Einstein's Brain (really!)

(taken from Mark Sisson's Daily Apple)

Nourish your noggin. Here are 10 excellent foods that enhance hormone production, brain chemistry, memory, mood, and cognition. Think of these foods as brainiac batteries. (Solutions to Sudoku not included.)

10. Omelet

Eggs contain choline, one of the superstar brain nutrients. Choline is necessary to produce acetylcholine, which plays a critical role in memory. (Studies have linked acetylcholine deficiences to memory loss and Alzheimer’s.)

9. Smart Oils: Olive, Walnut, Avocado, Flax

A no-brainer! Er, wait…

These oils are far superior to canola, corn and soy oils, which contain Omega-6 fats rather than the brainy Omega-3’s. Dunk and drench everything (edible) in sight.

8. Tempeh

Tempeh is a smart protein that helps stabilize your blood sugar. And because it’s fermented, you get an extra health boost!  Meatatarians can get a brain boost from grass-fed beef, which provides plenty of energizing and balancing B vitamins.

7. Flax Seeds

So they aren’t exactly truffles, but flax seeds are a true super food.  Use them sparingly until you adjust to the taste.  It’s worth it to cultivate your taste buds because flax seeds are literally made of nothing but fiber, vitamins, and Omega-3’s. (Flax seeds are a must for vegetarians!)

6. Beans

Beans contain B vitamins, “slow” carbohydrates, and plenty of fiber.  Fiber has been shown to improve cognition. Get some in that stomach!

5. Greek Yogurt

Yogurt – the really fattening kind – contains tyrosine. Tyrosine perks you up and improves mental alertness.  But avoid those sugary yogurts!  Can’t find Greek yogurt?  Look for “European style” yogurts (essentially the same thing).

4. Vegetable-Packed Salad

A big, flavorful salad is full of fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.  Your brain really loves antioxidants C and E, so pack that puppy with nuts, seeds, olive oil, bell peppers, broccoli and fruit, too.

3. Strawberries and Blueberries

These fruits contain antioxidants that help boost cognition, coordination, and memory.  Eat some berries daily if you can!  They go great with that yogurt I know you’re already eating from above.  Yes?

2. Nuts

Almonds make a perfect smart snack. Not only will the sensible mix of fiber, protein, and fat stabilize flagging blood sugar, but the vitamins and minerals in nuts (B, E, magnesium, and more) are excellent for your grey matter!

1. Oily fish

This is probably the single most important element required for optimal brain health. The brain is 60% fat, but it doesn’t like processed fats, trans fat, or Omega-6 fats. Your brain needs those Omega-3’s! Oily fish like wild Alaskan salmon, mackerel, and tuna contain DHA (docosahexanoic acid), the best form of Omega-3.  Increased Omega-3 intake has been linked to alleviation of a spectrum of mental health concerns, from anxiety and irritability to depression and even schizophrenia.  Go fish!

From the Brain Food Pyramid: “Essentially, fats build your brain, and proteins unite it. Carbohydrates fuel your brain, and micronutrients defend it.”

Remember: the best source of carbohydrates is produce, not refined starches, sweets, and grains.

How often do you eat these smart foods?  If you're looking for more nutrition and exercise/fitness help give us a call:  (805) 440-0215 or email us at info@athlonelite.com.  We're here to help!

I read an interesting article yesterday by John Berardi, PhD on protein intake in your diet.  Now, as you all know from reading my blog and working with me in the past, I recommend a higher protein intake, up around 30%+ of our total daily food intake, for athletes as well as general fitness enthusiasts trying to lose body fat.

There are a number of reasons for this (which you can read below).  But, according to Dr. Berardi there have been two recently published studies on protein intake that have gotten a bunch of people arguing against high protein intakes.  For you research nerds (like me) here are the references:

• Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009.

• A moderate serving of high-quality protein maximally stimulates skeletal muscle protein synthesis in young and elderly subjects. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2009.

What these two research studies are saying, in a nutshell, is that protein synthesis in the muscles (building of muscle) was maximally stimulated at 20 to 30 grams of protein intake per meal.  And eating over 20 to 30 grams of protein in a single sitting did not increase protein synthesis any more than the lower dose… hence 20 to 30 grams should be the upper limit of protein intake per meal.

At least that’s what a bunch of people on the internet are now saying as a result of these two studies.

Well…

Does This Make Any Sense?

Let’s do the math.  If I were to eat 20 grams of protein per meal (5 meals per day) that would give me 100 grams of protein in a day and hence 400 calories worth of food.  Since, my diet regularly needs to be 3000 to 3500 calories per day to fuel my basic job and fitness activities that would mean that protein would only make up about 12% of my total intake.

That’s not very much!

Where would the other 88% of my diet come from…

Carbs or Fat???

Carbohydrate and fatty foods are far less "thermogenic" than protein (meaning they don’t burn as many calories to digest and hence don’t raise your metabolism as much).  And, they tend to affect your body fat composition more negatively than protein (hence more frowns in the mirror).

Typically, protein rich foods are also very rich in other vitamins, minerals and compounds which are very beneficial to your health and performance, (see below).  Plus, building muscle and losing fat is not the only reason to consume protein in every meal.  There’s satiety and the positive effects it has on your immune system.

And, there’s probably a few other reasons too that science hasn’t yet figured out how to measure.  There’s no doubt that our hunter/gatherer ancestors, whom had to be very healthy individuals just to survive, ate a bunch more protein than a measly 20 grams in a sitting.  And I know from being in the sports performance and fitness industry for over 15 years now that when a client trains hard and they up their protein intake they do better.  Simple as that.

Other Benefits of Protein Intake:

Here’s a more comprehensive list of the positive benefits of eating protein (lots of protein) taken from an article Dr. John Berardi wrote a while back:

• Increased Thermic Effect of Feeding — While all macronutrients require metabolic processing for digestion, absorption, and storage or oxidation, the thermic effect of protein is roughly double that of carbohydrates and fat. Therefore, eating protein is actually thermogenic and can lead to a higher metabolic rate. This means greater fat loss when dieting and less fat gain during overfeeding/muscle building.
• Increased Glucagon — Protein consumption increases plasma concentrations of the hormone glucagon. Glucagon is responsible for antagonizing the effects of insulin in adipose tissue, leading to greater fat mobilization. In addition, glucagon also decreases the amounts and activities of the enzymes responsible for making and storing fat in adipose and liver cells. Again, this leads to greater fat loss during dieting and less fat gain during overfeeding.
• Metabolic Pathway Adjustment – When a higher protein (20-50% of intake) is followed, a host of metabolic adjustments occur.  These include: a down regulation of glycolysis, a reduction in fatty acid synthesis enzymes, increase in gluconeogenesis, a carbohydrate “draining” effect where carbons necessary for ridding the body of amino nitrogen is drawn from glucose.
• Increased IGF-1 — Protein and amino-acid supplementation has been shown to increase the IGF-1 response to both exercise and feeding. Since IGF-1 is an anabolic hormone that’s related to muscle growth, another advantage associated with consuming more protein is more muscle growth when overfeeding and/or muscle sparing when dieting.
• Reduction in Cardiovascular Risk — Several studies have shown that increasing the percentage of protein in the diet (from 11% to 23%) while decreasing the percentage of carbohydrate (from 63% to 48%) lowers LDL cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations with concomitant increases in HDL cholesterol concentrations.
• Improved Weight-Loss Profile —Research by Layman and colleagues has demonstrated that reducing the carbohydrate ratio from 3.5 – 1 to 1.4 – 1 increases body fat loss, spares muscle mass, reduces triglyceride concentrations, improves satiety, and improves blood glucose management (Layman et al 2003 — If you’re at all interested in protein intake, you’ve gotta go read the January and February issues of the Journal of Nutrition. Layman has three interesting articles in the two journals).
• Increased Protein Turnover — All tissues of the body, including muscle, go through a regular program of turnover. Since the balance between protein breakdown and protein synthesis governs muscle protein turnover, you need to increase your protein turnover rates in order to best improve your muscle quality. A high protein diet does just this. By increasing both protein synthesis and protein breakdown, a high protein diet helps you get rid of the old muscle more quickly and build up new, more functional muscle to take its place.
• Increased Nitrogen Status — Earlier I indicated that a positive nitrogen status means that more protein is entering the body than is leaving the body. High protein diets cause a strong positive protein status and when this increased protein availability is coupled with an exercise program that increases the body’s anabolic efficiency, the growth process may be accelerated.
• Increased Provision of Auxiliary Nutrients — Although the benefits mentioned above have related specifically to protein and amino acids, it’s important to recognize that we don’t just eat protein and amino acids — we eat food. Therefore, high protein diets often provide auxiliary nutrients that could enhance performance and/or muscle growth. These nutrients include creatine, branched chain amino acids, conjugated linoleic acids, and/or additional nutrients that are important but remain to be discovered.  And don’t forget the vitamins and minerals we get from protein rich foods. (And lest anyone think I’m a shill for the protein powder industry, this last point clearly illustrates the need to get most of your protein from food, rather than supplements.)

The Take Home Message

Clearly from the list above it’s apparent that we eat protein for a number of reasons and not just to build muscle.  People that eat a higher, lean protein intake through natural foods (not just protein powders, which do come in handy at certain times of the day) have a better health profile than those that live by the minimums… 20 grams per meal or 0.8 g/kg/day.

If you’re concerned about your diet and whether or not you’re getting adequate protein to reach your fitness and health goals call us for a FREE consultation.  We’ll discuss your current nutrition habits and show you how you can alter those to be more successful at losing weight and gaining lean muscle…

and being really healthy like we were intended to be!

Call (805) 440-0215 or click here to set up a FREE consultation.

www.SLOPersonalTraining.com/consult

Until next time,

Ryan

More reading on protein for athletes: 

http://www.athlonelite.com/2008/10/the-secret-of-optimal-sports-nutrition/

The world of health and fitness is constantly changing as new research and technology is released, and we at Athlon Elite are always testing and improving the services and products we offer based on this.  It is our mission to continually strive to make things simpler, easier, faster and better for you, our clients.  This is how we can offer a money back guarantee on everything we do.

As you all SHOULD know by now, you get out of your body what you put in to it!  So, you should be puting the best possible nutrition into it, including nutritional supplements.  After a long and tedious process of sampling and researching the best products out there we have decided to change Athlon Elite’s supplement line to Jarrow Formulas.

There are a few reasons for doing this but a big one is independent laboratory testing.  Jarrow Formulas’ products have been backed by an independent testing laboratory, people that are not affilitated with the company that test the products for:

• Content  (it has what it says it has in it),
  
• Purity (it has good quality of content), and
  
• Additives (it doesn’t contain illegal or banned substances).
  

   Posted by Travis Harwood, CSCS, Lead Personal Trainer at Athlon Elite

Many of us love our Starbucks, but did you know that a vente’ café’ latte’ runs you around 300 calories with almost half of those calories coming from saturated, nasty fat; WHAT A WASTE!!!

   Well, our very own Kristen Longcrier (who, by the way, showed a decrease of 5% body fat in her last evaluation) has come up with an amazing combination we have now coined “the Longcrier Latte’.”

The recipe is simple:

• - 16oz of your favorite home-brewed coffee (hot or cold)
  
• - 1.5 scoops of your Athlon Elite whey protein isolate (chocolate or vanilla, whichever you prefer).
  
• - If you are drinking it cold put the whole thing in a shaker and shake it up!!!
  
• - If you are drinking it hot, mix the protein in a few ounces of coffee or water first then dump it in and stir!!!

I also like to add a little coffee mate French Vanilla Creamer (fat free 5g of carbs) to give it a little extra sweetness!!!

The whole drink yields 102.5 calories of "thermic" metabolism-boosting high quality whey protein…

and less than 1g of sugar!!!  (unless you add the creamer which bumps it a little)

NOW THAT’S WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!

AND IT’S DELICIOUS I MIGHT ADD… IN FACT THIS WHOLE BLOG WAS "FUELED" BY ONE OF THOSE BEAUTIES!!!

Thanks Kristen, and keep up the good work!!!
 

If you’ve been involved with Athlon Elite at all since we opened you already know how much importance we give to proper "recovery nutrition."  In fact, we feel so strongly about it we supply all our clients with a specialized recovery drink, FLUID, to help with their recovery.

Well, I’m finally starting to see this concept of quick post-workout recovery nutrition pop-up in the mainstream media.  Last night I saw a commercial for "Muscle Milk," a type of post-workout recovery drink, and a famous football player saying ‘his workout isn’t over until he finishes his drink.’

While I don’t particularly like Muscle Milk and it’s formula, I’ll give them credit for getting the timing right.

You see, there’s a pretty crucial window of time where the body can repair itself and develop at an accelerated rate after exercise. This is due to hormonal changes within the body during intense exercise, but the changes are temporary and return to normal rapidly (some estimate as quickly as 30 minutes).

Everything about recovery nutrition is about the speed at which nutrients can get from the mouth to the cellular level. This window is a roller coaster curve, greatest immediately after exercise, and rapidly declining.  Ingestion of solid food can take hours to digest, empty the stomach, enter the blood stream, and arrive at the cellular level. At this point, the hormonal window from your exercise bout is long gone, and no "added" benefits from post-workout recovery nutrition can occur.  Solid food simply takes too long to capitalize on the window of opportunity.  Post-workout recovery drinks are based on supplying the body with the right balance of the right nutrients at the right time (right time meaning right away).

