Sock Doc’s Health Tips Archive

• Got some hip or pelvis pain? Women: Do you know that that pain may be coming from your uterus? Men: That pain may be coming from your prostate. Either organ is easily and often influenced by high insulin levels, as well as sex hormone imbalances (high estrogen, low testosterone in men and high testosterone or estrogen, low progesterone in women), resulting in hip, pelvis, and back pain.
• Don’t neglect the ever-important immune nutrient vitamin A, as it’s not as popular in the news as vitamin D. Yet, a deficiency of vitamin A could be the reason you’re getting sick often or staying sick for too long. Vitamin A is found in animal products like wild fish, grass-fed meats, dairy (butter!), and egg yolks. Beta-carotene is provitamin A, found in colorful fruits and vegetables—it is not vitamin A. Most people are able to convert only about 8% of their provitamin A to vitamin A.
• Repetitive sneezing when you’re not exposed to an allergen (environmental or food) or sick can be a sign of poor blood sugar regulation.
• Walk (or run) barefoot on some new terrain at least five minutes each day this week. If you’ve only been barefoot in your house on carpet, then walk on hardwood or tile. If you’re used to being outside on pavement, move to grass, dirt, or even some gravel. Get out of your comfort zone and take your health and fitness to the next level.
• Sleepy after a meal? Most likely, you either ate something you’re allergic to or you ate too many carbohydrates. Start eliminating suspect foods and/or carbs to figure it out and stay alert—physically and mentally!
• Walking or running barefoot is an ideal way to improve your proprioception (sense of position) and kinesthetic sense (sense of movement). Natural, unaltered motions of the human body provide optimal neurological input, thus improving the health of the nervous system.
• It’s all about consistency. Train a little bit every day, even if it’s just 15 minutes. That’s much more effective than two hours on the weekend.
• Do you get sunburned easily? It could mean that you’re not getting enough healthy fats in your diet (butter, fish oil, grass-fed meats, egg yolks) or sufficient calcium (lactate or citrate).
• Yes, cold thermogenesis and even copious cups of butter coffee might help lean you up some, but the majority of your fat loss is going to occur by following a healthy lifestyle. This means consistent and proper training, and consistently eating well—not “most of the time.” Don’t follow the next fad. Put the work in.
• You really think Trader Joe’s is health food? Most of their products are high in sugar, preservatives, and other ingredients you shouldn’t be eating. Go there for the wine and closely read the ingredients of anything you’re buying there.
• Ever wake up with a stiff neck (a crick in your neck)? Most likely, it’s because of what you ate or drank for dinner the night before rather than how or where you slept.
• Taking some ibuprofen or another NSAID for your pain and inflammation? Think again. Not only is there a high likelihood of that increasing inflammation, but it’ll also impair connective tissue repair, hinder liver detoxification, and damage your gut lining.
• Wearing orthotics for your flat feet, thinking you will regain your arch or prevent problems, is not much different than taking ibuprofen daily, hoping you will prevent muscle soreness during activity. Not only will these scenarios be of no benefit, but they also come with a high risk of injury and other health problems.
• Think you need to take vitamin D like the rest of the masses? Many people lack vitamin D because they don’t eat the fats (butter, cream, red meat, egg yolks, fish) to absorb it properly. That’s one reason your blood test looks great while you’re on it and not so good after you stop.
• Craving sugar means you’re burning it more than fat for fuel, and that’s no good. Craving salt means your body is depleting it because your adrenal glands are run down. Craving red meat usually means you’re low in iron. Craving coffee/chocolate means your energy levels are poor. Craving bacon simply means you’re awesome.
• If you wake up between 1–3 a.m., it’s most likely that your liver is stressed, dealing with a cortisol or adrenaline spike in response to unstable blood sugar levels. You’re probably training too hard, under too much stress, and/or consuming too much caffeine and nutrient-poor foods.
• Do you get dizzy when you stand up or change positions? That very well could mean your adrenal glands are run down. Read more about adrenal glands here.
