0:26

Welcome to the Open Forum in the Villages

0:28

Florida podcast . In this show we

0:30

talk to leaders in the community , leaders

0:32

of clubs and interesting folks who live

0:35

here in the villages to give perspectives

0:37

of what is happening here in The Villages Florida

0:39

. We hope to add a new episode most Fridays

0:42

at 9am . Our host , mike Roth

0:44

, has been a Villages resident since 2017

0:47

. He is the leader of three lifestyle clubs

0:49

and created a fourth . Mike joined 20

0:52

clubs in the first year he was here in the villages

0:54

. Mike is a strong leader . Before

0:56

coming to the villages , mike was a successful

0:59

business leader and had a successful podcast

1:01

in Cincinnati called Cincinnati Business

1:04

Talk . That shows 300 episodes

1:06

are still available and has over 90,000

1:08

lessons . Mike is an instructor at

1:10

the Villages Enrichment Academy teaching

1:13

podcasting 101 for beginners

1:15

. This podcast is a listener-supported

1:17

podcast . You can become a supporter

1:19

for as little as $3 per month

1:22

or you can choose to pay more . To become

1:24

a supporter , go to open forum in the Villages Florida dot com

1:27

and click on support in the black

1:29

box . There will be shoutouts for supporters

1:32

in episodes . As a supporter , you

1:34

will get a direct email link to Mike . In

1:36

our new season 5 , we are making

1:38

significant improvements and changes

1:40

on an ongoing basis . First

1:43

is our new and better logo upgrades

1:45

and recording equipment to allow easy

1:47

access for remote guests . Second

1:49

is a continuing increase in the use of AI

1:51

in the creation of each episode . Please

1:53

include a transcript of each show

1:55

. Please understand that there may be errors

1:57

inserted by the AI that may not be caught before

2:00

the transcript is published . However , this

2:02

is a dramatic step forward . In fact

2:04

, all the show's announcers are now all

2:07

AI voices , including me . Emily

2:09

Open Forum in the Villages Floor

2:11

that has been publishing new episodes on

2:13

YouTube for the last several months

2:15

. If you have a book that you would like to turn

2:18

into an audiobook , let us know via

2:20

email to mike at rothvoice dot com

2:22

. Hope you enjoy today's show .

2:24

This is Mike Roth on Open Forum in the Villages

2:26

. Welcome to season number five . I'm here

2:29

today with Dr William Shang . In your own

2:31

words , Dr Shang , could you give our listenersa

2:33

little bit of a background of how you got here

2:35

and what you did in your business career before you came

2:37

to the villages ?

2:38

Well , I don't quite would like to characterize

2:41

as a business . I'm a physician by training

2:43

, of course . I started my career through

2:45

the Air Force , through a scholarship , and

2:47

then , after being a primary care

2:49

physician for the Air Force for a number of years

2:52

, I transitioned to pathology

2:54

, did that at George Washington

2:56

University and went on to

2:59

do what most pathologists do , which

3:01

is a combination of county autopsies

3:03

director for laboratories . So

3:05

whenever you get a blood test drawn sent

3:07

to a lab , we oversee the quality

3:09

control of those , make sure the machines are working

3:11

correctly , but most of our work

3:14

is looking to our microscope and making diagnoses

3:16

on tissue . So you get a biopsy

3:19

. We tell the surgeon it's .

3:20

XYZ . Okay , were you one of the guys

3:22

who would count the blood cells , the white cells , versus

3:25

the red cells ? We set up the machines to do

3:27

that . Oh , machines do that today .

3:29

Yeah . So I ended up tapering my career

3:31

and before I came to the villages I

3:33

spent a long time with Cornell University . I'm

3:35

still consulting with them , but more

3:38

or less now a villager Good

3:40

, Good my brother went to Cornell .

3:42

Actually , I have two brothers who went to Cornell , but

3:44

that's another whole story altogether . As

3:46

a physician , Dr Shang , what made

3:48

you think of getting involved with

3:51

strength training ?

3:52

That's a very interesting question . In my

3:54

50s I woke up one morning

3:57

and I noticed that I had a gout

3:59

attack , which is really bizarre Gout

4:01

, Gout . I was actually never

4:03

overweight .

4:04

You're not overweight today .

