New Year, New You #7 Supportive Supplements

The supplement industry is full of products that claim do to amazing things to assist a person in achieving the fitness level and body desired.  Some work, most are garbage.  Before taking any form of supplement, consult your physician.  What you will find here is not an endorsement of any particular product or brand, but, solid information about several different supplements and the purpose behind using them.  Before a person should even consider taking any form of supplements there are a few key things to know.  Supplements are not regulated by the FDA, supplements are not drugs.  There is no set of criteria to be met that determines if a product is both safe and an effective as the manufacturer claims.  It is for this reason that I do not endorse any particular product or company.  Most importantly, supplements are meant to enhance and improve an already healthy nutrition program.  Supplements are in no way, a replacement for or substitute of, healthy eating.  Before taking any supplement to enhance fitness and performance, take into account several considerations:

1.      Is there any independent research on the supplement?  Has the research been published in a scientific journal for review by the scientific community?  Also, is the research relative to the fitness and athletic population?

2.      Has the supplement been patented by the manufactured?  If so, most of the research done on the supplement will be from the manufacturers and not an independent review.  Claims based upon this research will be slanted in favor of the manufacturer.

3.      Has research been done in an athletic and fit population? Has it been done both during training and competition seasons?

4.      Is the product suited to your sport and your level of training?  Make sure it product supports your preferred style of training.

5.      Has the supplement been approved or banned by the governing body for the athletic community or sport?  Or, it there a limitation of the dosage and use of the supplement?

The use of quality products that have been researched by the scientific community, independent of manufacturer influence and combined with an understanding of what a supplement does for the body and the type of training that its use affects most positively, is the only way to make sure that you, as the consumer, are spending your money wisely.  I would further add, for a supplement to be truly effective, it must increase the availability of, or, maximize the use of a form of nutrition or biochemical compound that the human body naturally utilizes without out the aid of supplements.  This will be important to keep in mind because the specific supplements discussed here are either naturally made by the body, or, consumed through eating natural, healthy food.  The use of these specific supplements is intended to aid the body in being better at what is already naturally does.

Protein Powders

There will not be a lot of specifics on this, as it was covered in the post: New Year, New You #6 Powerful Protein.  Protein powders are among the most researched and effective forms of supplementation available.  At the simplest level, these products increase the amount of protein in the diet.  Inadequate protein levels are common problem is everyone’s diet, both inactive and athletic people alike.  Unless a person is following an incredibly strict low-carb diet then the protein supplement should include some form of carbohydrates.  The ratio of carbohydrates to protein should be around 1.5:1 grams of carbs to every gram of protein.  Carbs are essential for aiding in the digestion and absorption of protein.  This is especially true if the protein powder is going to be consumed following exercise.  If the ratio in the supplement does not match this then eat a healthy form of simple carbs, such as a banana or berries, to maximize use of the supplement.  This can be used by everyone for positive benefits.

Amino Acids

Amino acids are another popular supplement that aids in recovery from exercise.  There are twenty different amino acids but not all of them need to be taken in supplement form.  There are four specifically that can aid in improving exercise and fitness performance as well as the recovery process.  A branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) is an amino acid having aliphatic side-chains with a branch (a carbon atom bound to more than two other carbon atoms). Among the proteinogenic amino acids, there are three BCAAs: Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine; these BCAA’s work together to improve the use of calcium within the muscles cells, enhancing the quality of muscular contraction during exercise.  A quality BCAA product is going to provide 2000-2500 mg per serving.  Everyone who exercises, regardless of the preferred type of exercise, can benefit from BCAA supplementation.

The fourth amino acid is glutamine.  Its primary role is to aid in protein and nitrogen synthesis, aiding in the anabolic processes of muscles.  It can also be used as a source of energy when muscles cells become depleted of muscle glycogen during prolonged and intense exercise.  For these reasons, glutamine is fantastic for muscle recovery and growth.  Anyone who lifts weights can benefit from glutamine supplementation.  It may also help with recovery from cardio- based exercise but it is less effective for cardio training.  A quality dosage of this is 5000 mg per day.

Creatine

As a nitrogen-based organic acid, creatine is a naturally occurring compound within the human body and 95% of its stored within the skeletal muscle tissue.  It helps provide the muscles with energy during exercise and is most effective under high intensity, short-term activity such as sprints or intense, heavy weightlifting.  It does not have any benefit for cardio-based activity. For physically inactive people, the human body produces creatine in adequate amounts.  However, for most people who train at high intensities, higher levels of creatine can be very effective at producing extra energy for more repetitions with heavy weights.  An additional 3000 mg per day is all that is needed for most people.  The most effective and most researched form of creatine is creatine monohydrate.  At one point it was thought that creatine supplementation required a loading phase, where a dose of four or five times the recommended amount was necessary for the first few days in order to maximize use in the body.  This is not true.  Also, it was once thought that creatine should be consumed with juice because sugar was necessary to aid in digestion.  This is also not true. 

