http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_arti ... _nutrition vol 1
The technical formula for glycemic load is GI (glycemic index), multiplied by the number of grams of carbohydrates in the portion, then divided by 100. Low glycemic load is between 1 and 10, medium is between 10 and 20, and anything over 20 is very high.
That said, remember that both glycemic index and glycemic load only refer to the food eaten alone. Add some fat or protein and the total impact goes down. And plenty of high-glycemic foods are good for you (say, carrot juice) while plenty of low-glycemic foods (fried donut holes) are not.
So take glycemic load into account, but don't be a slave to it. It's just one measurement to consider when planning a diet.
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http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_arti ... tion_vol_3 vol 3Q: Most strength coaches agree that you need extra calories to build muscle. The question is, how much extra? On one side you have those who say to eat a few hundred calories per day over maintenance levels. Others say to just eat a ton and train hard. What do you think is best for the bodybuilding male?
A: "Train hard and eat a ton" sounds like a great philosophy ... if you're training to be a Sumo wrestler.I think it's way smarter to start with a controlled amount of extra calories and see if that's enough to do the trick. Ask yourself how you're performing, what your energy is like, and if you like the results in the mirror. If you're not coming up with positive answers, adjust the calories some more until you do.
Finally, remember that many fruits and vegetables contain carotenoids and other valuable phytochemicals, which are best absorbed with a little fat. So take some fish oil caps with your veggie and fruit juice, or throw in a squirt of Barlean's Organic Flax Oil. You'll never notice the taste, and you'll absorb the nutrition better.
Favorite combinations for me include:
Pear, celery, cucumber, ginger
Apple, spinach, carrot, ginger
Red pepper, apple, radishes, tomato, frozen cranberries
Mix, match, and experiment.
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http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_arti ... tion_vol_5 vol 5Q: What's the final word on tuna and mercury? Tuna is a bodybuilding staple, but I'm starting to worry that I eat too much.
A: Short answer: Don't worry about it.
I say that as someone who's as worried as anybody on earth about the toxic effects of mercury, not to mention the lackluster efforts of governments to control it. There's no doubt that it's in an awful lot of fish. Where it gets tricky is when we try to define the point at which it poses a real danger to our health.
That depends on a lot of factors. A pregnant woman and her developing fetus are far more vulnerable than the average bodybuilder. Many of the warnings about high-mercury fish were in fact targeted at that population (pregnant women, not bodybuilders).
Then there's the question of how you define a "safe" level. Many people think the government's standards are too lax. To them, it's as if we said "speeding" only applies to driving over 120 mph. If that's the standard, then all of us drive safely.
But let's look at it from the other direction. If you stop eating fish, there's a price you pay. Most experts think the cost of giving up fish, in terms of global health, far outweighs the possible problems caused by mercury in your system.
Two things you can do: One, consume a lot of selenium, which seems to have a chelating effect on mercury. Two, you can get your tuna from the same place I get mine: Vital Choice in Alaska. I don't have any ownership in this company, by the way. I just think they have the purest and best fish anywhere.
On balance, I think the benefits of cold-water fish like tuna and salmon, which are such amazing sources of protein and omega-3s, far exceed the possible danger. If you're pregnant, I might modify that advice, but not by much.
For you trainers working with weight loss clients, I have a formula to suggest. There's absolutely no science to back this up, mind you, but it's been my experience that it works really well for most people: Take your current weight, divide by 2, and aim for that number of ounces a day. (I was happy to see recently that this is the same formula the great holistic doctor Deepak Choprah uses). For a 180-pound person, that would be 90 ounces a day.
Each 2-inch increase in waist circumference added about 17% increased risk for mortality in men and about 13% increased mortality in women. Earlier research showed that these same numbers — 40" waist for men, 35" waist for women — indicated an increased risk for stroke
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_arti ... tion_vol_6 Vol 6You see, all body fat is not created equal. The fat stored around the butt hips and thighs — also known as subcutaneous fat since it's right below the skin — might drive you crazy and make your jeans fit badly, but it's not nearly as dangerous as the other kind. Belly fat, stored around the middle — also called VAT or visceral abdominal fat — is a metabolic nightmare.
It's stored deep inside the abdominal walls and is a metabolically active fat that directly increases the risk for all sorts of health problems, among them metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
y opinion, the "fate" of saturated fat in the body depends completely on what else is eaten. If you're eating a high-carb diet, the effect of saturated fat may indeed be deleterious, but if you're eating a low-carb diet it's a whole other ballgame."If carbs are low, insulin is low and saturated fat is handled more efficiently," said Jeff Volek, PhD, RD and one of the major researchers in the area of diet comparisons. "When carbs are low, you're burning that saturated fat as fuel, and you're also making less of it."
So, eat way less carbohydrates and way less sugar, and it may not matter how much saturated fat you eat.
So what's the verdict? Though there may be certain cases where saturated fat could be a problem — i.e. those with the ApoE4 gene making them more susceptible to Alzheimer's seem to benefit from avoiding too much saturated fat — for most people a healthy diet of moderate calories that's low in sugar shouldn't have any problem with saturated fat from whole food sources.