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When you start on a body building program, you will want to pay close attention to the foods you are feeding your body.  That includes alcohol as well.  Many people like a drink or two or even three to help them unwind and relax.  But when you are a body builder, alcohol can have a detrimental effect on your progress.

Alcohol contains nothing but empty calories.  It has no nutritional value but it does contain high caloric content.  In fact, just one shot of vodka contains 100 calories!  Not only will drinking increase your caloric intake, it slows down your metabolism hindering your body’s ability to process foods.

Alcohol consumption also hurts muscle growth. Not only will having a hangover lower your workout intensity, but drinking actually lowers protein synthesis by twenty percent. There are several reasons why it does this.

For one, it dehydrates your muscle cells. As many know, hydrated and even over hydrated muscles allows for a much higher anabolic environment. Because your cells aren’t holding as much water, it becomes much harder to build muscle.

The second reason why alcohol can severely hurt muscle growth is because it blocks the absorption of many important nutrients that are key to muscle contraction, relaxation and growth including calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and potassium.

Not only that, but alcohol lowers the amount of testosterone in your body and actually increases estrogen.

Having higher levels of testosterone can help with your workouts by making you more aggressive, so when those levels are down, you will not be as intense in your lifting and weight training.

Probably one of the best things you can do to help your body building workout progress the way you want it to is to drink plenty of water.  Water is good for you anyway, but for body builders, it can be especially important.  Water is part of every single metabolic process that the body undertakes.

Most experts recommend everyone drink six to eight glasses of water daily to stay healthy.  For body builders, you’ll need much more.  Soda, coffee, and tea don’t count either.  The caffeine can increase fluid loss, so you’re not getting the hydration you need.  Body builders need at least a half gallon to a gallon per day depending on the intensity of your workouts.

Water flushes out toxins and other metabolic waste products from the body. Water is especially important when following a “high protein” diet, as it helps remove excess nitrogen, urea (a toxic substance), and ketones. If you’re eating big to gain weight, then you need even more water to help your kidneys do their work.

Without enough water, the kidneys can’t function properly. When this happens, some of the load is transferred to the liver. The liver metabolizes stored fat for energy. If the liver is doing some of the kidneys’ work, it burns less fat. In addition, water can actually reduce feelings of hunger.

Contrary to popular belief, drinking water can actually help you shed excess water weight. When water is in short supply, the body, thinking there’s a shortage, begins hoarding it. This water is stored in extra cellular spaces. In other words, your skin starts looking soft and puffy.

If you’re going to be using supplements in your body building program, and you should, water can help them work.  Supplements like creatine work in part because it pulls water in muscle cells, creating an anabolic environment needed for muscle growth.

For this to work properly, you need plenty of water. Plus, if you’re training hard, then you need a basic mega-vitamin.  Many vitamins are water soluble, and water unlocks the power of those vitamins.
A good diet is essential to an effective body building program.

You can workout with the intensity of a professional, but if your diet stinks, you won’t be doing yourself any good.  Consider the following general tips for your nutritional needs.

- Drink skim milk or soy milk

- Cut sugar from your diet.  Use artificial sweeteners instead.

- No regular soda!  Diet is better for you anyway and doesn’t contain sugar

- Pizza and hamburgers are a big no-no.  Not only are they high in bad fat content, they are highly caloric and can cause you to overeat

- Eat lots of fish to increase your levels of Omega 3 fatty acids

- Chicken breasts are good for you as well

- Allow yourself one cheat day a week where you can indulge in something you’ve been craving.  Just don’t overdo it on your cheat days or you can undo all you’ve accomplished.

- Limit the amount of fruit you eat.  While fruit is healthy, it can have a detrimental effect on your workout.

- Protein and complex carbohydrates are very important

- Instead of eating three large meals a day, eat six smaller ones

- Don’t skip meals

- Vegetables are always a good choice at mealtime

- When eating out, choose foods wisely.

- Avoid most fast food restaurants or opt for healthy choices – remember no burgers!

The body is very adaptable to change.  At first, you may have problems getting used to your new diet.  But once you get used to eating right, you’ll find yourself not even craving the foods you used to eat.

