Living a healthy lifestyle is a priority for more and more people. Exercise and good nutrition are the basis for a healthy lifestyle.
Here are some of the nutrition myths you should know to avoid habits that can harm you.
MYTH #1: I HAVE 30 MINUTES POST-WORKOUT TO DRINK THE RECOVERY SHAKE.
You’ve just finished the WOD and, while you’re trying to get yourself together, you’re watching your teammates take out their shaker and start preparing their recovery shake. Is it necessary to drink it right after finishing? The consumption of recovery shakes is very common among athletes. Before drinking them, we should ask ourselves:
- Is it necessary to take that amount of protein?
- Am I adding that amount of protein from the shake to my total amount for the day?
- What type of protein should I take?
- Should the shake be just protein or should it also contain carbohydrates?
Answering these questions would give us enough time for another post, but we must keep in mind that there are no unique answers for everyone, we need to evaluate the context of each person individually.
Let’s go back to our nutrition myths. Suppose we drink a recovery shake after training.
When you finish training, the anabolic window phenomenon or window of opportunity takes place. This is a situation in which the muscle is more receptive to receiving nutrients, in which the repair of damaged tissue can be facilitated and muscle adaptations maximized. However, it is known that there is a glycogen replenishment of up to 79% in the two hours following the end of exercise, without the need to take carbohydrate-rich food. We therefore know that it is not essential to drink the recovery shake quickly at the end of exercise, as this window of opportunity can last between 3-4 hours. A lunch or dinner can be the perfect recovery shake for a workout.
The fact of taking it in shake format makes the absorption and recomposition faster is true.
So, in which cases can it be helpful?
- In people who leave less than 24 hours of rest between workouts or, for example, who do two sessions a day (morning and afternoon) or who train in the afternoon-evening (20h) and the next day in the morning (7-8h).
- People who train for more than 2 hours at high intensity.
- People who train on an empty stomach.
Now you know what decision to make before taking a shake after training. Evaluate your situation and choose a good recovery shake.
MYTH #2: CREATINE SHOULD BE LOADED AND TAKEN RIGHT AFTER TRAINING.
Nowadays, one of the supplements with more scientific evidence that you can find in the market is creatine.
Creatine is a non-protein nitrogen compound found in some foods such as meat and fish, but we also have the option of incorporating it in supplement form.
Your ability to perform in high intensity training depends on the amount of ATP you can generate and creatine helps you to generate that ATP.
Creatine binds to a phosphoryl group within the mitochondria to create and reserve itself as phosphocreatine. This phosphocreatine is one of the energy substrates for generating ATP.
Supplementation can help us to:
- Decrease fatigue and increase exercise quality and recovery.
- Improve sports performance.
- Increase muscle mass and improve strength.
- Avoid losing muscle mass when there is an injury.
- In other aspects it also acts as an antioxidant, improves cognitive function, memory and prevents neuronal degeneration.
The most studied supplementation is the creatine monohydrate form, and the powder format is the easiest to use. Unlike capsules or tablets, the powder is easier to adapt the amount needed for each person.
One of the most frequently asked questions is when to take it. Since the most important thing is to maintain muscle phosphocreatine stores, and this is a cumulative process, it does not matter what time of day you take it.
There are two protocols for taking creatine:
- The first is the loading protocol, in which for 4-7 days you take 0.3g/kg of body weight spread over the day and followed for a month of a maintenance phase of 3-5g a day.
Example of a person of 70kg, the amount would be 21g of creatine per day, divided into 3-4 shots per day, and then about 3-5g of creatine for a month.
This protocol can be useful if we have little time before a competition, or an important event, and we want to make a quick load of phosphocreatine reserves.
If this is not the case, we could go directly to the second protocol.
- The second protocol is to directly perform an intake of 0.1g/kg body weight, which would be about 7g in a 70kg person.
In this case it takes about 3 weeks to maximize phosphocreatine reserves. This is the most comfortable and most used option, since it obtains the same result as the first protocol, but it is not necessary to take so much creatine during the first days, since there are people who may have some digestive discomfort with high doses.
Remember that the effects of creatine supplementation depend on the reserves of phosphocreatine that each person has. It usually happens that vegetarian/vegan athletes respond better to supplementation since they consume practically no creatine in their diet.
If you see that it works better for your friend than for you, remember that each person is different and the ergogenic effect of a supplement will also affect differently.
MYTH #3: DO L- CASEI IMMUNITAS IMPROVE YOUR DEFENSES?
With the change of season, it is possible that doing something to improve your defenses has crossed your mind, because of the possible viruses you may catch. And speaking of defenses, do you remember those ads where there were some “yogurts” with “L-casei immunitas” that helped you to maintain your defenses and have a war-proof immune system?
This star product, despite being from a well-known dairy brand, has its own website and advertised very well. Thousands of people recognized only by seeing the product, the association that taking this product, helped their defenses and that it was indispensable every morning at breakfast.
But is that really true?
To begin with, let’s break down this product. It’s not yogurt, it’s fermented milk. Both yogurt and fermented milk are both probiotic products, they contain live bacteria inside. The difference lies in the type of bacteria. To be called yogurt, it must contain only Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Fermented milk, on the other hand, must contain more ferments. In this case, this product contains L casei Danone®, a ferment exclusive to the brand.
Does this mean that it is better and helps our immune system more? There are no studies that indicate this. This was stated by EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority in a report it published in 2010.
So the question is, if there are no studies on this theory, what makes it possible to advertise that this product helps to improve your defenses?
This company has done a great job of marketing and advertising. If you look at their website, they add a comment in which they say that this product contains vitamin B6, vitamin D, B9, iron and zinc, which are essential for the proper functioning of the immune system. In the product itself there is a very disguised asterisk, next to the claim “improve your defenses”. If a product contains more than 15% of a vitamin or mineral, they can put an advertising claim on the product. According to EFSA, vitamin B6 contributes to the proper functioning of the immune system, and this is exactly what it says on the product.
If we look in detail, this statement “contributes to improve your defenses” may be made because it contains at least 15% of the recommended daily vitamin B6 and not because it contains L-Casei.
Then, do we need this type of products to obtain the amount of vitamin B6 necessary to maintain our immune system?
If we take into account that 100g of banana (i.e. a medium banana) contains 0.50-0.55g vitamin B6 as well as fiber, potassium, magnesium, vitamins B, C, etc. Is it worth consuming this type of product? I think the answer is up to you.
The immune system is not only fed by a specific nutrient or bacteria. It is important to assess the general condition of the person, the consumption of plant-based foods, essential amino acids, essential fats, antioxidants, rest, stress management, strength training, etc… a single element will not improve your defenses.