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Characteristics Of A Good Nutrition Program

Article Description:
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Nutrition is what gives us the raw materials for recuperation,
energy, and growth. Without a good diet, your dreams of achieving
your ideal body will never be reached.


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1746 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line
Distribution Date and Time: 2007-12-11 11:48:00

Written By: Hugo A Rivera
Copyright: 2007
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Characteristics Of A Good Nutrition Program
Copyright (c) 2007 Hugo A Rivera
Body RE-Engineering
http://www.losefatandgainmuscle.com



Nutrition is what gives us the raw materials for recuperation,
energy, and growth. Without a good diet, your dreams of achieving
your ideal body will never be reached.

We'll now discuss the characteristics of a good nutrition
program and we'll also go over nutrition basics.

What Should A Good Nutrition Program Consist Of?

1) It should favor smaller and frequent feedings throughout the
day instead of smaller ones.

Why? Because when you feed your body several times a day, your
metabolism increases. Therefore, you burn more fat. Frequent
feedings are of particular importance since after three to four
hours of no food your body switches to a catabolic state (a state
in which you lose muscle and gain fat!). The body believes that
it is starving and it starts feeding itself on lean muscle tissue
and it prepares to store calories as fat. Bad scenario!

Therefore, in order for your program to work, you will eat
between four to six meals (depending gender and goals) a day
spaced out at 2-1/2 to 3 hour intervals.

2) Every meal should have carbohydrates, protein and fat in the
correct ratios.

Having a meal that is not balanced (for example is all
carbohydrates) won't yield the desired results. Every
macronutrient has to be present in order for the body to absorb
them and use them properly. Without boring you with the effect of
food on the body's biochemistry, let's just say that if you
only eat carbohydrates in one meal without anything else, your
energy levels will crash in about 30 minutes and your body will
be storing any carbohydrates that were not used into fat.

Conversely, if you only eat protein, you will lack energy and
your body will not be able to turn the protein into muscle
because it is difficult for the body to absorb protein in the
absence of carbohydrates. In addition, the ratios for each
particular macronutrient have to be correct in order to get the
results that you want.

The ratio of our diet will look like the following:

40% Carbohydrates
40% Protein
20% Fats

(Note that for every serving of carbohydrates, you get a serving
of Protein. You can use Bill Phillips Method of creating meals
which is to count a portion of carbohydrates as the amount of
food the size of your clenched fist and a portion of protein as
the amount of food the size of your open palms.)

3) The calories should be cycled.

I strongly believe in caloric cycling as this will not allow the
metabolism to get used to a certain caloric level; something that
leads to stagnant results.

Therefore, bodybuilders in search of just muscle mass should
follow 5 days of high calories (lean body mass x 15) with two
days of lower caloric intake (lean body mass x12). Bodybuilders
in search of losing fat while building muscle at the same time
should follow 5 days of lower caloric intake (lean body mass x12)
with 2 days of higher calories (lean body mass x 15). (Note: If
you build muscle and lose fat at the same time you will not gain
muscle as fast as you would if you just concentrated in muscle
mass. However, you get to get both goals accomplished at the same
time).

People interested in bodysculpting should alternate between two
weeks of lower calories (around 2000 for men and 1000 for women)
and two weeks of higher calories (around 2700 for men and 1700
for women).


Nutrition Basics

There are 3 macronutrients that the human body needs in order to
function properly.

A) Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy. When you
ingest carbohydrates your pancreas releases a hormone called
insulin.

Insulin is very important because:

It grabs the carbohydrates and either stores them in the muscle
or stores them as fat.

It grabs the amino acids (protein) and shelters them inside the
muscle cell for recovery and repair. Most people that are
overweight and are in low fat/high carbohydrate diets got into
that condition because they are eating an overabundance of
carbohydrates. Too many carbohydrates cause a huge release of
insulin. When there is too much insulin in the body, your body
turns into a fat storing machine. Therefore, it is important that
we eat no more carbohydrates than necessary and that we eat the
right amount of carbohydrates.

Now that we have talked about the importance of having just the
right amount of carbohydrates, let's talk about which are the
best sources of carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are divided into complex carbohydrates and simple
carbohydrates. The complex carbohydrates give you sustained
energy ("timed release") while the simple carbohydrates gives
you immediate energy. It is recommended that you eat mainly
complex carbohydrates throughout the day except after the workout
where your body needs simple carbohydrates in order to replenish
its glycogen levels immediately, something that will aid faster
recuperation and rebuild of the muscle. Below is a list of good
sources of carbohydrates:

There are two types of carbohydrates:

Complex Carbohydrates:


Starchy:

Oatmeal (1 cup dry)
Sweet potatoes (8 oz baked)
Potatoes (8 oz baked)
Rice (1 cup cooked)
Pasta (8oz cooked)
Corn (1 cup canned)
Peas (2 cups cooked)

Each serving approximately equals 40-50 grams of carbohydrates.

Fibrous:

Broccoli (1/2 cup raw)
Carrots (1 cup raw)
Cauliflower (1/2 cup raw)
Green beans (1/2 cup raw)
Lettuce (5 cups raw)
Mushrooms (3/4 cups raw)
Pepper (1/2 cup raw)
Spinach (3-1/2 cups raw)
Zucchini (1 cup raw).

