Nutrition

Although branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have many interesting properties on their own and can help to promote and optimize anabolic and anti-catabolic processes, BCAAs and glutamine represent a powerful synergistic combination that is in many ways clearly superior to the use of BCAAs or glutamine alone.

While BCAAs are the most abundant amino acids in muscle protein, glutamine is the most abundant free amino acid in the bloodstream and cells. Glutamine is essential for the function of the immune system and the cells involved in the regeneration and repair of muscle tissue. In addition, glutamine is said to have many other beneficial effects, ranging from healing the stomach lining to being used as a supplement to reduce cravings for alcohol and nicotine.

Similar to BCAA levels, it has been shown that there is a correlation between the concentration of glutamine in the body and the rate of protein synthesis. In other words, glutamine levels are a good indicator of an anabolic state. When blood glutamine levels are high, the chances of positive adaptations in muscle mass and strength in response to weight training are higher and low blood glutamine levels are a clear sign of overtraining and/or malnutrition. The synergy between BCAAs and glutamine exists because not only do both induce many of the same anabolic and anti-catabolic effects, but BCAAs can directly contribute to increasing glutamine stores under stressful conditions by serving as precursors for the formation of glutamine.

A combination of glutamine and BCAAs has been shown to dramatically improve nitrogen balance and reduce muscle breakdown in patients with burns and after major surgery. In addition, a relatively low-dose combination of 3 grams of BCAAs and 5 grams of glutamine has been shown to produce significantly greater gains in muscle mass and strength in athletes than whey protein alone. Anecdotal reports suggest that some athletes can make significantly greater gains when using higher doses of BCAAs and glutamine in conjunction with optimal nutrition and training. Although BCAAs and glutamine have many benefits on their own, the combination of these two supplements appears to significantly increase the potential benefits.

What is the correct dosage?

In order to maximize the numerous anabolic effects of BCAAs and glutamine, it is important that sufficiently high dosages are used. Although it has been shown that as little as 3 grams of BCAAs per day can provide benefits, studies using higher doses of BCAAs in the range of 20 grams per 50 kilograms of lean body weight show much more dramatic results. Even better results can be achieved during intense training phases or a strict diet with BCAA dosages of up to 0.45 grams per kilogram of lean body mass. The optimum dosage for this purpose can be easily calculated by subtracting the weight of the body fat from the body weight and multiplying the result by 0.45. So if you weigh 100 kilos and have a body fat percentage of 10%, then your fat-free body mass is 90 kilos, which, multiplied by 0.45, results in a quantity of approx. 40 grams of BCAAs per day.

The minimum dosage for glutamine is 0.1 grams per kilogram of lean body mass. However, significantly better results are achieved with dosages of between 0.2 and 0.45 grams of glutamine per kilogram of lean body mass. The same trainee with a body weight of 100 kg and a body fat percentage of 10% should therefore consume between 10 and 40 grams of glutamine per day, whereby the higher dosages make the most sense, particularly during intensive training phases in conjunction with a high calorie deficit and a reduced carbohydrate intake.

The right timing

Perhaps the biggest differences of opinion among experts in the field of BCAA or glutamine supplementation are regarding the correct timing of these nutrients. Depending on who you ask, you will get different answers. I think everyone agrees that the greatest physical stress on an athlete occurs during training sessions or sporting events. Since BCAA and/or glutamine supplementation provides its greatest benefits during these periods of peak stress, it makes sense that supplementation with these compounds should take place prior to training to ensure that high levels of BCAAs and glutamine are present in the body during exercise.

It is important to remember that dietary protein is broken down in the digestive tract into individual amino acids including BCAAs and glutamine. It is also important to remember that carbohydrates will help to conserve BCAA and glutamine stores in the body. If you eat well, provide your body with adequate protein at regular intervals and maintain a normal lifestyle, then there should be sufficient amounts of BCAAs and glutamine in your body for most of the day. However, when a sudden catabolic load is placed on the body during exercise, BCAA and glutamine stores are drawn upon as glycogen stores begin to be depleted.

