Scott Webb (Host): Today we're going to learn about functional fitness and foods from Holly Myles, Nurse Practitioner with Franciscan Health. And along the way we're going to discuss how more practical and purposeful fitness routines and eating can benefit all of us.

 This is the Franciscan Health Doc Pod. I'm Scott Webb.

Holly, it's nice to have you on today. We're going to talk functional fitness and eating, and what does that mean? Right? So I was telling you, I think I know what functional fitness means, but from an expert, what does that mean? What is functional fitness?

Holly Myles, NP: Functional fitness is fitness activities that translate very well into daily life and daily functions. They're typically safe, natural movements that duplicate muscle patterns found in daily life. So these examples could be things like squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, deadlifts, pull-ups, and even step ups.

Host: Yeah, it's pretty much what I thought, you know, that we're not doing one sort of exercise that doesn't kind of match up with what we do in our daily lives. So is there an appropriate age to start functional fitness?

Holly Myles, NP: Typically you could start as young as five. Prior to that it's mostly more of a play activity that kids will do and typically around five we can do things that mimic daily movements using body weights. But yes, from five up is a great age. I would also say, when it comes to functional fitness, I like to call it practical fitness.

 For example, I have a friend who has a teenager, teenage daughter who is wheelchair bound and she often has to deadlift her to and from her vehicle, to and from her bed, into the school and whatnot. So she joined a functional fitness type of gym in order to increase her core strength and to avoid future back injuries. Just very practical.

Host: Yeah, I like that word. I was just thinking like, yeah, that rings right in my ears. Practical fitness, functional fitness. Uh, although, you know, as you say, in that particular case, that friend, but folks in general may have different needs. So are there some other types of fitness programs that might work better for different types of needs?

Holly Myles, NP: Yes, absolutely. The fitness program that works best is the one that the person will actually do consistently. Most people will not do a workout program if they don't genuinely enjoy it, so I think it's absolutely imperative to find a workout type of program that you look forward to doing. If it's drudgery, very few people will stick with a program long term if they don't enjoy it or if they find it boring.

So, you know, it's really important just to find something you enjoy so that it can be done consistently.

Host: So just learning from you today, Holly, exactly what is functional fitness or practical fitness, wondering what are some of the potential benefits just to the general public of functional fitness?

Holly Myles, NP: Yeah, Scott, this is something I really could go on and on about and probably talk for two hours. Functional fitness has so many benefits to the general public. We all know that in the US we have a pandemic of obesity rates, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer, heart attacks to name few.

So lifestyle modification via, you know, functional fitness and nutrition modifications are the proven medicine, so to speak, to help reverse and change the tide of this course of our, you know, state of our health in America. Almost every person, you know or talk to knows that they should work out regularly, but a lot of people just have a lot of trouble behaviorally taking action and doing that consistently.

The knowledge is definitely there amongst the general population, but changing the actual behavior is often very, very difficult for people. Most people know that they can reverse some of their conditions such as diabetes, obesity, et cetera, through lifestyle changes and even improved blood pressure, blood sugar, A1C, et cetera.

Studies are also even showing that exercise can mimic the effects of a low dose antidepressant to help relieve anxiety and depression. But as far as you know, functional fitness, benefiting the general public, functional fitness, an example would be, you know, many people carry a baby on their hip or carry a baby in a baby carrier.

A functional fitness movement pattern would be a one-sided farmer's carry, for example, maybe a 30 to 53 pound kettlebell in one hand, and you just simply walk with it. This will help lower your risk of back injury, increase core strength. Just to name a few. So again, it's practical. Some other examples are, you know, increased strength and endurance. For example, I remember when I started functional fitness almost 10 years ago I noticed within three months I had a lot more pep in my step. I was able to do yard work for hours without tiring, just a lot more stamina and endurance. Also functional fitness decreases the risk of or lowers the risk of long-term care, or even can delay the need for long-term care.

There's a big emphasis on longevity and, you know, promoting health, preventing disease through functional fitness and functional nutrition. For example, if a person falls and breaks a hip, the stats around that is very, very staggering. For example, a very high percentage of people after they break a hip, if they're above age 65 to 70, will often go into a nursing home or extended care facility and actually never leave.

Which is quite mind boggling. The negative spiral also from a hip fracture, there can be complications such as pneumonia, blood clots, pulmonary embolus, decreased mobility, and even premature death. So often it's the spiral effect. So functional fitness can improve bone mass density, even.

I worked with a lady who joined a functional fitness gym and she literally walked in and said, I found out I have osteopenia. I would like to avoid an osteoporosis diagnosis. So I'm here to literally increase my bone mass. And I thought she was just so smart, for realizing that. So she really wanted to add, you know, free weights and weightlifting into her regimen to help lower the risk of osteoporosis.

