Nutrition Myths that Need to be Squashed

Take a look at these popular myths and the research that squashes them. If you believe any of these myths you maybe sabotaging your capacity to make great improvements.

Myth: A high protein intake causes kidney dysfunction/damage.

That is, you take a healthy person and put them on a high protein diet, the protein will somehow negatively influence kidney function, damage this organ and promote disease.

Fact: Absolutely no data suggests that a high protein intake promotes any type of renal (kidney) dysfunction in healthy people. There aren’t even any studies that suggest this may happen. In fact, there is evidence that refutes this notion directly.(1)

Protein metabolism experts (scientists that have devoted their careers to this area of research) now urge health care professionals to change their restrictive (unfounded) views on protein intake. These experts provide three important reasons why.

1) We know very little about the important functions of various amino acids at both the mechanistic and quantitative level. Our knowledge on protein requirements to improve health is very limited.(2)

2) Based on poor analysis techniques, previous recommendations are probably well short of the mark.(3)

3) As no evidence suggests that increasing protein intake will cause harm, when healthcare professionals caution healthy, active people about the perils of a high protein diet, it’s ignorance of the worst kind. This is misinformation that may contribute to poor health.(2,3,4)

A high intake (2 to 3 times the basic allowance) of low-fat protein does not promote any adverse effect in healthy people. In fact, scientists leading the way in this field research suggest the opposite; increasing the proportion of protein in the diet is a strategy that will promote health and better results from exercise training. (4,5,6)


Myth: High protein diets are harmful to your bones


Fact: Dietary protein can increase urine acidity and calcium may be drawn from the bones to buffer the acid load. However, its been acknowledged the earlier studies that reported this effect did not use appropriate research design and methodologies.(9)

We now know that the phosphate content of protein-rich foods (and supplements) negates this effect. More recent, well-designed research has found a positive relationship between protein intake and bone health. In fact, not enough protein is deleterious to bone health. Several recent epidemiological studies have shown that a reduced bone density and increased rates of bone loss in individuals that consume low protein diets.(10,11)


Myth: Performing exercise on an empty stomach burns body fat.

Some believe that simply by exercising first thing in the morning on an empty stomach this will burn more body fat. Ah! If only it were that simple, we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic!!

Fact: Human physiology is a little more complex. For most people, workouts constitute less than 5% of the week (that’s 3-6 hour-long workouts a week). The total amount of energy burnt during a workout constitutes a small percentage of the day, (around 17%). Therefore, the type of fuel actually utilized during the workout is inconsequential.

Fact: For years we’ve known that intense exercise after fasting (such as sleep) promotes the catabolism (destruction) of precious muscle tissue and creates a metabolic environment that makes improvements virtually impossible.(7)

Conversely, the correct nutrition flowing through your system during exercise will amplify results. The key here is timing – the strategic consumption of the correct nutrition before and immediately after exercise. Performed correctly, the strategic consumption of the right nutrition before and immediately after exercise can improve results in body composition (more muscle, less fat) by 100%.(8) Be sure to read the Anabolic Nutrient Timing Factor.

Myth: Drinking coffee is harmful to your health


Coffee and caffeinated beverages have been blamed for everything from high blood pressure and heart problems to strokes and even cellulite. The fact is, there isn’t one shred of science-based evidence that links coffee to any of these.

Fact: An ever-growing amount of scientific research now supports an unlikelyconcept, coffee is good for you.

Several long-term studies on large populations across Europe have confirmed that coffee has a remarkable, beneficial effect on insulin metabolism. For instance, the first was an eight year-long study completed on 900 adults and it showed that regular coffee consumption reduces the risk for type-2 diabetes by a whopping 60%. Another study involved an even larger group and reported that heavy coffee drinkers (six or more cups a day!), are half as likely to develop diabetes as people who consume two cups or less a day. Coffee is probably the second most frequently ingested beverage worldwide (second to water), it has a significant antioxidant activity, and appears to reduce risk of type 2 diabetes.(12)

Myth: Caffeine-containing beverages cause dehydration

Fact: The idea that coffee or caffeine-containing beverages promote dehydration is not supported by research. Several studies have debunked this myth directly. For example, one investigation determined if three levels of caffeine consumption affected fluid-electrolyte balance and kidney function differently. Healthy participants consumed 3 mg caffeine per kilo body weight per day on days 1 to 6 – (a caffeine dose is equal to around 3 cups of coffee). On days 7 to 11 (treatment phase), subjects consumed either 0 mg, 3 mg, or 6 mg caffeine per kilo of body weight per day in capsules, with no other dietary caffeine intake.

