Working out and eating healthy food, does not mean growth of muscle mass or loss of excess body fat.
When we say proper nutrition in regards to weight training, muscle mass building, burning extra fat – we don’t mean healthy food. Many people think that if something is healthy, it is in absolute accord with building muscle.
It is not so.
Honey is healthy. Fruits, rice, oats as well. But still the fact is that these contain carbohydrates which in the body converts to sugars. Elevated blood sugar hinders the growth hormone and keeps insulin high = blunting muscle growth and halting the process of burning excess body fat. Or, depending on the amounts = causes weight gain.
Various nutrition “trends” and health tips very often resemble dogmas. “It’s healthy”, “it is useful for the organism”… Why dogma? Because it is blindly preached and accepted as such.
Why is it healthy? Because it contains vitamin C? Healthy for the bones because of the calcium content?
The Facts
When it comes about muscle growth and loss of excess body fat – the only valid questions and answers are those which pertain to the effect nutrition has over hormones.
Cherries are healthy food. No doubt. But 100 grams of cherries (around 15 cherries) contain 13 grams of sugar. A bit more than 100 grams of any usual soft drink. And 100 grams of cherries contain around 7 milligrams of vitamin C. Daily most minimal dose of vitamin C should be 1000 milligrams. Would you want to get 13 grams of sugar for 7 milligrams vitamin C?
“It’s healthy in moderate doses.” Such generalized, wise-sounding statements without stating what is a moderate dose are of no use. Hormones do not govern themselves by generalized wise-sounding statements.
Peeled banana weights around 100 grams. Contains 12 grams of sugar.
A peach weights around 150 grams. 15 grams of sugar.
And sugar is 100% pure carbohydrate.
Two slices of bread contain 25 grams of carbs. Whole meal bread? Same.
15 cherries, one banana, a peach, two slices of bread = 65 grams of carbohydrates.
65 gr carbs eaten in a day means no burning excess body fat. It means no maximum release of growth hormone you could potentially get by reason of your weight training.
Oats? 100 grams of oats contain 56 grams of carbs. Spikes insulin as though you’ve eaten a 100 gr chocolate. It’s similar with other grains. Barley contains 56 grams of carbs. Various muesli combinations contain about 50 grams of carbohydrates per 100 gr product and around 30 grams of sugar.
Brown rice? 22 grams of carbs per 100 gr rice.
White rice? 28 gr of carbs per 100 gr.
Brown sugar? False hope.
The Effect on Hormones:
Besides lowering your muscle growth and fat burning potential, there is an additional bonus:
We wonder why in the morning we get up swollen and teeter about as zombies, feeling 200 kg heavy. Or why after we’ve eaten 100 gr chocolate or drank 2-3 glasses of some soft drink we feel lethargic. (Carbs are not the only one reason for this, there can be various other physical and mental conditions causing this.)
Don’t be fooled by advices such as “Don’t worry about sugars during the day. You’ll burn them by working out or with running. We’ll burn just a fraction. But even we burn them 100%, the negative effect already caused on the growth hormone won’t be burned.
Here goes testosterone too. More body fat = more estrogen = less testosterone. The more body fat the more proneness to estrogen and lower testosterone.
Ignore the “trend” of getting low fat content with high carb content through healthy grains, fruits, brown sugars, low-fat milks. Dietary fats do not cause weight gain. Low fat content in your food is a sure recipe for low testosterone levels. Soon you’ll read about the origins of this “trend” with high carb content and low fat content. And how this “trend” caused an increase of obesity rates in the world, and about 400% increase there where it originated from.
Tests:
Here are some tests you could do in regards to the effect of carbohydrates:
Eat a 100 gr chocolate. Drink 1 glass of soft drink. After 1-3 hours notice how you feel and what is the difference.
Eat 200 grams of oats. After 2-4 hours notice the level of your energy and how you feel. This is still a healthy food, right?
Eat 3-4 slices of bread or a large piece of pie or 200 grams of pasta right before bedtime. Notice how you’ll feel in the morning when you wake up.
Eat 200 grams of chicken steak with green vegetables and 3 soup spoons of oil. No bread, nothing else. Notice how you’ll feel in the morning when you wake up.
The conclusions will be your and yours only.
Mathematics:
This doesn’t say you should not eat fruits or carbs. We talk mathematics. Over 40 grams of carbohydrates eaten in a day means you won’t release maximum of growth hormone, means lowered fat-burning rate, hindered gains from your training. Not to mention eating 200-300 grams of carbs a day as many usually do. Read about proper nutrition.
And if someone believes in the dogma of eating much fruit because it contains vitamins and minerals, we’ll offer him or her two solutions with which will get vitamins and minerals and very low sugar content.
The first solution is blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, lemons. Calculate how much taking in account your total daily carb intake. (We talk whole fruits not juice).
The second solution are vegetables with minimal sugar contents: lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, green peppers. You won’t lose anything of vitamins and minerals compared to any fruits. For example a 100 gr green peppers contain 1.5 times more vitamin C than a 100 gr lemons.
But when it comes about the actual requirement for daily vitamin and mineral intake for someone who does weight training, the needed amounts are much higher than those possible through the usual food intake.
Read here about the daily necessary doses of vitamins and minerals.
