Natural Bodybuilding, Fitness, and Peak Performance

Can “Fat Burning Foods” offset regression from the “Best Way to Lose Fat?”

You’ll find them in any number of different Google searches: so-called “fat burning foods” or “foods that speed up metabolism.” Those searching for them are typically looking for shortcuts, or maybe just an advantage; at least one more practice that might take the rough edges off what they (at least intuitively) know as the “best way to lose fat.”

Our usual list of ‘fat burning foods’ upon getting results for our search looks something like this:

• Carrots
• Apples
• Celery
• Tomatoes
• Yogurt
• Almonds
• Salmon
• Peanut Butter

What?... Salmon and peanut butter? You’ve got to be kidding me. At least at the start of the list I saw a discernible pattern – low calorie foods that might be filling enough to keep me from eating high calorie foods. But let me tell you… when I was a teenager, I had an addiction to peanut butter. Not coincidentally, it was the first time in my life that I started showing a propensity to be a fat guy. Okay… so I was drinking beer too, but the peanut butter was a big factor.

If these are "fat burning foods", the question is where the consumption threshold exists beyond which their fat-burning qualities are cancelled out by over-consuming them.

So let’s accept the notion of “moderation” when it comes to ‘fat burning foods.’ But let’s also acknowledge this: Just because a food item has health benefits and/or is low in calories doesn’t mean it’s a “food that speeds up metabolism” or a “fat burning food.” To believe so wholeheartedly can easily lead some adherents of ‘fat burning foods’ diets away from moderation and into overconsumption.

Do “Fat Burning Foods” actually possess ingredients that “Burn Fat?”

Let’s take a couple of examples from the list of “fat burning foods” above and examine their fat burning properties. We’ll look at almonds and yogurt since they might really possess compounds that speed metabolism:

Almonds – Hey… there’s no doubt that these things are good for your cardiovascular system. I’ve shared my personal experience of what could be a direct benefit of adding them to my own eating plan right here. Yet the question remains: Are they really a fat burning food? If so, does their fat burning potential offset the fat-depositing counter-effect they could inflict due to their dense calorie content?

Almonds contain a lot of fiber to go along with their good fatty acid content and hefty dose of calories. The presence of this fiber appears to be the very thing that prevents the body from absorbing as much fat and calories as it would in the absence of it.  But be careful. Just because a food has qualities that have the potential to block some calories doesn’t mean it contains enough of these qualities to neutralize the negative effects of eating too much. In other words, eating fat burning foods doesn’t offset the effects of regressing from the ‘best way to lose fat’ – which is by consuming fewer daily calories than one is using up.

Yogurt  - Here’s another one containing what could be defined as a slight metabolism-raising ingredient: Calcium. The calcium present in dairy foods such as yogurt and cottage cheese has been shown in studies to reduce the bodily release of calcitrol – a hormone that contributes to body fat accumulation. Obviously, daily intake of dairy products to the degree that they stifle calcitrol can legitimately earn these foods the title of “fat burning foods.” However, intake of these foods might be benefit-neutral in the context of “metabolism-raising” beyond the point where the calcitrol-stifling benefit has been reached. That is, enough dairy food consumption to reverse a possible calcium deficiency could produce fat-burning results while anything beyond that probably won’t.

What’s important to realize about each of the above-mentioned foods is that studies in which they showed themselves to be fat-burning foods were done with control groups that were on calorie-restrictive diets. The comparison group, in each case, added the yogurt or almonds to their daily eating without adding any more calories than were consumed by the control group. Since more fat was burned off by the group who added the almonds and yogurt (respectively), these food items are shown to be beneficial as foods that raise metabolism. However, this also reinforces the notion of the “best way to lose fat”, which is to consume fewer calories each day than are being utilized.

Bottom Line on Fat-Burning Foods

Each one of the above-bulleted foods could have a legitimate reason for helping one’s metabolism when moderately added to daily eating – even high fat foods like salmon and peanut butter. Since some dietary fat is needed to produce metabolism-optimizing hormones by the body, the extent to which someone is deficient in dietary fat can create a corresponding improvement in these hormone levels if fat intake is brought up to sufficiency. Beyond that, increases in fat intake are just increases in calorie-dense foods. So it’s important to not let recommendations of these foods lead you to believe you need to make dietary fat more than approximately 20-30% of daily caloric intake.

It’s important to distinguish between the health benefits of the type of fat present in salmon and peanut butter and their purported fat burning benefits. I agree: omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fat are powerful inclusions in ones arsenal to improve cholesterol profiles. But this doesn’t negate the fact that these fats contain nine calories per gram – the same calorie wallop you’ll get from the saturated fat marbling a juicy cut of filet mignon.

The fruits and vegetables contained on your typical ‘fat burning foods’ lists are simply low in calories. The reason they’re promoted as speeding up metabolism is that the energy required by the body to digest and process these foods exceeds the amounts of calories the foods contain. Yet common sense can illuminate the obvious: Consuming these foods in too high a quantity can push one through a threshold beyond which the calories consumed become greater than the food item’s ability to burn them in digestion.

This leads us to an important realization: We can’t use fat burning foods to offset the negative consequences of regressing from the best way to lose fat. The foundation of fat loss, or the ‘best way to lose fat’, is to take in fewer calories than you’re burning.

Let me steal a home construction metaphor from another trainer who I interviewed (BTW… you can get a free audio of the interview right here): “Lowering daily calorie intake should be the foundation of fat loss – the other steps (like eating ‘foods that burn fat’) should be like ornaments on the living room mantel.”

Well, they should at least be no more than the “interior drywall.”

“Foods that Lower Blood Pressure Naturally”

If upon a routine checkup with your doctor it was discovered that your blood pressure is high enough to be prescribed drugs, would you obediently take your prescription to the pharmacist and begin a regimen of loading your body with side-effect producing medication? Would you seek out a second opinion? Would you investigate natural remedies, including foods that lower blood pressure naturally?

Of course, it would depend on the direness of your high blood pressure situation, the entire topic of which hit close to home enough for me in early 2009 that I’ve become sensitive to the nuances of the subject. Someone who’s been a good friend of mine for over twenty years suffered a stroke at the tender age of 54 in April of this year. This individual had been made aware of the precariousness of his cardiovascular condition, yet procrastinated any treatment, natural or otherwise. The result was at once tragically devastating and avoidable. Now he and all of us close to him are focused on his rehabilitation; a long process that is painful for family and friends and extremely challenging for both him and his speech and physical therapists. Bottom line: If your blood pressure in dangerously high – get medical treatment immediately.

