Whey Protein Alone Won't Cover the EAA Requirements of Hard Working Athletes, Study Says. Plus: US Whey More Digestible & 88% Higher in Leucine than Brazilian Whey

Not all protein supplements are created equal. And this goes for whey supplements from different countries, too.

In their accepted manuscript for LWT - Food Science and Technology, Cristine Couto Almeida and her colleagues write: "When the calculated AAS and PDCAAS based on the suggestion for adult athletes were considered, both [US & Brazilian whey protein] supplements exhibited suboptimal score values for several EAA [... and] were unable to supply the suggested adult athlete EAA requirement" (Almeida. 2014).

Shocked? I'd hope not. I mean, you don't even know what the scientists base their conclusion on - right? So before we even try to put things into perspective, it would be wise to take a look a the design of this in vitro study.

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While the researchers from the Universidade Federal de Rio de Jaieiro acknowledge that whey protein, in general, is an effective adjunct to the diet of strength and even endurance athletes, they insist that there is too little "information regarding the WP supplement protein quality" and thus set out to "to investigate the protein quality of commercial WP supplements produced by U.S. and Brazilian companies based on in vitro digestibility (IVPD) assay, EAA, AAS and [protein digestibility-corrected amino acid] PDCAAS." (Almeida. 2014)

To this ends, the researchers acquired fifteen samples of whey protein (WP), soy protein, and caseinate isolate powder from a commercial retailer specialized on nutritional supplements. The supplements had been manufactured at different countries - eight from USA companies (WP-USA), and seven from Brazilian companies (WP-BRA). The supplements manufactured with soy protein and caseinate isolate powder were used as references in a study that yielded quite surprising results.

Figure 1: Essential amino acid composition of two commercial whey protein supplements (Almeida. 2014).

As you can see in Figure 1 the amino acid composition of the whey proteins from Brazil and the US varied significantly. The US whey, for example had significantly higher amounts of leucine, while the Brazilian whey was loaded with the essential amino acid lysine. While it is possible that the variations in the other amino acids are a result differences that were present in the milk, already, I would guess that the US whey was either openly (the scientists don't disclose the brands, otherwise I'd check) or secretly spiked with leucine to promote muscle anabolism.

Figure 2: Relative loss (%) of amino acids during simulated (in vitro) digestion in US and Brazilian whey (Almeida. 2014).

What are the numbers based on: Whether the amount of aminos is sufficient or not was calculated based on the WHO recommendation (WHO. 2007), assuming a normal (=comparatively low) protein intake.

If you consume twice the WHO suggestions for athletes, you are thus not at a risk of being deficient in any of the EAAs, but could maybe optimize the ratio of the individual amino acids by not covering your protein needs from a single protein source.

Even if we assume the latter was the case and the producer added free form amino acids to the whey, though, this does not explain the other differences, because if you add say 20g of leucine to 100g of EAA and measure the amino acid content of the 100g of your new mix, the content of all other amino acids would be lower.

 As you can easily see in Figure 1, though, this was not the case in the study at hand. Plus: There were also significant differences in the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid composition, i.e. the marker of whether or not the content of a certain essential amino acid per gram of protein was sufficient or not. In that, values <1.0 indicate there is too little of this amino acid in the mix.

Figure 3: Amino acid score and protein digestibility-corrected amino acid composition for the commercial
US and Brazilian whey supplements (Almeida. 2014).

As you can see in Figure 3, the latter was the case for threonine and valine in the US whey and for isoleucine and leucine in the whey protein from Brazil.

Figure 4: According to the standardized in vitro digestion assay (AOAC. 2012) the scientists used soy protein has by far the lowest digestibility and will thus be effectively delivering the lowest percentage of the amino acids it contains into your circulation (Almeida. 2014).

What does this mean? I must admit this sounds awful, but in practice it means only that you would end up getting your EAAs at an allegedly suboptimal ratio (I doubt we know what this ratio is, though) if you covered your complete protein needs with whey protein. In that, it is interesting that you would get too little threonine and valine form US wheys and too little leucine and isoleucine from Brazilian wheys.

Actual deficiency symptoms as you may have expected them, when you've read the statement that whey protein supplements were "unable to supply the suggested adult athlete EAA requirement" (Almeida. 2014), however are unlikely, because (a) I assume most of you won't live off whey protein as their only protein source and (b) even if you did, you would probably consume more than the WHO recommendation for athletes (WHO. 2014) that's at the heart of Almeida et al.'s calculation suggests | Comment of Facebook!

References:

• Almeida, Cristine Couto, et al. "In vitro digestibility of commercial whey protein supplements." LWT-Food Science and Technology (2014). 
• AOAC International, and George W. Latimer. Official Methods of analysis of AOAC International. AOAC International, 2012.
• Hsu, H. W., et al. "A multienzyme technique for estimating protein digestibility." Journal of Food Science 42.5 (1977): 1269-1273.
• WHO. "Protein and amino acid requirements in human nutrition." World Health Organization technical report series 935 (2007):

Never(!) Sip Your Whey, If You Want to Kickstart Protein Synthesis. Over 60% Reduction in 1-5h Post Workout Protein Synthesis if You "Pulse" Your PWO Shake.

Image 1: The whey isolate used in the study - I guess as a scientists you just take whatever you get sponsored ;-) All jokes aside, any other whey isolate will do just as fine.

We all know, leucine is the magic amino acid that tells your muscles to ramp up protein synthesis. We also know that whey protein, which is made from the globular proteins the manufacturers isolate from the milky by-product of cheese production, is "the whey to go" if you do not want to ingest your leucine as a free-form amino acid or as part of a BCAA or EAA free-form amino acid blend. After all, whey is not only particularly rich in leucine (~14-15%), but also highly digestible. Well, at least this is what you are told to believe by the supplement industry... but how do we know that it is really the "speed" that makes a difference? After all, in all existing studies which compare whey to "slow digesting" proteins the absorption speed is not the only independent variable. Moreover, a recent study by Reitelseder et al. on the effects of post-exercise supplementation with 0.2g/kg body weight whey vs. casein could not find significant differences in the post-exercise protein synthetic response - and that despite the fact that whey is faster digested and does contain ~5% more leucine (Reitelseder. 2011).

A cleverly designed experiment that was (how else could it be ;-) conducted by Stuart Phillips' Exercise Metabolism Research Group at the Department of Kinesiology and Neurology at McMasters University in Hamilton, Canada, could hold the answer to the question, whether the speed with which the amino acids from your post-workout protein shake hit your body actually matters (West. 2011). Instead of using caserin or another slow-digesting protein source as control, Daniel W.D. West and his colleagues effectively eliminated all other possibly interfering variables, such as the exact amino acid composition, the carbohydrate and fat or vitamin and mineral content of the control beverage, by simply comparing the protein synthetic response to strength training (8 sets of 8-10 reps at 10RM on the bilateral leg extension machine) in 8 healthy men after bolus or pulsed (10x2.5g every 20min) ingestion of 25g of whey protein.

