THE CHOCOLATE MILK ATHLETE?????????

Long considered a treat, chocolate milk is gaining popularity as a post-workout recovery drink.

Research shows that chocolate milk, loaded with carbohydrates and protein, refuels muscles, reduces muscle breakdown and rehydrates the body.

Studies, including at Indiana University and Virginia's George Mason University, suggest drinking low-fat chocolate milk after exercise is just as effective in helping muscles recover as a high-carbohydrate sports drink.

At about 25 cents for an eight-ounce serving, it's a bargain, too.

Cheryl Zonkowski, director of sports nutrition at the University of Florida, said reduced-fat chocolate milk is offered to about 530 student-athletes – as well as Gatorade nutrition and protein recovery shakes and cherry juice – following exercise.

"It contains 170 total calories, with 29 grams of carbohydrates and 8 grams of protein, a 3.6-to-1 ratio. Optimal recovery ratio for carbs to protein is between 3-to-1 and 4-to-1," Zonkowski said. Milk also contains vitamins A, D, B-6 and B-12; plus niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc.

Each week, athletes from among the University of Florida's 12 Gator teams drink 12 cases of 50, eight-ounce containers of 1 per cent chocolate milk available in weight rooms and training facilities. Whatever their choice, timing is important since optimal recovery takes place immediately to about 30 minutes following exercise, Zonkowski said.

And some athletes say tart cherry juice, rich in antioxidants, eases muscle pain and soreness.

Other everyday foods are also being touted as fitness fuel. University of Texas researchers found that a bowl of whole-grain cereal, such as corn flakes or bran flakes, and milk are also great for post-exercise recovery.

Florida's dairy industry is pleased with the trend.

"It's a completely new way of looking at refuelling, but it's one that makes a lot of sense. It's definitely gaining lots of traction,'' said Scott Wallin, spokesman for Dairy Farmers Inc.

article from healthzone.ca

WANNA LOOK YOUNGER, AND STAY LOOKINNG YOUNGER WITHOUT USING A CREAM!?!?

This month’s Nutrition Performance is going to give you the breakdown of the latest science on what bodybuilders need to eat and drink for a long life— so they don’t look like the Crypt Keeper.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids and Tea Have Anti-Aging Effect on Cells

Omega-3s, the fatty acids found primarily in coldwater fish like salmon, have a host of health benefits including protecting against prostate cancer and reducing heart disease. Now there's evidence that Omega-3s may have a profound anti-aging effect, too.

A study using rats found that administration of Omega-3 fatty acids increased their life span by approximately one-third.¹ A more recent study in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association looked at the effect of Omega-3 fatty acids on telomere length. Telomeres are structures at the end of chromosomes that are markers of biological aging. Think of a piece of strand that is wrapped up, and every time the strand is unraveled, it shortens your life span. Well, telomeres are at the end of the strand, keeping the strand from unraveling— so every time the telomeres shorten is indicative of the Grim Reaper taking a step closer.

Genetic factors, exposure to certain chemicals and environmental stressors, inflammation, obesity and lack of exercise all shorten the length of telomeres— and are believed to contribute to the aging process. Researchers from the University of California investigated whether Omega-3 fatty acid blood levels were linked to changes in telomere length in a study of 608 people who had stable coronary artery disease. The researchers suspected that Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) may have anti-aging effects. That’s exactly what they found!

The scientists found that research subjects with the least amount of DHA and EPA experienced the most rapid rate of telomere shortening (indicative of a shorter life). However, those with the highest levels of the Omega-3 fatty acids experienced the slowest rate of telomere shortening.² Each one-standard deviation increase in DHA+EPA levels was associated with a 32 percent reduction in the odds of telomere shortening. So the question is, how do Omegas-3 fatty acids provide anti-aging effects?

One of the mechanisms is that Omega-3 fatty acids reduce free radical damage, which shortens telomeres. Taking Omega-3 fatty acids and eating plenty of marine wildlife is a sure “supplement” to extend one’s life.

References:

1. Jolly CA, Muthukumar A, Avula CP, Troyer D, Fernandes G. Life span is prolonged in food-restricted autoimmune-prone (NZB × NZW)F(1) mice fed a diet enriched with (n-3) fatty acids. J Nutr, 2001;131 (10):2753-2760.

