Protein and Your Workout

Protein has many benefits and is one of the essential nutrients your body needs.  It can be found in all animal and fish products, as well as many legumes.  Your body uses protein to build and repair muscles (including the heart), bones, skin, and other tissues among other uses.  There are some diets high in protein which can help overweight individuals lower the blood sugar levels and reduce food cravings throughout the day.  This may or may not work for you. That, however is a much different use for the consumption of protein than what I want to discuss.  What is the importance of protein in a workout?
Since protein is used to build and repair muscles, it is essential to eat enough protein to maintain your daily lifestyle and make gains throughout your exercise program.  Eating protein throughout your day as part of your regular meals is generally effective in fueling your body with the proper amounts of protein to repair overused muscles and allow for modest gains as well.  It is more effective to eat a little bit of protein within an hour of a workout.  If you would prefer to eat before your workout, then you should mix the protein with some whole grain carbs and some healthy fats.  The whole grain and the fats will allow your body to digest more slowly while providing you with fuel for the workout.  If you prefer to eat afterwards, you should mix your protein with a faster acting sugar.  Since it is important to get the protein to your muscles as fast as possible, a good recovery meal will include a simple sugar (sugar is the vehicle that transports protein to the blood, and then, your muscles) as opposed to whole grains.  Post-workout, fat will just get in the way of the protein’s job.  While it is not terribly important to worry about the ratio of sugar to protein, know that it is about 3-1, which means you should be getting more sugar than protein in a workout meal.
From a workout perspective, you will get most of your energy from sugar, readily available or stored.  Cardio supplements the sugar with metabolizing fat to allow for longer workouts.  Neither a long run nor a heavy weights session uses any protein at all for energy.  Protein is not an efficient source of energy for any type or workout.  Even in the highest protein diets, your body will still struggle to metabolize fat and sugar for energy.  Through the process of ketosis, the body will metabolize its own fat for energy as a last resort.  It is highly inefficient, you will feel very sluggish, and worst of all, you will smell bad (your breath, your sweat will smell like wet hoagies!)  To confirm the lack of energy, I have tried this over a four week span to see how I feel.  They were some of the worst workouts I ever had, and I used a modified hi-protein diet.  This is not meant to scare you away from hi-protein diets if that is what works for you, but understand that it can and probably will hinder the energy you have long term for your workouts.
Good pre-workout snack: Half a whole grain bagel with some peanut butter on it.
Good post-workout snack: Chocolate skim milk.

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• Tip of the Month

  June 2010

  Abdominal Workouts: Frequency, Intensity, and Duration

  Over the past 15 years, there has been countless advice on how to “properly” train your abdominals, or core.  There isn’t a fitness magazine out there that doesn’t publish a different abdominal workout each and every issue.  Opinions and research may change over time, but there are a few things you should look at before you alter your workout with each Fitness Magazine you read!
  First of all, it is important to know what your overall fitness and health goal is before designing a strength program for any body part, especially the mid-section.  For overall fitness, it is smartest to treat your abdominal muscles as you would any other muscle group.  The tried and true guidelines for most exercise programs is to work specific muscles to fatigue within a 30-60 second set time limit (intensity and duration,) while giving the worked muscle group at least 24-48 hours of rest (frequency) before working it again.  The amount of sets you do in a given workout (frequency again) can vary from as little as 4 sets to up to 12 for the average workout.  The science behind these theories is sound.  While exercising, pushing your body significantly past the 60 second mark without fatigue generally incorporates aerobic energy, thereby not stressing the muscles most efficiently.  And rest is necessary so that your body can properly rebuild the muscle fibers that you have broken down.  Additionally, you want to be at 100% energy levels for your next workout!

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• Recipe of the Month

  June 2010

  Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

  This healthy update of a traditionally rich ham-and-cheese breakfast strata is made lighter primarily by losing a few egg yolks and using nonfat milk. Gruyère cheese has a delicious, nutty aroma and flavor, which means that with the relatively small amount in this recipe you still get a big impact. To finish the makeover use nutritious, fiber-rich, whole-grain bread instead of white. The results: plenty of flavor, half the calories and one-third the fat of the original.

  4 large eggs
  4 large egg whites
  1 cup nonfat milk
  2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
  1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  5 cups chopped spinach, wilted (see Tip)
  4 cups whole-grain bread, crusts removed if desired, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1/2 pound, 4-6 slices)
  1 cup diced ham steak, (5 ounces)
  1/2 cup chopped jarred roasted red peppers
  3/4 cup shredded Gruyère, or Swiss cheese
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