Do you need drugs that lower blood pressure? Or can you resort to 'foods that lower blood pressure naturally?'

But what about those of us who find our blood pressure “creeping upward”, but not yet in the danger zone? Can we reverse this without expensive drugs that often cause other problems? Are there non-drug remedies such as foods that lower blood pressure naturally?

As a ‘middle-aged bodybuilder’, this question and the answers it can produce are very important to me. I work out intensely with weights. I enjoy pushing my body to higher levels of performance and reaping the rewards of doing so. At 45, I often perform more intensely in the gym than guys twenty years my junior. There’s nothing that could knock me off this enjoyable trajectory faster than a cardiovascular system that can’t handle the load. If there are foods that lower blood pressure naturally, I damn-well want to know about them.

When I was in my early thirties, my blood pressure began rising for obvious reasons. I was thirty pounds overweight and heading toward carrying fifty pounds of excess blubber – a dubious milestone I eventually reached. Upon hearing about my rising blood pressure from my doc, I naturally became concerned about the possibility of blowing out a blood vessel wall while intensely working out my fat-insulated muscles. As described in my book, HardBody Success, the answer to a simple question posed to my doctor became one of my motivators to drop the fat:

“If I lose all this excess fat, will my blood pressure go down?”

“It should”, he answered. “Blood pressure is affected by body fat levels.”

‘Okay… let’s add that little tidbit of info to all the other negatives I’m experiencing from being a fat guy’, I thought.

And getting lean was indeed a ‘natural remedy for high blood pressure’ in my middle to late thirties.

Yet recently, at a lean and svelte 45-years old, it began rising again. Systolic readings started creeping into the upper 130s and occasionally hit readings over 140. Diastolic pressure was sometimes getting over 90 and hardly ever reading under 80. ‘Hmmmm… Not good!’ I began perusing information about natural high blood pressure remedies, including ‘foods that lower blood pressure naturally.’

Without officially adopting a radically different eating regimen, I’ve recently encountered a pleasant surprise. My blood pressure has dropped significantly and has held at a low/average level for a couple of months. What had been systolic readings of 140 are now coming in as low as 110 to 115. Diastolic readings are now averaging about 75. I couldn’t help but ask myself “what the hell happened” since I want to identify the behavior that made the difference so I can continue it. After all, the level of stress I was experiencing had actually increased during this time.

Blood Pressure Lowering Foods

‘What could have caused my blood pressure to drop?’ I wondered.

Although identifying where I’d made a change would count as evidence that’s nothing more than anecdotal, there’s value in identifying it nonetheless. I hadn’t consciously reduced my sodium intake, making this an unlikely explanation. However, I had recently added two foods to my daily eating habits: bananas and almonds. And what blood pressure-minimizing minerals are packed inside these two food sources? Bananas are rich in potassium and almonds are high in magnesium.

Potassium acts in a sort of antagonistic manner toward sodium in the body. When bodily potassium levels go up, it results in the depletion of some sodium. When they go down, more sodium is retained and absorbed by the body, thus sending blood pressure higher.

Yes, there are other food sources of potassium besides bananas. For this reason, I’d stopped eating bananas a few years back when an addiction to putting too many of them in bodybuilding smoothies had me packing in the calories. I’ve brought them back with a good handle on ‘moderation.’ The only theory I can propose for my blood pressure drop is that the other sources weren’t providing me adequate potassium and the reintroduction of bananas made the difference.

What about almonds? I had to learn to like these things ‘coz cashews seem so much tastier. And ironically, the one thing that makes almonds palatable (in my opinion) is a good dose of salt… haha… so much for ‘foods that lower blood pressure naturally.’

Well, I’ve found a painless way to add unsalted almonds to an eating plan: put them in a smoothie as a dietary fat source in place of olive oil. Believe it or not, they mix in very well and even unsalted ones won’t mess up the flavor. Whatever you prefer – raw or dry-roasted: don’t add more than ten to fifteen almonds (depending on quantity of other smoothie ingredients) or you might create a calorie wallop that could get excessive.

The magnesium in almonds (along with spinach, sunflower seeds, and barley) has been shown to relax the blood vessel walls and thus, help lower blood pressure. Almonds also just happen to be high in potassium, making them even more ‘mineral beneficial’ as one of the ‘foods that lower blood pressure naturally.’ Add to this the fact that they contain fiber and have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol levels and you’ve got a great tool in your grab-bag of foods for naturally lowering blood pressure.

Again, let me emphasize that evidence of the addition of these two foods to my eating habits as being the source of my lowered blood pressure is purely anecdotal. Additionally, you should always consult your physician or licensed nutritionist before making major changes to your diet.

But feel free to share your own experiences with purported ‘foods that lower blood pressure naturally.’

“Does Whey Protein Work” for Building Muscle?

When I was new to muscle building many years ago, the hot protein on the market was egg whites. It was touted as having the best PER (protein efficiency ratio) and thus, capable of adding pounds of muscle to our bodies like nothing else. And never mind that you could fry or boil up some eggs for pennies on the dollar; convenience necessitated getting it in the form of powder from a can. This was due partly to the fact that it wasn’t yet clear that eating some of those egg yolks is nutritionally beneficial (do some people still actually eat “egg white omelets?”), and separating the yolk from the protein-rich egg whites was hardly worth the trouble for such a bland serving of food. The powder seemed almost worth it.

Protein marketers have since become savvier. Realizing they needed to provide a magical protein source that couldn’t easily be whipped up in one’s own kitchen, they began touting the ultimate “extract” from another source: Whey… the very stuff that ‘Little Miss Muffett’ ate along with her curds as she sat on her tuffett.

Where Does Whey Protein Come From?

Whey protein is a byproduct of milk when cheese products are manufactured.  During this process, the milk casein (curd) is separated from the milk and made into cheese. What’s left behind after these solids are separated is the liquid portion of the milk: whey. The whey is then filtered to remove lactose and some remaining fats before it is dried out and ‘ionized’ in order to purify it even more. After water has been removed through drying, the remaining powder is what you see in that can from the nutritional supplement store – with a few artificial flavors added in.

