The Keynote Speaker (Part 1): Sitting Down for Another Chat With Dr Eric Serrano

Let 's go back in time to the Society of Weight-Training Specialists 2005 Symposium held in Mississauga, Canada on November 4-5, 2005. It was touted as as The Best of SWIS - The Final Symposium Dr. John Berardi, Charles Poliquin, Paul Chek, Dave Tate, Charles Staley, and Joe DeFranco just to name a few. All of these guys should be familiar with the weightlifting audience.

It was none other than Dr. Eric Serrano. Serrano has always been one of the more popular presenters at SWIS, and he is considered quite high by his peers when it comes to sports nutrition and supplementation. The man knows his stuff - there 's no doubt about that.

I tried to chat at lunch on the first day, but with big, somewhat opinionated Dave Tate at our table, who could ever get a word in edgewise , more than suitably, who would ever try? Actually, the place was so loud and our time was a bit of a bust. We fared much better on the second day when we took off during one of the sessions to a Armed with a conference hall. Armed with a Dictaphone in one hand and a bunch of questions scribbled on a page in the other hand, I fired away!

Very simple - I & # 39; ve been extremely busy! Writing is not my primary occupation; training is! It 's not like like I write a ton for EzineArticles on a regular basis, but this past year, in particular, has been killer! I will not bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say , writing was definitely put on the back burner.

I actually had three people attempted to decipher the interview - my wife, my assistant, and my kids - caregiver - and all three failed miserably. Why? Two reasons:

1. They could not understand what the hell we were talking about, and
2. They could not understand a word that came out of Eric & # 39; s mouth! (He & # 39; s got a pretty thick Puerto Rican accent.)

Let 's get to it. Let' s talk about. This vintage wine needs to be uncorked!

JP: How do you detect overreaching and overtraining? What should one do in a situation like this? Everyone has stress in their lives - how do we curb it?

ES: Are you talking about overreaching and overtraining, you & # 39; ve carefully most people will just look at your training program and say you 're fine. Well, they do not look at your sleeping habits. Are you Are you dating someone behind your wife & # 39; s back? Are you going to church? Are you working? You got to look at all these factors.

To gauge stress, you can always measure measure cortisol in the urine which gives you a better picture. More also the measuring amino acids is effective, more the glutamine to glutamic acid ratio should be be I certainly number. I discovered this ratio after reviewing a number of research papers, but it & # 39; s my little secret!

JP: This is a saliva test used to measure free cortisol rhythm throughout the day (as well as testing DHEA, insulin, progesterone, and a bunch of other things.)

ES: The body gets rid of cortisol by degrading it to cortisone which you can then measure in the urine. For most purposes, though, saliva is good enough and the ASI test by Diagnostechs is pretty good.

JP: By the way, would you look progesterone levels in a male, and would you ever prescribe it to a male?

ES: Then I would check it. Progesterone is actually considered the mother hormone.

JP: Hang on a second. I thought Pregnenlone was the mother of all hormones?

ES: Well, what comes after pregnen lone? Progesterone, of course. D? Prescribe prescribe progesterone than pregnenlone to bypass an unnecessary step. Why build a house from the basement when you can start on the main floor, to use a loose analogy I have tried this with a few males with low testosterone and it has worked quite well. Just 100 mgs and they feel great - no more depression, no more chairs, etc. so I do think it has merit in certain cases.

I can not increase cortisol (ie a catabolic hormone.) I can manipulate those pathways somewhat by giving the patient just a bit of cortisone to encourage progesterone towards the androgenic route.

JP: Hold up their doc. If you give cortisone, are not you adding fuel to the fire?

ES: Oh, good question! Think about it this way. I am afraid that I am afraid that it is not an extreme amount of stress and they are already producing quite a bit of cortisol, by giving them just enough exogenous cortisone, it can help lower their endogenous cortisol It is not easy to understand it.

JP: Ahhh, much like the trick you use with hyperchlorydic patients (ie people who produce too much stomach acid), you give them a bit of HCL to lower their own production.

ES: That & # 39; s right.

JP: Is this true? What about the controversial that is after-prescribed today, and that after a month of use, in most males it will increase estrogen levels and in most females testosterone.

ES: For instance, you do not want to to start the average female on 50 mgs of DHEA right off the bat. Always start low and work your way up Even a 25 mg dose is too much in the most cases. For males, I start them at 25 mgs.

JP: Should you cycle off of DHEA after a certain period of time?

ES: There's a cycle of DHEA. Above those ages, there & # 39; s no need to since you are not producing that much anymore.

What happens when you use both of them simultaniously? They spill over into estrogen!

JP: Okay, while we are on the subject, what are the best forms of DHEA (ie sublingual, oral, etc.) and testosterone?

ES: For DHEA, sublingual is best and for testosterone, creams and injections work best but I do prefer the cream form.

JP: Which cream - Androgel or Testim?

ES: Most females will be attracted the other great question! Here 's the low down between the tw androgel will result in higher total testosterone levels testim will give you more free. to guys using Testim than Androgel.

JP: Interesting! What are your views on Testosterone replacement and anti-aging therapies then?