This is the time when strategically increased BCAA and glutamine levels will have their greatest anabolic and anti-catabolic effect. For this reason, the first thing to do is to ensure high BCAA and glutamine levels during training by splitting the daily dosage of these two nutrients in half, taking the first half 30 minutes before training or at the start of the training session and the second half immediately after training. This way you will get the most bang for your buck. You should try this approach for two weeks and see if you notice a substantial difference in terms of recovery, delayed onset muscle soreness, fat loss, muscle growth and energy levels during training.

There will of course be additional benefits if you increase your daily BCAA and glutamine dosage and use these supplements at other times of the day. During a strict diet, where both calorie intake and carbohydrate intake are significantly reduced, supplementing with 2 to 5 grams of BCAAs and glutamine between meals will help maintain a positive nitrogen balance and protect existing muscle mass from breakdown. In addition, glutamine between meals can help reduce cravings for sweets and carbohydrates. Another point that should not go unmentioned is the effect on the release of growth hormone.

Both BCAAs and glutamine have been shown to independently increase growth hormone levels when using a dosage of just 3 grams. By using 3 to 5 grams of BCAAs and 3 to 5 grams of glutamine between meals and an additional 5 to 10 grams of glutamine before bed, athletes - and especially athletes over the age of 30 - can benefit from increased growth hormone levels. This can lead to a lower body fat percentage, increased energy and accelerated regeneration after training.

"Why does my breakfast make me hungry?" After someone asked me this question for who-knows-how-many times, I decided to delve deeper into the possible reasons and mechanisms. I thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts on the subject with you.

This is quite a long article, but I hope it is interesting enough to keep your attention and interesting enough to teach you a few things.

My heart was in my mouth a few months ago when it seemed like there was overwhelming evidence for the benefits of breakfast, but I was able to disprove it.

Why does breakfast make some people hungry?

As mentioned earlier, it was not without reason that this question piqued my interest beyond what could be attributed to food choices. In questionnaires, clients often stated that eating in the morning made them hungry before lunch and that this was sometimes the case less than an hour after breakfast.

On Facebook, in emails and in conversations, similar anecdotal experiences were mentioned too frequently to be explained by mere coincidence - or to be dismissed with a half-hearted response based on the assumption that everyone ate an unhealthy breakfast.

These people hadn't eaten fruit loops and a peanut butter sandwich with a glass of orange juice for breakfast - you know, the average person's breakfast that would make anyone hungry an hour later.

No, these people had eaten a typical fitness athlete's breakfast that included all kinds of foods that most of us have eaten for breakfast at one time or another - oatmeal, dairy, eggs, etc. It was often a meal characterized by moderate to high amounts of carbohydrates and protein, relatively low amounts of fat, and usually a useful amount of fiber.

You can spend all day debating how healthy or unhealthy whole grains and dairy are, but the fact remains that these foods can't provide a blanket explanation for the fact that breakfast triggers hunger in some people.

Heck, all you have to do is google "why does my breakfast make me hungry", "hungry after breakfast" or "breakfast makes me hungry" and you'll see that the forums are full of people reporting similar experiences.

I would count myself as one of those people. Skipping breakfast was by far the best change I made to my diet when I started Intermittent Fasting in 2006.

Like many other Intermittent Fasting practitioners, breakfast was something really annoying for me and skipping it made a huge difference. Compared to before, dieting almost went by itself.

Not to mention the long-term maintenance of weight. No more counting down the hours until lunchtime and no more feeling like I was on a diet - regardless of whether I was actually dieting, maintaining my weight or gaining weight.

For me and many others, skipping breakfast keeps hunger at bay much better than eating something in the morning - as paradoxical as this may sound. This is of course very interesting to me as it's a damn strange thing. Why are some people better off not eating anything at all in the morning? How can it be that under these specific circumstances you are better off with zero calories than with hundreds of calories. It just doesn't make sense...

So I set about trying to find an answer to this question and eventually came up with a satisfying hypothesis regarding the mechanism underlying this mysterious post-breakfast hunger surge that so many of us feel.

