganese absorption (18) so once again, calculations are being made for the best bioavailable sources based on your food preferences, food allergies, etc.

Phosphorous: Though you can find phosphorus in great amounts in many plant sources, the most bioavailable source is from animal protein. Phytic acid reduces bioavailability, while vitamin D (like in fish) promotes its absorption (19). So once again, depending on what your body needs and what the rest of your diet looks like, the calculations are being made for the best sources for you.

Vitamin A: Plant products can contain carotenoids which the body can convert into retinol, though not very efficiently (20). For some people, this conversion is sufficient to meet their needs, while other people need a little more ready-made retinol which comes from animal products.

Creatine: Though creatine isn’t an essential nutrient because the body can produce it from glycine and arginine, this nitrogen-containing compound improves the way protein is synthesized in the body, providing energy and muscle growth. Athletes and bodybuilders are often seeking or needing more than what the body can produce on its own. Dietary creatine, however, is only found in animal products and though our liver and kidneys can produce some creatine, it may not be enough for some people (especially those who exercise intensively and may have depleted levels of phosphocreatine) (21).

Carbohydrate restriction: Some people (for example, those with metabolic syndrome) may need to reduce their daily intake of starch or short-chain carbohydrates, but some vegan and vegetarian diets can be carb-rich (especially ones that aren’t well planned). Though there are ways to maintain a balanced vegan or vegetarian diet, sometimes people struggle to get enough protein (or iron, zinc, B12, etc) without increasing other dietary components as well.

Amino acids: Yes, you can get all the amino acids you need from a diet free of animal protein and this is why many vegans and vegetarians are perfectly healthy with their diet. However, others may find themselves with imbalanced amino acid amounts (22) (ie: too much of one and not enough of another).

This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list because other factors like exercise goals and health conditions can also play a role in the types of protein a person may need. Though vegan and vegetarian diets can be well thought out to prevent potential deficiencies, several arguments can now be used to explain why eliminating all sources of animal products may NOT be ideal for everyone. Vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters can ALL be healthy with the proper lifestyle and diet choices (23).

Regardless of the dietary recommendations ph360 makes, any animal protein being consumed should always be organically farmed without antibiotics, hormones or other intrusive chemicals. Livestock should be free range, fed with a proper diet, and maintained with ethical standards. Humane approaches to animal husbandry should always be in place, while also utilizing every part of the animal wherever possible. Not only does this increase the quality of the animal protein (and even its fat content), it also enhances the integrity of our farming practices and our relationship with nature.

So whether animal protein, vegetarianism or veganism is the way to go, the key thing here is that health-conscious eating should always consider nutrients, and, more specifically, the right nutrients for you. The nutrients in your foods and how they react and interact with your unique body is paramount to maintaining nutritional balance, and getting a wide variety of whole foods that provides your body the well-balanced nutrition you need, without harmful additives, will see you on the path to true longevity and enhanced quality of life.

REFERENCES

1. Schulze, M. B., et al. “Processed meat intake and incidence of type 2 diabetes in younger and middle-aged women.” Diabetologia 46.11 (2003): 1465-1473.

2. Balbi, J. C., et al. “Foods and risk of bladder cancer: a case–control study in Uruguay.” European journal of cancer prevention 10.5 (2001): 453-458.

3. Barberger-Gateau, Pascale, et al. “Fish, meat, and risk of dementia: cohort study.” Bmj 325.7370 (2002): 932-933.

4. Vatten, Lars J., Kari Solvoll, and Elin B. Løken. “Frequency of meat and fish intake and risk of breast cancer in a prospective study of 14,500 Norwegian women.” International journal of cancer 46.1 (1990): 12-15.

5. Vincent, S., et al. “Micronutrients, Mediterranean-diet and cardiovascular risk: the RIVAGE study.” Kmetijstvo (Agronomija) (2001).

6. Sofi, Francesco, et al. “Accruing evidence on benefits of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on health: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 92.5 (2010): 1189-1196.

7. Farmer, Bonnie. “Nutritional adequacy of plant-based diets for weight management: observations from the NHANES.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 100.Supplement 1 (2014): 365S-368S.

8. Leblanc, J. Ch, et al. “Nutritional intakes of vegetarian populations in France.” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 54.5 (2000): 443.

9. Craig, Winston J. “Health effects of vegan diets.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 89.5 (2009): 1627S-1633S.

10. Watanabe, Fumio, et al. “Vitamin B12-containing plant food sources for vegetarians.” Nutrients 6.5 (2014): 1861-1873.

11. Herrmann, Wolfgang, et al. “Vitamin B-12 status, particularly holotranscobalamin II and methylmalonic acid concentrations, and hyperhomocysteinemia in vegetarians.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 78.1 (2003): 131-136.

12. Pawlak, Roman, S. E. Lester, and T. Babatunde. “The prevalence of cobalamin deficiency among vegetarians assessed by serum vitamin B12: a review of literature.” European journal of clinical nutrition 68.5 (2014): 541.

13. Lachner, Christian, Nanette I. Steinle, and William T. Regenold. “The neuropsychiatry of vitamin B12 deficiency in elderly patients.” The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences 24.1 (2012): 5-15.

