MUSCLE BUILDING AND NUTRITION : DISGUISED UNHEALTHY FOODS (6)

Read also:

MUSCLE BUILDING AND NUTRITION : HIDDEN UNHEALTHY FOODS (5)




6.3. Sports drinks:



Most sports drinks are nothing more than artificially colored,sugary water.


The only established fact with these products is that they bring crazy profits to their producers!


Ah,another one is that they make your wallet lighter!


Or is it the same thing?


It doesn't stop to amaze me how easily,evidently sane people leave themselves to be deliberately misled!!


Is it a kind of collective paranoia the fact that we deny to discern the obvious, namely that we are overtly suckered?


Or is it our illogical,extravagant desire for quick and easy fixes?


In a future entry we will see simple recipes for nice,homemade sports drinks.




6.4. Breakfast cereals




Despite their pretentious and highly pompous claims many breakfast cereals are nothing else but well concealed cereal killers.


Those marketed more heavily have most often the poorer nutritional value.


The majority of the products :


- are based on refined grains and the quantity of fibers is minimal


- have excessive sugar content


- use fancy artificial colorings


- contain big amounts of salts(sodium)


- contain saturated or/and hydrogenated fats




Be very careful to select breakfast cereals of the proper quality. Leave taste aside and search for nutrition. They should be based on whole grains with minimal salt,sugar and trans fats content. Don't fall victims to the marketing hype!




6.5.Many fat free products:




To compensate for the lack of taste these products are loaded with sugar,high fructose corn syrup-brrrr!- or artificial sweeteners.




6.7. Many sugar free products:

They are packed with saturated fats or trans fats from hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.


6.8. Commercially distributed fruit juices:




Though generally they won't harm you a lot,they have very little to offer you either. No fibers,very few vitamins and quite a lot of empty calories.


You can instead opt for homemade, freshly squeezed juices. By far the best option is to eat the whole fruit .


This will give you valuable fibers plus a satiety feeling.


In general try to avoid liquid calories.




6.9. Fruit smoothies:


Usually they won't differ a lot from a milk shake,packed with sugars,fats and dead calories.




6.10. Liquid meal replacements:




Use them sparingly and only in case of emergency. One or two meals at the most per week. If you want real results go for real food!




End of 6th part



To your great health!



Chris Strogilis

MUSCLE BUILDING AND NUTRITION : HIDDEN UNHEALTHY FOODS (5)

Read also:

MUSCLE BUILDING AND NUTRITION : THE BIGGEST YES-YES (4)


 In the third part of this comprehensive article on the appropriate nutrition for muscle building we recited very succintly and explicitly the big nutrition no-nos.



It is much easier to fight an enemy if he is  visible!


But what happens if the enemy is lurking in the dark and seeking to devour at first chance your precious muscle earnings?


And-much worse-if he is disguised as a caring friend?


This is our subject for the next couple of posts.



Unhealthy foods disguised as healthy




1. Tuna fish:




I quote its name and my heart pains because tuna is - or better was - one of my most favourite dishes. Cheap,convenient,tasty,available everywhere and highly nutritional.


The big concern with tuna is its relatively high content in toxic mercury. Recent research both in Europe and in the USA have found mercury levels in tuna fish to be alarmingly high.


I suggest that you should do your own research because mercury levels differ from sea to sea and from kind to kind. Depending on your weight, check your safe consumption rate.


I have switched to sardines. Luckily in Greece they are abundant,cheap and of excellent quality.


Sardines practically contain zero mercury because of their small size and their short life. They are a gift from the sea for us. Humble but of inestimable value!

SARDINES:THE HUMBLE DIETARY MIRACLE OF NATURE


2. Protein bars or energy bars




While you can find few products with a decent quality and nutritional value,most of them are mere rubbish.


They are full with table sugar,artificial sweeteners,high fructose corn syrup,highly processed soya protein isolate,hydrogenated oils(trans-fats) and the like!


Search very carefully in order to find bars of acceptable quality. Double check the labels!


Most producers market energy/protein bars as nutritionally sound alternatives of meals with real food.


Alas,this is far from the truth!


Unprocessed,unrefined,natural food is what our bodies really need and deserve! Our human engines need the right kind of quality fuel in order to function well and to their maximum potential.


Why eat a bar with added protein and fiber of questionable quality when we can have the real thing naturally packed with excellent quality protein while accompanied by tenths of indispensable micronutrients?


Keep protein or energy bars only for emergency situations and plan ahead so as these emergency situations should be kept to a minimum. Don't use them to justify your lousy eating habits!!




End of 5th part



To your great health!




Chris Strogilis

MUSCLE BUILDING AND NUTRITION

Read here part no 1:

WHY KEEPING OUR MUSCLE MASS IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST!





Muscle development/building needs mainly two things:



- the right supportive nutrition


-an effective strength training program




Nutrition is a domain that many people ignore. Nutritional mistakes halt the progress towards muscle development for many fitness enthusiasts.


What's more, nutrition is by far the most important parameter for novices in muscle building. These people could achieve spectacular results with only minor adjustments at their nutrition strategy and tactics!


Muscle development and nutrition


1. If you need to gain some muscle mass your first concern is to create a slight caloric surplus.


Though,you will have to move very cautiously if you want to minimize the possibilities of fat storage.


Thus,while some fat gain is inevitable in this phase, you could control it by taking the appropriate measures:


- the caloric surplus should be slight.


- the caloric surplus should be gradual : start with a 10% increase over your caloric maintenance level and make it bigger when and if you reach a plateau.


2. Meals frequency is of strategic importance.


Spread your daily caloric intake into 5-6 equivalent meals and try to eat about every 3 hours. Include a premium protein source in every meal otherwise your body might cannibalize its own muscle tissue! Some benefits of frequent eating - among many else - are:


- your metabolism is boosted into high gear.


- you are never hungry and the danger to pig-out is minimal.


- you have a constant flow of nutritional constituents and energy.


- your blood sugar and insulin levels are kept under control.


- there are less possibilities for fat storage.



3. How much protein?

 For an average fitness enthusiast - who is actually the "target group" of my articles - 2gr of premium source protein per kg of body weight will suffice.


If you are a bodybuilder you will definitely need more (but these articles are not addressed to bodybuilders anyway!)


4. Protein sources: just good plain food. Please refer to my article:

"Fitness/exercise:nutrition to boost your results".


I am a strong opponent of any kind of supplementation and a fervent advocate of feeding only on unprocessed,unrefined,natural foods!!




To your great health!


Chris Strogilis

ACAI BERRIES: AN IMPARTIAL VIEW TOWARDS THE TRUTH

Acai berries is the nutritional exaggeration of the present.

They are practically doing everything:

- longevity
- sexual virility
- easy weight loss
- detoxification
- stronger immune system etc

As with all fads it will soon been forgotten...

It  has  just to complete its profit cycle.

Cynical,eh?

Realist I would say!

Acai berry is a healthy fruit, as much as pomegranates,blueberries and cranberries are.

The excessive publicity though is totally unjustified - if you take out the profit factor of course. This mist of magic is very fake.

If I could find acai berries in Greece at logical prices I would buy some. If not I could perfectly go with pomegranates,blueberries and cranberries which are of equivalent value and much more accessible.

I speak for the real fruit.

On no accassion  would I buy powders or capsules or juices .Not me!

My recommendation:

Take care of your exerciseand diet regimes and don't lose your time with any type of elusive fads!


To your great health!



Chris Strogilis

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