BBC News: Reducing salt 'would cut cancer'
I do my best to avoid consuming salt, for other reasons than those highlighted here, but if you are a consumer of heavily processed food, then you are fighting an ever losing battle. Retailers are the least consistent when it comes to labelling of food, sometimes labelling quantities per 35g serving, other times per 100g. Interestingly, they also often have diluted ideas about what constitutes a portion size, so often you will buy something that looks to be low in salt, because you bought it on the presumption that it would be consumed as one serving, but in actual fact, the retailer has labelled the serving size to be a quarter of the contents, and thus there is actually four times the amount of salt than you first thought.
My advice, steer away from processed foods entirely. It's okay to eat processed food occasionally, like a pizza once a month, but don't make it a weekly habit to consume salty food, especially Monday to Friday. You should treat the working week as a time to abstinence from luxury foods and alcohol. Doing this alone, cuts the amount you consume in a year when you think about how many weeks there are in a year. As much as you might feel that this is a restraint on your liberty, actually the opposite is in effect. Retailers lead you to believe that it is your desire and an expression your liberty and free will to consume junk food, when in actual fact, you are playing into their hands making them millions in profits through sales of cheap, easy to produce, crap.
Monday, 23 July 2012
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Athletic greens
You can buy it in the powdered form, but this is fresh. A while bag of spinach, 2 kiwi fruit, milk, basil and a dash of lemon.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Nutrition: BCAA powder mixing issues
I have read and heard a lot of people complaining about this stuff, saying it doesn't mix well, tastes awful, etcetera, etcetera. Well, though I can't do much about the taste, if you really can't bear drinking or eating something you don't like, hide your BCAA down the back of the dining room wall unit, along with the broccoli you hid from your parents when you were a child. But, if you can man up to the expectation that generally things that taste bad are actually good for you, then here is a simple tip that will change your opinion about its ability to mix well with liquids...
I have found BCAA powder to have the same solubility of salt or sugar in water. Though less dense than sugar or water, hence why it floats like sawdust, it still dissolves completely given enough time. You don't even have to stir it, since it will dissolve all by itself, as is the nature of soluble substances. The taste is still as grim as always, so don't expect the foul taste to have disappeared just because you can't see it any more.
I hope now, you will drink it and STFU! ;-)
- Place 5g or 10g of BCAA powder in a cup or glass.
- Add water.
- Wait for ten or so minutes, viola!
I have found BCAA powder to have the same solubility of salt or sugar in water. Though less dense than sugar or water, hence why it floats like sawdust, it still dissolves completely given enough time. You don't even have to stir it, since it will dissolve all by itself, as is the nature of soluble substances. The taste is still as grim as always, so don't expect the foul taste to have disappeared just because you can't see it any more.
I hope now, you will drink it and STFU! ;-)
Post 10 week program summary
As I have mentioned in a few previous blogs, I have started incorporating body building protocols in order to experiment with fat loss and mass gaining. For athletes, too much emphasis on body building as opposed to strength building can have dire consequences, often leading to impingement or injury. Since my previous protocols have always been about strength rather than size, I was a little apprehensive about switching to something more muscle development oriented, with less emphasis on nervous system development. So to try and maintain some level of functional strength, I have applied a 50/50 split of compound and isolation, applying body building protocols in both cases.
So what do I mean when I talk about protocols? Well, think of body building and what the aim of body building is. If you thought the aim of body building is to build muscle then you are right. In essence, the real aim is to cause as much damage to your muscle fibres as possible, in order to promote growth and repair when resting, without injuring yourself of course. With goals like this, it's inevitable that you will be sore the day after if not suffer an onset of DoMS the day after that. However, with strength training, the aim is to gradually build strength, by training your nervous system to activate more muscle tissue, with the side effect of building muscle at the same time.
Strength Protocols
Strength training has the disadvantage of being a slow mechanism for building muscle, while being extremely effective at developing the nervous system. Because strength typically involves more weight and fewer repetitions, soreness is often less noticeable, enabling an athlete to train every working day of the week and even multiple times a day; I have been there, training as much as eight times a week, twice a day on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, whilst resting Wednesday and on weekends. During this program, which lasted for about six months, my strength gains were enormous, even though I didn't actually gain that much actual lean mass. However, the nervous system is much quicker to adapt to changes than muscle tissue, meaning loss of strength over time is more costly than loss of mass over the same period.