Figure 1: Mean serum blood concentration  (nmol/ml) of essential amino acids after bolus (red) or pulsed (blue) ingestion of 25g whey protein; * significantly (p<0.05) greater than pulse, # significantly (p<0.05) greater than bolus (data adapted from West. 2011)

While, obviously, the areas under the curve were identical for both the total essential amino acid (EAA), as well as the leucine serum levels in both groups, only the bolus ingestion of 25g of whey protein caused a significant spike (+122% over baseline, +45% over pulse) of total EAA and leucine levels about 60min post ingestion (cf. figure 1, the graph for leucine looks virtually identical). Conversely, there was a transient increase (+66% over baseline, +33% over bolus ingestion) in both serum EAA and leucine content 180min at the end of the pulsed ingestion.

Figure 2: Relative increases in mTOR phosphorylation (left) and myofibrillar fractional muscle protein synthesis rates (right) over fasted baseline after bolus or pulsed ingestion of 25g of whey protein (data adapted from West. 2011)

As the relative increases in myofibrillar fractional muscle protein synthesis rates (FSR over fasted baseline) in figure 2 (right) go to show, the spike and not the total amount of EAA/leucine over a given time period (as measured by the area under the curve) is what kicks the muscle protein synthetic machinery into gear. Even with the lower serum EAA levels at the ~3h (=180min) mark, both protein synthesis as well as mTOR-phosphorylation (figure 2, left) were still higher in the group who consumed their 25g of whey in a single bolus. So, even if your whey tastes so good that you feel like it would be a sheer waste to gulp it down all at once, you better ignore those moral objections if you want to make the most of your post-workout nutrition ;-)

Exercise the one and only "nutrient partitioner"

These results are obviously important, in that they substantiate the current practice of "getting your fast digested protein in right after exercise", what I personally did yet find even more revealing is the following remark that can be found in the extensive discussion of the results:

An intriguing and important divergence between our findings and reports in which aminoacidemia resulted in only a transient rise in MPS with infusion of amino acids or with amino acid consumption is that our results were postexercise. It appears that a unique aspect of resistance exercise is to selectively sustain elevated synthetic rates of myofibrillar proteins after protein consumption. In contrast to the effects of protein consumption alone at rest, the current results and our earlier work showed that the highest rates of MPS were observed at 3–5 h postexercise when aminoacidemia had subsided.

So, what am I preaching in each and every post? There is only one "nutrient repartitioner" which works: EXERCISE. Now, get your ass to the gym and save the money the supp companies want you to spent on dubious supplements which - even if they worked - don't give you any advantage over what you can accomplish with exercise alone for a container full of tasty whey protein isolate (which ought to be ingested in bolus portions of 25g, of course ;-).

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: After the Famine the Training Starts to Escalate!

Image 1: Adelfo Cerame Jr. survived the famine ;-)

Another Thursday, a busy one that is not over with this blog post, but will go overtime on Carl Lenore's Super Human Radio, where, today at 12pm EST, you will be able to hear Adelfo Cerame Jr. and my humble self, Dr. Andro, chitchatting with Carl about Adelfo's contest prep, his raw foods diet, intermittent fasting and much more. So don't forget to tune in live (update: click here to download podcast) And in case your boss doesn't like it when you listen to Internet ratio shows in the office, I will post the link to the podcast, as soon as it is going to be available. In the meantime, I'd suggest you read up on whether or not Adelfo survived the self-inflicted famine that had befallen him in the last week ;-)

Low calories + low protein = no hunger, no sluggishness, no visible muscle loss and no acne!

As those of you who have been following my weekly updates (a new installment appears every Thursday) here on SuppVersity know, I picked up a technique I read about in Rob Regish's Blueprint and kicked the hot phase of my contest prep off with a famine/detox protocol. The idea behind this initially counter-intuitive dietary intervention was to give my digestive tract, as well as "Mr. mTOR" on his "AMPK/mTOR seesaw" (if you aren't familar with "Mr. mTOR" and his unique "toy", you got to read up on Dr. Andro's latest blogposts on Intermittent Fasting) a well-deserved rest, in order to reset and improve my body’s ability to absorb and utilize nutrients more efficiently. In combination with strenuous training, the famine signal, which is obviously a novelty for a bodybuilder who has been focusing almost religiously on getting his share of protein in every few hours for years, is supposed to shock and alarm the body. It's similar to what a beginner will experience, when he is first hitting the gym - stress-induced super-compensation is the name of the game.

Figure 1: Macronutrient break down (protein, carbs, fats in g) famine and regular training day - what a difference!

With a calorie intake way below what it will look like even at the end of my contest prep, I expected to be hungry all the time. Much to my surprise (yet actually in accordance with what I had read in Rob Regish's "Blue Print"), the 5 days on fresh pineapples, raw carrots and vegetable juice (V8) weren't so bad at all. Being an "Intermittent Faster" for quite some time now and thusly accustomed to going without food for longer periods of time, I did not even feel particularly hungry. My performance in the gym did not suck and I did not feel sluggish, either. What I did notice, though, was how my skin cleared up. By day three on this low calorie, low protein diet the acne on my chest and back had cleared up - quite astonishing for someone like me who has had issues with body acne for most of his life!

A Guru of my own - wandering in Gironda's footsteps

I broke the famine/detox on Saturday afternoon and treated myself to a Brazilian BBQ buffet. If you’ve never been to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant… it’s a meatgasm of all you can eat: cuts of rib eye, sirloin, brisket, lamb, duck, rabbit… and the list goes on! For the first 48 hours I loaded up on protein and quality carbohydrates, drank lots of water and popped liver tablets throughout the day. "Liver tabs, what's that?", if you are now asking yourselves that question, you probably belong to the post-Gironda generation. Vince Gironda, the "Iron Guru", himself, swore by those dessicated liver tabs for their high content of quality protein and highly bioavailable vitamins and micronutrients. While this may have been in the days before protein powders, BCAA caps and mega-dosed vitamin supplements became widely available, I feel like this completely natural nutrient blend still has its merit. As of Monday, I went back to my daily maintenance calories.
 

Image 2: This is what a  Brazilian BBQ looks like. Certainly, a decent contrast to a famine. So, just in case you ever happen to be starving, I guess now you know where to go to refeed yourself ;-)

When I first started experimenting with IF last month, I mentioned that I wasn’t really keeping track of my calories or numbers. This has obviously changed with the beginning of my contest prep. After all, intermittent fasting is a dietary strategy, but no magic bullet that will give you the body of a bodybuilder if you eat like a pig - when on stage 0.1% body fat make the difference, between victory and defeat, calories begin to count again. Accordingly, I began keeping track of my calories and macronutrients, again, in order to make sure that I am hitting my numbers: For the next two weeks my goal is to keep my calories around my caloric maintenance to take advantage of the super-compensation process I hope to have triggered by the short famine phase.

After those two weeks, I will evaluate my physique, take measurements and go from there. In that I will diverge from the usual approach, where you are gradually decreasing your calorie intake from week to week, and use what you may call "caloric zig zagging" instead. In essence, I hope to be able to forestall metabolic adaptation processes (it should be obvious that we are talking about reductions in energy expenditure, here) by keeping my energy/calorie intake up during my training days and using my off days to create the caloric deficit which simply is a necessary prerequisite to bring your body fat level down into the unquestionably unnatural lower single-digit range, where veins start popping and striations begin to show, where "normal" people would not even know they had muscles ;-) ... but as I said, I’ll figure out the details, based on the results of the next two weeks.

EDT = Escalating Density Training - well, why not give it a shot!?

