Those are the first two things you need to know when considering if sugar is bad. After all, your body is perfectly designed to metabolize sugar. When you eat carbohydrates (any carbohydrates, vegetables included) your body eventually breaks them down into glucose (AKA sugar).

So, the idea that sugar is bad when your body is designed to use it and convert it into energy just doesn’t make sense.

Now, that’s not to say that too much sugar can’t be a problem. It can, but understanding your limits can make your diet a lot less stressful and a lot more delicious. Let’s dig in.

Is Sugar The Cause of Obesity and Diabetes?

If you’re going to stand up for sugar for anything (because, again, it has some downsides, which we’ll discuss), it’s the belief that sugar is the cause of diseases like obesity and diabetes.

Yes, sugar can play an indirect role in both. But, data and research don’t align to suggest that both diseases are driven by sugar.

Over the last 40 years, our sugar consumption has shifted from 20.8 teaspoons of sugar per day in the 1970s to about 23 teaspoons of sugar per day. Both numbers are too high, but the ~2.2 teaspoons increase is only about 32 added extra calories. Again, too much sugar, but the increase in sugar is not what’s driving obesity.

After all, according to USDA data, calorie consumption has increased by anywhere from 600 to 700 calories over the same time period. For reference, the consumption of fats and oils jumped from 52 pounds per year (per person) in the 1970s to 82 pounds per year more recently.

The problem with obesity is too many calories. And that is a complicated problem that includes many factors such as food availability, hyper-palatable foods (think fat, salty, and sweet combined), psychological factors, social factors, and genetics.

Can sugar potentially make you desire to eat more? Yes. But, as you’ll find out, the poison is in the dose and the source. It’s not one or the other.

The same goes for diabetes. Many people believe that sugar causes diabetes. In reality, it’s excess body fat that triggers the disease. If you have too much body fat, then it creates insulin resistance, which means your body’s natural glucose control breaks and you start storing and processing sugar differently. That’s what leads to prediabetes and, ultimately, diabetes.

So Why Do People Think Sugar is Toxic?

The short answer: because it makes for a compelling narrative in a book or documentary.

Listen, sugar has its downsides, and limiting sugar is a good thing. But, the idea that you need to avoid all sugar isn’t supported by science.

If sugar is bad and “toxic,” then what should you think about fruit?

Before you buy into the easy-to-sell idea that sugar is the root of all evil, you might want to consider that over the last 50 years, different ingredients or macronutrients tend to be blamed for all health issues.

Despite science that suggests one food is not the reason for all health shortcomings, many are convinced that carbs and sugar are inherently bad.

Sugar’s real “toxicity” level is something like 6 pounds per day (test in rats). That’s not happening to even the biggest sweet tooth.

When people talk about toxicity, they usually are referring to the addictive nature of sugar. The anti-sugar crowd likes to compare it with addictive drugs.

But, if you were to eat a spoonful of sugar (cue Mary Poppins), how much would you want to shovel down a second, third, or fourth spoonful?

The answer is most people wouldn’t because sugar alone does not drive palatability. There are many factors, which include:

• A combination of sweet, starch, and fat
• Mouth-feel
• Salt
• Consistency

Even research suggests that sugar-alone isn’t driving food obsession. A comprehensive review found that sugar was not addictive, but that high-fat savory and high-fat sweet foods are much more likely to be overeaten than mostly sugary sweet foods.

Which Sugars Are Better and Healthier?

Sugar is far more than just the white stuff you spoon into your coffee. (That’s sucrose.)

In biochemistry, sugar is either a monosaccharide or a disaccharide (“saccharides” being another name for “carbohydrates”).

• A monosaccharide is a simple sugar.
• A disaccharide is a sugar composed of two simple sugars.
• An oligosaccharide is composed of two to ten simple sugars.
• A polysaccharide is composed of two or more simple sugars (300 to 1,000 glucose molecules in starch).

In short, all carbohydrates are composed of single sugars. If we go back to the example of sucrose, or table sugar, that’s actually a disaccharide of the simple sugars glucose and fructose.

Meanwhile, starch, dietary fiber, and cellulose are polysaccharides. That’s an important distinction for those of you keeping score at home: fiber — something most people know as good — is also a form of sugar.

Of those three, we can only digest starch, which is composed of glucose. Starch is also what you’ve probably heard call “complex carbs” or “slow carbs” — slow because the body needs time to break them down into single sugars (notably glucose, the “blood sugar”).

So the idea of a true non-sugar diet means kicking out a lot of foods that are perfectly healthy. Sure, you can live without ingesting sugars, or even carbs … but only because your body can synthesize the glucose its needs out of fatty acids and amino acids.

This happens because your body needs sugar. Glucose is needed as fuel for important functions, like your nervous system and your brain. (Yes, your brain doesn’t only function on glucose, but it does need glucose; and glucose also helps cells interact.)

Maybe more importantly: there are many perfectly healthy foods that contain sugar (see below).

Any no-sugar diet that removes all of the following foods is likely flawed. And that’s the point: any diet that veers towards extremes oftentimes is misguided, and that includes the catch-all “don’t eat any sugar.”

When Does Sugar Become Bad For You?

Like most things in life, the poison is in the dose.

As we’ve seen, your body actually needs sugars, to the point that it’ll manufacture some even if you avoid all carbohydrates.

We already discussed that body fatness is the main driver of type-II diabetes and obesity. But sugar can contribute to overeating. And, too much sugar also results in an increase in advanced glycation end products, and so in skin damage and a greater risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

That’s why added sugar can be dangerous: not because it’s “as addictive as cocaine.”

The real danger with sugar is not that it’s inherently fattening. A gram of sugar is still just 4 calories. And 4 calories will not make you fat.

However, you can eat a lot of sugar and not feel full. And that’s the typical pattern. You eat some sugar (usually combined with other foods and hidden in beverages)…and then some more…and then some more…and next thing you know a box of cookies are gone, a can of soda, and sugary coffee drink are all gone…and you’re still feeling hungry.

Added sugars are too easy to over-consume. That’s true of every added sugar, no matter how healthy-sounding it may be.

Is Honey Better Than Cane Sugar?

Don’t be fooled into thinking honey or maple syrup or agave is better for you. Sugar is sugar. Even the much-vilified high-fructose corn syrup (55% fructose, 45% glucose, usually) isn’t a lot worse than sucrose (50% fructose, 50% glucose).

What are especially treacherous are sugars in liquid form. You can drink and drink and drink mass quantities of them—enough calories to account for a five-course meal—and yet still feel hungry.

Perhaps it’s unsurprising that soft drinks are linked to the current obesity epidemic. Sodas and colas are by far the main source of added sugar in the average American’s diet, accounting for 34.4% of the added sugar consumed by U.S. adults and children.

In that respect, fruit juices aren’t any healthier. In fact, they can be even worse.

Why? Because the sugar in fruit juice is fructose, which can stress the liver (only the liver can metabolize fructose in any large amounts).

There’s one “sugary” drink that doesn’t pose the same threat: milk.

While milk contains sugar (lactose, a disaccharide of glucose and galactose), it has far less than fruit juice, since milk also contains protein and fat. Back in the day when fats were the enemy, low-fat milk was considered healthier than whole milk; the same isn’t true today.

Now that fats have been (partially) redeemed, whole milk is back in fashion — and backed by lots of evidence.

Is The Sugar In Fruit Bad?

No, fruit is not bad for you. If we could scream it from the mountain tops and plaster over every Instagram feed, we would tell you:

There is no evidence that eating fruit, even in high amounts, will harm your health.

Unlike fruit juices, whole fruits are filling. Apples, though solid, are 10% sugar … and 85% water; that alone makes them very hard to overeat. In addition, recent studies show that whole fruits may help regulate blood sugar.

How Much Added Sugar Is Safe?

Here’s something we can all celebrate: you don’t need to feel guilty each time you eat added sugar. But, you should stay aware of your consumption and do your best not to exceed these limits:

• 100 calories/day if you’re a woman (about six teaspoons, or 25 g);
• 150 calories/day if you’re a man (about nine teaspoons, or 36 g)

What does that mean in real food?

That’s the equivalent of about 1 full-sized Snickers bar or about 7-8 Oreo cookies.

That’s not to say you should add Snickers or Oreos to your daily eating plan. The example simply illustrates the safe, maximum amount you can have each day.

The reason it’s not so simple is that added sugar winds up in a lot of unexpected places, like soup, pizza, and granola.

While the average consumption of sugar in the United States may be decreasing, it’s still way too high.

If you want an easier way to keep your sugar consumption in check, use the guide below. It’s based on the model of the old school Food Guide Pyramid, which was released in 1992 and replaced in 2005 by MyPyramid—before that was eventually replaced by whatever this thing is that the government is using nowadays.

The Sugar Pyramid is a new spin on dietary sanity.

The base of a healthy sugar pyramid is made of vegetables and fruits: Not only are they filling, but they also provide you with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (biologically active compounds found in plants, some of which are beneficial to our health).

Whole milk also fits into the base of the Sugar Pyramid. The little sugar naturally occurring in bread doesn’t count as added sugar, either—but the sugar that’s often added during manufacturing in the U.S. does.

As for fruit juices, honey, and maple syrup, they all count as added sugar, as does high-fructose corn syrup.

If the base of your personal sugar pyramid is wide, then sprinkling a little added sugar at the top won’t make it collapse. It’s only when most of the sugar in your diet comes from soft drinks, sweets, cookies, and breakfast cereals that your pyramid is likely to topple, and your health along with it.

READ MORE: 

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat?

Winning the War on Hunger: Practical Solutions to Overeating

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating?

Kamal Patel is director of Examine.com, an education company he cofounded in 2011. Since that time, Examine.com’s growing team of researchers has reviewed thousands of studies on supplementation and nutrition. Today, over a million visitors each month rely on Examine.com to separate marketing hyperbole from scientific evidence.

The post Is Sugar Bad For You? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Are carbs bad? Are carbs unhealthy? Do carbs make you fat?

If you look back at the history of dieting, this is nothing new. In the 80s and 90s, you could replace “carbs” with “fat” and you’d be having the same conversation.

But, as time goes on and research improves we should have a better sense of what drives weight gain and weight loss. Unfortunately, carbs missed the science train and been stuck on the pseudoscience rollercoaster.

For years, I’ve heard some variation of, “I know that if I eat fewer calories I’ll lose weight. But, if I eat a couple of slices of bread or some rice, I’ll get fat.”

Fortunately, this isn’t true. You can eat carbs. Anyone can. And they are not the cause of weight gain. However, there are a few details that will help you figure out how many carbs you can eat and the types of carbs that are likely to be best for your body.

Why Do People Think Carbs Are Bad?

The easy answer is that most of the delicious foods that we can easily associate with weight gain also happen to be carbohydrates. Think candies, cookies, donuts, and any other deliciousness you can find at a bakery. All sugary sodas (and sugar, for that matter) fall into the carbohydrate category.

There are certain limits on how many (and how much) of those foods you can eat. They are not 100 percent off-limits (here are some guidelines for how much sugar you can have, and it’s not zero), but the more you eat those foods, the more you’re likely to pack on pounds.

But, carbohydrates also include fruits and vegetables, oats and grains, quinoa, and lentils. The Mediterranean Diet, which has a good amount of research supporting its ability to help maintain a healthy weight and reduce the likelihood of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases, is a high-carb diet that features all of those healthy carb options.

Even rice — yes, white rice too — is a staple of the Japanese diet, which is linked to longer life and lower weight.

Some of the confusion is linked to the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity. In a nutshell, this theory states that obesity is caused by carbohydrates, not calories. The idea is that carbohydrates increase insulin, which reduces the way our body is typically fueled (by glucose and free fatty acids). Instead, the insulin drives fat into our fat cells, we gain weight, become hungrier for more carbs (and insulin), and this becomes a hamster-wheel of weight gain.

There’s just one problem: whenever the model is tested, the claims don’t hold up and research does not suggest that carbs make us fat.

Just as importantly, if carbs were the driver of weight gain, then other macronutrients (like fat), arguably wouldn’t make us gain weight.

But, that’s also not the case. Two different studies have compared what happens when you eat too many carbs or fat. (You can find the research here and here.) What happened? Overeating fat resulted in the same outcome as overeating carbs, and sometimes overeating fat led to more fat gain than overeating carbs.

