Are you getting enough protein?

Are you getting enough protein?

 

In 2008, I decided it was time to take a trip to Afghanistan.  I had served in the military for 10 years and never had the opportunity to be "volun-told" to live in hell-hot heat.  Well, my opportunity came when I started working for a contracting company.  I was asked if I wanted to go to Afghanistan for a while and it took me no time to respond with yes.  Prior to my deployment to Afghanistan, I was living life up with going to weekly parties, countless nights out on the town, and tons of beer filled trips to the beach.  I didn't realize it at the time, but my waist line was gradually get bigger.  Yikes!

So, once I made it to Afghanistan, I decided it was time for me to work on my waist line.  My plan to reduce my waist size include:

1.  Less than 1800 calories per day.
2.  Weight lifting program - Lifting 3 days a week.
3.  30 high intensity minutes of cardio on workout days.
4.  60 to 90 minutes of high intensity cardio on non-workout days.
5.  Sunday was a rest day, also giving me the opportunity to cheat on my calorie intake with cookies, ice cream, and what ever other craving I had. 

With this routine, I managed to lose 25lbs in 5 months.  Boy was I excited.  I was looking lean, mean, and tired.  I was in the gym anywhere form 90 minutes to 3 hours.  The one thing I refused to take was any form of extra protein and/or supplement.  One day, as I was showing off my newly transformed body, I received a comment from a few women.  "You're getting too skinny, guys aren't suppose to look like that!"  I was thinking too myself, dang; it worked for skinny Luther...but then again, I can't sing like skinny Luther.  

At the time I didn't realize it, but while I was on my quest to lose 25lbs, I not only lost fat, but I lost precious muscle, which made my look too skinny.  Had I known the power of protein, I could have probably look ed like a teenage mutant ninja turtle when I left Afghanistan.  Here's the deal.  Your body needs energy to perform any activity.  It generally uses carbs, when available.  But it also attempts to burn fat for fuel as well.  But when your muscles needs to repair themselves, lack of protein means your body using the precious muscle for energy and fuel sources.   

Here are the facts about protein:

1.  Your muscles need protein to repair themselves.
2.  Generally, must people need to consume 1 gram of muscle per pound of lean muscle mass (with a healthy training routine).
3.  Taking protein supplement can be one of the easiest ways to get the amount daily protein needed.
4.  Protein doesn't make you fat, unless you're consuming too much of it or you're not working-out regularly.  
5.  Protein makes up your body's structure.
6.  Proteins are made up of amino acids.
7.  Protein digestion releases nitrogen waste.
8.  Inadequate protein intake damages your body.
9.  Most of the protein we eat is burned as calories.
10.  Many people have increased protein needs.  

BodyHealth.com had this to say about protein consumption, "The body may actually 'eat itself' to acquire the necessary amino acids, or borrow the amino acids from the immune system or body functions to meet its protein needs. If you workout and don't have enough protein to rebuild your body, instead of getting stronger, you will become weaker and be subject to injury. Whether due to restricted diets, illness, skipping meals, poor diet choices, and so on, inadequate protein/amino acid intake can compromise your health and affect body functions."

Reference

http://www.bodyhealth.com/html/biobuilde/key.asp

Sweet Tooth

So I’m walking in the grocery store to do my weekly shopping one month, and then I see them.  Them…you know what them be?  OREOS!!  OMG….Oreos are like my favorite freakin’ cookies ever!!  There were times in the past where I would buy a pack of oreo cookies, and started eating them when I got in the car.  Those cookies couldn’t stand a chance (and still don’t) in my presence.  I luv ‘em, I luv ‘em, I luv ‘em.  Oh…I so heart oreos!  Okay, now we done got that out the way, you may be able to see that I have sweet tooth.  Oreo cookies hit the spot for me EVERY time; however, I haven’t had an oreo cookie in about at least a year. 

