Sorry for the delay on my posts. It's been a busy 6 weeks, but I'm back on a schedule so I hope you guys enjoy my next posts.
Today I'd like to squash the "carbs make you fat" thing. First off, they don't. Eating too many calories every day makes you hold onto fat. Period. But I'll agree that they can make it more difficult to lose fat if you do it incorrectly (notice I talk about FAT loss and not WEIGHT loss. This is crucial).
At this point I'd like to point out that I think most Americans consume too many carbohydrates. A lot of RD's might give me shit for this, but I think this needs to be put into perspective. I mean, how many of us sit in front of a computer for 8 hours a day? And even if you don't sit in front of a computer all day, how active are you really? Carbs fuel our brain and muscles among other things, so a lack of carbs will obviously lead to decreased performance both at the office and in the gym. But how much is enough and what is too much?
To answer the first question, it is generally recognized that we require about 100-125 grams of CHO (this is short for carbohydrate because typing carbohydrate over and over sucks) per day to prevent ketosis. Ketosis is a state in our bodies where there is an excess of ketone bodies present in the blood (they are produced in the liver). This does not occur after just a day or two on a very low CHO diet, but typically after an extended period of time because our body is running off of our adipose tissue stores (fat). However, since I stated earlier that our brain runs off of glucose (CHO), something has to give. Without getting too technical, ketone bodies are special in that they can cross what is known as the blood-brain barrier. Once across that barrier, they can enter the Krebs Cycle with the help of acetyl-CoA and can create glucose for the brain to run on. How amazing are our bodies?! However, this is meant to be a short-term deal and if it continues for an extended period of time, we can develop what is known as ketoacidosis. Essentially the pH levels in our bodies drop (become more acidic) due to the acidic nature of the ketone bodies. An unbalanced pH can lead to a host of problems that I wont delve into today.
The second question from above is a bit more difficult to answer, mainly because it is dependent on each individual. For instance, a marathon runner in training may require as much as 8-10 grams or more of CHO per kilogram of bodyweight whereas folks who type at a desk all day are more in the range of needing only a couple of grams per kilo per day. But regardless of all of this, for the lay public, it is quite easy to overdo it on CHO. After all, it's found in SO MANY products. Sugar is one of, if not the number 1, food additive out there because it's so damn cheap (HFCS anyone?). In addition to that, who doesn't like bread, pasta, rice, cupcakes, cookies, frosting, candy, etc. These foods all provide what I like to call "right now" energy and they are the reason that when we are fasted or just really hungry, we don't crave broccoli, we crave these foods instead. And from a physiological standpoint, that makes a bunch of sense. However, if not paired with the right foods, we can get a pretty drastic insulin response and subsequent dampening of using our adipose tissue stores for energy and will rely more heavily on what we just consumed. Not exactly what you're looking for if fat loss is a goal of yours.
You also may have heard of the Glycemic Index (GI). This was developed for diabetics to help identify foods that may affect their blood sugar. Some jackass decided to try to profit off of it as a means of weight loss. Don't pay any attention to it. All of those values that you see if you decide to check out a graph of the foods, are based on consuming ONLY that food. How many people do you know that sit down and just eat a plain potato and nothing else. Exactly. So unless you have DMI or DMII, don't fret over it.
Another carb thing that you'll hear often is complex vs. simple. This basically refers to the way each CHO is digested. Examples of complex CHO include 100% whole grain rice, pasta, bread, cereals, and non-starchy vegetables. Basically they take a while for our bodies to break down into glucose to use for fuel. This means that the insulin response is minimized and the energy consumed is spread out over an extended period of time. On the opposite end of the spectrum we have simple CHO. These lead to a drastic insulin response and are used up much more quickly. Some examples include sugar, some fruits, juices, sodas, and white rice, pasta, and breads. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (the organization that lets me have the RD credential) suggests that we have at least half of our CHO intake come from whole grains. I say why not 95%? It's not any more expensive and unless being consumed post workout, is flat out the better choice for many reasons. Whole grains are higher in fiber as well, which is not only beneficial to digestive health, but also helps with satiety, thereby leaving us feeling fuller for longer.
But what about CHO at bedtime or in the evening? I know a lot of people who avoid them altogether because they are afraid that they will store it as fat as they sleep at night. Whelp, unless you are in a caloric surplus for the day, that just ain't gonna happen. Yep, that's a myth. As a matter of fact, there is some research out there that shows INCREASED metabolic rate as you sleep. Crazy, huh? Also, CHO helps to keep serotonin levels elevated. This can have a calming effect and actually help you sleep more soundly. This can lead to greater levels of hormone release overnight as well as have you waking up refreshed and more likely to kill you training session. See the connection?