Body Building Protocols
Body building is the natural opposite to strength training. Whilst both are focused on a similar goal, in that you want to maximise your potential in terms of strength and size, body building focuses on the aspects of weight lifting that will ultimately result in more muscle mass and definition than practical strength. For example, you will rarely see a body builder whose nervous system is adapted enough to allow them to lift atlas stones or perform other feats associated with power and strength. What they are however, are masters of being able to recruit individual muscles on demand, rather than collectively, hence why they are extremely good at flexing pectoral muscles. The protocol that enables this is isolation and frequency. Muscles are trained to failure on each set, sometimes even past failure when performing X reps or drop sets. Typically, the repetitions would be moderate to high, with fewer sets and less overall volume. That's not to say one protocol is better than the other, they merely have two different goals.
My Protocol
So what have I put together? I have incorporated a moderate repetition program that takes each set to failure, while still incorporating specialist compound movements, like dead lifts, roll-outs, snatches, cleans and squats. Body builders would usually favour leg press machines over squats, since it isolates the legs, requiring less stabilisation and engagement from the upper body. By maintaining some compound movements in the program, the hope is that the nervous system will maintain familiarity in recruiting muscle groups collectively rather than individually, which will ultimately mean I will still be able to continue the enjoyment of strength related lifts on non program specific days. However, this is experimental, so only time will tell.
My Program Results
So ten weeks has now gone by in the blink of an eye, and I feel it's time to share some of the results before I start my next ten week strength/body building program. The figures for the body composition are not accurate in the slightest, but they are consistent. I used a set of scales that employs BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis) to calculate body fat percentages. The scales are cheap and this method of body fat calculation is poor in even the best scales, so I just had to run with it. The percentage is out by about 10%, though the thing about these scales is that they are consistent. So although the fat percentage is wrong, it will hover around that same area allowing me to plot changes in body composition. For the next ten week program, I will look at obtaining some callipers and measuring body composition properly.
Start of program
Weight: 82.7 kg
Body fat: 21.25 kg
Lean mass: 61.45 kg
End of program
Weight: 84 kg
Body fat: 22.18 kg
Lean mass: 61.82 kg
Gains
Weight: 1.3 kg
Body fat: 930 g (32 oz)
Lean mass: 370 g (13 oz)
Though I gained some fat, about a kg according to the scales, though in reality this is probably more like 500g based on the good old reliable finger calliper test, there was actually an extraordinary amount of muscle tissue gained. In a year, if this consistency is maintained, would equate to a gain of nearly 2 kg of lean mass. Impressive!
Since I am able to maintain my body fat quite well through intermittent fasting protocols, it wouldn't take much to shed the excess weight gained at the end of the next ten week program, repeating the process every twenty weeks for maintenance.
How it all looks:
As you can see from the charts, there was a definite steady increase in mass, if you ignore the fluctuations from the inclusion of non reference day weigh-ins. At the same time, my body fat didn't really increase all that much, even though there was some peculiar spike mid way through. Again, I can only attribute this to the BIA calculations being sensitive to other factors like humidity or my hydration levels.
Lean mass chart:
.png)
Fat chart:
My Program
So what did I do for the last ten weeks? Here it is:
Monday:
Dumb bell bench press: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Shoulder press: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Dips: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Finisher: Push ups to failure
Tuesday:
Light jump rope work, conditioning finisher and stretching
Wednesday:
Dead lift: 3 x 8-12 to failure week 1,3,5,7,9; 3 x 15-18 to failure week 2,4,6,8,10
Leg press: 3 x 20-25 to failure
Hamstring extensions: 3 x 15-20 to failure
Finisher: Lunges to failure
Thursday:
Light jump rope work, stretching
Friday:
Lat pull downs/pull ups: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Seated biceps curls: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Seated rows: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Finisher: EZ bar cheat curls 3 x 8-12 to failure
Weekend: Rest
The dead lift followed a weight reduction repetition increase on even weeks to maintain strength endurance. Also, I found the strictness required for the body building protocol meant I had to move away from pull-ups for lat pull downs, until I was able to increase the weight to beyond body weight; which was difficult given that my weight was increasing at the same sort of rate.
