Category: Podcast Episodes

Welcome to another episode of The Matter Over Mind Experience 

I am your host,  Master Trainer & Weight Management Expert, Narado Zeco Powell 

This episode is Q & A 5

I will answer 5 questions from listeners & followers who emailed or sent me a DM

If you have questions about health,  fitness & fat-loss,  feel free to email me @ narado@zecohealth.com or DM on my IG @zecohealth 

Let’s begin 

Question1-

What advice do you have for someone who is beginning their journey into holistic health?

I have 5 tips:

1. Make changes slowly, not drastically 
2. Slowly eliminate foods that could damage your health 
3. Eat as natural as possible & eliminate processed foods, even slowly
4. Connect with nature and connect with animals 
5. Listen to podcasts to learn from other health experts 

Question2-

Okay, how do you feel about this? I feel like my gut feels so much better on higher fat. I know most bodybuilding diets are high carb but I feel like when women do low fat it messes with their hormones.

This is interesting.  There are lots of factors involved like genetics,  ancestral background,  etc.

1. High fat doesn’t necessarily mean low carb. That’s what ppl tend to confuse. Take your Lumen journey for example, you range from low carb to high carb to boost days. All leading to metabolic flexibility 

2. You are correct most women do not do well on low fat, but most women don’t do well on low carb either, especially during menstrual cycles or menopausal.  Both low fat and low carb can mess with hormones. 

3. Some vitamins are water soluble and some are fat soluble another reason why having fat is important for optimal absorption 

4. Fat uses lower inflammation pathways in our mitochondria than carbs, which as you know keeping inflammation low is vital for sustainable health.

5. As far as muscle building,  I believe that you just need to eat enough so your muscles have enough glycogen for performance,  recovery & strength. Our muscles store 4 times more glycogen than our liver

Question3- 

Hey Zeco, curious on your thoughts about kombucha. I just listened to the ACV short… would you recommend also taking ACV? I try to have kombucha a handful of times a week, so maybe Acv on days I don’t drink it? Just wondering thx! Love the pod 

Kamboucha can be a healthy drink to add to your diet. Kamboucha provides your gut healthy probiotics which is vital for optimal guthealth. 

The issue is that most Kamboucha on the market are loaded with added sugar which limits the probiotic benefits. 

I find it easier to eat fermented foods like Sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and yogurt (with live active cultures) for probiotic benefits 

Question4- 

I’m on medication to control tachycardia, which has the added side effect of lowering my heart rate by about 20bpm. How do I adjust for that in calculating my max heart rate? Can I just subtract 20 from my age adjusted rate?

Also, off topic, but do you know a formula, other than BMI, for calculating ideal body weight? I’ve googled and can’t find anything. I’ve done some calculations based on my body composition analysis and body fat percentage recommendations, but I can’t find any information on it. I’d have to lose a lot of muscle mass to have a “healthy” BMI, so I don’t know how to set a realistic weight goal.

In your situation, you could minus 20 from the max, but since you are a unique butterfly 🦋,  You can do little more work to get it accurate as long as your doctor is ok with it.

1. Warm up thoroughly so you start sweating.

2. Do two intervals, each four minutes long. During the intervals you should be too short of breath to talk. Intersperse each interval with three minutes of active rest.

3. Start the third interval, but two minutes in, increase your speed even further and run until you’re too exhausted to continue. Your HRmax will be the highest heart rate you reach. The heart will reach a plateau at which it cannot beat any faster, regardless of how much you increase the workload.

Regarding the second question, you will not really find an answer for healthy BMI it gets tricky.

First start with bodyfat % , you may already know this, but 14-20% is a good range for most women

If you are within a health bf% then aim not to stay within a healthy range of about 20-24.9. 

However, the lower your bf%, the more you can go above the recommended BMI. So in theory women can get to about 25-28 as an extreme. At these points, you are pushing it & in most cases unnecessary. 

Your head is in the right place, you may consider working on building more lean muscle since your bf% should drop as a result. 

Question5- 

Why do my knees tend to collapse inward when I get tired? Especially when squatting & how can I change it?

We call this knee valgus

Knee valgus is characterized by your knee collapsing inward when your hip flexes.

You may also notice that the opposite side of your pelvis may collapse downward. 

This is seen most often in squats, lunges, jumps, landing, and descending steps.

Knee valgus results from a combination of femoral and tibial motions, which can be influenced by the joints proximal and distal to the knee, including the trunk, hip, and ankle.

Lack of femoral control can result in excessive adduction and internal rotation, which can stress the ACL.

