Episode #201: What To Do About Knee Pain That Won’t Go Away

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July 18, 2012 – free podcast: What To Do About Knee Pain That Won't Go Away. Also: can heat acclimating improve fitness, is “Infinite Nutrition” good, how BMR works, curing piriformis syndrome, should yogurt be a part of your diet, are creatinine levels important, over-training and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and what to eat after lap band or gastric bypass surgery?

Have a podcast question for Ben? click Ask a Podcast Question at the bottom of this page, Skype to “pacificfit” or scroll down on this post to access the free “Ask Ben” form.

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Special Announcements:

The Future Of Health Now – Videos are Live, Free and Available!

Ben is going to Spain – drop him a note if you happen to going to The 2012 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain on July 29.

Ben is now using an Omni Blender (50-400% less expensive than a Vitamix!) and Jessa and Ben recently shot two videos: How To Make Gluten Free Waffles and How To Make A Mexican Mocha.

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Listener Q&A:A donate button that reads - keep the podcasts coming

As compiled and read by Brock, the Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast “sidekick”.

Audio Question from Gordon:
Is it possible to get a benefit from training in high heat and high humidity to then race in a cooler and possibly (but not necessarily) higher elevation?

~ In my response, I mention Endurance Planet's Guide To Elevation.

Audio Question from BMR Man:
He is 6'2″, weighs 229lbs. BMR calculation says 2800 – 3000 calories a day. If he does that he doesn't gain weight but he loses weight slowly while also gaining muscle. Is he doing that right or should he be cutting back to 2000 calories?

Audio Question from Tige:
Looking for information on the product Infinite Nutrition. Fueling for 70.3 and Full Iron distance.

Audio Question from Joe:
Joe just did the Philly Tri. Has now been diagnosed with… some sort of “itis”… in both knees. Doing high cadence low resistance workouts and wearing Nitro Glycerine strips on his knees. Is there anything else he should be doing to help get this moving along.

Audio Question from Steve:
40-year-old triathlete. Like 70.3 distance. Has hip, glute pain that flairs up after running, first thing in the morning and after sitting for a long time. Had Xray and MRI with did not reveal anything except that he has a larger peraformis and a weak glute med on the injured side. Cortisone injection provided no relief. What should he try next?

~ In my response to Steve, I mention these exercises and this stretch.

Lisa asks:
I just wanted some clarification on the yogurt vs. ice cream question in episode #200. In response to this question, Ben suggested that yogurt and dairy in general was something to avoid given its insulinogenic effects. I took dairy out of my diet for 30 days on the Paleo diet, then cycled some cheese and butter back in since I seem to tolerate dairy fine. I then added in full-fat yogurt after seeing it on your food pyramid. I LOVE yogurt with some berries and cinnamon for breakfast or a snack, although I haven't been eating it long enough to track whether or not it's affecting my weight loss goals. But I was confused when I heard this recommendation for yogurt rescinded on the podcast. Should it not be part of the base of the superhuman food pyramid or am I missing something?

Jakob asks:
I would like to ask you about diet as a way to lower creatinine levels in my blood. I have, since 11yrs of age, had a kidney inflammation called IgA Nefrite. I have been a swimmer since I was 6yrs old and now, at 44yrs of age I'm into Triathlon. Since I train about 12-15 hours a week and follow a Paleo diet for Athletes (Joe Friel et al. ) to about 80-20 rule, the relative amount of protein in my diet has increased. So my question is really, what can I do to naturally lower my creatinine in order to help my kidneys ?

Gary asks:
My question relates to thyroid stimulating hormone. I had a blood test 5 months ago that came out high (5.03 uU/ml). I have seen it can be related to a lack of Iodine in the diet. Unfortunately, I live in mainland Europe (southern Germany) where there is little iodine in the soil and hence locally grown fruit and especially root vegetables have very little iodine content. I repeated the blood test last week and I still have an elevated TSH (4.37uU/ml). My doctor has suggested hormone treatment, but I would like to hear if there may be other options. Also, since elevated TSH can be related to lacking energy and reduced metabolism functions, do you consider it could be related to a series of issues I have recently been suffering such as overtraining symptoms.

~ In my response, I recommend the book “Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal?

Anonymous asks:
I have a friend who recently had the lap band gastric bypass surgery. Do you have any recommendations for what she should take in while on the liquids only phase and then going forward.

~ In my response, I mention the LivingFuel supplements at www.pacificfit.net

Prior to asking your question, do a search in upper right hand corner of this website for the keywords associated with your question. Many of the questions we receive have already been answered here at Ben Greenfield Fitness!