Onwards an upwards for the next ten weeks, incorporating some changes to the program...
So what do I mean when I talk about protocols? Well, think of body building and what the aim of body building is. If you thought the aim of body building is to build muscle then you are right. In essence, the real aim is to cause as much damage to your muscle fibres as possible, in order to promote growth and repair when resting, without injuring yourself of course. With goals like this, it's inevitable that you will be sore the day after if not suffer an onset of DoMS the day after that. However, with strength training, the aim is to gradually build strength, by training your nervous system to activate more muscle tissue, with the side effect of building muscle at the same time.
Strength Protocols
Strength training has the disadvantage of being a slow mechanism for building muscle, while being extremely effective at developing the nervous system. Because strength typically involves more weight and fewer repetitions, soreness is often less noticeable, enabling an athlete to train every working day of the week and even multiple times a day; I have been there, training as much as eight times a week, twice a day on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, whilst resting Wednesday and on weekends. During this program, which lasted for about six months, my strength gains were enormous, even though I didn't actually gain that much actual lean mass. However, the nervous system is much quicker to adapt to changes than muscle tissue, meaning loss of strength over time is more costly than loss of mass over the same period.
Body Building Protocols
Body building is the natural opposite to strength training. Whilst both are focused on a similar goal, in that you want to maximise your potential in terms of strength and size, body building focuses on the aspects of weight lifting that will ultimately result in more muscle mass and definition than practical strength. For example, you will rarely see a body builder whose nervous system is adapted enough to allow them to lift atlas stones or perform other feats associated with power and strength. What they are however, are masters of being able to recruit individual muscles on demand, rather than collectively, hence why they are extremely good at flexing pectoral muscles. The protocol that enables this is isolation and frequency. Muscles are trained to failure on each set, sometimes even past failure when performing X reps or drop sets. Typically, the repetitions would be moderate to high, with fewer sets and less overall volume. That's not to say one protocol is better than the other, they merely have two different goals.
My Protocol
So what have I put together? I have incorporated a moderate repetition program that takes each set to failure, while still incorporating specialist compound movements, like dead lifts, roll-outs, snatches, cleans and squats. Body builders would usually favour leg press machines over squats, since it isolates the legs, requiring less stabilisation and engagement from the upper body. By maintaining some compound movements in the program, the hope is that the nervous system will maintain familiarity in recruiting muscle groups collectively rather than individually, which will ultimately mean I will still be able to continue the enjoyment of strength related lifts on non program specific days. However, this is experimental, so only time will tell.
My Program Results
So ten weeks has now gone by in the blink of an eye, and I feel it's time to share some of the results before I start my next ten week strength/body building program. The figures for the body composition are not accurate in the slightest, but they are consistent. I used a set of scales that employs BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis) to calculate body fat percentages. The scales are cheap and this method of body fat calculation is poor in even the best scales, so I just had to run with it. The percentage is out by about 10%, though the thing about these scales is that they are consistent. So although the fat percentage is wrong, it will hover around that same area allowing me to plot changes in body composition. For the next ten week program, I will look at obtaining some callipers and measuring body composition properly.
Start of program
Weight: 82.7 kg
Body fat: 21.25 kg
Lean mass: 61.45 kg
End of program
Weight: 84 kg
Body fat: 22.18 kg
Lean mass: 61.82 kg
Gains
Weight: 1.3 kg
Body fat: 930 g (32 oz)
Lean mass: 370 g (13 oz)
Though I gained some fat, about a kg according to the scales, though in reality this is probably more like 500g based on the good old reliable finger calliper test, there was actually an extraordinary amount of muscle tissue gained. In a year, if this consistency is maintained, would equate to a gain of nearly 2 kg of lean mass. Impressive!
Since I am able to maintain my body fat quite well through intermittent fasting protocols, it wouldn't take much to shed the excess weight gained at the end of the next ten week program, repeating the process every twenty weeks for maintenance.
