Testimonials – Weight-Loss Brooklyn N.Y.

The next Life Life Lighter contest/program starts in 12 days and will help bring in the holidays for you… why wait until the new year to make a resolution? Thats the reason why most people don’t achieve goals; there’s no reason to wait until the 31st to think of something you want to change, there is no reason why people should only be merry during the holidays, and there is definitely no reason why you should have to wait for a special occasion to tell the important people in your life you love them!

Don’t just lose weight… Learn how you lose weight and how to apply positive lifestlye changes to any environment and any situation.  The first step is to plan your method of resolving a problem, without planning you will ultimately fail or yoyo back to the weight that just doesn’t seem to stay off permanently.  

Don’t just take my word though, If your interested in results please take a look at the average reponse a contestant has in the 3-month time span the contest is run via Testimonials

What are you waiting for? BRING IT!

Dr. Gordon Kuang C.S.C.S.

Filed under: Current Events on Nutrition, New York, Exercise & Nutrition, Lose 8-10 Pounds in 4 Weeks!!, Nutrition & Pain Management, Practical Nutritional Advice, Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Nutrition, Dr. Gordon Kuang, Eat Healthier, Effective Ways of Exercise, Exercise and Nutrition, Ingredients to Avoid, Nutrition and the Healing Process

Set Goals, Setting Nutritional Goals, Brooklyn, How to Succeed

Set Goals.. This is sounds easy but it really one of the more difficult parts of implementing a new medical protocol. Where do you begin when you want to drop a few pounds, gain strength, or simply enhance your overall performance? Start by defining your personal goals. The first step in any successful exercise program is proper identification of your ideal fitness goals. Once set, you can choose the best strategy to meet your own personal objectives.
The most common mistake people make when starting an exercise regimen lies within the approach. Unless properly trained, even when the motivation exists, many people have difficulty meeting their specific goals and eventually give up unsatisfied. Most tend to reuse equipment or rely on classes for direction; although these people are capable of meeting their goals, they fail to see results because their workouts lack the variety the body needs to perform at optimal levels.
Overuse of the same cardiovascular or strength-training equipment also tends to lead to workout fatigue or boredom, and can even lead to serious injury if used incorrectly.

Setting Realistic Goals
Goals should be realistic and measurable. Begin by identifying your long-term goals. This can be the total number of inches to loose, pounds to lift, or minutes of cardiovascular when endurance-training. Make sure you assign goals that require dedication to obtain but are not “unrealistic.” An unattainable goal only decreases motivation and self-esteem.
After you’ve written down your long-term goals and developed a realistic time frame in which to achieve them, break them down to smaller steps. For example, if you would like to lose 15 pounds to fit into a dress for a special occasion in three months time, set your monthly goal to a net-loss of around 5 pounds per month. Then break the same goal down further to twelve weekly goals of about -1.25 pounds. Try to visualize yourself attaining each step and finally reaching your goal.
Depending on your starting weight, if you’ve made the proper changes in diet and exercise, you will notice the pounds melting away—usually fastest at first then slowly stabilizing as your build muscle. It’s important to realize that your body weight varies slightly throughout the day, and for women, the phases of the menstrual cycle, so don’t get discouraged if the scale moves slightly in the wrong direction occasionally.
When strength training, begin by understanding the motions of the exercises, followed by stabilization and proprioception (balance), then machines with free weights to focus on building Strength. In no time, you will be on the way to benching your goal weight correctly and without risk of injury.

Record Your Progress
Weigh yourself weekly and record your progress in a fitness journal as you go. Goals can always be readjusted once you learn how your body reacts to training; so don’t feel pressured to remain within ironclad restrictions as long as you see positive changes. If you decide to revise your weekly goals, do so only to challenge yourself more rather than lowering the bar or consider expanding the time frame, but do not loose sight of your long-term objective.
Check off each step in your journal once it has been achieved. This will not only foster a sense of accomplishment, it will also ensure that you are focused and on track. If you progress more slowly then you had hoped or would like to learn how to further enhance your personal program, enlist the support of a trained professional. Your journal will serve not only to measure progress towards your goal, but also an accurate reminder of where you began.
In addition to weight loss, you will also notice improvements in REM sleep, energy levels throughout the day and overall sense of well-being.

