Monday, March 25, 2013

Protein for A Healthy Kidney

Here's another informative article by Dr. Donald K. Layman on protein intake and kidney health.  Read and enjoy.
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This week I presented two talks about protein for fitness and physical performance at the American College of Sports Medicine conference. ACSM is a professional organization for university faculty and students in kinesiology (exercise science) and practicing trainers and physical therapists who are all interested in muscle health and physical performance. While these trainers and therapists recognize the importance of protein for muscle health, they encounter clients or patients who have been told by doctors or nurses that high protein diets will damage the kidneys. This is a common warning from the medical community. This warning is largely based on assumptions and extrapolations and actually contrary to the research, but the concern persists. Because METABOLIQ is a “higher” protein diet, let’s look at how the kidney works and the origins of these questions about protein.

The kidney is the organ that filters the blood and removes salts, minerals, vitamins, urea, and water to keep your body in proper balance. Everything you eat or drink must eventually leave the body in some way – your breath, sweat, the stool, and urine. Everyday you must eliminate the equivalent of everything you eat or drink or eventually even vitamins, minerals, and water would accumulate and become toxic. If you exercise more vigorously you have to exhale more carbon dioxide; if you eat more fiber the stool will be larger; and if you drink more water you visit the bathroom more often. That same logic applies to protein. If you eat more protein then your kidney eliminates more urea. So just like eliminating water, the kidney is doing its job.
But let’s go farther yet. Just like water, protein is actually good for your kidneys. When you eat more protein, your kidneys actually get a little larger and that increases the capacity of the filtering process. The kidneys become more efficient.

Back in 2002, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences reviewed all of the research studies on the topic of protein and kidney health; and they concluded that there was no evidence that higher protein diets were harmful to the kidney and recommended that protein was safe up to at least 35% of daily calories or 3.0 g/kg body weight. These levels translated into daily intakes up to at least 250 grams of protein. That’s in the range of 35 ounces of meat per day! That’s a lot of capacity. The IOM went a step farther and stated that low protein diets actually reduced kidney functioning during aging.
 
So why does the concern about protein persist within the medical community? The basis for the concern comes from patients who already have kidney failure. The most common cause of kidney failure is long-term poor management of diabetes. High blood sugar damages the small blood vessels throughout the body and one of the most sensitive organs is the kidney with its elaborate filtering system. When the filtering system is damaged the kidney slowly loses its ability to clean the blood. When kidney function is reduced to less than 20% of normal, it is essential to reduce the load on the kidney and maybe begin dialysis. This means restricting everything that is filtered by the kidney including sodium, potassium, minerals, water, and also protein. The important point here is there is no risk from protein unless the kidney is already damaged by some other problem. Once the kidney has been damaged, then medical care is focused on reducing urine load including restricting water, salts and protein. Protein is not the cause of kidney problems but kidney problems will affect protein metabolism. So the medical community has associated protecting the kidney with reducing protein intake, but the association is not true for healthy kidneys.

So how much protein is acceptable?  Protein experts generally agree that there is a very wide range of safe and acceptable intakes for protein from a minimum requirement of about 60 grams each day up to an upper limit around 250 grams (and this is a very conservative high end). Currently, average daily protein intake in the United States is only about 70 grams for women and 90 grams for men. METABOLIQ is a “moderately” higher protein diet with a goal of 110 to 130 grams per day. METABOLIQ also has the added benefit that it distributes the protein throughout the day with the Shakes, Bars and METABOLIQ meals so that the body sees a constant supply of protein instead of a single, very large protein meal at dinner. Getting protein right in your diet is good for every part of your body – and that includes your kidneys.
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Friday, March 22, 2013

Another Over 40 Inspiration, Luis Guzman

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing another over the age of 40 inspiration, Luis Guzman. Luis is a shining example of how a healthy diet and regular exercise can keep you fit over 40.

1. Where were you born and where did you grow-up? I born Santo Domingo, republica Dominicana, and I grew up in a little town (San Isidro).

2.. Who has been the greatest influence in your life and why? My father, because my father was a soldier from air-force when I was a baby and he always took me to all the activities they used to have like, jumping from airplane, running troops, militaries routines and wear an uniform, I learned a lot of discipline and dedication and love for what you doing.

