Time your Carbohydrates to Save Muscle and Recover Fast

Carbohydrates are the most misunderstood part of our diet. Some people think carbs are evil. Endurance athletes live off of a mostly carb diet. The biggest part of this misunderstanding is the misunderstanding of how carbs are used as energy. Insulin is the hormone that controls how fast carbohydrates are either stored or burnt. The quicker your body burns carbs as energy the more carbs you need to burn as energy. When you are producing a lot of Insulin you body slows down it’s ability to burn fat. That is why someone can get fat on a low fat high carbohydrate diet.

There is a misconception that Insulin is one of the most powerful anabolic hormones. Insulin is a weak anabolic hormone but a very strong anticatabolic hormone. Anabolism is muscle growth and Insulin is a weak transporter of protein but a very strong transporter of carbohydrates.

Cell death by catabolism is caused by not enough energy from ATP to repair the cell.

Anabolism is caused by a supercompensation reaction caused by catabolism. The best training method for anabolism is to trigger the use of all muscle fiber types. Taking the complete spectrum of muscle fibers to the edge of ATP deprivation creating a catabolic reaction and triggering a supercompensatory environment creates large amounts of anabolism.

The path from carbohydrate to ATP = carbohydrate -> Glucose-6-phosphate -> glycolysis -> Pyruvic acid -> acetyl coA -> Citric Acid cycle -> 2H+ and 2e- -> Electron Transport chain -> ATP

Carbohydrates need Insulin to be transported into muscle and liver cells for storage. Insulin can slow down the burning of fat and speed up the storing of fat. Insulin is doing this because it is prioritizing carbohydrate usage and contributing to storing calories the most effective way as fat. This process is called glycogenesis. All carbohydrates are forms of sugar and all of them get broken down into glycogen by glycogenesis.

Insulin is one of the only hormones which drops during exercise. The main reason is due to increased efficiency due to mechanical pumping while exercising. If insulin did not drop during exercise blood sugar would drop to rapidly and your workout would be done very quickly.

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load are 2 ways carbohydrates are measured on their effect on Insulin. The Glycemic Load is the more important metric. Gylcemic Index measures the speed that your body can break down the carbohydrate into glucose. Glycemic Load is a measure of how much Insulin will be released when eating a certain amount of food. The more Insulin the less fat your body will burn and the more your body will prioritize on using carbohydrates as energy.

Carbohydrate literally means watered carbon. Carbohydrates by divination attract water wherever they are present. When you are tired while eating enough food you may be dehydrated. Your body needs water to transport carbohydrates. Your body needs carbohydrates to transport water.

The Journal Obesity Research showed “Carbohydrate consumption–acting via insulin secretion and the “plasma tryptophan ratio”–increases serotonin release; protein intake lacks this effect.” Low Serotonin can cause depression and high serotonin can cause euphoria. Carbohydrates can become addicting and give people a drug like effect.

There are several different types of carbohydrates used by Max Muscle, Amylopectin, Maltodextrin, Trehalose, Dextrose, Lactose & Fructose.

Amylopectin is a high molecular weight carbohydrate that quickly passes through the stomach getting to the intestines. Amylopectin quickly increases blood glucose levels and increases insulin levels. Amylopectin is perfect for improving glycogen storage very quickly after exercise. Amylopectin should only be used as an after workout recovery supplement. Amylopectin raises insulin so much that long term regular use causes insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can lead to diabetes.

Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose. Maltodextrin can be derived from any starch, usually rice, corn or potato.

Trehalose is a disaccharide formed from starch. It has high water retention capabilities.
Trehalose is also an antioxidant.

Dextrose is the biologically active form of glucose. Dextrose is closest in chemistry to blood sugar.

Lactose is left in trace amounts in certain whey protein powders. Lactose is a disaccharide. Many people don’t have enough of the enzyme lactase to digest lactose. None of the Max Muscle proteins have enough lactose to cause me any problems. I am highly lactose intolerant.

Fructose is a monosacchride found in many foods including honey. Fructose is derived from the digestion of sucrose. The difference between crystalline fructose and high-fructose corn syrup is 98% fructose vs. 50/50 split of fructose and glucose.