Also Consider
When setting goals, take the following factors into account. It is important to know that although they will not determine what you can achieve, they are important when deciding on the best way to go about training.
· Starting weight
· Personal and Family History
· Risk Factors
· Age
· Persistent Medical Conditions
· Eating Habits
· Current Activity Level
· Occupation
· Time Constraints
· Other External Limiting Obligations

Checking your body fat percentage is also a good way to determine your body’s current condition. Women should never set weight loss goals below 12% body fat—which the female menses is partially dependent upon. This can be done with a help of a professional. Send questions to http://www.gordonkuang@gmail.com

Dr. G

Filed under: Current Events on Nutrition, New York, Brooklyn Nutrition, Dr. Gordon Kuang, Effective Ways of Exercise, Exercise and Nutrition, New York, Weightlosss

Burn Fat Effectively Brooklyn, Weightloss Brooklyn, Nutrition Programs Brooklyn

So what’s the most effective way to burn fat during exercise? Some say to do cardio before lifting weights others, say the opposite. Ask many “weight-lifters” in the gym what kind of work out schedule they have, and many will answer one body part per day. This can be a very effective workout for a male looking to compete in bodybuilding but not necessarily so for a female looking to lose a few pounds and add some extra tone to the body. Obviously this type of regimen is also not geared for sports specific performance enhancement. What does this mean? Workouts are specific to the individual and their goals, but there are helpful guidelines to reach these goals.

As a general rule for beginners or someone who is looking to maximize weight loss, strength requiring exercises should ALWAYS be done before cardiovascular and aerobic activity. The reason behind this is quite simple. Carbohydrates are stored in your muscles in the form of glycogen (long chains of carbohydrates) and are used for energy first when exercising. If you start your workout with long aerobic activity you must burn off this muscle glycogen first before reaching your fat storage’s. When you start to strength train your body moves to an anaerobic state of exercise (little or no oxygen), therefore limiting the total amount of fat you burn. Remember, to burn fat optimally you need oxygen! Your intensity level will also naturally be decreased because you have used up energy during aerobic activity, which will affect how quickly you gain strength and produce Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption E.P.O.C. (E.P.O.C. is what makes weight bearing exercises a great fat burner, studies show you continue to burn calories after you lift weights for up to 72 hours). See how Resting Metabolic Rate testing and VO2 Max testing can help optimize your workouts

If you perform strength training before aerobic activity you burn off all the muscle glycogen stores and circulating carb’s in your blood during training. This sets your body up to be a strictly fat burning machine during the time you devote to aerobic exercise (oxygen required activity) because there is nothing left to burn except fat. This is taking into account you know what heart rate zone you should be exercising in to optimize fat loss. In addition, your workouts will be more intense because your energy levels are higher creating even greater E.P.O.C.

Once you have the basics mastered you can learn about high interval intensity training, plyometrics, and other advanced multi-functional exercises… The important point in all of this is that even though there are a plethora of different ways to burn calories while exercising, none of the methods will be effective without implementing proper nutrition. If I placed a random percentage on importance of nutrition versus exercise I would say eating right is 70% of your ability to effectively lose weight. A person can exercise very little but if they follow sensible eating patterns they will lose weight, while someone can exercise vigorously everyday but if they don’t watch what they eat its possible they won’t lose a pound. There is a reason why there is always fine print on any supplement and exercise equipment that says “with proper diet and exercise.”

Learn not to eat less but to eat smarter! Learn that food does not have to elicit a negative reaction when trying to lose weight! Most importantly, the word “diet” is a horrible word, it indicates a beginning and an end. Whenever someone says “diet” most people cringe because it already has a negative connotation to it. Losing weight is about permanent lifestyle changes, not brief 3 month crash dieting. If you crash diet you will probably gain the lost weight back (yo-yo’ing) which is much worse then just staying overweight. I set the goal to be 2 pounds a week, its steady, its safe, and the weight will stay off because you are losing fat mass not water. If your interested in learning more contact my office to make an appointment and learn the tools to educate yourself on how to lose weight effectively and permanently!

Dr. Gordon

Filed under: Exercise & Nutrition, Brooklyn, Burn Fat, Dr. Gordon Kuang, Effective Ways of Exercise, Exercise and Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, New York, Nutrition, Weightloss

Cold Laser Therapy Brooklyn, Stop Cravings Brooklyn, Weightloss Brooklyn

Cold laser therapy has many documented benefits.  It uses a low level laser wavelength to increase energy production by stimulating the mitochondria.  It can be compared to the way the human body absorbs vitamin D from the sunlight.  Your body absorbs the light energy and converts it to chemical energy to assist in the production of energy in the body.  The most common ailments I have treated are musculo-skeletal complaints.  The following conditions have been shown to respond very well to cold laser therapy:

*Herniated Discs

*TMJ

*Chronic Neck Pain

*Myofascial Pain Syndromes

*Shoulder Pain

*Epicondylitis (tennis/golfer’s elbow)

*Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

*Low Back Pain

*Arthritis

*Sports Injury

*Achilles Tendonitis

*Sprains/Strains

*Plantar Fasciatis

One of the benefits that are being explored not listed above regarding cold laser treatment, is the stimulation of acupuncture points to facilitate systemic reactions and attack issues such as carbohydrate craving control.  The laser stimulates points that produce a chemical effect throughout the body, which in turn decreases a patients craving for sweets or nicotine.  This type of therapy has been utilized by acupuncture for hundreds of years.  The Cold Laser brings a new age solution to an old school concept.

