Lift Five Kilos to Live Better

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Anybody up for knocking out 25 pushups? How about 10? How about just one? Let’s make it more practical: pick up your largest cast iron frypan or Dutch oven. Or pick up a 10-pound sack of flour or sugar and lift it over your head. Can you do it? Who cares? Maybe you should, and here’s why.

Researchers examined data collected between 2013 and 2020 from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (commonly called SHARE). This includes 16 countries and has over 51,000 participants over the age of 50 who have joined the study. The participants were tracked for over four years. The participants provided medical histories, health habits, and included some physical testing at baseline and then twice afterward including handgrip strength. Key question was, “Can you lift five kilos (11 pounds)?”

After analyzing the data, researchers found that those subjects who could not lift five kilos had higher risks for developing a low quality of life, depression, low handgrip strength, and osteoarthritis. In addition, they were also at risk for rheumatoid arthritis, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, or hip fracture. Nothing good on that list for sure.

This was an observational study, so cause and effect cannot be established. But the genius of the study was using objects used in everyday life that weighed about five kilos. That demonstrates that age-related sarcopenia, the loss of muscle, really can impact life, and the risk increases the older that we get. You don’t have to have Hulk-sized muscle, but you still need to maintain a practical amount muscle strength as you get older. Time to hit the weight room or yoga or exercise tubes!

Insiders Call Is Tomorrow

For all those who’ve let me know about their vegetable and fruit intake over the 4th, I’ll send out the log-in information Wednesday morning so you can participate in tomorrow’s Insider call. Main topic is a look at some of the products such as drinks and patches that seem to be highly promoted these days; fact or fiction? You’ll find out tomorrow and find out what being an Insider is like.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Nature. Scientific Reports. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03128-y

Walking and Lower Back Pain

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At some point, most of us experience lower back pain. Many people use walking as their mode of exercise—could walking contribute to the development of lower back pain? A recent study examined the rate of lower back pain and walking.

Researchers tracked over 11,000 participants in the Norwegian HUNT study. To qualify, the subjects could not have had any back pain prior to being included in the study. The initial testing period included wearing an accelerometer during each test period as well as a questionnaire related to lower back pain. The tests were repeated and the subjects were tracked for just over four years, and 1,659 subjects developed lower back pain.

The subjects were grouped into quartiles by number of minutes walked per day for the analysis, and there was an inverse relationship between the risk of lower back pain and both walking intensity and minutes walked. Simply stated, the more a person walked, the lower the rate of lower back pain. The more energy expended by walking faster, the risk of back pain was lower.

The lesson for people 20 and older? If you don’t have any orthopedic obstacles, the more time spent walking as well as the higher the speed of the walking, the lower your risk of developing lower back pain. Just like the vegetable and fruit challenge, which I hope got more people to eat more plant products, walking 30–45 minutes per day most days a week can get you fitter as well as reduce the risk of back pain. The path to better health may just be a simple walk a day, and the great thing is that it’s a multigenerational activity. Walking as a family sets an example for the kids that exercise is something everybody does, and you’ll be setting them up for a healthier life.

If you’re new to walking, remember the talk test. If you have to take deeper breaths but can still carry on a conversation, that’s just about right. If you’re sucking wind so much that you’re gasping for air, that’s too much exertion for beginners. However, if you can sing, that’s not hard enough.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: JAMA Network Open. 2025;8(6):e2515592. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.15592

Better to Wear Out

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How did you do on the vegetable and fruit challenge? Paula and I averaged over five per day for the holiday weekend; cutting up vegetables to use in a dip always helps the average. Remember—just send me an email saying, “I did it!” to get an invitation to the Insiders Conference Call next Wednesday evening.

While recumbent biking Sunday morning, I was listening to a podcast about hot dog joints, of all things. One owner asked an 84-year-old guy who was financially secure why he was still working in the restaurant part-time. He told the owner, “It’s better to wear out than rust out—and don’t you ever forget it.”

I believe there’s a lot of wisdom in those words. I would add one more part to it: “on your own terms.” There is a difference between approaching 84 living an immobile life with many self-inflicted conditions. It’s entirely another when you’re sharp enough and fit enough to still enjoy looking forward to another day. Genetics, environment, and prior body abuse aside, you can still work at being as independent as possible every day. Eating enough vegetables and fruit are a part of that process. If you did it for a challenge, that’s a start. You can do it for life.

Wear out, don’t rust out, on your own terms. It all comes down to one thing: What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Podcast. The Sporkful. “This Hot Dog Tastes Like Home” 07/04/2025

The Holiday Challenge III

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If you do something more than once, it can become a tradition. I decided to do the Holiday Challenge again with a slight twist. If you remember, the challenge last year was to see who could eat the most servings of vegetables and fruit over the 4th of July weekend. I’m still interested in volume: I want more of you to do the challenge, wherever you are in the world. But instead of eating the most number, the goal is to eat at least five servings of fresh or frozen vegetables and fruits every day—Friday through Sunday.