I learned a little secret to help curve my sweet tooth.  We’ll get to that in a second, but first I need explain to you some facts about sugar.  According to the National Federation of Professional Trainers, we generally get sugar from pasta, grains, vegetables, fruits, breads, cereals, rice, beans, sugar (glucose), candies, etc.  These foods are sources of carbohydrates, but are also two basic types of sugars, complex and simple.  Any food which is a simple sugar, when consumed will be absorbed quickly by the body.  The blood can only take up blood-glucose very slowly; therefore, any excess glucose will be rapidly stored in fat cells.   Additionally, within 20 to 30 minutes of eating the simple sugar product, the blood level falls to below resting levels.  This is called hypoglycemia.  As we age, are muscles slowly forgets how to take up sugar, but the fat cells get smarter and gets better at it. (5ed, 2008)      

Back in my young and wild days, I use to run the streets with my friends.  Sometimes, I wouldn’t eat all day, but hit the clubs at night.  When I had my first drink, I felt great!  But usually after about 20 to 30 minutes of completing that drink, I felt like I was gonna collapse or something.  I would completely leave my friends and were ever I was to pursue real food.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this was hypoglycemia.  The first drink was usually a mixed drink with some kind of sweet beverage added, which explains my “sugar high”.  The hypoglycemia explains my moods swings.  (See, I told you friends…I had an issue and I’m not crazy!!)    

Now for you folks who are 25+.  Remember days when you could eat McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…and still go out to the club and drink all night?  Even with this unhealthy life style, you still managed to maintain the same weight?  You remember?  I do!  Well guess what…you probably don’t have the same “problem” anymore.  Now, if you happen to look at something unhealthy, you may feel as though you’ve gained a pound.  That’s how I felt anyway.  As I explained above, as you get older, your body naturally stores more of the food you eat as fat, rather than using and burning it off like when you were a kid.  But there are always exceptions to that rule, because some people can eat all day and never gain another pound.   

  Taking this information into consideration, I learned that I’d always want oreo cookies.  I just had to learn how and when to eat them.  Every person has basic calorie needs.  Once you figure out what this need is, realize that one pound of fat equals 3500 calories, which is about 500 calories a day.  If you’re able to create a deficit of 500 calories from your basic calorie needs, in theory you should lose a pound of fat each week you do that.  The reason I bring this up is although cookies are basically simple sugars and are stored as fat quickly, everything we eat can be utilized as energy.  How are you burning calories off? 

So here’s my little secret.  I decided that I wanted to continue to eat my cookies, and still eat healthy.  So basically I calculated my basic caloric needs, plus the amount of calories I would consume in the cookies, and I created a deficit in my caloric intake everyday by 500 calories.  But I also worked out and did tons of cardio.  Because I was able to create a deficit of 3500 or more calories a week (complete with my workout routine), I was able to have my broccoli and my cookies too!  I’d usually limited myself to a free day (usually Sunday), to eat whatever sugary treat I desired.  I still use this basic principle today.  Basically, everything in life should be done in moderation.  Over doing anything is never a good thing.  So eat a cookie every now and then, it won’t kill you.  Just make sure you’re taking care of business in the gym and throughout the rest of your diet.

D-Rich   

Nutrition Tip #1

Did you just wake up from the comma you call a good nights sleep? Have you eaten yet? Well....HAVE YOU? How long after you woke up did you eat? Oh wait, it's been two hours and you haven't eaten anything? BIG OLE MISTAKE! What basically happens when you decide to not eat breakfast is your body goes into starvation mode. It thinks you won't be feeding it the rest of the day, so the next time you eat, your food gets stored as fat. Yes, I know....wonderful! This is definitely an incentive to eat breakfast every morning.

My friends Ian King and Lou Schuler, wrote in their book, "The Book of Muscle" that "The benefits of eating the right food diminish if you don't get the frequency and timing right. Eat your first meal as soon as you can after getting up in the morning - you want your fire to start burning as quickly as possible."

Try this meal for breakfast - One whole egg and three egg whites, 1/2 cup diced mushrooms and peppers, and one ounce of reduced-fat cheese. (This is your omelete) Add to this two slices of wheat bread, six ounces of orange juice, and around 24 ounces of water. This is your fuel for the morning and to get your body jump started to be a lean, mean, burning machine. Sometimes, I just do a nice protein shake for breakfast; it's quick and easy (actually I do this most of the time).

Nutrition Tip #1...Eat right after you wake up in the morning. Don't delay!

Quick...go back to bed and start all over again! After you wake back up...go take your butt to your kitchen and put some fuel in that body. THAT'S AN ORDER SOLDIER!!