With patients becoming increasingly educated and more involved in their medical care they are opting for safer, non-invasive and drug free alternatives to treatment of pain.

The clinical results and patient benefits of cold laser, also known as low level laser therapy, are only realized when the proper laser equipment and parameter is used.  Don’t be fooled by inferior laser therapy equipment.  At Optimum Healthcare NY we are dedicated to integrating our unique manual therapy approaches to patient care with cutting edge technologies in rehabilitative medicine and nutritional sciences.  We use Cold Laser technology, decompression therapy, and advanced nutritional evaluation to determine a specific treatment protocol for each new patient.

Nutrition plays a much larger role in pain management then most people realize.  All the pain modulators are controlled chemically and food you put into your mouth can have a direct impact on how you feel and your level of body pain. It is not a cliché to say, ‘you are what you eat.’  As more research shows that low-grade inflammation is the root cause of almost all disease; it is important to arm yourself with the knowledge to counteract this dangerous cascade of chemical events within your body.

Please feel free to contact me regarding cold laser therapy and find out how this cutting edge technology can help you!

Dr. G

Filed under: Cold Laser Therapy, Brooklyn, Cold Laser Therapy, Curb Cravings, Dr. Gordon Kuang, New York, Nutrition and Wellness, Weightlosss

The Danger of Artificial Sweeteners! Nutrition, Brooklyn

How many times do you drink diet soda a week?  How often do you put equal, splenda, or sweet n low in your coffee?  If you are consuming any of these food items its imperative you read on! Artificial sweeteners can cause significant health risks.  Some of those risks which were discovered in a 1994 Department of Health and Human Services study are as follows: seizures, chest pains, insomnia, weight gain, tremors, vertigo, arthritis, asthma, and migraine headaches.  Think to yourself…. In what types of products do we see a lot of artificial sweeteners?

If you answered diet products, you got it!  Does anything here seem a bit fishy?  Many of our diet products contain artificial sweeteners yet one of the side effects is weight gain. Artificial sweeteners may actually increase appetite including carbohydrate cravings.  The reason for this is because artificial sweeteners decrease the production of serotonin in your body.  How is this done?  Well eating sugar and other foods that are sweet has been shown to increase the natural production of serotonin, thats part of the reason why eating chocolate feels so good and actually can put people into a good mood.   Through time excess production of this brain chemical causes a decrease in the overeall natural production of this neurotransmmitter.  Think about it the same way a person’s pancreas becomes insulin resistant from ingesting too many sweets too often.

Serotonin is also a neurotransmitter that controls mood and sleep.  Mood has a direct effect on our appetite and therefore can cause weight gain and lack of sleep will sabotage any weight-loss since sleep is important recovery time and helps burn calories.

If you thought that was bad, it gets worse!!  Are you aware of what formaldehyde is?  It is a fluid that is used in embalming.  When our bodies enzymes break down certain artificial sweeteners in our small intestine, it breaks down into formaldehyde.  That formaldehyde gets broken down into formic acid.    That formic acid byproduct that is created can cross the blood brain barrier and is considered a neurotoxin. Don’t believe me? Click HERE for a YouTube interview with Dr. Mercola, a doctor of osteopathy and best selling author on health and wellness.

They have found that large doses of artificial sweeteners in laboratory rats has actually caused neurologic damage! Genotoxicity testing of artificial sweeteners have been disturbing to say the least! Notably aspartame, acesulfame-K, and saccharin.

I know what you are thinking.  If all of this is true why isn’t the FDA doing anything about it?  Its very simple, what does the world revolve around?  MONEY!!!  If you walk through the supermarket you will see that billions of dollars are made from products containing artificial sweeteners.  I urge you to be careful when making “healthy” choices.  If you ever have questions or concerns I’m here to help! I offer everything from an hour’s worth of nutritional counseling to full comprehensive 12-week wellness programs.  In conjunction with nutritional counseling I offer pain management and exercise to help fulfill to complete approach to health care – Chemical, emotional, and structural.

Don’t sabatoge your health, learn to read ingredients and know what you are putting into your body!

Filed under: Current Events on Nutrition, New York, Artificial Sweeteners, Brooklyn, Dr. Gordon Kuang, Ingredients to Avoid, New York

What’s in your food? Nutrition Brooklyn, Weighloss Brooklyn, Burn Fat Brooklyn

NYC is a city where everyone wants everything done yesterday, in the fast paced world of “eat and run” there has been a trend for the food industry companies to make foods that require little effort or time.

