Should you eat protein before exercise, or after?

"Eating protein after exercising may help rev up the body's muscle-making machinery, in both young and older men alike, a small study suggests.

The study of 48 men - half in their twenties and the other half in their seventies -- found that in both age groups, consuming a protein drink after exercise led to a greater increase in muscle protein, compared with downing the drink after a period of rest.

What's more, muscle protein increased at nearly the same rate in young and elderly men, the researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

That suggests that, contrary to some researchers' speculation, older age may not impair the way the body digests and absorbs protein from food, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Luc JC van Loon of Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

The study has a number of limitations. Besides its small size, it did not look at actual muscle mass changes over time -- but only short-term changes in participants' muscle-fiber proteins after the protein drink. So it is not clear what kinds of gains older or younger adults might see from having their protein post-workout.

Still, the findings do suggest that exercising before consuming protein may help the body put those nutrients to greater muscle-building use, according to van Loon's team.

And for older adults, they write, exercise should "clearly" be considered as a way to boost muscle-protein buildup in response to food -- and, by extension, to support healthy aging.

The study included 24 older men with an average age of 74 and 24 young men with an average age of 21, none of whom regularly exercised.

The researchers randomly assigned the men to one of two groups; in one, the men rested for 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of exercise -- pedaling a stationary bike and performing light strengthening exercises. In the other group, the men spent those additional 30 minutes relaxing.

Afterward, men in both groups downed a drink containing 20 grams of protein, then had their blood levels of various amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) repeatedly measured. The researchers also took a small sample of tissue from each man's thigh muscle, right before the protein drink and 6 hours afterward, to measure changes in the amounts of protein in the muscle.

Overall, van Loon and his colleagues found, muscle protein increased to a greater extent in the exercise group versus the inactive group, and both older and younger men showed similar benefits.

It's well known that muscle mass tends to wane as people age, and some researchers have proposed that one reason may be that in older people, the body's muscle-protein production responds less efficiently to protein from food, and also to exercise.

However, the current findings suggest that this may not be the case.

"Effective dietary approaches are needed to prevent and/or attenuate the age-related loss of muscle mass," van Loon and his colleagues write.

Based on these findings, they conclude, it's possible that having protein after exercise allows for greater use of food-derived protein for muscle building, in young and old alike."

Article reprinted from Yahoo! Health

Vegetarianism all the rage in MMA

Editors note: I felt this article was worth posting due to the fact that I've been a vegan for over 18 years and involved in the fitness industry. I feel that nutrition is more important to human beings than any workout regimen. There is no substitute for an excellent diet and proper nutrition. - Shane Lamers, Phoenix and Scottsdale Personal Trainer

"SAN JOSE, Calif. – When Jon Fitch signed his first contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2005, the former Purdue University wrestling captain could suddenly afford to eat whatever he wanted.

That meant meat. Lots of it.

“I would eat three meals a day with meat, and meat was the main part of every meal,” said Fitch, who is preparing for his biggest fight in years on Feb. 26 in Sydney, Australia against B.J. Penn in UFC 127. “I’d eat two steaks for dinner almost every night.”

Fitch, considered by most either the No. 2 or No. 3 welterweight in the world, grew up in the meat-and-potatoes Midwest in Fort Wayne, Ind. When he went to college, meat became an even bigger dietary staple.

“My mother would make meat and sides, but in college, I was always in a hurry, so cooking meat was quick and easy, and there were a lot less sides,” he said. “I lived off the George Foreman Grill.”

But after college and before signing with the UFC, meat became a luxury. As a small-show fighter living in expensive San Jose, he had to survive on a budget of $800 a month, which didn’t get him very far.

Ramen noodles were in. High-priced animal flesh was out.

But in his training for the Penn fight, Fitch has come full circle. The top welterweight has joined a growing number of MMA stars who have committed to a vegetarian diet.

The list includes the next challenger for Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title, Jake Shields, Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz, and two former Ultimate Fighter winners, Nate Diaz and Mac Danzig.

Shields, whose parents are vegetarians, grew up on a meatless diet, never wavered, and is in large part the catalyst for the trend.

