As in a fast growing world everyone chooses an easy way to eat and something less to cook and consume all the micro and the macro nutrients on a go. But deep inside we all know that nothing in this world can replace the true human diet. In our previous blog "The Human Diet" we have understood that whole foods what our body need, and our body is smart enough to distribute all the micro and the macro nutrients from whole foods for better health.
What Are Supplements?
Supplements are the extracted form of a single nutrient from a particular food. It doesn't mean that they are bad, but only relying on supplements is not you have to do to increase performance and health and trigger the opposite side effects.
Let's understand, only few supplements are good but none can compare whole foods. Whey protein powder are extracted from milk liquid whey, and it's also true that for making a 1000 grams of whey protein powder it requires around 33,333 ml of milk where milk is 80% casein and 20% whey so, it to make a pure whey protein it requires 166,666 ml of milk.
This complexity, can our body digest? May be for short term
Whey protein and any protein powder are not harmful at all, once we start taking them our body get use to it, but many can't due to lactose intolerance.
This is controversial, but many research have shown that having whey protein just after workout can increase muscle protein synthesis and help gain lean muscles, but the same results with eggs as well, though the studies are limited and no long term study have done on the effect on health due to whey protein.
Okay as a personal, i have tried both whey protein after workout as well as eggs. After having whey protein i do feel bloated which i don't after having eggs and i know that many of them also might have to suffer with this problem. So this supplement companies are adding digestive enzymes to get digest the protein properly, but why?
Note : All the protein powders and multivitamin are made only because if you are unable to complete your body's need. Adding protein powder will do the same work as eggs do.
This supplements companies always trick your mind to sell their products but this supplements are only 10% of your daily diet, and without a proper diet this supplements will never work.
Our body is designed in such a way that it love to digest food slowly and huge amount of calories always hamper the body's digestive system. Adding mass gainer which have 1000+ calories in just a scoop. It's not only hard for the body to distribute the nutrients from such a huge calories from that artificial drink but also, mass gainer is that, it have a lot of empty calories and very few amount of micro and macro nutrients. Most mass gainer have extremely high levels of refined sugar and spikes blood sugar levels rapidly which might lead to insulin resistance in later days as well. The majority of the weight from mass gainer are accumulated as fats rather then lean muscle tissue.
We can use whole foods to make a mass gainer but it need little effort, so we prefer to have supplements.
Adding up calories is easy enough because we know that fats contain 9 calories per gram. Adding healthy fats into your diet will not only boost you calories but also balance hormonal problem as well as lot's of health benefits.
Mass Gainer With Whole Foods : oats, banana, honey, almonds or cashew, seeds, milk(plant or dairy) blend them with Protein Powder or eat 3eggs in place of protein powder.
This foods will only give you around 700-800+ calories and add up lots of vitamins and minerals and fibers as well.
It's truly a myth that without supplements you cannot achieve.
Whole foods Vs Sport Drinks
This days their are lots of post workout supplements in the market and many do believe on them as well.Do you really need this drink? Do you overdose them to increase your performance? Do you think it's a good choice for long term health performance? It's No.
Not me also in one of study done in PLOS also suggest that you never need this fancy sport dring to increase performance.
In this research, researchers do compare a banana, a post workout and plain water, as a workout recovery nutrition, banana came on top as a whole food.
This wasn't shocked in the the nutrition community, because whole foods are always overlooked and one do not required a ton of supplement to increase performance or recovery. Whole foods are enough to give all the nutrients alone, many people don't required specialized supplements, explains Allison Knott, R.D., a registered dietitian based in NYC, who specializes in sports nutrition.
Real whole foods provides extra value: "Whole foods have the added benefit of providing additional nutrients like antioxidants and other essential vitamins and minerals," says Knott. "They're often less expensive and are likely more satisfying too." (Also: Did you know you can change your diet to speed up injury recovery?)
I'll discuss about the only 4 supplements you need for increased performance in our upcoming blogs.
Coffee
Multi vitamin and Mineral
Protein Powder (if you can't able to complete your protein from real foods)
Creatine
This 4 supplement are only needed if you're a intense athlete.
Having this 4 supplements will never work if you don't eat right. Having whole food is only the first thing you want to do with having a quality sleep and proper workout routine.
Do All Hard Workers Are Taking Supplements?
Farmers or mine workers or any poor people who are working hard, you can see they have lean muscles and have great performance in their work because they have to. Do you think they rely on supplements? No. They only eat whole foods, with proper sleep.
Our body is smart enough to know the right things to do. In short whole foods are the way to go.
Important of micro nutrients.
Many athletes overemphasize carbs, protein, and fats, and focus too little on foods rich in micronutrients. Some micronutrients can greatly impact performance and recovery. The following four food groups provide essential vitamins and minerals. They’re also packed with healthy fats, proteins, and enzymes that regulate bodily functions and keep our cells healthy:
fruits
Vegetables
Nuts
Seeds
Main problem with supplements.
Research with supplement are all short term studies and no long term research have done. That's why it always become pretty hard to identify the long term health effects on athlete. One article was said that having, or relying on constant supplement can damage cell and can involve in health issue.
One other research was done and found that Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in fish oil dietary supplements: occurrence and human exposure in the UK.
Sometimes when an athlete forgot to take Pre workout supplement, then they always think they cannot perform. Which aren't true, the performance of one athletes is done by theirs practicing leaves , sleep and diet. Supplement cannot hamper performance or fatigue.
Conclusion:
Supplement industry is the billion dollars industry and hold a countries' economy, they will never show their dark sides, and the labels with shredded body on those supplement levees are only possible with proper whole diet, sleep and discipline. Non of the supplement in this planet can do anything but proper diet foods can. Don't waste your money on supplements unless you're planning for world championship events. Eat the right food and stay healthy and happy and find vitamin C in lemon rather than in supplement, you know what i want to say.
Comments