As you become more involved with serious fitness training, you will need to learn how to increase your food supplements and change your eating habits. Vigorous training sets up a stress condition in the body that requires strict attention to the foods you eat so that essential nutrients are replaced more frequently than is necessary for the average sedentary person. This nutritional program will provide you with informal guidelines for using a variety of nutrients as well as provide suggestions on how to improve your eating habits.



FOOD COMBINING : THE RIGHT WAY TO EAT


Before I explain the basics of nutrition, I would like to tell you some things about the importance of proper eating habits as well as how to properly prepare your food.

Knowing what vitamin and minerals can do for you is important, however if you don't eat foods in a proper order or if you prepare food in such a way that you destroy the food's nutrient value, all that valuable knowledge will be wasted.

Surprisingly enough, there are a lot of people in this country that grill their food with charcoal. It seems that one of America's favorite past times along with baseball is a good ole' barbecue. What most people don't know is that when meat is grilled with charcoal, the poisons from the coal and smoke accumulate in the meat. Studies have shown these poisons to be carcinogenic. In fact, one charbroiled steak is equal to smoking over 100 cigarettes. You should avoid eating anything that has been cooked this way.

One major eating habit that we are all guilty of is that we eat until we are full. We feel that we only need to eat 3 well-balanced meals a day. By thinking this way, what usually happens is that we eat too much at one sitting which causes our stomach to throw away a lot of the nutrient value of food as well as cause an unnecessary strain on the the digestive system. Eating smaller meals more often enables you to combine your foods properly, get the highest nutrient value of your food and is a lot easier on your digestive tract.

People who are trying to lose weight make the common mistake of drinking diet drinks. These drinks are loaded with all types of chemicals (including sodium chloride, and others that cause water retention.). These chemicals have been known to place a strain on the thyroid gland, altering its regulation of the metabolic rate. Such an alteration actually causes weight reduction to be more difficult. Along with the fluid retention caused by the sodium chloride found in most diet drinks, reduced metabolism is not going to help one lose weight. This is just another example of how "dieting" to lose weight is self-defeating.

The answer to dieting is simple, all things in moderation - proteins, fats and unrefined carbohydrates. Eat small amounts of food every 2-3 hours. By eating smaller meals more often you can significantly speed up your metabolism.

Food is considered a fuel for your body. When your body knows its consuming fuel 6-7 times a day it will burn the fuel more rapidly. If your body is consuming fuel 2-3 times a day, your body has to conserve the rate in which it burns it, which means reduced metabolism. We all know reduced metabolism makes fat burning difficult. Most people overeat for psychological reasons and enjoy every bite. Train regularly and learn to consume smaller meals more often and you will not have to spend the rest of your life looking for magic diet secrets because they just do not exist.



FOOD COMBINING


Most gastric problems, as well as weight problems could be eliminated if people ate small meals and combined food properly. You have several digestive enzymes. Each enzyme is specific in its action. That is, each one acts upon only one class of food, enzymes that act upon carbohydrates do not and cannot act upon proteins, salts or fats. They are even more specific than this would indicate because there are various stages in digestion and each stage requires the action of a different enzyme.

Furthermore, an enzyme is capable of performing its work only if work in the preceding stage has been properly performed by the appropriate enzymes.

Because the stomach secretes a different kind of juice when a starch food is eaten than when a protein is eaten, carbohydrates and proteins should be eaten separately as much as possible. Even protein foods differ enough to require modifications of the digestive juices. Protein foods in combination with other proteins have different effects on the digestive process mainly because of the difference in the timing of secretions of the different enzymes and gastric juices.

There will be more on enzymes later, but what is important to say is that eating isn't a simple an act as you might think. What works best is to have either vegetables with proteins or vegetables with carbohydrates and not protein and carbohydrates at the same meal. Do not combine different types of proteins at the same meal and eat only such fruits as papaya, pineapple and kiwi, with protein foods.

By keeping your meals very simple - you will eliminate any digestive problems as well as avoid any digestive problems in the future. If you are still hungry after your simple meal, then wait an hour or two and have another meal. If you allow yourself
the time to digest your food efficiently, you will not have problems overeating even if you eat 5 to 7 meals a day. Follow this method and you won't go wrong.

Nevertheless, the process of changing your eating habits requires a basic understanding of nutrition. What I will proceed to tell you now is all you need to know about nutrition to formulate your new diet. Coupled with a consistent training program
and a positive attitude, you will be able to achieve all your fitness goals.