2. Farzaneh-Far R, Lin J, Epel ES, Harris WS, Blackburn EH, Whooley MA. Association of marine omega-3 fatty acid levels with telomeric aging in patients with coronary heart disease. JAMA, 2010 Jan 20;303(3):250-7.

Don’t Take Fish Oils Without Antioxidants!

Now that you know Omega-3 fatty acids can prolong one’s life span, you may feel like popping fish oils like they are amino acids! Hold on a second— there are some things that you need to understand about fish oils— for openers, they are susceptible to oxidation. Here is an experiment: take some fish oil gel tabs and poke a hole in them, and let the gel tabs sit on the counter as they are exposed to oxygen— you may notice they smell horrible. Fish oils are especially prone to spoilage. If you take fish oils, you should take them with antioxidants.

Researchers from Appalachian State University reported that taking fish oils without antioxidants before heavy exercise can cause more damage than good. The researchers had trained athletes perform a bout of heavy exercise. Test subjects were randomized for six weeks to receive fish oils (3,000 IUs vitamin A and 200 micrograms selenium), a fish oil and antioxidant combination, or a placebo. The researchers measured several markers of antioxidant markers in the blood. The concerning finding was that the fish oils group had a 53 percent greater value in prostaglandin F2, compared to the placebo group. F2-isoprostanes are bioactive compounds, which are considered to be the gold standard for determination of oxidative stress.

Interestingly, F2-isoprostanes are elevated in obesity and various other disease states associated with elevated oxidative stress or free radical damage. F2-isoprostanes were increased 53 percent by Omega-3 fatty acids alone, but only 32.8 percent when Omega-3 fatty acids were coupled with large doses of antioxidant vitamins (i.e. C, E, A, and selenium). This suggests that co-ingestion of antioxidants with Omega-3 fatty acids offered some protection from lipid oxidation.¹

Another study reported that if you are taking fish oils, they should be consumed with vitamin E. Researchers looked at men who consumed a controlled diet for a total of 28 weeks. For the first 10 weeks, they received placebo oil capsules (15 grams/day), for the next 10 weeks they received fish oil capsules (15 grams/day), and for the last eight weeks they received the fish oil plus 200 mg of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol). The urinary excretion of peroxidation products (malondialdehyde) more than doubled when the fish oil capsules were introduced, but then dropped by a factor of four when vitamin E was added. The vitamin E concentration in the red blood cells dropped significantly when fish oil was ingested, but more than recovered with the vitamin E supplement.²

In conclusion, the negative effects of fish oil consumption can be overcome by taking fish oils with vitamin E. Don’t take fish oils without taking an antioxidant-rich supplement with it; you may be doing more harm than good.

References:

1. McAnulty SR, Nieman DC, Fox-Rabinovich M, Duran V, McAnulty LS, Henson DA, Jin F, Landram MJ. Effect of n-3 Fatty Acids and Antioxidants on Oxidative Stress after Exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 2010 Feb 13.

2. Nair, Padmanabhan P., et al. Dietary fish oil-induced changes in the distribution of alpha-tocopherol, retinol, and beta-carotene in plasma, red blood cells, and platelets: modulation by vitamin E. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 58, July 1993, pp. 98-102.

Nutrition discovery: black rice rivals blueberries as source of healthful antioxidants

Nutrition discovery: black rice rivals blueberries as source of healthful antioxidants

by S. L. Baker, features writer

(NaturalNews) In ancient China, nobles commandeered every grain of a variety of black rice known as "Forbidden Rice" for themselves and forbade the common people from eating it. Now 21st century scientists have discovered that black rice truly is a treasure -- at least when it comes to nutrition. In fact, a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries, plus the rice bran has less sugar, more fiber and an abundance of vitamin E.

That's the conclusion of Zhimin Xu, Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dr. Xu just announced his research team's findings at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) being held in Boston.

Many fruits are known to be rich sources of anthocyanin antioxidants and these phytochemicals show promise for fighting heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. But according to Dr. Xu and his colleagues, research shows black rice is also rich in these health-protecting phytochemicals -- so adding black rice bran to the diet or the bran extracts to breakfast cereals, beverages, and other foods could help protect and improve health.