Now, this doesn’t prove that eating carbs don’t make you fat. However, it’s evidence that suggests you can gain weight regardless of insulin levels.

In other words, the goal isn’t to avoid carbs completely, but, instead, find the sweet spot for your body so you can enjoy foods, stress less, and be in control of your weight.

Are Higher-Carb Diets Healthy?

A healthy diet can (and arguably should) include carbs. After all, carbs help fuel many important processes in your body. This includes:

1. Powering your heart and brain.
2. Fueling anaerobic activity (think weight lifting) via glycolysis (the breakdown of carbohydrates).
3. Helping with recovery by restocking glycogen (carb stores) that has been depleted through hard training.
4. Supporting an anabolic (muscle-building) environment after training.

Safe to say carbs are not bad, regardless of your activity level. But, eating in a way that supports your activity level is important so that excess carbs don’t become unwanted weight gain.

Some people will thrive on more carbs, while others require less. The easy way to determine how many carbs you need (and how high you can go with your carb intake) is based on your activity levels (more on this soon).

That said, you can be very healthy on a higher-carb diet, and, at the very least, you should feel comfortable having some carbs in your diet without fear that it will lead to weight gain.

Need proof? The best example is a meta-analysis that compared carbohydrate intake ranging anywhere from 4 (super low carbs) to 45 percent (pretty high) of total calories, and fat content at 30 percent or lower in low-fat diets.

Here’s what the researchers found:

1. Low-fat diets were slightly more effective at lowering total cholesterol and LDL.
2. Low-carb diets were more effective at increasing HDL and decreasing triglycerides
3. Neither diet was more effective than the other at reducing body weight, waist girth, blood pressure, glucose, and insulin levels.

This overall lack of differential effects led the authors to conclude that both low-carb and low-fat diets are viable options for reducing weight and improving metabolic risk factors. Read that one again.

And it’s not like this was a small study. It included 23 trials from multiple countries and totaled 2,788 participants.

What’s more, the cuisines of some of the healthiest populations in the world consist of diets that are heavy on carbs. The best examples are “The Blue Zones,” which are known as “longevity hotspots that have the longest life expectancies and the lowest rates of chronic and degenerative diseases.”

The main energy sources for all of these Blue Zones are carbohydrates. Need more evidence? The Top-10 countries in the world with the lowest obesity rates all consume a carb-dominant diet. 

OK, So What Are Healthy Carbs?

The easy answer is fruits and vegetables. The more complicated answer is that any type of carb can fit into your diet if you know how many carbs (and what types) you need, based on your activity levels.

People who exercise regularly have very different dietary needs than sedentary populations.

If you are relatively sedentary or most of your exercise consists of low-intensity activities (such as walking), then you won’t burn through as many carbohydrates. In other words, if you don’t exercise often or at a higher intensity, your carbohydrate needs are much less.

If you’re inactive, you really only need to worry about providing adequate carbohydrates to fuel your brain and central nervous system at rest, which is primarily regulated by your liver glycogen stores.

Could you go the super low carb route? Of course, that’s also an option. But, for most people, it’s unsustainable and it does not offer any type of superior fat burning.

So, if it’s a good system for the way you like to eat, then you can cut carbs very low. If not, you just need to lower how many carbs you eat, not eliminate them completely.

How Many Carbs Should You Eat?

If you’re more inactive, an effective low-carb, non-ketogenic diet can be accomplished with roughly 100 to 125 grams of carbs a day from non-starchy vegetables, legumes (like beans), whole fruit, as well as a little bit of starch (such as oats, rice, or even pasta or bread). Preferably, the starch will only make up about 30 percent of your carb intake.

But, here’s the key point: 100 to 125 grams of carbohydrates is hardly a “no carb” diet, but it’s still low-carb.

High carbohydrate intakes, on the other hand, are more appropriate for gym rats and athletes that engage in intense muscle tearing, glycogen (carbohydrate)-depleting training sessions.

When you exercise, your body undergoes cyclical depletion (through training) and repletion (through carb intake) of muscle glycogen stores. As a point of reference, your muscles can store about 300 to 600 grams of carbohydrates.

The more you weigh (or the more you want to weigh), the higher you can go on the carb scale. And the more you train intensely, the more carbs you can eat and store as part of your recovery and growth.

While it’s true that lower-carb diets provide many health benefits and can help with weight loss, don’t confuse “low carb” with no carbs. Dropping all carbs is unnecessary, and — in many cases — that extra behavior leads to extreme struggles that result in binges and weight gain.

Instead, enjoy your carbs. Eat them based on your activity level and your personal experiences and sensitivities with different types of foods. If you’ve struggled with dieting, accepting that carbs are good and won’t make you fat is one of the most liberating decisions you can make.

Eat The Way You Want (Carbs included)

If you want help building muscle, losing fat, or for me to personally design a customized exercise and diet plan, join me in my coaching program. You can apply here.

READ MORE: 

How Many Eggs are Safe to Eat?

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating?

Fix Your Diet: Understanding Proteins, Carbs and Fats

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Do Carbs Make You Fat? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Before you counter with claims about almond butter, cashew butter, or any nut butter, they all fall into the same category along with many other popular “protein snacks.”

As the unofficial President of the Peanut Butter Fan Club, I don’t like to discredit peanut butter in any way. But, knowing my love of peanut butter (it’s still perfectly fine to include in your diet) will help you understand why it’s important to know about high-quality proteins.

That’s because what is marketed as good protein is rarely accurate.

You can blame the food industry, but don’t expect them to change any time soon. The good news: learning to differentiate high-quality protein from “regular” (scientist will call it incomplete) protein is pretty easy.

Even better: there are simple ways to turn incomplete proteins into complete proteins (think of it as a way to upgrade your favorite nut butter of choice).

The best news: once you add more high-quality protein to your diet, you start to see the benefits you want, ranging from fat loss and muscle gain to better hair, skin, and nails.

You don’t have to ditch your peanut butter. But, if you’ve been focusing on getting a lot of your daily protein from nuts (or other incomplete sources), you’re about to realize all the ways you’ve been missing out. -AB

Why Is Protein Important?

Before we get to quality, let’s make something clear: you’ve probably heard that you need more protein in your diet, and for a good reason.

Protein is the building block for muscle, but it’s also so much more.

Protein is also essential for maintaining a strong immune system, bones, tendons, and is responsible for many metabolic reactions. There is also a clear relationship between protein and weight loss.

Here’s the thing:

Not all proteins are created equal.

Quality counts. But what’s the difference between protein and “high-quality protein?” It’s locked in the amino acids of each type of protein.

As much as protein all looks the same on a nutrition label, it’s not. 

If you’re confused, don’t worry. As we mentioned, distinguishing high-quality protein from lesser-quality protein is easier than you might think. And, once you learn to recognize the difference, you’ll be able to adjust how you eat without much stress. 

Why Amino Acids Are Important

Every source of protein has a different amino acid profile. These amino acids — or the component parts that a protein will become when you digest it — are a big determinant of whether or not a protein is high-quality.    

Your body can produce many amino acids on its own. But there are some it can’t make. They are:

• histidine
• isoleucine
• leucine
• lysine
• methionine
• phenylalanine
• threonine
• tryptophan
• valine

These are the “essential amino acids,” and you must get them through your diet.

Any food that contains all nine essential amino acids is known as a “complete protein.”

High-quality proteins contain all of the essential amino acids (amino acids are the building blocks of protein).

When you eat all of the essential amino acids (AKA a complete protein), that’s when your body can put protein to work and unlock all of the benefits.

On the flip side, if you don’t have the essential amino acids, even if you’re eating protein, your body might not be able to use all of the other amino acids to help out.

Now that you know why essential amino acids make a complete protein, you’ll better understand why high-quality protein matters.

What Makes a Protein High-Quality?

A high-quality protein really is a function of three things:

• protein digestibility (i.e. “Can your body break it down?”)  
• amino acid content (i.e. “What’s really inside the protein?”)
• the resulting amino acid availability to support metabolic function (i.e. “Will your body be able to use those amino acids the way you want it to?”).  

The process of digesting any food begins when you chew. But, protein is unique among the three major macronutrients in that your body’s digestion of it truly begins in the stomach and continues into the small intestine.

Technically speaking, enzymes work to fully break down the protein you eat into smaller chains of amino acids. This is very important because, as we mentioned above, it’s actually all the amino acids that your body puts to work. (For example, leucine is an amino acid that is a key figure in building muscle. But, as you’ll find out, amino acids don’t work alone.)

Before a chain can be absorbed into your bloodstream, it must be shortened into individual amino acids. Only then, when these amino acids hit the bloodstream, can they be transported to help whatever your body needs.

They may also be held for a short time with other amino acids in what’s referred to as an amino acid pool. The body can turn to this pool and take the exact amino acids it needs to create a larger protein molecule required for one function or another and leave behind what it doesn’t require at the moment.

• Need to build muscle? Dip into the amino acid pool.
• Trying to recover from a hard workout? Amino acid pool, please.
• Searching for collagen for your skin? Yep, amino acid pool

While the process might appear cut-and-dry, it’s not that simple. First of all, if you want to get the amino acids out of the pool, all of the essential amino acids must be present. 

So, it’s easy to see why incomplete proteins, which don’t have all of the amino acids, can become a barrier to experiencing the benefits of protein.

Also, not all protein is 100 percent digested. And, if it’s not all digested and broken down, then that means you don’t have as many amino acids present in your bloodstream. 

Scientists can measure a protein’s digestibility in the lab is by monitoring nitrogen absorption and excretion. (Protein is the only macronutrient that contains nitrogen, which is why this works.)  The outcome of this test typically produces a digestibility score.

Proteins that are highly digestible receive scores close to 100% (digestible). Lower scores are less digestible. If you were to consume a protein with a digestibility score of 90%, then for every 10g you consumed, you would absorb 9g and excrete 1g.

What helps the protein digestibility score? Having more essential amino acids.

In general, animal proteins — such as dairy, eggs, and meat — score highly. Vegetarian proteins typically score lower because they’re lower in essential amino acids.

What Are High-Quality Protein Sources?

If you just want a list of high-quality protein sources, we have you covered. The top sources are:

• Dairy products: including milk, whey protein powder, casein protein powder, hard cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt
• Eggs
• Seafood and fish
• Beef and bison
• Game meats (such as venison and elk)
• Chicken
• Pork
• Pea Protein
• Soybeans
• Vegan protein powders (primarily consisting of pea protein, potato protein, and corn protein)

You might notice that the majority of the high-quality options are from animal sources. 

That doesn’t mean you can’t get high-quality protein on a plant-based diet. You can still fill your diet with the protein you need even if you never want to put any animals in your mouth. But, it requires you to combine vegan- or plant-based sources of protein to create a complete amino acid profile. 

Why Animal-Based Protein is the “Easy Button”

Animal protein sources mimic the protein composition of human tissue. This is why meat naturally offers a highly usable blend of amino acids—including all nine essential amino acids (with some exceptions, which we’ll get to in a second).

As a result, we humans can use protein from an animal source in a very efficient manner.

Animal proteins range from the obvious—beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and fish—to fluid sources such as milk. All of these are high-quality protein sources that are highly bioavailable (your body can put them to use easily).

Nearly all animal proteins are highly bioavailable — meaning your body can put them to use more easily.

This includes dairy, which supplies a wealth of amino acids, including a high amount of leucine. So, perhaps, it’s not surprising that studies involving chronic exercisers have found that consuming milk-based protein after resistance exercise promotes muscle protein synthesis, more muscle, and less flab.

While collagen and bone broths are popular for their potential to support joint health and other tissue function within the body, collagen protein is high in only 3 amino acids (glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline) while being fairly low in the other essential amino acids.

Bone broths may deliver health benefits, but they alone won’t help with muscle building or fat loss (or satisfy your body’s amino acid requirements, unless you add chicken or beef to the broth, in which case, you’re all set.)

What About High-Quality Plant Protein?

Conversely, most plant sources (but not all) have an amino acid profile that differs drastically from that of humans.

Many (but not all) plant proteins are low in various essential amino acids, especially leucine. This is important to note, because leucine plays a critical role in turning on muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which is key for building and repairing muscle tissue.

The big exceptions are soy, potato protein, corn protein, and pea protein. In fact, pea protein has been tested as a favorable vegan alternative to whey. These vegetarian sources contain all of the essential amino acids you require.

