Advanced nutrition: absorbing stuff from team FLEX - Cutting Edge

Flex, Nov, 2002

Bodybuilding Roots

Q: Besides carrots, are there any root vegetables that are a good bodybuilding food and palatable at the same time?

A: Besides carrots, other root vegetables include turnips, parsnips, radishes, beets and rutabagas. Bodybuilders might find them useful because root vegetables, all low in calories, often contain a decent amount of carbohydrates and fiber, and many have fairly high levels of vitamin C or A. Preparing them correctly is important for ensuring palatability, and they also just might take a little getting used to.

To do some digging into root vegetables, we turned to FLEX nutrition columnist Chris Aceto. His root vegetable of choice is the turnip, especially as a carbohydrate substitute for bodybuilders on precontest diets. Aceto explains: "A precontest bodybuilder can cut back on an offseason highcarbohydrate intake by reducing his intake of complex carbs while simultaneously increasing his intake of low-calorie carbs. Using turnips as an example, instead of eating two cups of rice, a bodybuilder could eat one cup of turnips with a single cup of rice. This would save about 30 grams of carbs or 120 calories." Aceto says that if you do this at two or three meals each day during a diet, you can create an energy deficit to burn up to a pound of fat every 10 days or so. "Best of all, the turnips--because of their fiber content--will help you feel full and ward off hunger pangs."

Aceto recommends sprinkling a generous amount of Mrs. Dash or any other zero-calorie spices to "up the flavor factor" on turnips or other root vegetables. To ensure good flavor, thinly slice turnips for grilling. Always cook them until tender when boiling or baking. Select root vegetables that are firm and not too large. Store them in a dry dark area until you are ready to cook them.

--Carrie Curtis

BCAA Boost

Q: Since I already eat all the protein I need, must I also supplement with branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs)?

A: Since protein Consists of amino acids and BCAAs are amino acids (leucine, valine and isoleucine), it might seem redundant to supplement with them. Keep in mind, though, that both quality and quantity count when it comes to diet and nutrients. In other words, if your budget can accommodate it, take BCAAs in addition to your consumption of one gram or more of protein per pound of bodyweight each day.

BCAAs perform many functions for bodybuilders. These aminos help with recovery, increase energy production, promote muscle gain and help support bodyfat burning. These across-the-bodybuilding-board benefits make BCAAs a key supplement.

In August, we reported that BCAAs play a key role in muscle protein synthesis. Furthermore, at this year's American College of Sports Medicine conference, the conclusions of a study were presented that demonstrated that BCAAs promote recovery. In this scientific research, rats that were fed supplemental BCAAs and trained to exhaustion had far less muscular damage than those not getting the supplements. Similar results can be expected for bodybuilders.

On top of this, bodybuilders may also experience the other benefits (mentioned previously) that BCAAs afford. FLEX recommends supplementing with three to six grams of BCAAs per day, generally split into three separate dosages. Good times are morning, postworkout and prior to bedtime. In addition, the labels on many protein powders and shakes list the amount of BCAAs they include--all such products contain BCAAs, but some have higher quantities than others do. Price being equal, choose the protein powder that offers the most.

--Steve Stiefel

Sarcev's Secrets to Success

Nutrition tips from IFBB pro Milos Sarcev

Q: I started dieting for a bodybuilding show, but after losing some bodyfat, I started losing muscle mass. Currently, I'm eating 200 grams of protein per day along with 100 grams of carbohydrates and 20 grams of fat. Am I doing something wrong?

A: Your total intake is less than 1,400 calories a day, and that is not enough. The biggest mistake many bodybuilders make while dieting is drastically reducing calorie intake. Following this approach is a prescription for bodybuilding disaster.

At your current level of calories, the body begins to reduce metabolic activity, and it pulls energy from your existing muscle mass. Since you aren't giving it enough energy (from food) to maintain its composition, your body is forced to break down muscle mass as well as bodyfat to use as energy.

The final result is doubly bad: You are losing weight now--but less from bodyfat than you'd like--and you're lowering your metabolic rate. When you return to your previous maintenance-level caloric intake, your body will register that as an excess, and it will begin to hoard those calories as bodyfat.

Instead, you should follow a more moderate plan: Continue to eat at least 200 grams (g) of protein a day (if not more--when you diet, your body needs even more than one gram per pound of bodyweight per day to protect and maintain muscle), but begin to cycle your carbs. Eat 200 g the first day, 150 g the second, 100 g the third. On each of these days, increase fat intake by adding 20 to 30 g of essential fatty acids. On the fourth day of this cycle, add a high-carb day of about 400 g. Follow this four-day cycle for the next several weeks, making any adjustment you need to suit your individual metabolism. This is a much more effective way to shed bodyfat and maintain your muscle mass than your starvation plan.