Another example is a lot of older people will go into an extended care facility if they fall on the ground and cannot get back up. So a functional movement is called a burpee, which can be scaled and modified, but a burpee is where you're standing, you put your hands down on the ground, you hop your legs back, your chest and thighs hit the ground. So your whole body is completely on the ground, face down. And then you put yourself back into a plank, pop back up into a squat and stand up. Obviously that can be adapted and modified where you can do that a lot slower, but the ability to get onto the ground and then get back up is often a deciding factor for families with their loved ones when they are deciding whether to put someone in a nursing home or an extended care facility, because if a loved one, you know, is at high risk for falls and they do fall and they're unobserved, obviously that could be a very dangerous situation. So functional fitness can really be practical in that you maintain that ability to get on the ground and get back up. Again, the practical name for that is a burpee, but that is basically what we are doing.

Host: Right. Yeah. I remember doing burpees when I was young. That one my favorite things to do. And we all, many of us of a certain age, remember the commercials, the I've fallen and I can't get up commercials, and we definitely want, you know, my dad is now 80, so if they fall, we want them to be able to get back up, of course. So as we're learning from you here, you know, functional, practical, kind of interchangeable words, not just a matter of semantics, if you will. So let's talk foods. Let's talk functional foods. What does that What are functional foods?

Holly Myles, NP: Functional foods, are typically viewed as whole foods or foods that are nutrient dense that can promote health and reverse or prevent disease. They are often single ingredient foods, such as berries, avocado, wild caught salmon, just to name a few.

For example, they can also help improve heart health and even promote immunity. I really like the quote by Hippocrates that says, let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Yeah. So functional foods are very nutrient dense and oftentimes, ideally single ingredient foods.

Host: I guess I'm wondering like how can we educate ourselves, right? Of course we could listen to this podcast, that's one way of course. But how do we educate ourselves about like specific ingredients and some of the health benefits from food?

Holly Myles, NP: There's so much information out there, it can be a bit daunting, simply because there is so many resources out there. I recommend a book called Food Rules by Michael Pollan, P-O-L-L-A-N. It makes nutrition very practical and simplifies it. It's a quick read, because there is so much information and even misinformation out there that it can be immobilizing.

I typically explain that the more processed a food is, the more ingredients it has. So ideally you're eating foods that don't even have an ingredient list and don't even come in a box or a bag. Examples are like chicken, wild caught salmon, eggs, vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, peppers, and spinach, just to name a few that can promote fiber and phytonutrients for digestion and inflammation.

Tomatoes, onions, fruits such as berries. Berries are loaded with antioxidants for cellular protection. Apples, plant-based fats such as avocados, nuts and seeds, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and complex carbs such as quinoa, oatmeal, butternut squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, et cetera. Many of these foods can improve digestive health, lower cholesterol, boost immune function, help with blood sugar control and aid in brain and heart health.

If a food item does have an ingredient list, I typically recommend keeping it to sub five ingredients or five or less ingredients. If a chemical is really long or hard to pronounce or sounds like a chemical difficult to pronounce, it's probably more highly processed. So typically functional foods are what I would call whole foods, or most people would encourage a whole foods diet.

Host: Right. Yeah, that's, that's one of my rules. I'm not an expert. When I can't pronounce a word. When I can't say a word that's an ingredient in something, I feel like it's probably just not good for me.

Holly Myles, NP: Probably not. Yes, exactly.

Host: So let's talk about eating functional foods as a priority and how does it impact our overall health?

Holly Myles, NP: That's such a good question because many of us might put more thought. I know in my twenties and even thirties, I often put more thought into like what I was wearing than the food that's going in my mouth. So I think just being more cognizant and aware of what we are eating, is a very big deal.

Functional foods can really aid in disease prevention and health promotion. I always tell clients that you wouldn't put kerosene in a Ferrari and our bodies are Ferraris. So we want to fuel that in the best possible way. God's given us one body and we want to treat it well and fuel it well.

So we want the best possible fuel to feel and function at our best. So, functional foods can quite literally, not only help you to look and feel a certain way or function better, but literally your body will be better when you're eating in a more healthy way. So viewing food as what is an optimal source of fuel rather than what's going to taste good in the moment, is often a huge mindset shift for people because I do believe food should be a pleasure source sometimes, but if we're constantly eating that way, we're probably not going to feel and function at our best, probably won't have the best biometrics. We're exposed to a lot of toxins in our environment and even in our highly processed foods in the standard American diet.

