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.

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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.

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The USA declared war on heart disease in 1955. 70 years later it is still the leading cause of death. What about statins and all that medical progress we’ve had. Exactly, what about it?

Dr Michael Twyman is a board certified cardiologist who runs Apollo Cardiology, a clinic serving patients from all over the world. His approach is to understand cardiovascular health from a whole body perspective. Rather than focus on LDL and HDL and apoB, he says we need to look at the bigger picture of cardiovascular health….namely cardiovascular health as a marker of whole body health. He says plaques can start building early in life....stop the progression now to eliminate the need for dramatic interventions with significant side effect later in life.

We discuss specific behaviors and supplements and even medications to signal the body to stop building plaques. A statin is only one of many potential solutions. Since recording this episode, I have stopped taking my low-dose statin that was significantly reducing my muscle power, and replaced it with better tools.

• Stop damaging the Glycocalyx (the protective barrier to the lining of arteries)
• Stop making so many ApoB particles
• Make more receptors to remove more ApoB particles
• Lower reabsorption and absorption of cholesterol from food in gut

• Damage to glycocalx
  • Causes: high oxidative stress (mitochondrial disfunction), inflammation from any source: gut related, infection (COVID), smoking, high insulin, high glucose
  • Signs: high BP, erectile dysfunction
• Supplements to consider
  • Vit k2 - keep calcium in bone not arteries
  • Garlic - support glyocalix health
  • Berberine — increase LDL receptors (like a weak pcsk9)
  • Bergomot - lower LDL production (like a weak statin)
  • Ezetimibe (not supplement) — reabsorption of cholesterol
  • Aspirin (81 mg) - complicated. Had an event? Aspirin for life. No event yet? Higher CAC? Aspirin. Unless high risk of bleeding.
• Blood markers review
  • Homocysteine <10
  • GGT high means low glutathione (high oxidative stress)
  • Uric acid. High means poor metabolism. A marker of gout but also damaging to glycocalyx.
  • Oxidized LDL — 5 alarm code
  • hsCRP — good to know but if high doesn't point to the problem
  • Myeloperoxidase (increase with infection) — HDL dysfunction
  • Boston heart panel

• Episode 103 | Boosting Nitric Oxide
• Episode 105 | UV Light for Health
• Episode 112 | Simple Solutions for AGEs

• drtwyman.com - Dr Michael Twyman's website

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If you look around you can see that body fatness is a bigger problem now than it used to be. Officially the statistic is approximately 45% of Americans are obese measured by BMI. But if we measure body fat as a percentage of total body weight, the metric is closer to 90 percent. because of the many people who don’t look obese but have high fat combined with low muscle mass. What's even more concerning for wise athletes is that the level of body fatness that is unhealthy varies dramatically between people because the location of the fat is what matters. Some people have a very low threshold for fatness before they start to experience metabolic problems that are associated with obesity including higher rates of Cancer, t2d, and CVD. So what is my threshold for unhealthy fat? What is yours?

Today on episode 135, Dr Vyvyane Loh joins the show to explain what is happening to our bodies and why, and thankfully she shines a bright light on the pathway to metabolic health and athletic longevity. 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. And she has answers to my questions on how to know if this applies to you, and how to avoid the excessive catabolism that comes from sitting too much, over weighting endurance exercise, eating too little protein, intermittent fasting, frequent dieting, and more.

• People generally think their body fatness is lower than it really is. The “pinchable” fat under the skin isn’t the problem. Fat can be hidden under the abdominal wall and in organs: muscles, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas …wherever your body could put it after your “under the skin” (subcutaneous) fat storage filled up.
• Note: Ectopic (abnormal place) fat includes visceral (in the abdomen) fat
• Obesity measurements based on weight miss the key point. It’s the amount of ectopic or "out of place" fat that drives metabolic illness. And each person has a different amount of healthy fat storage before the unhealthy storage begins. So the amount a person weighs can be misleading if the fat increase is offset by muscle and bone losses, and for people who have very low healthy fat storage. In fact, muscle and bone losses on top of fat increases is an even bigger problem even though BMI is “normal”.
• Obesity definition — body fat %
  • Men: 25% or higher
  • Women: 35% or higher
• If you are using a bio-impedance device add 10-15 points (men) or 20-25 points (women). Use Dexa “body scan” to get an accurate reading. Very low radiation.
• You can’t get an accurate assessment with body fat photo comparisons or bio impedance or using blood markers of inflammation
• The key: find your body fat % and where is the fat located
• Dexa breakdown
  • Fat mass
  • Lean mass (muscle, organs, protein in bone, water)
  • Mineral mass of bone
• A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan can measure bone mineral density and body composition, including lean mass, fat mass, and muscle mass. Lean mass is made up of everything that isn't bone mineral or body fat, including organs, skin, connective tissue, and water. However, DEXA scans don't show body water as a separate component.
• People lose 3-8% of muscle mass per decade of aging
• On top of that loss, “catabolic crises” cause additional muscle (and bone) loss. Illness, injury, surgery. Also weight loss is a catabolic crisis.
• Catabolic crises
  • “Aging”
  • Injury & I

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Should I take TRT? Should my testosterone be higher? I've been thinking about testosterone for 15 years, and of course the issue goes way beyond athletic performance enhancement ... wise athletes have serious questions about testosterone's impact on health and longevity. We all want to be better athletes, to be stronger and recover like we used to. Is there a way to boost testosterone that gives me all the benefits of getting back to my youthful levels of testosterone without injuring my ability to be a strong and healthy athlete throughout a long life? To answer those questions and more, on Episode 134 I am rejoined by Rick Cohen MD, a longevity and hormone health expert who works with athletes of all ages to find a safe and sustainable path to being the strong athlete we all want to be.