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Choosing the right way to eat to build muscle can be a little overwhelming.  But once you start eating the way you need to, it will become second nature to you.

Following is a list of good foods for you to eat in each of the categories you need to concentrate on:

Proteins
White meat chicken or turkey
Canned tuna
Canned salmon
Fresh Fish
Shellfish
Eggs
Tofu
Soy
Red meat like steak or roast

Complex Carbohydrates

Oatmeal
Potatoes
Yams, Sweet potatoes, Acorn squash
Rice
Legumes
Corn

Vegetables
All water based types.

Lettuce, Cabbage, Spinach
Asparagus
Bok Choy, Leeks
Tomatoes
Celery
Onions
Green Beans
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Radish
Zucchini Squash
Mushrooms
Carrots
Peas

Fruit

1 Apple
1 Orange
1/2 Grapefruit
3 Small Apricots
1 Banana
1/4 Melon
1-Cup Berries, Grapes
1 mango, small papaya

Dairy

1 yogurt
1-Cup low fat cottage cheese
1-Cup non-fat milk (I use vanilla soy milk instead!)
1/2 Cup non or low fat cheese

Wheat Products

2 slices whole wheat bread
1 bagel
2-Cups pasta
Whole wheat tortillas

Snack Foods

Rice cakes
Non-wheat cereals
Plain popcorn
Raw Vegetables
Nuts
Dried Fruit

A good diet is well-rounded and contains some of each of the food groups.  You should also include a supplement in your diet which we will get to in a later section.  As we’ve said, you should be eating 5 or 6 smaller meals every day instead of three large ones.  Space your meals about 2 to 2 ½ hours apart.

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When you decide you want to undertake a body building program, the foods you eat can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your program.

Many people don’t pay enough attention to the types of food they eat.  But food is very important in a body building program.

Food supplies us with calories.  Calories are tiny bits of energy that your body uses to perform work.  Counting calories isn’t as important as knowing what calories will be the best ones to consume for the maximum effect on your workout.

To have enough energy to perform your workout, you’ll need a lot of different nutrients.  One of the most important would be carbohydrates.

1) Carbs

Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of glucose.  Glucose is a simple carb that is stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen.  Glycogen is the principal form of energy that is stored in muscles.  When your muscles are filled with glycogen, they both look and feel full.

Glucose also provides energy for your brain and making blood in your body.  Glucose can be made from protein, but that requires the breakdown of body protein from muscle.  If you’re not eating enough carbohydrates, your body will start breaking down muscle tissue for glucose.

Carbohydrates should be the bulk of your daily caloric intake when you are starting a body building program.  Focus on unprocessed complex carbs like sweet potatoes, potatoes, whole grain breads, oatmeal, and brown rice.

These natural complex carbs are made of long “chains” of sugar and are digested very slowly.  Slow burning carbs promote consistent blood sugar levels which help to offset fatigue while promoting the release of insulin which is the body’s principal anabolic hormone.

For men, the amount of carbs that should be taken in by multiplying their body weight by three.  That number will be the amount of grams that should be consumed daily.

Women multiply their body weight by two to get their carb gram intake.  For example, a 200 pound man should consume 600 grams of carbs per day and a 125 pound woman would eat 250 carb grams daily.

Along with carbs, you must consume enough fiber in your diet.  Eating fiber makes muscle tissue more responsive to anabolism by improving sugar and amino acid uptake, and aiding in muscle glycogen formation and growth. Beans and oatmeal are two excellent sources of fiber.

Divide your carb meals into six servings throughout the day. This divide and conquer approach stimulates a steady release of insulin to create an anabolic, or muscle building, state. If you eat too many carbs in one sitting, the net effect is that fat-storing enzymes kick into high hear and you lose than lean and hard look.

Eat some simple carbs after your workout and eat more of them.  Honey, sugar and refined foods such as white bread and white rice – typical simple carbs – are digested quickly and easily.

The resulting insulin spike is a double edged sword, however. After training, it can prevent muscle catabolism while promoting anabolism. If you have not been working out, the intake of simple carbs can stimulate fat storage.

