TSRF

I’m asked a lot about products I’ve developed and/or recommend and my websites–so here’s a few I can think of right now:

www.rehanjalali.com - Personal Bio site
www.tsrf.com - The Supplement Research Foundation
www.proteintastees.com - Protein crackers and chips that taste great!
www.fire-rush.com - Energy/mental focus shot
www.vpxsports.com - High quality sports supplements
www.abgonexs.com - Abdominal fat loss product
www.barleans.com - High quality essential fatty acids

and of course www.tmz.com for research only!!!

I know I’ve been out of the mix a little but as they say on “Mike and Mike in the Morning” on ESPN radio: “I’m back and better than ever!” So lets get right to it–There’s been some controversial reports about calcium and weight loss. Some studies show that dairy based calcium supports fat and weight loss and may even help control appetite (some of these studies were conducted at the University of Tennessee). But other studies (mainly conducted at Purdue University and Ohio State) show that calcium does not cause weight or fat loss at all. Of course calcium intake does support bone health and may enhance muscle contraction and nerve conduction. But as far as using calcium for weight loss is concerned, I would have a “wait and see” approach. I actually don’t recommend any dairy for someone looking to get super lean. Here’s another recent study that negates the effects of calcium (or dairy) on appetite control:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18826456

Now to news of the OBVIOUS:

In a shocking report, overeating was shown to be bad! Thats right, overeating causes your brain to go “haywire” according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I guess you don’t need a clinical study to prove that “buffet” style eating is not good. In fact, one of ways to extend life span is calorie restriction. And overeating has been linked to a host of diseases, not to mention that dreaded belly fat! So “Eat and drink, but not to excess”!!

http://tinyurl.com/4sbw68

RJ

So are you blaming your obesity or overweightness on your genes? Well a new study says that getting physical activity daily can completely minimize the effects of a fat causing gene. So now there are less excuses to be overweight. Just get up and get regular physical activity daily. Oh and of course control that little thing called DIET!!! Easier said than done but it CAN be done.

Here’e the article on the study:

http://tinyurl.com/58tlx2

WARNING–The following information is a bit technical and may cause your head to hurt if you aren’t ready for it! I promise I’ll try to make it as simple and pain-free as possible:

There are different types of adipose tissue found in humans including white adipose tissue (white fat) which is the majority of stored fat in the body. The other more interesting type of fat is brown adipose tissue (BAT) which is a type of fat that actually fights fat by using up metabolic energy to create heat. Sound strange? Well, it’s really not! One way to stimulate fat loss is by activating beta-adrenergic receptors. Mainly beta 1 and beta 2 but also the beta 3 receptor is showing some great potential for fat loss. You see, beta 3 agonists help target BAT and what’s more interesting is that beta 3 receptors are only found in fat (while beta 1 and beta 2 receptors can be found in other parts of the body including the heart). Scientists have found that the beta 3 receptors in humans are in high abundance in the thermogenic brown fat cells especially within the abdominal region. So it can be theorized that stimulating the beta 3 receptor may help reduce abdominal fat! BAT can also be found between the shoulder blades. Many of the heat producing effects of BAT are due to the expression of uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1) gene. UCP-1 is exclusively found in the mitochondria of brown fat cells (another unique quality as white fat cells do not have mitochondria). So basically the abdominal region contains white fat and also brown adipose tissue which is found deep in the abdomen. By finding ways to reduce brown adipose tissue, abdominal fat can be reduced.

So why did I just drop that piece of knowledge on ya? Well, it has to do with a new study that details brown fat and discusses its origins. This information may lead to new treatments for obesity. What’s really interesting is that the researchers suggest that brown fat is more like muscle cells. They think that brown fat is actually derived from a muscle-like cell. Scientists are looking at genes that turn on brown fat cells. Here’s the article:

http://tinyurl.com/696rxu

By the way, the nutrient CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) seems to work specifically on brown adipose tissue deep in the abdomen and stimulates UCP-1. It has been shown in many studies to have profound fat loss effects in humans, and specifically abdominal fat loss. Here is one of my CLA containing products:

www.abgonexs.com

Oh yes we can. Our supersize society is well supersizing our waistlines. According to a new report, obesity rates increased in 37 states and didn’t go down in any states. Dude, 67% of Americans are now overweight or obese. Thats not surprising considering the junk food bombardment we receive on a daily err hourly basis from television and other media. I mean when McDonalds is actually advertising their breaded chicken sandwich which is laced with fat and calories during the Olympics and showing extremely lean physiques on the ad, you gotta start worrying. In fact, I got bad news for you–if you want to get lean and stay there–you MUST cut back on the eating out…There I said it. Okay so here is the article below and then below that are some tips that can help you get lean!

http://tinyurl.com/5v6kcc

http://labrada.com/article_detail.php?acode=361

Now that the Olympics are in full gear and I’ve suffered through the equestrian, badminton, fencing, and beach volleyball, there are some great events taking shape! I just watched the US swimming 4×100m freestyle relay team shatter the world record by 4 seconds with an incredible performance on the anchor leg. That is really mind blowing if you think about it–I guess when you combine the new advanced training techniques, nutrition, supplements, and err whatever else, it makes sense that athletes would be bigger, stronger, faster. In fact, it seems like every swimming event is record setting–must be some Chinese magic in that fast pool! How about team USA basketball–Team Redeem was on Fire against the host country and my boy Yao! My client Carlos Boozer is on the team so I want to wish him and the rest of the team the BEST! Get that Gold fo sure!