The bottom line is this: You can gain weight from consuming too much from any of the 4 macronutrient groups (fat, carbohydrate, protein, alcohol). Sure, the thermic effect of each of those differs greatly, but for the purposes of this blog today I think this will suffice. The right combination of these macros (sans alcohol) is what leads to a healthy body.
So there you have it. Carbs aren't your enemy, you just need to learn how to utilize them properly. So yeah, if you know someone who is struggling with this issue, have them read this or send them to my website: www.fgnutrition.com
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
1 thing before I continue
Hi guys. I'm posting this just to inform you that I've not forgotten about my blog, but have been working on other things that have taken up my time. I'll be back with something relevant by mid-April after I've taken my CSCS exam and gotten back from a trip to Phoenix.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
5 things I'm trying to do better
Hello again guys, hope all is well on your end! I'm still plugging away and getting things put together for my office move on April 1st. Starting then, I'll be in the building of Athletic Revolution on 65th street between Binford boulevard and Allisonville road. The owner of the gym is a friend of mine who also happens to send me clients, so with my focus on sports nutrition, it seemed like a logical fit. He works mostly with kids from about 6-18+ years old looking to improve in their sports, but also offers adult boot camps most mornings and evenings of the week and also 1 or 2 on Saturday mornings. The facility is great and I can guarantee you will get a crazy good workout in. I'd encourge everyone to check out his webpage at http://athleticrevolutionnortheastindy.com/. I help him coach speed and strength training a couple days a week with his high school and college clients. It's a great change from sitting in front of a computer all the time.
Aside from that I've been busy trying to finish up my studying for my strength and conditioning certification (I sit on April 1st). And finally, on April 2nd, I've been asked to give a talk at my alma mater about RDs in the media and my experiences as an entrepreneur! I was really taken aback by that last one. I mean, they must have amnesia because I was, well... lets just say had you followed my every move through college, I'm not what you would call a "model student". Nonetheless, I'm pretty stoked for it.
Also, it looks like I'll be keeping the supplement blogs to a minimum. Got a pretty low hit count on the creatine blog and it's one of the only ergogenic aids out there that actually has some merit to it (I'm obviously talking about LEGAL supplements here... Lance, I'm looking at you). With that said, I will put out another blog or 2 on supplements, but they will likely be condensed.
Here are the things that I am trying to do better:
1. Focus on fresh produce variety: I found myself eating the same stuff. Mostly blueberries, oranges, romaine lettuce, broccoli, and bell peppers. Not that that is a bad thing, but I decided I needed more variety so I'm branching out. Been eating avocados like its my job lately (oh wait, it kind of is).
2. Eat more fish: If you know me well, you know that I'll eat fish, but it's not my favorite. So I bought a bunch of frozen tilapia and other mild flavored fish to try different seasonings on.
3. Eat less cheese: I know you all feel me on this one. And even though I'd long ago switched to nearly only buying 2% reduced fat cheese, I still overindulged on it. I'm trying to sub in seasonings and herbs to up the nutritional content and decrease overall calories (still trying to lose the pooch I put on).
4. Move more throughout the day: There is a bunch of research out there that shows constant (relatively... think a farmer) movement is much better for our overall health than sitting all day and going to the gym to for 30 or and hour. So I'm trying to get up from my desk more often. I'm considering a standup or treadmill desk for my next office.
5. Drink more water: It's not that I'm severely dehydrated or anything, but our bodies are about 2/3 water and the chemical reactions going on within us require it. I also probably have too many diet sodas. Water just gets so boring sometimes, which is why I'm going back to throwing mixed fruit into a pitcher to keep in my fridge.
So that's it for now. Next up will be more on supplements and whether or not you should use them.
Thanks for reading!
Aside from that I've been busy trying to finish up my studying for my strength and conditioning certification (I sit on April 1st). And finally, on April 2nd, I've been asked to give a talk at my alma mater about RDs in the media and my experiences as an entrepreneur! I was really taken aback by that last one. I mean, they must have amnesia because I was, well... lets just say had you followed my every move through college, I'm not what you would call a "model student". Nonetheless, I'm pretty stoked for it.
Also, it looks like I'll be keeping the supplement blogs to a minimum. Got a pretty low hit count on the creatine blog and it's one of the only ergogenic aids out there that actually has some merit to it (I'm obviously talking about LEGAL supplements here... Lance, I'm looking at you). With that said, I will put out another blog or 2 on supplements, but they will likely be condensed.
Here are the things that I am trying to do better:
1. Focus on fresh produce variety: I found myself eating the same stuff. Mostly blueberries, oranges, romaine lettuce, broccoli, and bell peppers. Not that that is a bad thing, but I decided I needed more variety so I'm branching out. Been eating avocados like its my job lately (oh wait, it kind of is).
