This is a subject not many worry about nor take the time to care about. This is very unfortunate as blood sugar plays a vital role in your weight gain or weight loss. Studies have reported that even in healthy people high blood sugar after meals can over time damage the body. Blood sugar effects everyone. It should concern you even if you are thin and healthy, and especially if you don’t get enough exercise or carry extra weight around your middle.

When you eat a big meal, especially one with a lot of starchy or sugary foods, the food makes its way through your stomach and intestines and then is converted into glucose, the main fuel for your muscles and even your brain. Boom! You now created instant energy. However, a big starchy meal can give the body more glucose than it needs. In fact, it can raise blood sugar levels twice as much as another, healthier meal would.

If you eat a big pile of french fries or something of that nature, your body has to deal with a serious flood of blood sugar. What happens now is your body reacts by pumping out too much insulin. May be even more insulin if you are overweight. The extra insulin will bring the blood sugar down way too far. It sticks around and does this for hours. Your body then can fall into a semi-starved state. This can cause your blood sugar to be even lower than it was before you ate the meal. Your body knows that your blood sugar is low so it reverses everything and spits out hormones that raise blood levels of sugars and fats. The really bad part about all of this is now your brain is sending signals that you are hungry. Whether you ate more calories than you even needed at lunch doesn’t matter. Your body is so low on sugar if thinks you need food. Now everything in front of you looks appetizing.

The best way to avoid all of this is just to start eating the right type of foods. Foods like white rice, white bread, potatoes, and sugary drinks seem to be the biggest cause of these type of reactions. You can keep your blood sugar at healthy levels by eating more wheat and oat carbohydrates. Those of you with a “spare tire” around your middle are most likely having problems controlling your blood sugar. This spare tire will fall off very fast if you learn to manage your blood sugar correctly.

There is a great deal of studies proving a direct link to many forms of cancer that our society experience and get diagnosed with everyday. That subject is going to be discussed in a later article.

3 Issues will be written on the subject: Blood Sugar Matters
Issue 1: Diet
Issue 2: Workout
Issue 3: Cancer

Issue 2 is due to be posted by July 8th. Stay tuned!!

Soda has become a drink that has gotten out of control in our society. When Soda was first introduced it was supposed to be a dessert item or a celebration drink. It was intended to be a drink that was only drank on rare occasions. It was also supposed to be drank around 6-8oz. However, none of the above is the case anymore. Our society drinks soda in the same manner we are supposed to drink water. Even a single can of soda is 12oz. The normal can is slowly fading away. We now consume 20oz bottles and even buy 1 liter bottles of soda to drink as a single serving. Fast food restaurants had to do even one better and now sell soda that comes in 64oz cups. This is ridiculous!

The high amount of calories itself should steer you away from drinking soda. The average soda has about 150-160 calories per can. The average American consumes over 53 gallons of soda per year. This is close to a little over a gallon of soda a week. With current nutritional information suggesting each person drink 8 glasses of water a day, it becomes increasingly concerning when, according to a Beverage Marketing Press Release, one in every four beverages consumed in America today is a soft drink. In fact Americans drink more soda than they do water on a daily basis. Soft drinks are the best-selling product today in our grocery stores. Soda outsells basic food items including fruits and vegetables, taking in over $11.7 billion in sales annually. With these sales figures, Soda ranks as the #3 leading beverage and offers absolutely no benefit to its drinkers over other beverages (including water) besides containing excess sugar.

Soda does not offer any benefits to your nutrition. Soda mostly consists of filtered water and refined sugars. Many people don’t realize that drinking 1 can of sugar filled soda a day translates to more than 1 pound of weight gain per month. Several scientific studies have provided experimental evidence that soft drinks are directly related to weight gain. The relationship between soft drink consumption and body weight is so strong that researchers calculate that for each additional soda consumed, the risk of obesity increases 1.6 times. The number of problems that soda can cause is countless. It has shown to cause or increase negative effects to the kidneys, liver, heartburn, metabolism, digestive system, dehydration, cell damage and of course weight gain.

Soda should not be consumed by anyone that cares about their health. Soda has taken over the world and is in my opinion just as negative as any kind of drug that is currently illegal. Do your body and your life a favor and find a healthier alternative to soda.