14. Mahalle, Namita, et al. “Vitamin B12 deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia as correlates of cardiovascular risk factors in Indian subjects with coronary artery disease.” Journal of cardiology 61.4 (2013): 289-294.

15. Hurrell, Richard, and Ines Egli. “Iron bioavailability and dietary reference values.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 91.5 (2010): 1461S-1467S.

16. Hunt, Janet R. “Bioavailability of iron, zinc, and other trace minerals from vegetarian diets.” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78.3 (2003): 633S-639S.

17. Welch, R. M., and W. A. House. “Meat factors in animal products that enhance iron and zinc bioavailability: Implications for improving the nutritional quality of seeds and grains.” 1995 Cornell nutrition conference for feed manufacturers. 1995.

18. Kies, Constance. “Manganese bioavailability overview.” 1987. 1-8.

19. Fukagawa, Masafumi, Hirotaka Komaba, and Ken-ichi Miyamoto. “Source matters: from phosphorus load to bioavailability.” Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 6.2 (2011): 239-240.

20. Solomons, Noel W., and Jesus Bulux. “Plant sources of provitamin A and human nutriture.” Nutrition Reviews 51.7 (1993): 199-204.

21. Venderley, Angela M., and Wayne W. Campbell. “Vegetarian diets: nutritional considerations for athletes” Sports Medicine 36.4 (2006): 293-305.

22. Krajcovicova-Kudlackova, M., K. Babinska, and M. Valachovicova. “Health benefits and risks of plant proteins.” Bratislavske lekarske listy 106.6/7 (2005): 231.

23. Key, Timothy J., Paul N. Appleby, and Magdalena S. Rosell. “Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets.” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 65.1 (2006): 35-41

Check out some of the conversation below:

Q: WHY IS PERSONALISATION SO IMPORTANT WITHIN THE FITNESS INDUSTRY?

A: We’ve all had that client that no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to help them get a result. You feel like you have tried everything and nothing seems to work.

For most of our time in the last 50 years, we have been trying to discover the ‘best diet for health’, or the ‘best training protocol for weight loss’. We have been focusing on trying to find the magic ‘one thing’ and neglecting the person doing the ‘thing’ and consequently, we now find ourselves in a position where there is more confusion and conflicting information on health and fitness than ever before.

For example, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is touted as the ‘go to’ protocol to achieve all manner of results. Yet, in a recent review it was found that around 33% of people will have a great response to this style of training, with the remainder having an uncertain response right through to no response or an adverse response. A recent study looking at morning HIIT performed by people with diabetes indicated that it can lead to a worsening of their blood sugar levels, while there were benefits if they performed it in the afternoon….so is HIIT really ‘the best’ training protocol?

The Answer: It depends on the person!

Everyone is unique and everyone has different requirements to achieve results and live in best health. Personalisation shifts the focus away from trying to find the ‘best thing’, away from arguing whether ‘Paleo is better than Keto’, to understanding more about the individual to whom it is being implemented, clearing the confusion and providing consistency in results.

Q: I ALREADY PERSONALISE MY PROGRAMS BASED ON MY CLIENTS GOALS, WHAT AM I MISSING?

A: Whilst the fitness industry has done a fantastic job over the years of personalising programs based on goals, age, gender, exercise history, injuries and even postural analysis, there is more to the story when it comes to what is now possible in the personalised health space.

Personalisation must take into consideration the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to an individual’s unique picture in order to provide the most effective protocol and results.

For example, one study found that you could improve the response rate and results an individual would achieve from an exercise program by matching the training protocol (reps, sets, & 1RM) to their genetic makeup (whether they had a power-based or endurance-based physiology).

Personalisation however, is not just a matter of understanding a person’s genetics. You also need to understand their genetic expression, which will depend on their age, their activity levels, their stress levels, environmental conditions (pollution, climate, seasons). Every part of the environment influences the person, and so the recommendations for health need to account for this in order to be truly personalised and have a better chance of being effective every time!

Q: THAT SOUNDS A LITTLE COMPLEX, HOW COULD I POSSIBLY DO THAT AS A FITNESS PROFESSIONAL?

A: Yes, this is far too much information for any one brain to handle, let alone trying to achieve this with 30 unique clients per week and deliver it in a practical and easy to understand way!

Interestingly, whether you realise it or not you are already attempting this through a trial and error approach. Each time you try something new with those clients who do not seem to be getting as good a result as other clients is an attempt at personalisation, and whilst it might not be the most effective way, at least it is a start.

The good news is, health and fitness technology is now making it possible to provide personalised health assessments, simply and quickly, to help understand a person’s individual needs. From here you can provide specific information on what to eat, how to train, best ways to reduce stress, optimal sleep times and more to achieve optimal results. All based on genetic and environmental information gathered from the client, without the need for invasive testing.

In the future, the utilisation of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and Machine learning, combined with wearable technology will allow such technology to change the program in real time to meet the current needs of the person, based on biometrics, such as HRV, blood glucose scores and more, allowing trainers to make a more informed decision with their non- responding clients, or even prevent it from occurring in the first place.

If you are enjoying this conversation and would like to hear Kyle’s thoughts on the following questions: 

• If technology is that advanced, does that mean I am out of a job?
• What should I focus on to future-proof my fitness business?

PLUS 

His ‘Number 1 Tip’ for Fitness Professionals. 

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