Does mixing and drinking a cup of 'whey protein powder' work better for 'muscle building' than simply eating 'high protein foods'?

The Benefits of Whey Protein

I actually consume whey protein quite often. However, I don’t do it with the expectation that it will send my muscle growth into the stratosphere of super-anabolism. I’ve long outgrown that kind of naiveté. Here are the benefits I get from it:

• Convenience – It’s a fast and easy protein to consume when on the run.
• Digestibility – This stuff is really easy on the gut. It’s satiating without being irritating.
• High in BCAAs – Has a high amount of branch-chained amino acids for recuperation.
• Possible Anti-Oxidative Qualities – I’m always game for adding more anti-oxidants to my system.
• Possible Immune System-Stimulating Qualities – Always game for this too.
• Low Fat Source – It provides high quality protein without excessive amounts of dietary fat and calories. This is great when you want a meal in which you get plenty of dietary fat from one or more of the non-protein portions of the meal.

The one drawback I see in whey protein is an element that its marketers have tried to convey as an advantage: fast digestibility. Consumed by itself, whey protein tends to digest and hit the system quickly. Although many have been led to believe that this quality in a protein adds to its muscle building potential, my rational thinking ability leads me to conclude that that’s nonsense. Think about this for a moment: If you drink whey protein right now and it hits your muscle cells thirty minutes from now, what’s the difference between that and eating a turkey sandwich two hours ago if the protein from the turkey hits your muscle cells thirty minutes from now? Both proteins hit your muscles… uh… thirty minutes from now. I see no advantage from “fast digestion.”

Interestingly, the best way to slow down the digestion of whey protein is by negating the last bulleted benefit I’ve listed above. By adding some “good fat” to whey protein (peanut butter, almond butter, olive oil), you can slow down its digestion which results in it hitting your system in a more steady and usable manner. Nothing wrong with that: getting quality protein while adding fat that can help with HDL/LDL cholesterol ratios is something that meat and egg consumption alone is just not going to do. For a great whey protein recipe that will do just that, you can click the blue link.

So… “Does Whey Protein Work for Building Muscle?”

Although I’m the one who posed the question, it’s admittedly silly when analyzed closely. All body tissue requires protein for repair and regeneration. This includes, of course, muscle tissue. If a bodybuilder is lacking enough quality protein in order to fully recuperate muscle tissue between workouts, then any quality protein source added in adequate supply to the diet will “work for building muscle.” In other words, any good protein source is going to “work” in a noticeable manner to the degree that protein was supplied in insufficient quantities prior to testing whether that protein is “working.” So I guess that means whey protein “works for building muscle.” But so does egg white protein, tuna protein, beef protein, and chicken protein.

So the real question is: Does whey protein work for building muscle to a degree that’s noticeably better than other high quality sources of protein?

Personally, I’ve not noticed a difference. If I eat beef, chicken, eggs, tuna, and other high quality animal proteins in the absence of having whey protein in the mix, I recuperate between workouts and build muscle steadily. If I add whey protein, I don’t notice any increase in recuperative ability between workouts. This doesn’t dissuade me from utilizing whey protein for variety as well as reaping the benefits listed in the bullet points above.

Whey Protein is high in BCAAs

One of the reasons for whey protein being touted as ‘good for muscle building’ is that it’s a rich source of branch-chained amino acids. These three particular amino acids, l-leucine, l-isoleucine and l-valine, are of what no less than one-third of skeletal muscle tissue is comprised. This obviously makes them important to the bodybuilder, athlete, or fat loss enthusiast in a quest to build and/or preserve muscle and strength. I think a daily serving or two of whey protein is excellent for ensuring an adequate amount of branch chained amino acids for the intensely training athlete, bodybuilder, or “dieter” who’s attempting to preserve as much fat-burning muscle as possible while losing cellulite.

Once again, however, it’s important to note that adequate amounts of BCAAs derived from other dietary sources prior to adding whey protein to one’s diet may negate any noticeable muscle building effect that the addition of whey might otherwise have. Foods high in BCAAs include beef, eggs, and dairy products. Obviously, if you’re getting all the BCAAs your body needs from sources like these, the addition of whey protein will provide a convenient and easily-digested “insurance” to the mix – but it’s hardly likely to send you into anabolic nirvana.

Conclusion

So here’s my answer to the question: ‘does whey protein work for building muscle?’

Yes… it “works!” But by the very definition of “works”, we might as well say that meat works for building muscle, eggs work for building muscle, yogurt works for building muscle, and getting enough sleep works for building muscle. In other words, adequate muscle recuperation between workouts “works” for building muscle.

On the same note, the right amount of muscle breakdown DURING a workout “works” for building muscle.

Bottom line: Effective muscle building is accomplished by a synergistic combination of elements; not one thing in the absence of all that’s important – including whey protein – will “work” for muscle building success.

“Side Effects of Using Steroids”: Fleeting benefits – lingering pitfalls

Was it the “side effects of using steroids” that steered me away from the temptation to try them at an age when I was most vulnerable to the allure of what they promised? Partially, but that can’t account completely for my insistence on the ‘life-time natural’ route when confronted with a relatively easy solution to an age-related male insecurity: feeling scrawny and under-powered. It had to be more; sort of an overwhelming combination of incentives and constraints predicated on the dubiousness of the idea of shutting down my own natural testosterone production along with the knowledge that if I’d ever use steroids, I could never again call myself a natural bodybuilder in good conscience.

The latter reason stated above – transcendent as it may be – doesn’t discount the influence the previous reason has had on my decision. As a cause for many of the short-term ‘side effects of using steroids’, suppressed endogenous testosterone release seemed like it’d be a real blow to my manhood. I pictured the months passing by that would be spent vainly attempting to jumpstart my endocrine system while watching much of my muscle gains wither away as my ability to perform sexually lay dormant. All this friggin’ drama would be for some musculature that I wouldn’t even be able to proudly say I’d created myself. No thanks!

What sealed the decision for me was when I glimpsed a list of ‘side effects of using steroids’ written by the late Dan Duchane back in 1990. Under the side effect of ‘testicular atrophy’, Mr. Duchane remarked: “for whatever it’s worth, they never seem to come back to their full pre-steroid size.”