Strengthening the knee and hip muscles can improve valgus knee and performing a squat with 

a resistance band can help improve function. 

Valgus knee can happen when lowering or rising out of the bottom of the squat. 

Resistance bands are great tools to help correct valgus knees and provide strength to your hip muscles.

Strengthening the knee and hip muscles can improve valgus knee and performing a squat with a resistance band can help improve function.

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Welcome to another weekend short of The Matter Over Mind Experience, I am your host, Master Trainer & Weight Management Expert, Narado Zeco Powell 

This weekend, I want to discuss bodyfat%

There are times when we focus on weightloss, but not bodyfat%

On the other hand people have reached out to me to ask why their bodyfat isn’t dropping

So I will quickly explain both 

So, let’s begin

Why should we focus on bodyfat?

Just like just focusing on calorie restriction, but focusing on the weight on the scale, you’re missing the point 

There are other aspects to focus on like muscle mass, especially skeletal muscle mass, age, the right bodyfat % range and more 

So, let me explain some reasons why your bodyfat may not be dropping 

You aren’t building lean muscle 

Lean muscle has a direct impact on your metabolism 

Building lean muscle is vital in weight management 

In fact, the more lean muscle you build, as long as you are burning fat, the lower your bodyfat %

That’s why strength training should be the base of any workout routine 

In fact, strength training promotes fat oxidation which promotes fatloss

The next thing is what is your correct bodyfat %

This is rare, but there are times when your bodyfat is quite low and even lower than it should be 

I recommend that you Google bodyfat% chart & you will find charts that breaks it down by age 

So, I also say that nutrition plays a vital role in building skeletal muscle 

Habits like adequate protein, carb cycling & supplementing with creatine and essential amino acids can aid in this process 

Enjoy your weekend fam!

Welcome to another weekend short of The Matter Over Mind Experience

I am your host, Master Trainer & Weight Management Expert, Narado Zeco Powell 

This weekend, I want to ask you, does step counting work?

I am sure you have heard the benefits of walking, are they true, how many steps should we take & how often?

Let’s begin

What type of workout is walking?

When we walk, for most of us, we are in zone 1 or maybe zone 2. 

These lower zones of training promote fat oxidation 

I am not saying to go to the gym to walk, but how many steps do you take per day

I always say a metabolism in motion stays in motion 

According to this PubMed study “Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have shown walking to have various health benefits including positive effects on fitness, fatness and resting blood pressure,blood pressure control,weight loss,depression and cardiovascular disease risk prevention.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4453623/#:~:text=Systematic%20reviews%20and%20meta%2Danalyses,and%20cardiovascular%20disease%20risk%20prevention.

Another study states “Different duration of daily walking was associated with decreased mortality for younger-elderly men with or without critical diseases, independent of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, BMI, medical status, disease history, and functional capacity.”

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26155815/

So, we are establishing the benefits of walking 

Now the question remains how often & how much 

Well, I prefer that each person gets at least 10k steps daily

So, that’s the easy answer 

Research that the average American gets 3 to 4k steps a day

So, there is much room for improvement 

I say slowly increase your steps weekly by at least 500

You will start your find ways to increase your steps 

This can be beneficial for your health 

Enjoy your weekend fam !

Welcome to another weekend short of The Matter Over Mind Experience 

I am your host, Master Trainer & Weight Management Expert Narado Zeco Powell 

This weekend I will quickly breakdown the benefits of coconut oil for fat-loss 

First let’s break down the why coconut oil may be beneficial 

It is an excellent source of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT)

Research tells us that MCTs which contains 6-12 carbon fatty acids are absorbed directly into portal circulation and transported into the liver for rapid absorption 

Long chain triglycerides have more than 12 carbon fatty acids.

LCTs are not bad, but are more common and easily absorbed 

Here are some examples of healthy sources of LCTs:

1. Olive Oil
2. Fish
3. Nuts
4. Avocado 

So, it is not about this or that, but balance.

Here are some benefits of having MCTs into diet;

1. Can provide rapid or  sustained energy, especially for those who are in ketosis or a high fat diet 
2. Can increase the # of calories your body burns 
3. May have antimicrobial effects 
4. May help reduce hunger 

There are other possible benefits outside of weight management like may reduce seizures, improve skin health, may reduce symptoms of Alzheimer’s

More research is needed to confirm some of these effects, but Coconut oil is made up of 65% MCT so adding it into your cooking, especially if you replace seed oils can do wonderful things for your health & waistline 

Enjoy your weekend fam

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