He influenced training partner Nick Diaz. Nate Diaz, Nick’s younger brother, followed in Nick’s footsteps. Fitch, based in San Jose, and Shields, who lives nearby in San Francisco, have trained together in the past.

“I’ve been this way all my life,” said Shields, 32, who faces St. Pierre on April 30 in Toronto on a show that has already sold out the 55,000-seat Rogers Centre. “I’ve got nothing to compare it to. The only thing is, nobody can train as hard or as long as me and Nick Diaz, so that seems to indicate something.”

Diaz, 27, turned to a vegetarian diet as a teenager. Unlike Shields and Fitch, who live in the upscale Bay Area, Diaz lives in working-class Stockton, Calif. This means his diet require a substantial commitment, as he noted he has to load up on groceries when he goes to train with the likes of Shields in San Francisco, an hour away from his home.

Frequent shopping and constant eating are a necessity in balancing the vegetarian lifestyle and high-level professional fighting, because foods with no preservatives spoil quickly, and maintaining weight and strength are necessary.

“I try to keep my diet all organic,” said Diaz. “It’s healthier. You recover faster. Nobody trains as hard as we do.” With plenty of vegetarian restaurants in San Francisco, Shields eats out several times per week.

Shields noted the only time his diet became difficult was when he was in Strikeforce and bounced back and forth between welterweight and the 185-pound welterweight class. When he competed at the higher weight class, he sometimes had to force himself to eat seven or eight times a day to add the extra weight.

At the top level of MMA, particularly for main-event caliber UFC fighters, a good deal of travel is required, which can be a particular challenge to those with vegetarian needs.

Fitch went to Sydney several weeks ago for a media tour to promote UFC 127, and will leave more than a week in advance of his fight to get acclimated to the substantial time change.
Jake Shields is a lifelong vegetarian. His biggest dietary challenge is finding good eats on the road.

“Eating there won’t be a problem,” Fitch said. “I was there in December and scouted out places for the week of the fight.”

Shields spent last week in Toronto in promotion of his fight. He’s fought all over the world and noted having problems finding good places to eat on fight week in some cities.

Early in his career, Shields fought frequently in Japan, which was a struggle, because so much of the Japanese diet is fish-based, and he didn’t speak the language. Shields said at times he didn’t eat as well as he would have liked in the days leading to a fight, and didn’t feel his best. Even with the challenge, Shields only lost one fight while competing in Japan.

Husband-and-wife team

Fitch’s transformation to vegetarianism came about in large part to the influence of his wife Michele. He noted that Shields, who has won 15 consecutive fights, helped sway his decision.

And he couldn’t be happier with the changes.

“In every kind of testing to see where I’m at, strength, speed, conditioning, I’m either right at or well ahead of the best marks I’ve ever had at this stage of training,” Fitch said. “A few weeks ago, we were concerned I was peaking too fast. I’d kick the [expletive] out of myself at the same stage of training for any of my previous fights.”

Fitch, who turns 33 on Feb. 24, is now about 183 pounds. As a welterweight fighter, his weigh-in weight is 170. Most modern welterweights range from 185 pounds as their regular weight before cutting down, to as much as 210 pounds for somebody like Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. Fitch was on the upper end of that scale for years. But two weeks before the Penn fight, he was about five pounds lighter at the same stage as he would have been for his last few fights.

“The biggest thing is better recuperation from training,” Fitch said. “I don’t have the days where I came in flat. It’s made for the best training camp of my career.”

If anything seems like a negative with Fitch in regard to his change, it’s that he has to constantly eat or he will lose too much weight.

Both Fitch and Shields augment their diets with frequent protein shakes. Fitch has limited his supplementation to plant-based protein of late, and is also using amino acids as a supplement. Shields uses supplements supplied by his sponsor, usually soy- or whey-based, but sometimes milk-based protein.

Neither fighter is vegan. Fitch said during his Penn camp he has been eating fish about once a week, although he went three straight weeks at one point with no animal products. Besides his milk-based protein powder, Shields regularly eats eggs.

“I used to get pressured to eat meat when I was younger by [amateur wrestling] coaches,” said Shields. “But I was successful in sports, so they started leaving me alone.”

