Meal Frequency And Performance

I once discussed how eating more frequently could be better for weight loss. While this may be important to many of you, others may be more concerned with enhancing performance, strength gains, and gaining lean body mass. It is those of you for whom this article is geared towards. This week I’ll discuss why eating the right foods more frequently will undoubtedly make you bigger and stronger—and this isn’t some over hyped ad; it’s real life, based on science.

You’ve probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. While this if difficult to refute, pre- and post-workout nutrition are tied for a close second, with “during” nutrition just a nose behind. Refueling immediately post-workout is probably not a new concept. Working out depletes glycogen (the storage form of carbohydrate) and promotes protein breakdown (catabolism). Eating the proper nutrients soon after a workout will help replenish this glycogen and enhance protein building (anabolism). Always remember that working out is merely a stimulus needed to enhance muscle growth and recovery. However it’s the actual time between workouts when your muscles grow.

The late Mike Mentzer used a great analogy when discussing training. Lifting weights is like digging a hole in your muscles. If you continue to train and train without allowing for adequate recovery, the hole, per se, will only get bigger. Although he was speaking more in terms of overtraining, this same philosophy can be adopted to nutrition. If you continue to train and don’t feed your body the nutrients it needs (adequate energy via macronutrients and nutrient dense foods), the hole will continue to grow deeper. Refueling the body allows for growth (i.e., you fill the hole from training with new lean body mass). Ultimately, overtime this hole will not only “fill in” but will begin to overcompensate by overflowing or, growing larger by building more lean body mass. Extrapolating this example to nutrition and what you now know happens during rest, you should be well-aware that post-workout nutrition is crucial for recovery. Since this is not a new discovery, this article will concentrate more on pre- and post-workout nutrition. Several recent studies have demonstrated the importance of this concept, so let’s take a look.

As I mentioned, training results in muscle protein breakdown; therefore, it makes sense that the higher the baseline protein status, the less negative impact training would have. To look at this simplistically, if you start at 100% protein status and go down to 50% from training, it would be better than starting at 50% and going down to 0% from training. In the second example you would always be trying to get up to 100%, whereas if you consistently fed your body the nutrients it needs, you would be better off.

A recent study investigated whether ingestion of a supplement (6 grams of essential amino acids and 35 grams of sucrose) taken immediately before or after a training bout would alter the net protein balance in muscle. Interestingly, the authors noticed a significantly greater increase in those taking the pre-workout supplement compared to those taking a post-workout supplement. It appears that the mechanism here is there were more amino acids (remember these are the building blocks of protein) available for the working muscle. Moreover, this effect carried over so that there was enhanced availability of amino acids for at least the first hour of the workout. So, you ask, “what if my workouts last more than an hour?”

Well, maybe it’s time to refeed your body some more nutrients during your workout. Why should you hinder your workout because your muscles are tired, hungry, and just plain beat up? Race car drivers have the fastest, top notch cars available. However, during the Indy 500, for example, they need to stop to refuel. Think of your muscles as race cars; you don’t give them the fuels they need and they won’t perform.

So now the question is not only if you should feed your body before and/or during a workout, but what should you feed your body at these times. As I discussed in the previous study, participants received 6 grams of essential amino acids (equivalent to approximately 12-15 grams of whole proteins) and 35 grams of sucrose (carbohydrate). In terms of protein, there are obviously a million choices. But I don’t think gnawing on a filet mignon on your way to the gym is intelligent. As you are all aware, there are also a number of protein powders available (whey, casein, soy, etc). Furthermore, the processing of these proteins differs too (hydrolysates, isolates, and concentrates). Wow, this is starting to get a bit technical. Let’s cut to the chase.

Studies have shown that whey protein, when consumed independent of any other foods, is absorbed more rapidly than casein protein. Although most of the time foods are often combined with one another, it’s safe to say whey is generally absorbed more rapidly. In terms of the various processing methods, taking one over the other will not make or break your muscle gains. Therefore, if taking a protein supplement prior to a workout, it would be best to take a quality whey protein supplement. Similarly, if taking a product during or after a workout, whey would take the cake. This is because you want a protein that’s rapidly available to your muscles. You don’t want to be sitting at the gym with a stomach full of protein powder sloshing around. Try a set of squats like that! With that said, mixing whey protein with some carbohydrates (either via powder or your favorite carbohydrate product—not soda!) would be wise.

There are a number of pre-designed formulas on the market. In general it would be best to stick with a carbohydrate:protein ratio of approximately 3 or 4:1 (e.g., for every 30 or 40 grams of carbohydrate, you should have 10 grams of protein). This could be a great thing to drink slowly on the way to the gym and continue to sip throughout your workout. Then, be sure to consume sufficient energy immediately after your workout and continue to refeed your body throughout the day. Of course whole foods provide more nutrients than any supplement can provide, but carbohydrate:protein supplements are much more applicable and easily digested, so are useful immediately before, during and after workouts.