The original article ended up being 12000+ words long and had an over-the-top ridiculously academic feel to it, branching off into all sorts of only remotely related topics. The article was far too long for most people's attention span and far too technical for most people's level of understanding.

So yesterday I sat down and rewrote the whole thing, trying to get it across in the same way I would explain the topic to my girlfriend or an invisible friend I've told the whole thing to a few times now.

Note: As for the term breakfast, in the context of this article, I mean breakfast in the traditional sense, i.e. breakfast right after getting up - and not in the original sense of the word as the first meal after an overnight fast.

Let's define hunger after breakfast

Trying to define hunger after breakfast is something completely pointless. It's something you'll understand immediately because you've had the same experience, or something that will make you wonder what the hell I'm talking about because you simply don't have that problem. I suspect most of my readers will fall into the first category, which is why I won't spend much time on an academic discourse explaining the phenomenon beyond what I've already done. Simply put, some people get hungry - very hungry - and experience cravings of varying intensity shortly after eating breakfast in the morning.

In the realm of scientific literature, scientists who specialize in research on appetite, hunger, and addiction make a distinction between the previously mentioned terms (i.e. hunger, cravings, etc.), but since hunger after breakfast is described by clients and on forums as a subjective experience, without more detailed research on my part, I would guess that most people are referring to the same phenomenon when they talk about hunger after breakfast and use terms such as cravings, feeling hungry, ravenous hunger, etc. Personally, I would describe this feeling as hunger in the sense that most people would use the term hunger.

Hunger after breakfast sets in sometime between morning and noon - usually 30 minutes to 2 hours after breakfast and doesn't usually manifest itself in any symptoms beyond noticeable hunger. However, some people have mentioned that irritability and an impaired ability to concentrate on tasks that require greater amounts of focus occur at the same time as hunger after breakfast.

An important point is that the same meal does not produce this early and/or pronounced hunger when consumed later in the day. Hunger after breakfast cannot be explained by differences in food choices, but by certain individual factors and their interactions with a time-dependent effect of food intake on hormonal profile and metabolism.

An introduction to cortisol

Cortisol is the main culprit when it comes to post-breakfast hunger. Most of you will probably associate cortisol with stress and muscle catabolism and consequently with 'bad' and 'avoidance'. While this is partially correct, it is largely incorrect.

Since "partially correct" is responsible for many of the bullshit nutrition myths out there, it's useless. People who claim that eating six meals a day will boost your metabolism and that fasting results in starvation mode are "partially correct" - but most of what they say is just nonsense.

Context is often key and this is especially true when it comes to cortisol - which is why I'm going to give a brief introduction to this complex and multi-faceted hormone here. There are almost as many different definitions of stress as there are myths out there about cortisol but in terms of the former, the definition that appeals to me most from a minimalist perspective is the following:

"Stress can be defined as any challenge to an individual's homeostasis that necessitates an adaptive response by that individual."

Newport & Nemeroff, 2002.

Cortisol is released in response to a stressor to help you deal with that stressor efficiently - whether that stressor is a 20 repetition set of squats to complete exhaustion or an approaching deadline for an article that needs to be published. The role of cortisol during these challenges is to give you a boost, not to hinder you - whether the stressor is physical (e.g. training, injury, cold) or psychological (e.g. a complex cognitively demanding challenge).

Elevated cortisol levels during exercise allow us to go far beyond our non-stressed comfort zone and maintain an adequate rate of exertion without being unduly distracted by pain, hunger and fatigue for a longer period of time than would otherwise be the case. Cortisol improves muscle and glycogen metabolism, increases pain tolerance, reduces fatigue and boosts motivation.

Oh yes, does this answer the questions of those who have asked me about my thoughts on the use of cortisol blockers before training? No? Okay, then all I can say is good luck with those squats buddy....

Because of the cortisol response to a cognitive challenge, we can remember important facts faster and in more detail, maintain our concentration, stay alert and work on the computer all night if necessary. Cortisol improves our sensory perception, memory and alertness.