Image 3: Adelfo's personal EDT blueprint right from his secret training diary ;-)

I have also decided to make a major change in my training routine: For the next couple of weeks, I will be experimenting with static holds and EDT, i.e. escalating density training. At first I was very hesitant, because I am so used to common split routines, muscle-isolation and all those specialization and isolation stuff you read about in the muscle mags. After some conversations with Rob Regish, who happens to offer additional advice to all readers of his "Blueprint" on the Blueprint Forum, and some research of my own, I have convinced myself that the intense antagonistic training style of EDT could work particularly well for someone like me, who, partly due to my handicap, usually doesn't do any regular "cardio" training during his contest prep and wants to rely on strength training and nutrition, exclusively, when dieting for a show. Being short and intense it could help burn off calories while building or maintaining the muscle mass I already carry.

A pros pos intense: EDT is a program or training system that challenges you to do the most work per unit of time, which is supposed to be an optimal stimulus for muscle growth. Each session consists of two antagonistic or push/ pull exercises (for example, 1 chest exercise superset w/ 1 back exercise and 1 biceps exercise superset w/1 triceps exercise). You have 20 minutes for each exercise (which is called the PR Zone or personal record zone), to perform as many reps as you can. The goal is to try and beat your personal or PR zone, every workout session. Now, if you have not tried it yourself, two exercises, 40 minutes of training... that may not sound very intense... believe me, my experience from Monday's workout tought me otherwise: EDT is fast paced and intense. I was sweating and breathing hard, like I was running sprints back and fourth for 20 minutes. I haven’t felt like that in a long time from a weight training session…

And for those of you that are wondering. "Hey, and what about your other body parts? Deltoids, triceps, the individual heads, etc.?" Honestly, when you’re hammering your chest and back constantly within those 20 minutes… I can assure you that you WILL feel that your deltoid, triceps, and biceps are getting hammered just as well. And FYI… you cannot change the shape of your muscles or restructure your muscle bellies by exercising body parts from certain different angles - you may be able to make up for minor imbalances, but when it's all said and done, all you can do is shed off the body fat and showcase what you have made out of the body God gave you.

Abs, abs, abs,... is that all people want?

You think you could use some advice on your own training, diet and supplementation regimen and want it from someone who obviously knows what it takes to build muscle and lose fat? You can reach out to Adelfo via Facebook.

Before we close this weeks update, a brief note on a topic many of you appear to be interested in: My, or I actually I think you are more interested in YOUR abs ;-) I get a lot of compliments and questions on how I get my abs so defined, people ask me what type of exercises I do or think that I spend the whole day working them out. To be honest, I don’t do any special exercises or different varieties of abdominal workouts, as you see some people do. I keep my abdominal workout simple, just your basic cable crunches using a rope. People don’t realize that everybody exercise his abdominals on a daily basis... you cannot do squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, benches, etc. without them! During each rep, your abs got to work - they are stabilizing your body, whether you realize it or not, your abs will gets their share of stimulation.

Now, obviously, I depend a lot more on my core to hold me up and balance myself, since I cannot use my gluteus and legs. When it comes to "training" abs, this is an advantage, because I am utilizing my core more than most "healthy" people do, just to keep my posture up and balanced... I let my diet take care of the rest!  Always remember: Abdominals are built in the kitchen, but that’s stuff for one of the next installments ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: Starting Off With a Shocker - A Five Day Famine to "Detoxify" and Prime Your Body to Grow

Image 1: Adelfo at the '09 Wheelchair
Nationals - not only without a bruised
biceps, but also in better shape than
some pro-bodybuilders ;-)

It's Thursday and you know what that means: Adelfo Cerame Jr. is back at the SuppVersity for one of his "seminars" ;-) Well, I guess if this was a real University, I'd invite invite him as a guest speaker to one of our colloquiums and would announce today's lecture as a lesson on how the pros learn from other pros - or, in other words, how above all bodybuilding veterans have to constantly expand their arsenal of proven dietary and training strategies, if they want to stay on top of everyone's game. As you will see, for Adelfo, this turned out to be quite a detoxifying experience...

Back for good - so let's get started!

It's a strange feeling, on the one hand, I know that the weeks to come are gonna be tough. You cannot take your contest prep lightly, if you really want to win. On the other hand, however, I am really excited! The week off did me good! I feel refreshed and all my nagging aches and pains has disappeared... and no I did not lose any muscle... ;-)

Image 2: Adelfo has been digging Rob Regish's blueprint lately. If you are interested in a sneak peak I suggest you listen to Rob on Carl Lenore's Super Human Radio:  Blueprint, Calorie ZigZag, Breaking Plateaus

I've spent the last week wisely and have really streamlined my plan of attack. And, as you would have expected, I've come up with a few minor tweaks to my dietary regimen that have been inspired by suggestions I picked up in Rob Regish's Blueprint in the past week. It's always good to check which dietary and training strategies have worked for others and the "famine/detox" protocol Rob outlines appealed to me as being a sound foundation not only for what Rob calls "the best workout design to make the fastest muscle gains" *lol*, but also to reset my own metabolic switchboard in the first week of my contest preparation. And, in the end, what do I have to lose? If it works, I have another powerful "weapon" in my ever expanding contest prep arsena - if it doesn't work, I've found yet another dietary tweak that works for some, appears sound and scientifically valid, but just is not form me, as an individual. It would be great, if some magical "one size fits it all" solution would make trial and error obsolete, but after all, your success in the bodybuilding world will always depend on knowing what works best for you, or the very client you are working with.

Cerame + Regish = Raw Foods, intermittent famine/detox ;o)

For the past five days I've now been following my modification of Robb Regish's "famine/detox" protocol, which prescribes a very low calorie intake (<1,200kcal, famine) with minimal protein intake (<50g, which as you know is still more than enough if you asked the USDA ;-) and A LOT OF WATER. The idea behind this five day phase, as Rob states it, is "to initiate a mild state of muscle tissue breakdown in order to accelerate the entire protein turnover cycle". Something that - also in view of what Dr. Andro has been writing about the AMPK/mTOR seesaw in the last installments of the Intermittent Thoughts - makes a lot of sense to me.

Image 3: Do you remember the time, when you were a new booty in the gym and the gains came easily?

It's similar to when you were a new booty in the gym, lifting weights for the first time. Do you remember the first couple of months, when you were making really good gains and building tons of muscle? Awesome, wasn't it? It was enough to look at those "heavy" (what was heavy for you back then) dumbbells and bang, you biceps grew ... but then as the months and maybe even years went by and you eventually became a veteran to the iron game, you noticed that you're not getting those same gains as you did when you first started. Am I right? Of course, I am, because this is the way things are - unfortunately.

Now, if you think about it - what were the underlying reasons that, as a rookie, you grew like crazy, although you may have been making all those mistakes every bloody beginner is making? And then, when finally you got a good routine set up and your diet and supplementation in check, your gains began to slow down, like you were hitting an invisible wall?

Well, when you're new to weight training, you are literally shocking your body in each and every training session, your body screams "WHAT? I have to lift that?" and yet, bang!, you still squeeze out another rep - super-compensation is the name of the game and it is working so damn well in the beginning, simply because about everything you do in the gym is "new" to your body. After years of training neither the next 5 pound plate on the barbell nor another 20g of protein per day are going to produce anyway similar productive shock moments. It is in this scenario, where a bodybuilding veteran could benefit from something that may initially appear completely counter-intuitive: a famine phase!

