It's a great idea to snack, especially over the holidays! Having a healthy snack before a holiday party is just plain smart! Here's a short selection of  delicious smoothie confections that replace guilt with pride in treating yourself to something both delicious and healthy! For the entire list of 0ver 20 healthy snacks to indulge in, please call the office and ask Barbara Bingham, our director and a nutritionist, for the Kaizen Total Wellness "Snacks & Smoothies" handout. We'll have it waiting for you at the front desk! 941-556-7788

Power plate training at Kaizen Total Wellness Gym is always one on one.

An elderly man was stopped by the police around 2 am and was asked where he was going at this time of night.

The man replied, " I am on my way to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body, as well as smoking and staying out late."

Clint Eastwood
Actor and Director
“Power Plate is a fast and effective strength workout and I like it before a round of golf because it helps me be loose and flexible. Many things come and go in this industry but the Power Plate machine is here to stay. It is a fast and effective way to stay in shape.”

Sting
Lead Singer, Sting and the Police
“The band must be in peak physical form to withstand the demands of daily travel and nightly performances. The Power Plate is that key component in helping us feel and look our best. Taking it on the road made a big difference.”

We have been using this technology at Kaizen Total Wellness® for the past 1 1/2 years with a great deal of success! We are currently the only facility in Florida offering this combination of technologies. If you have been diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis, this may be used by itself or in conjunction with prescription medications.

BStrong4Life™,  a Chicago-based wellness company has launched a 6-month pilot study to determine the effectiveness of their system on improving bone mineral density without medication. The system is a combination of two technologies: Power Plate, and bioDensity,  as well as a proprietary training system that integrates the two.
Power Plate equipment works on the principles of whole-body vibration. This proprietary system uses warm-up procedures to prepare the user for each bioDensity session and to optimize performance. The Power Plate equipment vibrates almost imperceptibly, causing whole body vibrations that create instability and trigger reflexive contractions in the muscles, as frequently as 25 to 50 times per second.
The equipment also oscillates, so the muscles must contract in multiple dimensions. This technique stimulates the fast-twitch muscle fibers, which can lead to increased muscle strength, endurance and overall agility. The user stands on the equipment while performing either static or dynamic exercises.
The user creates as much muscular force as possible while performing four comprehensive static isometric muscle contractions. The equipment uses a patented load cell/software interface that precisely measures, tabulates and records muscular force output at 30 times per second. All physical efforts are recorded, and compared and contrasted over time. Each user receives a Performance Report at the conclusion of each training session.

At both Kaizen Total Wellness and in my medical practice we try to get all of our patients to lead a more active lifestyle. Whereas 15 minutes of moderate exercise increasing life span by 3 years doesn’t seem that impressive, we find that the quality of life is dramatically improved both physically and mentally. We like our patients to try to do aerobic activities (walking, biking, swimming, etc.) for at least 30 minutes everyday and weight resistance 2-3 times a week. Our low impact weight resistance programs are safe for seniors and 15 minutes twice a week with our fitness trainers is equivalent to spending 1 hour three times a week in a conventional gym.
Call the office for a free demo of our Power Plate and bioDensity machines. This may be covered by insurance.