Many bodybuilders do not gain the amount of muscle mass they are striving for because they simply don’t recognize the importance of getting enough protein. Protein is one of the key nutrients that need to be present in the diet of a bodybuilder at all times in order for muscle gain to take place. It is amazing how a great deal of people purchase hundreds and hundreds of dollars on that “miracle” supplement and they do not get even half the amount of protein their body needs to gain any muscle. These people are wasting their money. All the supplements in the world do not make up for lack of nutrition and protein.

Building muscle is about protein balance. If you make more muscle protein than you break down, your muscles will increase in size and strength. However, if you make less muscle protein than you break down, your muscles will tend to get weaker and smaller. Thus, a positive protein balance indicates an anabolic state. Since protein contains nitrogen, protein balance can be estimated by measuring nitrogen balance.

To improve nitrogen balance to promote growth you should follow some of these basics steps that can help make your body in a massive muscle building state.

* Consume adequate amounts of complete. This can be done through diet and through the incorporation of high quality protein supplements.

* Eat several small protein meals coupled with minimal amounts of high quality carbohydrates throughout the day to aid in transport and utilization.

* Avoid consuming low biological value proteins/poor quality proteins (most vegetables for example) that lack an optimal balance of the essential amino-acids.

* Eat sufficient amounts of low glycemic carbohydrates and “good” fats.

* Consume a liquid meal containing protein and carbohydrates immediately following training to saturate the muscles with amino-acids, and enhance protein synthesis.

* Directly before bed, consume a drink containing both whey and a slow release protein like micellar casein. The combination of these proteins will result in a slow steady release of amino acids during the fasting period.

* Do not overtrain. If training sessions are too frequent, protein might be used to fuel training efforts. If this occurs nitrogen balance will be reduced. If training continues, a negative nitrogen balance could arise causing a catabolic state.

* Train in a manner which stimulates the greatest amount of fibers with the least amount of muscle break-down. Studies show that such training creates an optimal an anabolic state and a positive nitrogen balance. Short intense training sessions using multiple movements, multiple angles, and varying speeds are good methods for achieving this state.

* Add high quality Protein Supplements into your plan as needed to maintain a positive nitrogen balance.

*Basic Steps taken from BodyBuilding.com

In conclusion, do not underestimate the importance of proper diet and protein or you will find yourself wasting your time in the gym and wasting your money buying other supplements that are useless without protein intake.

Everyone wants to stay trimmed down and keep proper management of their weight. The biggest problem is not many know what certain fat-loss supplements are supposed to do, or what fat-loss supplement is the best for their needs.

The most popular fat-loss supplement is the thermogenic fat burner. Thermogenic fat burners contain ingredients that are made to increase your energy levels and your metabolism. Its intentions are to keep you more energetic and focused so you are able to concentrate better and workout much more efficiently throughout the day. Many of these fat-loss supplements contain powerful stimulants, if you are sensitive to stimulants; these supplements are not the best for you.

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Weekly Recipes

Weekly Recipe Subject: The Bodybuilder

Whey Protein

Source: BodyBuilding.com <!–[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]–> <!–[endif]–>

Bodybuilders Breakfast
Egg Breakfast Sandwich
Ingredients:
* 1 large whole egg
* 2 large egg whites
* 2 tsp Flaxseed
* 1/2 cup orange juice
* 3 slices whole-wheat bread

Scramble 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites in a Bowl and fry them with vegetable Oil. Add Flaxseed. Make toast of 3 bread slices and pour the eggs making it a large sandwich. Add an orange Juice or just eat apples, grapes or any other fruit with skin to get ample fibers.

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Many bodybuilders and athletes supplement Creatine to help them reach their goals. The biggest problem I notice is many have no idea what creatine is. Our bodies produce Creatine naturally. Our liver combines the amino acids of Arginine, Glycine and Methionine to create Creatine.

Another problem I notice is many do not know why they are taking the Creatine. They are not sure what Creatine is even supposed to do. Creatine has many benefits. One benefit is that Creatine gives your muscles energy. Creatine supplementation can provide more reps, longer workouts, and overall more endurance and stamina. Creatine also pulls water into your muscles. Creatine has been shown to pull water into your muscle cells, which increases the size of your muscles. It also increases pumps drastically. Studies have shown Creatine enhances protein synthesis. Several studies indicate that creatine helps put the body in a more anabolic state where protein synthesis can occur. The more protein synthesis; the greater the muscle gain, it’s that easy.

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