5 days of fruits, veggies and gallons of vegetable juice

Image 4: Not what you would expect a bodybuilder to eat...and, actually, that is what could make it work - it's about change and giving your digestive system and the mTOR pathway an extended (beyond intermittent fasting) break.

So, I've been eating tons of fruits (pineapples) and veggies (carrots) and drinking gallons (well, I've been trying ;-) of vegetable juice (V8), in order to prime my body for a short growth spurt at the beginning of my prep. Training-wise, I've put a deliberate focusing on strenuous weight training; trying to really deplete my muscles, without overdoing it on negatives or static holds.

Interestingly, I have not noticed any negative effects from my low calorie, low protein detox protocol so far. I am strong as an ox and guess that this may in part be due to the fact that my body has already accustomed to tap into its (still visible ;-) fat stores, in the course of the preceding weeks of intermittent fasting. No hunger pangs, no serious cravings... and that despite the fact that I live by a Lucille's BBQ, so I'm smelling that shit every time I stroll outside! And... don't get me wrong... it smells damn good ;-) But I just brush it off... and trust me 2 years ago I would've went postal!

"Detox" or well deserved rest - the main point is that it works

What I am noticing, though (although this could of course be in my head) is that I now as the end of the famine approaches, I have gotten pretty flat, which would obviously make me look less jacked... but hey, isn't that the way every scrawny beginner looks like, when he makes his best gains? And after all, doing a "cleanse" - I'd prefer the expression "giving your digestive tract a break" - from time to time is a healthy thing to do, anyway. And when could be a better time to let your bowel rest than right after you gave your muscles a break from the gym?

With all the high protein food we consume (especially a bodybuilders diet) and the occasional processed poison that we eat for our cheat days, our tummies work about as hard in our "off time" as we are when we are in the gym. It seems only reasonable, that this could eventually take a toll on our digestive system and lead to malabsorbtion and constipation - I mean, it's not for nothing that digestive aids sell like crazy in the bodybuilding community... and you know, what is best for you? You have me as a 150lbs guinea pig, who will be reporting back on the real world results of what, at least on paper, certainly appears to be a promising "dietary self-chastisment", next week and in the weeks to come ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Pre-Contest-Prep Experimentation Time: Re-Feeds, Bro-Science and Raw Pre-Workout Piña Coladas

Image 1: Caramel blueberry pancake?
Exactly! Food for SkipLoading.

Thursday, another week literally flew by and the last of Adelfo Cerame's pre-contest-prep experimentation weeks has begun. About time for an high-carb re-feed, don't you think so? "Re-feed? High in carbs? Isn't that this bullshit that leaves you bloated, fat and ugly?" In case this was what you just thought, when you heard the word "high-carb re-feed", it's about time you let Adelfo explain to you, why he thinks (and knows from experience) that an occasional carb-binge will do way more good, than harm.

Re-feeds keep things going, physiologically, as well as psychologically

Every Sunday I do a re-feed or carb load.... From what I have heard and learned from my own past experience a re-feed or carb load (even, or rather especially on a low carb contest prep diet) can be very beneficial. As someone once mentioned (I can't remember whom or where i had heard it from), our body is "smarter we are" and when it comes to dieting, it will, in the long run, always take measures that go against our efforts to get rid off those enervating, yet from an evolutionary perspective life-saving last fat-reserves. This is important to understand, as it is the fundamental reason why, no matter how clever we think we are, we will always have to work hand in hand with, not against our bodies.

Manipulation is the name of the game

Whatever we do will eventually trigger an adaptive response from our bodies and it goes without saying that the latter (mostly) goes right against our initial intentions.

Image 2: What contains 1C. of raw qephor, 1C of fresh pineapples, 2 organic eggs, a splash of coconut water, 1 tbsp. of agave and 1tbsp. of coconut oil? The healthiest pre-workout pinacolada you could think of! Sounds better than NO-Xplode 2.0, doesn't it ;-)

Let me give you an example: On a diet, your obviously goal is to increase energy expenditure, or even better, to increase fatty acid oxidation while maintaining your dietary intake at a level that will force your body to "feed" off its fat reserves. Now, theoretically, a proper way to do just that (increase fatty acid oxidation) would be to engage in steady state aerobic activity, which - as you have learned in Dr. Andro's latest blogpost on fiber types - via its activation of predominantly slow twitch oxidative muscle fibers should preferentially burn fat... now, if you are one of the meticulous student's of the SuppVersity, you will already be shaking you head, as you will be familiar with the unwanted endocrine and metabolic long-term consequences of endless arduous cardio-sessions, which - and here we have come full circle - are nothing but adjustments your body makes to "optimally" adapt to a training routine that requires the body of a marathon runner, and not the muscular and ripped physique of a future Mr. Olympia.

Similar adaptations occur when you cut calories, after a few days your body will realize that he is going to run "out of fuel" within no time, if he does not cut back energy expenditure. It is at these critical time-points, when your body is about to shift metabolic gears, when re-feeds and carb loads are indicated... and don't be afraid - the one day of (perceived) overfeeding is not going to make you fat (it may make you retain some water, yes, but that's about it)! Think of it as of hitting an afterburner for just as long as takes to kick start your metabolism into full gear again.

Carb-loading = selectively refueling

Figure 1: Adelfo's current macronutrient breakdown in kcal. As mentioned in the last installment he starts out high on carbs to be able to cut back on those during the prep, whenever he feels it's necessary.

Avoiding metabolic shut-down is yet only one aspect. Another one I (and I assume other low-carb dieters will share this experience) have come to appreciate is that a carb-load will refill my glycogen stores - I've found this to be particularly important, when I start to drop my carbohydrate intake over the course of my contest preparation... and those of you who are familiar with Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale's anabolic diet, will also be aware of the fact that occasional high-carb re-feeds will allow you to take advantage of insulin's anabolic effects on muscle tissue without having to suffer from its fat-storing effect on adipose tissue.

During my re-feeds, I usually follow Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale's protocol, ramp up my carbohydrate intake, go low on fat and moderate on protein. In the past I used to carb-load with complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, brown rice and yams, but as of recent I have been experimenting with high GI, processed carbohydrates such as pancakes, pastas, white rice, and kids cereal (basically low fat junk food). I came across this type of re-feeding, when I read about a method called "Skiploading", which was created by a guy named Ken "Skip" Hill. He will be actually helping me for the last week of my contest prep which is considered peak week, with this method of carb loading to help fill me out and come in as dry as possible the day off show. I can't really go into detail, but if you google "Skiploading" you should get an idea of how I do my re-feeds.

Re-feeds, carbloading and intermittent fasting!? Does that all go together?

You think you could use some advice on your own training, diet and supplementation regimen and want it from someone who obviously knows what it takes to build muscle and lose fat? You can reach out to Adelfo via Facebook.

