Food & Supplements

Yesterday, we published a really interesting article on MSG, or technically known as Monosodium Glutamate. Prior to editing this article ready for publication, I must admit that I knew very little about MSG. I did find this article really interesting, so I wanted to blog about some important points raised within the article.

I guess it's fairly common knowledge that MSG is associated with "Chinese food"...but is MSG safe to consume in your diet?

Interestingly, MSG was discovered at the turn of the twentieth century in Japan. So this particular molecular compound has been around for a little while. It was actually first made by boiling dried kombu seaweed.

In 1968, MSG began to obtain it's bad reputation when the New England Journal of Medicine published an article on what was referred to as "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome", which began the bad stigma of MSG today.

Here's the thing - MSG is a natural substance. As I mentioned above, it was derived initially by boiling seaweed. But MSG is found in a variety of foods naturally, such as grape juice, peas, beef and walnuts.

To date, there is no conclusive evidence that does suggest that MSG is dangerous. That doesn't mean that it isn't dangerous - it just means that we don't know whether MSG is or isn't safe to consume in your diet.

Much like artificial sweeteners, consuming MSG will come down to personal preference. It is used in a variety of foods, so if you do make the choice not to consume it, I do recommend that you read the full article. Within the article, we have listed a range of aliases used on food products that are the equivalent of MSG.

The full article is here:

The Truth About MSG - Is MSG Dangerous?

Whey protein has many benefits for sports nutrition, especially if you are training for a specific event, building muscle or losing fat. Here we discuss whey protein and whey protein powder in detail.

When it comes to achieving a particular health and fitness goal, a very common mistake is to focus purely on carbohydrate, fat, protein and calories. These are macronutrients that are very important for your survival in large quantities (hence the name "macro"-nutrient).

It is true that these specific macronutrients are very important when attempting to lose weight or build muscle. Fundamentally, you require a calorie deficit to lose weight. Conversely, you require a calorie overload to gain weight. Through careful analysis of these macronutrients, you can effectively create a calorie overload of deficit.

We delve deep into the world of macronutrients in our free seven week course, Conquering Your Body.

But what about micronutrients? "Micro"-nutrients, as the name suggests, are molecules that our body requires in small quantities. It should come as no surprise that these nutrients are vital for good health and normal functioning of the human body. Yet they can also play a vital role in fat oxidation (fat breakdown) and hypertrophy (muscle gain).

What are micronutrients? This broad term does encompass vitamins and minerals and I am sure that you have heard the many benefits of consuming a vitamin and mineral rich diet (without going overboard of course).

But that's not it! There are litterally hundreds of other micronutrients classified as "phytonutrients". They are not necessarily vitamins or minerals per se, but they do carry a range of vital functions within the human body. Phytonutrients have been shown to:

• Prevent the onset of disease
• Boost the immune system
• Kill cancer cells
• Serve as anti-oxidants
• Repair DNA damage as a result of being exposed to toxins

This week, we had an article published which does provide a really good overview of phytonutrients and I do recommend you have a read. The article is entitled "Phytonutrients: The Power of Plants". After reading this article, you'll know why fruits and vegetables are so important, no matter what your goal is!

I have seen plenty of new "healthy" product appear within the last few years as a result of the growing awareness of health and fitness in Australia. But often, new products do not live up to implied marketing claims of being as healthy as they may be perceived to be. So, I thought I'd take a quick look at Vitamin Water and post up my opinion of this product. It's only a brief look, but an important one.

Naturally, I'm very sceptical about such a product. This is because there is so much misleading and bogus marketing in this industry that you really can never judge a book by it's cover. Sorry to be frank, but this is a sad truth about the health and fitness industry.

Probably the first thing that jumps out at me when considering such a product is that it isn't natural. It is a highly refined water source with a fair amount of sugar added in. It's full of fructose that is not in it's natural state, as would be found in many fruits. So, it's certainly in my opinion not a desirable drink to consume, especially for weight loss.

For a typical bottle, there seems to be approximately 33g of carbohydrate, all of which is sugar. In other words, this is effectively what I would classify as "lolly water". For comparison, a typical soft drink would contain 40-60g of sugar per bottle.

Such a high intake of sugar is certainly not healthy, nor is it appropriate for weight loss. Vitamin Water is therefore something that I would not recommend for anyone who is watching their weight. Whilst they are fortified with various nutrients, these can all be obtained by eating whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables where you will not obtain the highly processed carbohydrates.

To remain hydrated, opt for water. Sometimes sports drinks can be of benefit, but really only if you have specific goals and requirements with your training. Don't be fooled by thinking that sweet products are necessarily good for you just because the company's marketing says so. In my opinion, Vitamin Water falls far short of their projected "healthy" image.

A number of our clients come to us seeking to build a substantial amount of muscle. When you're trying to build muscle, you are effectively undertaking a bodybuilding regime. So it is very common that I am asked what bodybuilding supplements are the more important ones to take as part of a muscle building nutritional programme, immediately before and after a workout.

In my opinion, there are two absolutely essential bodybuilding supplements for pre-/post-workout supplementation:

1. A high quality protein powder
2. A high quality carbohydrate source

Bodybuilding Supplements: Protein Powder

Why is a high quality protein powder so important? A protein powder is going to provide your body with a high quality source of amino acids, which are required when synthesising new muscle tissue. Muscle synthesis will happen upon the completion of a workout, so it's really important to injest a fast-acting, high quality whey based protein powder prior to and immediately after your weights workout.

I have blogged about protein powders before and here are a list of three high quality protein supplements that I recommend (and consequently our three best sellers):

Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard Protein Powder 4.7kg
carbohydrate source. However, in order for protein synthesis to occur, insulin must be present. As I'm sure you have heard before, insulin is secreted in the prescence of carbohydrates.

The ingestion of x grams of a high glycemic index carbohydrate will have a far greater impact on the magnitude of insulin secreted immediately after ingestion relative to x grams of a low glycemic index carbohydrate source. Considering that protein uptake is most prevalent immediately following your workout, it is vital to consume some high GI carbohydrates immediately post-workout. There is also plenty of research to suggest that high GI carbs ingested immediately prior to your workout will faciliate hypertrophy also.

So, what carbs? I generally recommend dextrose, which you can buy relatively inexpensively. We did however recently add a brand new product to our store that you can buy:

Dymatize Flud Waxy Maize

Waxy maize is one of those excellent pre-/post-workout bodybuilding supplements. It costs more than dextrose, but the addition of enzymes to facilitate digestion ensure more rapid carbohydrate uptake.

Of course there are many benefits to other supplements, but these two are what I believe are the two essential bodybuilding supplements!