Dr.,
Other than convenience, is there any advantage to alternating solid meals w/ liquid meals when leaning out?
[quote]Hi Robert,
Can you cut-and-paste this question into my Prime Time thread tonight? We’ll get to answering it![/quote]
EDIT: Okay, let’s just make Robert’s post into tonight’s main LL Prime Time thread, eh?
Here we go…
Robert,
Yes, I think there is; I’ve even posted research on the topic here in the Forums. It could kick off a diet in a way that’s easy to follow (compliance is key). Then other food items can slowly enter the daily diet, one or two at a time, for variety’s sake.
The risk, though, is that fluids can get one in a positive calorie balance quickly (fast and easy to consume, faster gastric emptying) so careful measuring helps. I’m currently leaning on protein (Grow!) bars as a convenient way to control macronutrient ratios while I lay around in a medicated daze, recovering from surgery.
Hey Lonnie (I copied this post from another thread I posted the question in)
What are your thoughts on the concept of P-ratio that Lyle McDonald subscribes to ?
Do you believe that it’s mostly genetic and can’t be changed that much by diet/exercise ? Further – is there any dietary approach one can take to trick the body into thinking it is “naturally lean” and not “dieted down” lean ? (I guess FFB is the term Shugart uses 
Can you point me to some relevant studies ?
Best
I mix glutamine, creatine, whey, and BCAA’s with Gatorade 2-3 days before I consume them. Do any of these supplements lose their potency when mixed together for that long?
A worker at a local nutrition store recommended me taking 450mg of kelp daily, a couple months back. I don’t remmember the reason she told me to take it, so I tried searching online but there’s not much information I could find. What’s the purpose of taking a kelp supplement?
Thanks in advanced.
marcus_aurelius,
Essentially I think Lyle is just talking about what I used to hear called the “mass action effect” in the old days. That is, naturally fat persons have more fat to lose than lean ones, so they lose preferentially more fat when they diet/ exercise. There are hormonal/ genetic reasons for this as women illustrate. (Females oxidize more fat than men during exercise, which appears to relate to their higher initial % fat).
It’s no surprise that hormones and genes strongly influence body comp (and partitioning of fat vs. muscle gains/ losses). Call it a P-ratio or whatever, biochemical and endocrine systems differ among people, influencing everything from muscularity to behavior.
Luckily, genes do interact with environment to produce a physical effect, so our lifestyles do matter. (This is one reason I recently cautioned against overzealous annual dieting in the Yo-yo article.) We each optimize what our parents gave us and one can find rough percentages that strength or body fat are less genetic than lifestyle-based. (e.g. work by Claude Buchard). Here?s a referenced quote from my Bonehead Nutrition article:
“Strength appears to be about 30% attributable to genetics and 37% due to environment.(2) In other words, your environment appears to be a bigger deal. Similarly, genetic contributions to body composition (like obesity) have been estimated to be about 25% of the picture while (non-cultural) lifestyle factors account for about 45%.(1)”
This leaves a good percentage of “hope” (self determination), which is why we all learn about optimal eating and lifting - tweaked to our own bodies. We can influence our look by our choices.
[quote]retailboy wrote:
I mix glutamine, creatine, whey, and BCAA’s with Gatorade 2-3 days before I consume them. Do any of these supplements lose their potency when mixed together for that long?[/quote]
Yes, creatine could become useless creatinine in solution for that long and proteins in solution pose an increased bacterial contamination risk.
[quote]A worker at a local nutrition store recommended me taking 450mg of kelp daily, a couple months back. I don’t remmember the reason she told me to take it, so I tried searching online but there’s not much information I could find. What’s the purpose of taking a kelp supplement?
Thanks in advanced.[/quote]
I’ll bet it has to do with iodine and improved thyroid function. There is at least some published research suggesting some modern thyroid problems may be related to insufficient iodine intake. People who don’t consume iodized salt or processed salted foods (usually a good thing) may fall into this category. Still, kelp supplementation isn’t necessary.
Phosphatadylserine. How much how often to combat the fat storing effects of cortisol?
And when fish oil isnt available is cod liver oil a good substitue to get the omega-3’s?
Thanks in advance LL!
Amir
Amir,
I personally think that fish oil + 20 min. daily meditation + switch away from coffee = better for cortisol reduction than PS.
