Nutrition
Here's what you need to know...
- For better body composition, recovery, performance and muscle growth, when you consume nutrients is just as important as what nutrients you consume.
- The traditional rice and chicken bodybuilding meal two hours before a training session results in reduced insulin levels when you need insulin the most: at training time.
- With proper training nutrition, insulin will shuttle amino acids and glucose directly into your muscle cells when your body has the highest insulin sensitivity
- Proper training nutrition prevents the production of catabolic hormones that occurs during intense training sessions.
Advanced nutrition
There have been great advances in muscle building nutrition and supplementation over the years, but the one thing that trumps all others in terms of effectiveness is our knowledge of the importance of timing.
When you consume certain nutrients is just as important as what nutrients you consume when it comes to things like muscle mass, body composition, performance and strength.
We've been talking about this for years: To get the biggest gains from your workouts, you need to consume the precise compounds to fuel your muscles, recharge your muscles, and rebuild muscle. This is best done right before, during and right after your workout.
There is a tremendous amount of research on exercise nutrition and you can find articles and books that cover this concept. However, few have really explained what happens when you consume a certain combination of nutrients before, during and after exercise.
If they had, then more people would probably have understood it and there would be a whole new era of training with weights where people would actually make significant and continuous progress.
If you haven't used supplementation before, then you will want to use it after reading this article - always assuming you think logically.
If you don't understand training supplementation
Here's what's happening...
In times past, old school strength athletes ate a meal high in protein and carbohydrates about an hour or two before training. They sat back and digested while their bodies went to work breaking down the food so it could be absorbed in the intestines. There, the nutrients enter the capillaries that feed the blood vessels.
The newly digested nutrients are then piggybacked by the hormone insulin, whose levels always rise when food is consumed. Together they ride the tides until they reach other capillaries that lead directly to the muscle cells. There, the insulin will present the different amino acids and glucose to the muscle cells. The exerciser, now fortified by food, will then go to the gym and begin his training session.
During training
Unfortunately, insulin levels that were elevated after the last pre-workout meal an hour or two ago will have dropped back to baseline by this time. As a result, the levels of glycogen and glucose, which the muscles rely on during exercise, will begin to drop rapidly during the first few sets. Then the hormone glucagon starts to rear its opportunistic head. This hormone is an insulin antagonist, which means that in some ways it works against insulin. It begins to rob the muscles of amino acids so that it can convert them into the glucose that the muscles need as an energy source.
At the same time, levels of other catabolic hormones such as epinephrine and cortisol begin to rise. Epinephrine has begun to rob the liver of glycogen in its search for glucose. Cortisol begins to steal energy. But cortisol does not discriminate. It takes energy wherever it can find it: Fat, carbohydrates or the building blocks of muscle: Protein. The harder the training session, the more protein is broken down to provide energy. And this loss of protein is in addition to the damage caused by training in the form of micro-trauma and raging free radicals. Although levels of anabolic hormones such as testosterone, growth hormone and IGF-1 rise during exercise, any increases are relatively small and short-lived. These levels often drop to below baseline levels after the training session ends. Sure, they'll make some repairs in the hours in between, but the training phase itself is prime time when it comes to muscle growth.
Too bad insulin, often referred to as the most anabolic hormone, is now in short supply in our hypothetical scenario. Insulin is exactly what would negate the collective efforts of all those exercise-induced catabolic hormones. But unfortunately, by the time our exerciser arrives at the gym, insulin levels have already dropped back to baseline or below. Even if insulin levels had still been high at the start of his training session, they wouldn't have had much to carry, as our exerciser had eaten his last bite of protein an hour or two before the start of his training session! Muscle cells are most sensitive to insulin during and after exercise. As a result, very few nutrients - if any - would be stored as fat during the training phase. But this increased insulin sensitivity begins to drop as the minutes after exercise pass.
After the workout
By the time our exerciser gets his exhausted butt home an hour later and mixes himself a protein shake, his muscles are already nearly numb and blind to any increase in insulin levels from the shake he drinks. As a result, insulin can bring amino acids and glycogen to the gates of the muscle cells, but they won't hear it and won't open.