“What?”

So despite the PCT (post cycle therapy) drugs that a steroid user utilizes, ones endogenous (internal) testosterone production might be indefinitely suppressed? ‘If so’, I thought, ‘what else might be unalterably changed by using these drugs?’ I saw this as evidence of possible permanent truncation of my body’s ability to produce testosterone.  How could I ever expect to make natural muscle gains if my natural testosterone levels aren’t up to par? I could see the writing on the wall that spelled ‘prescription for addiction.’

That said – here’s a list of the most common side effects of using steroids. It should be noted up front that many of these effects occur in varying degrees and in some cases, minimally or not at all. Side effects are typically dose dependent, heavily affected by which particular drug a bodybuilder or athlete uses, and grossly exaggerated by the media. Generally, the more androgenic a steroid is, the more negative side effects it tends to engender.

Acne

My step brother started out as a natural bodybuilder. After not seeing him for many years, I noticed his increased muscular development when he came to town for a visit. When we hit the beach on the second day, his shirtless shoulders displayed the evidence that he’d become a “juicer” in the interlude: a roadmap of deep “zit scars” peppered his rear delts and upper back.

Anabolic steroids, especially the most androgenic of these drugs, tend to cause the sebaceous glands in the skin to secrete more oil. This can cause the breakout of heavy acne, especially in the areas of the back, neck, and face. Although it’s said that this most unsightly of the side effects of using steroids can be countered with certain drugs or avoided by abstinence from certain steroids, it remains a dead giveaway that a bodybuilder is soliciting “pharmaceutical help” in his quest to build muscle when it rears its ugly head.

Hypertension/High Blood Pressure

This side effect of using steroids is brought about by anabolic drugs that have a high propensity to ‘aromatize’ into estrogens. As estrogen levels rise in the body, so does the level of sodium and water retention – leading to elevated blood pressure. This can often be amplified by intense weight training workouts and rapid gains in body weight. Untreated high blood pressure can raise the chances of cardiovascular disease and eventual kidney failure.

Kidney Stress and Damage

Although the danger of kidney damage is most threatening to those prone to prolonged and super-elevated blood pressure, the possible strain to this internal organ should not be ignored by those considering the use of anabolic steroids. The kidneys are vital to the filtration and removal of byproducts from our bodies. Those using steroids, especially the highly androgenic kind, might cause the kidneys to work especially hard as most of the elements in these pharmaceutical compounds are excreted from the body through the urine.

Liver Stress and Damage

Many years ago when I was educating myself about the side effects of using steroids, it became readily apparent that most of the horror stories regarding liver damage from steroid use revolved around one particular steroid drug: Anadrol 50®. That’s because this drug is a c17 alpha alkylated compound, which makes it capable of being administered orally. In addition to this being an oral steroid, it contains a whopping 50 mg. of active steroid per tablet. Although I can’t tell you from any personal experience, I’ll assume that’s a lot because a daily small handful of those prescribed to medical patients has been known to cause severe liver damage over time. In some cases, it’s led to liver cancer.

Orally administered steroids are particularly hard on the liver compared with injectable drugs that don’t need the extent of chemical breakdown performed by this organ. The process of extensive breakdown of these compounds can actually damage the liver cells. This has an inhibitive effect on the liver’s ability to break down and excrete waste products from the body. Prolonged usage of oral steroids has occasionally led to peliosis hepatitis, a condition whereby the liver develops blood-filled cysts. Although rare, this condition can be life threatening.

Depression

Because steroid use comprises the introduction of an ‘exogenous’ (outside source) of the male hormone testosterone to the body, the user’s ‘endogenous production’ (bodily source) of this hormone eventually shuts down during steroid use. This can leave the body without much source of testosterone once the “steroid cycle” has concluded. A subsequent suppressed level of testosterone coupled with a raised level of estrogen (from aromatization of the steroids) can cause a hormone imbalance that often results in negative mood swings for the drug-using bodybuilder or athlete.

The severity of this side effect of using steroids is probably greatly dependent on the dosages of drugs administered and/or the duration of the steroid cycle. The longer and heavier the use of drugs, the more severe and prolonged the suppression of one’s own testosterone production.

Often adding to this physiologically-induced depression is the psychological exacerbation of witnessing much of one’s strength and muscular gains diminishing after a cycle. With endogenous levels of testosterone being inadequate to build or even preserve muscular gains, the “juicer” may experience bodybuilding regression – something bound to depress anyone with a voracious enough appetite for muscle building to resort to the drugs in the first place.

It should be noted that steroid cycles are often successfully followed by the use of drugs like HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadatropin) in order to “kick-start” endogenous hormone production. However, what should also be contemplated is the fact that, despite these “post-cycle therapy drugs”, some bodybuilders and athletes acquire what appears to be a psychological addiction to steroids due at least in part to their respective proneness to post-cycle depression for the reasons cited. I knew an incessant steroid user who actually admitted his body was no longer capable of producing its own testosterone. He was afraid to ever go off exogenous testosterone therapy because he sensed his body would “crash” if he did. This could be viewed as a combination of both psychological and physical addiction – the possibility of which should be considered before ever resorting to the use of these drugs.

Prostate Enlargement

Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is a metabolite of testosterone and often rises in the body with the use of anabolic steroids. This is especially the case when bodybuilders and athletes use drugs such as testosterone, methyltestosterone, and Halotestin, which are strong 5-alpha reducible androgens. It appears that the heightened level of DHT combined with elevated levels of estrogen (from steroid aromatization) might contribute to the condition of benign prostatic enlargement – especially in older steroid users. The immediate and obvious effect of this condition is reduced urine flow and increased sensation for the need to urinate in those who experience it.

Although my impulsive recommendation for avoiding this one of many ‘side effects of using steroids’ is to stick with natural bodybuilding, I realize some mature bodybuilders will choose to do otherwise. For them, I’ll recommend steering clear of the above-mentioned steroids as well as other highly androgenic drugs such as Proviron, Dianabol, and Anadrol 50®.