Here’s the problem… many of the "experts" seem to disagree on what that "right" balance of nutritients is.

Some feel it’s mostly protein,

some feel it’s mostly carbohydrate

and some are now saying it’s all in the "formulation" of the ingredients (like highly refined, almost vaporized powders that can be absorbed and used more effectively by the body).

Last week at the National Strength & Conditioning Association’s conference in Las Vegas research was presented on the many forms of supplementation, carbohydrate, whey protein, soy protein, casein protein, etc. for recovery nutrition.  Each presentation had good scientific evidence to support its use as a recovery food.

So which one is best?

Well it would appear (as with everything in the world in my opinion) that variety is best.  A little of each seems to be the way to go, though the animal proteins (whey & casein) were a little more superior than soy protein for building muscle.

—Whey protein is more rapidly digested and absorbed and has a greater concentration of branch chained amino acids and hence causes a greater increase in protein synthesis (the building of muscle) immediately after exercise…

—Casein protein is absorbed more slowly and thus it doesn’t increase synthesis as well as whey protein, but because of its "slower" properties it maintained levels of the "good stuff" longer in the blood and lead to less "breakdown" of the muscles during the recovery period over whey protein…

—Carbohydrate supplementation after exercise has shown a better replenishment of the "fuel" in your muscles and an improved immune function after the harsh effects of intense exercise…

So, the take home message here is they’re all good for you and a little of each is probably the best bet.  The key is in the timing of ingestion (drink it down right away).  The body is primed and ready to really use the nutrients immediately after exercise so get the fuel in soon, within 30 minutes.

On a personal note, I prefer the drink FLUID over all the other formulas because it has a good ratio of carbohydrate to protein and it has a little vitamin C and glutamine (an amino acid shown to aide in the recovery from exercise, but that’s a whole different blog post).

For those of you on a budget, guess what…

a little skim milk mixed with some Hershey’s chocolate is almost as good and in some cases even better.

Again, the key is to get it in right away… anything… even a can of soda according to Dr. Chad Kerksick from Oklahoma University.  Any kind of fuel taken immediately after exercise is going to inhibit the "catabolic effects" of exercise (the muscle destruction that occurs after a hard bout of exercise).  So go eat something right away!

Until next time,

Ryan

P.S. FLUID can be purchased at Athlon Elite and we even have it in little single serving packs so you can give it a try first!  (805) 440-0215

  from Dr. John Berardi,

Nowadays when we hear about elite athletes testing positive for banned substances, we brace ourselves for the denials, we prepare ourselves for shifting blame – you know, the faulty testing protocols, or the contaminated supplements.

And, rightfully, we’re skeptical.  We assume that testing positive means cheating.  That these supplement stories are tall tales put in place to cast doubt.  So that cheaters can pull one over on juries, and on the public.

Could Your Supplements Be Tainted?

But what if some of the convicted cheaters didn’t cheat?  What if it was a nutritional supplement?  Sound far-fetched?  Well one glance at this information below might change your mind…

2001 Study
In 2001, over 630 nutritional supplements, purchased online and at local supplement stores, were tested for banned substances.  Over 25% of them were contaminated – either intentionally or unintentionally.

2005 Study
In 2005 a follow up study looked at another 60 supplements, purchased in the same way as those above.  Again, over 22% of them contained banned substances.

2006 Olympics
In 2006, the entire Greek Olympic Weightlifting team was banned from the Summer Olympic Games because one of their supplement sponsors inadvertently supplied them with tainted supplements.

Think this couldn’t happen to you? Well, that’s what Serge Depres, a top bobsleigh pilot for team Canada thought when he wandered into a local (and well-known) sports nutrition store.

As a result of that fateful trip, Serge was suspended from competition for 2 years because he took an amino acid supplement and a HMB supplement that were actually BOTH tainted with anabolic steroids.

I know, I know. Some of you are still skeptical.  He must have done something wrong.

But let me assure you.  Dr. John Berardi personally saw the lab results.  He even testified at both of Serge’s hearings.  Serge never intended to “cheat.”  And he certainly didn’t deserve a 2 year ban.  But that’s exactly what he got.  For taking BCAAs and HMB, two supplements most sports nutritionists frequently recommend.

Check out Serge Depres’ tragic story below:

Again, Do you know what’s in your supplements?  Where they’re coming from?

Athlon Elite takes every effort to research and identify the authenticity and safety of the supplements we sell and recommend.  Feel free to discuss your supplement needs with one of our trainers, they’ll be sure to steer you in the right direction.

Athlon Elite Sports Performance

From the DEA

 From the New Yorker