Each serving approximately equals 6 grams of carbohydrates.
Simple Carbohydrates:


Apples (1 apple)
Bananas (1 banana)
Grapefruit (1 grapefruit)
Grapes (22 grapes)
Oranges (1-1/2 orange)
Pears (1 pear)
Pineapple (3/4 of a cup)

Each serving approximately equals 20-25 grams of carbohydrates.


B) Protein

Every tissue in your body is made up from protein (i.e., muscle,
hair, skin, and nails). Proteins are the building blocks of
muscle tissue. Without it, building muscle and burning fat
efficiently would be impossible. Its importance is paramount.
Protein also helps increase your metabolism every time you eat it
by 20%! It also makes the carbohydrates timed release, so you get
sustained energy throughout the day.

Everybody that is involved in a weight training program should
consume between 1 gram of protein to 1.5 grams of protein per
pound of lean body mass (meaning that if you are 100 lbs. And
have 10% body fat, you should consume at least 90 g of protein
since your lean body mass = 90 lbs.). Nobody should consume more
than 1.5 grams per pound of lean body mass as this is unnecessary
and the extra protein may get turned into fat.

Good examples of protein are eggs (I use Egg Substitute: 1-1/2
cups liquid), chicken breast (cooked, skinless and boneless: 6
oz), turkey (cooked, skinless and boneless: 6 oz), lean (90%
lean) red meats (6 oz), and tuna (6 oz). Each serving size equals
approximately 35-40 grams of protein.

C) Fats

All the cells in the body have some fat in them. Hormones are
manufactured from fats. Also fats lubricate your joints. So if
you eliminate the fat from your diet, then your hormonal
production will go down and a whole array of chemical reactions
will be interrupted. Your body will then start accumulating more
body fat than usual so that it has enough fat to keep on
functioning. Since testosterone production is halted, so is
muscle building. Therefore, in order to have an efficient
metabolism we need fat.

There are three types of fats:

Saturated Fats: Saturated fats are associated with heart disease
and high cholesterol levels. They are found to a large extent in
products of animal origin. However, some vegetable fats are
altered in a way that increases the amount of saturated fats in
them by a chemical process known as hydrogenation. Hydrogenated
vegetable oils are generally found in packaged foods. In
addition, cocunut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil, which are
also frequently used in packaged foods and non-dairy creamers are
also highly saturated.

Polyunsaturated Fats: Fats that do not have an effect in
cholesterol levels. Most of the fats in vegetable oils, such as
corn, cottonseed, safflower, soybean, and sunflower oil are
polyunsaturated.

Monounsaturated Fats: Fats that have a positive effect on the
good cholesterol levels. These fats are usually high on the
essential fatty acids and may have antioxidant properties.
Sources of these fats are Fish Oils, Virgin Olive Oil, Canola
Oil, and Flaxseed Oil. We like to refer to these type of fats as
good fats.

Twenty percent of your calories should come from good fats. Any
less than 20% and your hormonal production goes down. Any more
than 20% and you start accumulating plenty of fat. The way that I
get my fats is by taking 1 teaspoon of Flaxseed Oil three times a
day (I put them in my protein shakes).

Good sources of fat are canola oil (1 tablespoon), natural peanut
butter (2 tablespoons), olive oil (1 tablespoon), flaxseed oil (1
tablespoon), and fish oils (1 tablespoon). Each serving size
contains approximately 14 grams of fat.

D) Water

Water is by far the most abundant substance in our body. Without
water, an organism would not survive very long. Most people that
come to me for advice on how to get in shape, almost always
underestimate the value of water.

Water is good for the following reasons: Over 65% of your body is
composed of water (most of the muscle cell is water).

Water cleanses your body from toxins and pollutants that would
get you sick.

Water is needed for all of the complex chemical reactions that
your body needs to perform on a daily basis. Processes such as
energy production, muscle building, and fat burning require
water. A lack of water would interrupt all of these processes.

Water helps lubricate the joints.

When the outside temperature is up, water serves as a coolant to
bring the body temperature down to where it is supposed to be.

Water helps control your appetite. Sometimes when you feel hungry
after a good meal this sensation indicates a lack of water.
Drinking water at that time would take the craving away.

Cold water increases your metabolism.

In order to know how much water your body needs a day, just
multiply your lean body weight by .66. This would indicate how
many ounces of water you need in a day.

If your interested in more information about my complete Body
Body Building & Fat Loss Program check out
www.losefatandgainmuscle.com




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Hugo Rivera CFT, ISSN, SPN, BSCE. is a lifetime natural
bodybuilder, a multi certified personal trainer, and a
best selling author with a successful franchise of books
called "The Body Sculpting Bibles" which collectively have
sold over a million copies worldwide. Hugo is also the author
of the "Body Re-Engineering" system which teaches you how to
gain lean muscle mass and get lean without drugs, or expensive
supplements. For more information visit http://www.losefatandgainmuscle.com
or his personal website at http://www.hugorivera.net


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