Homeless and without a place to stay, many of these glucose molecules are stored as glycogen or fat. And while it's doubtful that protein will be stored as fat, much of it will end up in the liver, which is a kind of purgatory for unused amino acids. Metabolically speaking, our exerciser's body has gone through hell, but it hasn't come back. Glycogen levels remain low, catabolic hormone levels remain elevated and the rate of protein breakdown exceeds the rate of protein synthesis. The net effect of this ostensibly conscientious training session is likely to be little or no anabolic stimulus, little or no resulting muscle growth, and possibly even some fat storage from the post-workout meal. Muscle strength might still increase, but strength is often in large part a response to a neural stimulus. But if hypertrophy and better body composition are the goal, then our exerciser is not very lucky. Let's compare the above to what would happen if our exerciser knew anything about modern, scientifically supported exercise supplementation.
When you understand training supplementation
Here's what happens...
The exerciser consumes nutrients about 45 to 60 minutes before exercise, but these consist of 40 to 50 grams of easily digestible, functional carbohydrates and about 35 to 40 grams of di- and tripeptides that go directly into the bloodstream to kick-start his metabolic machinery.
Insulin levels rise and amino acids and glucose are transported to the muscle cells in preparation for the pump. 15 minutes before the workout, the exerciser consumes another 35 to 40 grams of a special functional carbohydrate mixture and another 15 to 20 grams of fast-acting protein. This ensures that the body's most anabolic hormone, insulin, is circulating in sufficient quantities and that there are enough glucose molecules and amino acids for insulin to transport to the hard-working muscles.
If the exerciser wants to further enhance the anabolic effects of insulin, they can also take cyanine 3-glucoside at this time. This increases insulin sensitivity in muscle cells (rather than fat cells), increasing the transport of glucose and protein so that all the good stuff you get from insulin is further amplified, which will be reflected in a stronger pump, faster strength gains, increased work capacity and improved recovery.
During training
During the workout, the exerciser continues to drink his mixture of functional carbohydrates and fast-acting protein in sips. Thus, even during the part of the workout that would normally be the most metabolically devastating, both his insulin levels and insulin sensitivity are high. His blood flow is up, his pump is breathtaking and more insulin molecules are loaded like Santa's sleigh with amino acids and glucose, which are greedily taken up by the muscle cells.
With all the insulin coursing through the body, cortisol levels remain low and the glycogen and amino acid depleting effects of this hormone are negligible. Similarly, free radical production remains below a manageable minimum. Protein breakdown is extremely low. Carbohydrates, which continue to be consumed regularly, supply the ATP/creatine phosphate system with energy and ensure higher repetition rates and more intense muscle contractions. Fat is burned at a much higher rate than would otherwise be possible and this fat oxidation continues even after the training session.
After the workout
The still pumped up exerciser goes home - even though he probably feels like he could have kept exercising until the gym closed its doors - and mixes himself another small protein drink made from rapidly absorbable di- and tripeptides.
His muscles are extremely sensitive to the still high insulin levels and the di- and tripeptides he has just consumed are quickly channeled into the still greedy muscle cells. Cortisol levels, which are normally elevated after a training session, are bludgeoned and shamed.
The net result of this approach: an exerciser who has given his muscles every advantage.
- The anabolic environment he has created is perfect for muscle growth and recovery.
- Protein synthesis is at an elevated level.
- The levels of catabolic hormones are low.
- Fat oxidation takes place like in a blast furnace.
- Free radicals are minimized.
- ATP and creatine levels are fully restored.
If you weighed his muscles, they would be much heavier in percentage terms than if he followed the traditional approach.
This exerciser has done everything he can to shuffle the muscle-building cards in his favor and he will be rewarded with significant additional muscle growth and improved body composition. What's more, they are unlikely to feel sore or exhausted the next day, allowing them to train just as hard as the day before.
This is a marked difference from the traditional approach used by the first trainee.
There are few things in weight training that are as uncontroversial as proper training supplementation. This is based on perfect logic and perfect science. What you do the rest of the day is up to you, but give your training supplementation the attention it deserves and you will make the progress that has eluded you in the past.
By TC Luoma |
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/what-you-dont-know-about-workout-supplementation
95 percent of people who lose weight through diet and exercise regain that weight within a year. Weight loss programs like Nutrisense, Jenny Craig, SlimFast and Weight Watchers are veritable gold mines because people return to them again and again after their long-term weight control programs have failed. Metabolism is tightly regulated to balance energy and nutrient needs with food intake via centers in the brain that control hunger and satiety. 69 percent of all Americans are overweight or obese, which means the system is not working as it should. Many people are downright addicted to food.