Most of this is covered in Robert Sapolsky's excellent book, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, in which he also explains when and why cortisol becomes bad for us. In short, prolonged stress results in chronically elevated cortisol levels, which then do all kinds of bad things. There is a time and a place for cortisol. But in our hectic times, the thin line between work (stress) and leisure (rest) is often blurred.

With constant demands placed on oneself, never-ending obligations and endless opportunities to work (at the office, at home, etc.), the stressors of modern society are of great psychological variety and they are omnipresent if you allow them to be.

In stark contrast, the stressors of the past were more often short-term and physical in nature. Even though these were probably more serious and often life-threatening, there was a clear line between start and finish. And this explains the title of Sapolsky's book, which I cannot recommend enough and which should be read by anyone seeking a more detailed explanation of stress and the work of cortisol.

What Sapolsky does not explain in detail, however, is the cortisol response upon waking and the acute effects of cortisol on insulin secretion.

The cortisol response after waking up

Most people understand the concept of exercise and work as stressors - challenges to homeostasis - that require an adaptive response (cortisol). However, few people think of waking up after sleep and getting up in the morning as a particularly stressful event. However, waking up after sleep is indeed a major challenge to homeostasis.

The transition from a passive state of sleep to an active state of wakefulness is - in some ways - like going from a leisurely walk to a sprint where you have to give it your all. In the field of endocrinology, there is a special name for the events that follow waking up in the morning: The Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR - in German Kortisol Aufwachreaktion), on which there is a substantial amount of scientific research.

"Awakening stimulates ACTH release in the pituitary gland, which then stimulates cortisol release by the adrenal cortex. The rapid increase and peak in cortisol levels after waking is known as the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR). Although CAR is believed to be part of the cortisol diurnal rhythm, CAR and cortisol diurnal rhythm represent two separate adrenocortical activities."

Shin et al, 2011.

As the body prepares to start the day, cortisol levels begin to rise steadily during the second half of the night, reaching a peak around the time you open your eyes. But as you struggle to get out of bed, cortisol levels continue to rise on the way to the shower. They will peak around 30 to 45 minutes later, which is around breakfast time.

We have now reached a key point in this hypothesis behind post-breakfast hunger, as the precise timing of the peak cortisol circadian rhythm (CAR) and the consumption of breakfast have some very interesting effects on insulin secretion.

The cortisol awakening response and insulin secretion

So you've showered, gotten dressed for the day and done all the things you do in the morning that are none of my business and now you sit down to eat your breakfast before work, school or whatever. I'm guessing it's now 30 to 45 minutes after you get out of bed, if you're like most people.

By the time you sit down to eat - or sometime around that period - your cortisol levels will be at their highest of the day, which should be around 20-30 nmol/l. In comparison, cortisol levels in the evening are around 2-5 nmol/l, which corresponds to the lowest value of the cortisol daily rhythm, if you're interested in the numbers. Of course, cortisol levels could rise further later in the day depending on the amount of stress you are exposed to, but this has nothing to do with our analysis.

"The early insulin response to a meal is higher in the morning than in the afternoon and this fact can only be partially explained by a moderate increase in incretin secretion. Rapid non-genomic effects of high cortisol levels in the morning may be at least partially responsible for this observation."

Vila et al, 2011.

The point is that the peak of the cortisol diurnal rhythm coincides with breakfast and that this is the only time during the day when cortisol levels reach sufficiently high levels to have an acute and marked effect on the food-induced insulin response.

If this sounds vague to the endocrinology enthusiast and those familiar with cortisol, let me briefly explain in plain language. What I mean here is that during the CAR maximum, cortisol levels rise high enough to "tantalize" the glucocorticoid receptors. This changes the non-genomic interaction between cortisol and insulin action from a suppression by the former, as can be observed at other times during the day due to mineral corticoid binding dominance, to a non-genomic stimulation or synergistic effect (Vila et al., 2010; Dallman et al., 1995)

If the last paragraph doesn't make much sense to you, then you now know why I had to rewrite and simplify the entire article.

Short-term* exposure to cortisol significantly increases insulin secretion and this is the key point here.

* As opposed to long-term exposure, which has the opposite effect.

