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October 21, 2014

CARNITINE- THE BIG FAT LOSS TOOL!

Taking carnitine with omega-3 fish oil is one of the simplest things you can do to lose weight and raise your energy levels. The cool thing about carnitine is that by elevating the amount of carnitine stored in your muscles, you will see improvements in your quality of life. Fat loss and more energy are two of these benefits, but taking carnitine is known to improve all of the following:

•    High-intensity work capacity
•    Increase athletic performance
•    Speed your recovery from intense exercise
•    Make your brain work better
•    Prevent oxidative stress that leads to longer term health problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic inflammation

A recent study in The Journal of Physiology provides groundbreaking evidence that carnitine supplementation can improve athletic performance, something that researchers have had trouble proving for years. Emerging research on the benefits of carnitine for health in conjunction with evidence that clarifies the best ways to take carnitine (insulin must be present in the body for carnitine to be delivered into the muscle), make it time to revisit this amino acid. Let’s look at top 7 health benefits of elevating your carnitine levels with a focus on achieving optimal body composition.

1)    Take Carnitine to Burn Fat: The Basics
Carnitine is an amino acid composite that is made from lysine and methionine. There are a couple of different forms of carnitine, such as acetyl-L-carnitine and L-carnitine tartrate, and we’ll look at which forms you should be taking and when. In this article, unless otherwise stated,  “carnitine” will be used to refer to L-carnitine tartrate.

Carnitine is a potent fat burner because it is responsible for the transport of fats into the cells to be used for energy in the body. By raising the level of muscle carnitine, you support the fat burning process, and because your body becomes more efficient at processing fuel, it will increase your energy levels. Elevating carnitine will also improve physical performance by burning more fat, sparing glycogen, clearing muscle lactate, and increasing anabolic hormone response.

2)    Pair Carnitine and Omega-3 Fish Oils For Fat Loss
For carnitine to be effective, you need to ensure you have adequate levels of omega-3 fish oils in the body. In order for your body to actually “load” carnitine that you take in supplement form into the muscles where you want it, it has to be accompanied by insulin.

I mention this relationship between omega-3s and carnitine because you won’t optimally benefit from taking carnitine unless you have already attended to your omega-3s. In working with obese clients, I’ve found that using high doses of fish oil with carnitine tartrate will allow the fat to start to come off.

Omega-3s increase metabolic rate by increasing cell activity and fat burning. Carnitine is the delivery system for long chain fatty acids such that the less carnitine you have in the body, the fewer fatty acids that get into the cell, meaning you don’t burn them for energy. Instead, the fatty acids go into a depository and are stored as fat. By elevating carnitine, fat burning increases and you give the cell the right genetic machinery to raise metabolism. You’ll have more energy, feel more motivated, and any excess fat begins to come off.

3)    No Need For Carbs: Carnitine with Omega-3s for Fat Loss
The new study in The Journal of Physiology, which we will highlight below starting with #5, showed that taking carnitine with carbs is effective for elevating muscle carnitine levels and improving athletic performance. But carbs aren’t necessary as long as you get adequate omega-3s. Combining carnitine, omega-3s, and polyphenols resulted in lower blood lipid levels and better cellular energy production, which has the implication of fat loss if the study had been of longer duration—it was only 12 weeks.

Researchers found that triglycerides were lowered by 24 percent and free fatty acids decreased by 29 percent compared to a placebo group that had no changes. These changes indicate healthier markers of cholesterol, better energy use, and fat burning that will lead to fat loss. Additionally, genes that increase fat burning in the body were “activated” indicating a better metabolic profile. Take note that the polyphenols were included to raise antioxidant levels and fight oxidative stress that leads to chronic inflammation and poor cardiovascular health, among other things. They are not necessary for the carnitine to work its magic.

