Once an athlete, always an athlete. I played college basketball and played rugby for 21 years. At 58, I primarily lift weights, and walk/jog on the treadmill 4-5x/week. It keeps me fit, keeps my muscle mass, and keeps the weight down. If I knew then what I know now, I would have been a superstar. Well, you know I was. I am sure you have heard the phrase, “The older I get, the better I was!” Seriously, …… athletes of all ages, athletes of all shapes and sizes, athletes from all sports, I can make you perform better! I have spent the last 35 years studying nutrition and treating athletes. I have seen and treated grade school, middle school, high school, college, and professional athletes. I have seen and treated football players, soccer players, rugby players, lacrosse players, tennis players, golfers, swimmers, baseball players, softball players, volleyball players, etc. You get the idea. If you are a serious athlete and you are not getting chiropractic and acupuncture care, you are missing the boat! These two things will help you prevent injuries, and recover from them faster when they occur. But that is not what I really want to talk to you about in this article. I want to talk to you about some magic mushrooms (no, not that kind!) and some nutrients that will increase your cellular membrane’s permeability, and increase your energy output in the your cell’s power plant, the mitochondria. We now know that it is the cell membrane that is the key to optimum cell function, and optimum health. The mitochondria is where you turn glucose into something called ATP, and that is what gives your cells energy to do what they do. If it cannot get through the cell membrane, the mitochondria cannot use it. Get it? Depending upon what your current cell membrane capability, these nutrients will increase all your cell’s mitochondrial function capability on the low side, 10%, to the high side of 30%. What does this mean? This means that you will not produce lactic acid! This means you can train harder, play harder, and recover faster! What would it mean if you could perform, run, lift, whatever 10 % better? What would it mean if you could perform 30% better? What it means is that it gives you a competitive edge. It means you can out-train the competition, out-perform them in competition, and can recover faster from training or an event! I am not going to tell you what the mushrooms are yet, because they have to be prepared in such a way to work optimally. I can tell you that you cannot get them at GNC, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Costco, CVS, Walgreens or even you favorite health food store. You need to come see me for the secret. If you want the competitive edge, you see me. Got It? I will give you another secret now that can help you alot, just so you know what I talking about. Ok?
Did you know that the higher your vitamin D levels are, the bigger and more quantity fast twitch muscle fibers you can make? I AM GOING TO ASK YOU AGAIN, DID YOU KNOW THE HIGHER YOUR VITAMIN D LEVELS ARE, THE BIGGER AND MORE QUANITY FAST TWITCH MUSCLE FIBERS YOU CAN MAKE? Now, don’t go overboard, there is a limit to how much Vitamin D one can take, but it is a lot higher than most people think. I personally take 10,000-20,000 i.u./day, and I live in Florida, and go to the beach. Did you know that vitamin D is more than a vitamin? It is a hormone, controlling over 200 genes. There are receptor sites for vitamin D in very cell in the body. Does that give you a clue about its importance? FYI, reference ranges for vitamin D are 30-100. Like all hormones, you do not to be below the reference range, and you do not want to be in the bottom 25%. You want to be in the top 25%! People who live at the equator, and are out in the sun all the time have levels of 130! There have never been reported any toxicity to levels of 40, 000 I.U./day. You can get your vitamin D levels checked with a finger stick using dried blood analysis. This method uses gas chromatography to analyze, which just happens to be the most accurate method of measurement!
If you want to greatly enhance your performance, come see me. Get your vitamin D levels checked while you are here. Then we can talk about the magic mushrooms, the one that you don’t want your competition to know about.
Kelly Miller, DC FASA NMD* FASA FBAARM* CFDMP*, physician at Hoffman Clinic for Optimal Health. Serving Temple Terrace and the Greater Tampa Bay area, and athletes everywhere.
*There is currently no licensure for Naturopathic Physicians (NMD) in the state of Florida and the Florida Board of Chiropractic Medicine does not currently recognize the credentialing of the Fellowship from the Brazil-American Academy for Aging and Regenerative Medicine (FBAARM), or the Certification in Functional Diagnostic Medicine (CFDMP) from Functional Medicine University.