4:06

What was distressing was I looked

4:08

at my lab numbers because I run a lab . We can run

4:10

labs on ourselves all the time . My

4:13

glucose was higher than normal , my

4:16

triglycerides were high and I began

4:18

to investigate this . I asked my colleagues

4:20

. I said what can we do about this

4:24

? Most of us who are physicians , we think about

4:27

prescription pad . They said well

4:29

, you can take a med . I said I don't want

4:31

to take any meds , so I started

4:33

looking into this . What's really

4:35

interesting about what I found

4:37

, and what I'd like to share with you , is that most

4:39

of the diseases that we see

4:42

in people in the second half of their

4:44

life whether it be high blood pressure , high

4:46

glucose , high fat levels , high

4:48

cholesterol those are all common

4:51

to one disease . And it's something

4:53

that we never talk about . What disease is

4:55

that ? It's sarcopenia . Oh , that's a big

4:57

word .

4:58

That's a big word , isn't it ? Yeah , what ? Does

5:00

that mean ?

5:00

Well , it's sarco . We break it down . Sarco

5:02

means muscle , penia means less , and

5:05

so , as we get older , we

5:07

lose muscle over time . And that actually

5:09

begins around the age of 30 . But it's

5:12

something really strange . I actually didn't

5:14

know this word , even though , as pathologists

5:17

, what we do is we study how diseases

5:19

evolve , and it never occurred to

5:21

me that here is something that

5:23

we can actually do something about without

5:25

a medication .

5:26

Wow , Just going to the gym and working

5:28

out would help .

5:30

You know we're in Florida here and

5:32

you might have heard that , the fountain

5:34

of youth .

5:35

Yes , yes , so

5:37

there's a Ponce de la Leon .

5:39

That's right , ponce de la Leon . One of the Spanish

5:41

conquistadors .

5:42

Yeah , I went to Leon Springs to

5:44

see the source of the fountain of youth

5:46

. It was a little trickle .

5:48

So , as legend goes , he landed around

5:50

Tampa and he

5:52

ran into the Calusa Indian and , as

5:54

legend goes , he looked at the Calusa Indians

5:57

and he said , wow , these

5:59

guys are built . They

6:02

might have white hair but they don't look old at all . There

6:04

must be a fountain of youth around here .

6:06

Ah , okay .

6:07

And that's how the fountain of youth… .

6:09

Legend .

6:10

Legend began Now if you go to that area

6:12

. I don't know if you've ever been to Mount Archaeologic

6:15

State Park . No , I've been to Tampa

6:17

.

6:18

Where is Mount Archaeological

6:20

State ?

6:21

Park . It's right around Tampa and

6:23

what you'll see , there are

6:26

these huge mounds . They're 20

6:28

, 30 feet high and they're all made

6:30

up of clam and oyster shell . These

6:33

Indians ate an incredibly

6:35

high protein seafood diet

6:37

and they were , what we like to say

6:39

, not sarcopenic . They were buff

6:41

. They had very impressive

6:44

musculature compared

6:46

to the Spaniards who landed .

6:48

Interesting Because in a way of life

6:50

here in America you know , I may have worked

6:52

out and did a little bit of football , basketball

6:55

when I was in college . All of a sudden I found myself

6:57

in a job where I was doing a lot of walking

6:59

and very little manual labor , and as I got

7:01

to own my own companies , I got to sit behind

7:04

the desk more often than not and going

7:06

to the gym was a time consumer

7:08

that was hard to get to .

7:10

So what's very interesting to me , as

7:12

someone who runs laboratories and , if

7:14

you like to say , pedals test , is that the

7:16

best test for metabolic health

7:18

? It's not glucose , it's not a lipid

7:20

panel , it's actually how you look

7:22

. If you look at yourself in the mirror

7:24

full length mirror after taking a shower

7:26

and you say to yourself now , is that

7:28

guy easy to kill , is he or

7:30

is he prey ? That is actually

7:32

the best measure of your metabolic

7:34

health . So this was quite an epiphany to me

7:37

, as someone who works in

7:39

this industry , that the best test for

7:41

the three scourges that we have

7:43

here heart attacks , strokes , dementia

7:46

, falls and , oh yeah , they're all

7:48

related to sarcopenia .

7:49

Yeah , we just had a member of our Mercedes club

7:51

wool and dye broke his leg

7:53

at three places and he was gone .

7:55

Yeah , unfortunately it happens too often , and

7:58

especially when it's

8:00

something that we can fix

8:02

the base problem . It's not

8:04

something that the pharmaceutical companies

8:06

have figured out how to put into a pill , nor

8:08

would they ever figure out how to do it .

8:10

Build muscle and cut fat in one

8:12

pill .