What’s the incentive? Everyone who eats five fruits and veggies per day can participate in the next Insider conference call on July 16th. It’s been a long time since I opened it up to non-Insiders, and you can earn your way to an invitation by reaching the five veggies and fruits per day for the weekend. Just respond to this email saying “I did it!” and I’ll put you on the guest list. If you have trouble figuring out what qualifies, check out last year’s Memo from July 2nd.

One more thing: a cooking tip. If you’re cooking this weekend and you want to enhance the flavor to make it more salty and umami, try fish sauce. It is made by fermenting fish for a couple of years, so if you’re allergic to seafood, don’t use it. But I add it to just about everything I cook as an entrée or sauce, including BBQ sauce; I can’t explain it, but it’s almost magical. I think you’ll find the additional flavor is excellent but watch the amount. A dash will do the trick. If you don’t find it at your regular grocery, you’ll definitely find it at any Asian market.

If you’re traveling by car this holiday weekend, you can binge listen to my podcast Straight Talk on Health that I do for the local public radio station. Click the link or find it on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and other podcast sites.

Have a safe weekend and I’m looking forward to your responses next week.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Just Breathe

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As I was lying there before my colonoscopy, waiting for the drugs to kick in to put me in la-la land during the procedures, I used a form of the technique used in this study of dealing with stress: rhythmic beathing. First, the paper.

Researchers recruited 27 graduate students to participate in a clinical trial to test two types of deep breathing in stressful situations. The only issue they cite was that they had no male volunteers, so the results may apply only to women (but probably not, in my opinion). They tested heart rate via electrocardiogram (EKG), electroencephalogram (EEG), as well as verbal responses. The EEG gave the researchers the chance to see the responses in specific areas of the brain. While complex in interpretation, they were able to identify areas associated with stress and relaxation.

They used two different breathing techniques. The fast response was a quick 1 second in and 1 second out. The slow technique was 3 seconds in and 3 seconds out. The key to both was belly breathing where you expand your belly as you breathe in. The slow technique reduced heart rate more than the quick breath technique.

Why would slow belly breathing impact heart rate and brain activity? It may be the impact on the vagus nerve, which slows down both breathing and heart rate. No matter how, slow rhythmic breathing in stressful situations works.

The specific technique I use is sometimes called box breathing: 4 seconds in, a 4-second hold, 4 seconds out, and another 4-second hold. There are many permutations taught in everything from yoga classes to mental coaching programs; when you’re not in a critical stress situation, it can help you focus your thoughts.

Whichever method you prefer, slow breathing techniques can help relieve stress and anxiety.

One More Thing

It would be irresponsible of me not to tell you about the classic way to deal with the physical and mental response to stress: regular aerobic exercise. Exercise trains the autonomic nervous system (ANS) that controls hormone release as well as resets the tone of the ANS. Briefly, your heart rate is controlled by both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system; the sympathetic wants to speed things up while the parasympathetic says to relax. The balance between them is called tone. Exercise sets the tone lower so when you’re exposed to stress and anxiety, your body can deal with it better. Your body can be trained to deal with stress by moving more—and that’s in addition to all the other benefits.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Nature. Scientific Reports. (2025) 15:841

Living with Stress and Anxiety

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“May you live in interesting times.” —Ancient Chinese Curse

Paula got that message in a fortune cookie many years ago, and she thinks it has proven to be true. Interesting is one thing, but with all that goes on in our lives, it can be downright stressful; I got stressed just trying to find out who actually said that quote. There are several theories, but no one really knows for sure.

I just had an endoscopy/colonoscopy last week. The most difficult part? It wasn’t the prep, which stresses out many people—it was the potential results that stressed me out. I had three polyps last time and was diagnosed with Barrett’s esophagus. Were things better or had they progressed? The results turned out fine with a couple of polyps removed, but that didn’t reduce the anxiety of waiting.

We live in stressful times. The price of food—heck, the price of everything. Proposed healthcare cuts: you find out that your healthcare plan just increased your annual contribution before insurance kicks in just when you need a new roof or car repairs. And then there’s the whole issue of politics and most likely hundreds of other scenarios in our lives. You can just feel your heart rate and blood pressure rise. Who knows what else is going on that may be damaging your body, from your brain to your kidneys? We try to shield our kids, but they have their own stressors, as well as picking up on adult anxiety.

A recent study tested a theory of how to deal with this stress and anxiety. I’ll cover that on Saturday. Hang in there until then.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Creatine: Does Size Matter?

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The researchers in Tuesday’s study demonstrated that the use of creatine did not increase muscle size after considering the increase in fluid levels. The major problem is the limited scope of the study: looking only at changes in lean body mass. While the researchers should be given credit for the approach using DEXA, there are several issues with the study.

Age: The researchers used both men and women in the study—no problem if you have enough of each gender. The problem was that they included subjects between 18 and 50 years old; research has shown that muscle loss due to age can begin as early as 40. With only 63 subjects, ideally it would mean 15 men and 15 women in each group. Dividing those few subjects into under 40 and over 40 means as few as six or seven subjects in each group. That’s just not enough subjects to prove their point; it’s sufficient for a pilot study, but not enough to determine health recommendations.