• The shoulder girdle is perhaps the most overlooked and undertreated area in an athlete’s body. For any pain, any place in the body (particularly the hips), check out your shoulder area.
• Agave is no better than high fructose corn syrup. Stevia is a refined, concentrated sweetener. And “no carb” sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, maltitol, and xylitol create digestive and insulin problems in many people. Beware of all these, found easily at any health food store.
• If you crave chocolate, it may be because it’s a natural source of a compound called phenylethylamine (PEA), which helps to increase dopamine in the brain. Dopamine provides pleasure and motivation. If you’re pushing your body too hard (too much stress) and losing interest in the things you once enjoyed, then best to resolve that before it goes further rather than eat more chocolate.
• Fitness trends are meant to make some people a lot of money, not to make you a faster, stronger, more efficient athlete. So if you’re confused as to who you should listen to, you should be, because almost everyone has their own best interests at heart.
• If stretching is your only form of exercise, then having a bowel movement is probably your only form of movement.
• You should always be “training,” even if you don’t have a race planned. Just because your 10–12-week training program hasn’t started yet doesn’t mean you get to sit on your ass and wither away.
• Cracking of the skin on the heels of your feet is most often a sign of an underfunctioning thyroid. You might not have a lab test to support hypothyroidism, but your thyroid gland isn’t up to snuff.
• PMS might be common, but it is never normal. PMS is almost always associated with high levels of estrogen, which can also impair your body to repair connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments, resulting in injuries and the inability to heal effectively.
• If you can’t go even one day without some form of caffeine, you’re using it just like any other drug to give you a false sense of energy while neglecting the problem.
• You can tell a lot by looking at your fingernails. White spots = zinc deficiency. Vertical or horizontal ridges = calcium deficiency or low thyroid. Dark nail beds = B12 deficiency. Hangnails = adrenal stress. Soft nails = inadequate protein.
• Ever wake up in a pillow of your own drool (hopefully not someone else’s)? Often, that can be from depleted levels of phosphorus, which occur from too much hard training. So if you’re a drooler, back off on the anaerobic.
• If you wake up at night with painful “Charley horse” calf cramps, it’s most likely because you’re either lacking calcium or essential fats in your diet, which help drive calcium into your soft tissues (i.e., muscles). Calf cramps while running are more often due to improper footwear, hormonal stress, or sodium/potassium imbalances.
• If you’re craving sugar after you eat a meal, it’s a sure sign that your body is inefficient at burning fat for energy and is relying on glucose for fuel. A healthy and efficient athlete runs primarily off fat, not sugar.
• Read Waterlogged by Dr. Tim Noakes. This new book provides great information about the problem with endurance athletes drinking too much water and other fluids.
• Just because a race offers a short option and a long option doesn’t mean that you should run the long one. Most people don’t have the health, fitness, or time to train for an ultra, marathon, or even a half-marathon. So until you’re able to build up fitness and not break down, choose that 10K, or even the 5K, and stop wrecking your body.
• If you really think you’re that special “exception” and truly need orthotics, then maybe you’ll benefit from a wheelchair one day too when more of your body breaks down.
• Your thigh bone isn’t just connected to your hip bone, but it’s also connected to your foot bones, your rib bones, your skull bones, and even your hand bones. If you, your doc, or therapist don’t realize this, then you’ll never heal your injury and perform to your best ability.
• Hamstring injuries might be one of the most commonly injured muscles in athletes, but it’s also the injury I see to need the least amount of treatment. The hammies are often strained due to calf and glute max weakness, causing them to work too hard and resulting in a “pull.” So assess and treat the glutes and calves, not the hamstrings.
• A fun health and fitness tip for you humans and pets by my Little Sock Doc Kid: The Animals with Shoes.
• If you have knee pain when you go up stairs or climb hills, consider more glutes or calves involvement. If it’s worse going down stairs or hills, think more quads or ITB.
