People have asked me about supplements. First, a caveat, I’m not a nutritionist, so ultimately you should consult one, or your doctor, for proper recommendations.
Second, let me throw my bias on the table. I prefer to avoid the chemicals and supplements if at all possible. My take is that ultimately good nutrition, and a balanced diet are in the end the best ways to achieve your training goals.
Creatine is a hot supplement among fitness folks. I confess to having little experience with it personally, so I’ll just quote from ACE (American Council on Exercise):
“Several studies suggest that ingestion of 20 to 25 grams of creatine monohydrate per day for five to six days improves muscular performance during activities that require short periods of high-intensity poer and strength…”
They also note however some possible side effects like liver + kidney damage if you consume a lot, stomach cramps + diarrhea, and weight gain. They specifically don’t recommend it for those doing endurance exercises as the weight would hurt your overall performance.
And on to the Protein question. Protein, protein, protein. Everyone’s obsessed with it, yet we only need 12% of our diet as protein. And there are all sorts of plant + carb combinations that make a good protein for us. So why all the worry. Well you can read Michael Pollan’s book, or just go by his simplified motto: “eat food, mostly plants, not too much”. What he’s distilling into this little sound bite is the fact that many of the diseases we face are caused by not doing one of those. Instead of food, eating processed food. Instead of mostly plants we eat sugary stuff, and too much protein. And instead of not too much, we eat much too much. That’s not to say that we should eat a little more protein if we’re training, ACE recommends increasing that 12% to 18%.
But vis-a-vis the protein supplements, be aware that too much protein can be a problem.
“Consuming too much protein can be physically harmful. Extra protein must be broken down metabolically, and the waste products must be excreted from the body, placing additional strain on the kidneys.”
“Protein consumption in and of itself does not increase muscle size. After the growth years, muscles must be stimulated by progressive resistance exercise to increase their size and strength. In fact, even though American adults ingest plenty of protein, they lose more than one-half pound of muscle every year unless they perform regular strength training”.
Do some reading folks, there are a lot of myths out there…