Results showed caffeine had no effect on body mass, urine osmolality, color, volume, sodium or potassium excretion, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, serum osmolality, hematocrit, and total plasma protein. According to the authors, these findings refute the notion that caffeine consumption acts as a diuretic.(13)

Myth: Creatine causes muscle cramps, tears, renal problems or heat-related injuries.

If you believe the mainstream press reports about creatine, you’d be convinced that taking this supplement will cramp you up like a slug that just had salt poured all over it and your kidneys would receive a beating worse than Manny Pacquiao could ever give you. The mainstream press rarely does its homework when it comes to the facts around sports supplements. I mean why let the facts get in the way of a good story, right?

Fact: Creatine is actually a naturally occurring compound found in small quantities within the brain, liver, kidneys, and testes
(in men). However, approximately 95% of creatine stores are found in skeletal muscle. This is probably due to its vital role in all cellular energy (ATP) production and transfer pathways. Creatine’s vital importance in cell function has been studied since 1914.

Oral creatine supplements are often consumed in amounts of up to 20 g/day for a few days, followed by 2-10 g/day for weeks, months or even years. Liver and/or kidney function have been examined during short term (a few days), medium term (4-9 weeks) and long term (up to 5 years) investigations. No adverse effects of any kind have been documented (14,15,16).

Regarding increased risk of muscle cramp and heat-related injuries, several studies have refuted this directly. In fact one large study on top level Collegiate athletes discovered that creatine users had significantly less cramping; heat illness or dehydration; muscle tightness; muscle strains; and total injuries than nonusers. Extensive investigations demonstrate creatine consumption does not cause harm and in fact, may have a protective effect against certain exercise-related injuries.(14,15,16)

References

1. Poortmans JR, Dellalieux O. Do regular high protein diets have potential health risks on kidney function in athletes? Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2000b;10(1):28-38.

2. Reeds PJ, Biolo G. Non-protein roles of amino acids: an emerging aspect of nutrient requirements. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 5:43-5, 2002.

3. Millward DJ, Layman DK, Tomé D, Schaafsma G. Protein quality assessment: impact of expanding understanding of protein and amino acid needs for optimal health. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 May;87(5):1576S-1581S.

4. Layman DK, Clifton P, Gannon MC, Krauss RM, Nuttall FQ. Protein in optimal health: heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 May;87(5):1571S-1575S.

5. Layman DK. Protein quantity and quality at levels above the RDA improves adult weight loss. J Am Coll Nutr 23;631S-636S, 2004.

6. Farnsworth E, Luscome ND, Noakes M, et al. Effect of a high-protein, energy-restricted diet on body composition, glycemic control, and lipid concentrations in overweight and obese hyperinsulinemic men and women Am J Clin Nutr 78:31-39, 2003.

7. Biolo G, Maggi SP, Williams BD, Tipton KD, Wolfe RR. Increased rates of muscle protein turnover and amino acid transport after resistance exercise in humans. Am J Physiol. 1995 Mar;268(3 Pt 1):E514-20.

8. Cribb PJ, Hayes A.Effects of supplement timing and resistance exercise on skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Nov;38(11):1918-25.

9. Ginty F. Dietary Protein and bone health. Proc Nutr Soc 2003;62(4):867-876.

10. New SA. Do vegetarians have normal bone mass? Osteoporos Int 2004; 15(9):697-688.

11. Kerstetter JE, O'Brien KO, Insogna KL. Low protein intake: the impact on calcium and bone homeostasis in humans. J Nutr. 2003;133(3):855S-861S.

12. Ranheim T, Halvorsen B. Coffee consumption and human health – beneficial or detrimental? – Mechanisms for effects of coffee consumption on different risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2005.

13. Armstrong LE. Caffeine, body fluid-electrolyte balance, and exercise performance. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2002;12(2):189-206.
Poortmans JR, Francaux M. Adverse effects of creatine supplementation: fact or fiction? Sports Med. 2000a;30(3):155-70.

14. Kreider RB, Melton C, Rasmussen CJ, et al. Long-term creatine supplementation does not significantly affect clinical markers of health in athletes. Mol Cell Biochem. 2003;244(1-2):95-104.

15. Greenwood M, Kreider RB, Greenwood L, Byars A. Cramping and Injury Incidence in Collegiate Football Players Are Reduced by Creatine Supplementation. J Athl Train. 2003;38(3):216-219.

