The mighty mitochondria! You’ve heard us talk about them before. Mitochondria are the tiny power houses inside our cells that take glucose and fats from the blood and magically convert them into energy. The more mitochondria we have, the more fat we burn, and the more energy we have. If you’d like more energy, more mitochondria will help you get it. How to get more mitochondria? According to a report on work being done at the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI) in Orlando, Florida, aerobic exercise stimulates your body to create more and better-functioning mitochondria. Without enough exercise, muscle atrophy accompanies aging. Starting around the age of thirty, muscle fibers shrink, while fat stores accumulate. Even if we maintain the same weight, we lose muscle-to-fat ratio. We also lose mitochondria, and those we have become less effective. This can lead to developing insulin resistance, making it even harder to manufacture energy, as well as…

It’s been called “the most effective, potent way that we can improve quality of life and duration of life.” If it were a drug, “it would likely be the most valuable pharmaceutical ever developed.” It isn’t a new supplement or super food, and best of all it’s free. It’s . . . exercise! In a recent issue of Time magazine, reporter Mandy Outlander explored the cutting edge of exercise research with various experts who have become increasingly excited about “exercise as medicine.” His own research prompted the rave reviews above from genetic metabolic neurologist Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky at McMaster University in Ontario. That exercise is good for us isn’t exactly news, but Dr. Tarnopolsky hopes that by pointing out all its wonderful rewards, he may motivate us enough to jump up out of our chairs and actually do it! Rewards being documented are both immediate and long-term. Right after a short exercise session, measurable results include improved mood, less arthritic and lower back pa…