The way I implement these re-feeds into my intermittent fasting regime is as follows:  I still do fast for 16 hours and feed for 8 during my re-feeds on Sundays. This allows me to have three re-feed meals on Sunday, while I will stick to my usual routine for the rest of the week. Last Tuesday for example, the latter looked  like that:

• pre-workout:
  raw pina colada shake (cf. image 2)
• post-workout:
  8 oz raw wild caught soho salmon, 1 large sweet potatoe, 5 slices of mango and a handful of carrots w/ coconut water
• last meal:
  1 c raw milk, 2 oz raw cheddar cheese

As you may have noticed, raw carrots have become one of my favorites, lately. I switched over to carrots from eating tons and tons of broccoli and cabbage - not a bad choice, either, but carrots are easier to prepare, taste way better and are easier digested raw than either broccoli or cabbage.

Contest-prep pre-planning: Of Huge yams, "smooth" dairy and fruit-binges

When I start my prep, in about a week, I will probably have to start cutting back on my sweet potato/yam intake... I just realized how many ounces 1 large yam is when I weighed it.... it's like 16-18 oz, so thats almost like 80g of carbs that I'm taking in, and honestly way more than I'd thought. My current plan is to cut down to 2 medium sweet potatoes and aim for about 40g of starchy carbs.

Image 3: Contrary to what bro-science would tell you, Adelfo still did not "smooth out", despite gallons of raw milk and loafs of raw cheese. Either the bros were wrong (again) or the magic is in the bad buggers (bacteria) the FDA claims they want to protect US citizens from, whenever they raid an innocent farmer.

I've been reconsidering my dairy intake, or, I should say, my previous dairy abstinence, as well. In the past I used to cut dairy out completely, because bro-science tells you: "Dairy smoothes you out, bro! Stay away if you want to stay in shape!" ... well, now that I have been drinking tons of  raw milk for weeks and eating truckloads of raw cheese, I still don't feel that I have smoothed out. This does not go to say that at some point during the prep, I will have to get rid of them, but I got the strange feeling that raw milk and raw cheese will stay a staple of mine in the weeks and months to come, in the course of which I am also going to experimenting with sugary fruits instead of starchy carbs or low fat junk foods during my re-feeds. The rational behind this, is that - just as with the dairy - without trying, I will never be able to tell which type of re-feeding foods work best for me.

Luckily, I still have more than enough time to experiment with different types of carbohydrates to see which suit me best. A pros pos time, for me it's now time to hit the gym, where we are going to film a few more training videos for you - so don't forget to get back next Thursday, to watch me train, and read whether (and if how) I survived the fructose load from Sunday's re-feed ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Pre-Contest-Prep: Back Training 101!

Image 1: An impressive back of which Adelfo feels it really lacks behind. Read more about how he is going to tackle this problem area, this week.

Time is flying by, only 2 weeks and Adelfo will start the hot phase of his contest preparation for the Wheelchair Nationals 2012 in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. From the last installment of the series, you will probably remember that he is using this time to streamline his raw-foods intermittent fasting diet regimen, which - he hinted at that in the last installment already, has not hampered his training progress the least. Currently at 149.5lbs with a body fat percentage of 13.4% he is hitting the gym more motivated than anytime before, as you will read and see in today's installment of Adelfo's exclusive contest-prep log, here at the SuppVersity.

If you want success, you have to constantly reinvent your diet

I already mentioned in the last installment of this series that I felt like the introduction of more and more raw foods into my diet had really helped with both strength as well as size gains in the gym. So, before I delve a little into my current training modalities, I thought I'd share a few additional thoughts on my current nutritional regimen with you.

Image 2: Adelfo's latest preworkout goodness for you to copy: Raw Kiwi Strawberry PreWorkout Shake - 20g protein, 44g carbs, 5g fiber, 28g; 508kcal of muscle building all natural foods, free of artificial flavors and sweeteners, yet 100% delicious!

Although everything seems to be working just fine at the moment, I am already planning ahead. When I start my prep, I will add a protein shake (50g) right after my workout, and then have the rest of my PWO meal when I get home... I just weighed myself today. 149.5 pounds, that's what the scale is telling me and what my current calculations are based on. I estimate my initial caloric needs at about 2,250 calories per day and given the amount of food I am slamming down at the moment, the addition of a protein shake immediately after my workout will help me to get up to those 2,250 calories as a reasonable starting point for my contest prep. While this may be my first prep on an intermittent fast, I figure that  

... whether you fast intermittently or not, you got to start a every diet with a reasonably high caloric intake...

If you do not lose weight as fast as you want to you can still cut back on calories. If, on the other hand, you are losing weight much to fast, chances are your will already have lost valuable muscle tissue, when you realize that you need to add in that additional protein shake that preserves lean tissue and revitalizes your metabolism. The occasional hunger pangs, I have been experiencing in the course of the last week are an early warning sign, I am not going to ignore.

Building a huge back sometimes forces you back to the drawing board

Image 3: Trying to build a killer back like the "Governator", but no clue which exercises will work? Then you better check out the SuppVersity EMG Serie with The Best Back Exercises of Witdh and Thickness.

I already mentioned in the SuppVersity Student Spotlight that I like it fast and heavy (I am speaking of training here, guys ;-) Currently, however, I am experimenting with some sort of heavy/light alternating training pattern, which looks like that:

• Monday: Chest/Triceps (heavy day)
  5 chest exercises & 2 Triceps exercises
• Tuesday: Back/Biceps (heavy day)
  5 back exercises & 2 biceps exercises
• Wednesday: Rest (not so heavy day ;-)
• Thursday: Triceps/Chest (volume / higher reps)
  5 triceps exercises & 2 chest exercises
• Friday: Biceps/ Back (volume / higher reps)
  5 biceps exercises & 2 back exercises
• Saturday: Shoulders (volume / higher reps)
  the only exercise I go really heavy on are shoulder presses

I consider my back one of my weakest body parts, so I've expanded my back training exercises. I used to do different variation of lat pulldowns, in the past, mainly because I was limited due to my mobility. Similarly, many gyms have machines I could not use until, after a lot of hard work, my core and trunk muscles got stronger and I began to feel a lot more confident to just try and experiment with new exercises, machines, grips, etc.

Video 1: Adelfo training back 2 weeks before the hot phase of his contest preparation is about to begin.

I guess, if you have not already been, Adelfo did now get you interested in "How on earth can you train in a wheelchair, at all?"... if you want to see a part of his current routine, i.e.

• seated rows - underhand grip
• wheelchair pullups
• seated rows - overhand grip

I suggest you click on the video to the left and enjoy a lesson in "how to train your back properly" - if the expression picture perfect form had not been out there for quite some time, someone probably would have come up with it after seeing this video ;-)

Currently, I do most of my back exercises on cables and machines, especially the hammer strength machines - those are my favorites. I also do body weight exercises for my back, such as pull ups and chin ups (see video 1). I use machines and cables because I am not able to transfer onto a T-bar row or do any type of standing or bent-over rows, so I try to just mimic those exercises as much as I can through machines. I train my back twice a week usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. I combine my back exercises with biceps.

Image 4: Next time he will be posing in front of the American flag, it will be with a procard in his hands ;-)

I usually like to train real heavy on Mondays and Tuesdays, because that's when I feel the strongest after my Sunday refeeds, so I end up training back real heavy once and with a higher volume and/or higher reps, the other day. That being said, I still try to lift as heavy as I can even within the higher rep-ranges.