How it all looks:
As you can see from the charts, there was a definite steady increase in mass, if you ignore the fluctuations from the inclusion of non reference day weigh-ins. At the same time, my body fat didn't really increase all that much, even though there was some peculiar spike mid way through. Again, I can only attribute this to the BIA calculations being sensitive to other factors like humidity or my hydration levels.
Lean mass chart:
.png)
Fat chart:
My Program
So what did I do for the last ten weeks? Here it is:
Monday:
Dumb bell bench press: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Shoulder press: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Dips: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Finisher: Push ups to failure
Tuesday:
Light jump rope work, conditioning finisher and stretching
Wednesday:
Dead lift: 3 x 8-12 to failure week 1,3,5,7,9; 3 x 15-18 to failure week 2,4,6,8,10
Leg press: 3 x 20-25 to failure
Hamstring extensions: 3 x 15-20 to failure
Finisher: Lunges to failure
Thursday:
Light jump rope work, stretching
Friday:
Lat pull downs/pull ups: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Seated biceps curls: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Seated rows: 3 x 8-12 to failure
Finisher: EZ bar cheat curls 3 x 8-12 to failure
Weekend: Rest
The dead lift followed a weight reduction repetition increase on even weeks to maintain strength endurance. Also, I found the strictness required for the body building protocol meant I had to move away from pull-ups for lat pull downs, until I was able to increase the weight to beyond body weight; which was difficult given that my weight was increasing at the same sort of rate.
Onwards an upwards for the next ten weeks, incorporating some changes to the program...
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Food: Prawn and pork paella (50g protein)
This makes enough for two portions. Cooking time approx 45 mins. Protein (50g per serving).
250g cooked frozen jumbo prawns (40g protein)
1 x red pepper
1 x yellow pepper
1 x Courgette
1 x aubergine
1 x red onion
400g chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup of peas
1 cup brown rice
1/2 bag of fresh spinach
2 x pork loin steaks (30g protein each, 60g total)
Smoked paprika
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
Extra virgin olive oil
Olive oil
Put the brown rice on to boil.
Chop all of the veg into fairly big chunks and place it into a very large saucepan or frying pan, along with the spinach. Add enough extra virgin olive oil to coat, cover in lots of paprika (to taste) and cook on a medium heat. Stir frequently.
Dice the pork into small cubes. Put a couple of good glugs of olive oil into a small frying pan with 2 to 3 teaspoons of smoked paprika and a pinch of ground fennel seeds. As the pork and coat well before placing on a medium to high heat. Cook until brown, then spoon the pork pieces into the pan containing the veg, leaving the oil behind. Add the chopped tomatoes to the mix and stir well.
When the rice is done, drain and add to the pan containing the veg and pork. Mix well.
Add the frozen prawns. These should be pre cooked, do the just need to be heated, so will not require much coming time.
Once the prawns are fully defrosted and hot throughout, remove from heat and serve.
If you want more protein per serving, add another pork loin steak. Pork loins are extremely high in protein, low in fat and are fairly inexpensive. You can usually pick up a pack of 6 loins for under £5 or $8.
The ingredients listed above are half the amounts purchased. The veg usually comes in packs that mean you can get 4 servings out of the purchase, making the cost per meal about £3 or $4.50 thereabouts.
250g cooked frozen jumbo prawns (40g protein)
1 x red pepper
1 x yellow pepper
1 x Courgette
1 x aubergine
1 x red onion
400g chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup of peas
1 cup brown rice
1/2 bag of fresh spinach
2 x pork loin steaks (30g protein each, 60g total)
Smoked paprika
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
Extra virgin olive oil
Olive oil
Put the brown rice on to boil.
Chop all of the veg into fairly big chunks and place it into a very large saucepan or frying pan, along with the spinach. Add enough extra virgin olive oil to coat, cover in lots of paprika (to taste) and cook on a medium heat. Stir frequently.Dice the pork into small cubes. Put a couple of good glugs of olive oil into a small frying pan with 2 to 3 teaspoons of smoked paprika and a pinch of ground fennel seeds. As the pork and coat well before placing on a medium to high heat. Cook until brown, then spoon the pork pieces into the pan containing the veg, leaving the oil behind. Add the chopped tomatoes to the mix and stir well.When the rice is done, drain and add to the pan containing the veg and pork. Mix well.