Fifteen Minutes of Moderate Daily Exercise Lengthens Life, Taiwanese Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Aug. 17, 2011) — Taiwanese who exercise for 15 minutes a day, or 92 minutes per week, extended their expected lifespan by three years compared to people who are inactive, according to a study published in The Lancet"Exercising at very light levels reduced deaths from any cause by 14 percent," said study senior author Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Epidemiology. "The benefits of exercise appear to be significant even without reaching the recommended 150 minutes per week based on results of previous research."
Lead author Chi-Pang Wen, M.D., of the National Health Research Institutes of Taiwan, and colleagues also found that a person's risk of death from any cause decreased by 4 percent for every additional 15 minutes of exercise up to 100 minutes a day over the course of the study. Those exercising for 30 minutes daily added about four years to life expectancy.
"These benefits were applicable to all age groups, both sexes and those with cardiovascular disease risk," the authors note.
If inactive people in Taiwan were to do low-volume daily exercise, one in six deaths could be postponed by their reduced risk of dying, the authors report. It would be an estimated reduction in mortality similar to that from a successful tobacco control program.
The prospective observational study involved 416,175 Taiwanese who participated in a standard medical screening program run by MJ Health Management Institution between 1996 and 2008. Participants were followed for an average of eight years.
For the exercise study, participants completed a questionnaire covering their medical history and lifestyle information. They characterized their weekly physical activity for the previous month by intensity -- light (walking), moderate (brisk walking), vigorous (jogging) or high vigorous (running) -- and time.
To account for occupational effects, participants also characterized their physical activity at work, ranging from sedentary to hard physical labor.
Those who reported less than one hour a week of leisure time physical activity were classified as inactive -- 54 percent of all participants. Others were classified as low, medium, high or very high based on the duration and intensity of their exercise. Researchers calculated mortality risk and life expectancy for each group.
Thirteen other variables were analyzed: age, sex, education level, physical labor at work, smoking, alcohol use, fasting blood sugar, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, body mass index, diabetes, hypertension and history of cancer.
Those who engaged in low-volume exercise had lower death rates than inactive people regardless of age, gender, health status, tobacco use, alcohol consumption or cardiovascular disease risk.
The researchers note that the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. A third of U.S. adults meet that guideline; about 20 percent of adults in China, Japan or Taiwan meet it.
"A recommendation of 15 minutes of daily exercise should be promoted to East Asian populations," the authors note.
The study's findings of reduced mortality through even moderately intense exercise are likely to hold true for other populations, Wu said, even though the total amount of time spent or workout intensity required for a health benefit might differ. "These findings can stimulate people to exercise as much as they can and to not be frustrated that they can't reach the 30 minute per day guideline."
This is the first collaboration between Wu, Wen and the MJ Health Group, a major health screening company with more than 600,000 participants in its health database. They have formed the Asian Health Screening Cohort to conduct major research projects. Wu provides scientific expertise with Wen, who also is based at China Medical University Hospital, while MJ Health Group contributes patient epidemiological and clinical data as well as a biobank of tissue samples.
Two other ongoing collaborative projects include development of a liver cancer risk prediction model and a study of telomere length, genetic variation and cancer risk. The second project is funded by an MD Anderson Sister Institute Network Fund Grant. MD Anderson and China Medical University Hospital have a sister institution agreement.
The exercise project was funded by the Taiwan Department of Health Clinical Trial and Research Center of Excellence and the Taiwan National Health Research Institutes.
Co-authors with Wen and Wu are: co-lead author Jackson Pui Man Wai, Ph.D., of the Institute of Sport Science, National Taiwan Sport University; Min Kuang Tsai, Yi Chen Yang and Hui Ting Chan of the Institute of Population Science, Taiwan National Health Research Institutes; Tsai and Yang also are with the China Medical University Hospital; Ting Yuan David Cheng, University of Washington Department of Epidemiology; Meng-Chih Lee, M.D., Institute of Medicine and Department of Family and Community Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University and Hospital; Chwen Keng Tsao of MJ Health Management Institution; and Shan Pou Tsai, Ph.D., The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston.

Ever heard of Pai You Guo? Apparently it is a weight loss supplement from China that, even though recalled in the US, continues to be sold here. It contains sibutramine (Meridia), which was the subject of a recent blog and was pulled from the market due to cardiotoxicity. Looks like it has also been linked to cancer.
At Kaizen Total Wellness, we recommend weight loss the the old fashioned way: healthy eating and exercise. We do not sell any products, so we feel we are able to comment on supplements objectively.
For more information, please call 941-556-7788.Dieters May Unknowingly Buy Dangerous Weight Loss Supplements.

