Matt Angove is a licensed naturopathic physician who received his medical training at Bastyr University (one of only 4 accredited Naturopathic programs in the United States). Dr. Matt played college basketball at Warner Pacific College, before transferring to Oral Robert’s University where he received his undergraduate degree in Health & Exercise Science with an emphasis on pre-medicine. At graduation, he was awarded the distinction of Most Outstanding Student in the Health Sciences. He is an American College of Sports Medicine certified Personal Trainer and has helped people of all ages and shapes get the utmost from their bodies for the last 10 years. Dr. Matt has interned with Don Colbert, M.D., one of the foremost authorities in Integrative Medicine. Dr. Matt makes every effort to emulate and to practice what he has gleaned from Dr. Colbert over the years.
Dr. Matt focuses on MAXIMIZING patient health at every age and stage of life. He is dedicated to staying on the cutting edge for the sake of his patient’s well-being and his own.
Dr. Matt practices general medicine, but also has specific interests in cancer, autoimmune conditions and digestive diseases, as well as anti-aging medicine, obesity and cardiovascular issues. He is currently working toward a Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Dr. Matt practices at The Health and Wellness Institute in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.
If you have ever been told there is no treatment or there is no hope, you came to the right place. There is hope. And answers are waiting for those who are willing to humbly realize they don’t know everything and who never stop learning. For with God, NOTHING shall be impossible!
“This time next year you will be glad you started the journey today.”
I was wondering what your thoughts are on interval training and weight loss.
The cool thing about interval training is that it builds muscle and burns calories at the same time. So not only do you get the immediate calorie burn while performing the activity but you get residual calorie burn due to the gain in dense tissue (i.e. muscle).
Something to try: using a bike (or any other of piece of cardio equipment or just your two legs on grass), sprint for 8 seconds then ride moderate for 12 seconds…continue alternating for 20 minutes. People who performed this exercise lost considerable more weight than those who simply road at a moderate pace for 40 minutes. That would only constitute 8 minutes of hard exercise. I think that is doable.
Actually I was hoping you would talk about the increased benefits interval training has on cardiac and pulmonary function…
Love your blog. I have been sharing it with my staff and friends and trying to keep everyone healthy! Really proud of you Doctor!
Josh your a rock star…it all started with your green juice in the morning!
Hi Matt! Kristina (Davis) Griffith gave me the link to your blog. She said you might be interested in my plan.
I am going on a 365 day journey to transform my mind and body. It will start on Nov 15, 2009 and continue until my next birthday.
Plan on going on an alkaline raw diet to cleanse then transition to vegan mostly raw diet.
Will track and blog progress. Blog will start today.
How long is the training for ND? How hard is it to get into a ND school?
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!!! Love it Don, what brought you to this? What is your blog name? It is just like regular medical school. It takes four years after you get your bachelors. There are currently only 4 fully accredited schools in the United States, so there is currently not a ton of spots. The schooling takes a lot of energy but it is well worth it.
Hey Matt!
I’m running a 15k in March and I was wondering if you have any tips/training advice you can give me. This will be my first race and the most I’ve run before is 10k.
Love your blog – you’ve convinced me, I’m off Diet Coke!
- Marianna
Wooo Hooo!!!
15k is a nice distance, not crazy but still challenging. For starters, I would get a nice pair of shoes such as Asics, that make you feel like you are running on a pillow. There is nothing worse then having foot, knee, or hip problems because you didn’t invest in a good pair of shoes. Second, dropping the diet Coke was a great move and your lung and legs will be thanking you every time you go for a run. There is nothing worse than going for a long run and thinking why did I eat that or drink that. Third, I would start getting your jog on now! Take one day of the week and make it your long run day. That is it should be twice as much as any other day of the week. During the week I would take two days where you perform interval training and weights and two days where you just get out and run. I don’t really know where you are currently in your running capacity, so I can’t give exact mile numbers. The interval days I would make timed events and the jogging days, I would make distance events. Getting the resistance training in at least 2x per week will really help keep you from fatiguing and getting injured. If you find you are not having fun, you need to change it up.
Get lots of water. Take a multivitamin and eat lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and lean meats/fish.
Dr. Angove
How do you feel about supplements such as ZMA pills and Creatine? Are they harmful in any amounts?
ZMA pills just have zinc, magnesium and B6 (there other ZMA products that contain added anabolic factors that I would stay away from)…I don’t usually take single minerals such as zinc by itself because it can deplete copper levels. Same thing with B6, I wouldn’t take it without a host of other B vitamins unless I was trying to get a pharmacological response from the patients body (that is not what your looking for if you are using for weight training and faster recovery). That said, the B6 dose really isn’t that high and it probably wouldn’t pose any real problems. I think creatine is fine when taking properly. Research shows that 3 grams a day is enough to enable repair of muscle tissue and get you to your next work more rapidly. So no ramping up with creatine, just take 3 grams a day with a little juice and drink plenty of water. Creatine draws water out of your tissue and into the muscle so it can dehydrate organs if not enough water is available. For real workout energy, I would check out D-Ribose, L-Carnitine and CoEnzyme Q10.