8:13

That's right and I have all the good benefits

8:15

. I know that many villages are concerned

8:17

about dementia and terrible

8:19

disease . It's something that

8:21

if , for example I was going to mention

8:23

this later , but now's a good time is that

8:25

there were studies that were done about dementia

8:28

prevention , and strain

8:30

training , along with aerobic you know

8:32

, the walking , if you like decreases

8:35

the risk of dementia more than any other medication

8:37

you can get .

8:38

More than any other medication . Well , medications

8:40

aren't very effective against dementia

8:42

.

8:42

I know it's rather strange , You'd think . What is the

8:44

connection there between muscle

8:47

and the brain ? And in recent years we've

8:49

actually learned there is a link that muscle produces

8:51

substances that are like fertilizer

8:53

for the brain .

8:54

Really , yeah . Fertilize it for the brain by

8:56

going out to the gym and working out

8:58

for a half hour an hour .

8:59

I think that now's a good time . We talk

9:02

about what the recommendations are

9:04

for exercise for people

9:06

in the second half of their life . And it's

9:08

pretty uniform and many doctors

9:10

and nurses , when I give a talk and I ask them

9:12

what is the recommendations for exercise , they

9:15

all know that 150 minutes a week to

9:17

300 minutes of low to

9:19

moderate intensity aerobic exercise

9:21

. But oftentimes they forget there's a second

9:23

component to that and the second component

9:26

which most health care providers don't remember

9:28

is two sessions a week

9:30

of strain training , part and parcel

9:32

of what's recommended by the

9:34

American College of Sports Medicine .

9:36

So strength training in this context

9:39

means exactly .

9:40

It means if

9:42

you talk about purpose , most people talk

9:44

about aerobic exercise as

9:46

cardio exercise , which

9:48

is not exactly correct , but it's

9:50

associated with raising your

9:53

heart rate Raising your heart rate , whether you're

9:55

lifting weights or pulling them up , or pushing

9:57

them down or working against your own

9:59

body weight . That's calisthenic

10:02

. Now , the way I'd like to think about it

10:04

is that we have two types of muscle fiber

10:06

in our body . Now I see you Looking

10:08

at the ceiling .

10:09

I think of one type of muscle

10:11

.

10:11

Let me ask you this sure , when you have

10:14

chicken with your wife , yes , do you prefer

10:16

the dark meat or the light meat ?

10:18

I like the breast , the chop , the white meat

10:20

, the white meat . Okay so avoid the

10:22

dark meat .

10:23

There's a very good reason why Breast

10:25

meat is light and the , the leg and

10:27

the thighs are dark . I find

10:29

that to be a little bit fatty . Hmm , well , the

10:32

muscle of the lower portions

10:34

of the chicken they bear weight . Mm-hmm , mm-hmm

10:37

. They have a different composition

10:39

of muscle fibers . They actually

10:42

have to support the weight of the bird , mm-hmm , so they

10:44

have more strength fibers , whereas the breast

10:46

that actually has more stamina fibers

10:48

because , it you could , the bird has to keep her

10:50

breathing without stopping Right right

10:52

so stamina . Fibers are are

10:55

those which are aerobic and we

10:57

do aerobic style exercise , incorrectly

11:00

called cardio . Mm-hmm and the

11:02

type of training that we have to do

11:04

for muscle fibers , which are strength , that's

11:06

resistance training training with a resistance

11:08

band .

11:09

Right , putting a resistance band around your knees

11:11

or ankles and then working against that .

11:13

That would work . So , basically

11:15

, we have two different types of muscle fibers and therefore

11:17

we have two different types of exercise and which

11:20

type of exercise Do you think we're

11:22

not getting enough of huh ? If you pull

11:24

most Americans and the survey's

11:26

been done how many Americans get both

11:28

the aerobic with 150 to 300

11:30

minutes a week plus two strength

11:32

trainings a week , it works out to about one

11:34

in eight very small . Mm-hmm . And

11:37

here in the villages , we have certainly

11:39

had the time to do what's right for

11:41

us , in other words , not just longevity

11:43

but health span , so that we

11:45

can enjoy our lives for as long

11:47

as we live . Mm-hmm . And

11:50

you were talking about falling .

11:52

This is a terrible disease here in

11:54

the villages . I had a show on last week

11:56

with a guy named Ed Yeska who

11:58

is a sports trainer , I think , for the Detroit

12:01

football team and he runs a class

12:03

every week up at La Hacienda

12:05

on Balance and how to prevent

12:07

yourself from falling . He has a whole bunch of

12:09

tests that you can take . Find out

12:12

if your strength in your muscles

12:14

and core to prevent you from falling

12:16

is At the right level for

12:18

your age group Mm-hmm .