A literature review conducted by Jose Lerma Cabrera and colleagues from the Universidad Autonoma de Chile in Santiag, Chile, found that tasty foods are more addictive than drugs circulating on the street. These foods increase dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a stimulant that causes cravings and obessive thoughts. Chronic dopamine stimulation upsets the balance between hunger and satiety, leading to overeating - regardless of the negative consequences. People cannot restrict themselves even if they want to. In principle, addiction is not immediately considered precarious. In combination with a protein-rich diet and sufficient exercise, the consumption of tasty foods is completely harmless, Chilean nutritionists recommend.
Just like drug addiction, food addiction is a serious and difficult problem for which there is no simple solution.
(Nutrition Journal, 15: 5, 2016)
Some experts in the field of weight control warn dieters that physical activity has a limited effect on weight control because it increases appetite and food intake.
Catia Martins and colleagues from Norway found that neither intense nor sustained exercise affects appetite, food intake or hormones that control appetite. The scientists studied overweight and obese people who completed individual training sessions of moderate to high intensity three hours before lunch. All forms of exercise reduced insulin levels, but none had an effect on eating behavior at lunch.
In the short term, moderate to intensive training does not increase appetite. Nevertheless, the Norwegian experts recommend drinking enough before exercise and taking foods or supplements high in vitamins and minerals.
(Medicine Science Sports Exercise, 47; 40 - 48, 2015)
Here's what you need to know....
- What you eat is either used by your muscles or stored as fat. This process is called nutrient partitioning.
- If your body is partitioning nutrients well, then they will end up in your muscles. If it doesn't, then you can expect to gain 2 to 3 pounds of fat for every pound of muscle you build.
- If you are a good nutrient partitioner, almost every calorie burned will come from stored body fat and not muscle. If you are not a good nutrient partitioner, then you can easily lose a pound of muscle for every few pounds of fat you lose.
- The good news is that you can acquire the ability to partition nutrients effectively by using a few simple strategies.
Bad genetics? Here's what you can change
Do you know someone who is well built? I mean really well built? One of those rare people who is a mix of chiseled granite, meat and a comic book superhero? Nearly every calorie these genetically blessed men and women eat goes straight to muscle. If for some reason these people feel the need to diet, every calorie burned comes from fat stores, not muscle. No matter how they train or eat, they get better - with round muscle bellies and low body fat levels.
And you?
Hah! When you eat for mass, for every pound you gain, you gain 2 to 3 pounds of fat. And if you're cutting calories, then for every 2 to 3 pounds of fat you lose, you lose a pound of muscle.
The difference between you and them is largely genetic. Testosterone levels and insulin sensitivity play a role, as do cortisol levels. The genetically blessed also have a thyroid gland and nervous system that work with the efficiency of a German automobile engineer. Another significant advantage of these genetically blessed has to do with how well they partition nutrients, which fortunately is a gift that you too can acquire.
Not all calories are treated equally
Nutrient partitioning is the process by which the body decides what to do with the energy you take in through food.
When you eat something, those nutrients are either burned or stored for future use. Ideally, you would want all those storage nutrients to end up in your muscles instead of your body fat.
That's why the old saying "a calorie is a calorie" isn't really true - at least not in terms of how a calorie is treated by the body. When nutrients are partitioned towards the muscles, they can potentially stimulate new muscle growth and replenish muscle glycogen stores, allowing for even more growth in combination with increased work capacity and faster recovery.
A number of different factors are involved in efficient nutrient partitioning, including coordination between the digestive tract, liver, central nervous system and muscles, which is not yet fully understood and is most likely coordinated by hormones and secondary chemical messengers.
The primary determining component of nutrient partitioning is insulin If you are a diabetic or suffer from obesity, your ability to partition nutrients is likely impaired. And if you are simply a bit insulin resistant, then your nutrient partitioning is sluggish and inefficient.
Insulin will continue to try to enter the muscle cells of insulin-resistant people by contacting a receptor on the cell, but its attempts are ignored. Normally, insulin would activate this specific protein called GLUT4, which allows glucose to enter the cell. But in insulin-resistant people, GLUT4 doesn't answer the call, so glucose (along with branched-chain amino acids that insulin might transport) doesn't enter the cell.
Insulin then allows the unwanted glucose to be converted into fatty acids, which are transported to fat storage centers such as your belly or love handles, where they are stored in addition to the mountain of fat that already exists.
However, if you are insulin sensitive, carbohydrates and branched chain amino acids are transported Fed-Ex style to muscle cells where the beautiful GLUT4 lady of the house signs for them and escorts them in, where they are heartily absorbed by the machinery of the cell and incorporated into brand new muscle - always assuming you are exercising correctly.
