While addressed to bodybuilders in particular, this article applies to anyone who's ever thought during the dreary winter months, "Nobody can see what's under here anyway -- I'll eat whatever I dang well please to 'bulk up.'" But a recent study suggests a "see-food diet" may be harmful to putting on weight - at least, the kind of weight you want.
Raise your hands if this sounds familiar: "As long as you're not competing, scarf down whatever you want, as often as you want, and drown it in whatever tastes best." For quite a few bodybuilders, that strategy of becoming an indiscriminate, human Hoover for half the year has served as the benchmark for packing on more mass during the competition off-season.
But some new dietary research suggests that your nagging parents were actually right when they said junk food would be the end of you. According to medical findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology this month, just one high-fat, high-sugar meal begins to immediately wreak havoc on a person's hormones, blood vessels and nervous system.
Not exactly what you'd call a recipe for muscle growth.
And yet how many of us have ever tried the bloat-and-slash cycle to pack on the slabs then carve them into shape? (I must sheepishly step forward -- make that, piggishly) While that strategy definitely can work, the relevant question becomes, "How effective is it really, and at what cost?"
The Science
The study, conducted by the Mid America Heart Institute and University of Missouri-Kansas City under Dr. John H. O'Keefe et al, took aim at what's called "post-prandial dysmetabolism." In other words, how a person's metabolism and other physiology goes bonkers after a meal of junk food.
The study authors wrote: "The highly processed, calorie-dense, nutrient-depleted diet favored in the current American culture frequently leads to exaggerated supraphysiological post-prandial spikes in blood glucose and lipids."
Translation: The junk food that Americans so enjoy causes blood sugar and fat levels to shoot through the roof - immediately after it's eaten.
OK, so blood sugar and fat levels go up, no surprises there. But what was remarkable, was the immediate degree to which free radicals began to rampage through the body and internal tissues became inflamed.
Free radicals, as you may know, are molecules that destroy living cells by destabilizing the electron balance of those cells' constituent molecules.
Bodybuilders - Strong, but Still Human
Meanwhile, the "hog wild" mass-building approach - which apparently mirrors the normal eating patterns of most Americans, save for the cutting up phase - makes bodybuilders susceptible to the same health risks as ordinary people: Blood-sugar spikes which upend your metabolism; release of free-radicals which inflame blood vessels and other internal structures; and higher risk for heart problems down the road.
So while a bodybuilder or otherwise "fit" person may be able to burn off that nutritionally incorrect meal before it goes into body fat deep storage, it's still going to make you lethargic right after the fact; and perhaps it will even make you a patient in the cardiac ward a few years from now.
To top it all off, pigging out on high-glycemic and high-fat foods releases cortisol, the stress hormone that's akin to Kryptonite for anyone trying to get or maintain an elite physique.
To grossly oversimplify for the sake of space, cortisol contributes to fat storage, especially in the abdominal area; it also retards muscle growth. Interestingly enough, your body also starts cranking up the cortisol factory when you're under mental or physiological stress. It can be stress from the job, from your relationship, or even the stress of working out too much - which we lifters know and abhor by the term "overtraining."
Unfortunately, what do many people do when they're stressed out - eat more garbage, right? As they say in the computer business though, "Garbage In = Garbage Out."
You may have heard about the so-called "cortisol blockers" being sold on the market as a panacea for excessive belly fat. They are a doctor's nightmare because advertisements breezily tell prospective customers they can now eat like an elephant, exercise like a sloth and still lose weight. While the ahem, "pigheadedness" of this type of thinking is ripe for analysis, that is another article all by itself.
Where to Get Your Calories
None of this, however, changes one immutable fact: Obtaining all the calories a bodybuilder needs to avoid going catabolic presents a truly Herculean feat, that is, without resorting to the coronary roulette you read about in the glossy magazines (i.e., the Pro's who inhale bags full of fast food at a single sitting when in a mass-building cycle).
If you are a full-time pro bodybuilder whose sole job is to train, eat, sleep and do the occasional photo op until contest time, this might be tenable. For everyone else, who has a day job that requires being alert and energized, that's not a viable solution.
So what are the alternatives if you need size, you need higher calories to feed said demand and you don't want to send yourself to an early grave in the process? Here are some quick suggestions:
* Invest in a healthy menu. Yes, quality, "bioavailable" protein can be expensive. But as with most things in life you (usually) get what you pay for. Of course you can pay a lot of money for worthless filler too, so do your research. Top trainers recommend colustrum or other fast-absorbing proteins to supplement your normal dietary intake (which should of course include the usual suspects: broiled/baked/grilled chicken, lean meat, eggs, fish, nuts, etc.)
* Keep a lid on cortisol by blowing off stressful situations and supplementing with L-Glutamine - a known and safe cortisol blocker.
* Make sure your carbs and fat are of high quality. Low-glycemic on the carbs; and fats, generally, that don't come from land animals or solidify at room temperature. You can put away quite a bit of oatmeal and protein powder gruel (with a dash of coconut oil) before your body needs to store it as fat.
* This might sound like common sense, but it bears repeating - like your mother said, eat your fruits and vegetables. They contain loads of natural antioxidants that stop free radicals dead in their tracks.
And if you are given to partake the occasional alcoholic beverage, good news there: "Low-dose to moderate-dose alcohol [can] positively impact post-prandial dysmetabolism," the study's authors said.
In English: One drink with a meal, as is popular in Mediterranean cultures, won't hurt you. In fact, it can flatten out a post-meal sugar spike. The key is moderation.
Clearly, the economics of food production have made it cheaper to manufacture nutrient-depleted, high-calorie, foreign substance-laden, processed "stuff," than to provide the nutrients our bodies actually need. We've made some trade-offs along the way: To many people, junk food is more palatable, it lasts on the shelf much longer, and it's easier on the wallet, if you don't count the long-term health implications.
But if you want to start feeling healthier (and not just looking it on the outside), not to mention giving yourself more consistent, reliable energy to power you through your workouts, consider the many ways you can bulk up and still "eat clean."
About the author: Akweli Parker is an ISSA-certified fitness trainer and founder of www.musclefoundry.com. He can be reached at akweli@musclefoundry.com.