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Ask Ben a Podcast Question

17 thoughts on “Episode #201: What To Do About Knee Pain That Won’t Go Away

  1. Gary says:

    Hey Ben, thanks for all the information related to my thyroid question. Cutting down gluten is the easy bit, going without the nice German beer is a bit more of a sacrifice. But hey, I am doing my best. It's been a few weeks so far but I will let you know after a couple of months if the TSH levels are comming down.

  2. Fred Firestine says:

    Thanks for the discussion of Ben's knee problem, which in addition to being very informative, helped me solved a mystery related to my use of the P90X2 workout program. They use the terminology "neuro-integrated stretching," and a Google search turned up mostly other P90X2 users rather than background information about the technique. Ben talked about Progressive Neuromuscular Relaxation (PNR), which seems very similar, so I will do some reading about that to see how it compares to the P90X2 version.

  3. Jennifer Doss says:

    The Skoras are pricey, but I am interested in trying them. Do you like them better than your Vibrams? Do you have to gradually transition into them? It seems like it. Thank you.

    1. Same feel as Vibrams. But Vibrams look like monkey feet. And Skoras look like Italian designer shoes. 'Nuff said. ;)

      1. El Omar Mtz says:

        I'm also thinking about getting some Skora shoes, but they don't really show the difference between their "base" and "form" models. Is there any real difference between them other than laces vs straps? Cheers!

        1. Not really much difference aside from laces vs. straps, El. I personally really like the way the strapless model works for triathlons, but like the laces for "fashion"…

  4. Jennifer Doss says:

    What was the name of the minimal running shoes you mentioned in the podcast that you will be wearing in Spain? Thank you.

  5. psh says:

    For those who have slowed their metabolism due to reducing calores, is there a way to reverse that? Or if you just seem to be able to eat a low amount of total calories. In my case, I do not eat fruit and only a little green vegetables. Thank you.

    1. You can. But it takes eating adequate calories again for weeks up to several months…without hard exercise, fasts, etc.

  6. Ron says:

    Hi Ben…I'd like to expand on the yogurt subject.

    You mentioned avoiding eating yogurt (and dairy) at night. I like to eat a cup of Greek yogurt before bed. I find it makes me sleep better than when I don't eat it before bed.

    I do buy the honey or fruit on the bottom varieties, but I do not eat the stuff on the bottom. You still get a little of the flavor in the yogurt, but you can avoid eating the vast majority of the stuff on the bottom. I don't really like plain Greek yogurt, so I need a little bit of the flavor. I assume you aren't getting nearly the sugar amounts as if you ate the entire contents.

    So, what are you quick thoughts on eating Greek yogurt at night that has the sugar on the bottom, which you do not eat?

    Is it just the sugar that you are concerned about in the yogurt, or is there something else in the yogurt that I should be aware of?

    Any alternatives you would like to suggest?

    I am coming at this from a fat loss perspective. I am a long distance runner and always looking at ways to improve health and lower body fat. I assume my night-time yogurt habit is not sabotaging my fitness.

    Thanks. Love the podcast…It really helps take a chunk out of my hour commute.

    1. If you're doing a nighttime or later afternoon workout, I don't see an issue, Ron. What you need to realize though is that even if you skip the fruit and or sugar at the bottom that yogurt still has a very big effect on your insulin levels, and you need to be careful with that, especially at night when insulin sensitivity can drop and insulin in the bloodstream can affect leptin uptake into the hypothalamus – potentially limiting fat burning while you sleep. Hence the recommendation to only use yogurt at night if you're in a post exercise state…

      An alternative is coconut milk with a little bit of almond butter and a little bit of whey protein. Still insulogenic, but not as much as yogurt.

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  8. tanya Humphries says:

    Would it be possible to send me the link to two talks. The one on water (for those of us who swim a lot) and the one on the stand up bike as I want to order one for Christmas. My husband and I listen often and love all you do We recently joined the inner circle and love what we learn there!!

    [email protected]

    1. Tanya…can you please clarify when say "the link to the two talks"? I'm not quite sure which two talks you're referring to or where you heard about them…thanks! (and be sure to use the search function on upper right corner of this site if that comes in handy!).

  9. abdi says:

    hi Ben. as always, great podcast. quick question: you recommended and interviewed a DR and music composer who specialized in creating relaxing music. do you recall his name? thanks

    1. Abdi, I would actually put that thought on hold for about 2 weeks. I have hired sound engineers to create 3 audio tracks, and I'm going to release them in August. One for relaxation, one for pre performance and one for during performance. They're going to be available at http://www.superhumancoach.com

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