SEM: SEM stands for Standard Error of Measurement. The DEXA scan has limitations in determining the lean body mass with precision. The differences in lean body mass fell within the standard error of the measurement; the measuring tool wasn’t precise enough to measure actual differences.

Strength: Where was the strength data comparing differences in gains between the creatine and experimental group? Looking at lean body mass is looking at a combination of factors, but strength is strength: the amount of weight can you lift in several lifts like the dead lift, the squat, and the bench press. You can’t do such an intensive study and not measure the simplest variable. I’ve emailed the corresponding author, but he’s on a break in Australia. If I get a response, I’ll share it with you.

The Bottom Line

Creatine is a natural substance that may be beneficial for a variety of issues besides muscle growth. I use it every day because I lift to increase strength, but also because it benefits energy levels, skin, muscles, and other organs as well. I think everyone over 40 can probably benefit from taking five grams of creatine monohydrate every day.

Check with your doctor to find out your limitations on exercise intensity and get after it. Weight training should be a part of your regular routine, and creatine is a natural way of making more energy to increase muscular strength.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference:  https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17061081

Does Creatine Help Build Muscle?

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Creatine is a naturally occurring chemical your body makes by combining glycine, arginine, and methionine. It’s primarily used in energy production as a precursor in the manufacture of ATP in your body. Creatine is often used to help increase muscle mass in people who train with weights and that’s the focus of the paper I’m going to review.

Researchers in Australia recruited male and female subjects who had been sedentary and had not done any form of resistance training or creatine supplementation in the past year. They collected data on 33 controls and 30 experimental subjects for a 13-week creatine supplementation and resistance training study. The objective was to see if there were actual changes in muscle mass and lean body mass within the resistance training and supplementation program. Prior research had shown that creatine may change only water levels—creatine is known to increase fluid levels in muscle.

The tool they used to assess fluid levels was DEXA to scan for lean body mass before the study began, after the 7-day wash-in period with creatine, and after the 13-week resistance training program. They found that lean body mass increased during the wash-in period in the supplementation group before the resistance training program began, and the difference in lean body mass was maintained throughout the resistance training program. In response to the resistance training program, both groups increased lean body mass by 4.4 pounds after accounting for the initial difference in weight. Therefore, they concluded that creatine may not contribute to increases in lean body mass when used in a resistance training program because of the lack of difference between the supplement and the placebo group once the initial lean body mass was accounted for. But did they ask the correct question? We’ll find out on Saturday.

Tomorrow night is the Insider Conference Call. If you want to get your questions answered, become an Insider before 8 p.m. tomorrow night to join in.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference:  https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17061081

More About Fats and Oils

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In my research on fats and oils, I found out a few things I didn’t know and discovered some more research about seed oils. The issues raised about seed oils have always been related to how unhealthy seed oils are rather than the overconsumption of seed oils. But are they as hazardous as they’re made out to be?

I Bet You Didn’t Know…

Did you know that lard comes from rendering—melting down—pig fat?

Did you know that tallow comes from rendering beef fat?

The fatty acid arachidonic acid is used to make prostaglandins, hormone-like fatty acids that can impact inflammation. The highest amounts are found in animal fats, not seed oils. The gurus’ claim that all seed oils cause inflammation isn’t true; it’s the amount consumed that matters.

The deadliest fatty acids are trans-fatty acids (TFAs). They can be made from seed oils that have been hydrogenated or saturated fats that are kept at high frying temperatures for long periods of time.

Research Update on Oils

Researchers collected data on the production of trans-fatty acids from cooking with seed oils, including those that contain hydrogenated oils, which are man-made by heating oils at high temperature. They found that as long as seed oils didn’t contain hydrogenated oils, keeping the frying temperature below 400° didn’t produce appreciable TFAs in any seed oils tested.  

The Bottom Line

When cooking with animal- or plant-based fats and oils, it’s important to keep the cooking temperature below the smoke point to limit the production of TFAs, which are associated with heart disease. Also, choose oils without hydrogenated fats in them.

To reduce inflammation, it doesn’t really matter whether you use seed oils or lard or tallow—it’s the amount you consume that’s going to make the difference. Eat less. Eat better. Move more.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Nutrients 2022, 14, 1489. https://doi.org/10.3390/ nu14071489

Cooking with Fat

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Paula and I watch a lot of cooking shows, which led me to wonder: what are the best types of fat to use while cooking? In addition to oils and seed oils, the question would include animal and vegetable sources. I’ll leave taste off the table (or cooktop) because everyone has an opinion. Cooking would include a quick fry in a pan like eggs, sautéing vegetables, cooking meats, and deep-fat frying.

The key to choosing which fat to use is the temperature where the oil starts burning, referred to as the smoke point. Here are the ones I think are most applicable to everyday cooking:

You may wonder why olive oil is listed three times; unless it says “extra virgin,” it will contain some other vegetable oils as well.

Most cooktops generate an average temperature of about 350°, so using oils and fats with smoke points above that temperature is a good idea, depending on the type of cooking you’re doing. But questions remain about seed oils and animal fats. I’ll answer those on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet