A dietary supplement (also known as food supplement) is intended to supply nutrients, (vitamins, minerals, fatty acids or amino acids) that are missing or not consumed in sufficient quantity in a person’s diet. This category may also include herbal supplements which may have added health benefits.
Have you seen the commercials loudly proclaiming the discovery of new diet supplements that will make you lose weight, give you a boost of energy, and even clear your complexion? Have you noticed the endless bottles of diet supplements at the local grocery market or drug store and wondered just what they could offer you? All sorts of diet supplements are very popular right now, and you can find them in a variety of forms. Diet supplements are available in pills, gel capsules, powder, and liquid forms. But what, exactly, are diet supplements?
Diet supplements are usually any vitamin, mineral, amino acid, or botanical marketed as appetite suppressants, energy boosters, fat melters, or general life improvers. But even though diet supplements are sold in stores across the nation, they’re not as safe as the food you buy at the same store. First, the FDA (The Food and Drug Administration) does not test diet supplements before they’re put on the market. Which means there is no governing body confirming that diet supplements do what they claim to do. There’s also no governing body checking the safety of the diet supplements. Diet supplements are not regulated, and another consequence of that is there is no standard dosage. Not only is it unclear just what diet supplements can actually do, there’s no scientific or medical evidence dictating how much of the diet supplements is affective—or dangerous.
High Protein Foods
The low-carb craze has crested and began to dampen, but it is still an effective diet for many people. If you are investigating a low-carb diet, you might be interested in finding out more about high protein foods. But low-carb dieters are not the only people interested in high protein foods. Body builders also eat high protein foods to help build their muscle tone.
Meat is the most obvious source of high-protein foods, but not everybody wants to eat meat with every meal—or wants to eat meat at all. Fortunately, there is a wide variety of high protein foods to select fom, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, and dairy products. Protein powder can also be added to breakfast shakes and other items to create high protein foods. Protein bars and mixes are also readily available in most stores.
If you are eating a diet of high protein foods, be aware that some doctors believe such a diet could have a detrimental affect on the body. But as with most things, high protein foods in moderation is not dangerous or potentially harmful. If you have any questions or concerns about your diet of high protein foods, you should contact your healthcare professional or dietician.
Protein Drinks
Protein drinks, powders, and bars are increasingly popular among athletes, body builders, and dieters. Many websites and magazines dedicated to exercise and fitness trumpet the usage of protein drinks and protein products. It has become “common knowledge” that protein drinks and products are necessary for weight and strength training. But for many, the jury is still out on those claims. In fact, researchers have not demonstrated that protein drinks make a substantial difference. Come claim that the protein in protein drinks is just turned into energy or excreted, without ever contributing to more muscle mass. There is other controversy surrounding the use of protein drinks. For a long time, many people claimed that a high protein diet, like one with many protein drinks, could result in renal failure or other complications. But recent studies have found that a diet high in protein only results in complications in people with pre-existing conditions.
Protein drinks do have other benefits for people who weight train, strength train, or are otherwise very active. Protein drinks also come in a wide variety of flavors and many, many different brands. Protein drinks are also flavored to taste like fruit beverages, so they’re easier and more enjoyable to drink.
Health and Fitness
Health and fitness are two words that always go well together. You can be healthy without being fit, but if you are fit, you are almost certainly healthy. Health and fitness can be a high priority to many different people for many different reasons. Did you make a New Year’s resolution to improve your health and fitness? Are you interested in health and fitness because you want to prevent an illness? Or recover from one? Some women might be concerned with their health and fitness because they are trying to have children, they’re currently pregnant, or they’re trying to regain their body after pregnancy and childbirth.
There are many different ways to improve your health and fitness. The most obvious way is exercise. Home aerobics or an aerobics class might be a good idea for people who are just beginning their journey to better health and fitness. Other types of exercise include jogging, swimming, and weight training. Which exercise, or exercises, you choose depends on your level, and your ultimate goals.