Outside of those sources, most plant-based proteins are not complete. All this means is that consuming one lone source of plant protein cannot support body growth and maintenance.

But there’s a simple fix. If you combine different plant protein sources, then you can receive adequate amounts of all nine essential amino acids.

Examples of complementary proteins include combining legumes and grains, such as red beans and rice, or vegetables and legumes, such as what you’d find in a 9-bean vegetable soup.

When you eat complementary proteins, the combined sources equal a complete protein source.

You don’t have to do this at the same meal. Your body will store the amino acids for about 4 to 6 hours as they come in, and then re-synthesize proteins as it needs by pulling from body cells and blood supplies later.

Often you need to eat more plant-based protein to get the equivalent amount of amino acids that you would from a smaller amount of animal protein.

So really, your main takeaways here are:

1. The exact amount of protein you need will depend on the quality of the protein you eat.
2. If you consume a lot of plant-based protein or are exclusively plant-based, you may need to increase your total daily protein intake, even more, to compensate for the lower protein quality.
3. If you are vegetarian or vegan, eat a diverse mix of foods, and you may want to research the amino acid profiles of the foods you eat.

READ MORE:

What is the Best Protein Powder?

The Curious Case of Why People Fear Protein

No Carbs Diet: The Flaw in Fat Loss

Pamela Nisevich Bede, MS, RD, CSSD, LD is a 21-time marathoner, Ironman triathlete, and mom who counsels athletes and wellness enthusiasts towards optimal performance at Swim, Bike, Run, Eat!, LLC, and is the resident endurance sports nutrition expert at EAS Sports Nutrition. She has contributed to multiple books and is regularly sought to provide insight to numerous publications. Connect with her @PamBedeRD

The post What is a High-Quality Protein? appeared first on Born Fitness.

But, somewhere between the marketing magic created by The Dairy Farmers of America and the movement towards organic-everything, and the fear of any type of processed food, milk fell out of favor. One of the original super “superfoods” went from a staple of every meal to being replaced by variations derived from almonds, cashews, peas, and oats.

But, the question remains: does milk do a body good, or is it something you should limit or avoid.

In theory, the fear of dairy milk — or any “natural” food — should be limited. “Any kind of natural food is not inherently bad; it’s eating patterns that can contribute to disease,” says Robin Foroutan, RDN, an integrative dietician at the Morrison Center in New York City and a spokesperson for the National Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

In other words, there’s little reason to think that any individual whole food on its own is going to ruin your diet. Milk from dairy isn’t dangerous. In fact, milk is one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can find. But, milk also isn’t for everyone. And that’s where the answer takes shape. 

If you’re trying to determine whether dairy milk can be a part of your healthy nutrition plan, whether it’s in your coffee, cereal, or just a cold glass to enjoy, here’s what you need to know about milk’s benefits, dairy’s risks, and who would be better off cutting back or going dairy-free.  

The Benefits of Dairy Milk

How does a food that used to be universally considered healthy become questioned by so many? After all, milk consumption has decreased about 40 percent since 1975 (even though dairy consumption– thanks to foods like cheese and yogurt — has increased). The biggest factor, as we’ll discuss, is the fear of allergies or lactose sensitivity. And then, there are those that fear the hormones in cows. (More on both of these concerns below.

Back in 2016, research was published that reviewed the majority of research (both observational studies and random controlled trials) on dairy milk. The general scientific takeaways make you wonder why people would avoid milk:

In adults, intake of dairy products was shown to improve body composition and facilitate weight loss during energy restriction. In addition, intake of milk and dairy products was associated with a neutral or reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke. Furthermore, the evidence suggested a beneficial effect of milk and dairy intake on bone mineral density but no association with risk of bone fracture. Among cancers, milk and dairy intake was inversely associated with colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, gastric cancer, and breast cancer, and not associated with risk of pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, or lung cancer, while the evidence for prostate cancer risk was inconsistent. 

Again, that doesn’t mean you need milk, but it does mean there are many benefits if you decide to drink it. Cow’s milk undeniably packed with many vitamins and minerals your body wants.

“Milk is a great source of protein, calcium, vitamin D, which are ‘nutrients of concern’ in the U.S. population,” meaning that many people don’t get enough, says Vasanti Malik, PhD, a research scientist in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It also contains magnesium, along with other minerals and nutrients.”

“If you don’t consume dairy, it’s really hard to get enough calcium,” which is crucial for strong bones, says Ali Webster, PhD, RD, Associate Director of Nutrition Communications for the International Food Information Council Foundation. The vitamin D and potassium in milk are also important for bone health.

Webster acknowledges that you can’t rely solely on milk to fight osteoporosis. You also need magnesium (milk has some but isn’t a great source) and vitamin K (found in leafy greens, fish, meat, and eggs)—but it does help you check off a lot of these boxes at once.

That said, milk isn’t the sole source of bone-supporting nutrients. A cup of spinach, for instance, has 350 mg calcium (slightly more than the 300 mg found in a cup of milk), and also provides fiber and folate. A 6-oz can of salmon with bones provides 380 mg of calcium, plus heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.  

The benefits of milk go beyond general health. Milk is one of the best muscle-building foods given its composition of protein. In fact, it’s the basis of both whey protein and casein protein. If you’re drinking either one of those protein shakes, each of those powders started as milk.

How Much Milk Should You Drink?

If you do choose to consume dairy, Malik says that one serving a day is a good baseline amount. Ashley Koff, RDN, CEO of The Better Nutrition Program, agrees. She tells clients who opt to include dairy in their diets to “accessorize” meals with it—say, one slice of cheese on a sandwich or a splash of milk in your coffee.

That might surprise you, considering that the USDA recommends 3 servings daily. But Koff, Malik, and Foroutan say that number isn’t necessary as a goal. Instead, think of milk as a source of vitamins, minerals, or protein that you might not get from other sources. The only people who might need that much dairy are children and the elderly because they tend to be picky eaters who might not otherwise get the nutrients they need.

What Happens if You Overdo It On Dairy

For starters, if you’re allergic, you’re asking for a world of discomfort. If your body can’t handle dairy, or, more specifically, lactose, then you shouldn’t drink it.

Assuming you like milk and aren’t allergic to it, most experts say it’s fine and arguably even healthy to continue drinking it—at least in moderation.

The main concern with eating too much dairy or drinking too much milk is the domino effect it could have on the rest of your diet. Dieticians worry that it could push out other healthy foods (like fruits and vegetables) from your diet, which could have a negative impact. 

Sometimes, replacing milk leads to misleading conclusions about what’s really happening in your body. When people cut milk out of their diet and find they feel better, it’s often not because milk was wreaking havoc on their bodies (of course, assuming no allergy). It’s because their overall diet quality improves when they replace that dairy with more nutrient-dense produce and other whole foods.

Another thing to consider is that, unless you’re going with skim milk, the drink will contain saturated fat. While the effects of saturated fat are hotly debated and can be consumed in some amount, most health experts agree that increasing saturated fat consumption elevates cholesterol, which can in turn increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Milk Myths You Don’t Need to Worry About

Not all concerns about milk are created equal, at least from a scientific perspective. For example, rumors that consuming milk will mess with your hormones, or cause heart disease or diabetes are largely unfounded.

Most mainstream experts say that, with the exception of a possible increased risk of prostate cancer (more on that later), the quality of any evidence indicating that milk would be dangerous is pretty weak—think “associations” or “based on animal studies” rather than high-quality controlled trials.

Also, most studies purporting to show milk’s potential harms also need to be considered in the context of other contradictory research. For instance, a study published earlier this year in the British Journal of Nutrition found that eating full-fat dairy products increased the risk of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes—yet a 2016 study, published in the journal Circulation, found that eating full-fat dairy was associated with a lower diabetes risk.

Does Milk Make You Fat?

If you’ve heard that milk will make you fat, that’s not proven, either.

“It’s true that milk comes from mammals and has a biological purpose—to feed infants so they can grow up and develop,” says Foroutan.

Milk naturally contains growth hormone as well as IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor-1) — both of which are designed to make animals get bigger. But there’s really no proof that the amount found in milk would contribute to obesity—nor is it enough to make you get jacked. (As we already mentioned, there is some proof that drinking milk after a workout can help you build muscle, mostly thanks to the protein content).  

Of course, if you eat ice cream every day or put cheese on everything, you might very well gain weight. But if you eat dairy—even full-fat dairy—in small amounts, it might actually help you slim down. “Fat sends an important signal to the brain that you’re full, which can help with portion control,” says Foroutan.  

5 Reasons to Ditch Dairy

While research is always evolving, for now, the majority of evidence points to dairy being beneficial (or at least not harmful) for most people, says Webster.

The biggest issue is that each person’s body is unique. While most people seem to be able to tolerate at least some dairy, “if you don’t break it down well or have some sensitivity to it, then consuming dairy products may trigger inflammation,” says Foroutan.

If you’ve been thinking you might be better off going dairy-free, or at least limiting it to an occasional treat, these might be good reasons for you to make a change.

1. You’re lactose intolerant.

A true dairy allergy is relatively rare, but many people are lactose intolerant—meaning that they can’t properly digest the primary sugar (lactose) found in milk. As a result, eating anything with lactose triggers unpleasant GI symptoms like cramps, gas, or diarrhea.

“It’s easy to detect because you’d have a pretty quick response to eating or drinking something with lactose in it,” says Foroutan. If you’d like a more official diagnosis, ask your doctor for a lactose tolerance (blood) test or a hydrogen breath test.

If you are, in fact, lactose intolerant, you may still be able to eat certain types of dairy. While you’ll have to steer clear of milk and ice cream or suffer the consequences, hard cheeses and probiotic-rich yogurt usually don’t contain any lactose.  

2. You’re not lactose intolerant, but dairy still upsets your stomach.

Maybe you’ve been tested for lactose intolerance and the test came back negative, but you swear that eating dairy makes your tummy feel lousy. You’re probably not imagining it.

Dairy contains proteins such as casein and whey, which can cause difficulties for some people, says Foroutan. “Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to test for a sensitivity,” she says.

If your gut is telling you that something is off, feel free to trust it. Or, consider doing an elimination diet: Give up all dairy for a few weeks, then do a “challenge” during which you introduce different types of dairy products one by one to see how you react. (Butter, for instance, doesn’t have much lactose, but it has casein and whey.) You may want to see a nutritionist for guidance during your experiment.

3. Milk makes you feel sluggish.

Digestive issues aren’t the only possible signs of an intolerance. Someone who feels bloated, tired, or sluggish after eating dairy might be sensitive to one or more of the components in it. “Some people don’t even notice until the next day; sometimes we call it a ‘food hangover,'” says Foroutan.

If that sounds like you, it might be worth eliminating dairy for a few weeks and slowly trying to reintroduce it to see if it’s really the culprit. But the bottom line is that if you feel better without dairy, you don’t have to have it.

4. You have a higher-than-average risk of prostate cancer.

The link between dairy consumption and several types of cancer is murky. Some studies, for instance, have said that it might raise the risk of breast cancer, whereas others show that it lowers it. (Most research seems to conclude that it’s associated with a lower risk of breast cancer.)  

Prostate cancer is a little different. The proof that dairy substantially raises prostate cancer risk is hardly iron-clad, but there’s enough reason for experts (including those at the American Cancer Society) to be somewhat concerned.

“It’s not the strongest evidence, but it’s worth mentioning,” says Malik. “If you’re at high risk of prostate cancer—maybe you have a family history or your PSA (prostate specific antigen, which can be measured via a blood test) is elevated—you might consider decreasing dairy.”

5. You just don’t want to eat dairy.

For most healthy adults, the best reason to eat dairy is that you like it. If you’re vegan and don’t wish to consume anything that involves animals, or if you’re concerned about the toll that dairy farming takes on the environment, those are perfectly valid reasons to cut milk from your diet, says Malik.

Yes, you might struggle to get certain nutrients, like calcium, but there are other ways to meet your needs. Tofu, some beans, and certain leafy greens also contain calcium. When in doubt, consult a registered dietician.

Do You Need Milk? (And Key Takeaways)

The best advice you’ll find on milk, based on the current research, comes from Marion Nestle, Ph.D., a retired professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University. 