On heavy days my set/ rep range are 4-5 sets of 5 reps (not including warmup sets) I try to increase the weight on every set whether it be just a 5 pound increase each set, just as long as I am trying to better my last set. On my volume/ higher rep days, my rep ranges are 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps.

I usually start off with exercises for thickness, so I always do row exercises first...

• seated row machine - I use this to mimic the T-bar rows
• seated row machine - this is a different variation that has a lower under hand grip and I use this to mimic some what of a bent over row where you have an under hand grip
• seated high rows on the hammer strength machine - one of my favorites, I can go real heavy and get a real good squeeze on my back
• single arm cable rows  - on a cable machine, I tie myself to the opposite end, while I have somebody pull the cable for me, and with a under hand grip I can do single arm rows, I know its hard to explain but I will eventually get video of it, couldn't do it today because there were a lot of people occupying "my" machines ;-)

Image 4: Leaning back slightly
(135° vs. 180°) on lat pull-downs
increases the activation.

The exercises I feel contribute more to the width of my back are

• wide grip lat pulldowns - I tie a weight belt around my chair so that I can lift heavy without getting lifted off my chair
• under hand grip lat pulldowns and wide grip behind the neck lat pulldowns
• close grip pulldowns - I use the V-bar
• wheelchair pull ups and wheelchair chin ups

As any reasonable trainee would do, I obviously don't do every exercise in every workout. For me it depends on how I feel the very day and which exercises I actually can do - as I mentioned I need a helping hand on some of the moves ;-)

I guess that's it for this weeks, folks. I am already looking forward to next Thursday, where - I can guarantee that - Dr. Andro and I will have some more interesting stuff for you to read, watch and think about. Until then, those of you interested in more information on diet and exercise science should check out both, the SuppVersity EMG Series and Dr. Andro's latest "baby", his Intermittent Thoughts on Intermittent Fasting... but, with all that reading, don't forget to hit the gym! 

The Pistachio Manifesto: Antioxidant, Metal Chelator, DNA Protector, Anti-Cancer Agent, Bug Killer (incl. H. Pylori & Herpes Simplex) & More. Have You Been Missing Out?

This is not exactly what I was talking about, when I said "going nuts", but in this case it would actually qualify as "going pistachios" ;-)

Walnuts, almonds and Brazil nuts, these are the stars among the hard-shelled fruits people tend to go nuts about (all puns intended ;-). Pistachios, on the other hand, get very little love. I have in fact written about their surprisingly low effective energy content and their highly bioavailable phenolic content before (learn more), but what the myriad of phenols in these small nutritional powerhouses the ancient Egyptians used as incense, preservative and breath sweetener, while their Iranian neighbors in the North East already knew about their beneficial effects on digestive, hepatic and kidney health (Avicenna. 2008) can do for our health has not been covered here at the SuppVersity.

So what is it pistachios can do for you?

With their traditional use as a remedy for digestive, liver and kidney issues, you already have an idea where this could be heading. The shelled fruits of which we know that they have been part of the human diet for at least 9,000 years and that's cultivated in the Middle East, United States and Mediterranean can however do more for you:

• 

  Histidine happens to be an excellent chelator and potential weight loss adjuvant, as well (learn more)

  Potent antioxidants: Different parts and constituents from P. lentiscus  have been shown in vitro radical scavenging properties They protect your LDL molecules from being oxidized and will thus have direct beneficial effects on your atherosclerosis and overall heart disease risk (Holvoet. 2004).
• Metal chelators: A 2011 study by Orhan et al reports that pistachios (P. terebinthus fruits) are potent metal chelators (on par with EDTA) and have an impressive radical scavenging activity. Interestingly engough, the Antioxidant activity of the fruits actually seems to increase, when they are roasted (Orhan. 2012).
• DNA protection: More or less a downstream effect from the high content of antioxidant compounds, specifically gallic acid, digallic acid and 1,2,3,4,6-pentagalloylglucose, and polyphenols have direct protective effects on cellular DNA and pro-carcinogenic mutations.
• Antimicrobial activity (incl. anti H. Pylori): Certainly among the most interesting effects are the anti H.Pylori effects of α- pinene, a compound from the essential oils in pastachios (speficifally P.atlantica var. kurdica). Other ingredients, like verbenone, rterpineol, and linalool showed high antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis (Koutsoudak. 2005).
  
  

  

  You can battle H. pylori with probiotics, as well. If you want to learn more about this, I'd suggest you go back a couple of months and read the full story in the SuppVersity Short News from October 2012 (go for it)

  Sakami et al. report similar beneficial effects against pathologic bacteria (Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella melaninogenica) antiplauqe activity on teeth by inhibiting bacterial growth in saliva (Sakagami. 2009). Özçelik et al. add noticeable anti-viral effects to the list of anti-microbial activities of pistachio species (Özçelik. 2005). The viruses tested in the study were Herpes simplex (DNA) and Parainfluenza viruses (RNA). The effects were significant for both Kernel and seed extracts.
• Anti-inflammatory activity: Extract of the resin of P. lentiscus var. Chia and its isolated phytosterol tirucallol exert direct anti-inflammatory effects on human aortic endothelial cells and inhibit the activity of adhesion molecules that express the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α (Tzakou. 2007). Tzakou et al. ascribe the effects to phytosterol that goes by the name if tirucallol - never heard of it? Me neither, but who knows on which supplement label you may find it in the future ;-)
• Digestive health: I already mentioned this in the introduction. One of the most important traditional uses of gums from Pistacio species is the management of gastrointestinal disorders; and that has been confirmed by several studies (Rahimi. 2009 & 2010; Farzaei. 2013). Resin of P. lentiscus has been shown to significantly reduced the intensity of gastric mucosal damage induced by pyloric ligation, aspirin, phenylbutazone, reserpine and restraint with cold stress  via its  antisecretory and cytoprotective activities (Al-Said. 1986)
  

  

  Figure 1: Improvements of acid regurgitation and heartburn in forty eight patients fulfilling Rome II criteria for functional dyspepsia were randomly assigned to receive either Pistachio var chia mastic gum 350 mg three times daily or placebo after three weeks (Dabos. 2009)

  A double- blind  placebo controlled trial, P. lentiscus gum lead to significant improvement of the symptoms of patients with functional dyspepsia  (Dabos. 2009). Extracts have been successfully tested in experimental models of acute colitis and IBS (Rahimi. 2013), and there is supporting evidence for beneficial effects of P. lentiscus var. chia resin in patients with established mild to moderate active crohn’s disease (CD) after 4 weeks of supplementation (Kaliora. 2007a,b).

• 

  Suggested read: Supplements to Preserve and Restore Insulin Resistance (read more)

  Antidiabetic activity: This is not about the nuts, but about a leaf extract, which has demonstrated significant acute postprandial  antihyperglycemic activity comparable to metformin and glipizide in starch-fed rats, in which it also lead to significant overall improvements in glucose tolerance (Kasabri. 2011). Unfortunately, a study by Kasibri et al. does not support these results - at least not for normoglycemic and streptozocin-induced hyperglycemic rats (Kasibri. 2004) on a regular diet.
  
  This would suggest that there is a direct correlation with carbohydrate intake, and voilá a 2007 human study confirmed that the gum, not the leaf extract can effectively, lower blood serum glucose levels in men... however, there is another "on the other hand attached here": this did not work for the female study participants (Triantafyllou. 2007).

