Dr. WHO??’s BodyBlog

So I had the wonderful experience yesterday of  spending the night in the E.R. It all started around 4:30 yesterday afternoon when my  left  nut started hurting . I had experienced this before in the past and knew right away what it was.  Being a med student and having friends who experienced similar phenomena  I  knew that the pain coming from my left testicle was caused by testicular torsion. In the past i have had similar bouts of  severe groin pain  for a  few hours  and probably should have gone to  the E.R., but the symptoms resolved  probably because my testicle "de-torsed"[sic] off it’s own volition….however,  yesterday evening that didn’t happen.  I was studying at a desk  the whole day and then I started to have the pain like I said before around 4:30…it was an aching pain   that was centered in my left scrotum.  I tried all the things I had in the past to rectify the situation…walking, stretching,  and even laying down…I even tried to manually detorse my own testicle…of course that induced more pain and was to no avail…by 7:45 pm I was in pretty unbearable pain, but still reluctant to go to theE.R….as I am sure you can understand….it’s a very uncomfortable and awkward predicament…but by 8:30 pm I decided I better go…the pain was so bad I couldn’t sit still and I started to sweat…I went to the bathroom to assess my condition and  noticed that my left scrotal was tender and swollen  and was also warm to the touch …all  ominous signs  of  an aberrant  process  occurring….it was time to go to the E.R. stat…to save my left testicle or all least alleviate the intense pain. As soon I got to the hospital I started feeling nauseous from the pain and dropped my lunch off in the parking lot before entering triage. I was fortunate to be going to one of the local hospitals where  I will be working as a  med student….my friends who took me to the hospital  knew  who to talk to  to speed up the process…this was  a medical emergency…TIME WAS TESTICLE…if you get my drift.  I unfortunately still had to wait  almost an hour before a tech came and performed an ultrasound on my testicles.  My 3 school buddies also got to see the ultrasound  and told me that it didn’t look good…clearly reduced blood flow to my left testicle as compared to my right one…and  the left one  was surrounded  by fluid  suggesting  pathology….at that point  the urologist on-call was paged to the hospital…about 25 minutes later…he had a quick look at the ultrasound and my "sac" …he told me that they weren’t even going to try to manually detorse it cause  it was beyond that at this point…he said he would have to operate…STAT…hmmmmmmmm….lot’s of things were running through  my mind…one, will I loose my testicle….two,  an incision to my scrotum (the though of any sharp object down there frightened the hell out of my)…three,  how much more pain will I have and  how long will my recovery be…those are just some of the thoughts….in any case, things went pretty smoothly from then on. I was  put under anesthesia and the urologist went to work.  He told me the procedure itself only took  20 minutes or so…they made a one inch incision took out the left testicle and  detorsed it . They then had to wait for another 25 minutes  to make sure that the testicle was perfused. Apparently my testicle  was 720 degrees  torsed and the ischemia (reduced blood flow) had caused my testicle to  loose the pink color it should have had…but after  25 minutes the color came back…whhhheeeeeew….I wasn’t going to be "half the man I used to be"  as the song goes.  The incision was closed  and I woke up to a nice nurse in the  PACU (post-anest . care unit)…she asked me about the pain  and I told her I still had some…so she put some more dilauded (morphine )  in my IV…I spent the next hour with her asking about my pain and infusing more dilauded…soon  I felt good enough to stand  and put my clothes back on, but I definitely was  a little wobbly on my feet.  In any case, my boys picked me up and we stopped at the pharmacy on the way back to my place to fill my hydrocodone script.  The nurse told me to eat some food and take a pill before going to sleep…when I got home all I could do was stumble to my bed and pass right out…this morning I  took  some pain killer and again this afternoon…still feeling pain , but far far far better than it had been! In any case, that was quite an experience…wish me a speedy recovery…I am not supposed to lift or do anything for the next two weeks until I have a follow-up visit with  the urologist.  I have also been to scared to check  my scrotum out today.  I  urinated once but  totally avoided  my scrotum. It was weird  to wake up in the PAC unit with a  weird jock-strap contraption  containing a bunch of gauze  in the front all around my "package".  At any rate, I don’t wish this experience upon my worst enemies. (more…)

