Many people believe if they’re on a cycle they can slack in their diet. In this video I explain why it is important to have the correct diet during a cycle
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Tag Archives: tamara nutrition blog
Talking steroids – again
In this video I explain why genetics play a big part in your training / athletic abilities. Let me know if you have any questions or you have a topic you’d like me to discuss: hello@tamaramakar.me
Tips for beginners
Training tips Part 1
Nutrition tips Part 1 ?????
Nutrition tips Part 2 ?????
About MCT oils
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“MCTs” are medium-chain triglycerides, a form of saturated fatty acid that has numerous health benefits, ranging from improved cognitive function to better weight management. Coconut oil is one great source of MCTs.
MCTs are missing from our modern diets because the public has been led to believe that saturated fats are bad. However, recent research has shown a lot of evidence about the real benefits of saturated fats.
We now know that ideally MCT oils should actually be consumed every day. Certain saturated fats, especially MCTs and other healthy fats found in things like coconut oil or grass-fed beef, are in fact easier to digest than long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) and might even have more benefits related to heart health, obesity prevention and brain health, too.
MCTs are digested easily and sent directly to your liver, where they have a thermogenic effect. That’s why MCTs have been claimed to be burnt by the body for energy, instead of being stored as fat.
Medium-chain fatty acids are capable of helping you:
• Maintain a healthy weight — since they make you feel full
• Specifically reduce stored body fat — since they also raise your metabolic function
• Have more energy
• Think more clearly
• Experience better digestion
• Balance hormone levels
• Improve your mood
• Fight bacterial infection and viruses
• Absorb fat-soluble nutrients from various foods
EHPLabs Oxywhey contains 300Mg of MCT oils, as well as essential and non-essential amino acids andBCAAs, and a blend of whey protein, isolate and micellar casein which makes it an ideal supplement, especially during Ramadan, to provide you with fast and slow absorbing proteins that will see you through the fasting hours.
About water balance in your body
The competition season is upon us, and a lot of athletes struggle to get dry on stage. Here are the basics of how your body works when it comes to water balance:
The majority of fluid output occurs from urination. Some fluid is lost through perspiration (part of the body’s temperature control mechanism) and as water vapor in expired air.
The body’s homeostatic control mechanisms ensure that a balance between fluid gain and fluid loss is maintained. The hormones ADH (antidiuretic hormone, also known as vasopressin ) and aldosterone are responsible for this.
What does this mean: your body is smart, it will always try and restore the water balance.
If you drink too little water, it will retain fluid by the kidneys and reduces the urine output.
When you drink too much water, your body will try and push it out by increasing your urine output. Drinking too much water also increases the amount of water in your blood and your sodium and electrolyte levels drop. Sodium helps balance fluids between the inside and outside of cells.
When sodium levels drop due to excess water consumption, fluids shift from the outside to the inside of the cells, causing them to swell. When brain cells swell, pressure inside the skull increases. This pressure causes the first symptoms of water intoxication: headache, nausea, vomiting.
Aldosterone increases water reabsorption through sodium cotransport.
ADH increases water reabsorption by increasing the nephron’s permeability to water, while aldosterone works by increasing the reabsorption of both sodium and water.
Over hydration happens when you drink more water than your kidneys can get rid of via urine.
But the amount of water is not the only factor. How long you take to drink the water also counts.Your kidneys can only get rid of about 0.8 – 1 liter of water per hour. Therefore to avoid water intoxication you should not drink more than 1 l of water per hour on average.
Extra care should be taken when you ‘load’ the water before a competition, and also when you rehydrate following a dehydration after a competition – don’t drink too much water at once.
About Collagen
Collagen is the most abundant protein in our bodies, especially type 1 collagen. It’s found in muscles, bones, skin, blood vessels, digestive system and tendons. It’s what helps give our skin strength and elasticity, along with replacing dead skin cells. When it comes to our joints and tendons, in simplest terms, it’s the “glue” that helps hold the body together.
As we age, collagen production declines. You’ll notice it physically: looser skin, more wrinkles and less elasticity. Increasing collagen levels can help your skin look firmer, increase smoothness, and help your skin cells keep renewing and repairing normally.
Collagen also reduces cellulite and stretchmarks.
When we lose collagen, our tendons and ligaments start moving with less ease, leading to stiffness, swollen joints and more. With its gel-like, smooth structure that covers and holds our bones together, collagen allows us to glide and move without pain.
A boost in collagen may help increase your metabolism by adding lean muscle mass to your frame and helping with the conversion of essential nutrients. One of glycine’s most important roles is helping form muscle tissue by converting glucose into energy that feeds muscle cells.
Collagen protein is the building block of your fingernails, hair and teeth. Adding collagen into your diet regimen can help keep your nails strong and possibly reverse signs of hair loss.
If you’d like to detox your body of harmful substances, improve blood flow and keep your heart young, collagen is extremely helpful. That’s because glycine helps minimize damage your liver experiences when it absorbs foreign substances, toxins or alcohol that shouldn’t be passing through it.
About digestive enzymes
Digestive enzymes aren’t just beneficial, they’re essential! They break down food into amino acids, fatty acids, cholesterol and simple sugars.
The role of digestive enzymes is primarily to act as catalysts in speeding up specific, life-preserving chemical reactions in the body. Essentially, they help break down larger molecules into more easily absorbed particles that the body can use to survive.
If you have any type of digestive disease such as acid reflux, gas, bloating, leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, malabsorption, diarrhea or constipation, then digestive enzymes can help. Digestive enzymes can take stress off of the stomach, pancreas, liver, gallbladder and small intestine by helping break down difficult-to-digest proteins, starches and fats.