When considering a supplement, always clear its usage with your physician.  But also consider if the use of the supplement supports your training goals. Most importantly, remember that supplements are just that a supplement. These products are intended to enhance the quality of and improve the effectiveness of a healthy nutrition program. Supplements DO NOT replace eating healthy food.

New Year, New You #6 Powerful Protein

Of the major macronutrients, protein, fats, and carbs, protein is the most important for achieving and maintaining a lean and strong body.  This is because it is the most versatile of the macronutrients because of the wide variety of roles that it plays within the body; more on the various roles of protein in a moment.  In regards to its structure in terms of its chemistry, protein is more complex and comes in more varieties than fats or carbohydrates.  Protein is different from fats and carbohydrates, in that, all forms of protein contain a nitrogen atom as part of its chemical structure.  This is why the different varieties of protein are termed amino acids.  There are a total of twenty different amino acids that exist that are necessary for the human body in order to maximize the health requirements of the body.  In a human body that has a healthy range of body fat (20% or less of total body weight comprised of fat); twelve of these amino acids are produced in adequate quantities by the body’s normal biochemical processes.  These twelve amino acids are termed nonessential because, under normal circumstances extra quantities are not needed.  Eight of these amino acids are considered to be essential amino acids, meaning that, they must be consumed through proper protein intakes in order to meet the needs of the body.  For people that are physically active on a regular basis, the needs for the amino acids are higher than those who do not exercise.  Of the different amino acids Isoleucine, Leucine, Valine and Glutamine are the four most important for maximizing muscle recovery from exercise.

Essential Amino Acids                                                                           Nonessential AminoAcids

Isoleucine                                                                                                               Alanine

Leucine                                                                                                                  Arginine

Lysine                                                                                                           Aspartic Acid

Methionine                                                                                                               Cystine

Phenylaline                                                                                                         Glutamine

Threonine                                                                                                               Glycine

Tryptophan                                                                                                            Histidine

Valine                                                                                                                     Proline                  

Serine 

Tyrosine 

There are two different classifications of hormones within the body that influence the absorption and utilizations of protein within the body.  The anabolic (muscle building) hormones work with the proteins and amino acids to maximize recovery and improve performance.  These hormones are Growth Hormone, Androgen (Testosterone), Insulin, and Thyroid Hormone.  In response to exercise, the levels of these hormones become elevated to prepare the body for recovery.  A snack or meal containing both carbohydrates and protein, consumed within one hour of completing the exercise session, is mandatory for maximizing recovery.  Failure to consume a well-balanced meal after exercise will transition the body from an anabolic state in to a catabolic (muscle breaking) one.  The catabolic state begins when the anabolic hormone levels decrease due to insufficient nutrition to maintain the high levels.  The catabolic hormones cortisone, hydrocortisone, and thyroxin will rise, impairing the recovery process and causing meals consumed after the one-hour window to be stored as body fat instead of being used for muscle recovery.

This leads to the question, “how much protein do I need?”  For someone who does not exercise about 30% of the total daily calories should come in the form of protein.  For most people this will be equal to about 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.  For people who regularly exercise four or more hours per week protein should still remain about 30% of total daily calories.  However, because a physically active person needs more calories than someone who is not, protein consumption could be as high as 1.5-2.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.  Most people who exercise four to five hours per week will need about 1.2 grams per pound of body weight per day.

Beyond recovery from exercise protein serves many other functions in the body: enzyme and protein synthesis, nutrient transportation, source of energy, hormone production, fluid balance, acid-base balance of the blood, growth and tissue maintenance, and, the synthesis of non-protein nitrogen containing compounds.

Protein Supplements have become the most commonly used form of supplements within the fitness and health industries over the last several years.  Before discussing the different types of protein supplements, understand that, these types of products are supplements to a healthy nutrition program.  Use of these products in a way aid the process of improving the quality of a person’ diet and should not be used to completely replaced protein from quality food sources like: chicken, salmon, turkey, lean beef, eggs, or milk.

Whey Protein is the most commonly used form of protein supplements.  It is based in dairy products, such as milk, and is one of the most easily used and fastest absorbing forms of protein supplements available.  There are two main types of whey proteins; concentrate and isolate whey protein.  Whey concentrate is, depending on manufacturer’s quality, 29-89% protein with some fats and carbohydrates thrown in.  Whey Isolate is 100% protein.  For most people, 20-25 grams of whey protein per day is all that is needed to properly supplement protein intake.  Whey protein is best utilized immediately after a workout.