"If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran? Especially, black rice bran would be a unique and economical material to increase consumption of health promoting antioxidants," Dr. Xu said in a statement to the media.

Brown rice is the most widely produced variety of rice in the world. It has a brown color because only the outer husks, or "chaff", are taken off the rice grains during milling. When rice is processed more and the underlying nutrient-dense bran is removed, the result is white rice. If you eat brown rice instead of the white kind, you are making a far healthier diet choice because the bran of brown rice contains higher levels of gamma-tocotrienol, one of the vitamin E compounds, and gamma-oryzanol antioxidants, which are lipid-soluble antioxidants.

A large body of research has concluded these antioxidants can reduce blood levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol) and potentially lower the risk for heart disease. In fact, as previously reported in NaturalNews, Temple University scientists have found that a specific natural compound in brown rice can reduce high blood pressure and protect blood vessels (http://www.naturalnews.com/028705_b...) and Harvard University research suggests consuming brown rice may prevent type 2 diabetes (http://www.naturalnews.com/029143_b...).

As healthy as brown rice is, however, Dr.Xu and his colleagues think black rice may be even healthier. They analyzed samples of black rice bran from rice grown in the southern United States and found it possesses higher level of anthocyanins antioxidants than brown rice bran. The scientists also discovered that pigments in black rice bran extracts can produce a variety of different colors, ranging from pink to black, and may provide a healthy, natural alternative to the artificial colorings manufacturers often add to some foods and beverages. Several studies have found an association between artificial food coloring and cancer, behavioral problems in children, and other health concerns.

Currently, black rice is used mainly in Asia for food decoration and in sushi, noodles, and puddings. Dr. Xu stated that farmers in Louisiana are interested in growing black rice and he is optimistic Americans may soon embrace this nutrient-rich rice variety.

This article I found on www.musculardevelopment.com

Benefits of Fish oils....

Research studies show fish oil benefits are down right amazing.

And knowing this is the second most important thing you can do for your health. (We'll get to #1 in importance soon.)

Studies are published almost daily as the scientific community discovers more and more of the many extraordinary omega 3 fish oil benefits.

If you haven't already been swept up in the net yet, here are 7 proven omega 3 benefits you should know about.

1. Less Pain and Inflammation. Omega 3 fatty acids, particularly EPA, have a very positive effect on your inflammatory response. Through several mechanisms, they regulate your body's inflammation cycle, which prevents and relieves painful conditions like arthritis, prostatitis, cystitis and anything else ending in "itis."

2. Cardiovascular Health. Omega 3 fatty acids have also been proven to work wonders for your heart and the miles and miles of arteries and veins that make up your cardiovascular system. They help to lower cholesterol, tryglicerides, LDLs and blood pressure, while at the same time increasing good HDL cholesterol. This adds years to your life expectancy.

3. Protection from Stroke and Heart Attack. When plaque builds up on arterial walls and then breaks loose, it causes what's known as a thrombosis, which is a fancy way of saying clot. If a clot gets stuck in the brain, it causes a stroke and when it plugs an artery, it causes a heart attack. Research shows omega 3 fatty acids break up clots before they can cause any damage.

4. Better Brain Function and Higher Intelligence. Pregnant and nursing mothers can have a great impact on the intelligence and happiness of their babies by supplementing with fish oil. For adults, omega 3 improves memory, recall, reasoning and focus. You'll swear you're getting younger and smarter.

5. Less Depression and Psychosis. Making you smarter is not all omega 3 does for your brain. Psychiatry department researchers at the University of Sheffield, along with many other research studies, found that omega 3 fish oil supplements "alleviate" the symptoms of depression, bipolar and psychosis (Journal of Affective Disorder Vol. 48(2-3);149-55).

6. Lower Incidence of Childhood Disorders. Just to show how fish oil fatty acids leave nobody out, studies show that children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD experience a greatly improved quality of life. And those with dyslexia, dyspraxia and compulsive disorders have gotten a new lease on life thanks to omega 3 oils.

7. Reduction of Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancer. And finally, omega 3 fish oil has been shown to help prevent three of the most common forms of cancer - breast, colon and prostate. Science tells us that omega 3s accomplish this in three ways. They stop the alteration from a normal healthy cell to a cancerous mass, inhibiting unwanted cellular growth and causing apoptosis, or cellular death, of cancer cells.