2. Eat more fish: If you know me well, you know that I'll eat fish, but it's not my favorite. So I bought a bunch of frozen tilapia and other mild flavored fish to try different seasonings on.
3. Eat less cheese: I know you all feel me on this one. And even though I'd long ago switched to nearly only buying 2% reduced fat cheese, I still overindulged on it. I'm trying to sub in seasonings and herbs to up the nutritional content and decrease overall calories (still trying to lose the pooch I put on).
4. Move more throughout the day: There is a bunch of research out there that shows constant (relatively... think a farmer) movement is much better for our overall health than sitting all day and going to the gym to for 30 or and hour. So I'm trying to get up from my desk more often. I'm considering a standup or treadmill desk for my next office.
5. Drink more water: It's not that I'm severely dehydrated or anything, but our bodies are about 2/3 water and the chemical reactions going on within us require it. I also probably have too many diet sodas. Water just gets so boring sometimes, which is why I'm going back to throwing mixed fruit into a pitcher to keep in my fridge.
So that's it for now. Next up will be more on supplements and whether or not you should use them.
Thanks for reading!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Creatine, yo
No, 'yo' isn't some variation of creatine. I just wanted to say yo because it doesn't get said enough these days. Anywho, as promised this is the first in a short (or long depending on the response I get) series of reviews of popular supplements. I believe in my BCAA and Proteins blog that I revealed that the supplement industry is a billion dollar business. Think about that for a minute. A BILLION dollar business! And to be frank, there are a few supplements out there that I like, recommend, and even use myself. That being said, the majority of it is crap and people are wasting their money. So the purpose of these posts is to give you some information so that you can make an informed decision and possibly save a few bucks. So here we go...
Background time! Creatine is a naturally occuring metabolite in our bodies. The host sites within the body are, as you might expect, mostly in skeletal muscle tissue. You can also find some in our brain and heart. We obtain the vast majority of creatine in our diet from meats and fish. Again, this kind of makes sense. It's also probably important to note here that vegetarians and vegans tend to have lower levels of creatine in their bodies and typically respond better to supplementation than us horse meat eaters. Sorry, but I was just at IKEA. Other ways to obtain it come from supplements which we will get to in a minute.
So you've likely heard that creatine can make you stronger or a better sprinter and for all intents and purposes you heard right. But how? Well I'll tell ya.
Within our muscles, as I said earlier, you'll find the creatine molecule. This is important because it plays a direct role in providing energy to our muscles. You see, the energy in our bodies that allows our muscles to contract and create force on/against an object is called Adenosine Triphosphate, or ATP. For musclular contraction to work, it requires a phosphate group. This is pretty sweet because ATP has 3 of them, and because it isn't a greedy bastard, happily gives one up to allow the much-more-complicated-than-you'd-imagine cascading series of events to take place so that you can bench press every Monday (regular gym goers know what I'm talking about). Ok, so now that ATP has donated that phosphate group, it is now known as Adenosine Diphosphate in light of the fact that it only has 2 left. Now, obviously the more times ATP can be allowed to donate a phosphate group so that contraction can occur (there are lots of other limiting factors but I'm not gonna get too deep today) the more weight will be able to be moved and at a greater rate. Sounds like a good thing to me. Well, it just so happens that creatine believes that sharing is caring. The creatine molecule has the ability to donate a phosphate group to ADP so that it can be it's happy self back being ATP. Once back to ATP, it can again donate one of it's phosphate groups to the 'Muscluar Contraction Cause' (sounds like a charity huh?). Ideally we'd like to repeat this as many times as possible while we are performing a lift, sprint, or jumps. And supplementation with creatine can help do just that.
So should YOU supplement? The answer, as it almost always is, is "it depends". If your goal is to build more lean muscle mass, get stronger, sprint faster, and perform short explosive movements mo betta, then it might be something to consider. If your goal is to knock 10 minutes off of your marathon time, save your cash. Creatine is not intended for, nor does it do any good for, endurance events and training.
So while the endurance athletes have jumped to another part of their "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, you strength folks have taken the other path and have landed here to continue and learn what kind of creatine to pick up and how to take it. Well when it comes to the form, there is little argument in the fitness world that Creatine Monohydrate is hands down the choice. Period. It is by far the most researched and studied of the various forms. So why would you take anything other than the most researched and documented creatines out there? Now, with that being said, I'll say this: Not everyone responds to creatine supplementation. We call those folks non-responders. Pretty clever huh? I'm actually not aware of any studies that have looked into the percent of people who are non-responders so if anyone knows about or comes across that I'd appreciate you sending me that link.