DAMAGE CONTROL – Preventing fat gain when you binge

I have decided that from now on I will post most important facts of the 4 Hour Workout Book. So to continue reviewing the book, this part of the book is related How to minimize fat gain during the famous BINGE. So here it is, the most important that you should know, according to the book.

DAMAGE CONTROL – Preventing fat gain when you binge

“Life itself is the proper binge”

Three Main Principles:

1.      Minimize the release of insulin, a storage hormone

Ensure that your first meal of the day is not binge and make it high protein and insoluble fiber in order to decrease your appetite. In total, this can be a smallish meal of 300-500 calories.

Consume small quantities of fructose, fruit sugar. Even small fructose dosing has impressive near-flat-lining effect on blood glucose.

Use supplement that increase insulin sensitivity like AGG and PAGGPolicosanol: 20 to 25 mg. Alpha-lipoic acid: 100 to 300 mg Green tea flavanols (decaffeinated with at least 325 mg EGCG): 325 mg. Garlic extract: 200 mg.

Consume citric juices, whether lime juice squeezed into water, lemon juice on food perhaps black tea with squeezed lemon will do the thing.(this is my personal choice)

2.      Increase the speed of gastric emptying, or how quickly food exits the stomach

Accomplish this primarily through caffeine and yerba mate tea which includes the additional stimulants theobromine (dark chocolate) and theophvlline (green tea)

3.      Engage in brief Muscular contraction throughout the binge

For muscular contractions the options are air squats, wall presses, chest pulls.But why the hell would you want to do 60-90 seconds of funnt exercises a few minutes before you eat and, ideally, again about 90 minutes afterwards? Beacuase it brings glucose transporter type 4 (Glut - 4) to the surface of muscle cells, opening more gates for calories to flow. The more muscular gates we have open before insulin triggers the same GLUT-4 on the surface of fat cells, the more we can put in muscle instead of fat.

Inside the microbiome: Balancing Bacteria for fat loss

So, far two primary strains of bacteria have been found to influence fat absorption, almost regardless of diet: Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Lean people have more Bacteroidetes and fewer Firmicutes, obese people have contrary trend. However as obese people lose weight, the ratio of bacteria in their guts swings confidently over to more Bacteroidetes.

There is some things that you can do now to cultivate healthy and fat – reducing gut flora:

1.      Get off the Splenda. Fake sugar turn out just as bad as, if not worse than the real.

2.      Go Fermented. Fermented foods contain high level of healthy bacteria and should be viewed as a mandatory piece of your dietary puzzle. Foods like cheese, kefir and plain yogurt.

3.   Consider prebiotics and probiotics. Probiotics are bacteria. Prebiotics are fermentable substrates that help bacteria grow and thrive. Organic inulin and fructo-oligasaccharides (FOS) are good choices. In the whole-foods realm, garlic, leeks and chicory are all high in inulin (unlike FOS it is not insulinemic) and FOS

Hopefully tomorrow I will continue reading book and will try to review how to master temperature to manipulate weight. It will be quite interesting because it refers how Michael Phelps consumed 9000 calories and remained single digit bodyfat.

Review - 4 Hour Body Workout by Tim Ferriss... Part 1

First of all it is my first attempt to review any book, I admit it requires some practice so if there will be some mistakes or misunderstanding don’t be too critical. Basically I will post the most relevant issues and facts considered by me and that hopefully will give some good reasons to buy, to download or to read book.

The first book that I decided to review is created by Tim Ferriss and it is called “4 Hour Body Workout”. This book covers a lot of issues and facts in nutrition, training and even sexual fields. It has more than 500 pages so I will divide book review in 4 parts, each part will cover aproximatelly 100 book pages. From time to time I will post my opinion in brackets. So let’s begin with the first part…

THINNER, BIGGER, FASTER STRONGER?

It all begins with a concert…. The first pages are quite captivating and provided some interesting facts that I actually underlined for myself. Facts such as to drink little amount of grapefruit juice which contains Narigenin in order to extent the fat-burning effect of caffeine from cup of coffee or if you will exaggerate with some taste foods add some cinnamon to the pastries in order to increase insulin sensitivity.

“50% of what we know is wrong. The problem is do not know which 50% it is”

Tim Ferris tracked all his workout since the age of 18 and did all possible body/hormone analysis spending on them more than 250 000 dollars. 

Tim gives us some rule to be followed in order to attain more benefit from his book. The author suggests to think of this book as a buffet of knowledge, you do not need to read this book from the beginning to the end. Skip science if it is too complicated, be skeptical, don’t assume everything in this book is true because he says so and read the issues that are only relevant to you at that moment.