4)    Carnitine Fights Visceral Belly Fat
Visceral belly fat is one of the toughest fats to lose once you’ve got it, and it causes numerous health problems. Once you begin to gain visceral fat around the belly, it will lead to fat gain within the organs such as the liver, the heart, or even in muscle. Fat gain in the liver leads to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, while epicardial fat is a type of visceral fat that is deposited around the heart and is considered a metabolically active organ, altering heart function.

Raising your carnitine levels will fight this visceral fat gain because it increases fat burning, which has the effect of taking triglycerides and low-density lipoproteins out of the system so that they don’t build up causing high cholesterol and atherosclerosis.

5)    Increase Work Capacity With Carnitine
Another benefit of raising carnitine levels is that you’ll have a greater work capacity, but it will not feel as physically difficult.  You’ll be able to lift more weight, complete more reps, or run faster and longer, but with more ease. This is because higher muscle carnitine levels help decreases pain, muscle damage, and markers of metabolic stress from high-intensity exercise by decreasing lactic acid production.

A higher level of carnitine increases energy production, but it also has the effect of accelerating muscle buffering by maintaining the pH of the muscle and minimizing the accumulation of hydrogen ions.  Basically, carnitine helps eliminate the byproducts of intense exercise that cause pain and muscle damage (the burning you may feel when training hard), allowing you to work harder.

6)    Improve Cognitive Performance with Acetyl-L-Carnitine and Increase Motivation
A form of carnitine called acetyl-l-carnitine will give you superior brain function and increase motivation, meaning it’s a great supplement for people who want to lose weight but feel unmotivated to exercise. Acetyl-l-carnitine helps DHA omega-3 fish oils work their magic on the brain—just like carnitine tartrate, this form needs to be taken with omega-3s in order to facilitate fat burning for energy in the brain.

Acetyl-l-carnitine is a powerful antioxidant and can detoxify the brain of heavy metals we suggest pairing it with Alpha Lipoic Acid along with DHA because all together they support dopamine levels, while increasing attention span and motivation. For depressed people or those who need to lose weight, it works wonders on motivation and self-initiative, both with training and work-related tasks. And by taking acetyl-l-carnitine, you’ll still benefit from improved energy, physical performance, work capacity, and a speedy recovery, all benefits to help you achieve a lean physique.

7)    Prevent Type 2 Diabetes and Improve Insulin Health With Carnitine
Carnitine is emerging as a supplement that can prevent type 2 diabetes because of how it improves fat metabolism. It can counter the diseases of metabolic syndrome by preventing  atherosclerosis, and supporting cardiovascular health, while inducing fat loss.

Plus, raising carnitine levels will fight related type 2 diabetes factors because it has antioxidant properties, meaning it abolishes free radicals and reduces oxidative stress.  The key to improving your insulin health and losing fat with carnitine is to understand that the following interrelated factors must be present for this method to be effective:
A)    Take carnitine with omega-3 fish oils. Remember, a 1 to 5 ratio is suggested.
B)    Adopt this supplementation protocol as a lifestyle habit, not a one time thing. Research shows androgen receptors are up-regulated after three weeks, triglycerides are improved after three months, but muscle carnitine level isn’t elevated for close to six months.
C)    A high-protein diet and exercise will make it much more effective

October 20, 2014

PROTEIN CAN BE POISONOUS!!




Rabbit starvation, also known as protein poisoning, is a dangerous health condition caused by the over-consumption of protein coupled with fat, carbohydrate, and micronutrient deprivation. The common name refers to the fact that this condition can be caused by a near-total subsistence on lean, wild game, such as rabbit. Unchecked, the disease can cause severe symptoms of malnutrition, and can lead to a fatal buildup of toxins in the bloodstream.

The mechanics behind rabbit starvation are fairly simple. Protein in the body is converted into glucose by the liver, and can be burned as energy. The liver, however, can only safely process a limited amount of protein at a time. If the body receives more protein than it can safely turn into glucose, the resulting strain on the liver and kidneys can cause an increasing buildup of ammonia and amino acids. The liver then flushes these excess byproducts into the bloodstream, causing dangerous and even fatal consequences.