Among elderly men, 87% with the worst life expectancy and 65% with the best life expectancy experienced more burden than benefit from fecal occult blood testing. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that colorectal cancer (CRC) screening be discontinued after age 85  (Incorrect! Don't think one can't get colon cancer after the age of 85!) and that decisions to perform screening be individualized for patients aged 75 to 85. Several other guidelines recommend against CRC screening if individual life expectancy is <10 years, but supporting evidence is mostly from short-term follow-up studies.??To assess the benefit versus burden of fecal occult blood test (FOBT) screening in the elderly, researchers conducted a 7-year longitudinal study involving 212 patients (age range, 70–84; 99.5% men) who received positive FOBT results at four Veterans Affairs medical centers. Net benefit was defined as detection of CRC or "significant adenoma" (adenoma ≥1 cm, 3 or more adenomas, or an adenoma with villous features), followed by treatment and survival for ≥5 years. Net burden encompassed false-positive tests, deaths within 5 years of FOBT screening, and undetected cancers when patients declined follow-up. Researchers analyzed benefit status by life expectancy, which they classified as follows, using the Charlson-Deyo comorbidity index (CCI) as a measure of comorbidity:

A 14 year old girl may need a corneal transplant after buying and wearing $20 colored contact lens.

Have you ever given thought as to why you want/need to lose weight, quit smoking or get in better shape?  Just because a friend (or physician) reccommends this, why would you be motivated to do so?
We all want to feel better and live longer. But we still eat too much, exercise too little and continue to smoke. We also live in denial: Only OTHER people get heart disease or cancer.
When changing your lifestyle, try to think of reasons to motivate you:

- Living a more active lifestyle

- Watching your grandchildren grow up

Here is a simple primer on Heart Attacks:  The older you are, the more likely you are to get a heart attack, but younger people are susceptible, too
Risk factors include hypertension, elevated lipids (cholesterol, triglycerides), diabetes, smoking, and obesity.
However, the worst risk factor for heart disease is genetic. A family history or heart disease at a young (<60) age is very worrisome.

Please be aware that 25% of patients have NO chest pain or warnings!
Most men, however will experience a tightness on their chest; women are more likely to complain of shortness of breath, especially when performing routine chores.
Sometimes indigestion can mimic or mask heart disease!
 
For further information, call Dr. Mishner at 941-747-2090 or the Kaizen Total Wellness Center at 941-556-7788 (both located at 11505 Palmbrush Trail in Lakewood Ranch).

“KAIZEN” emphasizes making continuous improvements in your life one step at a time. According to this article, just one hour of activity week was enough to alleviate pain in many people. At KaizenTotalWellness, we recommend aerobic exercises for 30 minutes/day combined with 2-3 days of weight resistance. Please note that our low impact program is safe for most people of all ages. 
Obesity and lack of exercise linked to chronic pain
(Reuters Health) - It may not be surprising, but people who exercise at least one hour per week have a lower risk of troublesome back, neck, and shoulder pain, a new study shows.
The new evidence supports the possibility that obesity and physical inactivity play a role in a person's risk of developing chronic pain in those areas, said study co-author Dr. Paul Mork, of Norwegian University of Science and Technology in an email to Reuters Health.

By Jeanna Hepler MSN ARNP BC
Q. What is HPV?
With the recent FDA appproval of the HPV vaccine, many women are looking for Information about this misunderstood virus. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States. Approximately 6.2 million people test positive for HPV every year, and close to 50% of sexually active men and women will become infected at some point in their lives.
However, a large portion of the population has never heard of the virus or has limited knowledge. Anyone participating in sexual activity with skin to skin contact is subject to contracting HPV. Most types of HPV are harmless, do not cause any symptoms, and go away on their own. The mean time for clearance of HPV is approximately 8 to 9 months, and it clears in most women by 24 months.

Just file this article away in the it’s too good to be true department. Please note that the small print mentions only OCCASIONALLY eating this way and further down states that the American Heart Association cautions against eating this way. We used to think that high fat dieters like Atkins were effective in not only losing weight but also in preventing heart disease. However studies in mice showed premature atherosclerosis when eating this way.
At Kaizen, we continue to emphasize healthy eating which DOES consist of fats, carbs and proteins....BUT THE RIGHT FATS, CARBS AND PROTEINS. Hopkins, Schmopkins, don’t do this!
 
Rejoice, obese people trying to slim down. You may be able to occasionally indulge in steaks and bacon and eggs cooked in butter and still not damage your arteries, according to a study's findings.