Took a deeper look at ZMA and the research behind it. I think it could be a nice compliment to your workouts. Just take about 30-60 before bed time and enjoy the quick recovery.
Dr. Angove,
I have two issues for your advice. My blood pressure has inched upward from my normal 117/70 to 136/86 – what do do? My orthopedic Dr. says that the problem with my left knee is arthritis – how can I prevent that from worsening and is there anything I can do about it now?
Love the blog…loved the reception…congrats again! Looking forward to the announcement of your own clinic! God bless!
First question would be are you currently at your optimal weight. If not, optimizing your weight if step one. I would also get your blood pressure checked again, as a person is not diagnosed with high blood pressure until three different reading come up as high. That said, unless you had caffeine just before your reading or just got done lifting weights that number is likely representative of where you are currently with your blood pressure. Time to get a cup of berries in daily!
Concerning arthritis, strengthening your quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles will take a lot of stress off the joint. Making sure your patella tracks well is also important. Getting on it right away is real important. Working on balance using a BOSU ball (ball on one side and flat on other) can strengthen the joint. Applying heat for 3 minutes around knee and then cold for 30 seconds (do this cycle 3 times) will increase blood circulation and enable repair of cartilage. Of course Glucosamine sulfate, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, zinc, magnesium, bromelain, MSM are helpful nutrients to aid in repair of cartilage.
Increasing water, decreasing sugar, pasta, and in general processed foods while increasing vegetables will do wonders for both arthritis and high blood pressure. Simple, effective and very inexpensive.
An ounce of prevention is worth a POUND of cure!
Dr. Angove, you have absolutely transformed my life physically, mentally, and most importantly emotionally. Can you please recommend some spectacular multi vitamins I could start supplementing with my natural diet?
Thanks in advance. Pumped to see you post 100 years of age.
Dr. Angove, hello friend! I was told by a very special young women that I should get your advice. I just had surgery yesterday for a distal radius fracture in my wrist. (Snowboarding accident. A titanium plate was placed). I was told you would have some recovery advice. Thank you Sir, I’m a huge fan!
I would go to super supplements and pick some Bromelain 2400 GDU, 500mg tabs and take 2 tabs three times a day for the next 10 days, away from food. It will eat up any scar tissue and seriously increase the time to recovery. Do you have a cast? Karlie, this is why we ski!
LOL, someday i’ll ski
No cast, thank you Jesus. The first Dr. I went to wanted to put me in a cast for 4 weeks. So I went to a Dr. at Swedish for a 2nd opinion. I’ll be in a surgical splint for 10 days, then right into physical therapy and a smaller splint for a couple weeks 
oh, thank you! I’ll pick up that supplement tomorrow! Really excited about that.
one more thing, the brand name is NOW for the bromelain.
Dr. Angove:
I currently intake roughly 20oz of Gatorade/Powerade a week. I was wondering about whether or not the “‘rades” benefit or harm my body overall, the potential side-effects of it, and why those would occur. Any thoughts? Thanks.
The so called “Rades” contain high fructose corn syrup and food colorings. Neither of which will promote absolute health. Drinking the “rades” regularly is like poring oil where you sholud be putting gasoline in your car. Just say No! Stick to water or squeeze some lemon or lime in your water and get both electrolytes, hydration and a liver boost.
Hi there Dr. Matt (wow that’s cool to say that),
Anyway I was thrilled to see you have become a doctor and in such a fantastic field. I decided last October that I was tired of feeling “sick and tired”. I started Weight Watcher’s to “change” my lifestyle, to date I have lost 56 pounds and feel better than I have felt in years. My question for you is I am going into my 2nd phase of P90X. If you don’t know what that is, it’s an extreme interval training program. Do you have any knowledge of the program and why would they want me to intake almost 3000 calories and still expect to lose weight. I have been doing 1500 to 1700 and feel great!
Love what I am reading Dan. I think P90X is great. I have actually been doing the workouts myself for the last month. It has been demonstrated time after time in scientific research that has calorie intake decreases, longevity increases. I definitely don’t think it is necessary for someone to eat 3000 calories who isn’t participating college or professional sports. If you were training for a triathlon or were a heavy runner, then more calories are going to be necessary. However, everyone’s body is different and a person your exact size could require more calories to maintain than yourself because not a single body is exactly the same. So if you feel comfortable at 1700 calories i see no problem with that. If you have the energy you need to feel strong throughout the day then keep doing what you are doing. Not even Tony can argue with 56 pounds lost. I would say, in most cases in order to keep pounds off that have been lost it is better to increase activity levels than it is to decrease calories more. Decreasing calories tends to slow the metabolic rate whereas increasing activity will increase the metabolic rate. Exercise makes your furnace burn hotter!
I love peanut butter. Although I eat all natural, I hear it is still not that good to eat too much. What are your thoughts?