Casein Protein is another type of protein derived from dairy products.   Unlike whey protein, casein is a slow-digesting protein.  This slower digestion process makes it less ideal than whey for use right after a workout, but, it does have one extremely useful benefit for those whose training programs focus on building muscle mass.  Taking casein protein before going to sleep is an excellent way to maximize muscle recovery and growth.

Soy Protein is one other commonly used protein supplement.  Soy proteins supplements are taken from plant –based sources such as beans.  It is the primary source of protein for vegetarians.  Soy plants and other sources of soy protein have lower levels of amino acids and total protein than animal and dairy products.  For this reason, vegetarians must consume more natural sources of protein than people who eat meat.  Soy protein supplements tend to be lower quality sources of protein than meat or whey proteins supplements.

As a minimum people need to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day.  This applies to both physically inactive and active people.  Those who exercise on a regular basis have the stipulation of consuming 30% of total daily calories from protein.  Following the 1 gram per pound per day rule, coupled with the 30% of total calories will someone who exercises regularly, the correct amount of protein per day to meet the body’s needs.

New Year, New #5- Carbs are Evil?

Carbohydrates are evil?

There is probably no more confusing, and misunderstood aspect of nutrition than carbohydrates.  Like many things in life, the problem with carbohydrates is not that they are inherently evil; the vast majority of people just have no idea how to appropriately utilize carbohydrate intake into creating a healthy and well-balanced diet program.

Who needs carbohydrates, aka carbs?  The answer is EVERYONE.  However, the amounts of carbs needed vary depending upon physical activity and exercise.  Also, the sources of carbs will vary depending upon fitness and physical activity levels.  The more physically active a person is the more carbs are needed to fuel performance.  Think of it like gasoline, if you drive a Ferrari, you need high performance gas.  If you drive a pinto, the low grade stuff is just fine.

The roles of carbs

Before going any further, let’s discuss the roles carbs play within the body.  Understanding this, will help to better understand what good sources of carbohydrates are.

Carbs are the primary source of energy during exercise and athletic performance.  They are not the primary source of fuel when the body is at rest.   Fat is the primary fuel when the body is at rest and, on the surface, this sounds like a good thing, but it is not.  Carbs are stored in the muscles as muscle glycogen, typically numbering between 1200-1600 calories.  In addition to this, blood glucose circulates through the blood stream 280-440 calories. This blood glucose, when the body is at rest, is broken down from fat.   However, this is done at a much slower rate than after exercise.  The more intense exercise is the more muscle glycogen is used to sustain the exercise.  Muscle glycogen that is depleted by exercise is replenished from the blood glucose both by nutritional intake and body fat break down.

Carbs are the fastest digesting of the macronutrients and will restore muscle glycogen faster than protein or fat.  Carbs, as a primary fuel for exercise, are best used immediately before, during, and after exercise.  A meal should be consumed 60-90 minutes before exercise.  Carbs should only be consumed during exercise if the session will last more than one hour. Carbs should be immediately consumed after exercise to enhance the recovery process.

 It is vital to eat as quickly as possible after the end of a workout.  The more rapidly that nutrition is consumed after exercise the more efficiently the body will begin to repair itself.  It is through the repair process that metabolic rates become elevated and body fat becomes used at a higher rate as energy while the body recovers.  Waiting more than two hours to eat after exercise can reduce recovery efficiency by as much as 50%. The question then is how much of the carbohydrates should be consumed when?

Personally, I think half of the total daily carbohydrate intake should be allocated to the meal before the workout, and if necessary, during the workout, and the recovery meal after the workout.  The other half of the total daily carbohydrate should be split so that 20% of total daily carb intake occurs with breakfast and the remaining 30% is taken in with the last meal of the day.  As an example, let’s say that a person is consuming 150 grams of carbohydrates per day.  Half of that would be 75 grams that should be split between the pre-workout and post-workout meals.  With some consumed during the workout session if it lasts longer than an hour.  Following the guidelines of 20% at breakfast and 30% at dinner, for the remaining half of the carbohydrates, that leaves 30g consumed at breakfast and 45g consumed at dinner.

Types of Carbohydrates

There are two primary types of carbohydrates: simple and complex.  Simple Carbohydrates are quickly digested by the body and more likely to be used as energy, if a person exercises regularly, instead of being stored as body fat. For this reason the best time to consume simple carbohydrates is immediately before, during exercise, and after exercise.  Consuming simple carbs are exercise is the best way to replenish muscle glycogen levels. In addition, these are naturally occurring forms of sugars such as fruit, vegetables, 100% whole grain products, and dairy products.  There are six forms of naturally occurring sugar referred to as simple sugars or simple carbohydrates.