This blog is a starter blog for all of you good people out there who I have added to my friend list because I feel you have the potential to really be healthy and look really sexy or whatever…this is just a basic outline of what you need to do! I will refer you to this blog and then you can contact me with more specific questions at any time…until now I have been spending a lot of time writing each of you individually…I really can no longer afford to allocate my time like that although I would love to…I have patients to see, clients to train, exams to ace (I wish), my own body to train, and NO LIFE otherwise (I need to work on this one). At any rate, I have told some of you that I am working on an all encompassing web page that will really get to the high points and lay out details to maintaining good health and acheiving that sexy body that we are all born with, but, often manage to screw up in this age of fast-food, life stress, and sheer laziness!!! Obesity has never really been in although it is in in many underdeveloped nations because it represents wealth…so to all of you who are tired of being wealthy…why don’t you give me your $$$ so you can become a lean, mean, sexy, healthy machine As for the web page…it is in the works…I have contacted a professional photographer in Chicago and I have a web designer in mind (he did my parents restaurant website…www.Africanpresentations.com) and I have a clear vision….what I don’t have at the moment is time! That is precluded by med school and training at the moment, but this too shall pass…hopefully
At any rate…..here I am on the podium…bear with me!!!

Before anyone can make a body transformation, the mind must first transform. We have to really want to change our bodies. Just to repeat what everyone else has already said…focus on eating right and working out regularly and consistently and regularly and consistently…did I say regularly and consistenly (KEY KEY KEY)…the rest will happen! From a medical standpoint it has to happen. You can make sure you are eating adequately….you can use one or both of these websites to help you determine how many calories you should shoot for daily:
http://www.stevenscreek.com/goodies/calories.shtml
http://www.dallasdietitian.com/resources/calcalc.htm
…just to give you a ball park range! And then make sure you are eating the good stuff…~55% of your daily calories should come from low-glycemic index carbs (brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain brean for example), ~33% from protein, and the remaining ~12% from fat (avoid saturated fats…use olive oils…generally avoid the saturated fat, which are fats that are typically solid at room temperature…that is a sign that they are not the good kind of fat…unsaturated fats are o.k. but the most beneficial fats are what we refer to in the medical world as ‘PUFAs’ polyunsaturated fatty acids…things like flax seed oil, omega-3,omega-6, and omega-9 fatty acids…these work to improve your blood lipid profile and help improve lean muscle mass believe it or not)…you may want to supplement with a multivitamin…and watch the snacks! This is the biggest issue I see my clients sturggle with…snack are o.k. but make conscientious decisions about them! You should not snack on goodies loaded with saturated fats, sugars, or salts….duh…common sense I know but we all do it…bottom line, keep these things to a minimum. I maek my clients maintain a food journal so that if they come to me after three weeks and say, I haven’t lost any weight I can say, “well,…let me see your food diary and let’s discuss what the real problem is…” My clients and most people are smart, but want to pretend that they are eating right….don’t pretend…be honest with yourself!! Read the labels on the foods you buy…avoid foods that have really complex ingredients (exception to this might of course be some of the protein supplements/ health supplements you may take)! People generally snack on the worst foods out there (high salt/high sugar snacks)…avoid those chose fruits, vegetables…things like raisins, unsalted nuts of different types…almonds are particularly good (kind of expensive) but they are pretty healthy because they have protein, Vitamin E (a lipid soluble antioxidant vitamin that keeps the blood thin), and ‘PUFAs’!

As far as fitness is concerned, look into incorporating H.I.I.T into your workout…High Intensity Interval Training…there is information about it if you do a search on BB.com….It is all the rave in the personal training industry because you are maximizing calories burned during the duration of your workout as well as increasing your metabolic rate, which helps you burn the calories long after your workout…Women should also incorporate resistance training in their workouts….especially post-menopausal women because they have low estrogen levels! Estrogen helps to maintain bone integrity, but, guess what, so does resistance exercise so do it. Many women have the misconception that resistance training may cause them to become massively hypertrophied like some of the ‘muscle-out’ folks here on BB.com…this is generally not true unless the women is using exogenous androgens…women generally have much lower levels of circulating testosterone than men that’s why it is much more difficult for them to gain muscles that men can attain. Another thing to consider s for peeps to be less gullible avoid those miracle supplements that ‘promise to help you lose weight fast.’ Because if you look into these supplements they  don’t spell out the fine print….’you may lose it fast, but you will gain it back and then some much faster.’ Watch out for those thyroid hormone altering supplements…they work by increasing your circulating levels of thyroid hormone, which generates a pseudohyperthyroid state that boosts your metabolism…sounds nice, but at the end of the day it is artificial and I generally would suggest or recommend unnaturally altering your hormone levels….exercise and adequate nutrition are the best natural ways of improving endogenous hormone concentrations either to attain muscle growth or lipolysis (fat breakdown)!

I may have told you all this stuff already I just can’t EMPHASIZE this enough…these things are KEY ABSOLUTELY key to good results! FOCUS on ALL of these small details (your body and weight will also soon follow GUARANTEED…it’s simple or not so simple Biochemistry and Physiology…you can do it! KEEP THE FAITH and KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS, but DON’T GIVE UP and always be CONSCIENTIOUS of the choices you make as Making a Change already said. It’s the bad small decisions you make that throw a wrench in the whole system.

