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Strength Buff: Protein shakes

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Aug 282009

A friend of ShrinkGeek approached me on my blog with a question about protein shakes:

I was wanting to know if you knew anything about Muscle Milk [Light]. I take it twice a day as part of my “trying to lose 30lbs and strengthen my heart” workout. I was looking for something to help recover after the workout as I was not in great shape when I started and felt weak at the end of the day. Because I was looking to lose weight I needed it to have a very low sugar count. This seemed like the best thing that wasn’t some scary Mc-Muscle powder from GNC. I’ve lost 10lbs in 6 weeks while toning my body in the process.

First off, congrats on the excellent progress so far!

Protein, not to put too fine a point on it, is what your body uses to build and repair pretty much everything from muscles to fingernails. Making sure you get enough of it is a great way to recover after a workout, especially if you’re trying to build some muscle and tone up. There has also been some research that suggests adding protein to a healthy nutritional regimen can contribute to weight loss. (I’m not talking going all the way to Atkins-land, just getting a little more protein.) With that said, there is also a body of research that shows this isn’t the case. The waters are a little bit muddy on this point, to say the least.

User Queries: Workout headaches

User Queries 3 Responses »

Aug 252009

I’m currently suffering from exertion headaches. They started about a month after I started taking Hot Rox, which is loaded with caffeine. I’m not sure if it’s caffeine related, but, caffeine [can] cause high cranial blood pressure, sometimes.

I’ve cut out caffeine, and I hope it works. If it doesn’t, I’ll start cutting out [other supplements]. I have no idea what’s caused [the headaches], but it really affects workouts, since, under that stress, I get an instant, intense, migraine-like headache.

First off, this sounds like approximately no fun whatsoever. This is the sort of thing that should be brought up to your doctor, especially if it’s persistent or recurring frequently. As far as what’s causing it? That, we might be able to shed some light on for you.

User Query: Diet soft drinks – friend or foe?

Food, User Queries 5 Responses »

Jul 272009

Diet Coke & Mentos fountain by Woodley Wonder Works @ Flickr.

One of our readers approached me the other day with the following not-quite-a-question:

I’d like to see you guys do something on Diet Coke. I am [probably] not alone as someone who finds it MUCH harder to lose weight when drinking [it]. I’ll bet it has to do with blood sugar and insulin responsiveness.

A moment of full disclosure here: I used to work for Coca-Cola North America (Coke’s bottling and distribution subsidiary). Personally, I prefer Pepsi. I seldom have soft drinks at all these days, but prefer regular to unleaded on the rare occasions I do partake. Those items notwithstanding, I’m going to more generally address the topic as it pertains to diet soft drinks in general, rather than focus attention on one particular brand or flavor.

So, back to the subject at hand:

Do these no-calorie drinks hamper weight loss? If so, how?

As Deep Thought said, “Hmm. Tricky.”

User Queries : The Dreaded “D” Word

Columns, User Queries 4 Responses »

Jun 262009

Image by marcobellucci

I recently got my Diabetes status alert level to “OMGITSNEAR,” which means that I have to both lose weight and be pickier about what I eat. I was wondering if there are any common drinks or foods that I should avoid which might seem healthy at first glance but are not.

For instance, I’ve heard that sports drinks like Gatorade and Cereals like corn flakes should be be on my “do not consume” list because they contain lots of sugar, even though they’re supposed to be alright for consumption for a healthy body. At the same time, it seems that eating chocolate flavored oatmeal with nonfat milk might be bad, but is supposed to be alright. As you can guess, I’m a bit confused.

Any advice for people trying to avoid diabetes while eating right?

- Victor

I can certainly understand the confusion you’re dealing with at the moment. Diabetes is a scary and intimidating disease and there is a lot of misinformation out there about it. To many folks a diabetic is someone who isn’t allowed to eat candy bars, but the reality is that not only can a diabetic person eat a candy bar if they want to there are times when a candy bar could be the best thing to keep them from going into a coma! I could go on at length about Diabetes here (and my original response to you started down that path), but I’ll do my best to stay focused so that Krystalle doesn’t beat me with the editor stick.

User Queries – Achievements

Columns, User Queries 2 Responses »

Jun 192009

halfgeekachievement

A reader and I were chatting the other day, and they wanted to get my/our take on setting goals. In their words:

Milestoning. Little goals and big goals. If you want a metaphor, the milestone system in 4th Edition D&D. I’ve seen it mentioned in some of the posts, but not explicitly discussed.

This is where I have to admit that I haven’t actually played 4th edition yet. However, I’m not letting a little something like my own rank, uninformed ignorance get in the way. If it works for talk radio and cable pundits, it damn sure works on the Internet, right?

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