• 

  The Protective Hull of These 61 Super Fruits Can Ward Off Cancer (more)

  Anti-cancer effects: In a relatively recent review of the literature, Giaginis & Theocharis call pistachio mastic gum a "conglomeration of effective anticancer drugs" (Giaginis. 2011) - probably not without reason, after all they cite a plethora of scientific data from peer-reviewed studies to support the anticancer activities of mastic gum and its major constituents and highlighting the various molecular mechanisms through which the triterpenoids work their anti-cancer magic.
  
  Rezaei et al., for example were able to show that the fruit extract of P. atlantica sub. kurdica exerts direct inhibitory effects on human colon carcinoma cells that was comparable to the drug Doxorubicin (Rezaei. 2012). Another example? Well what about the anti-breast cancer, anti liver-, anti cervical and anti skin-cancer effects of oleoresin (Almehdar. 2012)
• Hypolipidemic effects (=lowering high blood lipids): Extracts from P. vera  fruits have shown beneficial effects on HDL and LDL level in rabbit model of atherosclerosis, they exert positive effects on the lipid levels of patients with moderate hypercholesterolemia (Edwards. 1999). And have several animal studies to support their anti-artherogenic effects (e.g. Bakirel. 2003) 

Impressed? Well I'd hope so, after all this turned out to be more work than I initially thought, when I started to "just write a brief overview of the health effects of pistachios" ;-)

---

Brazil nuts & selenium: "How much is too much?" A weighty question I addressed in a July 2013 SuppVersity article: "Brazil Nuts & Selenium: Are You Nuts If You Have More Than One Per Day?" (more)

Bottom line: Ok, I have to admit there is no scientific evidence that all the good things mentioned above are going to happen to you, if you have a handful of pistchios every other day, but you know what? It may still be a piece in the puzzle people often refer to as "healthy diet" - so if you are into nuts and can "afford" their relatively high energy content, go for it! After all, the above are only the "confirmed" effects.

Note: Actually everybody can "afford" eating nuts, it's more a question of being able to stop before the whole 500g family pack is annihilated... and trust me, if you love nuts, this can happen pretty fast, even if you have to shell them as it is the case with pistachios.  

Last but not least, in traditional Iranian medicine, certain ingredients in pistachios are known to exhibit various additional pharmacological activities incuding diuretic, lithontripic, anti-tussive, anti-rheumatic, anti-asthmatic, anti-hypertensive, and aphrodisiac effects of which Bozorgi et al. point out that the "are not [yet] supported by any current scientific documents and so, they could be considered  for investigating by researchers." (Bozorgi. 2013)

References:

• Almehdar H, Abdallah HM, Osman AM, Abdel-Sattar EA. In vitro cytotoxic screening of selected Saudi medicinal plants. J Nat Med. 2012 Apr;66(2):406-12.
• Al-Said MS, Ageel AM, Parmar NS, Tariq M. Evaluation of mastic, a crude drug obtained from Pistacia lentiscus for gastric and duodenal anti-ulcer activity. J Ethnopharmacol. 1986 Mar;15(3):271-8.
• Avicenna.The canon. Translated by: A . Shrafkandi. Soroush Press, Tehran. 2008.
• Bakirel T. The Investigation of the Effects of Pistacia terebinthus L. Upon Experimentally
  Induced Hypercholesterolemia and Atherosclerosis in Rabbits. Turk. J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 2003; 27: 1283- 1292.
• Bozorgi M, et al. Five Pistacia  species (P. vera, P. atlantica, P. terebinthus, P. khinjuk and P. Lentiscus): A review of their traditional uses, phytoche mistry and pharmacology. The Scientific World Journal. 2013.
• Dabos KJ, Sfika E, Vlatta LJ, Frantzi D, Amygdalos GI, Giannikopoulos G. Is Chios mastic gum effective in the treatment of functional dyspepsia? A prospective randomised double-blind placebo controlled trial. J Ethnopharmacol. 2010 Feb 3;127(2):205-9.
• Edwards K, Kwaw I, Matud J, Kurtz I. Effect of pistachio nuts on serum lipid levels in patients with moderate hypercholesterolemia. J Am Coll Nutr. 1999 Jun;18(3):229-32.
• Farzaei R et al. An evidence-based review on medicinal plants used for the treatment of peptic ulcer in traditional Iranian medicine, Int J Pharmacol. 2013 [ahead of print]
• Giaginis C, Theocharis S. Current evidence on the anticancer potential of Chios mastic gum. Nutr Cancer. 2011 Nov;63(8):1174-84.
• Holvoet P. Oxidized LDL and coronary heart disease. Acta Cardiol. 2004 Oct;59(5):479-84. Review.
• Orhan IE et al. Neuroprotective potential of some terebinth coffee brands and the unprocessed fruits of Pistacia terebinthus L. and their fatty and essential oil analyses. Food Chemistry. 15 February 2012; 130(4):882–888.
• Özçelik B, Aslan M, Orhan I, Karaoglu T. Antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activities of the lipophylic extracts of Pistacia vera. Microbiol Res. 2005;160(2):159-64. 
• Kaliora AC, Stathopoulou MG, Triantafillidis JK, Dedoussis GV, Andrikopoulos NK. Chios mastic treatment of patients with active Crohn's disease. World J Gastroenterol. 2007a Feb 7;13(5):748-53.
• Kaliora AC, Stathopoulou MG, Triantafillidis JK, Dedoussis GV, Andrikopoulos NK. Alterations in the function of circulating mononuclear cells derived from patients with Crohn's disease treated with mastic. World J Gastroenterol. 2007b Dec 7;13(45):6031-6.
• Kasabri V, Afifi FU, Hamdan I. In vitro and in vivo acute antihyperglycemic effects of five selected indigenous plants from Jordan used in traditional medicine. J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Jan 27;133(2):888-96.
• Koutsoudaki C, Krsek M, Rodger A. Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of the essential oil and the gum of Pistacia lentiscus Var. chia. J Agric Food Chem. 2005 Oct 5;53(20):7681-5.
• Rahimi R, Mozaffari S, Abdollahi M. On the use of herbal medicines in management of inflammatory bowel diseases: a systematic review of animal and human studies. Dig Dis Sci. 2009 Mar;54(3):471-80.
• Rahimi R, Shams-Ardekani MR, Abdollahi M. A review of the efficacy of traditional Iranian medicine for inflammatory bowel disease. World J Gastroenterol. 2010 Sep 28;16(36):4504-14. Review. 
• Rahimi R, Baghaei A, Baeeri M, Amin G, Shams-Ardekani MR, Khanavi M, Abdollahi M. Promising effect of Magliasa, a traditional Iranian formula, on experimental colitis on the basis of biochemical and cellular findings. World J Gastroenterol. 2013 Mar 28;19(12):1901-11. 
• Rezaei PF, Fouladdel S, Hassani S, Yousefbeyk F, Ghaffari SM, Amin G, Azizi E. Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by pericarp polyphenol-rich extract of Baneh in human colon carcinoma HT29 cells. Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Mar;50(3-4):1054-9.
• Sakagami H, Kishino K, Kobayashi M, Hashimoto K, Iida S, Shimetani A, Nakamura Y, Takahashi K, Ikarashi T, Fukamachi H, Satoh K, Nakashima H, Shimizu T, Takeda K, Watanabe S, Nakamura W. Selective antibacterial and apoptosis-modulating activities of mastic. In Vivo. 2009 Mar-Apr;23(2):215-23. 
• Triantafyllou A, Chaviaras N, Sergentanis TN, Protopapa E, Tsaknis J. Chios mastic gum modulates serum biochemical parameters in a human population. J Ethnopharmacol. 2007 Apr 20;111(1):43-9.
• Tzakou, O., Bazos, I. and Yannitsaros, A. (2007), Volatile metabolites of Pistacia atlantica Desf. from Greece. Flavour Fragr. J., 22: 358–362.