Now that you know to pick up creatine monohydrate, how should you take it? As with carbohydrate loading for glycogen supercompensation, there are a couple of ways to go about it. The original recommended method required a 5 day "loading phase" in which you take 5 grams of creatine monohydrate 4 times a day for a total of 20 grams. The idea behind this is to fully saturate the muscle. After the loading phase is complete, a maintenence phase is introduced at a rate of 5 grams per day. Editors note: I once tried to do this and had extreme nausea. Therefore, I went with the other method that has you skip out on the loading phase and just take 5 grams a day. In my opinion, I think they both work great. Also on that nausea note, I switched to micronized creatine monohydrate and was able to better tolerate it. Just something to think about.
And finally, I'll bring in the whole safety side of creatine. As far as I know from the research out there (and there is A LOT), taking the aforementioned dosages poses no health risk assuming that you are not taking in a crap load of caffeine and ephedra every day. And if you are, in my best Ditka voice, STOP IT! I also recommend that you not just go on creatine forever. As with most things in life this should be done so in moderation, or in cycles. If we continually provide our body with a substance in mass amounts, then it may stop producing it or it may slow its production. I have no scientific evidence at all to back that, but it's just my own opinion. So go on it for a couple of months and then take a month off.
Ah what the hell, one more note here. You might find it hard to get really lean looking due to a bit more water retention. This is normal and actually one of the reasons why in one study, creatine did not improve performance in repeated sprints in swimmers. They concluded that the additional body weight outweighed the benefit of the creatine.
So with all that, I hope you liked it and learned a bit. If someone smarter than myself is reading this and finds errors, please feel free to clarify. I know a fair amount about all of this, but I may have missed something or typed incorrectly.
Peace out, yo
Background time! Creatine is a naturally occuring metabolite in our bodies. The host sites within the body are, as you might expect, mostly in skeletal muscle tissue. You can also find some in our brain and heart. We obtain the vast majority of creatine in our diet from meats and fish. Again, this kind of makes sense. It's also probably important to note here that vegetarians and vegans tend to have lower levels of creatine in their bodies and typically respond better to supplementation than us horse meat eaters. Sorry, but I was just at IKEA. Other ways to obtain it come from supplements which we will get to in a minute.
So you've likely heard that creatine can make you stronger or a better sprinter and for all intents and purposes you heard right. But how? Well I'll tell ya.
Within our muscles, as I said earlier, you'll find the creatine molecule. This is important because it plays a direct role in providing energy to our muscles. You see, the energy in our bodies that allows our muscles to contract and create force on/against an object is called Adenosine Triphosphate, or ATP. For musclular contraction to work, it requires a phosphate group. This is pretty sweet because ATP has 3 of them, and because it isn't a greedy bastard, happily gives one up to allow the much-more-complicated-than-you'd-imagine cascading series of events to take place so that you can bench press every Monday (regular gym goers know what I'm talking about). Ok, so now that ATP has donated that phosphate group, it is now known as Adenosine Diphosphate in light of the fact that it only has 2 left. Now, obviously the more times ATP can be allowed to donate a phosphate group so that contraction can occur (there are lots of other limiting factors but I'm not gonna get too deep today) the more weight will be able to be moved and at a greater rate. Sounds like a good thing to me. Well, it just so happens that creatine believes that sharing is caring. The creatine molecule has the ability to donate a phosphate group to ADP so that it can be it's happy self back being ATP. Once back to ATP, it can again donate one of it's phosphate groups to the 'Muscluar Contraction Cause' (sounds like a charity huh?). Ideally we'd like to repeat this as many times as possible while we are performing a lift, sprint, or jumps. And supplementation with creatine can help do just that.
So should YOU supplement? The answer, as it almost always is, is "it depends". If your goal is to build more lean muscle mass, get stronger, sprint faster, and perform short explosive movements mo betta, then it might be something to consider. If your goal is to knock 10 minutes off of your marathon time, save your cash. Creatine is not intended for, nor does it do any good for, endurance events and training.
So while the endurance athletes have jumped to another part of their "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, you strength folks have taken the other path and have landed here to continue and learn what kind of creatine to pick up and how to take it. Well when it comes to the form, there is little argument in the fitness world that Creatine Monohydrate is hands down the choice. Period. It is by far the most researched and studied of the various forms. So why would you take anything other than the most researched and documented creatines out there? Now, with that being said, I'll say this: Not everyone responds to creatine supplementation. We call those folks non-responders. Pretty clever huh? I'm actually not aware of any studies that have looked into the percent of people who are non-responders so if anyone knows about or comes across that I'd appreciate you sending me that link.