In addition to straining the liver, protein over-consumption also causes various symptoms of malnutrition, including fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, and constant hunger. These symptoms occur because the body is being deprived of necessary nutrition provided only by fat, carbohydrates, and micronutrients such as vitamins. Symptoms will occur regardless of how many calories a person experiencing rabbit starvation eats, since the body is limited in its ability to process energy and nutrition from protein. Thus, a person can be eating an enormous amount of food, yet still experiencing weakness, hunger, and other malnourishment symptoms.

The possibility of rabbit starvation leads many health experts to counsel against some protein-heavy diet regimes. Although the exact upper limit for safe protein consumption is not widely agreed upon, some authorities suggest that protein poisoning becomes a concern if protein comprises more than 35% of daily calorie intake. Some suggest that high-protein diets should be monitored by a doctor or dietician to prevent rabbit starvation from taking hold.


October 18, 2014

TRICKY SQUATS FORCES FAT TO BURN MORE


Full range-of motion squats should be a principal exercise in any athletic training program because they produce superior results for the following reasons:


•    You maximally train all the muscles in the lower body with full-range squats. Research shows that deep squats will train the quads better than partial-range squats. Squatting low and using a heavy load is necessary to maximally train the posterior chain.


•    You can increase speed and jump height more by using the full-range of motion squat as a fundamental training lift instead of a partial-range, heavier squat.


•    You will perform more work doing full-range squats, and if you program your squats properly (more sets, fewer reps per set), squats can anchor a body composition/fat loss training program.


•    Full-range squats require flexibility. Exclusive partial-range training can produce structural imbalances and reduce flexibility.


A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research provides further insight into the effect of range of motion (ROM) on performance in the squat. The study compared power, force, velocity, and work output during full- and partial-ROM squats with either 5 or 10 reps per set.


The 5-set trials used a load of 83 percent of the 1RM, whereas the 10-set trials used a load of 67 percent of the 1RM. Partial-ROM was performed to 120⁰ of knee flexion and the full-ROM squat was performed to a depth in which the hip was parallel to the knee (not a deep squat in which the hamstring covers the calf, but interesting nonetheless).


How to program full-squats for fat loss & building muscle:
Results showed that work output was greatest in the full-ROM conditions and the full-ROM heavy load (5 reps) trial resulted in 17 percent more work than the full-ROM light load (10 reps) trial. Researchers suggest using full-ROM heavy squats with fewer reps for more sets if the goal is fat loss or hypertrophy. They call our attention to this approach since it goes against the typical bodybuilding method of using 8 to 12 reps per set.


How to use partial squats in a program for advanced athletes:
Results showed that power and force were greatest when squatting in the partial-ROM with the heaviest load. This provides a classic example of how partials can be used for athletes who need to produce maximum force and power output. Peak velocity during the squat was highest in the full-ROM squats with the 67 percent load (10 reps). Researchers suggest athletes in high-speed sports that require running and jumping should use full-ROM squats.


In sports where force and power are the key determining factor, such as rugby or certain positions in football, partial-ROM squats could make up a larger component of training. Still, full-ROM squats ensure structural balance to prevent injury, and could train high force athletes for a quick first step in short sprints.


What a full range-of-motion squat really is and why it’s safe:
Although this study focuses on “full-ROM” squats to parallel, healthy trainees should use full squats to a depth where the hamstring covers the knee. It is a misperception that deep squats are bad for the knee. Research shows that the greatest shear force on the knee is at the start of the squat when the lifter initiates the bend of the knee. In addition, the pressure on the knee decreases as you descend from parallel into a deep squat where the hip is below the knee.


Finally, full squats produce beneficial connective tissue adaptations so that the knee joint can handle higher forces. This is critical because simply walking up and down the stairs puts shear force on the knee, and athletes must be able to pivot and land safely under load. Strong, healthy connective tissue is a key component of highly functional knee joint.

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