THE BASIC NUTRIENTS


The digestion and assimilation of food is of utmost importance to the maintenance of a healthy body. The chemical substances that food provides to the proper functioning of the body are called nutrients. There are six basic nutrients: proteins, lipids (fats), carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water. Each nutrient has a specific function in the body apart from its primary function of providing energy.

The body is made up of billions of cells and each cell contains all the nutrients it needs to sustain itself. Not all cells need the same nutrients nor do they need them in the same proportions. They never use more than they need. However, what is not used and can't be stored may become toxic if not eliminated from the body within a certain amount of time. An insufficient amount of nutrients in the cells will cause them to stop functioning and die.

We will now proceed to tell you what each class of nutrient does for the body and point out important principles you should know in relation to each class.

PROTEIN


In the average person, about 30 percent of the body's supply of protein is found in muscle tissue. With someone who is on a vigorous training program this figure goes up to about 40-50 percent. In the average person 1 gram of protein is required daily for every (2.2 pounds) of body weight. Athletes and people in training need more. The following is a chart for the normal recommended daily intake of protein.

Children :
Between ages 3 and 6 50 mg
Between ages 7 and 12 60-70 grams
Between ages 13 and 20 75-100 grams

Adults :
Women 60-90 grams
Men 75-100 grams

If you are a bodybuilder trying to gain more muscle and you eat more protein, your body does not automatically secrete more HCI to help digest it. Therefore, I recommend that if you are training to build more muscle and taking in more protein, you should take HCI and digestive enzyme supplements. HCI or hydrochloric acid, breaks down protein so that the appropriate enzymes can digest it.

The building blocks of proteins are the amino acids. There are 2 types of amino acids: Essential and Nonessential. The Nonessential amino acids are synthesized by the body's glands, and as the name implies, are nothing to worry about as long as the glands function properly. The essential amino acids are not synthesized by the body and must be provided through the food you eat.

The essential amino acids are Tryptophane, Lysine, Methionine, Treonine Phenylalaine, Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine. Some authorities include Histidine and Arginine among the essential amino acids although they are synthesized by the body in small amounts.

The classification of protein is further divided into complete and incomplete proteins. A complete protein is of high biological value, which means it comes from something living (fish, chicken, mammal) and contains all of the essential amino acids in the right proportions needed by the body. An incomplete protein lacks one or more of the essential amino acids and is of low biological value, which means it comes from a lower form of life (plants). With the exception of those found in soybeans, all vegetable proteins are incomplete (unless soybeans are soaked prior to cooking, however they are difficult to digest).

One of the problems with a vegetarian diet is knowing how to combine the vegetable proteins into complete proteins. Most vegetarians lack essential amino acids in their diets. This deficiency is more noticeable in woman who have been on strict vegetarian diets. After a few years on such a diet, a person will sag from the tip of the nose to the ends of the ankles. Without complete proteins in their diets, vegetarians invariably lose the collagen in their connective tissues that keeps the joints of the body smooth and flexible. They lose the elastin which makes repairing tissue possible. Such a diet requires a lot of time and knowledge; otherwise it could be harmful to your health.

This is a list of types of proteins you should consume.

Eggs provide the most complete protein with only 12 percent of its protein not absorbed by the body. Fish is the second best with an absorption rate of 78 percent. Dairy products are third with an absorption rate of 76 percent. Meat is the 4th most complete protein with a 68 percent absorption level.

All foods that come from jars, cans or boxes are artificial and should be avoided.

The same goes for protein tablets and powders. With the exception of whey proteins, most protein powders such as 100% beef protein made by Weider products are a dead food. In animal protein, the DNA in the cell, even when the animal is dead, is alive and unbroken. In the protein powder such as the one mentioned above, the DNA of the animal source is broken down during the cooking process that takes place to make the powder. Thus, the powder is of low biological value. Protein powders should only be used only for people who are extremely debilitated and cannot digest natural foods.

If protein powders is a part of your diet, stick to a quality source such as whey protein. Only mix protein powders with water. Do not use fruit juice. Fruit juice contains, in most cases, highly concentrated sugar and does not combine with protein during digestion. Instead of being digested, the protein will purify in the colon and harden like stone. The same thing will happen when you eat your chicken breast or steak with a glass of Pepsi or Coke.

If you feel that you are training hard and need more protein, then add one or two small protein meals to your diet program. Anything can be overdone, so experiment with your body and eat what feels right to you. You should have enough energy for training, but should not feel full or bloated. If you feel bloated, you are eating to much, not digesting what you are eating or eating the wrong food combinations.