• Milk is a good source of calcium, vitamin D, protein, and potassium. These nutrients are crucial for good health (including bone health). But you can also get them from other sources too.
• If you need a baseline and want milk, consider a goal of one serving a day.
• If milk makes you feel sick, even if you’re not lactose intolerant, feel free to scale back or skip it entirely. You can get the nutrients found in dairy from other foods, or talk to your doctor about taking a supplement.
• Some research has linked high dairy consumption with an increased risk of prostate cancer. If your risk for this disease is already elevated, you may want to limit or cut out dairy.

READ MORE: 

What is the Keto Diet? (And Should I Try It?)

Is Sugar Bad for You?

Fix Your Diet: Understanding Proteins, Carbs and Fats

The post Milk Isn’t Bad For You (But 6 Types of People May Want to Avoid It) appeared first on Born Fitness.

I’ll never forget the words from my immunologist. It was the same speculation I heard a week earlier from my oncologist, right after a relieving conversation where she shared that I didn’t have cancer. If I’m being open, this was the third time I’d heard about my overachieving immune system, as the words echoed what my rheumatologist had suspected, as well. 

Now, before you think this is about some rare disease or a catchy headline, I’m sharing my story because it’s an important lesson for you and how you can protect your health. In the face of coronavirus concerns and immune system hype, I’ve watched helplessly as supplement manufacturers have blatantly lied about the realities of “boosting” your immunity.

For more than 20 years, I’ve suffered from inexplicably high fevers without any answers. My fevers would last for more than 60 days and run upwards of 104 degrees, forcing me into delirium, causing me to lose upwards of 30 pounds, and leaving me a shell of a human. 

Of all the things I expected to find out —  cancer, infectious disease, the plague (that’s what I called my mysterious illness) — a “boosted immune system” was the last thing on my mind. But, this became my reality once I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder.

If you want to really understand what you can do to work with the natural functions of your body, it’s important to know that a “boosted” immune system is not what you think and not what you want. Instead, it’s time to rethink sickness and disease — and follow these science-backed recommendations to help you stay as healthy as possible.

How Your Immune System Really Works

It didn’t take the outbreak of coronavirus to make you worry about your immune system. The multivitamin industry is a multi-billion dollar business. From Vitamin C gummies to antioxidant drinks and zinc lozenges, there’s no shortage of options that promise to protect your immune response.

The only problem is, like most supplements, there’s a lot more smoke (read: marketing) than substance. 

With a few exceptions, most vitamins and minerals won’t do anything for your immune system unless you are severely malnourished and deficient. And, we’re not talking about missing your daily fruits and vegetables. We’re talking about you living in a perpetual state of sickness.

The idea that you can pop a pill, drink a fizzy potion, chug kombucha, super-charge with billions and billions of probiotics, mainline IV cocktails, or do anything else to “boost” your immune system is…well…how can I put this clearly…

It’s bullshit.  

This is not doom and gloom or a haters anthem. Just the opposite. There are a few impactful things you can do (without spending money) to protect your immune system. But, there just happen to be many (many) more potentially useless options that don’t. 

A quick disclaimer: if you take multivitamins, Greens drinks, or other supplements for a variety of other reasons — or just to fill the gaps in your diet — there’s no need to stop if it works for you. This is just about what you can really do to help support your immune system.

Here are 8 truths that will change the way you think of your body, save you money, and  — most importantly — make it easier to course-correct and take care of yourself both before and after you get sick. 

Immune System 101

Your immune system might be the most impressive design of the human body. You have two different components that protect you from disease — the innate and the adaptive. 

Your body has a first line of defense, like your skin and mucous membranes. Once a disease passes through, that’s when your innate immune response kicks in. These the proteins and cells that fight against any disease or infection by increasing inflammation (yes, inflammation can be a good thing — more on this later) to create a protective barrier aimed at preventing the spread of any infection that has penetrated your body.

The easiest way to think about this is imagining the behind-the-scenes magic your body works after you get a cut anywhere on your body and you need to heal with simultaneously preventing the creation or spread infection.

On the other hand, the adaptive immune response is what you probably think about as your immune system. This how your body responds when you get sick and your body quickly works to recognize the disease, create antibodies or immune cells, and defeat the infection, bacteria, or virus. 

This function (and limitations) of your adaptive immune system is both what makes coronavirus so dangerous — and what makes your immune system so fascinating. 

If your body has no way of recognizing a disease (this is what makes a virus novel), then you’re going to get sick. But, assuming your body can overcome the disease and create immune cells to overcome the infection, your newfound immunity (the cells) stays in your body forever.

It’s why many doctors believe that it might be impossible for you to suffer from the exact infection twice. Once it’s learned, you’re protected. That’s also why you shouldn’t worry about being inside weakening your immunity. It’s not how your body works. 

It’s the same mechanism that allows vaccines to be effective. The disabled version of the bug is introduced into your body, you “learn it” and creates the methods to defeat it, and then you can use this newfound defensive mechanism to keep you safe. 

Therein lies the most important part of your adaptive immune system. You have to adapt to the disease, and to do so you must come in contact with it.

But, you can’t improve your immune system’s database without fighting infections first.

An Immune “Boost” Is Not Good For You

Your immune system can’t be easily manipulated. Anyone that tells you they can “boost” one part of your immune system is lying. Not to mention, doing so could be a massive mistake. 

Think about the story of my autoimmune disease. As my doctor’s made painfully clear, I have a “boosted” immune system. When I get sick, my body responds by triggering high fevers. This is a natural reaction.

Despite what you might think, a fever is a good thing. It’s your body’s way of fighting disease by heating up your internal system, making the illness uncomfortable and vulnerable so you can kill it off.

But, my reaction is broken. It’s a supercharged response that means my body heats up even hotter — and there’s no off-switch. So, I stay hot — long after the original bug has been killed, and my entire body suffers as a result. This, in a nutshell, is what happens with all autoimmune conditions (but not all result in symptoms like fevers).

Now, apply that same concept to your own body. When you think about boosting your immune system, you probably imagine being healthier, feeling stronger, and recovering faster.

But, when your immune system is actually boosted and working — much like my fevers — the “effectiveness” would result in you being miserable. 

Think about when you’re sick. The aches and fevers and even the snot (yeah, I just wrote snot) are not the symptoms of sickness; they are all a byproduct of your innate immune system at work.

The same goes for allergies. The itchy eyes and burning throat are your immune system reacting, learning, and fighting.

So, if you truly boost your immune system, you would intensify those uncomfortable symptoms. 

Safe to say, unless your body is in fight-mode, you don’t want an overactive (AKA “boosted”) immune system because that’s what causes autoimmune disorders, a disease to which there is no cure.

Instead, you want a healthy, functioning immune system that knows when to fight infection when it’s needed, can relax when it’s not, and is able to maintain a strong barrier against disease. To make this your reality, stop looking for boosts and start focusing on the things take make it harder for your body to function normally.

Stress Is The Original Immune System Killer

If you really want to help your immune system, start by looking at your stress levels. Whether you feel it or not, stress disarms your immune system and prevents it from working at its normal levels. 

As far back as the 1980s, breakthroughs in the stress-immune system relationship occurred in research that focused on students and how their immune systems were suppressed leading up to exams. The research found that your T-cells (the fighters that protect you against everything from viruses to life-threatening diseases like cancer) decrease in the face of stress. 

There was also fascinating research at Carnegie Mellon, which found that people who had less stress in their lives were better able to fight off the common cold when exposed to the virus. Similar responses immunosuppression was mimicked in other stressful situations, including studies that show people in difficult relationships heal slower if they suffer cuts or other wounds. 

So what’s happening? A great immune system is one that isn’t being dragged down by life (as opposed to “boosted” by pills). Better health starts with seeing big-picture immune sabotage, and (thankfully) they are all easy concepts to understand

Your immune system has an army of cells that keep you happy (T and B cells are your main immune fighting cells). And those cells produce an immune response that produces cytokines (friendly protein cells that help your body) and antibodies that destroy foreign pathogens. 

Unfortunately, stressors shut down your natural immune response, which means your fighter cells can’t function as they normally do to keep you healthy. 

If you need to destress, 10-15 minutes of meditation is a great place to start. If you’re new to it, try. an app like Stop, Breathe & Think, Calm, or Headspace.

Not feeling your inner zen? Here are two additional options with science on their side.

Stress-relief option 1: Take 2 deep breaths when you feel your heart racing, or before you answer a call or have a meeting. According to the Program on Integrative Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, the deep breath will make you sound more confident and reset your heart rate to reduce stress.

Stress-relief option 2: Grab coffee with your friends. Researchers at the University of Bristol in England discovered that when stressed-out men consumed caffeine by themselves, they remained nervous and jittery. But, when they caffeine-loaded as part of a group, their feelings of stress subsided.

Count The Hours You Sleep — Or Else

Sleep deprivation is the other part of the 1-2 combo that can knock out your immune system. If stress stresses out your immune system, then sleep deprivation exhausts your body into making mistakes that leave you vulnerable. 

A lack of sleep can prevent your immune cells from making their way to your lymph nodes (where they help you fight disease) or confuse your body and make it harder for them to create the right antibodies to fight back against infection.

How bad can it be? One study showed that regularly sleeping only 6 hours per night makes you four times more likely to catch a cold compared to sleeping 7 hours per night. And the risk gets even worse if you sleep fewer than 5 hours per night.

If you need help improving your sleep, here are a few simple guidelines that can make it easier to fall (and stay) asleep.

• Go to bed around the same time every night
• Time your sleep in 1.5-hour increments. This is a full cycle, so it will help ensure you don’t wake up in REM sleep, which could leave you groggy and tired.
• Sleep in a colder room than your preferred “room temperature.” Some research suggests between 60-70 degrees.
• If possible, exercise earlier in the day.
• Don’t consume alcohol before you sleep. (Yes, we realize this might be tough sometimes.)
• Limit screen time about 1-hour before you sleep.
• Clear your mind. Either watch a comedy, do a puzzle, or journal right before you sleep. This will trigger a part of your brain that will help “calm” your thoughts so it’s easier for you to fall asleep.

Movement Might Be The Best Medicine

If you go back in time just 10 years ago, many people believed that exercise actually weakens your immune system. Turns out, nothing could be farther from the truth. 

Whether you lift weights, run, cycle, or walk — any type of exercise, especially when combined with more sleep and less stress — is a key part of keeping your immune system functioning well.

Exercise works in many ways to make sure your immune defensive systems can act quickly and effectively, and it can even help offset stress or sleep difficulties. (This all assumes that you’re allowing for proper recovery.)

Recent research found that regular exercise:

• Helps the overall health of your immune system
• Decreases your risk of illness
• Helps mediate the correct inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses
• Delays the onset of age-related immune decline

Even better, a review of studies found that movement truly is medicine. From the study conclusion:

Contemporary evidence from epidemiological studies shows that leading a physically active lifestyle reduces the incidence of communicable (e.g., bacterial and viral infections) and non-communicable diseases (e.g., cancer), implying that immune competency is enhanced by regular exercise bouts.

When you exercise, your body recognizes stress. Even though it’s good stress, it’s still a strain on your body, so you produce neutrophils and lymphocytes (the T-cell and natural killer cells we mentioned earlier), which flow throughout your body to keep you strong, fight off invaders, and help create antibodies when necessary.

In other words, exercise helps spark more activity in these cells for about 3-4 hours, which means your body is both more likely to find and disable potentially harmful germs and diseases.

As an added bonus, the cells perform “immune surveillance” and patrol your body searching for infection.  

It’s likely the reason why people who exercise regularly (at least 5 times per week) miss nearly 50% fewer days from sickness than those who don’t. 

What’s more, exercise has been shown to help decrease stress and improve sleep. In other words, exercise might be the first domino to keeping you healthy because it’s insurance for the other two vulnerabilities (stress and sleep) that weaken your normal immune system function.

Here are bodyweight workouts that can help you get in your movement in any situation or location.

Protein Protects (Much More Than Muscle)

We’ve mentioned how protein plays a role to help keep your body safe. You might think of protein as the key ingredient in muscle building (it is), but — when you look at the bigger picture — protein plays a vital role in every cell in your body. This includes your immune system and helping create the cells that help fight disease.

Proteins are a key component of the very antibodies developed by your immune systems designed to keep you safe. Eating protein ensures that your body has enough of the raw materials needed to allow your immune system to respond to bacteria and viruses in your body.