Add the frozen prawns. These should be pre cooked, do the just need to be heated, so will not require much coming time.
Once the prawns are fully defrosted and hot throughout, remove from heat and serve.
If you want more protein per serving, add another pork loin steak. Pork loins are extremely high in protein, low in fat and are fairly inexpensive. You can usually pick up a pack of 6 loins for under £5 or $8.
The ingredients listed above are half the amounts purchased. The veg usually comes in packs that mean you can get 4 servings out of the purchase, making the cost per meal about £3 or $4.50 thereabouts.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Food: New quick quark recipe (55g protein)
1 x sweet potato
250g quark
1 x red onion chopped
120g salmon trimmings
1 x teaspoon of horse radish
Crushed black pepper
Microwave the sweet potato on full power for 10 mins. While that is cooking, chop the onion. Put the onion, horse radish, quark, salmon and black pepper into a bowl and mix until even. When the sweet potato is done, arrange everything on a plate and eat. Viola!
I had half eaten the dish in the photo.
There's roughly 55g protein in this dish.
250g quark
1 x red onion chopped
120g salmon trimmings
1 x teaspoon of horse radish
Crushed black pepper
Microwave the sweet potato on full power for 10 mins. While that is cooking, chop the onion. Put the onion, horse radish, quark, salmon and black pepper into a bowl and mix until even. When the sweet potato is done, arrange everything on a plate and eat. Viola!
I had half eaten the dish in the photo.
There's roughly 55g protein in this dish.
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Nutrition: Insulin sensitivity
I recently came across the following video on YouTube, from one of the many fitness guru's that post their videos on YouTube. In the video, the presenter talks about the effects of high intake of carbohydrates versus low intake of carbohydrates. While much of what is discussed is factually correct and is actually a useful source of information on the topic, there is an element of untruth surrounding the topic of insulin sensitivity at around the 2 minute mark. The presenter describes insulin sensitivity with relation to consumption of carbohydrates as follows:
While true, that you can use sugar consumption and the body's reaction as a benchmark for insulin sensitivity, the untruth is in the order of the statements. Since the vast majority of healthy people exhibit tiredness after eating carbohydrates, this statement suggests that it is abnormal or those healthy people are exhibiting signs of insulin insensitivity; or type II diabetes as described by our presenter. Don't fear, feeling tired after eating "a big bowl of pasta" is a perfectly normal hormonal response to an increase in blood sugar. Let me explain why...
Tryptophan
This is an essential amino-acid that cannot be synthesised by the body and thus must be obtained through food. The significance of this amino-acid in relation to this topic, is that this particular amino-acid is used by the brain in order to produce the neurotransmitter, serotonin. If you are thinking that serotonin sounds familiar, then that's because you may have heard it used to describe tiredness; we will discuss this in a moment. tryptophan has to compete against a whole array of other amino-acids in the blood stream, in order to get absorbed by the brain. Under normal circumstances, these other amino-acids act like a barrier and prevent absorption. However, if other amino-acid levels are reduced, then concentration of tryptophan increases and thus more tryptophan is able to enter the brain, with the effect of an increase in serotonin production. Generally, foods rich in carbohydrates are also a primary source of tryptophan.
Serotonin
This is a neurotransmitter that is used by the pineal gland, just below the brain, to secrete a endocrine hormone called melatonin. The more serotonin released by the brain, the more melatonin that is secreted from the pineal gland. Let's see what melatonin does...
Melatonin
This is an endocrine hormone that is released into the blood stream to regulate the body's sleep-wake cycle, among a whole host of other antioxidant properties. It lowers body temperature and causes drowsiness, by suppressing nervous activity to the brain.
Insulin
Insulin, another hormone secreted by the pancreas, has many functions. One of its primary functions is to allow liver, muscles and fat-cells to absorb glucose from the blood stream. It also allows these cells, if required, to absorb amino acids, excluding tryptophan, from the blood and has various anabolic effects. So what?