Fish oil, which is consumed for its EPA and DHA content, cannot be replaced by cod liver oil, ounce-for-ounce. Cod liver oil is not bad but carries some overdose risk (fat sol vitamins) and potentially higher contamination (heavy metal) risk than fish oil supplements.
Wow, really? Ive been hearing a lot of PS being great for cortisol reduction. Maybe I should delve deeper yet into this greatest of inquiries.
Yea, I figured you would mention that about the cod liver oil. Dammit. Im leaving the country for a year and wont have access for awhile. Guess Ill rely on fish.
How about beef liver by the way for omega-3’s? I may be way off here, but I have some inkling of something I read suggesting beef liver (hell Ive had bugs in the orient and goat brains in asia and bull testicles in new jersey) may have some omega-3’s? Is this accurate?
Thanks for the great input Doc!!
Amir
[quote]Lonnie Lowery wrote:
Amir,
I personally think that fish oil + 20 min. daily meditation + switch away from coffee = better for cortisol reduction than PS.
Fish oil, which is consumed for its EPA and DHA content, cannot be replaced by cod liver oil, ounce-for-ounce. Cod liver oil is not bad but carries some overdose risk (fat sol vitamins) and potentially higher contamination (heavy metal) risk than fish oil supplements. [/quote]
Hello Doc,
What do you think of anti-oxidents PWO? good bad doesent matter?
Thank’s
Actually, Amir, rather than beef liver, twice weekly fish (salmon) and a half-dose cod liver oil (read bottle) three days per week may not be a bad idea. Flax and walnuts also provide the “other” omega-3 fatty acid, linolenic acid.
Hi Doberman,
I don’t think timing is a huge issue but if pressed to decide on a window of time, I would personally take them an hour or so before lifting to allow them to get into circulation. I don’t have data on peri-workout antiox. timing, so this is just a best guess.
Hey Doc!
I hope you’re still thinking of writing that article (you mentioned it last Tuesday night) for bodybuilders/lifters in the 40-55 age range. My question: Is it true that the seemingly universal rule regarding frequent feedings (for bodybuilding purposes) does not apply to guys my age (53)? I’ve read that fewer meals work better for us older young guys.
Dear Dr.LL,
Another question came to mind. I have thought of this before, but just haven’t asked it. (I know you are not an endocrinologist but I think you might know more than me!).
Let’s say you have two people: Person A and B. Person A naturally has high T his whole life and later (say in his 40’s or 50’s) goes onto TRT because he has low T.
Person B naturally has low T, and as such, goes on TRT at a much younger age.
(because he’s perceives that higher T is desirable for all the positive reasons commonly cited)
I guess my question is, isn’t it highly likely that Person B might experience more negative side effect that person A.
Or, in other words, should a naturally high level of T be accompanied by a different physiology globally than a person who has naturally low T (be it brain development, personality, immune suppression, etc ?)
Any insight would be appreciated,
Best
shreddedmeat,
Depends on your goals and past experiences, I think. I do think that the older we get, the more cautious we need to be about insulin management though. (Which can be handled different ways.)
Okay last post tonight to marcus_aurelius…
Fascinating question. Since endocrinology is basically the hormones (ligands) and their interactions with destination tissues (receptors), there is indeed much more to it than just circulating T levels.
Whether it’s a hypo-gonadal younger guy on T or one who waits until he’s older and needs a boost, I think a man’s resistance to side effects (polycythemia, prostate issues, hypertension, water retention, acne, etc., etc.) remains highly individual.
Hey LL,
I was wondering if you’d heard of a sweetner called Whey-Low and know anything about it, apparently it’s safe for diabetics, but I don’t know. My mom’s been hounding me about it so she can bake some stuff, and well… I need to give her an answer! All I’ve been able to find on the stuff is from searchin the web, so I have no clue.
CU AeroStallion,
Did you get my PM? After a little digging (on a low-tech template-looking web site, IMO), I see Whey-Low is a combo of lactose, fructose and sucrose. Nothing startling there.
Purportedly, there is enough interference in intestinal absorption from the sugars in the blend that the site claims a potential 6 lb. fat loss over a number of weeks. We’ll have to keep an eye on whether this product takes off.
Stay tuned.