Now that you know to pick up creatine monohydrate, how should you take it? As with carbohydrate loading for glycogen supercompensation, there are a couple of ways to go about it. The original recommended method required a 5 day "loading phase" in which you take 5 grams of creatine monohydrate 4 times a day for a total of 20 grams. The idea behind this is to fully saturate the muscle. After the loading phase is complete, a maintenence phase is introduced at a rate of 5 grams per day. Editors note: I once tried to do this and had extreme nausea. Therefore, I went with the other method that has you skip out on the loading phase and just take 5 grams a day. In my opinion, I think they both work great. Also on that nausea note, I switched to micronized creatine monohydrate and was able to better tolerate it. Just something to think about.
And finally, I'll bring in the whole safety side of creatine. As far as I know from the research out there (and there is A LOT), taking the aforementioned dosages poses no health risk assuming that you are not taking in a crap load of caffeine and ephedra every day. And if you are, in my best Ditka voice, STOP IT! I also recommend that you not just go on creatine forever. As with most things in life this should be done so in moderation, or in cycles. If we continually provide our body with a substance in mass amounts, then it may stop producing it or it may slow its production. I have no scientific evidence at all to back that, but it's just my own opinion. So go on it for a couple of months and then take a month off.
Ah what the hell, one more note here. You might find it hard to get really lean looking due to a bit more water retention. This is normal and actually one of the reasons why in one study, creatine did not improve performance in repeated sprints in swimmers. They concluded that the additional body weight outweighed the benefit of the creatine.
So with all that, I hope you liked it and learned a bit. If someone smarter than myself is reading this and finds errors, please feel free to clarify. I know a fair amount about all of this, but I may have missed something or typed incorrectly.
Peace out, yo
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
BCAAs and proteins
Hey there all you awesome Feel Good Followers! Before I sat down to write up today's post I couldn't decide whether to go with my usual style of writing or to completely nerd it out and get technical. So I think I'll combine the two. I only say that because there are some terms that flat out need to be included for this to all make sense.
So first of all, for those who don't know, BCAA stands for Branched Chain Amino Acids. Now before we get going on that, what is an amino acid? Well they are essentially building blocks. There are 21 of them altogether and 8 of them are what we call essesntial because our bodies do not make these particular 8 amino acids. Therefore we must obtain them through foods or supplementation. When combined in chains, these amino acids form proteins. There are thousands of combinations and each different combination plays a different role in the body. A few examples include all of the enzymes in our body, transporters, actin and myosin (these exist in muscle tissue), hemoglobin, collagen, and the support structure inside our bones. But for the discussion today, we will focus mostly on muscle, because that's all anyone really cares about anyway right?
So what are some sources of protein in our diet? Some obvious sources are red meat, chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt, and fish. These are all "complete" proteins, meaning that they contain all of the essential amino acids. Other plant sources include beans, peas, nuts, seeds, grains, and vegetables. These particular proteins are incomplete (for the most part). So therefore, each one is missing at least one of the essential amino acids. So that means that they aren't as good, right? Well no actually. Check this out: Let's say you eat red beans and rice (Sir Mix a Lot anyone?). Well beans are lacking in the amino acid methionine, but rice is not. However, rice is lacking in cysteine, but red beans are not (it might be the other way around I cant remember, but you get the point). When eaten together, they act as what are known as complementary proteins, therefore supplying the body with all of the essential amino acids. Make sense? But then there is the subject of bioavailability. What this means is basically how much of the protein that you ingest will actually be absorbed properly and utilized. The egg is king here. It is actually the benchmark by which all other proteins are judged against. It has a bioavailability of 100. Meats, dairy, and fish are all also very high on this scale. On the lower end are your grain and vegetable proteins. So it's not just a matter of how much, but also the quality. Perfect example are the Kashi cereals that say they have as much protein as an egg. Well, yeah they do, but their quality or bioavailablity is not nearly that of an egg. Therefore, an egg contains 6 grams of protein that will all be used while the Kashi cereal may have 8 grams of which only a few are actually fully absorbed and utilized. So here, the egg would be the better choice (from a protein standpoint anyways).
I get questions all the time of how much protein should one have in a day, or before or after a workout? How about the source and the timing? For the lay public it can really get confusing. Hell even I struggle with the best way to answer all those questions. For how much you should have in a day it is variable from person to person based on height, weight, goals, disease state, and activity level. Post workout is another big one that I get. For some reason folks think they need this enormous amount of protein. Others shun it altogether in lieu of carbohydrates. Both are wrong. And it's not even the correct question really. I think what everyone wants to know is "what is the maximal amount of protein that I need to ingest to stimulate muscle protein synthesis for the longest period of time?" Now that I have an answer for. For most averaged sized folks (130-220 lbs) I recommend about 25-45 grams post workout if it was a weight training session. The 25-45 correlates to the 130-220 lb range.