12:20

That's , that's a great program . Strength

12:22

is arguably as

12:24

important or more important than balance , because

12:27

most of us , no matter how old

12:29

we are , we will lose our footing at some

12:31

point . But it requires a certain amount of strength

12:33

to recover on one leg and

12:35

the ground or prevent from falling and

12:37

hitting the ground . So that's strength , is what

12:39

prevent us from breaking . And then the

12:42

muscles of course they're tied into

12:44

the bone , and so the strength

12:46

of the muscles are proportional to

12:48

the strength of the bone .

12:49

Mm-hmm . A lot of people here in the villages have

12:51

bone loss . That's right . In fact

12:54

, I've even heard of people taking injections

12:56

once a month to over a course of

12:58

a year to increase their bone density

13:01

.

13:01

That's right . There's another

13:03

example of where we

13:05

, as physicians and healthcare

13:07

providers , do a very good job of Writing a

13:09

prescription for something that , if you

13:12

do the right thing for exercise , your

13:14

body will have the incentive of making it stronger

13:16

. So , in other words , if you were to

13:18

regularly stress the bone

13:20

with something that is heavier

13:22

than you're normally able to handle

13:24

, then the bone will react in

13:26

a way to become stronger , and

13:29

For years we prescribed calcium

13:31

and we found it didn't work by itself

13:33

, unless you give the body an incentive

13:35

to take the calcium and incorporate

13:38

into the bone .

13:38

Mm-hmm , mm-hmm . So when I see hundreds

13:41

of people , we've walking in the villages and

13:43

they maybe get 30 minutes Five

13:45

times a week , that's your 150

13:47

minutes . But you're saying they need strength

13:49

training as well , absolutely , and

13:51

you say that's twice a week . Twice a week , and

13:54

how do they get the strength training ?

13:55

Well , here in the villages we're very lucky all

13:57

of the major rec centers . Mm-hmm

14:00

. That's having an associated gym . Mm-hmm

14:02

and I didn't check recently , but it's quite

14:04

nominal cost . I think it's five dollars

14:06

a visit .

14:07

Oh yeah , it's about eight , eight , eight

14:09

, about I've heard about $80 a month . Maybe

14:11

I'm okay about that . No .

14:12

I mean per visit , but oh , but certainly

14:14

can be updated . But there are cheaper

14:17

and more expensive . I've news . There's Planet

14:19

Fitness in Leesburg , when I

14:21

go to this Genesis , which is

14:23

good if you're getting started , because everyone who gets

14:25

started needs a trainer . Even trainers need Trainers

14:27

, because you can't see yourself right .

14:29

So when you go to a place like Genesis , I'm

14:32

gonna say generally , there's a choice of two , three

14:34

, three avenues . One is to hire

14:36

a trainer in Genesis to take you through some exercises

14:39

. Number two is the

14:41

Genesis free classes , which are included

14:43

in their membership . And the third , third

14:45

course would be just to do it yourself . You

14:47

know , get on the machines and either roll

14:50

or push or pull in particular

14:52

muscle groups . Are there any particular muscle

14:54

groups that are more recommended ?

14:56

I'm glad you asked that For metabolic

14:59

health . What we're talking about is

15:01

trying to train the largest muscle

15:03

of the body Legs , Legs , hips

15:05

, back . So the most important

15:07

muscle we're trying to train are those

15:09

which have become not

15:12

used to being active . So

15:14

if you take , for example , somebody

15:17

who is sedentary , who doesn't

15:19

do much in the way of exercise

15:22

, their muscles are not using

15:24

the majority of glucose in the body

15:26

.

15:27

And that may be a lot of us who are in our 60s

15:29

, 70s or 80s .

15:30

Right , we're no longer Calusa Indians .

15:33

No , we're not Calusa Indians . Instead of walking

15:35

, we get in a golf cart

15:37

or get in our car and drive someplace . I

15:39

make it a practice to park my car at the far end

15:41

of the parking lot from wherever I'm going and

15:43

try to pick up 3,000 extra

15:46

steps a day .

15:46

Good for you . I think that the Fitbit

15:49

has done a good job of motivating people

15:51

. What I find interesting about

15:53

medicine and strength

15:56

training for example , if you go to an

15:58

internist or family practice doctors

16:00

and office and you're sitting in the

16:02

waiting room and you look

16:05

around , chances are three out of four people

16:07

sitting there are there for high blood

16:09

pressure , lipid medication

16:11

statins , and we

16:14

don't have a good way of

16:16

decreasing our health care costs by prevention

16:18

or by treatment with exercise . And

16:20

this is what's really amazing this information

16:23

that is not well known . There

16:26

was a study that came out in

16:28

one of the British Medical Journal that by

16:30

wall sitting , sitting with your back against the

16:32

wall for two minutes four

16:35

times a day every other day . It reduces

16:37

the blood pressure the same as taking one high

16:39

blood pressure medication .

