Whey Protein Nutrition

A meal before your workout session should attempt to achieve the following: maximum strength, a steady stream of energy and minimal muscle breakdown.

Firstly, you must ensure that you have consumed enough of water, as it is vital towards keeping your energy at peak levels.
Your pre-workout snack should be consumed half an hour to 45 minutes before you start working out. Protein is the main constituent here. It will not only help keep your body in an anabolic state right throughout the workout, but will also thwart muscle breakdown.
A good mix of whey protein and casein amounting to around 30-40 grams of protein is recommended. This is best achieved by mixing 25-30 g of whey protein in 300-400 ml of skimmed milk. Mixing whey protein with milk works out well as this ensures a gradual release of protein, which means your body receives a steady stream of amino acids.

Low-glycemic carbohydrates are also important, especially for pre-workout meals. It is important that you consume one to two portions of low-glycemic carbohydrates along with your protein intake, as this also helps with providing energy during your workout. In order to avoid feeling tired and weak, make sure you choose carbohydrates that do not cause rapid changes in your body’s insulin levels. Good choices include oatmeal, brown rice or even apples.

Also, remember, that your pre-workout snack should be a small one as it is important that it is easy to digest and does not make you feel uncomfortable or sick while working out. It is also critical that you do not work out unless you have had a meal prior to the session.

Eating out is always more convenient, especially if it is just the two of you. Compared with the hassle of cooking and cleaning up at home, heading out to your favorite restaurant is always the preferred choice. However, if you are trying to lose weight or stay healthy, then eating out frequently will not help. This does not necessarily mean that you should never eat out, instead, just follow these rules and you can stay healthy, lose weight and still go out to eat.

Regulate the number of times you eat out - Make rules for yourself. Eat out perhaps once or twice per week, but no more. This ensures that you are in absolute control of your intake of extra calories, which you would otherwise consume if you eat out every day.

No fast food - Forget fast food. It is not healthy. Instead, choose slow food. Fast food is of course convenient, but they are mostly deep-fried, use refined ingredients and the nutritional value is not necessarily given much importance.

Portion control - Be aware of how many portions you order when eating out. Limit the number of portions you order or go for smaller portions instead. This is very important for your fitness regime.

Drop the sauce and the dressing - The gravy your meat comes with, or the dressing your salad has been drenched with, could contain lethal amounts of calories. Beware!

So if you are eating out, eat smart, live long and stay healthy!

MYTH ONE: Real men stick to their diet 365 days a year
A common understanding is that if you want to lose fat or build muscle then you have to keep to your diet for 364 days during the year, and relax on one day. This results in a binge that is not pretty. Instead, have a weekly cheat day. Try to eat the sweets and things you have been craving for in the morning, which then lets you burn it off during the day. If there are food items in your diet that you are not particularly fond of, then drop them on your cheat day. It will also do well for you to ignore the weight scale on that day.

MYTH TWO: Putting on 5lbs a week is better than 1lb
An above average intake of carbohydrates will only make you put on more weight. A common excuse is that they need the extra carbohydrates to give them more energy during training. However, this will result in only making you fat, as it is false. If your weekly weight gain tops 1.5-2 lbs, then the rest is just water and fat - both of which you do not need.

MYTH THREE: Eating anything that doesn’t move
Gaining muscle does not require eating large amounts of food. Working out to gain muscle does increase your rate of metabolism, but too many calories will only end up being stored as body fat. Instead, a better strategy is to work out maintenance levels and then add on an extra 300 calories for muscle gain.

MYTH FOUR: Not eating enough
The secret is not to overeat or under eat as well. Of course, you can cut down on food to minimize fat storage in your body, but experts recommend that you consume around 250-300 calories over and above your maintenance level. If you do not eat enough, your body will shift into a catabolic state - and the muscle build-up will decline instead of the instance where in eating enough, the food will be used for the same.

MYTH FIVE: Following diets from magazines
Diet programs in magazines do not work. They are generic and not tailor-made to suit particular needs and thus do not have proven success rates. They should only be used as a mere guideline.

Temporary dental crowns are frequently used in cosmetic dentistry to repair minor chips and cracks in teeth, along with providing whitening and filling in gaps in a smile. However, temporary dental crowns are simply stop-gap measures put in place until a permanent dental crown can be put into place. This means that patients need to take some precautionary steps in order to ensure that their temporary dental crowns aren’t damaged before a more permanent solution is ready.

For example, cosmetic dentists recommend that people with temporary crowns avoid eating sticky foods or chewing gum. It’s also a good idea to avoid chewing on the side of the mouth with the temporary crown as much as possible to avoid the potential for the crown to become dislodged or fall out entirely.

No cosmetic dentist would recommend that you stop flossing your teeth while you have a temporary crown; however, it is important to change how you floss. Instead of using the floss to lift materials from your teeth, dentists recommend using a sideways motion to dislodge pieces of food from between teeth.