Processed Meats and Lung Disease

Bodybuilders and athletes, who practice on more professional level don't allow processed meats in their diets, but active (and of course sedentary) people with less knowledge about proper nutrition still haven't excluded these from their daily menus.

Researchers from the Columbia university found that frequent consumption of cured meats can lead to lung disease known as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

What causes problems in this area is actually a preservative, added in processed meats. It's called nitrites. It is speculated that nitrites produce reactive nitrogen chemicals, which cause lung damage, similar to the damage from emphysema.

Processed meats don't have a place in a healthy and sound diet for another reason - they are usually high in saturated fats.

Exersicing for Stronger Core

That's right. Training your core means not moving a muscle in most cases. Why is that? Because your core muscles are there to prevent your body from potentially damaging movements in the mid section. This way the core muscles protect your spine from injury.

Basically while every other muscle group in the body has to be trained with movements, the core can get strengthened with exercises like plank on a swiss ball, swiss ball knee tuck, glute-bridge.

Fact is stronger core muscles can lower with 30 percent the lower back pain. And adding swiss ball to training the core (for not moving core exercises) can make you four times more stable in the mid section - necessary not only for avoiding lower back problems, but also for improved body posture. The conclusion - less chances for injury and pain and more aesthetic look.

Caffeine And Soreness. Helps Or Doesn't?

Soreness is an issue every bodybuilder and athlete has to deal with. The means are different – recovery techniques, pain relievers, etc.

In a study at the University of Georgia researchers found that caffeine dose (in a pill form) equal to two cups of coffee (around 200 mg) fights exercise induced soreness more successfully than pain relievers.

This is another vote on the side of caffeine. Keep in mind, though that through making you sore your body is trying to tell you something - you need to pay more attention to the recovery. So, masking the soreness over time might lead to overtraining.

Another thing to keep in mind is although all its benefits caffeine is acidic in your system. You are already acidic any way if you follow a high-protein diet. Do, factor that when opting in for caffeine as a soreness suppressant.

What Exactly Is Sugar Alcohol?

We, bodybuilders, and in fact anybody, who understands the importance of proper nutrition for the health, often avoid foods containing sugar. Some of them are sweetened with non-caloric sweeteners, some of them with sugar alcohols. We know about the sweeteners, but what are the sugar alcohols?

Sugar Alcohols (also named polyols) are hydrogenated carbohydrates, whose structure resembles that of alcohols. That’s where their name comes from.

The most common sugar alcohols are sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, erithritol and xylitol. They are almost as sweet as table sugar at half the calories. The reason is they are poorly absorbed in the intestines. That’s the main reason why in higher quantities (30gr and more) they can cause stomach discomfort, bloating and diarrhea. Exception is only the erithritol, which is absorbed in the intestines but is excreted unchanged.

Sugar alcohols are usually added to sugar free foods to mask the strong aftertaste of non-calorie sweeteners. If a food is sugar free but it’s sweetened with sugar alcohols, the sugar alcohols have to be listed in the nutrition facts label.

As a person who realizes the importance of moderating insulin levels, you should certainly avoid high glycemic carbohydrates as well as refined sugar.

If you have to use sweetener go with erithritol if the others cause you stomach discomfort. If you want to go absolutely calorie free go with the non-nutritive sweetener stevia.

The Latest On Read Meat – Eat or Avoid

This is like the fats and the belief that fat is the enemy back in the 80’s and the early 90’s. Now, I guess the same is going to happen with read meat. We, bodybuilders know that red meat is what gives you the most strength and lets you put on muscle the fastest.

But for the last several years we have also known that red meat is hard for digestion, can sit in the guts for months and sometimes years, slowly releasing toxins in the body. Studies in the latest years have also shown that red meats cause oxidative damage (free radicals) and inflammation processes in the body – two of the main causes of cancer.

Australian scientists now say that red meat, consumed even in higher quantities does not cause more inflammation and free radical damage. They suggest that the only the processed red meat like salami and hot dogs are a risk factor. Why? Because of all of the additives that are added to preserve taste, freshness, add color, etc.

We were let to believe we should stray from consuming red meat often. Although the latest findings of the Australian researchers I still think that until more is known about the interactions of red meat with the human digestive system and ultimately the entire body we, the bodybuilders and other athletes are not cleared to go back to eating this type of meat twice and more a day.

So, my advice is to be on the safe side stick to eating fish and occasionally chicken (unless the chicken is the so called free range). For the extra bust in strength take your creatine monohydrate and wait for more studies on this topic.

Detect Lower Body Strength Imbalance

I just read a very interesting article in Men’s Health. It made me think of that for a minute. It was about favoring one leg or another while training quads.

I personally do both unilateral (one leg at a time) and simultaneous lifts. I incorporate those in my smith-machine squats and leg presses. And I can tell I still feel slight difference between the strength of my right and left leg.

For example if I start an unilateral exercise with my right leg the left leg usually struggles to complete the number of reps I performed with the right one. But if I start with my left leg I can complete with the exact number of reps with the right leg without feeling difference.

What researchers say is try this exercise and see if you have imbalance in the strength of your legs. So, try this in your workout: Leap forward five times, using only one of your legs. The fifth time land on both feet. Repeat the same with the other leg. If the difference in the total distance is more than 10% then you have a imbalance.

In this case unilateral exercises will help a lot. Just don’t forget if you determine one of your legs is weaker than the other start your exercise with it and follow with the stronger for the same number of reps you were able to complete with the weaker. That’s very important as it will give a chance to the weaker side to catch up with the stronger one.

Avoid Stretching Before Workout?

Yes and no. It depends on what type of stretching you are thinking of. If you have in mind the most well known, classic type of stretching, where you stretch to a certain degree and then hold for a certain number of seconds, that’s the static stretching. It’s the stretching you want to avoid before your weights training routine.

But if you thought dynamic stretches then you hit right on the spot. Dynamic stretches are those where you bring a muscle to a stretched position for a very short period of time, such as in arm and leg swings, rotations. This is the type of stretching you should do before your workout as a part of the warming up routine.

As soon as you are finished with the training session make sure you stretch passively the already trained muscles. Yes, I am talking about the type of stretching, which you should avoid upon beginning of your workout.

And why you should avoid it? Static stretching causes your muscles to relax, thus making them more prone to injuries. That is the main reason. You shouldn’t fear injuries due to your muscles being relaxed once you’re done with your workout because you are not going to do anything that might put your muscles in danger. That’s why you do static stretching at the end. And as a matter of fact you do it in any other part during the day except right before weights training session.