As an example, I've had a professor from Purdue that I've worked with in the past who literally after changing his nutrition and exercise patterns, I mean, it was quite an extreme testimonial, but he literally said he was happier, in a better mood, less cranky, more energy, and his partner even found him to be a more pleasant partner than she had noticed him to be before. So nutrition can be an absolute game changer when it comes to like even mood and energy and stamina, ability to sleep, ability to recover from workouts, that sort of thing. So eating functional to impact overall health can also affect, you know, and improve better balance or cause better balance and coordination.

I worked with a client who is in her late seventies who goes skiing in Europe regularly, and one of her motivations for functional fitness was to just make sure her balance stayed good because she likes to ski. It can also help a person maintain an ideal weight. Functional fitness is also scalable and adaptable. If someone wants to try to be able to do a pull up, we start with the basics. What we call ring rows or even stepping into a thick band and having the band assist member up above the pull up bar. So overall functional fitness significantly improves quality of life because of how much better one feels and functions due to this type of training.

I would like to say even that it may even cause one to age a bit more gracefully. And we all know if you don't use it, you lose it. Our bodies are made for movement. I've worked with someone too who recently helps mentor college kids and now when he plays sports with them, he is not worried about becoming injured and he can get up and down off the ground with his kids a lot easier. As a gym owner and as a nurse practitioner, I feel like I have a pretty unique perspective on things.

I see regularly the ramifications of those who don't consistently move their bodies, and those who do. Many injuries and chronic conditions could be completely reversed and even avoided due to consistent functional fitness. Functional fitness is all about increasing resilience, increasing quality of life, and promoting independence for as long as possible.

The practical aspect of it cannot be underemphasized at all. It's all about what one can do, not how one looks. Which really appeals to me in our culture that puts so much emphasis on the exterior. It's really about function of the body. It's really even, I would say preventative medicine. I've had people reverse their Type 2 diabetes.

I've seen people lose 100 pounds and come off all of their insulin, for example, and no longer need their diabetic drugs. For example, patients or members with diabetes or hypertension, if they're very overweight, for example, they can oftentimes reverse these diseases and change the course of their life with some simple nutrition and exercise changes.

Depression and anxiety. Studies are showing how important exercise can be as an adjunct to medications or even as a primary modality of treatment for a mild anxiety or a mild depression. Hypertension is also amenable to these changes. If a person that's overweight can lose five to 10% of their body weight, their blood pressure will often drop by five to 10 millimeters of mercury or more.

Host: Let's finish up and talk about eating at restaurants and how does that impact the functionality of food? Like, are we still able to do that if we eat out?

Holly Myles, NP: Yes. I think it's important to maybe quantify how many times a week you're going to eat out. It is easy to eat out a lot because it's convenient. We have so many fast food places, so many, you know, families are on the go with sporting events and extracurricular activities with their kids.

But I think it's a good rule of thumb to just kind of quantify like, okay, we're going to eat out two times a week, for example, and that might make it a little bit more doable to maintain that goal to quantify it first. I actually had a client once who quite literally ate fast food two days a week, two out of her three meals.

So she found not only was it a money saver and a time saver to do a bit of meal prepping, she actually like changed even her financial picture because she was eating out so much. So I think quantifying is a good idea and setting some realistic expectations. Eating at restaurants can be pretty difficult because we're bombarded typically with simple carbs such as white bread, chips, that sort of thing.

We have, you know, little control over the types of fats or oils that can go into our food at restaurants. Sometimes restaurants can have lower functional nutrients and maybe use some types of oils that would not be ideal. So it's typically a good idea to avoid fatty foods and simple carbs, such as anything fried and maybe choose something baked, broiled, or grilled instead. You can often ask for the lunch portion rather than the dinner portion for maybe lower portions, which will save on cost. Dipping foods into sauces, rather than having it come on the salad, for example, or even on the protein might help decrease overall caloric load. So dipping foods into sauces and dressings is often a game changer as well. Looking for foods like a meat and veggie and then a complex carb is typically ideal. That might look like a steak, broccoli and a baked potato with butter, for example, or salmon, rice and asparagus, for example.

Host: Yeah, well I'm definitely really hungry now and I appreciate this, uh, really good stuff today. Very educational to learn, you know, what functional fitness is, functional foods, how to slide in the word practical. Practical fitness maybe practical foods. Really good stuff. Thank you so much.

Holly Myles, NP: Thank you.

Host: Visit Franciscandocs.org to find a primary care doctor near you.

Host: And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels, and be sure to check out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest. This is the Franciscan Health Doc Pod. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well, and we'll talk again next time.