So now let’s get back to the frequency of eating statement from the beginning. Utilizing the recommendations from my last piece on meal frequency, plus those in this column, one would be eating about 8 times per day. Without getting into meal specifics, here’s an example of a day:

Meal 1
Breakfast

Meal 2
Pre-workout drink

Workout

Meal 3
During workout drink

Meal 4
Post-workout drink

Meal 5
Lunch

Meal 6
Afternoon snack

Meal 7
Dinner

Meal 8
Evening snack

Of course when I use the word “snack” I am referring to a nutrient dense food, such as low-fat yogurt, fruit, etc. rather than what most American’s consider as snacks. As long as your energy intake is sufficient for muscle growth and enhanced recovery, but not so high it’s resulting in fat storage, you’re on the way to a new you. The best judge of that is the mirror; not the scale or anyone else. Only you can set goals for yourself and shoot to achieve those; don’t let anyone or anything get in your way.

Until next time, here’s to good health!

Dr. Chris Mohr RD, PhD is a health nutrition consultant to a number of media outlets and corporations including Discovery Health Channel, Clif Bar, Waterfront Media, and Fit Fuel. He has authored and co-authored several textbooks and textbook chapters, including consulting with LL Cool J on "LL Cool J's Platinum Workout" (Rodale Press, 2006). He is also co-creator of Meal Plans 101 nutrition software.

Insulin And HFCS

Unruly insulin levels can royally screw up your physique. Specific foods affect insulin levels. However, what may be more important is knowing what specific ingredients in foods mess with insulin. You can lift all day until you are blue in the head, but eating specific foods and food ingredients could be holding you back from resembling the chiseled Statue of David.

First A Little Background

Insulin is THE most anabolic hormone in the body. Insulin’s anabolic properties make it rather important when thinking about packing on muscle. However, too much insulin could cause you to resemble Professor Klump from The Nutty Professor. Here’s how it works.

Insulin secretion occurs via the β-cells in the pancreas with the consumption and digestion of food; particularly in response to carbohydrate-rich foods. Over stimulation of the β-cells, characterized by diets consistently high in simple sugars (e.g., a “soda and Twinkie” type diet) may lead to insulin resistance overtime (probably because that kind of diet is usually accompanied by weight gain). Basically, when you consume high sugar foods, blood glucose is chronically elevated and insulin is continually released to control blood glucose levels (not allowing them to go too high).

Chronically elevated insulin levels decreases the bodies ability to burn fat, increases triglycerides, decreases HDL levels (the good cholesterol) and causes excessive peroxidation (the stuff we pay lots of money to avoid by buying eating lots of fruits and vegetables and antioxidant supplements)!

Therefore, dietary control and exercise are imperative since both help regulate glucose. In addition to the umbrella classification of high sugar foods, there are two specific ingredients that need to be considered: fructose and more specifically high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Both are found in a wide variety of foods, many of which may surprise you.

Fructose And Insulin

Here’s the scoop. Fructose is a monosaccharide (one sugar) that is often referred to as “fruit sugar” because it is the primary carbohydrate in most fruits. Fructose is also the primary sugar in honey and makes up half the carbohydrate in sucrose (table sugar). The interesting thing about fructose is that it does not stimulate insulin secretion and does not require insulin to be transported into cells, like other carbohydrates.

After all the talk about the importance of controlling insulin levels, it appears as though a lack of insulin secretion from fructose consumption may be a good thing. However, insulin also controls the fate of another hormone, leptin, so as you’ll see, its release is necessary.

Leptin tells your body to stop eating when it’s full. Essentially, leptin signals the brain to stop sending hunger signals because the “tank is full”. Since fructose doesn’t stimulate insulin, there will be no subsequent increase in leptin levels, and no feeling of satiety (i.e., you’ll keep eating and eating).

Is Fructose Making YOU Fat?

Fructose requires a different pathway for metabolism than other carbohydrates because it basically skips glycolysis (normal carbohydrate metabolism). Because of this, fructose serves as an unregulated source of something called acetyl-CoA, the starting material for fatty-acid synthesis. This, coupled with unstimulated leptin levels is setting you up for a big, fat disaster! It’s like opening the flood gates of fat deposition.

Don’t over interpret this; fructose should not be eliminated from the diet. This is more of a “heads up” since most readers of this site share similar health and fitness goals. Remember that fructose is the primary sugar found in fruits. Fruits provide a whole slew of nutrients that can’t otherwise be obtained from the diet so don’t toss them in the trash too fast. A little fructose, like that found in fruit, is OK. It’s when high levels of fructose are consumed, which is common these days because of the inclusion of sucrose and, even more so, HFCS into virtually all commercial foods.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

HFCS was brought to the market in the 1970’s by food companies looking to save money during production and, therefore, make more money from the consumer. HFCS hides itself in a variety of common foods such as ketchup, seasonings, barbeque sauce, soda, juices, cereals, pasta sauce, fruit-flavored yogurt and even some meal replacements powders, to name but a few. HFCS is popular among food companies because it is much sweeter than any natural sugar available, much cheaper, and easy to transport because it is a liquid.