Carbohydrates are the most misunderstood part of the American diet. If used properly carbohydrates can save muscle keep you hydrated and give you tons of energy. If misused carbohydrates can make you fat and turn you diabetic. Carbohydrates can be addicting. For athletes carbohydrates are the fastest way to recover and stop muscle damage. Make sure you time your carbohydrates correctly and you will stay successful in your athletic endeavors

Mississippi Fattest State in the Union

Almost a 1/3 of adults in Mississippi, Tennessee & Alabama are obese. People in the heart of the south have to cut back on the hogs feet and grits.

The south has a lot of poor people and a lot of fat causing foods are cheap.

The measurement used in this survey is not accurate for athletic people. The measurement is called BMI. BMI measures your height vs. your weight and doesn’t take in account muscle density.

There needs to be a more accurate follow up to this survey. Even if the results aren’t accurate, this survey is showing a big problem with the American Health Care system. People wonder why we have skyrocketing health care costs when almost 1 in 3 people in certain areas are clinically obese? Our Health Care System starts at our diner table.

Mississippi remains most obese state, CDC reports http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MED_OBESITY_STATES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Fat Parents Influence Fat Children

Parents of overweight households tend to create overweight children. Not only is it caused by the overall diet of the family it is also due to expressed fat genes.

A woman’s bodyweight before and during pregnancy has a large influence on the future weight of her child. Children born to women who dad gastric bypass sugery are 1/2 as likly yo become obese.

A study done on Folic Acid mixed with other supplements shows that in mice the legacy of fatness can be broken.

Waterland, R.A., Travisano, M., Tahiliani, K.G., Rached, M.T., Mirza, S. (2008). Methyl donor supplementation prevents transgenerational amplification of obesity. International Journal of Obesity DOI

http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/07/obesity_amplifies_across_generations_can_folaterich_diets_st.php

Curcumin Offer Protection Against Diabetes

http://www.lef.org/newsletter/2008/0627_Curcumin-May-Offer-Protection-Against-Diabetes.htm?source=eNewsLetter2008Wk26-2&key=Archive&l=0#article

“Inflammation is believed to play a role in the onset of diabetes type 2 as well as obesity. The researchers suggest that curcumin helps prevent diabetes by reducing the inflammation that occurs in obesity. By suppressing the number and activity of inflammatory cytokines produced by immune cells in fatty tissue, which can damage the heart and insulin-producing pancreatic islands as well as increase muscle and liver insulin resistance, curcumin may help reduce some of obesity’s adverse effects.”

2/3 of Americans Are Too Fat

Nearly 2/3 of Americans are too fat or obese. Most Americans are overweight according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amount of people being overweight has nearly doubled from 1980 to 2000. Fat people are guilty for over 1/4 of our medical cost increases from 1987 to 2001.

“People in charge of benefits plans completely, 100 percent get it,” said LuAnn Heinen, director of the Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity, an offshoot of the National Business Group on Health. It is also clear, she said, that top executives are very interested in health benefit costs. But, she added, “their perception of obesity as a driver of costs — they may not understand that as well.”

When employees take an active role in their health maintenance available from their employers they experience 18% less sick days than their unhealthy coworkers.
NY Times Article: Waistlines Expand Into a Workplace Issue

Caffeinated Coffee May Make You Fat

A study released today shows Caffeinated Coffee interferes with how you use insulin. The cause of Type 2 Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, Hypoglycemia & Obesity all have insulin insensitivity as a major root cause. The major cause of getting fat is insulin insensitivity.

“Conclusion: The ingestion of CC with either a high or low GI meal significantly impairs acute blood glucose management and insulin sensitivity compared with ingestion of DC. Future investigations are warranted to determine whether CC is a risk factor for insulin resistance.”

In other words; taking in as little as 5 mg of caffeine from coffee interferes with how your body uses and stores carbohydrates and fats. The more insulin you need to deal with carbohydrates the more your body turns those carbohydrates into fat. Taking as little as 5 mg of caffeine reduced insulin sensitivity by 40% with a sugary meal & 29% with a more complex carbohydrate meal.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 87, No. 5, 1254-1261, May 2008
© 2008 American Society for Nutrition