Working with Sparks... Systems...

I have been helping a company called Sparks Systems evolve from a dedicated Athletic Performance Testing and Coaching company, into one that focuses also on Metabolic Efficiency in the general population. This has been a life changing experience for me, and for Lynnda. I plan to post occasionally here on the whole concept… I write posts at the Sparks website under the Silver and Healthy Byline.

Metabolism is about the chemical reactions in our bodies that convert the things we eat and drink into energy (stored or expended). Being metabolically efficient means that an individual’s nutrition, movement and breathing coincide to meet the needs of their resting, working and athletic endeavors. Sparks Systems core science is in the metabolic testing process that establishes baseline values for clients at rest and when performing at their highest intensity.

In the span of our being at rest, all the way to full-out sustained exercise, we utilize our stored energy (carbohydrates and fat) to power our lives. Historically, humans evolved as carnivores (mostly hunter/gatherers), who ate sporadically, when food (meat, berries, roots, and other wild sources of edibles) was available. In the past couple of hundred years, through evolving farming capabilities and capacities, we have added a large portion of carbohydrates, much of them from processed the food industry. Fresh foods, while available, are more expensive, and not accessible by much of the population.

This has led to another type of span… that of the average, median and range of body weights and compositions. As the industrial revolution added the capacity to produce low cost carbohydrates as an additional dietary source, humans began new evolutionary processes, expanding their waistlines. Especially since governments got involved with the dietary “Food Pyramid” beginning in the mid- seventies, and through the mid-nineties when the USA adopted a pyramid of its own.

As early as the late 60’s the USA was recommending low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets based on research in the USA and the Seven Countries Study led by Ansel Keys. This all led to significant expansion of the waist sizes which has led to today, when there are over 200 million overweight and obese people in the USA… many are Type II Diabetics or Pre-diabetic (over 90% of pre-diabetic people become diabetics within ten years of diagnosis).

Overweight/obesity does have side effects of increased cardiovascular disease, higher cancer risks, inflammatory diseases, and Type II Diabetes. As a result, there has been a new industry pop up in many countries… the diet industry. In 2019 the revenue for the diet industry will exceed $70 billion in the USA alone. Each year, over 45 million Americans start a diet plan. Depending on which resource we consult, 84% to 97% of dieters fail to have long term weight loss.

So, it is within this scope of the North American health landscape of overweight and obese people that Sparks Systems has chosen to add Metabolic Efficiency to its business plan. They bring scientific expertise to the testing of individuals’ metabolism using their own test parameters and algorithms for evaluating someone’s baseline metabolic balance… fat vs carbohydrates as a source of energy.

Using Sparks’ technology, they can establish specifically how many calories a client is burning at rest, and during light, moderate and extreme exercise. These techniques were established to evaluate their elite and pro athlete client and are now being applied to client trying to change/improve their personal wellness, body composition, stamina and speed. When Sparks tests, it gives clients a baseline from which to work, and retesting gives a measure of success.

The baseline test, a Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) Test is part of the entry level program. This test analyses the client’s energy source and how much energy is expended just to exist. It defines what sources are being used, and the percentage of carbohydrates or fat are being used at rest. From this, the Metabolic Health Coach from Sparks can help the client understand their nutrition needs going forward, to accomplish the specific goals of the client.

The RMR is critical to all of Spark’s clients… including elite and pro athletes. This is because our nutrition impacts our performance, even at rest. Many athletes maintain high carbohydrates because they have learned that the body needs a lot of glucose in order to perform at its highest level… this for their performance, and also for recovery and repair of muscles. For the explosive sports, this is important.

On the other hand, many sports, and life in general, are based on endurance. It is here, that problems with high carbohydrate nutrition plans can cause unintended consequences… a lack of glucose tolerance, weight gain, and especially poor extended performance in endurance sports.

In the “life-in-general” realm, when high carbohydrate nutrition is not necessary, the outcome of excessive carbohydrate nutrition is weight gain. This is the cause of the current epidemic in North America in people who are overweight and obese. Calculating these conditions is simple… Body Mass Index, aka, BMI is calculated like this… BMI = weight / height… i.e. BMI = kg/m2. The normal range for BMI is 18.5 to 24.5. The range for overweight is 25 to 30. Obesity is defined as a BMI that is greater than 30.

One of the reasons I got involved in Sparks Systems is that they seemed to have, for their athletes, the exact testing apparatus that is needed to understand the solutions to weight problems that are missing from regular weight loss programs. I am of the background that if you can measure something, you can impact it… if you can’t, you won’t. With weight, knowing your weight is merely a symptom of the problem… scales are useless in weight loss… so are weigh-ins!

On a personal level, I originally went to Sparks Systems because as hard as I was working out on the bike, and the rest of my conglomeration of exercise paraphernalia, I couldn’t lose weight below my BMI of around 25.5 and a weight of 173 at the time of my first test.

I was doing some things right… but at 70 years of age, I was eating far too much. My first test showed that I was in fact living on my fat when I was at rest… but when I started exercising, I was unable to sustain the fat usage, and my body started using carbohydrates at around 85 beats per minute as I ramped up… I was completely dependent on carbohydrates by the time I got to 110 beats per minute.

The coaches at Sparks helped me understand my test, how to train right and several months later I weighed in at 153 pounds and a BMI of 22.5, well within the recommended BMI range for wellness support. I have sustained the weight range even though due to an injury, I have not been able to train regularly.

I am convinced that anyone can benefit from Sparks’ program simply because of my personal experience. Yes, I am an active person for my age… but since August of 2018 I have been unable to train regularly (by this I mean I work out lightly once or twice a month). Even with this, because of the tools I gained from the first interface with Sparks, I have been able to maintain my health.

I will continue to blog on Sparks and especially on my take on being healthy through their Pillars of Health Program… the three pillars are nutrition, movement and breathing… in the interim, check out www.sparkssystems.net for more information.