• Winter isn’t the time to gain weight and lose fitness; it’s the time to build your aerobic base, improve conditioning, and prepare to expand your fitness next year.
• If your doctor says your injury is because of a lack of foot strength and wants to put you in orthotics, inquire how pushing up on any arch results in strength and get the hell out of there fast.
• If you deplete your glycogen (stored sugar) levels either from a poor diet or training too hard, you’re looking at 48 hours to replenish those levels. That’s 48 hours if you eat well and recover well, not if you continue to train wrong, eat wrong, and skip meals.
• The only part of “old” in your inability to achieve a certain level of health and fitness is the constant reminder you give yourself that you are just that. Don’t use age as an excuse for poor health and fitness.
• Treating only the injured area will not only ineffectively treat the injury, but it also won’t prevent future problems. You’ve got to look at the whole picture of your health and fitness to break the root cause of the injury down, so you can repair and rebuild stronger than before.
• If you’re interested in improving your fitness and health, especially your aerobic system, use a heart rate monitor. It’s the best investment you can make. Short on cash? Don’t buy shoes. Wear out what you’ve got and start going barefoot more.
• Protein Power: Endurance athletes should consume a minimum of 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. High-intensity and long-duration training often require over 2g per kg. So a 165-pound athlete should shoot for 115–150g of protein per day. Eggs, meats, and whey protein top the list.
• You might think compression socks look cool (I don’t), but they’re best left for recovery after a race, a hard training session, or as part of injury treatment. If you need to wear them during a workout because of pain, then you’re missing the reason behind that pain.
• Your training is dependent on intensity and duration (and in some instances, complexity, i.e., trail vs. road). Intensity is measured via perceived exertion, closely related to your heart rate. Duration should be measured by time, NOT miles. Train for time, not for distance.
• Using ice to treat an injury will dampen the natural inflammatory response necessary to repair and heal your tissues. Sure, it will block pain, but it will delay recovery.
• If you feel any improvement from taking any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), then it’s a sure bet that you have an imbalance of fats in your body—too many unhealthy trans fats or refined vegetable oils and not enough healthy fats.
• If you’re doing high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts because you’re pressed for time, and you haven’t developed your aerobic base, you should be prepared to soon spend some time dealing with an injury.
• Use coconut milk and heavy (whipping) cream rather than skim milk or even whole milk. The saturated fats are necessary for tissue repair, hormone production, and a healthy nervous system. Plus, they taste so damn good.
• Before you apply ice to that injury, consider that you may be delaying a normal and natural inflammatory process as your body is trying to heal your injury.
• Sunglasses are cool and great for protection, but if you always need some shades, especially on overcast days, consider your body stressed out. Eyes that are so sensitive mean your pupils aren’t normally constricting from the exposed light, and it’s a sure sign of a sympathetic-dominant nervous system. Are you training too hard, too stressed out, not resting fully, eating poorly, or all of the above?
• If your eyelids ever flutter or a limb (hand, arm, or leg) jerks involuntarily while you’re dozing off to sleep, it’s a sign that you’re under too much stress and pushing your body too hard. Back off before it’s too late—you’re overreaching and soon will be overtraining and possibly ill or injured.
• Unless you became injured from some type of trauma (accident), consider that you most likely have a health-fitness imbalance if your injury “just came out of nowhere.” Diet, training, and lifestyle factors all have major impacts on your musculoskeletal system and whether you get injured or not.
• Want to burn fat and improve your health? Exercise aerobically for 45 minutes every morning in a fasted state (before eating anything).
• The ideal warm-up for ANY activity is a mixture of light aerobic activity (low HR) combined with dynamic, natural movements. Shoot for 10 minutes of walking/light running with some squats and body mobility drills mixed in, NOT stretching.
• It’s better to go into a race 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained.
• Chocolate (80% or higher cocoa content) is a great snack that’s loaded with antioxidants and healthy fats. You can also buy cacao butter to put in your smoothie to add some beneficial saturated fat calories. Yummy.