Welcome back and I hope you are all still enjoying the site improvements from June. There have been a couple of issues about speed on the site, but these were minor technical issues and have been resolved. If you do experience the odd page loading slowly, it’s merely due to the large number of members and visitors to the site.
In July seungmena, or as he’s better known, Big Les, joined the MuscleTalk moderator team to help in the Diet & Nutrition, Supplements, Competitions and Journals forums. Les is extremely knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. Thanks for your help Les, and congratulations to you and your wife on the birth of Joshua.
What do YOU want from The MuscleTalker? Email james@muscletalk.co.uk for any thoughts you have for your newsletter. You can read past editions of The MuscleTalker at the Newsletter Archive
*** Best wishes from James and The MuscleTalk team! ***
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** Need a diet for growth to suit YOU? - James Collier, Dietitian offers personalised nutrition programmes through email tailored to YOUR needs. For more information see:
www.muscletalk.co.uk/james.aspx or email james@muscletalk.co.uk
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** The Bodybuilding Truth
Think you know about bodybuilding? Think again. The Bodybuilding Truth is filled with all the information that was considered too radical for print. A MUST read - Click Here
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*** Benefits of Grapefruit ***
By The Doctor – MuscleTalk Moderator
Scientific Name: Citrus paradise. Grapefruit is believed to be native to Jamaica. Grapefruit trees were planted in Florida in the early 19th century. The United States is the largest producer of grapefruit in the world.
Nutritional Properties
High in vitamin C and potassium. A good source of folate, iron, calcium and other minerals. Pink and red varieties are high in beta carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. High in fibre, low in calories.
Grapefruit contains pectin (found in the pulp/rind), a form of soluble fibre that can bind to cholesterol. In a 16-week double-blind, crossover (placebo or pectin) study using 27 human volunteers screened to be at medium to high risk for coronary heart disease due to hypercholesterolemia, grapefruit pectin supplementation decreased plasma cholesterol by 7.6% and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 10.8%. The study did not interfere with the subjects' current diet or lifestyle (1).
In animal studies, grapefruit pectin inhibited the formation of atherosclerosis. Animals fed a high fat diet plus grapefruit pectin had 24% narrowing of their arteries, while animals fed only the high fat diet had 45% narrowing (2).
Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant, it is the pigment found in fruits and vegetables, providing the colour of tomatoes (which are the best source of lycopene), water melon and pink/red grapefruit. There is some evidence that a diet high in lycopene may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, according to the first epidemiological study on this, conducted at Harvard University: Men who ate a diet rich in tomato sauce, ketchup or other tomato-based products containing lycopene were up to one third less likely to develop the disease (3). Although there are no double-blind studies on lycopene at present, the results of observational studies are promising and further research is needed.
Grapefruit Juice Drug Interactions
This food-drug interaction was actually discovered by accident. A study that was intending to test the interaction of alcohol and a blood pressure medication used a mixture of alcohol with grapefruit juice to disguise the taste of alcohol for the study. Ironically, alcohol had no effect on the tested medication, but the grapefruit juice seemed to enhance the absorption of the drug (4). The researchers then confirmed the finding by comparing drug levels when taken with either grapefruit juice or water and found five-fold higher blood levels of the drug when it was taken with juice. Orange juice did not show this effect.
Grapefruit juice inhibits a special enzyme (CYP3A4) in the intestines that is responsible for the natural breakdown and absorption of many medications. When the action of this enzyme is blocked, the blood levels of these medications increase, which can lead potentially toxic side effects from the medications.
Research has suggested that flavonoids and/or furanocoumarin present in grapefruit are the substances that act to block the enzyme in the intestines that normally metabolizes many drugs.
Some medications that interact with grapefruit juice: (5)
-Statins (Cholesterol Lowering Drugs)
-Antihistamines: Terfenadine
-Calcium Channel Blockers (Blood Pressure Drugs):
-Anti-convulsant: Tegretol (Carbamazepine)
-Anxiolytics: Valium (Diazepam)
-Anti-depressant: Sertraline Clomipramine
-Cortico-steroids: Methylprednisolone
-Oestrogens: Ethinyl estradiol
-Anabolic Steroids: Dianabol
-Impotence Drug: Viagra
Although some drugs are given with others to enhance their effects, grapefruit juice should not be used for this purpose because its impact can be unpredictable and potentially dangerous. The above list is by no means exhaustive. Please consult with your doctor or pharmacist regarding possible interactions between grapefruit juice and medications you may currently be taking if you consume grapefruit/ juice regularly.
The Grapefruit Diet
Most serious dieters at one time or another have been told to eat grapefruit. Proponents of the Grapefruit Diet believe that grapefruit contains a special fat-burning enzyme. The Grapefruit Diet, originally called the Hollywood Diet, started in the 1930s and has come back in various forms many times since then. Dieters on this diet are permitted a few vegetables, tiny amounts of protein and lots of grapefruit.
The only study conducted into Grapefruit Diets was performed by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and interestingly on behalf of and sponsored by the Florida Citrus Department! The 13 week diet study consisted of 45 adults with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 (termed obese) seeking weight loss. All patients were placed on a low-calorie, low-fat diet which was designed to produce an average weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week. All subjects were asked to consume two servings of Florida grapefruit or grapefruit juice each day (6). This study wasn't particularly valuable in proving whether grapefruit works as a weight-loss aid. There was no control group of people who didn't eat any grapefruit and the weight loss experienced by the participants could perfectly be explained by putting any obese person on a low calorie diet, regardless of whether grapefruit was included or not.