•       Glucose in the body,

•       Fructose in fruit and vegetables

•       Galactose one of the sugars in dairy products

•       Sucrose is table sugar

•       Lactose the other sugar in dairy products

•       Maltose the sugar in grain products

Complex Carbohydrates are made from various combinations of the simple carbohydrates.  Sometimes these are slower to be digested than simple carbohydrates and more likely to be stored as body fat without regular exercise.  Not all, but many complex carbs are known as starch.  Starch based carbs are not as easily used by the body from energy are more likely to be stored as body fat.  This includes baked goods, potatoes, pastas, anything made with refined flours, ice cream.  In reality, unless a person is moderately to very active, a healthy diet will consume very little of these forms of carbohydrates.  Consuming carbs from these sources withoutbeing physically active will make it almost impossible to maintain healthy body weight.  Exceptions to this do exist, oatmeal and other oat based products being an example.  However, because there are exceptions to the simple and complex carbs, it is not the easiest way to identify what carbs are healthy to eat and when it is best to do so.

Gripping the Glycemic Index

This easiest way to know whether or not a carbohydrate is healthy is to understand the GI rating.  Carbohydrates that have high GI ratings should be avoided while carbs that are low GI should be consumed the majority of the time.  The best time to consume high GI foods is immediately before, during or immediately after exercise that lasts more than an hour and burns more than 400 calories.  If this exercise requirement is not met it will mean the high GI foods will likely become body fat.

Optimizing Carbohydrate Control

Remember, controlling carbs is about controlling blood glucose levels to minimize the insulin reaction.  Insulin is a hormone released into the bloodstream to lower blood glucose levels become too high.  Its primary role is to remove excess glucose from the blood. It does this by storing the excess as body fat.  In excess, all types of macronutrients, fats, carbs, and protein will result in a strong insulin reaction.  However, the body reacts more strongly to carbohydrates than fats and protein.  It reacts most strongly to high GI carbs.  It is because of this high insulin reaction excess carbs are more likely to be stored as body fat.

To eat carbs successfully

Focus on non-starchy complex carbs that are low GI such as leafy green vegetables, berries, round fruit that grows on trees, and oat-based products.  Do this when eating carbs on a day that you will not exercise.  On the exercise days; the meals and snacks not close to the exercise session the cards should also be consumed from these food sources.  Focus only on simple carbs that are medium to high GI immediately before, during, or after exercise.

New Year, New you #4 Getting Fat…with Understanding

It is important to understand that not all fat is evil.  The body needs some body fat on it and the diet must have fat it in to support the body. A healthy amount of body fat is necessary to provide protection, temperature regulation, brain function and many other roles for the body.  For men, this between five and fifteen percent of total body weight to be comprised of fat, with women, this range is, before and during the child-bearing years, fifteen to twenty percent.  After menopause women can safely go below fifteen percent if they wish.  Before menopause, a woman with less than 15 percent body fat is potentially at risk for health problems concerning normal menstrual cycles, eating disorders, and osteoporosis. The combination of risk factors is known as the can have extremely negative effects upon the ability to become pregnant or having a healthy pregnancy.  This is especially true for women that are highly physically active and do not consume adequate calories in addition to low body fat levels.  This combination is referred to as the Female Athlete Triad and can have profound negative impact upon a women’s ability to conceive a child.

 The term body fat percent refers to the total percentage of body weight comprised of fat.  Being overweight is defined as having higher than 20% body fat while being obese is defined as having higher than 30% body fat.  Compared with people with healthy body fat levels, people who are overweight or obese are far more likely to have health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, joint replacement, acid reflux disease and many other problems.

How the body uses food

Each pound of body fat stores the equivalent of approximately 3500 calories worth of energy.  It is important to understand that all of this potential energy is not the body’s first choice of energy to support life or exercise.  To better explain this, a basic understanding of how the body digests and uses energy from food is necessary.  All food, when digested enters the blood stream, from the intestines, as blood glucose.  Blood glucose does three things: it either becomes stored in the muscles as muscle glycogen to provide energy for physical activity, or it remains in the blood stream, as blood glucose, circulating to meet the chemical and biological needs of the body.  Finally, all blood glucose that can not immediately be used for the first two roles is stored as body fat.  For most people, it does not take much food to meet the first two needs.