I, too, am sometimes disbelieve in SCIENCE, but again and again I prove myself wrong. I tried supplementing my nutrition with protein in the past but I didn’t really stick with it as recommended even though I have always worked out. I gave up because I figured I didn’t need it and it doesn’t work for me. I recently started using it again (I was using it because for a long time I knew that I had not been meeting my requisite caloric intake needs for my activity level…so I was pretty muscular and ripped but ’skinny’). I started using it regularly about two or three weeks ago…I kept weighing myself and continued with my workouts as usual (never had problems with this…cause I LOVE IT) At any rate, I also weighed myself pretty much every 2-3 days. I didn’t really notice any changes until like 5 days ago when I weighed myself and I was the heaviest I had ever been 192. I thought the scale was defunct so I checked on another scale in the locker room…same thing…I am a disbeliever so I checked again when I got home after a shower and low and behold I had gained six pounds…I am still in disbelief, but bottom line is STAY THE COURSE…give yourself at least 1-2 months on a solid plan and you should definitely see some results…the problem with a lot of people is that they (we) are human and we want quick results…it’s easy to go the unnatural way and get a tummy tuck, gastric bypass, or fad diet and expect results fast, but it’s hard to stay the course and make significant lifestyle changes. Lifestyle changes are the best way to go because they are usually healthier and stay with a person for the duration of their lives. My family always pokes joked at me for being obsessed about everything I ate and my early and long obsession with pushups…they thought I was mad…and maybe I was…but now they always ask me for advice and still they don’t believe me…even though they watched me before there eyes and despite the fact that I studied this stuff and then some as a biochemistry undergrad student…during graduate school…and now in medical school…but my family is full of recalcitrant hard heads…I guess that’s what go into me and made me what and who I have become….persistence, perserverance, and hard nosed consitency in light of whatever my environment. People have asked me…well what are you going to do when you eat, sleep, breathe, and live in the hospital for the next seven years of your life…well, I guess I’ll have to do what I did when I was a young kid, before I knew what a gym was…body weight exercises in the hospital….pull-ups, pushups, and sit-ups in the doctors lounge when I have down time…we like to find excuses not to work out, but it’s all in our minds…it’s that passive-aggressiveness in all of us that rationalizes some peculiar reason not to engage in one activity or another…not me baby…RIPPED FROM BIRTH AND RIPPED FOR LIFE….actually I was a fat baby…I’ll have to post the real baby pics…hahah! Friends always ask me “so tell me what your secret is…what supplements do you use…where do you get your roids?” The same stuff I have said above is the same stuff I tell them….some listen and some are, to use the vernacular, “haters.” There really is no trick to living right just live right…eat right…exercise…and get the most out of life…we are human and we have weaknesses or vices, but the trick is to limit them…that way they are fun vices that don’t control you…you control them!!! I’ll step of my podium now…I need to get back to the BOOKS…hope this helps a bit….keep me informed of your progress….you will see results if you follow through and I am happy to help you on your way!! Cheers to strong minds and healthy bodies

So with all this said how does one calculate how many calories he/she is given on any given day! To be most accurate you will have to measure the amount of food you are eating preferably in grams or you can use serving size amounts that are indicated on the box or container of whatever it is you are eating. You can then calculate based on theNutrition facts….alternatively here is another way of calculating! Here is the medical school rule of thumb:

1 gram of Fat = 9 Calories

1 gram of protein = 4 Calories

1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 Calories

1 gram of Alcohol = 7 Calories (yeah it’s o.k. to drink every now and again….after all we are human!!)

Based on this information you should be able to keep track or at least come fairly close….hope this helps a bit…get those calculators ready! I gotta go train some clients, catch a workout, and hit the books! Good luck! Do your thing

Hey all! I just wanted to start a post for some of you personal trainers out there. I am semi new to the industry having just obtained my NSCA-CPT credentials this past December. I now have 6 clients and in my opinion things are going well so far. Most of the clients I have are out of any kind of shape with a back problem or a knee problem restricting some of my activities with them. I am curious about things others have been successful or unsuccessful with in training these kinds of clients. I can say training has been a challenge for me in that I am not yet at a point where I can tell how strong someone is to start them on weights. I have been encouraging my clients to do fitness assessments with me so that I can obtain some baseline measures and this has helped a lot. At any rate, I’d like to hear about specific exercises that you have liked and disliked and why…also anything pertinent to personal training would be helpful!!!