So what about the source post workout? Whoa man is there a lot of research out there about it. Likely because the supplement industry is a nearly 60 billion dollar a year business. One that most comes to mind immediately is whey protein. Whey is a dairy deriviative (think that watery part of your cottage cheese). It is a rapidly digesting protein. This is important because there is what we call a "window of opportunity" following an exercise session. You see, once you finish your workout, the body is "primed" to repair and replenish. Hormones and transport proteins are basically ready to roll and repair the damage you just did to yourself. This window is pretty tight and while there is some speculation as to how long it lasts, I recommend within 30 minutes of your last rep. Although the sooner the better. This is why whey supplements are so popular. No refrigeration necessary. Just add water, shake, chug, and you're done. However, if you are going to go home right afterwards and have a meal containing a good protein source, supplementation is not necessary.
The other forms of protein I'll discuss today include casein and soy. Casein is also a dairy derivative. It is a much slower digesting protein than whey. Casein sticks around for 6-7 hours after ingestion, making it a great type of protein to consume prior to going to bed. This way you'll keep circulating protein needed for protein turnover (happening constantly) in your blood while you sleep. Soy on the other hand is an intermediate protein. It's more of a 2-3 hour protein. But in the end, the body isn't so concerned with what protein you ingest. It's going to eventually break them all down into individual amino acids anyways. So this is where we finally get to the BCAAs.
There are 3 BCAAs. They are leucine, isoleucine, and valine. They account for about 20-25% of most dietary proteins. They are unique in that they are not metabolized the same as other amino acids. While other amino acids get broken down via proteases secreted from the pancreas and are further degraded in the liver, BCAAs have the unique characteristic of bypassing much of this. In fact, muscle is the primary site for them to be catabolized (broken down). So much like whey, these are utilized even faster. But there is more to the story! Leucine is a major focus these days because it seems to have the biggest impact on muscle protein synthesis (MPS). You can think of it this way, the longer MPS is turned on, the more your muscles can be in an enviornment conducive to growing. So keeping serum leucine levels elevated seems to be a good thing when trying to gain or maintain muscle.
Ugh, I just realized there is so much more that I want to discuss, but I simply can't type anymore. I need to start doing video blogs. I'm not going to give you a take home message, but rather let you draw your own conclusions on what to do. For individual questions leave a comment below or send me an e-mail at asmith@fgnutrition.com You can also follow me on Twitter at @AlecsmithRD.
Til next time...
So first of all, for those who don't know, BCAA stands for Branched Chain Amino Acids. Now before we get going on that, what is an amino acid? Well they are essentially building blocks. There are 21 of them altogether and 8 of them are what we call essesntial because our bodies do not make these particular 8 amino acids. Therefore we must obtain them through foods or supplementation. When combined in chains, these amino acids form proteins. There are thousands of combinations and each different combination plays a different role in the body. A few examples include all of the enzymes in our body, transporters, actin and myosin (these exist in muscle tissue), hemoglobin, collagen, and the support structure inside our bones. But for the discussion today, we will focus mostly on muscle, because that's all anyone really cares about anyway right?
So what are some sources of protein in our diet? Some obvious sources are red meat, chicken, turkey, pork, eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt, and fish. These are all "complete" proteins, meaning that they contain all of the essential amino acids. Other plant sources include beans, peas, nuts, seeds, grains, and vegetables. These particular proteins are incomplete (for the most part). So therefore, each one is missing at least one of the essential amino acids. So that means that they aren't as good, right? Well no actually. Check this out: Let's say you eat red beans and rice (Sir Mix a Lot anyone?). Well beans are lacking in the amino acid methionine, but rice is not. However, rice is lacking in cysteine, but red beans are not (it might be the other way around I cant remember, but you get the point). When eaten together, they act as what are known as complementary proteins, therefore supplying the body with all of the essential amino acids. Make sense? But then there is the subject of bioavailability. What this means is basically how much of the protein that you ingest will actually be absorbed properly and utilized. The egg is king here. It is actually the benchmark by which all other proteins are judged against. It has a bioavailability of 100. Meats, dairy, and fish are all also very high on this scale. On the lower end are your grain and vegetable proteins. So it's not just a matter of how much, but also the quality. Perfect example are the Kashi cereals that say they have as much protein as an egg. Well, yeah they do, but their quality or bioavailablity is not nearly that of an egg. Therefore, an egg contains 6 grams of protein that will all be used while the Kashi cereal may have 8 grams of which only a few are actually fully absorbed and utilized. So here, the egg would be the better choice (from a protein standpoint anyways).
I get questions all the time of how much protein should one have in a day, or before or after a workout? How about the source and the timing? For the lay public it can really get confusing. Hell even I struggle with the best way to answer all those questions. For how much you should have in a day it is variable from person to person based on height, weight, goals, disease state, and activity level. Post workout is another big one that I get. For some reason folks think they need this enormous amount of protein. Others shun it altogether in lieu of carbohydrates. Both are wrong. And it's not even the correct question really. I think what everyone wants to know is "what is the maximal amount of protein that I need to ingest to stimulate muscle protein synthesis for the longest period of time?" Now that I have an answer for. For most averaged sized folks (130-220 lbs) I recommend about 25-45 grams post workout if it was a weight training session. The 25-45 correlates to the 130-220 lb range.