FUNDAMENTALS – FIRST AND FORMOST

This part covers the minimum effective dose (MED) and which is by definition is the smallest dose that will produce a desired outcome. The book suggests that anything beyond the MED is wasteful. In the body redesign methodology in order to remove fat we must do the least necessary to trigger fat-los cascade and initiate muscle growth mechanisms with least amount of effort.

(I must agree with this statement, there are a lot of people that tend to train every day for a few hours. As a result it is ease to overeat and overtrain. I was one of those individuals and trained every day however I  understood that more doesn’t mean better. This is great temptation that is hard to resist).

Interesting Fact: you just need 15 minutes of sun exposure to trigger the melatonin response. More than that will result in burning and a forced break from beach. 

  

Interesting Fact: The MED for Shoulders equals 80 seconds of tension using 50 pounds once every seven weeks.  

RULES THAT CHANGE THE RULES

Tim is telling that he gained 34 pounds of muscle, lost 4 pounds of fat when he trained for about a month. His total time expenditure in the gym was about 4 hours a week in other words eight 30 - minute workouts.

(Not bad at all. Perhaps his muscle memory also contributed to this gains).

He claims that it is possible to redirect your natural-born genetic profile and that from now on “bad genetics can´t be your go-to excuse”

Muscle fiber composition can be changed and you should eat and train for your desired outcome. So basically the way you train and how you eat will influence your genetically predisposed fiber.

As far as nutrition there is a lot to discuss, there is a suggestion to treat anything that you put in your mouth or your bloodstream as a drug besides the “whole food”. Even the conception of “ food” is treated differently from “the whole food”.

Learning diet and exercise principles is priority number 1. There is a state not to confuse physical recreation with exercises. Recreation is for fun while exercises is for producing changes. 

Tracking calories is not imperative however it is better than nothing.

Interesting Fact: 4000 calories equals about a pound of fat in simple way.

Different sources of calories = different results

Protein provokes a greater thermal effect than carbs or fat, so in digestion a higher percentage of protein calories are lost as heat. This led some scientist to believe that every gram of protein should be counted as 3.2 calories.

Women do not need specific workout programs and diets, statistics shows that most of men and women want less fat and more muscle in 99% cases so they should do the exactly same workout.

Interesting Fact: On average women have less than one-tenth the testosterone of men.

THE HARAJUKU MOMENT – DECISION TO BECOME A COMPLETE HUMAN

People suck at following advices, even the most effective

 The main reasons are:

 The first is that people don’t have sufficient reason for action. The pain isn’t painful enough.

Second is, there are no reminders, no consistent tracking. However the most important is the turning point when something that you pretend happens either it muscle gain or a fat loss. It simply stimulates people to continue and make them psychologically happier.

ELUSIVE BODYFAT

The scale is a tool that we should use to track our progress. It is not only about weight, the body measurements are very important and perhaps even more important than our weight.  It is like planning a trip without a start address. Take your circumference measurements such as: upper arms, waist, hips and both legs. You can also total this number.

Body fat most constant and convenient tracking methods are DEXA, BodPod and Ultrasound

Never compare results from different tools, stay always with the same device/method in order to get more accurate results.

BF>30 avoid calipers and use DEXA, BodPod or ultrasound

BF<25 aim for DEXA, BodPo or Ultrasound or opt by calipers

FROM PHOTOS TO FEAR

There are 4 Rules that give us more motivation and they are:

Make it conscious: before pictures are very important – scientist found that photographers were more effective in their goals comparing with written food diaries. Take pictures of your front, back and side.

Make it a game and Make it competitive – suggests to use DailyBurns (www.dailyburns.com) which I personally use to track my calorie intake. Site has also different types of challenges which will help you to achieve your goals by competing with other people. On my personal experience, I tried and loved. It has been proven that on average the group of people lose more 5.8 pounds of fat compared to who doesn’t do any challenges. Try to persuade a friend or a relative to participate in this kind of a challenge. 

Make it small and temporary

Once again do not forget about measurement. Weight yourself constantly at the same time and under same circumstances. As an example the you can choose Monday morning as your weight day, so begin weighting yourself on Saturday, Sunday and finally on Monday. Afterwards just make a media of you weight of the last three days, this will give you more accurate result. Make it small and for the most important make it achievable.

If you want to walk for an hour a day, don’t start with one hour. By choosing one hour you are automatically building an excuse of not having enough time and in the end you will give up. Try small periods of time, begin with 5-10 minutes a day and try to increase time.

BIG SUMMARY: TRACK OR YOU WILL FAIL.

