Are Protein Supplements Worth the Money?

Researchers at SUNY Buffalo studied the effects of weight training plus protein supplementation in a group of overweight males. All three groups participated in supervised weight training program for 12 weeks. The Control group did not take any protein supplements while the experimental groups took either a soy or a whey protein supplement.

While all the groups gained strength and muscle mass, lowered their percent body-fat and lowered their total cholesterol, there was no significant difference between the three groups.

My recommendation: save the money you would have spent on your protein powder and buy some grass fed ground beef instead. It's high in protein and healthy fat without artificial sweeteners and fillers. And it cost $4-$5 per pound instead of $12-$15!!!


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19284589

Calories In,Calories Out is BS: Three Reasons Counting Calories Doesn't Work

The Calories In, Calories Out Theory

The calories in/calories out theory of weight management is currently the most widely accepted approach to weight management. Many powerful and influential organizations support this theory. For example:

American Dietetics Association:  "Maintaining a healthy weight is all about balancing food intake with physical activity."
US Department of Agriculture:  "Calorie balance over time is the key to weight management."
World Health Organization:  "The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended."

Sounds logical enough. Eat a bit less everyday. Exercise a bit more. Even simple lifestyle changes like parking further away from the mall entrance or taking the stairs instead of the elevator should add up to dramatic results.

For example, change your morning latte from whole milk to skim milk and you should be 12 pounds lighter this time next year. Go up the stairs four or five extra times per day and weight loss should increase to 20 pounds. Sounds like an easy and effortless way to drop those last 20 pounds, doesn't it? But this doesn't work.

I am not implying that what we eat and how much we exercise has nothing to do with how fat or how lean we are. If you stuff yourself full of beer and pizza while doing little more than changing positions on the coach from time to time, you will assuredly gain weight.

The opposite is also true. Meal replacement diets and gastric bypass surgeries will both cause dramatic reductions in caloric intake and a related loss of body weight. But these situations are extreme scenarios. On a day in and day out basis, a difference of two, three, or even five hundred calories in either direction will not have a measurable effect on weight.

What Really Happens

So what is the problem with a calories in, calories out approach? Why doesn't it work? Here are three reasons we need to look beyond the eat less and exercise more paradigm.

3)  Some calories are wasted.

The calories in, calories out myth relies on many assumptions that are simply not true. One of these assumptions is that the calories we eat are not wasted. But many times they are.

One example is the physiological state of ketosis, which the body enters when you have severely restricted carbohydrates or calories. When blood glucose drops low enough, the body will begin to turn fat and protein into ketone bodies as an alternative source for cellular energy. Excess ketone bodies are excreted in urine and lost through respiration. This represents wasted calories that are not used as fuel or stored as body fat. And if you are overweight, wasted energy is exactly what you want.

Although the body readily excretes ketone bodies, it very efficiently re-absorbs glucose. Even small amounts in the urine are cause for concern.

2)  Calories are used for purposes other that fuel or storage.

The calories we eat are often used for other purposes. Fat and protein are used by the body for many other purposes. Protein can be used to make cell membranes, digestive enzymes, and hormones. Fat insulates neurons and is used for cellular growth and repair, among other things. Carbohydrates, however, are primarily  burned or stored.

1)  Basal metabolic rate does not remain constant.

Our BMR increases when we eat more and it decreases when we eat less. This adaptation happens very quickly in response to fluctuations in energy intake. There are many examples of this in the scientific literature. Here is one example:

In 1964 researchers at the Vermont College of Medicine overfed prisoners. Inmates involved in the study were fed 8000-10,000 calories per day for ten weeks. This represented a calorie excess of 6500 or more calorie per day over the standard 2500 calories prison diet. Using the calories in, calories out model, the prisoners should have gained 130 or more pounds! Yet the average weight gain was 36 pounds. Similar starvation studies also support this idea. But when they were done in the 1940's, a 1560 calorie per day diet was considered starvation. Now, a 40 year old 200 pound male on the weight watchers points program would be expected to eat only 1460 calories.

Speaking of Weight Watchers, the typical person who  follows this program for two years loses six pounds. Dedicated participants who attend at least three meetings per month lose eleven pounds. Eleven pounds in two years on a diet low enough in calories that 70 years ago it would have been considered a starvation diet.

Insulin Control Diet

Those of you that have been reading my blogs recently know that I have been preaching the dangers of elevated blood sugars and the increase in insulin this triggers. Over the past year I have been experimenting with an eating plan focused on reducing blood sugar and controlling insulin. We have had some amazing results from the diet that has emerged. The results are even greater when coupled with strength training.

Here are some of the success stories:

1) Client 1: 34 year old male

He started low carb and a basic strength training program on Christmas Eve 2010. As of March 23rd he was down 53 pounds! He is also bench pressing more now than he did in college.

2) Client 2: 38 year old female

She lost a 0.5 inch off each thigh, 0.75 of an inch off her hips, and 2.25 inches off her waist in just four weeks!

3) Client 3: 35 year old male

Started January 3rd and has lost 4.5 inches off his waist while gaining a half inch in his chest.

And the results are not just for weight loss. The health benefits are amazing also:

4) Client 4: 40 year old type 2 diabetic

In January his fasting blood sugar was between 420 and 450. He switched to a reduced carbohydrate diet (averages about 150 grams of carbs per day) and started strength training. Now his fasting blood sugar is down 300. In addition he's lost 8 pounds and is down a pants size.

5) Client 5: 36 year old male

His triglycerides went down 6, HDL (good cholesterol) went up 10, and his LDL (bad cholesterol) went down slightly in less than six weeks. Although he's never had a weight problem, he has dropped almost 20 pounds, three inches off his waist, and two pants sizes. And he didn't even exercise.