So now that the cycling has also started I thought this was a pretty good article on blood doping and what it actually is.

http://tinyurl.com/5thy5d

I could go on and on about the fallacies of Anti-doping and WADA (world anti-doping agency) in the Olympics and professional sports in general but I’ll just say that when hundreths of seconds are the difference between 1st and 3rd place, athletes will do whatever it takes to win and always look for an edge–especially when there is serious money at stake. In fact, Dr. Harrison Pope mentioned a large poll taken by athletes that asked them that if they could take an undetectable drug that would guarantee they would win 1st place but would for sure die in exactly 5 years, would they do it? The overwhelming majority said “yes”. I wonder how they will test for gene doping–which SURPRISE–is already happening! So much of the testing is faulty anyway as the article above mentions on EPO. And once an athlete tests positive, the bad press ruins him/her even though they may be exonerated in the end. Here’s some food for thought, how about throw out drug testing and have an all out Olympic games with nothing banned for athletes–wouldn’t that be interesting? Okay, pretty crazy I know–but I would be watching for sure!! Didn’t Saturday Night Live do a skit on this called the All-drug Olympics where some guy rips off his arms while trying to deadlifts! Ok enough ranting…

RJ

I’m a huge fan of Vitamin C–not fanatic like pictures of Vitamin C on my wall or anything but pretty darn close! It has so many therapeutic effects–from illnesses, colds, reducing cortisol, immune function, joint health, and more! Now a new, promising study shows it might actually help fight cancer! Granted it was an animal study but wow if this is translated into humans, this could be revolutionary. My favorite vitamin C product is Emergen-C from Alacer. BTW, did you know that there is actually a treatment for the Bird Flu? Yup, Vitamin C strikes again. In fact, my friend David Kennedy wrote a book about it called “The Natural Bird Flu Cure “They” Don’t Want You to Know About” - A very interesting read that discusses the benefits of Vitamin C for the Bird Flu!

Cancer Study link:

http://www.livescience.com/health/618140.html

I love when I come across research that validates something I am already doing! Being a fishaholic, I know the research on the health benefits of eating fish. A new study shows that “Eating tuna and other fatty fish may help prevent memory loss in addition to reducing the risk of stroke.” Yippy, I’ll keep those memory cells that are left! Before you start hitting the local Long John Silvers for some deep fried fish, the study showed this benefit with baked or broiled fish but NOT fried. Tuna was mentioned in the study–good thing because I practically live off of tuna and orange roughy when I’m dieting! Just make sure to keep some Mentos handy cuz you’ll need the freshmaker after eating tuna! BTW, I like the low sodium albacore canned tuna fish. Here’s the article:

http://tinyurl.com/5vyjr7

Also, since I have been researching sleep a lot lately (while not getting any myself), I came across this study below that shows that lack of sleep and especially lack of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is associated with being overweight in kids and teens. So maybe that somewhat explains the growing waistlines of our youth. So make sure your kids sleep well!

http://tinyurl.com/5ozpnr

Ok since its 4:22 Am and I’m still working, I thought this might be the best time to write about Sleep! Here is a good article re-evaluating sleep and provides some contrarian views to sleep. For example, it contends that we need less sleep as we age and provides tips to sleep better. I better re-evaluate my sleep patterns–especially since we know that lack of sleep can cause muscle breakdown and can increase belly fat!

http://tinyurl.com/5styp2

Can it be possible that the obesity rate in the US is still growing? (much like our bellies!). A recent US Government report showed that 1 in 4 US adults are obese and that obesity rate has doubled in the past 25 years. You gotta be kidding me right? Maybe thats why it seems like every single infomercial is for exercise equipment or magic pill designed to melt away bodyfat! I think, well actually know, that overeating and lack of physical activity in our techo world are major causes. Thats why I’m a huge proponent of eating small meals frequently throughout the day–6-8 small meals daily! You know obesity is getting bad in the US when Dunkin’ Donuts has to offer healthy items. Starting in August you can get healthier options at Dunkin Donuts!! I can see it now “I’ll have an egg white sandwich with the chocolate sprinkle donut and a coffee”! Jeez, do we really need to get healthy food at Dunkin Donuts? Has it gotten this bad that we can’t even go to Dunkin Donuts once in a while and enjoy a glazed with some delicious coffee? What next, we’ll be going to Krispy Kreme for a protein donut? It’s really not that complicated–eat less and like my man Ludacris said “MOVE” people! Okay for some people it is a little more complicated than that but you get my drift! Heres the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080730/ap_on_he_me/dunkin__donuts_healthy_menu;_ylt=AsNU9jS3IbhRulnpm..enKes0NUE

RJ