ES: I believe in testosterone replacement and not just for females. I may give a female a packet of Testim or Androgel to use every 4 or 5 days depending on her situation (ie symptoms, menstrual cycle, etc.)

The problem is more Again, start low at around 1-2 mgs and work your way up from there.

JP: How about a guy boost his girlfriend & # 39; s or wife & # 39; s libido through the roof without her knowing it ???

ES: As a physician, I can not prescribe any drug for performance enhancing purposes; However, if she was to ask me what my honest opinion is of a female can compete at a high level without these ergogenic aids, my answer would be [at this point, the noise in the restaurant was so loud, you could not hear a thing on the tape. It got better around here] We measured testosterone levels and in 100% of the cases (we used 19 women in the study), total testosterone did not rise but free testosterone definitely did go up.. Could not explain why, but all of the subjects felt better after using this product.

I do not have he knowing, well there is a sneaky way of doing it but you did not hear it from me. Theoretically, if a man was to apply some testosterone cream to his body and while it & # 39; s good chance that a small amount may ( accidentally) rub off on her. In fact, they have studied this in real life with Androgel, believe it or not, and it does not raise the partner & # 39; s testosterone levels in no time!

JP: Wow, talk about 2 for 1! I 've heard of females applying a small amount of testosterone cream to the clitoris to boost libido, but this one has some serious potential ... um, I mean that is very unethical. Shame on you!

Is that any vagina (so to speak), is there any way to increase your chances of conceiving a male? Is that true? Is that true What?

ES: Yes, that is true something but there are other factors involved. That instance, the male Y chromosome is faster and weaker; whereas, the female X chromosome is stronger and slower and so will stay around longer with a better chance for survival. That is The environment is more alkaline at that point and it will improve the chances of the Y chromosome making it through.

JP: I know you will be presenting a seminar on this topic soon, but can you briefly describe the diagnostic method you use to evaluate hormones?

ES: I have a choice, I prefer urine because it gives you the breakdown of metabolites over the past 24 hours. Blood will only give you a snapshot of that particular time and If you were watching a football game, for example, and your team lost, your blood work would show elevated cortisol and depressed testosterone values ​​for that particular time So how do you know this is normal reading or not? Urine is more accurate in this manner.

JP: Let 's see the thyroid gland for a second. If TSH levels are high, how do you go about improvise thyroid function by natural means? And just for a review, what about if TSH levels are low? That the morning body temperature test is valid to gauge thyroid function? It 's been criticized quite a bit slowly.

ES: You know, I 'm playing around with this quite a bit, but if someone comes along with high TSH, I do not fool around. I'm just too important. I place them on Armor Thyroid which is actually a I th use of Thyrolar first what is a synthetic version of T4 / T3, and then introduce Armor Thyroid once their levels normalize. And I & # 39; ve They just need a bit of nutrition (ie raw material) to feed the thyroid gland to get it working again!

If TSH levels are very low, you need to find out why they are hyperthyroid, eg Is it Graves disease? Do they have cysts? Etc.

Many drugs / medications are culprits for this. Actually, many people can present with normal TSH levels but but their thyroid can still be out of whack.

Why do people gain weight when they are quite smoking? One of the primary reasons is that nicotine increase the conversion of T4 to T3. Well, when nicotine is no longer there , T3 levels begin to drop!

Regarding the morning body temperature test, in order for it must be accurate, you must test it at the exact time, place, etc. If you do not standardize the test properly, it will affect affect the results and that ' has been criticized so much.

JP: What is the exact protocol that you use in this case?

ES: This work extremely well for patients with fibromyalgia as well. Remember, these individuals are working (60 mg for a male, 40 mg for a female) It will help the adrenals rest. Thereafter, I may prescribe a product like Drenamin.

My doories will go down the drain and one patient can throw everything out the window! It & # 39; s always different for everyone. I may say out of a hundred people, 50 or 60 can use this protocol. That is a safer approach.

I generally check the adrenal gland function by measuring DHEAS, cortisol (urine cortisol if possible), T4, T3, TSH, estrogen, progesterone, and (total & free) testosterone. I would then screen for symptoms.

JP: What about using something like licorice root to extend the half life of cortisol?

ES: Ohay, I have some beautiful info for you. Your androgenic hormones - that means lower means of testosterone!, If you topically apply licorice cream to an area, guess What happens? You lose fat in that area! I & # 39; m not making this stuff up - it has been confirmed through ultrasound measurements.

JP: Speaking of losing fat, I'm afraid of intramuscular triglyceride levels and intensely different than that of males for body composition. with lower intensity activity. Can you discuss this further?

ES: There are two types of triglycerides - one in the plasma and the other in the muscle. Females on a 5-10 minute warm-up, for example a jog, not only to lower blood sugar but also plasma triglycerides . Then you introduce high-intensity interval training (HIIT). I have discovered that the optimal time for HIIT is 12 minutes of 6-12 seconds high intervals followed by 9-15 seconds of low intervals. Then, you can end with a. 5-10 minutes cool-down. You can extend this a little longer for females but maximum duration of time should not exceed 42 minutes - after this point, you start eating away your muscles!