The diet consists of the following six steps:

1) Reduce or eliminate all grain consumption (wheat, corn, oats, rice, barley, etc.)

2) Supplement with high dose omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil to reduce triglycerides, lower blood pressure, and improved mood

3) Eliminate high fructose corn syrup

4) Reduce consumption of all other sugars

5) Start each day with a high fat, zero carbohydrate breakfast to stabilize blood sugar

6) Never eat anything labelled "low fat"

If you have a lot of weight to lose, I suggest the following "tweaks" to the nutrition plan:

1) Supplement with medium chain triglycerides (found naturally in coconut oil) to increase metabolism and energy levels

2) Practice intermittent fasting two to four days per week

3) Eliminate all fruit and root vegetables

Who will be our next success story?

Top Five Reasons to Lower Your Blood Glucose Levels

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion"

Chinese Proverb

Introduction

For the past thirty years the nutritional advice given in this country has focused on reducing cholesterol and blood pressure. We have been told to reduce total fat in general and saturated fat specifically. The Food Pyramid suggests we eat a diet of mostly whole grains high in unrefined carbohydrates. Following such a diet will reduce total cholesterol, although not always by that much and often at the expense of HDL or "good cholesterol." But will it really help you live longer?

Not likely. For example, over half of the people who have heart attacks do not have high blood pressure, high LDL's, low HDL's, high triglycerides, or any other recognized risk factor! (6) So what should we look at instead?

Blood Glucose 101

Blood glucose level is the amount of sugar in the blood. Physicians use fasting blood sugar to diagnose diabetes. "Normal" is typically defined as levels between 70 mg/dl and 100 mg/dl. Blood sugar levels are also often also taken after ingesting a glucose syrup. This is called a glucose tolerance test and reflects your postprandial (following a meal) blood glucose concentrations.

Glycalted hemoglobin (HbA1c) is another blood glucose test included in routine blood panels. In effect, HbA1c reflects "average" blood glucose concentrations over the past month. It is used to show how well a diabetic person is controlling his or her blood glucose.

A fasting blood glucose level of over 126 is the diagnostic cut-off for diabetes. Additionally, a blood glucose level of 200 mg/dl or more at any time is considered a diabetic blood sugar and would warrant further testing. But levels far below the diabetic level have negative health consequences.

Five Reasons to Lower your Blood Glucose

5) Postprandial blood glucose levels accurately predicts coronary atherosclerotic progression in non-diabetic, post-menopausal women.

4) HbA1C predicts heart disease and mortality even in individuals below the diagnostic threshold for diabetes.

3) Two hour glucose tolerance test (GTT) result above reading of 83 mg/dl increased the risk of stroke in a linear fashion. Notice how much lower this is than the diagnostic criteria for diabetes (126 mg/dl).

2) Researchers in Sweden found that there was a significant increase in cancer risk irregardless of body weight in people who had fasting blood sugar levels over 110 or scored over 160 in a two hour glucose tolerance test.

1) Increases in fasting glucose levels and HbA1C levels increased the risk of heart failure, mortality, myocardial infraction (MI), and stroke independent of diabetes.

Best Ways to Lower your Blood Glucose

The best way to lower your postprandial blood glucose levels is to reduce your intake of carbohydrates, particularly processed carbs such as pastas, breads, desserts, and sugar drinks. And yes, even whole grains significantly increase blood sugar, usually to almost the same level as there "white" grain counterparts!

In addition, make sure you eat enough fat. Meals containing higher amounts of fat also lower postprandial blood glucose. For example, a bagel with butter will not raise your blood sugar as high as a plain bagel and whole milk raises your blood sugar less than skim milk.

A highly effective way to add some healthy fats to your diet is to supplement before meals with a tablespoon of fish oil and a tablespoon of coconut oil. Both will lower blood glucose levels. In addition, the fish oil improves glucose tolerance and the coconut oil speeds up your metabolism. And please don't worry about the saturated fat in coconut oil! It IS NOT bad for your heart. (for more information on saturated fat check out my previous blog posts here)

Conclusions

Everyday there is more and more evidence refuting the lipid heart hypothesis and supporting carbohydrate restriction for weight loss and overall health, even though "conventional wisdom" might tell you different.

References

1) Fasting Glucose Predicts Heart Failure, Death Rate, MI and Stroke, Independent of Diabetes

2) Prospective Study of Hyperglycemia and Cancer Risk. Pär Stattin, MD, PHD, Ove Björ, BSC, Pietro Ferrari, BSC, Annekatrin Lukanova, MD, PHD, Per Lenner, MD, PHD, Bernt Lindahl, MD, PHD, Göran Hallmans, MD, PHD and Rudolf Kaaks, PHD. Diabetes Care 30:561-567, 2007

3) Post-challenge blood glucose concentration and stroke mortality rates in non-diabetic men in London: 38-year follow-up of the original Whitehall prospective cohort studyG. D. Batty et al.Diabetologia.Vol 51, Num, July, 2008.

4) Association of Hemoglobin A1c with Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality in Adults: The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk. Kay-Tee Khaw, MBBChir FRCP; Nicholas Wareham, MBBS, FRCP; Sheila Bingham, PhD; Robert Luben, BSc; Ailsa Welch, BSc; and Nicholas Day, PhD.Annals of Internal Medicine, 9/21/2004, Vol 141, no 6, 413-420

5) Post-challenge glucose predicts coronary atherosclerotic progression in non-diabetic, post-menopausal women P. B. Mellen, V. Bittner, D. M. Herrington Diabetic Medicine 24 (10), 1156-1159.

6) Fifty percent of patients with coronary artery disease do not have any of the conventional risk factors. Futterman LG, Lemberg L.Am J Crit Care. 1998 May;7(3):240-4