Characteristics Of A Good Nutrition Program

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Characteristics Of A Good Nutrition Program

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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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Distribution Date and Time: 2007-12-11 11:48:00

Written By: Hugo A

Copyright: 2007

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Characteristics Of A Good Nutrition Program

Copyright © 2007 Hugo A

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 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.

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 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