PROTEINS AND ENZYMES


All enzymes are made of protein. To make enzymes, the body must have high quality protein foods. Before food can be utilized by the body, it must go through many changes that are brought about by enzymes. We don't have to worry about which comes first, however we just have to make sure the cycle is not broken. Enzymes are compounds that cause substances to be changed from one form into another. The minute we begin to eat, the enzymes go to work, taking food through the various stages of digestion and elimination.

Without proper enzyme function, undigested foods become toxic (poisonous) to the body. For example, the digestion of carbohydrate foods begins in the mouth with the enzymes Ptyalin and maltase. These enzymes are secreted by the salivary glands in the mouth - that is why it is important to thoroughly chew carbohydrate foods for proper digestion to take place.

Protein digestion begins in the stomach with hydrochloric acid (HCI). While HCI is not an enzyme, it provides the necessary medium for the major stomach enzyme, Pepsin, to be effective in digesting protein. Some people have made the mistake of grouping HCI with other acids, such as those found in fruits or drugs, and thus, take these acids with their meal. These acids actually inhibit gastric digestion, either by destroying the Pepsin or limiting its secretion. That is why I said earlier that you shouldn't mix proteins and fruits or sugars together. The only fruits that combine with proteins are pineapple, papaya (rich in enzymes) kiwi, apples and grapes.

One of the first things to slow down in the body is the production of HCI. It has been estimated that by the age of 65 we produce about 23 percent of the HCI we did at the age of 18. If you are properly combining food ( eating proteins first, carbohydrates later) and still have digestive problems, then I recommend digestive supplements that include HCI.

The digestion of milk is aided by the enzyme Renin, which is not normally produced in the adult human. That is why bodybuilders who drink large quantities of milk tend to look smooth and fat. Yogurt is recommended in place of milk. Plain natural yogurt is very easily digested and assimilated, and is rich in protein and calcium.

Enzymes are also found in muscles. There are 2 enzymes that are important for fitness enthusiasts to know about. They are Arginese and Phosphatase. Arginese is a protein digestive enzyme that breaks down protein found in muscles into waste product urea. Urea is then eliminated form the body through urine, which means excess or worn out amino acids created when muscles are broken down through intense weight training, are prevented from contaminating the body. Phosphatase is an enzyme necessary for releasing the mechanical energy of muscles. It combines with sugars, glucose and fructose and with oxygen for release of energy. Then carbon dioxide is carried away from the muscle cells when the energy is released.

Amino acids are broken down by the enzyme Amino Acid Oxidase in the liver. The liver's function is to break down worn out or excess amino acids and it can actually convert these into glucose needed. Most of the protein wastes become urea and are
eliminated through the kidneys. If you overeat, you can overload this process and set your digestive and eliminative systems working against you.



FAT


Lipids, or fat, make up the largest food molecule one can eat. One gram of fat contains nine calories. Fat is emulsified, or split up by the bile salts from the liver and gallbladder. Digestion is then completed in the small intestine by the enzyme Lipase.

Fat naturally occurs with protein foods and is used by the body as a carrier for the fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K. Following absorption fat is either oxidized (for energy) or stored in the body. Storage occurs in places you may be familiar with known as fat deposits and is present in most tissues. When needed later, fat is metabolized in the liver by bile salts stored in the gall bladder.

Fat is also necessary for hormone production, and this fact is particularly important for women. Women usually have 25-40 percent of body fat compared to men who have 15-25 percent of body fat. When a woman's body weight drops to low and her percentage of body fat goes under 10 percent, she usually stops menstruating. This is very common among females in vigorous training programs. This is only one example of the relationship between fat and hormones, but I hope it is dramatic enough to demonstrate the danger of severe dieting and overtraining.

Now it seems that in today's society fat is considered evil. The phrase "If you eat fat, you get fat" seems to be what everyone lives by. When you go to the grocery store you literally see thousands of fat-free goodies and enticing non fat foods. Why then are Americans fatter than ever? My guess would be that when a person consumes mostly carbohydrates and virtually no fat as an energy source, that person's body would tend to have a very lazy fat metabolism. What happens is, your body won't utilize fats as well as an energy source.

If you are a person who consumes a very low fat-high carbohydrate diet, this is what is happening to your body. When you consume large amounts of carbohydrates or worse yet, highly processed carbs, a large amount of sugar enters the bloodstream. In an effort to maintain blood sugar levels the body releases a large amount of insulin. It's the over production of insulin that is the main problem. Insulin does its best to stabilize things by driving sugar, or glucose into the cells. The only problem is the muscle cells can only hold so much. So what ends up happening is through a complex series of reactions, an excess of glucose in the bloodstream is converted into fatty acids and tryglycerides by the liver and adipose tissue. The high insulin and glycogen concentrations curtail fatty acid oxidation and induces lipogenesis, which is the production of body fat.