Proteins (cytokines, in particular) also help ensure that your immune system doesn’t go overboard and start working too hard. It’s all part of a system designed to give your body what it needs and prevent it from targeting your healthy cells. 

High-quality complete protein options include:

• Dairy products, such as milk, cheese/cottage cheese, and yogurt
• Whey protein
• Eggs
• Seafood and fish
• Beef
• Chicken
• Bison
• Pork
• Pea Protein
• Soybeans
• Blended meals (beans and rice)
• Vegan protein powders with multiple protein sources

If You Supplement, Focus on Vitamin D

While no one supplement can even come close to providing the benefits of good sleep, less stress, and consistent exercise, there is one vitamin that appears to be more important than others. 

More research is still needed, but a lot of emerging data — especially since the COVID-19 pandemic — has suggested that Vitamin D deficiency is closely linked to immune system vulnerabilities. 

One study found that taking higher levels of vitamin D (in older individuals) led to a 40 percent decrease in respiratory infections over the course of a year. 

This makes sense because Vitamin D is thought to play a vital role in both your innate and adaptive immune response (although scientists are still studying to learn how it all works). And Vitamin D plays an essential part in producing antimicrobial proteins that fight back against sickness, especially in the respiratory tract. 

Plus, unlike many vitamins and minerals which can be produced by your body naturally or are rarely deficient, Vitamin D deficiency might impact more than 1 billion people worldwide. 

To support your body naturally, try to get about 15-20 minutes of sun per day. If that’s not happening, look towards natural food sources such as:

• Fatty fish rich in Omega-3’s, such as salmon or mackerel (or you can use cod liver oil)
• Whole eggs
• Mushrooms
• Milk fortified with Vitamin D

Otherwise, you can use supplements that offer at least 2000-3000 IU of Vitamin D3. (Just be sure to ideally look for products or brands that are NSF Certified for Sport.)

You Booze, You Lose (That’s Your Immune System Speaking)

You won’t hear us telling you to completely avoid alcohol (life happens, and that includes rough days and celebrations). But, if you’re consistently drinking in essence, then your immune system is the one that’s suffering.

If you look at the research (there’s a lot of it), too much alcohol — and binge drinking moments — prevent the normal functioning of your immune system, and it leaves you more susceptible to everything from upper respiratory infections to slower recovery from cuts and muscle injuries.

And, to add insult to injury, it might also alter your gut microbiome in a way that weakens your immune system. 

If you find yourself drinking every day — or drinking too much when you go out, take the old 1-2-3 method to establish more control.

• Step 1: Carve out non-drinking days. This is a commitment and a way to create guardrails and build habits. (If you know you drink every Friday night, don’t start by removing that day. Make it easy to succeed and build from there.)
• Step 2: Remove alcohol from your home. Just like a dieter who struggles with dessert, increasing the difficulty of accessibility makes it easier to drink less.
• Step 3: Track your drinks, so you can hold yourself accountable and be honest about how much you’re drinking and how much you need to cut back.

If you love technology, you can try out the Less Drinks app and see if that helps.

The Bottom Line: How to Protect Your Immune System

Remember, no matter how well your immune system functions, if you come in contact with a novel pathogen or virus, you still might get sick. In situations like battling COVID-19, your best line of defense is being smart about your social contact, avoiding touching your face, and washing your hands frequently. 

And, while you can’t prevent yourself from getting sick or boost certain aspects of your immune system, you can be sure to do the little things that won’t weaken your immune system or leave you unnecessarily vulnerable. 

If you need help creating a plan designed for your lifestyle, check out our online coaching program. Simply fill out an application, and you’ll be assigned 2 coaches who will assess your exact needs, create habits that are easy to master, and build a customized plan that will upgrade your fitness and nutrition.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Why Boosting Your Immune System Makes You Feel Sicker appeared first on Born Fitness.

In 1955, while on vacation in Colorado, Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack. “Suddenly people were frantic to understand the cause of heart disease,” says Jonny Bowden, Ph.D. and author of Smart Fat. In the years that followed, fat—and specifically saturated fat—took the blame.

If you’ve spent most of your life avoiding saturated fat, this moment is a big reason why. The day after Eisenhower’s heart attack, the president’s physician recommended the nation cut down on fat and cholesterol, citing the work of a nutritionist named Ancel Keys.

How Saturated Fat Became a Villain

Later that decade, Keys published research connecting countries that consumed the most fat with higher rates of heart disease. His “Seven Countries Study” wielded great influence on how Americans eat.

In 1977, a Senate select committee cited Keys’ research while making sweeping recommendations to the American people, stating you should consume less red meat — and by extension, less saturated fat — to avoid heart disease.

That message hardened into national policy when the government issued the 1980 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which advised people to trim the fat from their steaks and avoid saturated-fat foods like butter, cream and coconut oil.

Why Saturated Fat Made a Comeback

Today Keys’s research is under fire. An analysis by researchers at Harvard looked at 21 studies and found no link between saturated fat and heart disease (or stroke).

In 2014 an analysis of 76 observational studies and randomized controlled trials from the University of Cambridge concluded, “saturated fatty acids were not associated with coronary disease.” (The study also noted that some saturated fatty acids, notably the margaric acid found in dairy foods, was actually associated with a lower risk of heart disease.)

Finally, a couple years later, a third meta analysis published in the British Medical Journal reached a similar conclusion. After looking at more than 62,000 people in 10 randomized trials, researchers found that while reducing saturated fat helped to lower cholesterol levels, the effect didn’t translate to a lower risk of death. And death is what matters in this debate, ultimately.

Saturated Fat Isn’t Evil. But Does That Mean It’s Healthy?

The seeming turn of the tide within the scientific literature has led to an even bigger shift in public perception. Today you’re hearing loud messages from popular health pundits proclaiming that saturated fat is actually a long lost health food. Some even say you should get more of it by drinking butter in your coffee.

Wait. What?

Now’s a good time to call a timeout and look at what’s really going on in this debate. Because both sides have gotten a little carried away.

Let’s start with the first side of the pendulum swing, starting all the way back with Eisenhower’s heart attack. It was a gross oversimplification to place all the blame for that heart attack — and eventually, heart attacks in general — on saturated fat.

First, let’s look at Eisenhower. The man was president at time, and a five-star general before that — both stressful jobs, to say the least. Ike was also known to have a temper, and at one point smoked four packs a day. It’s fair to say there were confounding lifestyle issues.

Second, saturated fat isn’t necessarily something most people eat in excess. The USDA and World Health Organization recommend you cap your saturated fat consumption at 10 percent of your daily calories. A 2007 analysis by researchers at Rutgers University showed saturated fat makes up about 11 percent of the average American diet. The top sources of saturated fat being full-fat cheese (8.5 percent), pizza (5.9 percent), and cakes and pastries (5.8 percent).

It’s also true, as Sat-Fat supporters love to point out, that Ancel Keys’s research showed correlation, not causation. “The lowest evidence,” as Bowden described it. Modern day reviews have not been kind to the study’s findings.

“The most recent evidence, which reviews all the evidence from the past decade, shows that when you feed people more saturated fat, that doesn’t increase their chance for heart disease,” says Kamal Patel, director of the nutrition research website Examine.com.

But Patel quickly adds, “That still doesn’t mean that saturated fat is good for you.”

The Connection Between Saturated Fat and Cholesterol

There’s a lot we don’t yet know for certain about saturated fat’s effects on the body. But here’s one thing we do know:

Saturated fat does increase LDL (i.e. “bad”) cholesterol.

This has been proven many times.

Elevated LDL doesn’t guarantee you’ll have a heart attack — a possible explanation for the researchers’ null association between saturated and heart disease. It’s just one risk factor among many. But the general consensus is that, if your goal is to live longer, keeping your LDL low should still be part of the plan.

“If you have two people who are exactly the same except that LDL is high in one person and low in the other, the person with high LDL will still be at a higher risk [for heart disease],” says Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, a physician and osteopath based in San Diego.

So modern evidence shows that, at the very least, the once dogmatic fear of saturated fat is overblown. But Nadolsky and others caution that this doesn’t necessarily mean you should actively seek more saturated fat within your diet.

“Look at the Blue Zones,” says Nadolsky, referring to areas of the world where people live the longest. “Their cholesterols are low. They’re not putting butter in their coffee, but at the same time, they’re not entirely avoiding saturated fat.” In fact, they consume lots of dairy, mostly in the form of yogurt and cheese (albeit from sheep and goats, rather than cows).

“I’m not anti-saturated fat,” adds Nadolsky. “The problem is when people say, ‘Look! Saturated fat’s not bad for you now!’ Then you get people putting butter in their coffee. And what I’m seeing, and other doctors are seeing this as well, is that people [who do dramatically increase their saturated fat intake] are having explosive changes in their cholesterol.”

Saturated Fat and Your Diet: Here’s What to Do Now

You may not need to make any changes at all.

Your body doesn’t actually need saturated fat. “There are only two essential fatty acids,” says Patel. Those are alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3) and linoleic acid (an omega-6)—both of which are unsaturated.

While some people thrive on diets high in saturated fat, your body might not.

For some people—it’s unclear what percentage of the population—small amounts of saturated fat lead to big changes in cholesterol levels.

“We call them hyper-responders,” Nadolsky says. Some day there may be a reliable genetic test that will show who these people are, but it doesn’t exist yet. It’s safe to say that if heart attacks are part of your family health history, you’d be smart to keep your saturated fat intake within the existing 10 percent recommendation.

“If you have people in your family who had heart disease, despite having normal cholesterol, then you should probably do everything you can to decrease your risk,” Patel says.

But if you’re still interested in adding more saturated fat to your diet, there is a relatively easy way to monitor how your body reacts to it. Schedule two cholesterol tests spaced one month apart. Take the first test while eating your current diet. Then make the dietary changes you wanted and take the second test. This is the approach Nadolsky uses to assess his clients.

“You can tell pretty quickly if you’re going to have big changes to your LDL cholesterol,” he says.

Another test, which some experts say is more accurate and should replace the standard cholesterol test, examines your blood’s concentration of apolipoprotein B, or the cholesterol-carrying protein that embed themselves within arterial walls. The apoB test, as it’s called, looks specifically at the particles of greatest threat.

“When we check cholesterol [through a standard test], we’re just measuring the cholesterol on that low-density lipoprotein,” says Nadolsky. “But what really gets stuck in the wall is the lipoprotein, and that actually correlates better with risk.”

The Healthier Way to Eat More Saturated Fat

If bloodwork sounds too intense for you, then consider a simpler and safer way to add more fat to your diet: Skip the butter and eat nuts, avocado, and olive oil (all proven healthy fats) instead.

“The safest fat to eat is monounsaturated [fats, which are found in nuts, avocados, olive oil and fish],” says Patel. “They always have a benign or positive effect on lipids, and on the end result for heart disease and heart attack.”

Another saturated fat source that’s become popular in recent years is medium-chain triglycerides in the form of MCT oil, which is one of the saturated fat additives people have begun adding to their coffee in recent years.

“MCTs don’t have to go through the liver, so they’re available for your body to use more quickly,” says Patel. That can be useful during extremely low-carb diets, when you need energy. But Nadolsky adds, “I wouldn’t have anybody replace their olive oil or nuts with MCT oil. I don’t want to replace the fat that we know is beneficial with fat that may be of some little benefit for fat loss.”

The bottom line is that saturated fat is a nutrient, not something that your entire diet should revolve around. The body of evidence, taken as a whole, indicates that saturated fat is neutral. You should neither go out of your way to eat more of it, nor concern yourself with avoiding it.

“You shouldn’t be scared of saturated fat,” says Nadolsky. “But you’d be better off focusing on your overall diet.”

READ MORE: 

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The post Is Saturated Fat Bad? No. But It’s Not a Health Food Either. appeared first on Born Fitness.

If you are wondering, “do I need probiotics?” Consider this: Probiotics — the healthy bacteria highlighted on most yogurt products — are being added to everything from popcorn to muffin mixes.

According to a report by Grand View Research, the market for probiotics supplements is expected to reach $7 billion in the next 7 years.

Here’s the thing: That business is built on a little bit of science…and a lot of fiction.

“There are many products labeled with the word ‘probiotic’ in the U.S., but not all are responsibly formatted or studied for health benefits,” says Mary Ellen Sanders, Ph.D., executive science officer of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics.