Health and fitness also means eating the right sort of food. Some swear by a low-fat diet, while others look to low-carb diets, and others will latch onto whatever fad diet is new that week. If your health and fitness is important to you, check with your health care provider or dietician before beginning any diet.
The health industry is booming now as more and more people become interested in changing their lifestyles. As a result of the upswing in popularity, there’s more information about health and fitness than ever before. All of this information can be very difficult to sort through, especially when the information starts to conflict. On the Internet alone, there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of health and fitness articles.
When searching through health and fitness articles, there are some things to consider. Are the health and fitness articles written by an expert? Did you find the health and fitness articles from a reliable source? Do the health and fitness articles reflect your particular interest and needs? Health and fitness articles about body building will not be helpful if you are interested in simply toning your body, losing weight, or increasing your stamina. But that doesn’t mean health and fitness articles need to be solely focused on your specific interest. For example, health and fitness articles about diets can provide good information about nutrition and health.
You should research health and fitness articles before beginning any new exercise or diet regiment. Health and fitness articles can also inform you of new advances in the field of health and fitness and new scientific discoveries. Health and fitness articles can keep you updated and informed.
What Nutritional Supplements Should I Use?
When it comes to gaining lean muscle mass, most people think that bodybuilding supplements are the most important part of the equation. However, this could not be any further from the truth.
Supplements are just additions to an already good nutrition and training program. Nutrition and training are the most important components of a bodybuilding program, with rest and recovery next to them. Once all of those aspects of your program are maximized, then you can start thinking of adding supplements to your program.
Please understand that supplements do not make up for improper training, or lack thereof, or a low quality diet. Supplements only work when your diet and your training program are optimal.
Why Use Supplements?
Nutritional supplements are good because they prevent us from getting any nutritional deficiencies. The increased activity levels from your new exercise program will make your body have greater demands for vitamins and minerals, which will increase the probability of you suffering a deficiency without supplementation. Even a slight nutrient deficiency can sabotage muscle growth. Can’t we get all the nutrients we need from food alone? We cannot rely solely on food nowadays to provide us with all the vitamins and minerals that our body needs because the processing of foods before they get to the supermarket, cooking, air, and even light have already robbed your foods of most of the vitamins that they have to offer. If you are deficient in one or more nutrients your body may not be able to build muscle and burn fat properly.
Not all supplements are created equal though. Some your body always needs, others are more dependent upon what your goals are and what your budget looks like. Below you will learn what the different categories of supplements are and which ones you need to use at all times:
Basic Supplements
These are the supplements that you always need year round in order to gain muscle. If you have a limited budget, these are the only ones that you need to concern yourself with.
Multiple Vitamin And Mineral Formula
Essential to insure that your body will operate at maximum efficiency. Why? Because on a very simplistic level, without vitamins and minerals it is impossible to covert the food that we eat into hormones, tissues and energy.
Vitamins
Vitamins are organic compounds (produced by both animals and vegetables) whose function is to enhance the actions of proteins that cause chemical reactions such as muscle building, fat burning and energy production. There are two types of vitamins: Fat soluble vitamins - they get stored in fat and therefore if taken in excessive amounts will become toxic such as A, D, E, and K. Water soluble vitamins - they are not stored in the body such as the B-Complex and Vitamin C.
Minerals
Minerals are inorganic compounds (not produced by either animals or vegetables). Their main function is to assure that your brain receives the correct signals from the body, balance of fluids, muscular contractions and energy production as well as for the building of muscle and bones. There are two types of minerals:
1) Bulk minerals - Which are called this way as the body needs them in great quantities in the order of grams such as Calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and phosphorus.
2) Trace minerals -Which are needed by the body in minute amounts, usually in the order of micrograms such as chromium, copper, cobalt, silicon, selenium, iron and zinc.
Where Can You Get Vitamins and Minerals From?
I like simplicity and because of that I tend to get most of my vitamins and minerals from multiple vitamin/mineral packs. The ones I personally use are the Prolab’s Training Paks, which are loaded with potent levels of essential nutrients and bioactive compounds.