So you can see why knowing these benefits is the second most important thing you can do for your health. Can you guess what number one is?

That's right! Now it's time to put your knowledge to work. Eat more cold water oily fish and start taking good quality pure omega 3 fish oil supplements regularly.

Copyright by Michael Byrd. All Rights Reserved.

INCREASING AND DECREASING WEIGHTS.......?

If you’ve been to the gym on a regular basis, you will eventually see the following behavior. Someone is working out with freeweights, doing some common exercise like bench presses. They do a set and then they change weights, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing. They do another set and again they change the weight. In fact, they go on like this for multiple sets, usually four or five, changing the weight each and every time. Is this normal? Is it helpful?

Well, Maybe…

As with many things, the answer isn’t quite as straightforward as you would think. There are reasons for and against both increasing and decreasing weight. However, the difference is rather small. In fact, unless you’re a serious body builder, you probably don’t have much to gain from increasing vs. decreasing weights. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the impact of weight altogher.

The Right Weight

The right weight is the one at which, when you do your target number of reps, you can barely do the last rep. For example, if I plan on doing 10 reps, then I should pick a weight where, on the 10th rep, I am barely able to lift the weight. If I can easily do an 11th and a 12th rep, then I’m using a weight that’s too low for me. The same applies to any number of reps. For example, if I want to do 5 reps, then I should pick a weight that will be very difficult on the 5th rep and pretty much impossible on the 6th rep. That’s called “working to failure” or “failure point”. That last rep is the failure point at which you simply cannot complete another full rep. Ideally, every set of exercises you do goes to the failure point.

NOTE - This applies to everyone, not just body builders. And yes, it applies to women too.

What Does This Have To Do With Increasing Or Decreasing Weight?

A lot. Think about the fact that many people do multiple sets. For example, I used to do 4 sets of 10 reps for each exercise. So for example, I would do 10 lunges, rest a few seconds, 10 more, rest, 10 more, rest and then 10 more. That’s 4 sets of 10 reps. Now clearly, as I do more and more of these sets, I’m going to be pretty tired. That means I’m going to have a harder time with the weight.

If I used the same weight for each of these sets, I would have an easy time lifting it on the first set and I might find it impossible to even complete my fourth set. To compensate for that, I would start out with a higher weight and decrease the weight as I progressed in sets. So the first set might be with 120lbs, the second with 110, the third with 100 and the last one with 90.

So Decreasing Weight Is Good?

That’s not what I’m saying. Decreasing weight is just a means to an end. That end is always working each set so that you’re unable to do even one more rep at the end of it. Decreasing the weight was just one way of achieving that. I could have done it in other ways. For example, I can do:

1. Set 1 - 12 reps with 100lbs
2. Set 2 - 10 reps with 100lbs
3. Set 3 - 8 reps with 100lbs
4. Set 4 - 6 reps with 100lbs

This way I can keep the weight the same while still working to failure on each set.

Alternatively, I could do:

1. Set 1 - 20 reps with 60lbs
2. Set 2 - 15 reps with 80 lbs
3. Set 3 - 10 reps with 100lbs
4. Set 4 - 5 reps with 120lbs

This approach is just as valid.

These days I only do one set of exercises per workout. So I’m never doing multiple weights. However, I do change weights per day so that on Monday I might be doing a set of 10 lunges with 100lbs. In Wednesday I do a set of 5 lunges with 160lbs while on Friday I do a set of 20 lunges with 70lbs. Again, it’s not about increasing or decreasing weight, it’s about always working to failure and making sure that last rep is really the last one that you can do.

One Last Point

The only real benefit of decreasing and increasing weight is change. Change is good for your body. Doing the same thing over and over in the exact same way tends to lead people into a rut. They get stuck with one routine and can never improve. Changing weights can be a way of forcing your body to adapt to different conditions and that’s a good thing. So whether you change weights every set or every day, just keep trying new things and always work towards that failur point.

Honestly guys/gals Mikey and I believe in increasing the weight, after each set! The best way to determine if this works for you, is to try it....After all, the best workout is one that works for you!!!

I dont know this guy, but he's right! A large majority, both male and female, increase or decrease the weight after each set...Just something to think about!