The bad thing of carbohydrates has to do with the glycemic index of carbs. The glycemic index was developed as a tool for diabetics. Each and every edible food elicits a blood sugar response. The glycemic index of food is indicative of its blood sugar raising ability. For example, white bread has a glycemic index of 100. So does sucrose. These foods are considered high in glycemic index because they cause your blood sugar levels to shoot through the roof, which is definitely something a person who is interested in losing fat wants to avoid. The unique thing about fat is that fat slows down the absorption of any food and elicits less of a blood sugar response.

Specific dietary fats trains your body to be less catabolic under stress and at the same time improves insulin sensitivity. Low insulin sensitivity means that most of your carbs are turned into and stored as fat. Dietary fats keeps insulin manageable and the improvements in sensitivity allow more efficient glycogen storage, which means more energy, improved fat burning and if you are a bodybuilder a bigger pump.

Everybody has a fat requirement just like proteins, vitamins and minerals. Most physicians don't want to talk about it and would probably say take vitamins, calcium and fiber but never fats. We need essential fatty acids (EFA's). These are polyunsaturated fats that our bodies cannot make from other dietary fats. More specifically there are 2 - linoleic and linolenic acids. These are from vegetable sources. Of the 2, linoleic essential fatty acid is the most abundant. All grocery store salad and cooking oils have enough linoleic to meet the requirement. The best source for linolenic acid is flaxseed oil. Flaxseed is the nutrient most lacking in fitness nutrition. Muscle cells will not grow without essential fatty acids. These are not energy fats, they are growth fats. To fulfill the bare minimum of EFA's the typical active person needs roughly about 10 grams a day. If you would like to boost your EFA's up to a more performance enhancement range, you should raise it up to about 15% of your daily caloric intake. This total of fat intake doesn't include your daily intake of saturated fats. Coupled with saturated fats, or your normal dietary fats, your total fat intake should be around 25-30 percent of your caloric intake. If you raise your daily fat intake to the above mentioned levels you will, I promise you, develop a more muscular and lean physique as well as improve athletic performance. The high level of EFA's will improve insulin sensitivity and lower overall insulin secretion.

Another good fat would be oleic acid, which is abundantly found in Olive oil. Oleic acid keeps the blood vessels flexible. You do however, want to keep your saturated fats down to a minimum. Saturated fats (fat from animal sources) lower insulin sensitivity as well as impair gastric juice, which in turn impaires proper digestion. So I would strongly advise trimming meats of excess fat, taking skin off chicken breast, and limit the heavy fatty sauces and dressings that you would put on your salads.

Cholesterol is another substance that is important for hormone production and acts as a conductor of nerve impulses in the body. Now a days it seems everyone is afraid of high cholesterol and therefor, avoids food that contain cholesterol. Whole eggs appear to be on the list of "dangerous foods" because they are high in cholesterol. It should be noted however, that eggs also contain lecithin and this helps break the cholesterol down.

Most often, the real causes of high cholesterol levels are stress and refined carbohydrates (refine sugars and white bread are examples). The body is usually capable of regulating its own cholesterol levels and always works to maintain a balance of nutrients.

People should be more concerned with triglycerides, the amount of fat in the blood. One of the most effective ways of keeping triglyceride levels low is rigorous physical exercise. I highly recommend that everyone gets a complete blood study done on an annual basis so triglyceride levels as well as other problems involving nutrition can be monitored and prevented.



CARBOHYDRATES

The main function of carbohydrates is to supply energy to the body. Some carbs are converted into glucose to provide immediate energy needs, some are stored as glycogen in the liver and the muscles, and the rest are converted into fat and stored as adipose tissue. The main product of carbohydrate digestion is glucose and the central nervous system is entirely dependent on this glucose for energy.

What glucose is not immediately used by the central nervous system is carried to the liver where it is converted to glycogen. The liver then changes it into a simple sugar as the body calls for it. The body can store up to 350 grams of glycogen. A third of this total is stored in the liver and used for energy in all cellular activity in the body. The other two-thirds of the body's supply of glycogen is stored in the muscles and is used for muscular energy. It takes 48 hours to restore the full amount of glycogen after 2 to 3 hours of very hard training. The body needs time to rest and recuperate.

Glycogen cannot be stored in the nerve tissues. The central nervous system therefor needs replenishment of glucose through the consumption of carbs whether or not your workouts exhaust stored glycogen. Its literally crazy when people try to lower their carbs to low for too long a period for the sake of fat loss.