The science is that probiotics are good for you  — but only if you have a condition that requires their use.

That’s not something you’ll want to hear if your pantry and fridge are filled with probiotic-infused foods.  

“The benefits of probiotics in foods — especially foods that aren’t fermented dairy products — is questionable, at best,” says Shira Doron, M.D., professor of medicine and attending physician in infectious diseases at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Unfortunately, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to food, many probiotic supplements fail to live up to the promise on their label.

Unless you have a specific condition that’s been shown to benefit from probiotics, you likely don’t need them.

“There is no evidence that it is essential to take probiotics to be healthy,” Sanders adds.

Her next point may be even more important:

“You don’t need probiotics if you are healthy,” Sanders says.

The Hype (and Mythology) of Probiotics

Probiotics are live microorganisms that feed the healthy bacteria in your gut. Most people treat probiotics the same way they would a multivitamin.

In theory, the benefit of a multivitamin is that it helps make up for deficiencies from your diet. So, if you have a good multivitamin (that’s an entirely different story), and if you don’t have a great diet, then it might offer you some benefits.

Here’s the thing:

Probiotics do not function like multivitamins.

Whereas multivitamins can have a benefit for anyone because it helps support deficiencies, probiotics are really designed to help treat, improve, or solve dysfunction.

You need probiotics if your microbiome (i.e. your gut health) is messed up. This means that taking probiotics can be very helpful if you suffer from a condition such as irritable bowel disease.

But if not, then your use of probiotics might not be doing as much good as you hoped.

The Probiotic-Gut Relationship: It’s Complicated

You might be wondering:

How does a billion dollar business get built on something as shaky as “maybe this will be good for you?”

It all starts with the extremely complex nature of your gut.

It’s so complicated that science needs much more time to figure it out. “The human microbiome may have as many as 200 trillion microorganisms and up to a thousand species,” Doron says.

That’s a lot of biological ground to cover, which is why probiotics are still a field that scientists are trying to understand.

“There are a variety of things we think happen, but we don’t know how that all works,” Doron says.

Three reasons why what you see on probiotic labels isn’t necessarily reflective of what it will do for your body:

• Different probiotics may work differently (and again, there hundreds of different types)
• Each probiotic may have more than one effect
• Not everyone responds the same way to a specific strain

Researchers are currently trying to figure out potential benefits that have shown hypothetical promise.

One theory is that when probiotics reach your gut, they digest available carbs and produce short-chain fatty acids. Those acids then fuel other beneficial microbes in your gut, in turn, producing more fatty acids.

Why should you care?

Because short-chain fatty acids are known to create a healthy microbiome, and they improve colon health.

Another theory is that when some probiotics reach your small intestine, they interact with the immune cells lining your organs. This may lead to a positive immune system response, such as a decreased incidence of respiratory tract infections or improved response to vaccines.

Sanders says some studies suggest that probiotics improve gut barrier integrity, which is why you’ll hear probiotics recommended for some digestive issues.

But, at this point, all of this is hypothetical. Probiotics might be amazing, but — in healthy people — we don’t know if they have extended benefits.

So…What Do Probiotics Really Do?

Probiotics help people with specific conditions where gut dysfunction is a problem. Consider it one of nature’s best medicines if you suffer from:

• irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease
• diarrhea and constipation associated with those conditions, or from taking antibiotics
• liver disease

Additionally, some research suggests taking specific probiotics may support immune health and potentially reduce the risk or duration of the common cold.

But, any benefit is specific to the strain of probiotic, and even the transport of the good strains is still a work in progress. That’s because we still don’t know if good strains that we can create in a supplement — or a food like yogurt — can survive the environment in your stomach and then have a positive impact in your gut.

“Any probiotic, even a combination product, is just a tiny drop in the bucket,” Doron explains. “In our group’s research, we saw that when subjects took a probiotic containing lactobacillus, we couldn’t even detect a change in lactobacillus abundance” within their gut.

What If I’m Healthy? Will Taking a Probiotic Help Me?

Always consult your doctor if you have an immune disorder or any serious underlying illness before taking a probiotic.

If you are generally healthy then there aren’t too many downsides. If you take a supplement, give it a month, trust yourself, and see how your body responds. It’s possible that you’ll feel better — but know that studies indicate the positive outcomes you experience could be a placebo effect.

“That’s worthwhile if you feel better, but it’s also expensive,” Doron says.

If you are healthy, curious, and OK with spending the extra money, feel free to try a supplement. As we mentioned, it could have benefits for immunity and creating more short-chain fatty acids to help your gut. But only time will tell if this is the case for people with no health problems.

If I have a health condition, what should I do?

First off, skip the fortified foods. And skip microbiome tests that will allegedly help you understand what probiotics you need to eat.

“At this point, an individual cannot look at their microbiota and come to conclusions about their health, Doron says. “There are still more questions than answers.”

Your best bet is to consult a doctor who understands your condition and is also well-versed in probiotics. Doron suggests researching academic medical centers and looking at the profiles of physicians in the field you need.

“Check [for doctors whose] interests include subjects like ‘probiotics’ and ‘microbiome,’” Doron says. “The field is still young, and even for the world’s experts, there are way more questions than answers when it comes to manipulating the human microbiome for health purposes. But there are certainly doctors in a variety of fields who take an interest in this area of research or do research themselves and use the knowledge they have gained in their medical practice.”

Remember, you’re trying to fix a dysfunction, which is the real health benefit of probiotics.

Follow your doctor’s recommendation down to the strain and dose. The strain will be a long name and often include a number, such as L. acidophilus NCFB 1748.

The “dose” is the big number on the label, such as 10 billion, which indicates the colony-forming units, or CFU. Higher isn’t necessarily better, so follow your doctor’s advice.

Avoid any products that list the CFU “at time of manufacture.”

“That’s a red flag,” Sanders says. Counts of the live microbes decrease over time, so you want to know the CFU through the end of shelf life.

The front of the box will typically say the total CFU count; the side label may list the CFU for each strain. Look for whichever your doctor recommends. And if the product is refrigerated at the store, keep it in the fridge at home to ensure you don’t kill off more CFU.

The last thing to look for is any seal from a third-party verification program to be sure that what the probiotic contains what the label says it does.

At this time the ISAPP is working with the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) on a verification program, USP labels (ordinarily a good sign of quality) are not yet available. You may, however, find NSF International, which is legitimate. But note that statements like “quality guaranteed” do not mean they have been verified by third parties.

READ MORE: 

Understanding the Microbiome: How Gut Health Affects Your Health, Weight Loss and Mood

Wheat Belly Deception: Understanding Wheat, Insulin and Fat Loss

Are Multivitamins Right for Your Body?

The post Should You Take Probiotics? Science Says it Might Be a Waste appeared first on Born Fitness.

Take one small example: do you find that you’re constantly craving sweets or not satisfied after you eat? It could be the doing of your microbiome — the army of microorganisms living inside of your digestive tract. These microscopic bugs fight to control your thoughts from a “second brain” located in your gut. And we’re not talking about urges caused by feeling hangry.

Diving into the (still young) research and you start to see interesting patterns, such as:

• Your skin health and the creation of acne can be influenced by your microbiome (bad gut bacteria promote inflammation that can lead to red spots).
• Your microbiome can impact your rational decision-making.
• Feelings of anxiety or depression might be controlled or activated by your microbiome.
• Early research shows that digestive bacteria and your microbiome can influence which foods you like (and which you don’t).

How is all of this possible? There are 10 times more bacteria living in your digestive tract than there are cells in your entire body.

There are 10 times more bacteria living within your digestive tract than there are cells in your entire body.

As a result, your body makes alliances and enjoys a symbiotic (that’s science-talk for “win-win”) relationship with the majority of the organisms within your microbiome. Gut bacteria aid in digestion and even produce an important nutrient, Vitamin K2 (think cardiovascular and bone health).

But not all of those bugs are so eager to be friends. There is such a thing as “bad” gut bacteria too. Even the “good” ones can turn on you and become harmful when things like the use of antibiotics, illness, stress, bad dietary habits, or other lifestyle factors shake up your digestive ecosystem. (Yup, basically living life is all it takes.) That’s when things can get rough, and why one of the biggest areas of research is trying to understand the relationship between your microbiome and medical issues such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), obesity, and maybe even cancer.

So how do you make sense of all the microbiome buzz? We know it’s important, but there’s a lot of misinformation swirling around and far too many claims that we can’t yet support (time will tell because we need more research). While “solutions” like probiotics may be helpful for some — and are definitely good, in general — there are many other accessible (and less expensive) things you can do to keep your microbiome healthy.

Microbiome 101: Simplifying the Science

We’ll be honest, anything about gut health can become a little too confusing, so it’s best to think in big picture terms: what it is, why it matters, and what you can do about it.

Your microbiome is the collection of all the microbes and microorganisms that populate your body.

There are unique groups of microorganisms living in many different regions of your body—your skin, mouth and digestive system, to name a few. Your gut microbiome (the “microbiota”) is home to millions of unique bacteria. Experts believe that having a wide spectrum of different bacteria in your GI tract is beneficial to your health (researchers are now trying to understand exactly what role they play in everything from your immune function, to macronutrient metabolism and absorption, and even your mood).

Diversity is a good thing. And research suggests that having less diverse gut bacteria might be linked to health issues like irritable bowel disease, cancer and obesity. While many questions about how and why still exist, there’s enough of a relationship that scientists are trying to figure out how you can best take care of your gut bacteria.

A Healthier Microbiome: Probiotics and Prebiotics

Probiotics are helpful bacteria in your gut. Think of them as adding backup troops when your frontline is a little weak. Probiotics can be found in fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut, and in drinks like kefir and kombucha. The beneficial bacteria from probiotics provide numerous health benefits including enhanced immune function, better digestion, a barrier against microbial infections, and much more.

Prebiotics, meanwhile, are foods that feed the microbes that are already in your body. And there’s been a growing awareness that they are also important because they affect the bacteria in your digestive system in such a way that it might improve your well-being and health. Basically, you help the bugs (by feeding them), and the bugs help you (by protecting you from bad bugs, keeping inflammation down, and so on).

Exactly why this happens isn’t fully understood, but prebiotics are carbohydrates that resist digestion in your small intestine. They reach your colon intact, where they wind up getting fermented by the bacteria there. That can shift gut flora in a positive way.

Some common foods that have prebiotic effects include bananas, whole grain wheat, garlic, leeks, and onions.

How the Microbiome Affects You

Remember how we referred to a “second brain?” That’s where the microbiome becomes more and more interesting for your overall health goals. The gut-brain axis is a two-way line of communication within your body between your brain and gut (at least they made the name easy to remember).

Each one can affect the other — for better or for worse. When your gut bacteria is out of whack, the signals that get relayed back up to your brain might cause or worsen anxiety or mood disorders, including depression. And stress—you know, what you feel when you’ve got looming deadlines or worries about paying the bills—can impact your gut microbiota negatively, and shift it in a less-than-favorable direction

Gut Dysbiosis describes what happens when you have an imbalance of gut bacteria favoring the more pathogenic (potentially harmful) microorganisms. This sort of imbalance is associated with a number of different problems including digestive disorders such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Those can manifest in many different ways, from consistent abdominal pain or diarrhea, fatigue or weight loss. Some skin problems like rosacea can potentially be linked to gut health issues. These types of medical issues will be much easier to notice, so don’t freak out or believe people that want to sell you expensive supplements or cleanses. As always, if you are worried about a medical condition, see a doctor and have the problem diagnosed.

While current research is still developing and learning about the many roles that gut bacteria play in our body, here are some of the things that we do know — and what you can do about it.

How Your Body Processes Calories and Nutrients: There’s growing evidence that shows your gut bacteria impact what you’re able to extract from your food, both in terms of the total number of calories absorbed and the nutrients you take in—and even in determining how much food you want to eat.

There are a number of complex mechanisms that make this possible, so here’s one example of how your microbiome affects energy balance: Gut bacteria break down previously undigested carbohydrates called polysaccharides into smaller bits known as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). When your body’s fat cells sense an increase in SCFAs, they release a hormone called leptin, which essentially sends a signal to the brain that says “We’re full, thanks. You can lay off the nachos.” This is a good thing. But, if you’re not releasing enough SCFA because of a break in your microbiome, then the opposite can happen and you never feel full.