Fitch’s transformation was gradual, stemming from when Michele read “Skinny Bitch,” a diet book by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin that advocated a vegan lifestyle and focused on unhealthy aspects of eating meat.

“Before UFC 100, she went on a vegan diet and started feeling better,” said Fitch. “Prior to my fight with Paulo Thiago [during the summer of 2009], I went to a more organic diet. I cut back to eating meat three times a week, limited to an eight-ounce steak or poultry, and started eating more fruits and vegetables. In two weeks, I noticed a big difference in training. I had a much easier weight cut and recovered from it better. So I kept it up.”

Fitch read “Skinny Bastard,” the male counterpart to” Skinny Bitch,” by the same authors, as well as “The China Study,” a research project collaboration among Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, which examined diseases and lifestyles in rural China. The study showed people who ate the most animal-based protein had more chronic illnesses, and people who ate mostly plant-based foods were the healthiest and lived the longest.

Fitch credits his wife for his ability to pull off his dietary experiment because she handles the shopping and food preparation.

“We’re a real team,” he said. “With all the food I have to eat to maintain weight on this diet, she is constantly cooking and preparing things.”

“He eats nonstop,” said Michele Fitch. “Particularly at night. I wake up in the morning and the snack tray is empty.”

Fitch gets home most nights from his evening workout at about 9:30 p.m. and eats dinner at 10. He will eat another light meal before going to bed around midnight.

“After his evening workout, he has a spinach noodle dish with spinach, zucchini, garlic, onions, olive oil and sometimes mushrooms – his Popeye meal,” she said. “All meals contain a variety of fruits.”

The Fitches don’t measure portions, but Michele Fitch said the goal for Jon is a three-to-one ratio between fruits and protein, with the goal of getting 90 grams of protein daily.

“The average person needs 60 grams, but with all the intense training, I have to keep my strength up,” he said.

For Danzig, a matter of principle

Danzig, 31, the Season 6 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” as a welterweight, even though he normally fights at lightweight, turned vegetarian full-time in 2004.

With his stint on the reality show and public advocacy for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, he’s more vocal about the vegetarian lifestyle than other fighters.

Danzig ponders about peoople with pets who know of the often inhumane conditions animals raised for food are subjected to.

“I don’t understand how anyone can have an animal in their life and know what is going on and contribute to it,” Danzig said. “You don’t need any kind of animal products to be an athlete in this day and age.”

Danzig came upon the vegetarian diet differently from Fitch and the Diaz brothers, who did it for their sport. He cites being on a farm at 13 and seeing a truck taking pigs to slaughter, making eye contact with a pig on the way to its death, and the moment having a profound effect on him.

Danzig worked at an animal sanctuary in Pennsylvania at the age of 20 and met people who felt strongly about not eating meat. He was a vegan for a year, but gave it up when he started training as a full-time fighter, believing he would need animal protein to have enough strength to compete at the top level. But after reading up on the subject, he felt he could go without any animal products and be successful, so he reverted back to veganism.

Fitch raves about the health and performance benefits of his new lifestyle. But he doesn’t consider it a moral matter. He noted after his fight with Penn, he’s planning on eating a steak.

“The thing is, steak tastes great.”"

Article written by Dave Meltzer / Yahoo Sports

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Obesity Has Doubled Since 1980, Major Global Analysis of Risk Factors Reveals

Article reprinted from Imperial College London.

"ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2011) — The worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled since 1980, according to a major study on how three important heart disease risk factors have changed across the world over the last three decades. The study, published February 4 in three papers in the Lancet, looked at all available global data to assess how body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol changed between 1980 and 2008.

The study shows that in 2008, more than one in ten of the world's adult population was obese, with women more likely to be obese than men. An estimated 205 million men and 297 million adult women were obese -- a total of more than half a billion adults worldwide.

The proportion of the world's population with high blood pressure, or uncontrolled hypertension, fell modestly between 1980 and 2008. However, because of population growth and ageing, the number of people with uncontrolled hypertension rose from 600 million in 1980 to nearly 1 billion in 2008. High-income countries achieved large reductions in uncontrolled hypertension, with the most impressive progress seen in women in Australasia and men in North America. Uncontrolled hypertension is defined as a systolic blood pressure higher than 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure higher than 90 mmHg.