SUBRACTING FAT – SLOW CARB DIET I

(I am a fan of Paleo Diet with some exceptions like oats – post workout and cottage cheese that I do love mixing with Whey Protein. I think that rules of the diet below indicated is not very optimal for gaining muscle however with the right directions it will be a great diet for a fat loss).

Rules:

1. Avoid white carbs such as bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pastas, tortillas

2.Eat the same few meals over and over again – eat a lot of protein from egg whites and yolks, fish, chicken(turkey) breast or thigh, pork. A lot of green vegetables and beans

3.Don’t drinks calories

4.Don’t eat fruit

5.Take one day off per week and go nuts

Debate on FRUITS AND FRUCTOSE

(Once again there is a big discussion in nowadays about the fruit consumption. Personally I am not a big fan of fruit, perhaps from time to time I allow myself to consume some fruit but nothing over exaggerated. Simply for the most of the time I rely more on vegetables.)

So in this part Tim is saying that he tested to different types of diet. The first one consuming fructose and the second without fructose (each diet was one week trial). When he says the fructose diet it means that he consumed 14 onces of pulp-free orange juice upon waking and before bed.  So the results were quite interesting. During the fructose diet the level of cholesterol went up from 203 to 243 and LDL increased  from 127 to 165. Also albumin values went up from 4.3 to 4.9 and IRON from 71 to 191. 

The moral of the story is that do not try to rely on high fructose diet. It will not help you to get rid of last pounds of fat. 

SLOW CARB DIET II

Continuing with the diet…

First of all, start changing your breakfast and you will lose fat

In the book Tim suggests using potassium, magnesium and calcium supplements. Use potassium during meals. Avocado is a could choice which contains 60 % more than bananas. Also it is a good source of insoluble fiber 75%.

There is another option; you can simply use pill form of each micronutrient.

Potassium - 4700 mg (beans, spinach, lentils, sardines, mushrooms) per day recommended for an average healthy male person 25 years old

Calcium - 1000 mg (salmon, sardines, spinach)

Magnesium - 400 mg (pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, peanuts, cashews, almonds) per day.

What about Diary products?

Mostly of diary product despite low glycemic index and glycemic load paradoxically have a high insulinemic response that was proven by University of Lund. (Once again bad reputation of insulin). So removing diary can result in accelerated fat loss. 

Beans are good source of macronutrients and great for cutting

Cheat Day

Expect to have great weigh fluctuations after your cheat day. Don’t worry about it you can easily gain around 10-20 pounds due to water weigh. So enjoy your cheat day and relax, the weight will disappear in the next 48 yours (Hopefully).

Don’t forget to take the respective measurements, pounds can lie.

What about alcohol?

Only on cheat day. However you can opt by drink dry wines which have less than 1.4 % of residual sugar.

Snacks? You don’t need them. Perhaps you are under eating, just try to eat more protein and vegetables. If you decided to snack try something small that have range of 200-300 calories.

Go crazy once a week? Really?!?! It is important to spike caloric intake once a week. This causes a host of hormonal changes that improve fat-loss, from increasing cAMP to GMP that to improve conversion of the T4 thyroid to the more active T3. Perhaps having only a cheat meal will not give you a sense of guilty and won’t create great weight fluctuations.

  

Egg yolks also very important they provide choline, which protect the liver and increases fat loss.

Spinach and Popeye?! Spinach is incredible for body recomposition.

The phytoecodysteoirds (can’t spell it right) in spinach increase human muscle tissue growth rate by 20% and also glucose metabolism. By eating 2 cups or 162 grams per day you can increase muscle fiber synthesis by 3 %.(Now I am really considering buying spinach)

Avoid diary with the exception of cottage cheese. It even appears to facilitate the fat-loss.

EATING OUT AND THE CHIPOTLE METHOD

COMMON MISTAKES

Not eating within one hour of walking, preferably within 30 minutes. He considers that skipping breakfast will lead to overeating in the evening. I can’t agree completely with that as I am doing Intermittent Fasting.

Not eating enough protein. (I think that this is basic for everyone.)

Not drinking enough water to ensure optimal liver function for fat-loss. (Basic number 2.)

Overeating foods such as nuts, almonds, peanuts. Very caloric dense foods. (I completely agree with this statement, as an example of myself I can truly say that it is very simple to over consume such foods.)

Over consuming artificial sweeteners. Even with no calories, insulin can be released however aspartame shows little effect on insulin. (Once again completely agree.) 

Hitting the gym too often. Doing too much will not help at all, it could even reverse your progress, as it also leads to overeating. Remember the MED. (Less is more. 100% agree.)