Macronutrients and Calories

What you need to know is total calorie intake at the end of the day, depending if you’re in a decit or
surplus (losing weight or gaining weight), will determine if you stay lean or gain weight.

Now, that’s not to say that calories are the end all, be all, in a nutrition program.

In fact, Evans et al. Proved macronutrient (protein, carbohydrates, fats) ratios were very important during a calorie decit

Dear Friend,

In this special report you’ll learn about calories, thermic effect of food and importance of macronutrients.

Calories are Where We Get Our Energy

Thee calories we take in from food are where we get our energy, therefore we need calories for energy and to stay alive.

We know this may seem odd, but a helpful model for understanding types of energy has been used in cattle production, which relies upon the tracking of energy in order to maintain health, growth…

And reproduction.

It’s simple to understand and obvious humans are different from cows in certain aspects of digestion.

The general framework of food-derived energy use is surprisingly similar.

Here’s a graphic of the various fates of energy as it cows from the food source through the body of the animal.

What is a calorie?

A calorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degrees C.

The term calorie is synonymous with kilocalorie (abbreviated as kcal).

Less commonly, it’s referred to as a kilogram-calorie, or large calorie.

When the term is not capitalized, it technically represents one-thousandth of the value of a kcal.

In other words, it’s the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree C.

The non-capitalized term is less commonly called a gram-calorie.

Starting from the top of the chart above,gross energy is the starting point before ingestion; it’s the energy the food contains.

What’s le aer the fecal energy loss is considered digestible energy.

What remains aer energy losses through feces, urine, and gas is metabolized into energy.

Finally, net energy is what’s available for use (storage) aer losses through feces, urine, gas and heat increment.

Thermic Effect of Food is known as (TEF) which is the energy required to digest, transport, and deposit nutrients.

Macronutrients vary in their thermic effect, which ultimately influences net yield of energy available to the body.

For example, Jequier et al. suggested the thermic effect of protein (expressed as a percentage of energy content) is 25-30%, Carbohydrate is 6-8% and fat is 2-3%.

Gro et al. Suggested Protein is 20-25%, Fat is 3%, and Carbs 20-30%.

Flat et al. suggested the energy cost of digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing proteins (23%) is greater than that of either carbohydrates (6%) or fat (3%).

As you can see macronutrients vary in thermic effect and they play an important role when trying to make body composition changes.

Thermic Effect of Food…

As you can see, from above why it’s not wise to solely depend on just counting calories.

Macronutrients are important due to what we discussed above regarding the thermic effect of food.

If you still aren’t buying it, we will reference an elegant study, where they did an isocaloric (meaning same calories) comparison of four diets:

Normal protein, normal carbohydrate
Normal protein, low carbohydrate
High protein, normal carbohydrate
High protein, low carbohydrate

The two higher protein conditions caused the greatest decreases in body fat.

Remember the TEF’s we talked about earlier?

So clearly macronutrients play a vital role in your nutrition program and should be programmed towards your goals, body type, metabolism, activity, etc.

As stated above, the amount of total daily calories also known as “Energy Balance” you take in at the end of the day will determine if you gain or lose weight…

Yes, it’s just one piece of the very large puzzle and you must not count out the importance and role macronutrients play in body composition changes.

Low Testosterone By Estrogen Domination

Give Your Manhood Much Needed Natural Boost

Did you know estrogen dominance can cause low testosterone? Look around and it’s pretty hard to find any kind of sportswear that hasn’t been made with “gender-bending” chemicals…

Almost everything these days is made of synthetic material or some new “techno” fiber that “wicks away moisture.”

It took me half an hour to find something made from real cotton. But here’s the problem… those hi-tech materials are full of nasty and dangerous chemicals.

Too many popular sportswear brands, including Adidas and Nike, manufacture sportswear that contain chemicals linked to low-T, obesity, cancer and many other health concerns.1

And I don’t want my son to be exposed to any of that – including the low-testosterone crisis that has swept across America and the rest of the Western world over the past few decades.

Many sportswear brands now use compounds, called phthalates andpolyfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), to make their products water-, grease- and stain-proof.