Genetically blessed vs. skinny flabby people
You now know the overall picture of the haves and the have-nots. On one side we have genetically perfect guys with idealized nutrient partitioning abilities and on the other side we have scrawny and flabby guys going to war against the perfect guys. The truth is that everyone's nutrient partitioning abilities lie somewhere on a broad spectrum. Even the hypothetically perfect nutrient-partitioning people can suffer a setback if they eat too many carbs.
When this happens, these people will experience some of what insulin-resistant people succumb to every day - and that is that the extra glucose is converted into fatty acids and stored as triglycerides in adipose tissue.
Regardless of where you are on the spectrum, there are things you can do to improve your nutrient partitioning abilities.
Become a blessed nutrient partitioner
The traditional remedy for poor nutrient partitioning skills is to pay attention to the types of carbohydrates you eat and when you eat them. You've heard it many times before: eat fast-digesting carbohydrates during the period around your workout. Eat small amounts of complex carbohydrates the rest of the time. Likewise, you've been told time and time again to limit your total carbohydrate intake because excessive carbohydrate intake, even in genetically blessed people with excellent insulin sensitivity, can reduce insulin sensitivity and cause the body to behave more like that of a fat person metabolically. All of this is true, but taking cyanidin 3-glucoside (C3G) - a nutrient-partitioning supplement - changes the rules.
The supplement - a compound found in various berries - significantly increases the insulin sensitivity of muscle cells while reducing the insulin sensitivity of fat cells.
This means that glucose uptake into muscle cells increases and glucose, nutrients and BCAAs are partitioned into these cells, while fat storage is hindered and fatty acid oxidation is increased.
With C3G, you're even better off eating more carbohydrates - especially during the time around training, but also during other times of the day. The C3G makes your body act more like that of a genetically blessed partitioner. The calories you eat are preferentially partitioned into muscle and thus your weight gain comes from building muscle and not fat.
If you diet while using C3G - or even if you don't - fat is preferentially burned while muscle tissue is maintained. Through a chemical optimization brought on by C3G, your body suddenly begins to respond like the body of a genetically blessed nutrient partitioner.
And please excuse me for not citing tons of studies. You can do this yourself. Just type "cyanidin 3-glucoside" into Google Scholar.
The fatty acid solution
Another way to improve nutrient partitioning is to pay attention to fatty acid ratios. As you've probably read somewhere, the typical Western diet is high in omega-6 fatty acids and relatively low in omega-3 fatty acids.
It has been reported that the American diet typically has an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 20 to 1, when ideally it should be closer to 4 to 1. This huge imbalance leads to a chronic state of inflammation, and chronic inflammation is a common cause of poor insulin sensitivity - not to mention diabetes and obesity in general.
For these reasons, you should eat more fish or at least take fish oil to balance the ratio.
Two paths you can take
You have a choice of two options if you want to improve the way you partition nutrients:
1. restriction
You can watch your carbohydrate intake, spreading the largest amount of carbohydrates around your workout (eating about 70% of your carbohydrates before, during and immediately after your training session) and eating most of the remaining carbohydrates during a post-workout meal.
This will help you use the nutrient-partitioning abilities you have to your advantage - no matter how modest they may be.
You can also limit your total carbohydrate intake, but this is by and large a "two steps forward, one step back" approach. You are eating less carbohydrate to sensitize your nutrient partitioning system, but you are also providing less carbohydrate to your muscle cells. Therefore, you can't really use the increased nutrient partitioning ability to your advantage!
2. supplement
You can of course also use C3G to improve your nutrient-partitioning powers, so that you can eat more carbohydrates - around training and at other times - and at the same time ensure that most of these carbohydrates end up in your muscles instead of in your fat stores.
Furthermore, you can increase your omega-3 fatty acid consumption to stop chronic fat cell inflammation, which will also improve your insulin sensitivity. The second option will give you much more impressive results than following option 1, but what really matters is that you follow one of these...only if you want to build muscle like the genetically blessed, of course.
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/eat-big-and-gain-nothing-but-muscle
by TC Luoma | 12/03/13
Nuts are high in calories and fat, which is why until recently they were not perceived as foods that are good for health (especially the heart).
A literature review and meta-analysis led by Liane Del Gobbo of Tufts University in Boston, which combined the results of 61 controlled intervention studies, concluded that nuts lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein B (apoB) and triglyceride levels. The amount of nuts in the diet was more important than the type of nuts. Nut intake promotes weight control by replacing less healthy foods in the diet and by combating hunger.
Nuts are an important part of a healthy diet.
(American Journal Clinical Nutrition, 102: 1347 - 1356, 2015)
