Life By Design Podcast

December 2018
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Mon, 31 December 2018

#305 Is Screentime Altering Our Kids Brains?

Of course it is!

Everything that any human interacts with in their environment alters their brain. Please don't just believe this headline because the obvious situation that's assumed here is that by 'altering' they mean in a negative way.

On today's podcast, we examine a study on how screen affects the brains of children and attempt to discern if this is something parents should be concerned about.

The study looked at 11,000, 9-10-year-olds throughout the United States and found that:

MRI scans found significant differences in the brains of some children who reported using smartphones, tablets, and video games more than seven hours a day.
Children who reported more than two hours a day of screen time got lower scores on thinking and language tests.

The article also mentioned the traditional concerns around screen time such as increased risk of obesity, increased risk of depression, how social media affects the brain, and sleep alteration.

The purpose of this podcast is to discuss these results and create context around what we believe you can realistically do about screen time with your child.

What We Covered

Don't just be a headline reader. If you're going to read something read the entire research paper before formulating an opinion. This article is a clear example of that.
What came first the chicken or the egg? Does the screen negatively affect your child's brain, or do children who have less cognitive potential crave more screen time?
Is screen really something that warrants your concern?
Why screen time and social media are very separate things and why you shouldn't equate the two.

Direct download: 305.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

Mon, 24 December 2018

#304 How To Tone Your Arms

There are many misleading health articles, plenty of half-truths and an abundance of incorrect information. On today's podcast we focus on the concept of becoming 'toned.'

Our definition of the word toned means - not just losing weight but maintaining or increasing your lean body mass in way that leads to visible muscle on your body.

So how do you do it?

Well, if you paid attention to most articles on the internet you would just have to perform these 8-10 different exercises every day, and in just a few short weeks you'd be toned.

Can this advice work? Of course, if you've already done most of the hardest and longest work, changing exercises or adding different exercise comprised of different reps, tempos, and weight will help, but that's not the whole story.

The purpose of this episode is to give you a better and clearer understanding of what getting toned means and how to go about doing it.

What we covered

The difference between health and getting toned up quickly. We're willing to bet that you'd be a little more hesitant to trade your body for that body if you understood just how poor their health typically was.
Why habits are the real key to becoming toned in a sustainable way.
The importance of patience if you're going to do this the correct way.
The difference between optimal body types and forced body composition change.
Why the basis of proper body composition change is nutrition and what you need to know about it.
The basics of what's necessary in the kitchen.
The basics of what's essential in the gym.

Direct download: 304._How_to_Tone_Your_Arms.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

Mon, 17 December 2018

#303 Was 2018 A Great Year?

This is the last car (life) you're ever going to get... It's what you do now, today, that determines how your mind and body will operate ten, twenty, and thirty years from now.

-Warren Buffett

Buffett is an excellent example of learning and then applying what you've learned to catapult success. If you had asked him 20 years ago, he would have said that he didn't understand tech stocks and would not invest.

Two years ago, much to the investing world's surprise, Berkshire Hathaway (Buffett's holding company) made a sizeable purchase of Apple (a tech company) after which time Apple became the first company in history worth 1 trillion (yes with a T) dollars.

Seems like just because Buffett didn't 'know' about tech companies doesn't mean he was open to learning and using that to his advantage in the future.

So why do you care about this?

You care about this because it's the same way your life can become better.

2018 is almost over and the holidays are always a time for reflection... so what the heck did you learn? More importantly and less often thought about is, how you can leverage what happened to you in order to make better and smarter choices in the future? Decisions that, like Buffett, will lead to greater success.

The purpose of this podcast is to discuss our 2018, what we learned and most importantly, how we are going to turn those lessons into different actions for 2019 and beyond.

No this won't guarantee our success, but eventually, if you try enough different stuff and learn enough, success will follow.

What we covered:

The impactful things that happened to us in 2018 and what we learned from them.
How we plan to leverage those things into the future, meaning what behaviours/habits will we be changing moving forward.
What if those changes don't work...what's the next step?

Direct download: 303.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT

Mon, 10 December 2018

#302 Probiotics Don't Cure Stomach Flu (So what?)

In a recent study that was published by The New England Journal Of Medicine, probiotics given to children with gastroenteritis (commonly called the stomach flu) had no effect in helping treat the stomach flu.

Nine hundred seventy-one children were selected between the ages of 3 months to 4 years to participate in a randomized controlled double-blind study to measure whether probiotics had a positive effect on the treatment of the stomach flu. The conclusion reached by the medical team was the group treated with the probiotic showed no improvement over the placebo group, therefore, probiotics are not effective in treating the stomach flu.

The purpose of this podcast is to review the study but more importantly to apply the conclusion to the philosophical difference between disease treatment (the practice of medicine) and health creation - what we are encouraging with The Life By Design blueprint.

We do not doubt the study's results - although we are sure there could have been better measures taken by the doctors to ensure specificity (a bacterial culture was not performed) and repeatability.

What we covered

A review of the study and the findings.
So what and who cares? Just because the study found that probiotics don't treat the stomach flu doesn't mean that probiotics are useless and you shouldn't take them. There is more to life than just the treatment of disease.
A quick review of strategies vs. requirements - yes we do this every time because it's that important
A discussion around the requirements for creating health and why health is much more challenging to measure than disease treatment.
A discussion and assumption that supplements should not be used to treat any disease and that is not their purpose, but that doesn't mean that they are useless and should be ignored either.

Direct download: 302.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:03pm EDT

Mon, 3 December 2018

#301 Can Science Put An End To Peanut Allergies?

In a study published in the New England Journal Of Medicine, scientists and researchers were attempting to help kids with peanut allergies survive in a (for lack of better terms) peanut infested world.

The clinical goal of the research was to systematically expose the treatment group to small amounts of controlled peanut protein every day for 6 months and then a maintenance dose of peanut protein everyday for another 6 months in an effort to get the children to be able to consume a small amount of peanut protein with no ill effect.

In essence, the study is aimed at increasing the adaptability of the human body.

Why should you care about this?

You care because adaptability, or at least that principle, is the very essence of health. If your body has a strong immune system - and one of the ways an immune system stays strong is it's exposed to a manageable level of bacteria and viruses - it gets stronger.

If you systematically expose yourself to heavier weights at the gym you get physically stronger. If you expose yourself to mental stress, you get mentally tougher, etc.

The purpose of the podcast is to help reinforce the idea that adaptability and improving it should be central to what you seek to do if you want to get the best out of your body.

What We Covered

A review of the article found on Healthline and most importantly the mechanism used by the doctors in the research study and how you can leverage the same concepts with your own health.
Why adaptability is one of the key aspects to maintaining and creating health in your body, and how a lack of adaptability can leave you open and susceptible to poor health, disease and infection.

Direct download: 301_Adaptibility_.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00pm EDT