These chemicals degrade over time into dangerous hormone-disrupters and xenoestrogens, which mimic the female sex hormone estrogen.

Your doctor is probably unaware of these hormone-disrupting chemicals and their devastating effects. And he or she is probably also unaware that estrogen dominance is one of the primary causes of low-T.

Estrogen mimics also can impair sexual development in boys, and cause early, or “precocious” puberty in girls. Their young bodies interpret the extra estrogen as the call to develop breasts and sexual traits when they’re as young as 7 and 8 years old.

And if you’re an adult, your body thinks it’s getting estrogen. So you could develop:

Erectile dysfunction;
Man boobs;
Loss of body hair;
Loss of muscle mass;
Decreases in bone mass;
Increases in body fat;
And half a dozen different types of cancer.
The painful muscle and bone deterioration caused by estrogen dominance leads to weakness and fatigue, achy joints and fragile bones – but no one is talking about that.

Most doctors don’t have the know-how to recognize estrogen dominance and they’re probably also unaware it can result in serious injury – and even premature death.

Conventional medical wisdom and most physicians often attribute muscle and bone deterioration to aging. But more than likely, the problem is an undetected hormone imbalance.

As I’ll share with you in a moment, you don’t need expensive drugs or therapies to reverse estrogen dominance.

The fact is that estrogen dominance has been caused by the modern world we live in. And these days, estrogen is pushed at us from every direction.

Farmers pump up meat and poultry with estrogens – all with FDA approval.
Government tests have found American water contained “… at least 11 compounds linked to birth control and hormone supplements.”
Estrogen is also found in commonly used food additives.
We absorb estrogen-mimicking pesticides from both our air and food.
Some prescription medications, including drugs used to treat cancer, contain estrogen.
Your sugar-loaded diet can trigger a hormone imbalance that forces your body to convert testosterone into estrogen.
And now estrogen mimics are in the clothes we wear in the gym or we buy for our kids and grandkids.

The phthalates and polyfluorinated chemicals found in sportswear are particularly worrying, because the sweat and friction that result from exercise only help the toxins get into your body more quickly.

And it’s not just Adidas and Nike that are at it. Twelve out of 30 sportswear brands, as well as upmarket fashion houses named in a recent Greenpeace report – including Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani and Louis Vuitton – have refused to remove these gender-bending, cancer-causing estrogen mimics from their manufacturing process and products.2

You may think this is a ringing endorsement for testosterone therapy as a counter to the estrogen dominance in your body – but it’s not.

In fact, if you follow popular mainstream therapies, you’ll only make your condition worse.

The fact is testosterone therapy can fuel estrogen dominance.

You don’t need to add more testosterone. But you do need to cleanse excess estrogen from your body.

The first thing I recommend to my patients is that they remove the sugar from their diets.

Secondly, I look to Mother Nature. She has provided the ideal way to shield your cells from excess estrogen – a plant compound called indole-3-carbinol (I3C).

Many vegetables contain I3C, a precursor compound converted into diindolylmethane (DIM) during digestio. And studies of both I3C and DIM show these compounds encourage the body to metabolize estrogen.3,4

So your estrogen imbalance can be easily corrected without low-T treatment or Big Pharma meds.

Just increase your I3C and DIM intake with a daily supply of cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, radishes, arugula and Brussels sprouts.

And if these veggies aren’t to your liking, take 100 mg. of I3C and 100 mg. of DIM supplements daily. These are available online and in most health food stores.

Very quickly, you’ll be able to remove excess estrogen from your system and stay healthy longer with strong muscles, bones and joints … and you’ll also keep your manhood.

Source:

greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/detox/fashion/

ibid

Safe S1. Molecular biology of the Ah receptor and its role in carcinogenesis. Toxicol Lett. 2001 Mar 31;120(1-3):1-7. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11323156

Chen I1, McDougal A, Wang F, Safe S. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated antiestrogenic and antitumorigenic activity of diindolylmethane. Carcinogenesis. 1998 Sep;19(9):1631-9. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9771935

Training for Success

What to Eat Before and After Exercise?

When I was working as a personal trainer, not a week went by when I used to see people virtually collapsing on the floor half way during their workout and not being able to complete their full session, due to not fuelling their body correctly and running out of puff.