Adelfo Cerame - Pre-Contest-Prep Experimentation Time: Initial Impressions of RAW Intermittent Fasting

Image 1: Adelfo Cerame, your man at the Wheelchair Nationals 2012 in the first week of his pre-contest experimentation phase (Adelfo Cerame, Sept. 2011)

Just about a month to go, until Adelfo will start the acute phase of his preparation for the Wheelchair Nationals 2012 in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. So just about the right time some serious pre-contest-prep experimentation with raw foods on an intermittent fast. As you remember from last week's student spotlight that was kind of a teaser to this series, this is going to be Adelfo's first contest prep without OCD-like 3-4h feeding schedules. And it will - at least to my knowledge - be the first meticulously documented raw foods contest prep of a promising candidate for the thought after procard that is going to be awarded to the winner of the over the overall (all classes) in March 2012 in sunny Florida.

If you read some or all of my Intermittent Thoughts on Intermittent Fasting, listened to my interview with Carl Lenore on raw milk or read the respective article on the SuppVersity, I assume you will be similarly excited to hear right from Adelfo, how this stomach, training intensity and overall feeling have been on his first week on the combination of uncustomary feeding schedules, raw eggs, meats, milk and honey ....

Experimentation Time - Raw Foods + Intermittent Fasting = ???

Even though I will not start the strict phase of my contest prep until October, 1st, I plan to use the weeks to come to play and experiment with intermittent fasting (IF) before I literally put all my raw eggs into the intermittent fasting basket in the weeks to come. I have already begun to incorporate raw foods into my nutrition over the last few months, and must say that I have been very pleased with the results. The things I liked most, however, were...

Image 2: Looks like Adelfo is right: the raw foods obviously helped him to keep the fat off during the off season (photo by Adelfo Cerame, Sept. 2011)

• the efficiency of not having to cook meals or prepare meals the night before - just being able to put food on the plate and eat (less prep time) is a novel and appreciable convenience for me
• a noticeable increase in strength and performance at the gym
• an unexpectedly prompt increase in arm size (I have already put on a whole inch! from 16" to 17")
• the ability to stay fairly lean in these last weeks of the off-season - I can still see parts of my abdominal muscles, although I did not really pay attention to my caloric intake
  

One thing that I have also noticed is an improvement in my "internal functions" - most prominently digestion and sexual function... when you get a spinal cord injury, a lot of your internal functions are disrupted or damaged. Ranging from bowel and bladder control to sexual function - things change overnight.

Breaking the Fast Raw Foods Style

Image 3: Adelfo Cerame's magic pre-workout formula: raw milk; 3 organic eggs; 1 tbs. raw honey; 1 tbs. raw coconut oil; no propriety blends, e-numbers, artificial sweeteners or colorings folks, just plain good old healthy whole raw foods and above all, it does not take longer to prepare than your average whey protein shake ;-)

Prior to raw foods eating, I was able to improve my digestion and bowel frequency by increasing my intake of fibrous foods and being particularly keen about what to eat and what to avoid. The incorporation of more and more raw foods into my diet did yet improve my digestion and bowel program way beyond what I had been able to achieve with processed foods and supplements alone. It may be difficult to understand for a non-paraplegic, but staying in the bathroom "forever" is a serious and enervating issue most paraplegics and quadriplegics have. And as far as sexual function is concerned, I was still able to get erections before, yet not without the help of E.D. medications. Rotating more and more raw foods into my diet, helped with that issue tremendously. Even without the help of E.D. meds., I have now longer and stronger erections than before.

If you consider not having to cook all your meals "convenient", then not having to worry about prepping your meals or to think about what you will be eating within the next three hours is pure luxury. 

The practical benefits aside, I was positively surprised that, at least in the course of this first week of intermittent fasting, I did not notice any loss in strength or energy. Lethargy or a lack of motivation, problems that are supposed to occur especially in the initial phase of intermittent fasting were not an issue, at all. The only actual "problem" (if you would like to call it thus, when you are on a diet) was that I found it really hard to fulfill my daily caloric needs with the 3 meals, I could squeeze into my feeding window.

If you are interested in some more information on dos and donts, as well as the science behind and around intermittent fasting make sure to follow both the weekly updates of Adelfo's contest prep documentation, as well as my Intermittent Thoughts on Intermittent Fasting series on the SuppVersity
(img hardwaresphere)

If you read the third part of the Intermittent Thoughts on Intermittent Fasting series, you will be familiar with the female athletes from the Ramadan study by Memari et al. having similar problems, i.e. they did not meet their exercise-related caloric demands on their fasting protocol. Other than Adelfo, who is well aware that putative (or I should say "perceived") overeating in the feeding window is a necessity, the ladies in that study were yet not able (or unwilling?) to nourish their bodies appropriately - the unfortunate result, I already mentioned that in my analysis of the study, were fat gain and a significant YoYo-effect, when they eventually broke the fast. So, if your goal is to lose fat, not muscle, and you decide to go on an intermittent fast, make sure you copy Adelfo's rational approach to intermittent fasting instead of turning the whole thing into yet another anorexic low-calorie diet.

Whole Raw Foods - Convenient, Healthier and Cheaper than 1001 Supplements

What I'm also really excited about is that, in this first week, the combination of intermittent fasting and raw food eating turned out to be really economical. Something, I suppose you would not have expected!? I remember having to spend loads of money on foods and protein powders just to make sure that I could eat my 6-7 meals a day. Now, all I have to worry about are 3 meals pre-workout, post-workout and another meal before i go to sleep. And the money I save on the boatloads of protein powders I used to buy is better spend in some quality whole-foods, anyhow.

Image 4: This is what a real post-workout meal should look like ;-)

I assume that some of you have difficulties to imagine how a sample meal plan could look like, so here is an example:

• pre-workout = breaking the fast @ 2:30 pm: shake with raw milk; 3 organic eggs; 1 tbs. raw honey; 1 tbs. raw coconut oil
• post-workout meal @ 6:40 pm: 8 oz steak, large yam, handful of pineapples & carrots, 1 tbs. raw honey & coconut water
  
  
• before bed @10 pm: 1 c. raw milk, 2 eggs, 1 tbs. coconut oil, 25g protein powder

If you want to know how things are working out for Adelfo, don't forget to come back next Thursday for the next installment of this series featuring more information about Adelfo's diet, the first progress chart for you to follow his weight, body fat % and muscular development and a sneak peak on how our man at the 2012 wheelchair nationals trains. Until then, feel free to share Adelfo's reports via Facebook, and to leave your appreciations, comments and questions in the comments area of this page.