Because the nervous tissues of your body cannot store glycogen, which can be converted to the sugar needed for nervous energy by other tissues, you need to eat carbohydrate food on a regular basis to replenish energy for your nervous system. I feel, however, if you consume to much carbohydrates, you will overload the system. Physiologically, eating high levels of carbs can also lead to other biochemical problems. For one, because a steady increase of carbs raises insulin and glycogen concentrations, fatty-acid oxidation is curtailed, and lipogenesis (literally, the birth of fat) is induced. In other words, your body can only store so much for energy needs the rest is converted to fat or eliminated before it becomes toxic to the body.

Carbohydrates are further broken down into 2 different types - unrefined carbohydrates and refined carbohydrates. Unrefined carbs are more starchy such as rice, potatoes, lentils, and oatmeal. Refined carbohydrates consist of simple sugars such as fruits. As I mentioned previously in the fat section of this nutritional pamphlet the thing to watch regarding selecting your carbohydrate choices are the glycemic index which is indicative of your blood sugar raising ability. I advise you to select unrefined carbohydrates which elicit a lower blood sugar release such as oatmeal, lentils, brown rice, etc. There are times however, that consuming refine carbohydrates are actually beneficial. Those times would be first thing in the morning and right after your workout. These are times in which your blood sugars levels are highest.

To summarize the nutrients so far, just remember that carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for the body, fats are second and protein third. Fats are necessary for proper hormone production and for carrying fat soluble vitamins to where they are needed in the body. Protein (as well as minerals and water) is the main structural material of the body.



VITAMINS AND MINERALS


Rather than discuss each vitamin and mineral, we will just go over the basic needs for them.

Vitamins and minerals are organic food substances that are essential for the normal metabolism of other nutrients to promote proper growth and maintenance of health. The most important factor in total fitness and body sculpture is fat reduction and muscle growth. Therefor, it is impossible to achieve maximum muscle growth and definition, or body shaping unless you adhere to a super nutritious diet along with proper vitamin and mineral supplements.

Vitamins and minerals act as catalysts, in the body. They are a part of the enzyme system and assist in essential metabolic reactions. Metabolism is the conversion of digested nutrients into building material for living tissue or energy to meet the body's needs. Metabolism occurs in 2 general phases that occur simultaneously: Anabolism and Catabolism. Anabolism involves all the chemical reactions that the nutrients undergo in the construction or building up of body chemicals and tissues, such as blood, enzymes, hormones, glycogen and others. In other words, anabolism is the building up of protoplasm from the simpler food molecules. Catabolism is the destructive phase of metabolism : The disintegration of protoplasm or the release of potential energy. It takes place in every cell without exception, but the amount varies form one type of tissue or organs are the most metabolically active structures.

Many people think that if they eat a well-balanced diet they will have no need for extra vitamins and minerals. This is not true. First of all, most people, including bodybuilders, know very little about nutrition. For example, many bodybuilders eat far too much protein an do not balance it out with adequate amounts of fats and natural carbohydrates. To be healthy the body must have protein, fats and carbohydrates. The diet should be simple , and as natural as possible. Second, most of the food in this country is devitalized, having been grown in soil depleted of minerals. Third, most processed food contains preservatives, chemicals, and hormones which could be dangerous for our health. For these reasons people should supplement their diet with extra nutrients. The fitness enthusiast, whose metabolic processes are greatly accelerated, must take additional vitamin and mineral supplements.



WATER

The most important nutrient in the body is water. In fact, three-fourths of the total body weight is composed of water. It has been found that a human being can live without food for a month or longer, but only a few days without water. Water is needed for all foods, minerals and vitamins as a solvent for digestion. It also transports and removes all wastes, regulates body temperature, and helps prevent constipation. All bodily functions take place with the aid of water.

Eight to ten glasses of water are recommended for the average person, but during hard training and nutritional supplementation more is needed, depending on the individual. Other liquids should not be substituted for water. For example, if you drink one glass of alcohol, you need water for it to be utilized by the body. Large amounts of water while eating meals is not necessary because it can actually dilute digestive juices; however, a small amount will assist in the transport of HCI.



SUMMARY


I firmly believe that 80 percent of your training should revolve around your diet. Your diet must compliment your training regimen, otherwise your fitness goals will not be met. The above nutritional bible contains all the information you will need to formulate and to help you understand setting up your own diet. I hope I have educated you more in the field of nutrition and hope that you continue to train and achieve a much happier lifestyle