Monday, June 23, 2014

The Best Way to Increase Mitochondria?

6/23/14 255lbs, 53 pounds lost since 8/30/11
No ride today (too hot, and music practice tonight)

There is a lot of debate over the best method to increase Mitochondria in muscle cells – a lot of debate! According to experts (of varying degree lol) it can be increased by diets, supplements, and/or exercise, or a combination of the three. Exercise proponents break it down even further to aerobic, anaerobic, or weight lifting. If we study the reason why Mitochondria increase, we have to conclude that diet and exercise both work, and supplements may work.

Diet


Mitochondria increase in numbers when it becomes difficult to supply a muscle cell with enough ATP for its purpose. Therefore, when essential fuels are missing from the bloodstream Mitochondria increase to get as much of the fuel as possible. That's why the Atkins diet has always produced fat loss. When the bloodstream is lacking glucose because of the extreme low-carb diet, one of the (many) ways the body responds is to increase Mitochondria in cells. Although the Mitochondria are really "looking" for glucose, when the numbers increase they are "accidentally" processing Fatty Acids also, and the body has increased its metabolic rate. Therefore, don't make fun of Atkins any more. Additionally, the same response is present when we go on a very low fat diet – except that the Mitochondria are increasing because of the lack of Fatty Acids in the bloodstream.

This leads me to conclude that a diet based on the content of what we eat is better than a diet based on the amount of food we eat. Just decreasing calories does not produce the change in muscle chemistry we desire; but starving the bloodstream of either sugars or Fatty Acids does.

Supplements


I'll be honest with you – I don't know. People that are selling supplements to increase Mitochondria have a profit motivation that I'm uncomfortable with. I'm not saying that the supplements don't work, I'm saying that I don't necessarily trust "experts" with a profit motivation. When you're 61 years old like me, you won't trust anybody, either.

Exercise


All exercise causes an increase in Mitochondria, simply because it increases the fuel demands of the muscles being used. Can't get any simpler than that!

Studies (see my "mitochondria links" link above) seem to indicate that Aerobic exercise (like bicycling, higher-intensity walking, running/jogging etc.) continue to increase Mitochondria continually over a long period of time, whereas Strength Training increases it a lot but then it levels off. Both are very effective and valid.

My Choice


When looking at the various methods to increase Mitochondria, my choice is Aerobic Exercise. I'm just like Covert Bailey in that regard. The reason I would make that choice is that there are a huge amount of additional benefits that Aerobics bring in addition to increased Mitochondria that the other methods do not necessarily provide. After I'm finished extolling the virtues of Mitochondria here at the blog, I will go through the Aerobic Benefit in some detail. However, the following points are well established. To wit:

1. An increase in the amount of blood, and an increase in the blood's ability to carry oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body.
2. An increase in the amount and quality of capillaries to the extremities.
3. Thinner blood, because of Aerobic Exercise's overuse of Fatty Acids.
4. Increase in lung capacity, and in the lung's ability to refresh blood cells with oxygen.
5. Increase in the size/strength of the heart, resulting in a lowered resting heart rate.
6. A change in the muscle chemistry through the increase in Mitochondria, effectively increasing metabolic rate. (But wait – isn't that what this blog is about?)
7. Cleansing of the interior of blood vessels
8. Decrease in Cholesterol, regardless of genetic disposition.
9. Decrease in Blood Pressure
10. Decrease in incidences of Depression
11. A remarkably large decrease in the incidence of all types of cancer
12. A huge decrease in the chances of contracting Type 2 Diabetes. This ties in to Mitochondria, also, and I will discuss it in a separate article
13. Many, many other cool benefits, including weight loss, increase in mobility, plus the increase in the simple enjoyment of life.

My logic says: Why not choose the method for increasing metabolic rate (by generating millions of new Mitochondria) that gives the best overall benefit, even apart from the Mitochondria variable? Hands down, for me, the choice is Aerobics.

Is it possible to combine Aerobics with diet to increase Mitochondria? Of course. In 1999 through about 2003, I employed a diet I called "VLF" (Very Low Fat) where I ate less than 10% of my calories from fat (both bad and good) in addition to at least 4 aerobic workouts per week on my bicycle. The result was a dramatic increase in health and loss of weight, although at the time I didn't know a "mitochondrion" from a hole in the wall.

See you out on the bicycle!


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