16:41

That's a pretty good trick . Just sit against the wall

16:44

at a 90 degree angle with your legs

16:46

pointed out for four minutes a day , for

16:48

two minutes a day . Two minutes a day , two

16:50

minutes at a time , two minutes at a time , four

16:52

times .

16:53

So it's a total of eight minutes . Eight minutes With

16:55

some rest in between , with the rest Right

16:58

, and you can do that while watching

17:00

television or doing something else

17:02

around that .

17:03

But that's really really very simple .

17:05

Very simple . You don't need a gym for that and you

17:07

don't need a blood pressure medication . Well , that's

17:09

pretty much fantastic , yeah .

17:11

Are there any other tricks ?

17:12

Lots of tricks .

17:13

Lots of tricks . So if the goal

17:15

is really to get stronger , how do you set a goal

17:17

? How strong to be ? Should I be able to lift

17:19

25 pounds , 50 pounds

17:22

, 100 pounds it's 100 pounds

17:24

. To me sounds like it'll break my own bones .

17:26

I think that for many people who

17:28

are thinking or contemplating strength

17:31

training , they instantly think of Arnold

17:33

Schwarzenegger . Arnold Schwarzenegger .

17:35

Lew Ferrigno the Hulk .

17:37

I did that when I first started and I realized

17:39

the benefits of strength training and I picked up one

17:42

of his books and I followed his program

17:44

and within a very short period of

17:46

time it hurt myself and I realized

17:48

basically , the problem is that

17:50

seniors don't have

17:52

a culture of strength

17:54

training and be maybe a genesis

17:57

, I don't know , but there's a

17:59

way to do it . That is not a young

18:01

person's way and the goal

18:03

is not to look like Arnold . Nor

18:05

will many of us achieve that

18:07

. The goal is to improve

18:09

our metabolism at the primary

18:12

level so that we don't need a statin

18:14

, we don't need a metform

18:17

, we don't need a Wachovie

18:19

.

18:19

Yes , I mean , it seems like recently

18:21

Oprah has given up on strength training

18:23

in favor of using Wachovie

18:25

. Well , I can't comment on any

18:28

particular person's medical situation , but

18:30

well , it seems I

18:32

do have a one friend who's lost

18:34

over 50 pounds on Wachovie

18:36

. He swears by it . He looks

18:39

much better , much leaner . But

18:42

when you go into that doctor's office that you talked about

18:44

and I look around lots of times I see people

18:46

who are overweight or grossly overweight . And

18:48

let's take a quick break here and listen to

18:50

a Alzheimer's tip from Dr Craig

18:53

Curtis . Dr Curtis , can you give our

18:55

patients a tip on

18:57

keeping their brain healthy ?

18:59

Absolutely my favorite tip is

19:01

involves a change in eating

19:03

patterns , but it's not a drastic change

19:06

. It's simply increasing the

19:08

amount of fresh fruits and vegetables

19:10

, fish , other white meats and

19:12

lowering the amounts of red meat

19:15

, sweets and sugars and

19:17

also carbohydrates . It's

19:19

essentially following a Mediterranean

19:22

type diet plan .

19:23

With over 20 years of experience studying brain

19:26

health , dr Curtis's goal is to educate

19:28

the village's community on how to live a longer , healthier

19:30

life . To learn more , visit his website

19:32

, craigcurtismd dot com , or call

19:35

352-500-5252

19:38

to attend a free seminar .

19:39

Remember our next episode will be released

19:41

next Friday at 9 am . Should

19:44

you want to become a major supporter of the show

19:46

or have questions , please contact

19:48

us at mike at rothvoice . com

19:50

. This is a shout out for supporters Greg

19:52

Panijan , Tweet Coleman , Dan

19:54

Kapellan , ed Williams , Alvin

19:56

Stenzel and major supporter Dr

19:58

Craig Curtis at K2 in the villages

20:01

. We will be hearing more from Dr Curtis

20:03

with short Alzheimer's tips each week

20:05

. If you know someone who should be on the show

20:07

, contact us at mike at rothvoice . com

20:10

. We thank everyone for listening

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to the show . The content of the show is

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, all rights reserved .