This is part of the reason why some researchers believe there’s a strong link between the condition of the gut and obesity. There’s even some research showing that obese and non-obese people have differing levels of bacteria. (It’s worth noting, however, that no one is suggesting that your microbiome is the only factor causing obesity. Diet and exercise matter, and, certainly, also impact that healthy — and unhealthy — bacteria in your body.)

What Foods You Want to Eat: While most people chalk up their cravings to willpower (this is something that’s repeatedly proven to be incorrect), many researchers now believe that your gut bacteria might be manipulating you “like microscopic puppetmasters” to get what they want.

There is an internal battle in your microbiome where different bacteria in your digestive system are constantly competing for resources (food). Here’s where it gets crazy: these bacteria can create food cravings or generate feelings of dissatisfaction (mood) that can be alleviated by consuming the foods that benefit them. And it can work for good or bad. Your body might be telling you to eat more protein (yay!) or it could be pushing you for endless amounts of sugar (aw shit!). There are four main mechanisms that play a role in this ongoing battle:

1. Microbes (just a fancy name for the bacteria in your stomach) could alter your taste receptors, making certain foods taste better. (And no, they aren’t working to make you like broccoli. Bad-news bugs thrive on bad-news fuel sources like those high in sugar.)
2. Microbes could release toxins that can affect mood negatively, which can make you want to eat.
3. Microbes could influence whether or not you find certain foods rewarding. (That happens by influencing an important part of the endocrine system known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.)
4. Microbes could “hijack” the vagus nerve, which is a major signaling pathway within the body.

Your Immune System: Your gut bacteria can assist your immune system by preventing potentially harmful pathogens from entering into the digestive system. You can think of the good bacteria as bouncers setting up velvet ropes along the walls of your intestines. They won’t let bad bacteria ruin the party. This helps protect the intestines against inflammation and prevents pathogenic bacteria from forming colonies.

What’s “Good” or “Bad” for Your Gut Health?

The colonization and development of your gut bacteria began at your birth and continues to evolve throughout your life. Some of the things that can adversely affect the microbial diversity in your gut include:

Antibiotics. Let’s be clear: We are not advocating against antibiotics. They can be potentially lifesaving drugs that absolutely have a time and a place for use. Antibiotics, however, indiscriminately kill the microbes in your body, which can lead to a disturbance of gut flora that you will need to work to rebalance and improve. The takeaway: Save the antibiotics for when you’re really sick. (But when a doctor says take them, take ‘em.)

Stress. Stress comes in many shapes and forms, but, on a basic level, stress is anything that removes your body from homeostasis or equilibrium. That stress can be psychological (worry, anxiety), physical (sleep deprivation is a physiological stressor that can negatively impact your gut bacteria), to social (feeling like a “loser”). All of them can disrupt the composition, diversity, and number of microorganisms in your digestive tract.

(Too Many) Processed Foods. A high-fat, sugar-rich diet feeds the pathogenic bacteria in your gut. Note that eating some sugar, or processed food here or there, isn’t a problem (We’ve discussed the overblown fear of sugar). It becomes problematic when you eat too much of them, combined with too little fiber — and most Americans get far less than the recommended 25 grams of fiber per day.

Diets that are high in processed foods, and low in fiber, have been shown to wreak havoc on gut microbes in trials in mice. Obviously, mice aren’t human, but similar results have occurred regularly enough that Dr. Justin Sonnenburg, an associate professor of microbiology at Stanford University, says simply: “It’s now evident that everybody should be eating more dietary fiber.”

Can You Test Your Microbiome?

Where there is a health problem, you can usually find a business offering a solution. This is not necessarily a bad thing (we all need cures to problems), but sometimes business interests come before practical applications. In other words: people are happy to sell you something based on theory and not on proof.

There are many new tests that claim to give you insight into your microbiome (most involve you sending your poop to a lab, so don’t be surprised when that’s the request). The problem: you will provide science with more (much needed) data…but it won’t really help you get more answers.

As discussed in a recent New York Times article (that we highly recommend), here are a few important takeaways about the big limitations of personalized microbiome testing:

• “It’s not ready for prime time.” (referring to personalized microbiome testing) -Dr. Rashmi Sinha, a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute 
• “You’ll get an enormous amount of data that is basically uninterpretable,” -Dr. Martin J. Blaser, director of the Human Microbiome Program at New York University, though he added, “there are people who will be very happy to take your money and tell you they can interpret it.”
• “What you can do with the information at the moment is limited. It’s very much a science project, not a diagnostic test.” – Dr. Rob Knight, director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation at the University of California, San Diego

Translation: we know the microbiome is important, but interpreting your microbiome, knowing what will or won’t have and impact, and how those changes will help your health is all still being investigated.

While that doesn’t help you figure out if you have a healthy (or unhealthy microbiome), it’s good to know that if you spend your money on any “microbiome services” it’s not likely your best use of money. The value from these tests will come with time and more clarity and understanding. But that doesn’t mean you can’t improve your microbiome.

How You Can Improve Your Gut Health

The good news is many basic practices that are good for your body are also good for your gut health. While you can’t assess those changes directly, there’s enough evidence to suggest that the recommendations below are good general practices for a healthy microbiome.

• Eat more fiber. We’re not trying to beat a dead horse, but carbohydrates and fiber are the most important sources of energy for the beneficial bacteria living in your colon. The fermentation of carbs and fiber in your digestive system helps lower its pH and therefore helps limit the bad bacteria. So you’d do well to consume more fiber-rich foods like:
  • Fruits such as raspberries (8 grams of fiber per cup), apples (4.4 grams per medium-sized piece), bananas (3.1 grams), oranges (3.1 grams), and strawberries (3.0 grams per cup)
  • Vegetables such as peas (8.1 grams of fiber per cup), broccoli (5.1 grams). Brussels sprouts (4.4 grams), corn (3.6 grams), or a baked potato (2.9 grams)
  • Grains such as barley (6 grams per cup), oats (4 grams) or brown rice (3.5 grams). Whole-wheat spaghetti has 6.3 grams of fiber.
  • Beans, whether they’re black, kidney, pinto, or you-name-it, are glorious sources of fiber. A cup of any one of them will give you a double-digit dose of fiber.
  • Nuts, especially almonds (3.5 grams per ounce, or about 23 nuts), pistachios (2.9 grams) and pecans (2.7 grams).
• Cook more at home. Research shows that food eaten away from home tends to have less fiber on a per-calorie basis. Pressed for time? This approach to meal prep may help you simplify things and get more done in less time.
• Eat fermented foods that contain probiotic bacteria, such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut or kimchi.
• Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep. Having trouble getting to sleep? Here are some non-obvious solutions you may want to try.
• Try to keep your stress levels in check. (Obviously, easier said than done, but something like meditation or journaling might help.)

READ MORE: 

Wheat Belly Deception: Understanding Wheat, Insulin, and Fat Loss

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating?

The Foods That Fight Inflammation

The post How Gut Health Affects Your Health, Weight Loss, and Mood appeared first on Born Fitness.

Many exercise programs place you — and your body — in positions that leave you vulnerable.

That’s not to say you should never squat with a barbell on your back, perform deadlifts, or do a variety of other exercises.

But, it does mean that recognizing when you are at risk — and how to avoid putting yourself in a position to get hurt — are the first steps of assessing whether a program is right for you. After all, if you can stay healthy and exercise consistently, you will see results.

Before you start another workout, let these tips be your guide to staying healthy, picking the right moves for you, and progressing to the more intimidating when they no longer feel like a challenge.

The Revolving Door of Pain

There are really only two ways you could hurt yourself in the gym. Call them “Whoops!” and “Wearing Down.”

“Whoops!” refers to times when you do something like drop a dumbbell on your foot and break your toes (not that it would ever happen to you). If you dive into the data, you’ll see these events are breathtakingly rare.

Research published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine found that just of 0.2 percent of lifters were admitted to emergency departments—over the span of 18 years. Four times more people wind up in emergency rooms due to bathroom-related injuries every year. Seriously.

You’re far more likely to wind up in AN EMERGENCY ROOM due to a “bathroom-related injury” than you are from lifting. Weightlifting is a tremendously safe activity.

Bottom line: Weightlifting is surprisingly safe, so you don’t need to spend much time worrying about “whoops!” events.

The real danger — the revolving door of injury — is by “wearing down” — and it can oftentimes be prevented.

Wearing Down refers to those times when a move just feels…not quite right. Like when you perform an overhead press and your shoulder says, “stop!” Or when your elbows hurt when you bench. Or when you finish a set of squats or deadlifts and it feels like your lower back got more of a workout than your legs.

These pains can start out subtle and may seem like no big deal, but they can grow into something serious (think: strains, sprains or tendinitis) over time. So it’s important to tune in to these cues. Then you can address them before they become full-blown issues.

“The vast majority of strength-training related injuries are due to overuse or poor technique, and can build up over time into more serious problems,” explains California-based exercise physiologist Pete McCall, M.S., C.S.C.S., C.P.T.

The good news? “Wearing Down” injuries are entirely preventable. Rather than muscling through those times when your body sends you a warning shot, you can identify what they are trying to tell you. Then you can correct the problem.

Or, in some cases, knowing that there are different variations of an exercise can help you avoid pain in the first place. You wouldn’t do algebra before you could add, so why are you doing complex lifts before you master the basics?

Here, McCall and other top strength coaches share the most common causes of weight-room pain for each of the four major movement patterns—squats (or “knee-dominant” moves), hinges (“hip dominant” moves like deadlifts), push exercises, and pull exercises—and explain what’s happening. Follow their advice and you’ll ensure that the lifts you perform do what they’re meant to do: Build you up and make you stronger.

Knee-Dominant Exercises: Squats, Step-ups and Lunges

What you feel: Knee pain (especially around the kneecap), low back pain

What’s causing the problem: “Most knee injuries for knee-dominant moves stem from improper tracking of the knee joint,” explains Mathew Kite, C.S.C.S., an exercise scientist and general manager of D1 Sports Training in Dallas, Texas. Basically, your knee should go in one direction, but winds up going in another instead.

In the case of the squat, your knees collapse inward, a position called valgus. Valgus knees place damaging side-to-side stress on your joint, particularly on your patellar tendon.

Worst of all? “Going valgus” isn’t your knees’ fault. The real culprit is a set of weak glutes.

When your glutes aren’t as strong as they need to be to handle the load on your back, your knees automatically fall inward in order to help you lift the weight. This is okay if it were to happen only occasionally, like on the last rep of your last set while setting a new max. (You’ll see some powerlifters’ knees go inward onsets when they’re really going for broke.) But other than that, you don’t want this to happen.

Making matters worse, having weak glutes can cause you to lean too far forward when you squat. While a little bit of a forward lean is OK, having too much of one can put excess pressure on your lower back.

There’s one more thing that can cause you to lean forward excessively when you squat: poor ankle mobility. You’ll know this is your problem if you feel that it’s difficult to keep your heels on the floor as you lower your butt to the floor, McCall says.

WANT TO AVOID KNEE PAIN? DEVELOP A STRONGER BUTT.

What you can do: Your first goal is simple: “Develop a stronger butt to save your knees,” says Kite. Building up your glutes will help your knees track correctly (think of them angling toward the pinky toes when you squat or lunge). To strengthen them, try adding frog pumps, glute bridges and hip thrusts to your workouts.

If you have a bar on your back, focus on pulling it down into your traps. That will help stabilize the upper part of your torso and prevent it from tipping forward, Callaway says.

If you’re having a hard time keeping your heels on the floor, McCall recommends foam rolling, stretching, and doing mobility drills for your calves prior to squats. Try taking them through their full range of motion with toes-elevated bodyweight calf raises.

Lastly, you don’t need to squat with a barbell on your back. Goblet squats — which are typically done with a dumbbell or kettlebell — are variation that is knee and back friendly, and it makes it easier to squat without your knees collapsing or body leaning forward.

Hip-Dominant Exercises: Deadlifts, Hip Thrusts, and Glute Bridges

What you feel: Pain in your lower back (a.k.a. the lumbar spine) or neck (cervical spine).

What’s causing the problem: “An incorrect set-up,” says Meghan Callaway, CPT. “Many deadlifters set their hips too low and end up ‘squatting the deadlift’—or they set their hips too high [and wind up rounding their back in order to reach the bar]. Both can place the body at a greater risk of injury.” Having a rounded back or overly arched back stresses your spine in its weakest positions.

