Muscle Talk
Jaime Filer
Jaime Filer graduated with a kinesiology degree from York University, where she was a varsity athlete. She’s also a former competitive bodybuilder who competed in drug-tested events throughout North America. If something new is trending in fitness, chances are Jaime’s already tried it!
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Health Tidbits - White bread and pomegranates
A case for eating frozen white bread
As bodybuilders, we avoid white bread like the plague. It’s low in nutrients, high on the glycemic index, and just not great for us. But recently in Britain, nutritionists at Oxford Brookes University wanted to study the effect on blood glucose of eating defrosted, toasted white bread (compared to freshly baked bread). White bread has a glycemic index of 71 out of 100. However, the researchers found that freezing white bread and then defrosting it lowers the glycemic index, and subsequently toasting it reduces it even further! The researchers speculated this was because “the starch molecules in the bread take on a different structure as a result of freezing, defrosting and toasting it. This makes it more difficult for the enzymes to break the starch down into sugar.” So if you have to eat white bread, remember these steps: freeze, defrost, toast!
Chew like a cow to gain like a pro
Bovines take their time with their food. They chew, and chew, and chew some more. And look at the size of them! Can humans get more out of their food if they chew, and chew, and chew? Scientists in France discovered that the amount of protein you get out of the meat you eat depends on your chewing behavior. Meat, if you chew it well, increases the amount of amino acids in the blood relatively quickly. If you do not (or cannot because of old age or dentures), the increase in amino acids in the blood is slow and gradual. More chewing equals about 20 percent more leucine, the anabolic hormone, in the blood. So chew more for muscle!
Pomegranate as a new pre-workout
Scientists in North Carolina have come up with an alternative to your standard, stimulant-based pre-workout supplement! Believe it or not, a new pomegranate extract has been shown to have a considerable amount of nitrate in it. Nitrates eventually turn into nitric oxide. NO is what’s responsible for “the pump”; it widens blood vessels and increases the blood supply to the muscles. When 20 fit participants took one gram of this pomegranate extract, they were able to do high-intensity exercise for longer. More HIIT means better workouts and more fat loss!
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