The reason that Grapefruit Diets work, as with many other fad diets is because dieters simply limit their caloric intake to less than 900 calories a day. As soon as you come off the diet, you will gain weight again because firstly these diets do nothing to change long term eating habits and secondly the body interprets a crash diet so low in calories as starvation, hence the body compensates by slowing down metabolism to conserve all available energy. This lowered level of metabolism makes future weight loss much more difficult.
In summary, grapefruit has no active properties that help burn fat. It is a healthy, high in fibre and micronutrients and low in calorie food that makes a good addition to any healthy diet, as should other fruits and vegetables.
References:
(1) The effects of grapefruit pectin on patients at risk for coronary heart disease without altering diet or lifestyle. Cerda JJ, Robbins FL, Burgin CW, Baumgartner TG, Rice RW. Department of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville 32610. Clin Cardiol. 1988 Sep; 11(9):589-94
(2) Inhibition of atherosclerosis by dietary pectin in microswine with sustained hypercholesterolemia. Cerda JJ, Normann SJ, Sullivan MP, Burgin CW, Robbins FL, Vathada S, Leelachaikul P. Department of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville. Circulation. 1994 Mar; 89(3):1247-53.
(3) A prospective study of tomato products, lycopene, and prostate cancer risk. Giovannucci E, Rimm EB, Liu Y, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC. Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.J Natl Cancer Inst. 2002 Mar 6;94(5):391-8.
(4) Grapefruit juice-drug interactions. Bailey DG, Malcolm J, Arnold O, Spence JD. Department of Medicine, London Health Sciences Centre, Ontario, Canada.Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1998 Aug; 46(2):101-10.
(5) http ://secure.pharmacytimes.com/lessons/200303-02.asp
(6) Johns Hopkins University Weight Management Centre and Florida Dept. of Citrus, P.O. Box 148, Lakeland, FL 33802.
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** Check out the Informed Bodybuilding Nutrition eBook by James Collier – the ULTIMATE nutrition bible for bodybuilding. For more information Click Here
*** High Intensity Terms – Part 3 ***
By Paul A Marsland
In a few issues of The MuscleTalker we will be including parts of this great article by Paul. Paul can be found on his board: http://pub40.ezboard.com/bhighintensitystrengthtraining
- Inroad
The main priority of when you train should be to inroad (reduce/fatigue) your muscles strength levels as efficiently and quickly as possible. It is not to see how much weight you can lift, although you obviously need resistance/overload to have a workout.
The idea is to reduce your starting level of strength to a point, which is below the weight of which you are lifting. Simply put, if your starting level of strength is 100lbs, you then perform repetitions, which progressively makes deeper and deeper inroads into your strength, until it drops below 100lbs and at that point you fail on the rep. Some people will make such a deep inroad, that after a set of e.g. 6 reps to muscular failure they cannot lift a weight that was fraction of what they started with. Some people are the opposite and will be able to reproduce the first set and sometimes even exceed it. This can be related to neurological efficiency, rates of fatigue, fibres types, i.e. fast twitch, slow twitch.
Generally speaking, the higher the neurological efficiency, the greater the potential to recruit and use more muscle fibres, therefore the deeper the inroad the greater the growth stimulation. However, like intensity, the greater the inroad, the greater the demands placed on the body. So those with a potential to deeply inroad their strength may require less overall exercise and have to train even more infrequently (than those with more mixed fibres types) in order for them to progress. These people in general will also have a higher level of strength relative to their size, as they tend to have a high degree of fast twitch muscles fibres, which produce a lot of force, but fatigue very quickly. This explains in part why they cannot lift a fraction of the original weight they started with; such is the level of inroad/fatigue they have produced.
- Time Under Load or Time Under Tension
Time under Load (TUL) is the amount of time that your muscles should be effectively loaded for. The general opinion is that for general muscle building and strength purposes a TUL of between 60 to 120 seconds of quality muscular loading should be performed. If one was performing reps in the standard Nautilus guidelines this would equate to 8 to 12 repetitions performed in a 2 seconds up, 4 seconds down manner. If one is performing slower repetitions, the rep count should be adjusted accordingly, i.e. super slow would be 3 to 5 repetitions or similar. However if one has a high rate of fatigue in a certain muscle group, it will be necessary to determine what the ideal TUL is for that particular muscle group, as it can and does vary from muscle group to muscle group.
It has been argued that as one gets stronger they may need to reduce their TUL and reps, as the effects of a longer TUL could result in over training atrophy, which would reduce progress. This ties in with the premise that as one gets progressively larger and stronger, more intense demands are placed on the body. Realise that the body simply cannot tolerate a great deal of exercise or stress (over the long term) and the greater the demands the less overall it can tolerate. Also as strength increases recovery ability does not increase to the same level. The purpose of the workout should be to fatigue the muscles within a certain time frame, TUT as efficiently as possible.
You can see that the performing one rep high force repetitions is not the best method of building size and strength. To state it simply, BUILD STRENGTH DON’T DEMONSTRATE IT or Weight TRAIN not Weight LIFT.
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*** August’s Recipe – Key Lime Pie Smoothie ***
By Nicole Bremner – MuscleTalk Moderator
Taken from the NEW Muscle Menus Vegetarian eBook which has loads of other delicious smoothie and protein drink recipes!
**Ingredients
250ml water (can use skim or soy milk if desired)
½ cup quark
1 scoop whey or soy protein powder
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp lime flavoured sugar free jelly
**Method
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend well.
**Information
Serves 1. Per serving: 136kcal, 34g protein, 2g carbs, 1g fat, 0g fibre.
More great bodybuilding recipes by Nicole can also be found in the Muscle Menus ebook:
The articles in The MuscleTalker are for information purposes only and are the sole expressions of the individual authors opinion and are those not necessarily shared by the owners of www.MuscleTalk.co.uk