What you can do about it: Your goal here is to maintain what’s called a neutral spine, which has a natural (but not excessive) curve inward at the lower back, then slightly outward at the shoulder blades, and back inward at the neck.

“Maintaining a neutral spine is what’s going to keep that back healthy and ready for the next workout,” Kite says.

To achieve this when you perform a hinge-style movement like the deadlift, you want to think about getting as much movement as possible from your hips with as little movement as possible from your knees. Drive each rep with your hips, pushing your butt as far backwards as you can.

A good way to learn this pattern is to set a foam roller (or anything that’s straight, like a PVC pipe) against your back so that it has three points of contact with you, touching the back of your head, your shoulders, and your tailbone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TfzOviOVes

Another way to make sure that you are running the show with your hips rather than lower back is to make sure the weight remains as close to your body as possible during deadlifts, Callaway says. When you lower the weight, image the bar almost scratching against your shins, which will help keep the bar closer to your body throughout the movement.

If deadlifts are difficult, there’s no need to pull the weight from the floor. You can place a barbell or dumbbell on boxes or platforms. What this does is limit the range of motion to help you be in a position of power.

That way, you can perfect the movement without getting into a position where you are overly rounded. As you can stronger and better, you can lower the boxes — or, you might find that you never need to pull the weight from the floor. Unless you’re an Olympic lifter, there’s no reason to hold to this belief unnecessarily.

Or, you can do a staggered stance deadlift. The joy of this variation is that it provides the benefits of a single-leg deadlift (where less weight is needed), without the advanced difficulty of balance. The back leg works like a kickstand to make it easier to move in a way that doesn’t make your body vulnerable to injury.

“Push” Exercises: Bench Press Variations, Push-ups, Shoulder Presses, Triceps Extensions

What you feel: Shoulder pain, elbow strain, wrist discomfort.

What’s causing the problem: Not keeping the wrist, elbow, and shoulder stacked during bench and shoulder presses can also introduce instability in the shoulder joint, Kite says. Bending your wrists can also introduce pain.

What you can do about it:  Think tight, tight, tight—all of the way from your wrists to your core.

To get your wrists in order, you need to start by gripping the bar correctly. Here’s an instance where what “feels” natural—and what most people do—is actually wrong.

Watch Starting Strength author Mark Rippetoe explain how to properly grip the bar for a press starting at 1:57 in this video. Note that the process depends you placing your palms on the bar first, rather than wrapping with your knuckles first. Properly placing the bar across your palms will stack the weight on the bones of your forearm, making for a more powerful (and far less injury-prone) press.

From there, you’ll want to keep your core muscles engaged, obliques braced, and rib cage down (no flaring!). “This will help prevent the spine from hyperextending,” says Callaway. She adds that if you can’t press a weight while keeping a natural curve in your spine, you need to decrease weight. It also wouldn’t hurt to build your core strength with the help of exercises like the dead bug and Pallof press.

Still concerned about pressing? For one, barbells are not necessary. You can challenge your muscle just fine with dumbbell variations or even bands or cables. If your shoulders are vulnerable with the bench press, try a floor press, instead, which will limit the range of motion. Worried about overhead pressing? If you have a landmine (or you can just place a barbell in the corner of a room), try this press variation, which is easier on your shoulders and elbows.

“Pull” Exercises: Rows, Pull-ups, Face-pulls, Biceps curls

What you feel: Shoulder pain, wrist discomfort, tennis elbow

What’s causing the problem: “Not controlling the lowering (eccentric) part of the lift,” Callaway says.

Many people put their body at risk by not controlling the lowering phase of the pull-up. If you are allowing your body to free-fall from the top position, that could be part of your problem. Doing so exerts additional force on the joints from your shoulder blades, shoulder, elbows, and wrists. The effect can hold true when you’re doing biceps curls, rows, and any other “pulling” exercise.

What you can do about it: Start by using lighter weights. If you can’t control a weight both up and down, you’re just asking for injury. In general, if you can’t control the weight for 2-3 seconds on the descent, the weight is probably too heavy.

Next, if you know that lowering the weight can lead to injury, it only makes sense to emphasize that type of training. Turn a weakness into a strength and you won’t get hurt. Here’s how it works: “Take three to five seconds to lower your body [from the pull-up bar] or the weight,” Callaway says. You can do this with almost any exercise. And the benefit isn’t just injury prevent; research shows that focusing on the eccentric can cause more of the good “microtears” that helps your muscles become bigger.

With each rep, pretend that you are pinching and slowly releasing an orange from between your shoulder blades. Then, keep your entire body tight and braced to keep your body in a more stable position and prevent swinging (ak.ka. don’t kip). Engaging your core properly will be especially helpful on “hanging” moves like pull-ups. Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., explains the proper way to set up for these moves in this short video:

While pullups are an effective exercise, they’re not necessary. For bodyweight pulling, you can do inverted or bodyweight rows. The closer your body is to parallel to the floor, the harder the movement becomes.

Also, if you’ve experienced elbow pain (or something like tennis elbow) in the past, McCall recommends try performing some or all of your pulling exercises with a palms-up (supinated) grip or with your palms facing each other (neutral grip). The rotation of your palm changes the stress you put on your shoulders, and, therefore, makes the movement more kind to your elbows.

READ MORE:

The End of Shoulder Pain

Why Do Squats Hurt? (And How to Fix the Problems)

The Complete Deadlift Guide

K. Aleisha Fetters, M.S., C.S.C.S., is a Chicago-based personal and online trainer. She has a graduate degree in health and science reporting from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and regularly contributes to Men’s Health, Women’s Health, SELF, U.S. News & World Report, TIME, and SHAPE. When she’s not lifting something heavy, she’s usually guzzling coffee and writing about the health benefits of doing so.

The post How to Prevent Knee, Back, and Shoulder Injuries appeared first on Born Fitness.

It’s easily one of the most common questions I’ve been asked during the past 10 years, as supplements transformed from a niche market into a perceived quick fix for everything from fat loss to increasing your strength 1.675%.

And while the supplement industry clearly doesn’t need any help selling their products—they make an estimated 25 billion dollars, consumers clearly need more help deciphering what they really need.

That’s why I went to nutritionist Dr. Chris Mohr, one of the leaders in the industry. Chris developed Dietary Supplement U to become a trusted source on supplements to help you find the information you need, so that you could make more informed decisions.

Here are 7 supplements that are worth your money, according to Dr. Mohr.

Fish Oil

While the human body can produce many vitamins and minerals naturally, fish oil is something we can’t make naturally, so you need to supplement to supply your body with what you need. Which is why Mohr calls fish oil a supplement “you must take.” And while you can receive some from eating fish, you’ll have to eat a lot of fish consistently. For most people, eating fish 1 to 2 times per week will not do the job, which means you need to supplement.

The key is making sure you’re taking more omega 3’s. You see, most people’s diets are higher in omega-6 fats, which are inflammatory. You want more omega 3s, which have anti-inflammatory benefits. Increasing intake of a high quality fish oil, can reduce triglycerides, reduce the risk of heart disease, help with recovery from exercise, brain health, potentially diabetes and may even help with losing body fat.  The key is getting a high ratio of EPA to DHA (these are 2 of the 3 omega-3’s), so look for brands that offer a high concentration and aim to get a minimum of 2 g EPA + DHA daily.

Born Approved: Athletic Greens Fish Oil

Vitamin D

If fish oil is most important, than Vitamin D is arguably tied for the title of “most important supplement to take,” says Mohr. Data suggests a majority of Americans have less than optimal blood levels, primarily because it’s difficult to get from food (sources included canned salmon, milk, sardines are all good sources). While most know that sunlight is a great source of vitamin D, the sun is not strong enough from November to March in most places to provide you with sufficient amounts. And even when you are outside, you’re mostly covered with clothing and/or sunscreen, which block the beneficial (and harmful) rays.

Vitamin D researcher, Dr. Robert Heaney said in a recent interview “Vitamin D won’t cure anything, but supplementing with it will make everything better.”  Most experts agree that supplementing with a minimum of 1000 IU’s daily is a good start.

Born Approved: Athletic Greens Vitamin D

Whey Protein 

While a high quality omega-3 and vitamin D are both essential to take daily, whey protein isn’t a supplement you “need,” but it’s probably a great idea to take it, says Mohr. Whey does certainly offer some unique benefits; it’s high in the ever-important branched chain amino acids (BCAA’s), which can play an important role in muscle building, muscle recovery, and even fat loss. More importantly, whey protein is a quick, convenient source of quality calories.  Add some fruit a scoop of nut butter and you’ve got a perfect, on the go meal that takes 60 seconds to make.

Born Approved: BioTrust Low Carb Protein

Greens products

While not quite a replacement for fruits and vegetables, these are a good “insurance” policy. Greens supplements can help improve a diet that is low in fruits and vegetables, says Mohr. That’s because less than 1 percent of men and 4 percent of women ages 18 to 24 eat the recommended 5 servings (or more) of fruits and vegetables each day. And for people ages 25 to 34, those percentages on jump to 6 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

Again, your best bet is to just eat more fruits and vegetables. Food is always a better option than supplements. But if you’re not going to eat them, or you’re not going to eat enough, it’s better to supplement with greens than completely neglect this essential part of your nutrition.

Born Approved: Athletic Greens

Cinnamon

Cinnamon might seem like an odd addition, but this spice is actually loaded with antioxidants, which as most people know help with everything from fighting disease to protecting your body against the effects of aging. But maybe more importantly, studies have shown that cinnamon may improve insulin sensitivity, an important hormone that plays a key role in the process of storing fat. And the more you improve your insulin sensitivity, the more you can control your blood sugar and enjoy carbohydrates.

Most studies have shown 1 g (about 1/2 a teaspoon if adding your own) daily is sufficient.

Turmeric (curcumin)

Turmeric is a spiced commonly used in Indian dishes. One component of turmeric is called curcumin and with 100’s studies and counting, it is gaining some serious traction in the supplement world, says Mohr. A 2010 study suggested curcumin has anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-arthritic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Here’s the caveat: Several of these studies have been done for with animals and for specific clinical situations (Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, etc), but there seems to be one undeniable major benefit of turmeric that can help you even if you are disease free; turmeric has strong anti-inflammatory benefits. And if there’s a point to be driven home, it’s that the more you can fight inflammation, the better your body will respond and the healthier you’ll be.

Born Approved: You can add curcumin to your foods, or supplement with about 500 mg daily.

Probiotics

We all eat (a lot) of food every day, and yet we really pay attention to our digestive system. Healthy gut bacteria plays an important role in overall health, digestion and immune system, says Mohr. More specifically, probiotics can help replenish and nourish our internal supply of good bacteria.  What does this mean for you? Possibly less gas, bloating, abdominal pain, and inflammation. You see, there are millions and millions of different strains of bacteria in our guts. Probiotics help keep a healthy GI “ecosystem” and keep things in balance.

Born Approved: I’ve recently been using BioTrust Pro-X10 and been very pleased. But if that doesn’t work for you, supplemental doses are typically expressed in billions of live organisms. Aim for a product from a trusted brand that lists at least 3 billion organisms per serving — and keep it refrigerated after opening to protect those organisms. Food such as Kimchi and live sauerkraut are great natural source.

Are these the only supplements you should take? Honestly, it depends on your diet. In fact, some people need to take very few supplements, while others will benefit more to make up for deficiencies in their diet. And  there are several other supplements not listed here—such as creatine—that have a long line of research supporting their benefits and safety.

In an upcoming post, I’ll share exactly what I take each day and the amounts. Until then, your best bet is usually to take a minimalist approach to supplements, and instead focus on improving the foods you eat and not looking for a cure-all pill or powder.

Make it count,

Born

Want A Personalized Supplement Plan?

If you want access to nutrition programs and catered supplement plan, join me in online coaching. Here you’ll work directly with me (and some of the best strength and nutrition coaches) to create your training and diet program, ask your questions, and receive exclusive access to an exercise library.

Just want supplement information? The best guide on the market can be found here.

READ MORE: 

Want to Burn More Calories? Add This to Your Fat Loss Plan

Why Creatine is Even Better Than You Thought

What is the Best Protein Powder?

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post 7 Good, Trusted Supplements For Your Health appeared first on Born Fitness.