So what about the source post workout? Whoa man is there a lot of research out there about it. Likely because the supplement industry is a nearly 60 billion dollar a year business. One that most comes to mind immediately is whey protein. Whey is a dairy deriviative (think that watery part of your cottage cheese). It is a rapidly digesting protein. This is important because there is what we call a "window of opportunity" following an exercise session. You see, once you finish your workout, the body is "primed" to repair and replenish. Hormones and transport proteins are basically ready to roll and repair the damage you just did to yourself. This window is pretty tight and while there is some speculation as to how long it lasts, I recommend within 30 minutes of your last rep. Although the sooner the better. This is why whey supplements are so popular. No refrigeration necessary. Just add water, shake, chug, and you're done. However, if you are going to go home right afterwards and have a meal containing a good protein source, supplementation is not necessary.
The other forms of protein I'll discuss today include casein and soy. Casein is also a dairy derivative. It is a much slower digesting protein than whey. Casein sticks around for 6-7 hours after ingestion, making it a great type of protein to consume prior to going to bed. This way you'll keep circulating protein needed for protein turnover (happening constantly) in your blood while you sleep. Soy on the other hand is an intermediate protein. It's more of a 2-3 hour protein. But in the end, the body isn't so concerned with what protein you ingest. It's going to eventually break them all down into individual amino acids anyways. So this is where we finally get to the BCAAs.
There are 3 BCAAs. They are leucine, isoleucine, and valine. They account for about 20-25% of most dietary proteins. They are unique in that they are not metabolized the same as other amino acids. While other amino acids get broken down via proteases secreted from the pancreas and are further degraded in the liver, BCAAs have the unique characteristic of bypassing much of this. In fact, muscle is the primary site for them to be catabolized (broken down). So much like whey, these are utilized even faster. But there is more to the story! Leucine is a major focus these days because it seems to have the biggest impact on muscle protein synthesis (MPS). You can think of it this way, the longer MPS is turned on, the more your muscles can be in an enviornment conducive to growing. So keeping serum leucine levels elevated seems to be a good thing when trying to gain or maintain muscle.
Ugh, I just realized there is so much more that I want to discuss, but I simply can't type anymore. I need to start doing video blogs. I'm not going to give you a take home message, but rather let you draw your own conclusions on what to do. For individual questions leave a comment below or send me an e-mail at asmith@fgnutrition.com You can also follow me on Twitter at @AlecsmithRD.
Til next time...
Thursday, January 31, 2013
185.... but....
Good news, I reached 185 pounds. I actually just found out today on a different scale than I usually use. Unfortunately it was at the doctor's office. Yeah, this is where the whole "...but..." thing in the title comes in. Why was I at the doctor's office? Well I threw my back out again. For those of you who aren't aware of my back situation, I have a condition called Spondylolisthesis. Yeah, it's a mouthful. Google it, I'm currently at stage 1. How I threw it out was stupid. I was actually training a client when I did it. That's a first.
Anyways, this throws a bit of a wrench into my plans. Obviously not being able to train is going to affect my plan, but you know what... the more I think about it, the more I think this is maybe a good thing. By this I mean that LIFE happened. Hey, people get hurt. We get sick. We have deadlines to make. Vacations come along. The kids get ill. I could go on and on, but the point is that I'm not gonna make excuses here. I'm gonna hit my goal no matter what. It just might take a bit longer than what I wanted. And that's ok.
As for the whole Intermittent Fasting thing, I'm on the fence of whether or not I actually want to do it. I've had really great success in the past doing what I know works. I might just go back to that strategy and here's why:
1. I went on tv lately and my mom literally said "I noticed your belly was sticking out more than normal" (or something close to that). Thanks mom.
2. I don't like being hungry if I don't have to be
3. I'm skeptical of theories I don't fully believe in
So. Where does that leave us? Well I decided it was time to start on a "cutting" diet today. I developed a "pooch" on my gut and I don't like it. I need this to go away ASAP. At the same time, I'm really happy with the size and strength gains I got during this period. For example, my jeans and shirts don't fit well anymore. I actually ripped a fitted shirt (in the shoulder region, not the gut region). So although I'm laid up for a while, I'll adjust my diet and deal with it. Shit happens.
Oh, I'm also gonna do a before and after pic. As embarrassed as I'll be in my heavy pics, I think I'll be able to redeem myself in a few months. What do you guys think?
