Pro Level Supplements & At-Home Tests for WiseAthletes

We’ve all heard about anemia and iron deficiencies hurting our athletic performance and our overall energy level. But the latest thing is iron overload and dumping iron. So is iron good or bad??…the answer is yes. Iron is both a toxin and a nutrient.

What I’ve learned for myself is the older athlete needs just enough iron but no more. So the right question is …how to tell where you are on iron storage in your body, and how can you help your body not hold too much iron while avoiding having too little.

We all need 3-5 grams or 3000-5000 mg of iron in our bodies every second of every day and we only can absorb 1-2mg of iron per day from our food and supplements…plus or minus a bit using various techniques to raise or lower iron.

Too little iron can mean chronic fatigue, brain fog, and breathlessness. Diets low in animal proteins, frequent hard workouts, low stomach acid, gut issues causing poor nutrient absorption, and of course bleeding can lead to lower iron.

Too much iron, unless dramatic, is harder to feel and more likely for older athletes. Without blood loss, iron tends to accumulates in organs during aging and leads to dementia, heart disease, T2D and much more, and is worsened by drinking alcohol.

Donating whole blood can lower iron but moves the needle very slowly as only 100-250mg of your total 3000-5000mg of iron is lost at each donation. That’s the equivalent effect of not absorbing iron from food for 3 months, so it’s something.

The key is to plan ahead.

So how to know if you are low or high? Or on the verge of being low or high? How to know if donating whole blood every 8 weeks is a good idea or a bad idea? How can you make donating blood less unpleasant? And what else can you do to stay in your iron sweetspot and to avoid both of these terrible outcomes for athletic performance, quality of life, and overall health?

To answer these questions and more today on episode 139 I am joined by Dr Grant Fraser who is board certified in the United States in anti-aging and regenerative medicine and in family medicine. Listen in while Dr Fraser helps me to sort out what is going on and how to plan ahead to get into the iron sweetspot.

Grant E. Fraser MD, ABAARM, DABFM, FRACGP, FACRRM, GEM

Grant E. Fraser, M.D. is Board Certified in Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine, and more and is passionate about helping patients improve their quality of life, reverse health conditions, and live longer and happier.

• What is iron?
• Iron is a very common mineral on Earth
• It has a highly stable nucleus and is capable of accepting and donating electrons easily, which makes it react with water to form rust and is very useful for biological organisms.
• We use it to grab oxygen from air and carry it around the body, we use it in the chemical chain that makes ATP or energy the body uses to power itself, and iron is a necessary part of many proteins.
• Our bodies need iron every second of our lives, so we keep extra on board just in case… we have 3-5grams in our bodies and we absorb about 1-2mg a day. That’s 1-2 mg vs. 3000-5000mg…we can’t get much very fast. So mostly we recycle it, and we keep some stored away in protective cages that keep the reactive iron from damaging our cells.
• So it’s like calcium (stored in bones) and proteins (stored in muscle and elsewhere) that we scavenge when we need some. But iron is so reactive it will damage our cells, so we lock it away and convert it to less reactive forms?

Pro Level Supplements for WiseAthletes

Jeff Patterson….martial arts expert and author of The Yielding Warrior.

After teaching 25,000 students ni his martial arts academy and earning the equivalent of black belts in the martial arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Eskrima, Tai Chi, Qigong, Muay Thai, and Kenpö, Jeff now shares personal experiences, age-old wisdom, and the philosophies of meditative arts with his readers.

In The Yielding Warrior, you will learn how to:

• attain a higher level of proficiency in any sport or physical activity
• enhance emotional control and sharpen intuition for increased happiness and self-acceptance
• deepen self-awareness and esteem through the benefits of yielding
• apply meditative practices to excel in interpersonal communication and business relationships
• improve your focus by applying the skills attained through yielding awareness

The Yielding Warrior is about the concept of yielding and how it can be applied to almost any area of life

--> "everyone should meditate for 20 minutes a day unless you are too busy, then you should meditate for an hour"

• Episode 121 | Brian Mackenzie of ShiftAdapt
• Episode 119 | HRV Biofeedback w/ Marco Altini
• Episode 110 | Mental Fitness w/ Kate Allgood
• Episode 70 | Healing Yourself w/Joe Taft

• https://www.theyieldingwarrior.com/ - Jeff Patterson's website

If you are enjoying WiseAthletes, please leave us a review. And, be sure to check out our FullScript supplements link to see the amazing prices on the best brands on the planet.

Pro Level Supplements for WiseAthletes

Pro Level Supplements for WiseAthletes

As a followup to my chat with Dr Vyvyane Loh, Glen and I sat down with Dr Loh to get into the HOW of losing excess body fat without losing muscle. Dr Loh does not disappoint as she shares her tips on how she has helped so many people successfully navigate the changes needed to get to a healthy body fat level AND a healthy body muscle level...both are necessary for health and athletic performance.

Check out my own Dexa Scan at the bottom of the show notes that reveals the details we all need to know to assess bone and fat and muscle health status, and to set improvement goals. I used dexascan.com via a provider in my area. My scan showed that while my body fat % is only 16.3%, I still need to lower my visceral fat from 87.7 cm2 to 70.0 cm2. I'm working on it.

Episode #135 | What's Your Healthy Fat %

Dr Loh is board certified in internal and obesity medicine, and she runs a medical practice helping people of all shapes and sizes to solve metabolic health challenges.

How to lose excess fat while retaining or gaining muscle?

• Good Sleep #1 (to keep cortisol and sex hormones healthy; recovery)
• 8-9 hours of good sleep for athletes (consistent sleep schedule every day & avoid use of sleep drugs that interfere with sleep architecture (melatonin okay)…eye mask, noise protected, test for sleep apnea
• Circadian rhythm— set by light and eating. Be consistent everyday.
• Respecting the timing of meals: Eat breakfast (within an hour of waking) with protein to end catabolic state
• Protein: eat 30-35 grams of complete protein per meal, up to 5 meals per day. Everyday. Animal sources of protein allows for lower calorie burden to get the protein.
• Exercise
• Resistance training is key (3X/week)
• Work at end range (maximum range of motion under tension but be careful)
• Essentric (lengthening) movement better than concentric (shortening)
• Also isometrics (good during injury recovery)
• Cardio is good also (do after resistance training if on same day)
• HIIT 2x/week (20-45 minutes) targets visceral fat. Has to be really hard. Dread it.
• Diet:
• Higher percentage body fat — with a calorie deficit in diet doesn’t mean less availability of calories. Still need enough protein to hold onto muscle
• Near goal body fat — eat 5 times day and getting enough protein. Working out. No calorie deficit.
• If fat is okay but low muscle? Get extra protein everyday. Maybe extra protein before bed to reduce muscle loss.
• Low carbs to manage calories but need enough carbs. No keto. Low carb is good for calorie control. 80-100g of carbs. Need more carbs if alot of high intensity.
• Insulin is a growth factor. Extra protein to get extra insulin to stimulate muscle growth. And extra protein can be turned into glycogen
• The key is to be clear about goals.
• Changing lifestyle is hard. Start with identity and making it hard to cheat.
• Everyone is ready when they seek help. It’s after they’ve lost weight at people lose focus. “Just ….” means you are in trouble because you are rationalizing.
• Just a little…just this one time…etc. watch out.
• Moderation is a loser strategy. We’ve tried that experiment across the country. Now we are all obese.