Hair Loss

The same culprit that could contribute to prostate enlargement (DHT) can accelerate the progression of male pattern baldness in those who are genetically prone to it. In fact, younger men who experience male pattern baldness in the absence of steroid use tend to have the genetic predisposition for both finer hair follicles and higher DHT levels. The negative results of this combination can easily be exacerbated by the use of anabolic steroids as they accentuate the ‘high DHT’ side of the equation. This, like acne, is one of the cosmetic side effects of using steroids, but represents more permanency within this context as the effect tends to be irreversible.

Again, my advice for averting this side effect (along with all others) is to engage in effective natural bodybuilding. However, for those who choose otherwise, the best advice for reducing hair loss is to avoid drugs like testosterone, Halotestin, Anadrol 50®, and Dianabol®. The most favored anabolic steroid for avoiding this side effect is Deca-Durabolin®. Also, the use of ancillary drugs such as Propecia® can inhibit the 5-alpha reductase enzyme, thus reducing two of the ‘high DHT’ side effects of using steroids: prostate enlargement and hair loss.

Gynecomastia - one possible side effect of using steroids

Cardiovascular Disease

It is commonly known that there’s “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol. The HDL (high density lipoprotein) type is the cholesterol we want more of for better cardiovascular health while the LDL (low density lipoprotein) is the type we want to reduce. The use of anabolic/androgenic steroids tends to send this ratio in an unfavorable direction over time – reducing the good stuff and raising the level of the kind that leaves plaque on the arterial walls while increasing total cholesterol at the same time.

This negative cardiovascular effect of the side effects of using steroids, when combined with a tendency among some of these drugs to raise blood pressure, makes it of paramount importance to have these readings professionally monitored, especially in older bodybuilders and athletes who choose to use these drugs.

Natural bodybuilding is the way to go in my book. However, for those who insist on going the steroid route, it appears that the injectable steroids have less of a negative impact on HDL/LDL cholesterol ratios than do the orally administered drugs.

Gynecomastia

Back in the early 1990s, I was acquainted with a former steroid user who adamantly recommended abstaining from even experimenting with their use to anyone who would listen. In talking with him, I discovered that he’d experienced a nightmare battle with one of the side effects of using steroids that was both painful and unsightly: Gynecomastia; a condition whereby the male body begins developing female breast tissue. A genetic predisposition had made this negative side effect an acutely dramatic and embarrassing event for him, eventually requiring surgery in order to remove the unwanted tissue.

A percentage of the hormone testosterone ‘aromatizes’ into estrogen in the male body. This is for the simple reason that males require a certain amount of the female hormone in order to function properly. It stands to reason, therefore, that if you jack up your testosterone levels with exogenous sources of the hormone (steroids), you’ll also jack up your estrogen levels. When this heightened level of estrogen acts upon receptor sites in the mammary gland region of a man’s body, female type breast tissue growth is often the undesirable result. The odds of this more cosmetic-centered of the side effects of using steroids is increased when using highly aromatizing androgens such as testosterone and Dianabol.

Short of abstaining from steroid use completely (my recommendation) or at least avoiding the ones most prone to aromatization (such as the two mentioned), there are estrogen antagonist drugs that can reduce the likelihood of affliction of this condition or at least the severity of the problem if it’s encountered. The most common of these are Clomid® and Nolvadex®. Alternatives to these are aromatase inhibitors, such as Proviron® and Arimidex®, which work by reducing the enzyme that converts the increased testosterone to estrogen.

Sexual Dysfunction

The body’s natural testosterone production works on a loop-feedback system. When the monitoring feature of this system (the hypothalamus) senses there’s more than adequate testosterone in circulation within the body, it ceases sending a signal to the testes to produce endogenous testosterone. Prolonged administering of exogenous forms of testosterone (anabolic/androgenic steroids) can therefore cause the body’s own production of this hormone to shut down until the loop-feedback system can be “jump-started” again. In the interim, low testosterone levels can naturally lead to sexual apathy or downright impotence; quite an embarrassing predicament, I’d imagine, for an otherwise muscularly-virile appearing body.

Conclusion

The aforementioned list of side effects of using steroids is by no means exhaustive, nor is it implied that all or any of the listed effects afflict all users in every case of usage. So much is dependent on so many variables. People often respond differently from the side effects of mild drugs like aspirin, so it stands to reason that variances would be even more pronounced with drugs such as steroids.

One effect of using steroids that might be a subjective projection on my part, yet a pronounced observation nonetheless, is the possibility that prior regular users of these drugs often don’t learn to ever make physique progress without them. In my twenty-five years of bodybuilding, I’ve witnessed many bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts who grew accustomed to the easy progress these drugs provided finding themselves completely lost when they realized they couldn’t utilize steroids indefinitely. Without the knowledge of natural training and how to customize it to their bodies, they’ve simply allowed themselves to go downhill since they’ve stopped “cycling.”

This more subtle of the side effects of using steroids might be the biggest pitfall representing just how fleeting the benefits of using them can be.

“Bodybuilding Supplement Scams”: Your First Indication

When I was in my twenties, I lost lots of money to the fraudulent bodybuilding supplement companies of the time. That was in the late eighties and early nineties. The scam products that were in the vanguard of product-claim sensationalism and outright BS would have to be ‘Cybergenics’ (very scientific sounding) and another one with the simple yet none-the-less corny moniker of ‘Hot Stuff.’

The latter of these products isn’t around anymore. You know what that means? It means every friggin’ muscle building, fat burning, body improving, physique enhancing claim that the jerks who created and marketed that product made was a bold-faced lie; nothing less. If not, it’d likely still be present in some shape or form. But it’s vanished, along with dozens of other products and companies of the time who also pumped out shovel-loads of BS.

What about Cybergenics? It can still be found in deep corners of the Internet, a mere shadow of what it was in its hyped-up heyday.

'Bodybuilding Supplement Scams' start with the subtle notion that pro bodybuilders build their bodies with supplements rather than steroids.

The companies that gave us those products have been replaced with a new crop of BS artists. Yet it’s still the same basic formula: Give the products really scientific sounding names, plaster magazines with ads featuring bodybuilders with enough drugs pumping through their systems to make Tony Montana want a piece of the action, and imply (or state explicitly) that the bodybuilder pictured obtained his or her results by using the “scientific” product.

At least the 1990s trend of depicting guys in lab coats holding the product in one hand and a test tube in the other seems to have died out. That’s good; the lab-coated, test-tube holding scientist thing was almost nauseating.