Anyways, this throws a bit of a wrench into my plans. Obviously not being able to train is going to affect my plan, but you know what... the more I think about it, the more I think this is maybe a good thing. By this I mean that LIFE happened. Hey, people get hurt. We get sick. We have deadlines to make. Vacations come along. The kids get ill. I could go on and on, but the point is that I'm not gonna make excuses here. I'm gonna hit my goal no matter what. It just might take a bit longer than what I wanted. And that's ok.
As for the whole Intermittent Fasting thing, I'm on the fence of whether or not I actually want to do it. I've had really great success in the past doing what I know works. I might just go back to that strategy and here's why:
1. I went on tv lately and my mom literally said "I noticed your belly was sticking out more than normal" (or something close to that). Thanks mom.
2. I don't like being hungry if I don't have to be
3. I'm skeptical of theories I don't fully believe in
So. Where does that leave us? Well I decided it was time to start on a "cutting" diet today. I developed a "pooch" on my gut and I don't like it. I need this to go away ASAP. At the same time, I'm really happy with the size and strength gains I got during this period. For example, my jeans and shirts don't fit well anymore. I actually ripped a fitted shirt (in the shoulder region, not the gut region). So although I'm laid up for a while, I'll adjust my diet and deal with it. Shit happens.
Oh, I'm also gonna do a before and after pic. As embarrassed as I'll be in my heavy pics, I think I'll be able to redeem myself in a few months. What do you guys think?
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Intermittent Fasting
First off, I'm stuck at 181 lbs. More on that at another time. Today's post is about Intermittent Fasting, or IF because I don't want to type out Intermittent Fasting a hundred times. So you might already be asking yourself, what is IF? Well, what if I told you that we all IF? You just refer to it as something else... sleeping. IF isn't a new concept nor is it overly complicated or difficult. As a matter of fact it has been around since the dawn of time. As hunters and gatherers, food wasn't always available to eat every 3-4 hours as many of us do today. How ever did we survive?! Maybe the most famous IF'er, haha, I just laughed out loud after typing that... gonna start using that. Ok, let's try that again. Maybe the most famous IF'er would be Gandhi. My point is that we can get by ok without having food available 24/7. And as it turns out, it may actually be beneficial. Below are a few of the benefits according to the research out there:
Now how does IF lead to a leaner physique? One side of me says it has to do with hormonal responses from the body reacting to the fast. The other side says, well, if you aren't eating breakfast, you aren't taking in as many calories, stupid. Of course you'll lose weight. My gut tells me it's a combination of the two. But maybe the thing I like most about IF is that it allows us to better to control our hunger. Hey, it's ok for your stomach to growl and be hungry. It can help us to distinguish between actual hunger and mental hunger (think eating out of boredom, stress, etc). I could really go on and on with this topic, but blogs should only be so long and if you're still reading this crap, pat yourself on the back. Thanks for hanging around!
Last tidbit here. My next experiment will be to do IF as part of my way to cut back to 175 from 185 (if I ever get there). Here's how it will play out: first meal of the day is 12 or 1 pm. Next meal is around 4 or so. Last meal is around 8 or so. This will be done where the first meal is the largest and the other 2 meals get subsequently smaller. I'm guessing this will take about 10 or 12 weeks. Depending on how it goes, I might have to wean myself into it and might start by IF'ing (haha, there's another one) a few times a week before going full bore. What do you guys think?
- improved blood profile
- lower blood pressure
- reduction in markers of inflammation (chronic inflammation causes disease)
- decreased risk of developing cancer (see previous bullet point)
- better blood sugar control
- more fat burn due to increased metabolic rate (believed to be due to increases in adrenaline)
- better control over one's hunger
Now how does IF lead to a leaner physique? One side of me says it has to do with hormonal responses from the body reacting to the fast. The other side says, well, if you aren't eating breakfast, you aren't taking in as many calories, stupid. Of course you'll lose weight. My gut tells me it's a combination of the two. But maybe the thing I like most about IF is that it allows us to better to control our hunger. Hey, it's ok for your stomach to growl and be hungry. It can help us to distinguish between actual hunger and mental hunger (think eating out of boredom, stress, etc). I could really go on and on with this topic, but blogs should only be so long and if you're still reading this crap, pat yourself on the back. Thanks for hanging around!
Last tidbit here. My next experiment will be to do IF as part of my way to cut back to 175 from 185 (if I ever get there). Here's how it will play out: first meal of the day is 12 or 1 pm. Next meal is around 4 or so. Last meal is around 8 or so. This will be done where the first meal is the largest and the other 2 meals get subsequently smaller. I'm guessing this will take about 10 or 12 weeks. Depending on how it goes, I might have to wean myself into it and might start by IF'ing (haha, there's another one) a few times a week before going full bore. What do you guys think?
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