A high carb intake at your post training meal will have less chance of being stored as fat, as carbs must replenish depleted glycogen levels before they gain the ability to stimulate fat storage. Eat about 25% of your daily carbs at this meal.

Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day, and besides your post-workout meal, it is also the best time to load up on carbs.  Blood sugar and muscle glycogen levels are low from your overnight fast. Your body must replenish these levels before stimulating the fat storing machinery in the body.

As your day wears on, your carb intake should decrease.  Your energy requirements will also decrease at this time, so your body won’t need as much.  If you eat carbs late in the day, your body will store them as fat and increase weight gain instead of muscle mass.

If you are needing to lose some fat along with building your muscles, you will want to rotate your carb intake.  Bodybuilders who rotate their carb intake tend to lose more fat than bodybuilders who maintain a steady flow of carbs while dieting.

For example, instead of eating 600g of carbs every day (the typical daily total for a 200 pound bodybuilder), try varying the volume of intake. Eat 50% fewer carbs (300g) for two days, then the standard 600g for the next two days, then 50% more (900g) for the next two days.

The total carb intake is the same, but this schedule works because it lowers muscle glycogen in the first stage (promoting fat loss), and then increases insulin levels (ensuring no loss of muscle) on the final two days. Carb rotation gives you the best of both worlds: decreased fat with no loss of muscle.

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Endurance sports nutrition gives you a nutrition advice that is just jampacked with very useful details, together with sets of customized eating plans specifically regarding sports, to ensure that the food that you choose will keep you going on before, during and after various competitions.

A remarkable and very well-known author, Suzanne Girard Eberle, MS, RD, tells those who are concerned of her background as a registered dietician who has her specialty on sports nutrition.

She also admits that she knows much and much about endurance sports nutrition because she, herself, is an elite endurance athlete. So she can tell you how endurance sports nutrtion works, or what is not supposed to be done regarding endurance sports nutrition, in actual training and situations that involve racing.

The resource that is said to be the most comprehensive of its kind, is the prescriptive book that the said endurance athlete, slash dietician, wrote. It includes tried and true advice and suggestions from different endurance athletes who are at the top of their sports.

But if you would really like to know from the best persons to talk to when it comes to endurance sports nutrition, there are various websites that you could log on to to be able to contact, or if not contact, at least ask a few questions to world-class athletes.

You can avail Karen Smyers’s, a triathlete, assistance about endurance sports nutrition. She is a triathlete, so she knows things about endurance thrice more than what others do.

Another is the marathon runner Keith Brantly. Running is not as easy as it sounds, but running is, in fact, the easy part. It is the enduring the pain that grows in your legs that is not.

You can also try to have your questions answered by the world-known marathon swimmer Tobie Smith.

Endurance sports nutrition in swimming is very very difficult because there are two kinds of pressures that you face, pressure under the water and atmospheric pressure.

And last, but certainly not the least, is the cyclist Kerry Ryan. It is almost the same as running, with the movement of the legs and the endurance of the pain that grow in your legs.

However, you have to be a master of balance to be able to pull cycling off. All of these world-class athletes will happily and obligingly share their knowledge, and with absolute right because of their many years of training and competing against the world’s best.

There are many kinds of sports where endurance sports nutrition can help you maximize your performance. Endurance sports nutrition can help you a great deal in running. As mentioned above, running is the easy part, it is enduring the pain that is constantly present in your lower extremeties that you need to endure.

In triathlons, you have to take note of enduring three stages of sports. So endurance sports nutrition is definetely handy if you want to be able to move on to the next stage and not faint in one of the first stages.

The endurance in swimming is not like any other.

Why? It is because, like told before, there are two kinds of pressure that you need to think about. There is, first, the pressure that you experience under the water, plus the atmospheric water.

So whether you put your face under water or you turn your head out of the water to breathe in some air, the cramps and the pain caused by the pressure should be endured.

In rowing, it is all about upper body strength.

Yes, it also involves coordination with your teammates and most of all mind and arm coordination, but if you are weak with your upper body, then rowing is not the thing for you. Your hands will probably suffer bruises from your firm grips on the oars, but your arms are the ones that should have high endurance. Endurance sports nutrition can definitely help you survive the boat ride.