Stop guessing and start calculating. This guide to calculating calorie needs includes numerous formulas for calculating your basal metabolic rate and advice on macronutrient intake.

The goal of this article is to provide you with guidelines that will help you determine not only how much food you should eat per day, but also how you should divide your three macronutrients - protein, carbohydrates and fats.

We will cover common terms and definitions in combination with formulas that can help you get on the right track. Before we start with this information, I would advise you to take a week or two to examine your current eating habits. Write down everything you eat and find out how many calories, how much protein, how many carbohydrates and how much fat you consume each day.

This will take some time and work, but it is necessary. If you don't know the portion sizes and the calorie and nutrient compositions of the foods you eat, then the information in the rest of this article won't matter or help.

Calorie consumption - from basal metabolic rate to total daily calorie consumption

The basal metabolic rate (BMR)

Basal metabolic rate is basically the amount of calories you would need each day if you didn't exercise all day and only needed minimal amounts of energy.

Basal metabolic rate is often confused with the amount of calories you should consume each day. This is not the case unless you are bedridden. The basal metabolic rate is a baseline value if you are not doing any physical activity.

NEAT

The term NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis and describes the amount of calories you consume on a daily basis through non-planned exercise. NEAT includes things like walking around at work, going shopping or doing household activities. NEAT includes unplanned cardio or workouts with weights.

You typically have control over the calories consumed that are part of the NEAT. You can choose not to go shopping or not to clean the house, etc.

Exercise-induced thermogenesis (EAT)

Exercise-induced thermogenesis describes the amount of calories burned daily through planned exercise. Exercise-induced thermogenesis does not include activities such as going shopping or walking to work. Only your cardio training, your training with weights, Zumba training sessions, etc. are tolerated here.

The thermic effect of food (TEF)

The thermic effect of food is the amount of energy burned directly through food intake and digestion. The thermic effect of food will vary based on the fiber content and macronutrient composition of the meal.

The thermic effect of food is expressed as a percentage of the total calories of a meal. The thermic effect of food in a typical meal is around 15%. A protein-only meal can have a thermic effect of up to 25%, while the thermic effect of fat is typically less than 5%. Carbohydrates fall somewhere in the middle and can range from 5 to 25%. Fiber also has a high thermic effect.

Total daily calorie consumption

Total calorie expenditure is the combination of basal metabolic rate, NEAT, exercise-induced thermogenesis and the thermogenic effect of food. This is the total amount of calories you burn in a given day.

Total calorie expenditure = BMR + NEAT + EAT + TEF

Factors that influence basal metabolic rate and total daily calorie expenditure

Here are some of the most important factors that influence your total daily calorie expenditure:

• Testosterone levels - Long-term declining testosterone levels can lower your basal metabolic rate.
• Gender - Men generally have a higher basal metabolic rate than women.
• Health - If you are sick or injured, you typically don't move as much
• Puberty - If you are growing rapidly, you are likely to consume more calories than normal.
• Pregnancy - Pregnancy will increase your calorie consumption.
• Weight - The heavier you are, the more energy you will use to maintain your weight.
• Muscle tissue - Extra muscle tissue will increase the amount of calories you consume each day.
• Occupation - Do you have a desk job or are you constantly on your feet and moving around a lot?
• Exercise - Exercise obviously influences exercise-induced thermogenesis.
• Nutritional composition - The composition of your diet influences the thermogenic effect of food (TEF), which can increase or decrease your total daily calorie consumption.
• Unplanned physical activity - Are you a person who moves a lot or do you sit in front of the TV all evening?
• Body temperature - The higher your body temperature, the more energy you burn.
• Thyroid hormone levels - High thyroid hormone levels increase the basal metabolic rate.
• Caffeine and tobacco - Caffeine and tobacco consumption can increase your basal metabolic rate.
• Climate - If you work or sleep in an environment that is slightly warmer or cooler than normal, this will lead to higher energy expenditure.
• Stress - When you are stressed, this usually leads to an increase in energy expenditure.

Estimating your basal metabolic rate

Below are several methods used to determine your daily calorie needs.