So how do you protect yourself? What’s the first indication that ‘bodybuilding supplement scams’ are staring you in the face?

Here’s one way to detect bodybuilding supplement scams: If you’re on a bodybuilding supplement scam mailing list, notice how one product is purported to be the miracle that will put 20 pounds of muscle on you. Then a few weeks or months later, it’s a different product; something newer or better. Well, what happened to the first product? If it had been even one-tenth as good as the claims that had been made for it – there’d be no need to introduce ANY new products. I’ve seen ads on websites in which one supplement after another is listed as having these “steroid-like effects.” Yet if even one of them had that effect, there’d be no need for any of the rest of them.

If something could really put twenty pounds of muscle on someone, there’d be a short supply of it within weeks or even days – the company marketing it would be an overnight success – and every other ‘bodybuilding supplement scams’ company would be out of business – bottom line.

Here’s a more direct way to detect bodybuilding supplement scams: When an ad claims you can gain 10, 20, 30 or more “pounds of muscle” in a matter of weeks, its authors are probably willing to unload “beachfront property in Montana” on you. Consider this: A second-place runner-up to the Mr. Olympia contest confessed to me and a group of onlookers that he was only capable of gaining two pounds of muscle per year. He said that when he was younger and new to steroids, he gained up to ten pounds of muscle in a year. Now at the whopping age of twenty-eight or so, he was “lucky” if he gained two pounds in twelve month’s time.

I have no doubt that a person can gain twenty pounds of “something” in a matter of weeks. Water and fat are easily accumulated and shed within the timeframes of days and weeks. Yet muscle requires a two-step process for the gaining; breakdown/recuperation… breakdown/recuperation… on and on. The very nature of the process of successful muscle building is time consuming, even if we find ways to slightly accelerate the recuperation phase of the equation – which is what our steroid-taking Mr. Olympia runner-up mentioned above did with drugs.

Here’s a bit of “supplemental advice” to go along with detection of bodybuilding supplement scams: measure your muscle building success by your muscle’s performance – NOT by pounds of weight added to your body within weeks. I made the mistake of doing the latter and it made me into a food-addicted fat boy rather quickly. When you’ve got a muscle building formula that’s effective, many gains in strength will precede any gains in muscular body weight.

Alerting you of bodybuilding supplement scams and how to detect them is by no means meant to imply that “all bodybuilding supplements are worthless”, as so many ‘bodybuilding routine’ marketers do. Some of my clients and I obtain enormous workout performance benefits from certain types of creatine, for example. I also love some protein supplements and meal replacement product to keep my eating on the right track while being extremely busy.

Bottom line: We don’t need regulators to come in and protect us from ourselves in the face of bodybuilding supplement scams. We just need to dowse our emotional yearnings with a bit of common-sense objective thinking when confronted with wild claims.

“What carbs are Bad?”

Here’s a question I hear a lot: “Which carbs are bad carbs?”

I might raise a few eyebrows by saying this, but my answer is “none”… unless we’re talking in relative terms within the context of a specific goal one is trying to achieve – whether that goal is better health, fat loss, increased energy, etc…

But generally speaking, carbohydrates are energy for the body. In fact, they’re the most efficient form of energy for the body to use among the three macro nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fats.

That’s the problem with health and fitness; too many “experts” use assertions in a general context that they should only apply within a specific one. I’m reminded of a claim I saw recently in which a nutrition expert was commenting on how “bad” protein bars and other processed foods are. She said that the body doesn’t recognize these as food because there are too many chemicals in them. The question I’d love to ask her is this:

“So if you were lost in the wilderness for weeks and near death from starvation – what would you do if you ran across a case of fully-wrapped Met-RX protein bars? Would you eat them? If so – would your body ‘recognize’ them as food?”

Well, “duh”… I’d assume she’d eat them and I’d guess the damned things would keep her alive. And I guess that means the body “recognizes” them as food. But maybe I’m just a simpleton.  On to the topic at hand:

“What carbs are bad?”

"What carbs are bad?" Personally, I don't consider any of them "bad." I just eat the type like the one pictured above... infrequently.

It depends on what you’re trying to do with your body and how different amounts of various types of carbohydrates affect your goal. For example, if you’re extremely overweight and you want to lose a substantial amount of body fat, high glycemic carbohydrate foods should be minimized so that blood sugar levels can be reduced and stabilized as much as possible. However, if you don’t need to lose body fat and you’re shooting for more muscle mass, a few high glycemic carbohydrates before and after a bodybuilding workout might be beneficial.

Let’s break the question “what are good carbs/what are bad carbs?” down to the basic definitions:

Complex Carbs = “Good” Carbohydrates

These are found in high fiber grains, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. They are typically low on the glycemic index which means their energy is released slowly into the bloods stream. This keeps blood sugar levels lower.

Refined Carbs = “Bad” Carbohydrates

White flour and simple sugars are the biggest culprits here. Processed and refined carbohydrates are digested quickly and typically cause spikes and valleys in blood sugar levels.

Calories from Carbohydrates

Many of us think of “good carbohydrates” as being carbs that are low in calories while “bad carbohydrates” are carbs that are high in calories. However, all carbohydrates have about four calories per gram of weight. The key difference is the speed at which these different types of carbohydrates are absorbed into the blood stream and the overall carbohydrate content of each specific food item. Obviously, the more carbohydrate grams a food item possesses – the less of it you can eat without inadvertently gorging yourself with excess calories. In addition, the faster the particular carbohydrate is absorbed into the blood stream (glycemic index) – the more insulin is released by the pancreas and the more “roller-coaster effect” you’ll have on your blood sugar and hour-by-hour hunger levels.

Spiking Blood Sugar = hint to “What are Bad Carbs?”

Spiking our blood sugar with high glycemic carbohydrates on a regular basis is a common cause of ravenous eating due to the up-and-down movement of blood sugar levels throughout the day. The typically denser content of carbohydrate (and thus, higher calories) in these foods as well as the tendency they cause in overeating are the reason they’re commonly labeled ‘bad carbs.’ Too many and prolonged eating of these kinds of foods sometimes leads to “insulin resistance”; a condition whereby the cells of the body are no longer responsive to a normal amount of insulin and need higher releases of it to respond and function as they should.