The missing links
So how does insulin, tryptophan, serotonin and melatonin relate to this topic? Well, the answer lies in the effects of insulin on amino acid levels in the blood as opposed to glucose levels. When the amino acid levels in the blood are reduced, tryptophan is left behind in higher concentration. This allows tryptophan to enter the brains blood barrier and thus results in the production of serotonin and thus melatonin. Good insulin sensitivity is in fact indicative of high levels of melatonin and thus lethargy and tiredness after uptake of carbohydrates. If you feel more energetic having just eaten "a big bowl of pasta", then this would indicate blood glucose saturation and low levels of insulin in the blood: insulin insensitivity. The density of tryptophan would actually be reduced, even though there is an uptake of tryptophan from the carbohydrates, since the glucose molecules are larger and more prominent than most other molecules in the blood stream.
So lets correct that original statement:
The gentleman that eats the pasta and feels very energetic, most likely has good insulin sensitivity. The gentleman that eats the pasta and feels like he has to go to sleep, most likely does not.Video in question
While true, that you can use sugar consumption and the body's reaction as a benchmark for insulin sensitivity, the untruth is in the order of the statements. Since the vast majority of healthy people exhibit tiredness after eating carbohydrates, this statement suggests that it is abnormal or those healthy people are exhibiting signs of insulin insensitivity; or type II diabetes as described by our presenter. Don't fear, feeling tired after eating "a big bowl of pasta" is a perfectly normal hormonal response to an increase in blood sugar. Let me explain why...
Tryptophan
This is an essential amino-acid that cannot be synthesised by the body and thus must be obtained through food. The significance of this amino-acid in relation to this topic, is that this particular amino-acid is used by the brain in order to produce the neurotransmitter, serotonin. If you are thinking that serotonin sounds familiar, then that's because you may have heard it used to describe tiredness; we will discuss this in a moment. tryptophan has to compete against a whole array of other amino-acids in the blood stream, in order to get absorbed by the brain. Under normal circumstances, these other amino-acids act like a barrier and prevent absorption. However, if other amino-acid levels are reduced, then concentration of tryptophan increases and thus more tryptophan is able to enter the brain, with the effect of an increase in serotonin production. Generally, foods rich in carbohydrates are also a primary source of tryptophan.
Serotonin
This is a neurotransmitter that is used by the pineal gland, just below the brain, to secrete a endocrine hormone called melatonin. The more serotonin released by the brain, the more melatonin that is secreted from the pineal gland. Let's see what melatonin does...
Melatonin
This is an endocrine hormone that is released into the blood stream to regulate the body's sleep-wake cycle, among a whole host of other antioxidant properties. It lowers body temperature and causes drowsiness, by suppressing nervous activity to the brain.
Insulin
Insulin, another hormone secreted by the pancreas, has many functions. One of its primary functions is to allow liver, muscles and fat-cells to absorb glucose from the blood stream. It also allows these cells, if required, to absorb amino acids, excluding tryptophan, from the blood and has various anabolic effects. So what?
The missing links
So how does insulin, tryptophan, serotonin and melatonin relate to this topic? Well, the answer lies in the effects of insulin on amino acid levels in the blood as opposed to glucose levels. When the amino acid levels in the blood are reduced, tryptophan is left behind in higher concentration. This allows tryptophan to enter the brains blood barrier and thus results in the production of serotonin and thus melatonin. Good insulin sensitivity is in fact indicative of high levels of melatonin and thus lethargy and tiredness after uptake of carbohydrates. If you feel more energetic having just eaten "a big bowl of pasta", then this would indicate blood glucose saturation and low levels of insulin in the blood: insulin insensitivity. The density of tryptophan would actually be reduced, even though there is an uptake of tryptophan from the carbohydrates, since the glucose molecules are larger and more prominent than most other molecules in the blood stream.
So lets correct that original statement:
The gentleman that eats the pasta and feels like he has to go to sleep, most likely has good insulin sensitivity. The gentleman that eats the pasta and feels very energetic, most likely does not.
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