Whether you are exercising just for general health, fat loss or an athlete in competition, the nutritional strategy you put in place before and after training can enhance performance and reduce fatigue and dehydration as well as promote optimal recovery afterwards.

In order to train properly and recover quickly you need to look at your chosen activity, how long it lasts, time of day and the nutritional strategy to assist in energy supply and recovery.

What you eat and drink before your workout, allows the body to train in the best possible condition.

Your meals should normally be a mix of carbohydrate for energy and protein to repair the body.

The best carbs come from fresh fruit and vegetables and they have the added benefit of being rich in vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that can help boost health and wellbeing.

If you’re exercising, the rule of thumb is begin your workout well nourished, but with your stomach virtually empty.

This basically means that based on your pre-exercise nutrition, your body should be well hydrated and have enough glycogen to enter your session in the best physical condition.

Glucose is stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen.

When we exercise the liver breaks down its glycogen and releases the glucose into the bloodstream for energy.

The muscles use this glucose as well as their own glycogen that is stored in the muscle to fuel their work.

When glycogen is depleted we become fatigued. How much carbohydrate we eat will influence how much glycogen is stored and the amount we need depends on our activity level and exercise time.

If we are trying to lose fat, we need to consider not only the amount of good carbohydrates we eat, but also the time of day we eat them.

For many of us ( unless you’re running marathons on playing professional sport), we should often have enough glycogen in our system from the day before to get us through our session.

A piece of low GI fruit like kiwi or berries, some yoghurt or a small protein drink made with water 30 minutes prior can also stabilise energy levels if you need it and get you powering through your 60 minutes session.

Drinking coffee, Organic Superfood or matcha tea 30 minutes to an hour before your workout results in longer endurance, faster times, less exertion, less fatigue, and more rapid recovery — up to 30 percent better in each category.

Caffeine also, breaks down fat, freeing fatty acids which are immediately burned.

If your exercise bouts are longer then make sure to take along carb/electrolyte replacements to get you through.

Some ideas could be coconut water, pineapple or orange juice that are rich in minerals such as potassium and magnesium to help regulate fluid balance and for muscle contraction.

Hydration…begin your workout well hydrated 500 ml of water consumed 15 – 30 minutes before training is ideal, then frequent sips during your workout session.

Make sure to hydrate properly after your workout to counteract dehydration.

Exercise sessions over 1 hour may need additional electrolytes during and after the session to help with recovery.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends you replace 1.5 litres of fluid for each kilogram of body weight lost.

Repair and Recover

Your body needs protein for repair, quality carbs to replenish glycogen (choose foods rich in magnesium and potassium that are necessary for nerve and muscle contraction).

Consumption of small protein rich meals 10 – 25g of protein at each time throughout the day after your training session is the best for protein synthesis.

Good protein rich meal are my recovery smoothie, Superfood smoothie, yoghurt, trail mix and Pure Native WPI.

Good carb sources are fresh fruit and vegetables including banana, oranges, pumpkin and sweet potato that are good food sources of potassium and magnesium.

Organic Superfood and Natural Immune Support also works as an anti-inflammatory and helps the body recover properly after training.

Prevent Workout Burnout

Remember to listen to your body and find your balance. Alternate the intensity of your training, so you’re not training like a crazy obsessed person every single day, otherwise you’ll soon burn out, get sick and give up.

Over-exercising and hard dieting have both physiological and psychological outcomes.

Your immune system will suffer and you will get sick easily. You’ll be tired most of the time, and you won’t be able to sleep properly, eat properly or train properly.

Common symptoms of burnout are: elevated morning heart rate – chronic fatigue – an increase in normal body temperature – a greater susceptibility to colds – difficulty sleeping – increased anxiety – joint and muscle injuries.

Enjoy the journey that exercising and healthy eating will take you on.

Learn to take days off to relax and recharge, and enjoy the experience!

It’s the only way you’ll be able to maintain a healthy, balanced exercise routine for the rest of your life.

The most efficient way to get strong, lean muscles with strength and power while shredding body fat is through a combination of high intensity interval training, circuit training and strength training…