• On one hand, there’s the TRT advocates who say “everyone should have 1000 ng/dl testosterone”…”don’t let your doctor scare you”….these guys usually also say ..”come to my low-T clinic”….or “buy my testosterone book”…These guys focus on making HIGH T a badge of honor and promote “testosterone envy”…
• But just as annoying is the old school doctor who says…aging is natural, and falling sex hormones is a normal part of the life trajectory that everyone goes through. People need to get used to these changes. See a psychiatrist if you need help. This group deals in fear… talks about getting cancer and losing natural testosterone production
• Testosterone Envy is bogus: Higher T is not better unless it is too low. Too high is not healthy but too low is also bad.
• Each man has a T level that suits his body. The body works hard to maintain the “right” level of sex hormones (symptoms tell the story better than blood tests).
• But current T level is affected by two overlapping buckets of issues: (1) health status (chronic inflammation, low mitochondrial function) and modern life issues (constant stress, sedentary lifestyles, nutrient shortages, medicines)
• Adding in TRT creates a lot of side effects that have to be worked out plus it is a lifetime commitment to continuing it because the body will stop making its own T. This should be the action of last resort, not the first or second action
• The body knows what to do….i just need to make myself as healthy as possible, and not screw up the program by not providing enough of the right nutrients and stimulus for my body to recognize that a “strong Joe” amount of testosterone is warranted.
• Get sleep, move, lift heavy things, get off of toxic foods, don't over-train...quick fixes. Lifting heavy and sprinting are the big levers.
• Fasting all the time isn't a good idea, but periodic fasting can fit into a good overall program of repeating cycles of growth and repair
• Traditional low testosterone symptoms: falling asleep after dinner, no sex drive, no motivation to exercise, losing muscle mass, no morning wood.
• Low T is the warning light that something is wrong. You have to fix the problem to signal the body to go back to making a desirable level of testosterone.
• Sometimes people need a short treatment of medication to stimulate natural T production to boost motivation and mood so that they can do what is needed to do to increase testosterone production back to normal without drugs. Enclomiphene. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).
• Supplements mentioned: Akarkara root, Pine pollen, Tongat Ali
• Do not take iron supplements. Donate blood to keep iron from getting too high.

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Gut health is all the rage now but it is so complicated and everybody has a different solution…from eating lots of fiber to eating only meat to taking probiotics. How can we figure out what to do? Is improved athletic performance possible from gut health? Today in episode 133 I am joined by Ross Pelton, the Natural Pharmacist who recently published a paper on the microbiome theory of aging in the medical journal Integrative medicine. Ross shares his deep knowledge about improving gut health and also his knowledge about an emerging topic for me….postbiotics which are beneficial substances made by bacteria that our bodies rely upon and respond well to when we do have an optimal gut. We’ve all heard of SCFA (short chain fatty acids), well that is only one of many substances made by bacteria in a healthy gut but now are available in supplement form to help us all get our gut back on track. Ross works with Dr Ohhira's Probiotics & Postbiotic Metabolites which are available in the Wise Athletes Fullscript store if you’d like to check it out. Ross shares several medical studies using Dr Ohhira's including one with athletes that showed significant increases in vo2max and lactate threshold.....legal doping!

Paper: The Microbiome Theory of Aging, January 2023

Link to get free copy of book: Dr. Ohhira's Probiotics & Postbiotic Metabolites

Ross's website: naturalpharmacist.net

WiseAthletes Fullscript Store

Everybody knows exercise is good for us but why? And why doesn't my food tracker balance my calories even when I weigh my food and use a power meter and heart rate monitor to track energy usage? Do I really have to step on a scale everyday to know if I am eating too much? And how can I tell if I'm eating too little to build muscle and to avoid bone and immune function issues down the road?

Today on episode 132 I am joined by Hari Mix, a Stanford University PhD and the Founder and CEO of Calorify, an emerging technology company providing athletes and sports teams with the world's most accurate measurement of energy expenditure, powered by doubly labeled water. Only by accurately measuring metabolic activity can athletes and everyday people know if we are consuming too much or too little food to power our athletic pursuits and the bodily functions that repair our bodies and keep us healthy for a long time.

Hari Mix explains that professional athletes are shifting from "how little can I eat and still perform" to "how much can I eat to perform better", and he walks us though what is known about these complicated and vexing questions about balancing calories in vs. out, and why exercise is not a great tool for losing weight.

The image below is a weak illustration of the idea that your metabolism changes in response to changes in energy availability / left over after exercise. It works both ways: too little available energy will turn down metabolic rate while too much energy availability will turn up the metabolic rate. The metabolic rate of energy usage is indicative of bodily function activity level: energy surplus: growing muscles and bones and other organs, energy shortage: scavenging of old and damaged proteins in muscles, bones, immune cells, etc. (autophagy, mitophogy):

• Episode 131 - Supplement Quality & Efficacy
• Episode 129 - Bone Health
• Example Calorify report
• Metabolism by Age chart (full image)

• Exercise Paradox article by Dr Pontzer
• calorify.com

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