But the main thing to remember is this: Stable blood sugar levels are good for fat loss and long-term health while fluctuating blood sugar levels are antagonistic to fat loss and long-term health.

Processed vs. Unprocessed – or at least… ‘Less Processed’

So I’m sitting here with a bag of white rice in one hand and a bag of brown rice in the other. This seems as good an example as any to juxtapose a heavily processed carbohydrate (white rice) with its less processed counterpart (brown rice).

Now, as far as tantalizing one’s taste buds, the white rice has my vote hands-down. It just has a discernibly sweeter flavor that brown rice lacks. Thus, it might require a retraining of the taste buds in some people to think otherwise and reach for the brown rice instead of the white rice if rice is a staple in their diets.

A quarter cup of the white rice that I’m looking at lists 44 grams of carbohydrate and 200 calories. The same amount of the brown rice lists 35 grams of carbohydrate and 170 calories. A typical glycemic index list will have the white rice somewhere around 65 and the brown rice around 55. Remember, the lower the number on this list, the more slowly the carbohydrate is absorbed by the body. The higher the number… well, that’s just one more mark against that food item which puts it in the ‘what are bad carbs’ category.

So, a long stretch of time eating brown rice will probably have you leaner and healthier than the same stretch of time eating the exact same quantities of white rice. But what makes the difference? What is the “processing” that makes white rice a less health-promoting carbohydrate than brown rice?

White rice is simply brown rice with the fibrous bran removed. The fiber in this bran slows down the digestion of the carbohydrate while also containing a lot of the valuable vitamins and minerals available in rice. This “whole grain” that’s removed from brown rice to create white rice is what makes an equal amount (by weight) of brown rice contain less carbohydrate (and thus, fewer calories) than white rice. Conversely speaking, it takes more of the fiber-absent pure carbohydrate of the white rice to equal a serving (in weight) of the fiber-rich, whole grains of the brown rice.

Add to this the real possibility that the whole grains in the brown rice are apt to satiate you faster while requiring fewer calories to create this satiation and you have even better chances of losing fat with this simple food choice exchange.

‘The Glycemic Index’: Only a Part in the Greater Whole

Why is the glycemic index of foods so confusing in the “what are bad carbs” question?

The reason is that it only tells us some “chunked down” information within a context that has many and sometimes competing variables. For example, the ‘glycemic load’ of entire meals might be more important in the long run than the glycemic index of each food item contained in those meals. In addition, high glycemic carbs are typically high in calories, yet many low glycemic foods (such as ice cream) are high in calories as well. This makes adherence to simply watching the ‘calories in/calories burned’ equation more important to long-term health and leanness than meticulous reading a glycemic index chart.

In short: The glycemic index should be used as a tool to raise one’s awareness of ‘what are bad carbs’ and which are the better choices based on one’s goals. It doesn’t provide the whole picture.

Conclusion

If there’s one easy concept to remember when in the grocery store and trying to decipher ‘what are bad carbs’ and what are their ‘better choice’ counterparts, it’s this:

The farther the carbohydrate food is from its natural “out-of-the-ground” state, the more it falls under the category of “bad carbs” within the context of getting leaner and healthier. In other words, the more someone’s done with it in terms of processing (like the white rice in the example above), the less health and leanness-promoting it is.

"Natural Testosterone Booster" Foods

A lot of guys wonder how they can boost testosterone levels naturally. I'm occasionally asked a question at the gym that goes something like this:

"Do you know of any 'natural testosterone boosting foods'; ya know - something you'd eat for that purpose above anything else?"

My reply comes in the form of a rhetorical question:

"Have you ever noticed when you eat a lot of beef and broccoli, you get a bit more aggressive… or focused… or frisky… or whatever higher testosterone levels do to YOU?"

Yeah… beef and broccoli - that'd be my best choice for 'natural testosterone booster' foods.

When it comes to 'natural testosterone booster' foods, these are my two favorite picks.

Beef is high in saturated fat and zinc, both of which are needed for testosterone production. Yet those two ingredients can't seem to fully explain what beef intake tends to do. Anecdotal evidence from other guys I've spoken with reinforces what I've noticed myself; higher strength and libido levels tend to follow beef consumption.

If beef is a 'natural testosterone booster', broccoli would be a natural defender of that hormone spike. It's a cruciferous vegetable containing a phytochemical called indole-3-carbinol (I3C). This stuff helps flush the body of excess estrogen - a hormone that many men don't realize their bodies produce. Since estrogen competes with testosterone for bodily receptor sites, reducing it is a major key to raising and maintaining testosterone levels.

Yes, there are other 'natural testosterone booster' foods besides beef that contain fat and zinc. You could go with chicken or oysters. I just personally notice a "kick" that beef seems to exclusively provide.

You can also go with other cruciferous vegetables, like cauliflower or cabbage. Yet broccoli provides other benefits that can work synergistically with its anti-estrogen effect. This vegetable is high in calcium. Healthy calcium levels are essential for suppressing calcitriol - a hormone that causes the body to produce fat and inhibit fat breakdown. Keep in mind: it is body fat (especially in the mid-section) on men that suppresses testosterone by elevating estrogen.

Here are some other natural testosterone booster foods:

• Olive Oil (monounsaturated fat)
• Mushrooms (good source of zinc)
• Lowfat Yogurt (this stuff sounds wimpy - but it kicks butt)
• Wheat Bran (more zinc)

And just for good information, here are three foods that definitely DO NOT fall into the 'natural testosterone booster' category. These three have been shown to actually reduce testosterone:

• Licorice (has been shown to cut levels by up to 40%)
• Stevia (sweetener additive)
• Grapefruit (prohibits breakdown of estrogen in the liver)

Also, alcohol is a big estrogen producer/testosterone killer. So when you insist on having those weekend beers, you might want to double up on your weekday beef and broccoli. Well, boost up the cruciferous veggie intake at least.

"Bodybuilding Supplements Discounted": Here's a way to save money

Are food and gas prices putting the squeeze on your fitness budget? Is a can of protein powder or a few meal replacement packets a bit daunting to pay for? Are you finding yourself searching for 'bodybuilding supplements discounted'?

You're not alone. A rise in worldwide demand relative to supply has sent the price of protein powders up at many times the speed that anyone's muscles are growing from their use. It makes one seriously consider using the old 1950's recipe for homemade protein concoctions: low-fat milk mixed with powdered milk; lactose-intolerance be damned.