• Liver disease could indicate a concurrent enzyme insufficiency.
• Crohn’s disease may result in enzyme deficiency.
• Iron deficiency or vitamin B12 deficiency may suggest that the digestive process is failing to cleave these nutrients from food.
• Vitamin D deficiency may indicate another malabsorption issue.
What are the benefits of digestive enzymes?
Without them, we couldn’t process food! The main reasons why most people should take digestive enzymes:
• Assists the body in breaking down difficult-to-digest protein and sugars like gluten, casein and lactose.
• Greatly improve symptoms of acid reflux and IBS.
• Enhance nutrition absorption and prevent nutritional deficiency.
• Counteract enzyme inhibitors naturally in foods like peanuts, wheat germ, egg whites, nuts, seeds, beans and potatoes.
Digestive enzyme products are derived from three sources:
• Fruit-sourced — usually pineapple or papaya-based
• Animal-sourced — including pancreatin sourced from ox or hog.
• Plant-sourced — from probiotics, yeast and fungi.
Source: https://draxe.com/digestive-enzymes
About glucosamine
Glucosamine
Glucosamine is a compound naturally found within the cartilage of our joints, made from chains of sugars and proteins bound together. It acts as one of the body’s natural shock-absorbents and joint lubricants. Glucosamine possesses natural anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. One of the most popular supplements taken by people with bone and joint pain glucosamine aids in treating common symptoms of age-related disorders like arthritis and osteoarthritis.
Using glucosamine supplements or obtaining it from natural sources increases the amount of cartilage and fluid that surrounds our joints. This helps prevent joint breakdown and reduces pain.
Glucosamine slows down deterioration of joints when used long-term, plus it offers other benefits that prescription painkillers cannot (such as lowering chronic inflammation and improving digestive health).
Chondroitin
Chondroitin is a natural substance found in the human body and a major component of cartilage, which helps build connective tissue throughout the body. Because it works by retaining water, it helps add lubrication and flexibility to tissue and joints.
Chondroitin used with glucosamine helps lower symptoms associated with loss of collagen and cartilage, which are found in tendons, joints, ligaments, skin and the digestive tract. These conditions can include tendonitis, bursitis and so on. In healthy people, when cartilage becomes damaged due to overuse, injury or inflammation, new cartilage is normally produced to take its place. Unfortunately, as we get older our ability to regenerate lost cartilage and repair damaged connective tissue becomes less efficient.
In both humans and animals, glucosamine and chondroitin stimulate the production of new cartilage and can also help reduce inflammation in the process.
Source: https://draxe.com/chondroitin/
About L-glutamine
L-glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the bloodstream.
L-glutamine benefits the body in the following ways:
1. Improves gastrointestinal health because it is a vital nutrient for the intestines to rebuild and repair
2. Helps heal ulcers and leaky gut by acting as a Band-Aid for protection from further damage
3. Is an essential neurotransmitter in the brain and helps with memory, focus and concentration (
4. Improves IBS and diarrhoea by balancing mucus production, which results in healthy bowel movements
5. Promotes muscle growth and decreases muscle wasting
6. Improves athletic performance and recovery from endurance exercise
7. Improves metabolism and cellular detoxification
8. Curbs cravings for sugar and alcohol
9. Fights cancer
10. Improves diabetes and blood sugar
Doing approximately one hour of exercise can cause a 40 percent reduction of glutamine in the body. It can also cause suppressed immune function. This has a negative impact on your resistance training and may lead to overtraining syndrome.
Supplementing with L-glutamine allows your muscles to fight and push a bit further, which boosts your strength and helps repair your skeletal muscles.
L-glutamine supplementation makes it possible to recover quicker from intense weight training sessions because it improves muscle hydration. This aids the muscle recovery process and reduces recovery time for wounds and burns.
L-glutamine also burns fat and builds lean muscle mass by helping suppress insulin levels and stabilize blood glucose. This enables the body to use up less muscle mass to maintain blood sugar and insulin sensitivity in the cells. For this reason, L-glutamine benefits diabetics and those with sugar and carb cravings as well.
About L-Carnitine
Taking L-Carnitine is known to:
- Improve high-intensity work capacity
- Increase athletic performance
- Speed your recovery from intense exercise
- Make your brain work better
Carnitine is an amino acid composite that is made of lysine and methionine. It is responsible for the transport of fat into the cells to be used for energy, therefore your body becomes more efficient in processing fuel and it will increase your energy levels.
Elevating carnitine will improve physical performance by burning more fat, sparing glycogen, clearing muscle lactate, and optimizing hormone levels.
For Carnitine to be effective, you need to make sure you have enough Omega-3 in your body. Omega-3s increase metabolic rate by increasing cell activity and fat burning. Carnitine is the delivery system for long chain fatty acids therefore the less carnitine you have in your body, the fewer fatty acids get into the cells, and you don’t burn them for energy. Instead they’re stored as fat. By elevating carnitine fat burning increases, you will have more energy and feel more motivated.
Carnitine fights visceral belly fat, that is known to be the toughest fat to loose. Raising your carnitine levels will fight this visceral belly fat gain because it increases fat burning.
Higher muscle carnitine levels help decrease pain, muscle damage and markers of metabolic stress from high intensity exercise by reducing lactic acid production, therefore you can have a greater work production because it will not feel as physically difficult.
Taking carnitine will also support an anabolic response to exercise by up-regulating the androgen receptors, which will speed up your recovery.
Carnitine can help prevent type 2 diabetes because of how it improves fat metabolism. It can counter the diseases of metabolic syndrome by supporting cardiovascular health while inducing fat loss.
