Nutritional Timing – Don't Be Stupid, Use a Condom
Nutritional Timing Don't Be Stupid, Use a Condom
You wouldn't have sex with a complete stranger from a foreign country without using a condom, would you? I sure as hell hope not! That would almost be as stupid as skipping breakfast then heading straight to the gym to workout. Nutritional Timing ladies and gentleman. Not knowing the importance of nutritional timing is like not knowing that a condom protects you from STI's and miraculous conception. I would argue that this is the single most important aspect to understand if you want to get in shape: whether it's bulking up, burning fat, tightening that ass, or getting that rock-hard body. You need to understand 1) what your body needs, 2) how your body works, and 3) when it needs it. So that's exactly what I'm going to tell you.
Let's get this show rolling. You need to know a few things about your body to understand how you can achieve your fitness goals. Just to clarify, everything I'm saying is universal so it'll apply to you whether you wanna lose fat, build muscle, tighten up, or all of the above. OK, what does your body need? Well, I hope you've heard of these three food classes before: carbs, protein, fats. Nutritional timing is crazy important with the first two carbs and proteins. Let's take a look at carbs. They're the most important piece to the puzzle: your source of instant energy, imperative in any diet, and can cause a hell of a big problem (especially bad or dirty carbs) if over-consumed. If I had to compare carbs to sex, I would say it would be the erection. If a guy has an erection, continue. If he doesn't, that's a major problem. Let's move to the next question good carbs vs bad carbs. Bad carbs you want to avoid at all costs. They include processed and refined foods (mainly surrounding refined flour). Most nutritional value is stripped from bad carbs, and they're loaded with preservatives, additives, colorings and flavors. White pasta, white breads, pastries, sodas, and anything with excessive processed sugar. Good carbs are kept relatively natural and unprocessed. Anything whole grain (rice, pasta, bread) and vegetables should be your main sources. OK, we've summed up good carbs vs bad carbs. Now onto the next main class, protein. Protein is what allows your body to develop and grow. If I had to relate it to sex, protein would be the quality of sex you have. Without protein your sex is going to be complete hell, but with it, it'll be the best few minutes of your life. OK back to the topic. Protein's responsible for growth, down to the molecular level. The building blocks of protein are amino acids, these little guys whip around throughout your body looking to repair, build, and promote development. Meats are the primary source of protein. But you always have other sources like dairy, beans, nuts, and fish. And the last group, fats. Fats are essential, I think of them as the minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of my diet. But don't think I'm talking fats as in a McDonalds cheeseburger, heeelllll no! I'm talking healthy fats oils (olive, fish, canola), seeds and nuts. I'm going to relate fats to sex just because I want to....fats would be comparable to how long you can last. All three of these groups are essential, and I know I haven't talked much about nutritional timing, but that's in the next step. Ignore any of these groups and your fitness efforts will be in vain.
Now onto the second part. How your body works. This is definitely the most confusing, but once you understand it you'll understand why nutritional timing is so important in getting a rock hard body. If I were to relate this to sex, it would be understanding that the male sex organ is suppose to go inside the female sex organ in my opinion, I think that's quite imperative in having successful sex. Anyways, when you ingest carbohydrates, they are absorbed into the blood as glucose. This increases your blood sugar levels, which sends a signal to your brain to release this lil guy, insulin (hormone). It's insulin's job to tell your cells to absorb the high levels of blood glucose in your bloodstream. In a nutshell, this is what happens. BUUUUUT, we run into a major problem when we mess up our nutritional timing and over-consume carbs, especially bad carbs. Our cells can't absorb the excessive blood glucose and we store it as glycogen in the liver and muscles for latter use. This isn't the problem, the problem occurs when we're constantly producing insulin to counter high blood glucose. Over-abundance of insulin causes the storage of fat. This is what kicks most people in the ass. And this is why carbs get such a bad rep. This is where bad carbs play HUGE role. The 'enriched' flour found in bad carbs causes your blood glucose levels to spike higher than they would with good carbs. This causes an excessive amount of insulin to be released, which we already said, in excess promotes fat reserves. Now you know the basis of what carbs do in your body. Onto proteins. Remember when I mentioned the building blocks of protein.....Amino acids? Well when you ingest protein, these lil guys are broken down and absorbed into the blood. Then once insulin is released, the amino acids cruise around, find cells, enter, and promote growth, repair, and development. In a nutshell, that's a crash course on how absorption in your body works with carbs and proteins. This 'stuff' is extremely important if you want to understand nutritional timing at a molecular level, the next section will let you put this to practical use.
Now you got a basic understanding of what your body needs and how it works. Now it's time to inform you on what you can do about nutritional timing and knowing when your body needs it. Since I like comparing everything to sex, this would be knowing the exact time or moment that your significant other wants to make love. Those moments of ecstasy. Ya I know, that one was sorta cheesy, but I tried. Anyways, familiarize yourself with these two terms: Anabolic & Catabolic. Sound nutritional timing is directly responsible for determining which of these metabolic states your body is in. An anabolic state is a 'constructive' state. It's when your body promotes cell growth, muscle tissue repair, organ growth, and overall body develop. And on the other hand, you have a catabolic state. 'Destructive', the break down of muscle, tissues, cells, and organs. Just from these definitions, I'm hoping you can make a guess at which metabolism we should strive for.....? Yes, the anabolic state. Anyways, both of these are natural and occur throughout the day however, you want to do everything you freakin' can in order to switch your body from a catabolic state to an anabolic state. This is where nutritional timing becomes the pinnacle of your success. Most people never get that rock-hard, lean body because they don't know when and what the hell they need to eat! After your done this article, you won't have that excuse anymore.
Nutritional timing is the backbone for converting your body from a catabolic to an anabolic state. Naturally, an active individual has, typically, two catabolic windows throughout the day. http://www.real6packabs.com explains this perfectly in it's "Hard Body Newsletter", a free e-zine designed to give you everything you need to know to get your lean hard body. The first window is right in the morning baby! That's why I can't stress how important breakfast is. Breakfast is your catalyst for converting from a catabolic to an anabolic state.
The second window is after a workout or any type of exercise. After your primary energy sources are depleted your body digs into your energy reserves (muscle) and starts breaking it down. http://www.real6packabs.com free "Hard Body Newsletter" explains the importance of muscle if you're trying to lose fat or bulk up - it's your universal fat burner. We want to stay away from burning muscle. That's why post-workout nutrition is a must if you want to reach your goals and convert from a catabolic to an anabolic state. A good rule of thumb is to assume your body will enter a catabolic state after extended periods of no nutrition, anything over 3 hrs is a good guideline. If you've read some of my other articles you'll know I'm a preacher of six smaller, more frequent meals is going to do wonders for your goals compared to three larger, less frequent meals.