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Trip Report: Nutrition Intervention

An in-depth discussion with the man behind this amazing PICP seminar

Nutrition is key to success in any health and sports performance program. To stay abreast of the latest research, the Poliquin Strength Institute sponsors the best guest presenters for its seminars called the Special Consideration Training Series. On the weekend of January 19-20, our presentation was “Solving Common Problems in Nutritional Intervention.” It was awesome.

The seminar focused on presenting practical information on many important aspects of nutrition and supplementation related to health, physical fitness and athletic performance. The seminar attracted personal trainers from eight countries. One reason for the high attendance is the qualifications of our presenter, Dr. Robert A. Rakowski.

Dr. Rakowski wears many hats: clinical nutritionist, chiropractor, kinesiologist, and even certified biological terrain instructor. He is the clinic director of the Natural Medicine Center in Houston, Texas, and his patient base includes professional athletes, healthy people wanting to improve their quality of life, and critically ill patients looking for new, natural treatments that offer hope.

During a break during his seminar, Dr. Rakowski agreed to spend a few minutes to discuss some of his research from a lifetime of study and practical work in nutrition.

KG: What makes your seminars on nutrition different from others?
RR: I think that when others teach seminars on nutrition, they often get lost in the details – they don’t show the big picture. There’s a reason why nutrition works, and the reason is people are malnourished. The reason people are malnourished is we have depleted the soil over the past half century by using fertilizers that contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It takes 17 elements to make a healthy plant, and we only put three back in. So what happens is this malnutrition in the plants becomes malnutrition in the animals and becomes malnutrition in humans.

KG: Are there additional problems with the pesticides we use?
RR: Here is the problem. When plants become progressively weak from being malnourished, they can’t defend themselves against bugs, so we give them pesticides. And we use a billon tons of pesticides – a billion tons! – in one country. Well, it takes a lot of energy in humans to detoxify; the food we are eating doesn’t have it, and the result is emotional and physical problems. But instead of looking at nutrition, our nation turns to drugs.

KG: The idea that all you need to do in regard to nutrition is to eat healthy is not true?
RR: It certainly won’t be sufficient for anyone who is doing something with their body other than sitting at a computer all day long. If you’re trying to compete on an elite level, the person who has the best nutrient status and the least amount of toxins is going to win, all things else being equal. I agree that we should get most of our nutrients from food. Taking supplements in the absence of a good diet is still a poor diet with supplements. What you want is a great diet, but even with that the literature suggests that a great diet is not sufficient to reestablish depleted systems – that a sick body can’t bounce back without supplementation.

KG: Isn’t it better to get nutrition from food sources whenever possible because supplements are not as readily absorbed by the body?
RR: Are there differences in the absorption of supplements? Absolutely. But you take any mineral out there, the body absorbs minerals better with certain amino acids attached to them. It’s like the fast pass through the expressway. You get a mineral tied to the amino acid and you’ll absorb it better. Certain amino acids tend to target certain cell types in the body more effectively. By the way, Charles has a brilliant form of magnesium that has four different mineral chelates for better absorption and multi-targeting of the tissues. It’s a beautiful thing – I’m going to start using it from here forward.

KG: There is so much information available about nutrition. Do you believe that people now are more knowledgeable about nutrition?
RR: It’s very chic to know about nutrition. The nutrition market is exploding, but where there is opportunity, there will be opportunists. With increasing nutrition knowledge, we have advanced nutrition science, high-level manufacturing with quality assurance, and good products that are helping sick people get better faster. But the opportunists will make big bucks by putting a label on supplements that look good but are pure garbage because they are barely absorbed.

KG: The International Olympic Committee reported that over 14.8 percent of the 634 nutritional supplements they tested from 215 different suppliers were tainted with substances that would show up on a drug test. Does this surprise you?
RR: I’m surprised that number is not much higher. There is a group called Consumer Labs that went to health food stores and found that half the stuff sold didn’t have what the label claimed and a high portion was tainted.

RR: They must do their due diligence and find the good suppliers. The baseline certification is called GMP certification, good manufacturing practices. There are several organizations that do this type of testing. Those who supply Poliquin nutritional supplements have the highest level of quality assurance in the industry.

KG: For the average person, is there any specific book on nutrition you would recommend?
RR: You don’t need a book. Jack LaLanne said it best, “If God made it, it’s OK. If man made it, don’t touch it. Now what food isn’t tainted? Almost none, so you have to go with whole, organic produce, grass-fed beef and free-range chickens.

KG: What are the basic supplements the average person needs?
RR: Everyone needs a multivitamin, plant nutrients and omega 3's.  You need a multivitamin, because you are not getting enough of these nutrients from food. And omega-3s, because our food supply is deficient in omega-3s and can reduce heart attacks, strokes and cancer by 13 different mechanisms.  New data suggests that it may take as many as 13 servings of fruits and vegetables to prevent cancer.  Almost no person ingests this amount. 

KG: Why is Oprah fat?
RR: Why is everyone else fat? Stress…toxins…malnutrition. I guarantee you, you give me Oprah and let me completely control her diet and exercise for a year and she’ll be a different Oprah. I wish that Oprah would recognize that her acceptance of obesity has the potential to jeopardize the health of our country and world.

KG: Do you like the work Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing promoting good health in this country?
RR: It’s funny. One politician wanted to make Arnold the head of health in this country. Have you seen a picture of Arnold lately? There’s a phrase, “A true master is always on top of his game.” Arnold has man boobs right now, and I would challenge him to get rid of them, because he can. But he’s leading the political life – he even has a cigar smoking area. Pathetic.

KG: What do you think about asking your doctor for advice on nutrition?
RR: What do MOST MDs know about nutrition? MOST don’t study it. What do MOST know about exercise? “Go for a walk”? This is not where we need to be.

KG: What advice would you give to personal trainers who want to be like you? Become a registered dietitian?
RR: My experience with registered dietitians is not good. If you want to be like me, you should do what I have done, which is study nutrition. I study it 500 hours a year and have done so for 20 years because I am that passionate about the field.

KG: What do you think of the coaches and personal trainers who attended this seminar?
RR: They are the cream of the crop. These people – one, they live it, and two, they are inspired to learn and they are inspired to share. What a beautiful combination!