Average levels of total blood cholesterol fell in Western countries of North America, Australasia and Europe, but increased in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.

Professor Majid Ezzati, the senior author of the study from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "Our results show that overweight and obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are no longer Western problems or problems of wealthy nations. Their presence has shifted towards low and middle income countries, making them global problems."

Beyond global trends, the studies reveal how different countries compare in terms of each risk factor. The results show that:

BMI:

* In 2008, 9.8 per cent of men and 13.8 per cent of women in the world were obese (with a BMI above 30 kg/m2), compared with 4.8 per cent for men and 7.9 per cent for women in 1980.
* Pacific island nations have the highest average BMI in the world, reaching 34-35 kg/m2, up to 70 per cent higher than some countries in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
* Among high income countries, USA has the single highest BMI (over 28 kg/m2 for men and women), followed by New Zealand. Japan has the lowest BMI (about 22 kg/m2 for women and 24 kg/m2 for men), followed by Singapore.
* Among high-income countries, between 1980 and 2008, BMI rose most in USA (by more than 1 kg/m2/decade), followed by New Zealand and Australia for women and followed by UK and Australia for men. Women in a few Western European countries had virtually no rise in BMI.
* The UK has the sixth highest BMI in Europe for women and ninth highest for men (both around 27 kg/m2).
* Turkish women and Czech men have the highest BMI in Europe (both around 28 kg/m2). Swiss women had the lowest BMI in Europe (around 24 kg/m2).

Blood pressure:

* Systolic blood pressure levels are highest in Baltic and East and West African countries, reaching 135 mmHg for women and 138 mmHg for men. These levels were seen in some Western European countries in the 1980s before their impressive declines.
* South Korea, Cambodia, Australia, Canada and USA had some of the lowest blood pressures for both men and women, below 120 mmHg for women and below 125 mmHg for men.
* Among high income countries, Portugal, Finland and Norway have the highest blood pressure.
* Men had higher blood pressure than women in most world regions.

Cholesterol:

* Western European countries like Greenland, Iceland, Andorra, and Germany have the highest cholesterol levels in the world, with mean serum total cholesterols of around 5.5 mmol/L.
* African countries have the lowest cholesterol, some as low as 4 mmol/L.
* Among western high-income countries, Greece has the lowest cholesterol for both men and women (below 5 mmol/L). USA, Canada, and Sweden also had low cholesterol.
* The UK's cholesterol is ninth highest in the world, slightly below 5.5 mmol/L.

The review was carried out by an international collaboration of researchers, led by Professor Majid Ezzati from Imperial College London and co-led by Dr. Goodarz Danaei from the Harvard School of Public Health, in collaboration with The World Health Organization and a number of other institutions.

Professor Ezzati added: "It's heartening that many countries have successfully reduced blood pressure and cholesterol despite rising BMI. Improved screening and treatment probably helped to lower these risk factors in high-income countries, as did using less salt and healthier, unsaturated fats.

"The findings are an opportunity to implement policies that lead to healthier diets, especially lower salt intake, at all levels of economic development, as well as looking at how we improve detection and control through the primary healthcare system. Policies and targets for cardiovascular risk factors should get special attention at the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Non-Communicable Diseases in September 2011."

Dr. Goodarz Danaei, from the Harvard School of Public Health, said: "This is the first time that anyone has tried to estimate trends in these major risk factors in every country in the world. The amount of data we collected is unprecedented and vast, and allows us to draw robust conclusions."

Dr. Gretchen Stevens, from the World Health Organization, said: "Our study helps track the obesity problem in individual countries and regions. We know that changes in diet and in physical activity have contributed to the worldwide rise in obesity, but it remains unclear which policies would effectively reduce obesity. We need to identify, implement, and rigorously evaluate policy interventions aimed at reversing the trends, or limiting their harmful effects."

The work forms part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The study also received funding from the World Health Organization (WHO)."