3. What is your profession? I am an air traffic controller and used to work as aviation information service (ais) at the airport.in my country (D.R), but here in United States where I live right now since 2008 I work as a PESONAL TRAINER.

4. How long have you worked as a personal trainer? I have been worked as personal trainer for more than six years and as a fitness instructor eight years.

5. What do you like most about your profession? I love my job because it is my passion, I love when I see people changing their lives, changing their bodies,, changing lifestyle, having different attitude toward life, and because of that reason they could be examples for others

6. What do you like least about your profession? Excuses, no commitment person,
7. How old are you? I’m in the best 44 years old of my life


8. How do you stay in such good shape in your 40s? I’m a fitness instructor, teaching kickboxing classes one time a week, (Tuesday) and Latin dance on (Saturday) and also lifting weight 3 times a weeks

9. What advice would you give someone about staying in-shape in their 40s? for anybody who want to staying in-shape in their 40s which it a great or the one of the best ages are lifting weigh, have a good cardio condition and eating Healthy way and enjoy everything you doing as the most with quality more than quantities

10. What’s your biggest dream? Besides to have my own fitness TV program, so I can show people why they need to work and how, also have a change to train the first lady (Michelle Obama)
11. What’s your biggest accomplishment? Come to united states and in less than 3 years become the best instructor and personal trainer 2 years in a row at some place where I use to work before and now having my own business.




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Monday, March 18, 2013

Protein for Exercise, Fitness, and Athletes

Here's a blog post by Dr. Donald Layman, one of the brightest minds in sports nutrition.

Most athletes – both elite athletes and health conscious adults – recognize that protein is important, but still find the advice confusing. Athletes hear a lot of different messages about the amount of protein to eat and when to eat it. However, there are three simple messages about protein.

The first message is that all adults interested in muscle health need to consume multiple, daily meals each containing 30 grams of protein. To maintain healthy muscles, we must continuously make new proteins and breakdown old ones. The repair and replacement processes only occur during the 3-hour period after a meal providing at least 30 grams of protein.

Most Americans eat the majority of their protein in a single, large dinner meal, with less than 10 grams of protein at breakfast. Your morning high fiber cereal with 8 grams of protein is useless for muscle health. Adults should have three meals each day with at least 30 grams of protein, and breakfast is the most important meal of your day! The METABOLIQ Shake is perfectly designed to deliver the protein you need for a convenient and tasty breakfast.

If you’re a bodybuilder trying to achieve maximum muscle size, you may want 4 to 6 meals each containing 30 grams of protein. If you’re a runner, you still need at least 3 meals for muscle repair and recovery. Many injuries are the result of long-term wear-and-tear without adequate protein to allow your body to repair the damage.

Surprisingly, the 30-gram amount is the same for a small woman or a large guy and appears to relate more to blood volume than body size. If a meal contains less than 20 grams of protein there is no benefit to muscle health for any adult at any size.

Second, athletes should consume protein soon after exercise to accelerate muscle recovery and maximize the benefits of the exercise. Intense exercise produces muscle damage and muscle breakdown. This is part of soreness but also an essential part of muscle training and development. To optimize training and minimize soreness, athletes need to consume protein within about 1 hour after exercise. The good news is that exercise increases the efficiency of protein use, so after exercise, 15 grams of a high quality whey protein or egg whites will maximize recovery. The METABOLIQ bar was originally designed for post-exercise recovery and ideal for athletes at any age.

The third message is that protein before exercise does not help muscle development. Protein consumed ahead of exercise has no beneficial effects on the quality of the workout or the speed of recovery. Protein is also slow to digest and may make you feel full and sluggish if consumed too close to exercise. If you have a full protein meal, it should be at least 2 hours before exercise. If you exercise early in the morning and need something before you head to the gym, keep it light and try to get a balance of carbohydrates, fats and protein. Perhaps a Greek yogurt, or a combination of yogurt and granola, even a hard fried egg on whole wheat toast may work well for you.

Whatever your athletic level, be sure to get the most out of your exercise with the right amounts of protein at the right times every day.
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