Katch-McArdle BMR formula

The Katch-McArdle method is considered a reliable method for estimating your basal metabolic rate if you are relatively lean and have a fairly accurate estimate of your body fat percentage. The equation is:

Basal Metabolic Rate = 370 + (21.6 x lean body mass)

The fat-free body mass in kilos corresponds to your total weight minus your fat weight and is calculated using the formula

Fat-free body mass = weight - ((body fat percentage in % /100) * weight)

Cunningham formula for the basal metabolic rate

This is another formula that assumes you know your body fat percentage.

Basal metabolic rate = 500 + (22 x lean body mass)

Activity multiplier - calculating your total calorie consumption

Now that you have calculated your basal metabolic rate, you can multiply it by one of the following factors based on your activity level to get your total calorie consumption.

• Sedentary - Basal Metabolic Rate x 1.2: You don't get much exercise at work - desk job. After work, you spend the evening on the couch in front of the TV.
• Slightly active - basal metabolic rate x 1.375: Some daily activity plus some exercise 1 to 3 days a week.
• Moderately active - basal metabolic rate x 1.55: A reasonable amount of daily activity plus exercise 3 to 5 days a week.
• Very active - Basal metabolic rate x 1.725: You are very active and you exercise 6 to 7 days a week.
• Highly active - basal metabolic rate x 1.9: You are extremely active, including up to two training sessions per week and/or have a very physically demanding job.

These figures are only intended to give you a rough estimate. The first 2 weeks on a new calorie level may result in abnormal weight gain or weight loss as your body may either retain or excrete water due to changes in sodium and carbohydrate intake. Don't worry about the weight you gain or lose during the first 2 weeks of a bulking or definition phase as long as these changes are not abnormal.

After these 2 weeks, you should monitor your weight and make minor adjustments based on your goals.

Macronutrient intake

Now that you know how many calories you will be eating per day, it's time to determine the macronutrient composition of your diet. These macronutrients are protein, fat and carbohydrates.

• Protein - Contains 4 kcal per gram
• Fat - Contains 9 kcal per gram
• Carbohydrates - Contains 4 kcal per gram

Fat intake

Fat will not make you fat. Your body needs a reasonable amount of fat for overall health. Total fat intake should make up 20 to 35% of your total calorie intake.

If you feel you can function on higher amounts of carbohydrates, then a fat intake in the range of 20 to 25% of total calories could be an option. If you are struggling to eat enough food or if you react badly to carbohydrates, then a higher fat intake is recommended.

Protein intake

Protein intake can be a controversial topic. Some people claim that you should never eat more than 150 grams per day. Although the effectiveness of consuming more than 150 grams of protein per day for muscle building is questionable, there are certainly a number of other reasons to eat more than 150 grams.

A higher protein intake is perfectly safe and harmless if you do not suffer from kidney disease. If you are underweight or in a bulking phase and building muscle quickly, I recommend 200 to 250 grams of protein per day depending on your calorie consumption.

If you are eating a ton of calories per day, then you should up your protein intake to 250 grams. If your calorie intake is around 3000 kcal, then 200 to 220 grams of protein per day might be a good option. I would also like to note that if you have already built up a lot of lean muscle mass or are dieting, it may make sense to eat a little more protein than normal.

For exercisers who are building muscle at a moderate rate and doing some sort of slow and clean mass-building phase, 180 to 220 grams of protein per day is a good choice. Ultimately, you should adjust your protein intake based on your calorie needs and/or dietary preferences.

Women should consider a protein intake of 100 to 120 grams per day. If you are a younger and/or highly active woman, you should consume 120 grams of protein per day.

Carbohydrate intake

Now that you have determined your protein and fat intake, you can easily calculate your carbohydrate requirements by subtracting the amount of protein and fat calories from your total calorie intake and dividing the result by 4.

Keep in mind that you can adjust these values as needed based on what your body is telling you. I functioned better with more carbs when I was younger and function better with more fat in my forties.

Listening to your body is very important. Remind yourself to make small, incremental changes so that you can more easily assess your future needs.