JP: Sounds reasonable. I & # 39; m curious, what type of prescription do you use detoxify the liver? And how often?

ES: In my office, I have access to the patient I have to have a patient has a drastic liver condition such as hepatitis., For a simple detox, there are a requirement:

1. Fix the diet. Make sure they are eating properly.
2. Give them enzymes because the liver, believe it or not, will make enzymes as well so will will the the burden.

JP: Let me interject for one second, Eric. When you prescribe digestive enzymes, when the hell should you take them them? Before the meal? During the meal? After? Everyone sees to have a different recommendation!

ES: Okay, first of all, as soon as you start chewing something, your system begins to make enzymes. Now if you have someone that has problems producing [stomach] For those individuals who do not have acid-related problems, they can take a broad-spectrum enzyme in their meal.

There are generally three reasons that people would take enzymes in supplement form:

1. As an anti-inflammatory agent (in which case, you would take them on an empty stomach between meals)
2. For digestive purposes (see above), or
3. To ease the stress on the liver and pancreas.

You see, so timing of enzymes (or any supplement for for liver and pancreas when you do eat. that matter) really depends on the purpose!

JP: Ahhh, understood. Glad I asked. Let 's get back to the liver!

ES: I would prescribe enzymes as I just mention, as well as glutathione, as well as the way that works out will have elevated liver enzymes. It is always working (alpha-lipoic acid, high doses of vitamin C, at least 3 grams orally), and co-enzyme Q-10. Why co-Q10? because the liver is one of the most metabolically active organs in the body! and there are plenty of mitochondria to support.

It is a major allergen in most people, and then, the liver is forced to make, which can turn it, can overwork it.

In general, I am a fan of quality whey protein concentrate, but in this case, it may not be beneficial due to higher lactose levels, and as you know, many people are lactose intolerant.

I do have a choice for a protein, then I could have to go back to breast milk! What is breast milk give that no other protein source can deliver? Colostrum, IGGs, IGMs, Lactoferrin, etc. Basically, all the growth properties for human development. There is no other source of protein development quota compare to breast milk. Period.

There is a combination of lactoferrin and colostrum but no one knows about it yet (until now, of course!) We tested it with great results! In six weeks of Everything else remained (15 grams taken three times a day between meals for a total of 45 grams per day), subjects gained 11-12 pounds of muscle. They did not change their lifestyle at all and there was no drug involvement. Everything else remained It is awesome! It really works! I 'll send you some to try out.

JP: I do not send me some some time you get a chance - I just ran out of my supply of "breast" milk! My youngest is too old now for the so-called "fountain of youth! "Oh well.

How we went from one of the most under-appreciated organs to one of the most appreciated organs (at least for males, that is), I do not know but let & # 39; s get back to that subject.

How about you feel about cleansing diets? What about cleansing supplements? RenewLife, for instance, has heavy metal, parasite, liver and colon cleansing kits. Would these be good to take periodically, say one every 3-4 months? would you enhance any of them?

ES: As far as cleaning is concerned, I would never advocate a complete fast where you eat no food for several days, nor I would, on the other hand, encourage increase fluid intake (ie water, soups, etc.) and I always include enzymes for this purpose.

JP: Not to belabor this point, but when you use uses enzymes here? With meals? Between meals?

ES: Both times.

JP: I mean, is it detrimental to take them too often? Will they shut down your own production due to overconsumption?

ES: No, they will not have the enzymes will start working but they will also have breaks down will consume will form a complex with those in the body, and this complex, will slowly be broken down (ie digested over time.

In 1962, there was an interesting study where they took different organs, chopped them up and traced them in the body using a radio marker. Using chopped up heart, for example, they found that 71% of the tracer ended up in the heart! Chopped liver ended up in the liver, etc. Why this occurs, no one knows. Only God knows.

Why? Something is Take the animal kingdom for example, when a lion kings the prey, the a lion kills its prey, the King of the litter will come and eat the liver first. Then everyone else can have the rest. going on but we do not really know the answer.

Where I come from, we eat everything - tongue, heart, lungs - you name it. Back in Puerto Rico, there was a time when boxers would recommend that you eat the internal organs to improve performance.

JP: Really! In that case, is it better to use bovine or porcine concentrates in supplements?

If it is organic, favor bovine. If not, then use porcine. You do not want to mess with mad cow disease.

JP: Never thought of that. Okay, what can you tell me about hydrogen peroxide IV drips?

ES: The American College of Advanced Medicine is going to battle to try to protect this guy. This is very big, we have a big lawsuit right now where a lady in Florida died from hydrogen peroxide therapy and the family is suing the physician.

I have many way to this stuff will kill you, I 'd say no way! It & # 39; sa great way to kill bacteria in the body, but it will not kill you if administrated properly. that swear by it.

Keep in mind that infections in the 1950 's and 60' s were treated with IV acid and it worked great!

[Traumeel injected straight into an injured muscle is very effective. Within 24 hours, you will notice a significant difference. People who could not lift their arm, for instance, had full mobility the next day after being injected with Traumeel. It's quite impressive.]