You have to be very careful with what type of vitamin and mineral formulas you choose as some don’t always contain what the labels claim (thanks to unscrupulous manufacturers) and some come from such poor sources that they are not absorbed very well by the body. Other Reputable Companies On The Market That I Have Used Include: Twinlabs, EAS, Weider, Labrada, Shiff, Optimum Nutrition, Advanced Nutrition, Higher Power Nutrition, and Champion Nutrition
Types of Protein Sources
Protein Supplements
Because of hectic schedules it is impossible to eat the six perfectly balanced meals that are required to get in shape a day. Therefore, these supplements can be used as “fast food”. They are easy to prepare (if it is a protein bar then no preparation is required) and most of the formulas that are available on the market today pay close attention to taste. Having said that, there are many categories of protein supplements. Before we cover the different categories of protein supplements and how to use them, let’s talk about the different sources of protein found in these supplements.
Protein Sources
There are many sources of protein from which protein powders or bars are made of. Protein quality is measured by Biological Value (BV).
BV is a value that measures how well the body can absorb and utilize a protein. The higher the Biological Value of the protein you use, the more nitrogen your body can absorb, use, and retain. As a result, proteins with the highest BV promote the most lean muscle gains. Whey protein has the highest BV value, rating at 104. Egg protein is only second to whey rating as a 100 with milk proteins being a close third rating as 91. Beef rates as an 80 with soy proteins a distant 74. Bean proteins, due to the fact that are plant-based proteins, only rate a 49.
Now that we have discussed BV values, let’s discuss each protein source in more detail.
Whey Proteins (Whey Concentrate/Whey Isolate)
I feel that whey protein is a great protein source for the following reasons shown in a growing number of studies:
1) It improves sports performance because it reduces stress and lowers cortisol levels (hormone that destroys muscle).
2) Improved immunity by increasing glutathione (GSH), which is a water soluble antioxidant found in the body.
3) Improved liver function in some forms of hepatitis.
4) Reduces blood pressure.
5) Can help fight HIV.
6) Helps reduce overtraining (which is linked also to low levels of GSH).
In addition to the above, whey proteins are highly digestible and have a better amino acid profile even than egg whites. So in other words, whey protein has the highest biological value (value that measures how well the body can absorb and utilize a protein) of any protein.
Having said this, whey is not the steroid-like substance that many advertisers would like you to believe, but based on current research, it can be a valuable addition to one’s diet for the reasons outlined above.
Also, all whey is not created equal. The whey that will give you the benefits described above has to be micro-filtered. Otherwise, it is just the garbage left after pasteurizing milk. Micro-filtration than has to be done at very low temperatures in order to allow for the production of high protein contents with no undenatured protein, minimum fat, minimum cholesterol and minimum lactose.
Isolates & Concentrates
In addition, there are whey isolates and whey concentrates. Whey isolates are sub-fractions of whey that are absorbed much more rapidly into the system. This is a good thing for post workout nutrition as at this time the body is in dire need of amino acids. However, whey isolate makes a poor choice for during the day supplementation as if the body does not have a need for all of the amino acids that are released into the bloodstream, then it will use them for energy production as opposed to muscle building.
Also, it is important to mention that whey isolate does not have many of the health enhancing properties that are described above, as the expensive process required to produce whey isolate destroys many of the health/immune system enhancing sub-fractions such as the lactoferrins, beta-lactoglobulins, and immuno-globulins.
Therefore, for during the day use, a product consisting mainly of whey concentrate is your best bet while for after the workout, a whey isolate product would be a better choice.
Egg Protein
Egg protein is a super bio-available protein second only to whey, as previously discussed. It is a slower released protein than whey, which makes it perfect for throughout the day use. One thing that I like to do is mix some egg and whey protein for the most bio-available protein shake in the planet!
http://www.nutrifit.org/dietsupplements.html
Bodybuilding Supplementation Basicshttp://bodybuilding.about.com/od/supplementationbasics/a/supplements.htm
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