While it may seem that this is just my over zealous mind taking things to extreme, read on; there are several animal studies to support my theories that body weight and adiposity both increase while consuming a high fructose diet (9,10,11). The data on humans is a bit more difficult to come across, but there are a few studies. For example, one study demonstrated that individuals consuming 28% of total energy from sucrose (remember, ½ the carbohydrate in sucrose is fructose) vs. artificial sweetener had a higher energy intake, body weight, and fat mass after a short 10-weeks (12).

This doesn’t sound like rocket science; greater energy intake equals greater weight gain. There were some interesting findings though. There was an increase of a little more than 400 kcals in the sucrose group, which should result in an approximate weight gain of 3.1 kg if all other factors are held constant. However, there was only about half that weight gain in this group. Therefore, the authors estimate that 48% of the excess energy intake from sucrose was used for other energy demanding body processes, such as lipogenesis (the creation of fat).

In addition, even though all subjects were told they were being given artificially sweetened products, most of those in the sucrose group guessed the true content of their beverages. Even though subjects knew they were consuming more calories from drinks, they didn’t compensate by eating less calories from other foods. Again, the authors suggest this could be a mechanism due to lack of control over eating behavior (remember the lack of insulin secretion and subsequent leptin production from fructose consumption talked about earlier).

Similarly another study demonstrated those consuming HFCS sweetened soda vs. artificially sweetened soda did not reduce participants total energy intake to compensate for the extra energy consumed as HFCS. These data, like above, suggest that the consumption of HFCS (from soda in this case) does not provide the body with a sense of fullness causing an increase in excess energy, hence, weight gain. I will say it again; fructose does not stimulate insulin or leptin, causing an increase in total energy intake because the “shut off switch (leptin)” is not registering that there is food in the body.

To make matters even worse, fructose consumption is even tied specifically to insulin resistance in rodents (suggesting it may have the same affect on humans too)(13,14) and increased triglyceride secretion (15).

So What Does This All Mean?

Let me sum up this whole article in one sentence: avoid HFCS like the plague! Go through your entire refrigerator, freezer and cabinets and read the ingredient labels with the same attention to detail you would use when going on a first date. If HFCS is high up on the list of ingredients (meaning there is a relatively large amount in the particular food) toss it in the garbage. Soda is one of the biggest culprits. It’s a great deal for the soda companies (e.g., use less of an even cheaper sugar for a sweeter product), but a heck of a deal for your body (e.g., get fat). Now of course HFCS alone cannot make you fat; for example soda made with “natural sugar” is still soda. However, coupled with an increased caloric intake (eating too much) and decrease energy output (not being active enough), you’re setting yourself up for a recipe for unhealthy disaster.

The easiest trick to avoid this (and many other “useless” ingredients) is to primarily shop around the perimeter of the store. Think about it: produce is on one side, seafood, red meat, poultry on another, and dairy products, eggs, bread on the third. HFCS infests commercially available products; the more these can be avoided, the better off you’ll be, both health and physique-wise. Try to buy foods in the most “natural” state possible; the less processing the manufacturers do, the better off you’ll be.

References:

1. JAMA, 286(10), 1195-1200, 2001
2. MSSE, 35(3), 449-455, 2003
3. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care, May;6(3):301-6, 2003
4. J Strength Cond Res, Feb;17(1):12-9, 2003
5. J Appl Physiol. Oct;93(4):1337-44, 2002
6. Can J Appl Physiol. 26 Suppl:S236-45, 2001
7. AJCN, 68, 794-801, 1998
8. AJCN, 74, 426-234, 2001
9. J Nutr, 112, 1546-1554, 1982
10. Br J Nutr, 70, 199-209, 1993
11. J Lab Clin Med, 128, 208-213, 1996
12. AJCN, 76, 721-729, 2002
13. J Nutr, 107, 147-155, 1977
14. Metabolism, 29, 970-973, 1980
15. AJCN, 49, 1155-1163, 1989

Dr. Chris Mohr RD, PhD is a health nutrition consultant to a number of media outlets and corporations including Discovery Health Channel, Clif Bar, Waterfront Media, and Fit Fuel. He has authored and co-authored several textbooks and textbook chapters, including consulting with LL Cool J on "LL Cool J's Platinum Workout" (Rodale Press, 2006). He is also co-creator of Meal Plans 101 nutrition software.