Most of these prepared or semi- prepared meals in a box contain preservatives, colorings and other additives that make things like ‘macaroni and cheese’ taste better and last for years in the cupboard. Unfortunately many of these additives may have serious side effects that consumers should be aware of. Here is a summary of some of the more common preservatives in foods.

The majority of foods produced and sold at supermarkets these days lack the proper nutrients for a healthy lifestyle and can contribute to obesity, weight gain, type II diabetes, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, and many more diseases.  It is better to completely eliminate these following ingredients from your nutritional habits and substitute with fiber and whole foods such as fruits and vegetables.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Is a cheaper form of sugar and found in the majority of food products made in the USA.  There is a direct link from obesity to the over-consumption of this chemical (Food Additive).  This compound raises your blood glucose higher then regular sugar and has been shown to increase systemic inflammation leading to a variety of heath issues. Research on High Fructose Corn Syrup in the past 10 years have not been positive.

Aspartame (artificial sweetener, Equal or Nutra-Sweet)

Aspartame is used as a sugar substitute in many “diet” drinks and sweets. Its made of amino acids, methanol (a known poison) and phenylalanine.

Check my upcoming blog on artificial sweeteners and the effects these chemicals have on the body such as contributing to obesity, type II diabetes, and increasing the inflammatory process

BHA and BHT (Butylated Hydroyandisole and Butylated Hydroxytoluene)

BHA and BHT keep foods containing oils and fats from going rancid. The WHO World Heath Organization considers them carcinogens. BHA and BHT are not necessary in foods and can be avoided by safer chemicals like Vitamin E. These additives are found in potato chips, cereal, crackers and Quaker Granola Bars to name a few.

Colorings (Blue 1 and 2; Red 2,3 and 40; Yellow 5 and 6)

Red 3 has caused thyroid tumors in rats, according to the FDA, which has recommended that the coloring be BANNED. Yellow 5 has been known to cause mild allergies in aspirin sensitive people. Yellow 6 may have links to cancer and tumors of the adrenal gland and kidney and may also cause allergic reaction. Most food dyes are found in junk food, candies, Kraft Dinner and soft drinks. Maraschino cherries, found in fruit cocktails, contain Red 3.  Food colorings have been proven to be carcinogenic and should be avoided whenever possible.

MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)

MSG is an amino acid that brings out the flavor by activating taste buds, allowing food producers to reduce the amount of real flavorings or ingredients, making it cheaper to produce.

• Reactions can include headaches, nausea, burning sensations in the back of the neck, wheezing and difficulty breathing, all of which are increased in the situation of an allergy. MSG is not hard to find. Many Asian and non-Asian restaurants use it!  Is that why dim sum is sooo good?  It’s also commonly found in soups (Campbell’s uses it frequently), salad dressings, chips, frozen dinners, and HVP (hydrolyzed vegetable protein).   MSG has been proven to be a NEUROTOXIN:  That means that is causes NERVE DEATH when used for long periods of time.

Studies have linked MSG to be an exacerbant of chronic idiopathic urticaria (A kind of skin rash notable for dark red, raised, itchy bumps).

Nutrition is about compromise and learning what battles you need to fight and which battles are better left alone to help keep you morivated.  It is not measured in days but months and years of lifestyle choices.  No matter what your ultimate goal is there are many different paths you can choose to follow to bring you to the same end result, a healthier you! Looking at the alarming health statistics of today, it’s never too early to start paying attention to what you are consuming.

Being able to read a food ingredient label is the foundation to making the correct choices in the supermarket, at the restaurant, or meal planning.  Would you build a house on an unstable foundation?  Then why would you decide to address your nutrition without the proper education on the guiding principles of healthy nutrition.

Schedule a time to meet one-on-one with Dr. Gordon to go over your health goals.  He will teach you how to meal plan, read food labels, shop for food, and much more.  The objective is to learn how your losing weight so you understand the principle and can then apply it whenever you want.  Just like a wise person once said, why continue to buy fish when you can have someone teach you how to become a fisherman and sustain yourself.  At Optimumhealthcare NY we just don’t help you lose weight or get rid of your pain, we show you how to recreate and maintain your health so you never have to be treated over and over for the same problem. For a comprehensive evaluation which the doctor uses to create a customized NUTRITIONAL PROGRAM BROOKLYN, NY follow the link or call 800.980.9172. WEIGHT-LOSS BROOKLYN, NY is a service that could be partially covered by major medical insurance. Follow the link and input your insurance information and a staff member will call you to set up a time to sit down with Dr. Kuang and discuss your goals.

Dr. Gordon Kuang C.S.C.S.

Filed under: Practical Nutritional Advice, Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn, Dr. Gordon Kuang, Eat Healthier, Ingredients to Avoid, New York, Nutrition, Obesity, Optimum Healthcare NY, Stop Cravings, Weightloss, Whole Foods