From E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth

I’ve always wanted to know what it is inside our cells that makes them physically fit. The answer, as I found through reading The Science of Fitness (Nov. 2014) written by Dr. Mark Hom and endorsed by three time Tour de France winner Greg Lemond, is more and healthier mitochondria.

Mitochondria are organelles, or small organs inside our cells, that combine the oxygen we breathe with nutrients we eat to create the energy our body needs to live. There are hundreds to thousands of mitochondria, often referred to as the cell’s powerhouses, in each of our cells depending on how much energy they require to function and their fitness (the amount they are exercised). Muscle cells have many mitochondria, skin cells have few. Fit muscles cells have more mitochondria than unfit cells. For more information about the structure and function of mitochondria that’s direct, brief, and easy to understand, click the picture below for a link to a 2-minute video by Learnbiology.

Regarding mitochondria and how to care for them properly, I recently came upon a terrifically informative TEDx talk by Dr. Terry Wahls, Minding Your Mitochondria (2011), which you can see by clicking the picture below. (At the time of this posting, there was a large red box containing a written disclaimer from TEDx that nearly covered the viewing area. Just click the “x” in the upper right corner of that box to make the box disappear.)

Dr. Wahls is a medical internist who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000. Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a progressive disease that deteriorates the protective myelin sheath that insulates brain and spinal cord nerves and then begins to eat away at the nerves themselves. From 2000 to 2007, Dr. Wahls’s physical condition steadily deteriorated to the point that she was pretty much restricted to lying in a zero gravity reclined chair. During that time, though, she bravely and very dedicatedly studied her medical condition and realized that her mitochondria needed to be fortified. She found out what nutrients her mitochondria needed and started supplementing her diet with vitamins, mostly vitamin B complexes.

But then it dawned on her that getting those vitamins through food, not pills, would probably do an even better job. That’s when she adopted a strongly plant based diet rich in leafy greens along with vitamin and healthy fat rich foods like freshly caught salmon, grass fed meat, and even organ meats. Within 9 months of adopting her new diet, she was out of her zero gravity chair, walking without canes, and even able to ride a bike for 18 miles. Rather incredible.

As an avid cyclist and one who knows beyond a doubt his body’s in better shape than it was at 18, I love knowing and learning more about why we are what we are. Hopefully, that goes the same for you too.