A good quality, price-discounted bodybuilding protein powder mixed with a few inexpensive grocery items can make for a tasty, nutritious, muscle-building MRE

If you're like I am, you're busy. We don't always have time to prepare bodybuilding meals. We need to eat nutrient-dense foods while flying by the seats of our pants. This often requires use of the ubiquitous MRE; Meal Ready to Eat. These are the bodybuilding meals in a packet that can be blended into a tasty smoothie and consumed within a few minutes.

The challenge: finding a decent MRE that isn't creeping up in price at the same rate as its protein sources. Discovering one would fall right at the top of the list in the context of 'bodybuilding supplements discounted.'

I spoke about this with a buddy of mine who owns a nutritional supplement store. We concluded that a person could easily put together a nutrient dense MRE that will help build muscle and break down body fat without breaking their bank account. The real key is finding a quality and tasty protein powder that's sold at a reasonable price - then blender mixing that with some low-cost, nutrient-dense food items.

I've seen a whey protein powder at one of the major discount stores here in the States for as low as $19.00 for 23 servings. Another acquaintance of mine, who's on a really tight bodybuilding budget, swears this stuff's got 'truth-in-labeling' as good as any. It touts about 36 grams of protein on the label - so assuming it's true, let's throw in some other ingredients and look at our costs:

• Protein Powder .83¢
• Low Fat Yogurt (1 cup .75¢)
• Olive Oil (1 Tablespoon) .21¢
• Cooked Oats (one cup dry) .27¢
• Frozen Strawberries (1 1/2 cups) $1.50
• Sucralose (2 packets) .06¢

For the 'bodybuilding supplements discounted' seekers, this entire meal replacement comes out to a money-sparing three dollars and sixty-two cents. In addition, it's 'muscle-friendly' and 'body-fat antagonistic.'

Amazingly, cooked oatmeal is not detectable by one's taste buds when blended with flavor-rich ingredients. You won't even know it's in the smoothie. Simply cook a huge container of it and keep it in your refrigerator - ready for the blender. This will add an awesome source of inexpensive, low glycemic, energy-extending carbohydrates. It's a 'bodybuilding supplements discounted' seeker's dream-come-true.

The low fat yogurt adds a little more protein, some consistency, and a few more low-glycemic carbs.

Olive Oil adds some good fat (monounsaturated) for better cholesterol ratios and building blocks for testosterone production.

The strawberries are low glycemic and vitamin rich - while the sucralose just sweetens things up a bit for palatability.

If you're looking for 'bodybuilding supplements discounted' and you can't find an MRE that suits your budget and your needs, simply get creative. You might come up with something your body likes better than what the manufacturers have to offer.

Junk Food Alternative

I’ve always been one of those guys who can hardly stay out of a bowl of chips once I’ve dipped into them at a party. Something about those crunchy, carb-filled potato slices that have been fried in grease and heavily salted; they’ve a way of beckoning even the most customarily disciplined among us. Just provide a good dip to go with them and I could be a walking starch and oil pump by the time I leave the gathering.


Well, someone recently presented me with a “junk food alternative” to the addictive party chip munching. It was during a conversation about Memorial Day weekend barbeque's in which I, admittedly, might have learned of this recipe rather belatedly; some of you may have already heard of this. Basically, it consists of using baked potato chips and replacing the dip with a concoction of plain nonfat yogurt mixed with French’s powdered onion dip. Supposedly, the plain yogurt is so neutral in flavor that the powdered onion dip will have it nearly tasting like the real thing.

Now, I’ve yet to try this particular “junk food alternative”. I’ll admit to being a bit skeptical about a “baked” potato chip. Isn’t frying those things in oil what gives them their flavor? You might as well attempt baking a French fry and try calling it the same thing. This just might have the effect of keeping people nearer the beer keg and away from the snack counter.

But the dip sounds interesting; kind of like a bodybuilding version of a junk food alternative. This might be worth trying without the baked potato chips. The high protein/low glycemic makeup of the plain yogurt could help to bring on satiation in someone (like myself) prior to realizing the entire bowl of chips have been consumed (by me alone). There’s nothing like protein in the stomach to help prevent the consumption of too many carbohydrates and fats.

If any of you have tried this junk food alternative, please let me know. Without having tested it, I’m not sure if it leaves one’s party guests thanking them or leaving any subsequent invitations collecting dust.

Easy Fat Loss to Start Your Year

It’s been a while since I’ve written here, but I think readers would rather find something useful in a blog entry than meaningless ramblings.  However, I’m actually kicking myself in the butt for not dispensing before the Christmas/New Year season the simple tip I’m going to share with you here. It might have been far more helpful at that time. But, alas… here I am sharing it now, at the start of ‘08, and it could actually be better used to start your New Year than to end the previous one.

How many of you who’ve struggled to lose body fat have tried ADDING food to your daily meals rather than subtracting it? I know… it sounds like I’m losing it (something other than body fat) but stick with me. I did this over the ’07 Christmas/New Year season and it worked wonders. I ate some cheese cake and I ate drank some eggnog, but I didn’t gain body fat.

How did I do that?

I added two scoops of whey protein (along with a tablespoon of olive oil), three times a day, to my daily food intake for that nearly two-week period. This had two effects: 1) It displaced high-calorie foods I might have otherwise filled that void in my stomach with, and 2) It kept my blood sugar lower each day while also helping keep a positive nitrogen balance for my muscles.

Think about it: Even if you have a tendency to eat junk food, you’ll probably eat a lot less of it if you have  a small “protein foundation” in your stomach. A bit of whey protein can help you feel satiated so you’re not ravenous when it’s time for a full meal.

Since whey protein digests a bit quickly by itself, I recommend adding a little oil. This will slow down digestion of the protein. I like using Olive Oil (monounsaturated fat), but I know people who prefer a small scoop of old-fashioned peanut butter (no sugar added). If you go the peanut butter route, remember to be careful because, although it’s satiating – it’s also calorie-dense.

You can read about all the benefits of whey protein right here: http://www.wheyoflife.org/faq.cfm

If you’re looking to lose body fat in the New Year, I highly recommend you give this technique a try in order to get the ball rolling with some easy fat loss.