Cycling, like mentioned, is not that much different from running.

Your legs also experience the most pain, and you have to endure the pain that is constant on your lower extremities. But this time, there is also the balance to think of. And for those who have a hard time balancing, enduring cycling is very hard. So this is where endurance sports nutrition comes in.

Endurance sports nutrition can definitely make you a better athlete, if you cannot endure whatever it is that you are doing, how can you perform well?

So if you are thinking that sports is all about performance, you are wrong for without endurance, you can never perform a certain sport well.

Endurance Sports Nutrition: Keeping Yourself Hydrated And Fueled

What keeps a triathlon athlete going in spite of the heat and long hours of vigorous physical activity is a properly hydrated and fueled body.

In endurance sports, nutrition is equivalent to keeping oneself hydrated at all times, especially during the game. If you don’t give yourself the proper nutrition it needs, your game performance will suffer.

Sports that require special attention to endurance nutrition (and thus help you level up your performance) are: running, swimming, triathlon, cycling, rowing, mountain biking, adventure racing, cross-country skiing, mountaineering and trekking.

Let us say that you have prepared yourself for an endurance sport. Your nutrition focuses on giving you enough fuel to last you a day of vigorous physical activity.

You eat foods rich in protein to keep your muscles fit for the game and carbohydrates to give you enough energy and fuel your muscles to run fast, steady, and consistently. What else can you do to perform much better in endurance sports?

Here are some endurance sports nutrition suggested by athletes and trainers:

Endurance Sports Nutrition Tip – Hydrate Yourself

1. Start the day with a full tank of water.

Athletes don’t eat during a game. But they do drink water. Studies show, of which common people now know, that humans can last a month without eating but will die immediately without water for 3 days to one week. That is how important water is to our body.

Many people die of diarrhea because of dehydration. Hydration is an important nutrition component to humans, most especially to athletes involved in endurance sports. So the endurance sports nutrition tip from athletes and trainers: drink lots of water before the game.

Hydration is the key to winning endurance sports competition. And drinking water before the game starts puts you in a great headstart.

2. Hydrate yourself regularly during the game.

Drink often during the game. Most endurance sports nutrition guide books will tell you the same thing. Athletes in endurance sports sweat off two quarts of water per hour especially in hot and humid weather. So, you must drink at least four up to eight ounces of water every fifteen to twenty minutes. Sports drink may also replace water.

Here’s some tip that endurance sports nutrition guide books may not have told you: to know when it is time to gulp on your water or sports drink bottle, set your timer to alarm every 15 or 20 minutes within 24 hours.

Freeze your drinking bottles and then pack them up in insulated foams to keep it cool. Even if you don’t sweat still do gulp down the liquid in your drinking bottle. You may not know it and may not notice it but you may have sweat more than you think of.

3. Pack up extra bottles.

Carry more drinking bottles if you can. Don’t be afraid to look like a camel with extra hump at your back. You need all those liquids in your endurance sport. It will keep you going and in shape.

Besides, you will drain these drinking bottles one at a time every 15 or 20 minutes. At that rate, you may not even know that your endurance sports drinks have been drained down your esophageal pipes.

Endurance sport nutrition question: Water or sports drink?

In endurance sports nutrition, it has debated whether water or sports drink should be consumed by an athlete competing in endurance sports.

Researches have shown that endurance sports athletes (competing under the sweltering heat of the sun) who were provided with water as a means of hydrating themselves replace only one and half to two thirds of fluid loss, while those who were given with sports drink have shown hydration nearly to a hundred percent.

The reason for this is that sports drink contains electrolytes (sodium, potassium and magnesium) which help retain fluid in the body and balance the presence of these minerals that are vital in normal bodily function.

We lose electrolytes when we sweat. Dizziness, muscle cramps, extreme exhaustion, and irregular heartbeat are the symptoms of electrolytes loss in the body.

According to endurance nutrition experts, many athletes lose endurance due to low level of electrolytes. In fact, according to endurance sports nutrition magazines, some athletes even die due to electrolytes loss.

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