This we know. I would eat not just natural peanut butter but organic peanut butter. The peanut butter should just be peanuts, no oils, salt or other additions. I like almond and walnut butter better because the fatty acid ratio is even more anti-inflammatory. I would eat peanuts or peanut butter over boxed items any day of the week. Almond butter with a granny smith apple is pretty hard to beat though!
Dr. Matt -
Was curious what your take on diet pills/supplements are? Just can’t seem to get past a certain weight and thinking that it might help give me an extra boost? However, I don’t want to do it if it will harm me in any way. I know there are a lot of warning signs out there about many but I just didn’t know if you knew of any that were safe and effective? I exercise and have changed my eating but still can’t seem to get the results I am wanting. Any advice?
Green Tea helps with fat metabolism as do lipotrophic factors like choline, inositol, and taurine. L-carnitine is an amino acid that shuttle fat into cells to be utilized as energy.
Change your exercise routine and if you aren’t already on one get it on! There is nothing like circuit training to lose fat and change a persons body composition.
Make sure you are eating enough calories. Too few and too many calories can lead to lowered metabolic rate and increased fat deposition.
Sweating it out in the suana with some vitamin C and lots of water is also another way to breakdown fat.
If you feel like you are exercising appropriately and eating a diet loaded with fruits and vegetables and lean proteins and are still not able to lose fat (key word here is fat…you don’t just want to lose weight) then I would get your thyroid, adrenals, hormones, and food allergy tests done.
What does breakfast, lunch and dinner look like for you? What kind of exercise are you doing?
Hi Dr. Matt. Ray just got put on another set of meds for high cholestoral. Do you have any suggestions of food for him to eat that are natural that can get him off of those things? I really don’t like what I hear about the side effects from these drugs & would rather do it the natural way anyway. Are there any herbs or suppliments that he can take that would help also? Thanks for all of your help.
Tami
Dr. Gravytrain,
In addition to positive thinking, a great balanced diet, and an awesome workout routine that is rich in cardio, can you also please list off some good supplements that men and women might want to take a look at just to be on the tip top side of health? I know I have benefited from this counsel in the past, but my girlfriend is also curious what she should be taking as a female. Thanks in advance.
Multivitamin, Vitamin D, Antioxidants (rotated through on a monthly basis), vitamin C, Bcomplex (containing all natural form b vitamins not synthetics), omega-3 fish oil (non rancid kind).
Best vitamin and mineral combo on the planet includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds!
Hey Doctor Matt
My sister in law has gastric colitis. What kind of diet should she be on for this?
Does she know what the cause of the colitis is? Autoimmune, infection, unknown?
My wife has Calcium pills she is not taking now bc of the pregnancy. They are going to expire soon. Should men take calcium pills or are they useless? I take Cod Liver oil which helps me absorb calcium.
I’m not a fan of taking a single mineral by itself for men or women. Calcium isn’t useless but it is likely you are getting plenty in your diet already. Now if it was magnesium I would say go for it.
Dr. Gravy,
If you could go back in time, would you be doing P90x at the age of 27, or would you have done what you did and lifted traditional free weight if your goal was to put on muscle and weight? I argued with a Pup in regards to this and I flt P90 was a 30 and over lift…
Dear Maverick,
I will have my kids doing P90X before and during their respective sports seasons. Why? Because it is a workout for athletes. If a person wants to be a power lifter, it is not for them. P90 is for people who want to get lean, stay lean and learn what it is like to have their muscles burn so deep they want to cut them off at their respective insertions! Every person exercising for optimal aging and athletic prowess needs to shake their workouts up. I don’t I need P90 to be ripped and perform at an elite level no matter the physical endeavor.
Consistently kicking your own butt is the key…breaking through mental and physical barriers and teaching your body to do what it told you it couldn’t is how we keep that 24 year old body indefinitely. Mav10,000 will work just as good:)
P90 does use free weights…it just doesn’t use exercises that aren’t functional or are likely to produce injury. If a person already has size, P90 is going to be sensational for them. If a person doesn’t and that is what they want, then I would head to the nearest gym where other meat heads can be found. No worries, the next time we are down in San Fran, I will be heading to 24 hour fit with you.
Dr. Matt, you seem like an exceptional doctor who genuinely cares about people. I appreciate that you take the time and effort to answer people’s questions. Most doctors don’t care. I am writing to you as my last attempt to save my life. Physically I don’t have much problems, but I have suffered severe depression due to various life circumstances for almost half of my life. I am at a point where I no longer see a way out. I don’t believe in suicides, but the thought constantly lingers in my mind. I used to at least try to take care of myself, like try to eat healthy and exercise and take my vitamins, but now I am not even motivated to do that. I am emotionally and mentally drained because of what is going on in my life. Talking to a counselor doesn’t help. Do you have any suggestions at all?
Amanda thanks for posting. You are not alone!
Get Thyroid levels, Adrenal levels, hormone levels, urinary neurotransmitters levels, heavy metal levels.
Start eating two handfuls of cashews and pumpkin seeds daily to elevate your tryptophan levels.