The Basics: why fat is hard to lose

Before the body can use stored body fat for energy it must first must use all muscle glycogen and blood glucose, circulating in the blood, before it will breakdown body fat for energy.  For this reason, it is practically impossible to lose body fat without exercise.

When the body is exercising, it finds its support for energy in the following order.

•      Muscle glycogen is used first

•      Then blood glucose is used

•      When circulating blood glucose is gone, it is replenished from the liver

•      When the liver runs out of glucose then body fat is broken down for energy

•              This process is much slower. This is typically the point where a person feels that they have “hit the wall”

It is for this reason, therefore, that intensity of exercise is more important than duration because the body must burn through all the stored forms of glucose before body fat is broken down.  So how much work must be done?  Within the muscles, about 300-400 grams or 1200-1600 calories of muscle glycogen, stored throughout the body.  For the most part, these calories are really only used during exercise.

 An additional 70-110 grams or 280-440 calories are circulating in the blood and stored in the liver, the body is constantly using and replenishing this supply to perform functions such as breathing, heart rate, digestions, and many other chemical processes.   These activities are constantly going twenty-four hours a day, every day of your life.  The nice thing about this is that when the blood glucose levels are low the body tends to breakdown body fat to replenish these levels of 280—440 calories.  The problem is that even for someone who consumes a healthy diet specific to that person’s individual calories needs; the blood sugar levels never go low enough to lose significant amounts of body fat.

On the flip side, let’s say that a person exercises incredibly hard and burns 700 calories in an hour long workout (most people only workout hard enough to burn about half of that in an hour).   The body naturally wants to replenish that 700 calories burned from the muscle glycogen and begin the recovery process.  The body begins this process immediately by drawing from the blood glucose until it is depleted and then, restoring blood glucose levels by breaking down body fat.  But to rely on this exclusively for weight loss requires constant exercise at an incredibly high intensity, almost every day until the goal is achieved.  For most people this is not practical in everyday life, much less appealing.  It is for this reason that a combination of diet and exercise is the quickest way to burn through this and start melting body fat.  Also, this is why intensity of exercise is far more important than duration.

To this point, we have looked at a very basic overview of what the body goes through when exercising.  The process is far more complicated than I have described here in this simple explanation.  Please note, that nutrition is a very important part of recovering from exercise, and that based upon this explanation for calorie usage and body fat breakdown, I am NOT suggesting avoiding eating after exercise.  Post-exercise nutrition is a very necessary and fundamental component of weight loss.  The details of how to properly do this will be discussed in a later chapter.

Dietary Fat

Most of the time a person does not need more than 30% of the daily calories to come from fat and minimum of 10% is necessary to avoid health problems.  Fats, like all calories, are a source of energy, with one gram of fat being equal to nine calories. Fats serve and important role in controlling satiety, the feeling of being full.  They help a person feel fuller, longer than carbohydrates will and fats give food flavoring.

Dietary fat can carry essential nutrients. Essential nutrients are those that must be consumed through a proper diet because the body does not produce enough of it on its own.  In the blood stream dietary fat is transported as glycerides or cholesterol depending upon the source of the fat. There are eight things to know about dietary fat:

1.      Fats and oils: fats are solid at room temperature and usually are high in saturated fat content. Oils are liquid at room temperature and typically contain unsaturated fats

2.      Triglycerides, diglycerides, and monoglycerides

•      Triglycerides are the most common form of dietary fat and oils

3.      Fats can be classified as short-chain, medium-chain, and long-chain fats.  Long-chain fats the most common. 

4.      Polyunsaturated fats: have the tendancy to lower blood cholesterol, both LDL and HDL.  These are healthy fats and are found in vegetable and cereal oils

5.      Monounsaturated fats: These fats lower LDL cholesterol while keeping HDL cholesterol levels up.  These are the healthiest fats.

6.      Saturated Fats: raise cholesterol levels, less healthy than unsaturated fats, found in meat and dairy products.  As well as anything that has been fried in crisco, lard, or grease.

7.      Low-density lipoproteins (LDL):  these are the major carrier of cholesterol and other forms of lipids (fats) in the blood stream.  They try to keep fats in the body

8.      High Density Lipoproteins (HDL): These lipoproteins carry fats away from storage and to the liver for metabolism into something useful or elimination from the body

Healthy people have low LDL cholesterol numbers and HIGH HDL cholesterol numbers

Healthy sources of saturated fats

•      Eggs

•      Chicken

•      Turkey

•      Fish

•      Lean ground beef (85/15 or better)

•      Bison

•      Wild Game

Healthy sources of unsaturated fats

•      Olives

•      Olive oil

•      Avocados

•      Nuts

•      Salmon