Question & Answer Time

Parrillo Ice Kreem

As a nutritionist, I get asked questions all the time about important get-fit issues. Here’s a round-up of some of the most frequently asked questions:

Q: I’m not used to eating breakfast, so I’m wondering how to get all my calories in?

A: Many people who start the Lean Bodies program or the Parrillo Nutrition program aren’t accustomed to eating breakfast. But once their metabolisms become efficient at using food, they can’t wait to eat in the morning. In fact, they are ravenous. I predict the same thing will happen to you.

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Tips And Tidbits

Training Tip of the month:

Many bodybuilders avoid deadlifts because this exercise can thicken the waist. But often, you need to build your physique to a point beyond where you want to be. Then you can use isolation exercises to sculpt away thickness while still holding your size. So, for gaining that initial size and thickness, deadlifts are an excellent exercise.

As you begin the exercise, make sure your shoulders move up and back. Keep your back slightly arched. As you lift the barbell, drive your hips forward. As always, keep your muscles tight throughout the range of motion and use your opposing muscles to return to start. The same techniques apply to the sumo-style deadlifts, in which a very wide stance is used.

nutrition Tip of the month:

When following the Parrillo Nutrition Program, be sure to keep accurate records of everything you eat by using Diet Trac Sheets, found at the back of the Parrillo Nutrition Manual. Diet Trac sheets go hand-in-hand with the Food Composition Guide & Formulas for Success (both found in the Nutrition Manual), as well as your food scale, when planning your meals to meet the nutritional requirements of your fitness plan. Diet Trac sheets have eight columns: Time, Food and Quantity, Calories, Protein, Fat, Carbs, Sodium, and Potassium. As you plan your meals, you record the foods and their values in the appropriate columns. You can refer to the Nutrition Manual for sample Diet Trac sheets.

Breaking News Fitness & Nutrition

 

Secrets of Fish Oil Compound Probed

A compound found in oil-rich fish such as salmon reshaped the blood lipid profiles of volunteers in an Agricultural Research Service-led study. Research chemist Darshan S. Kelley of the ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center and federal and university co-investigators conducted the study of DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid thought to improve cardiovascular health. The research is likely the first to analyze—in high-triglyceride males—DHA’s effects on both fasting and post-meal triglycerides, and on quantities and sizes of HDL, LDL and VLDL cholesterol particles. High triglycerides, high cholesterol and a high number of small particles of LDL cholesterol in the blood increase risk of cardiovascular disease, the nation’s leading cause of death, according to Kelley.

Blood samples taken after fasting, and within eight hours after meals, showed that DHA reduced by 22% the number of small LDL (low-density lipoprotein) particles. LDL’s small particles are the size most harmful to the cardiovascular system. DHA increased the number of large LDL particles by 127%. Since large LDL particles are less harmful than small ones, some researchers believe large LDL particles do not harm the arteries. DHA also lowered triglycerides by 24% in both the fasting and post-meal samples. The after-meal effect, shown in only a few other studies, may be of particular interest to medical professionals looking for alternatives to conventional triglyceride-lowering therapies, according to Kelley. By Marcia Wood, Dec. 3, 2007, ARS – USDA

Question of the month:

Question: How do I add lean muscle mass without gaining a lot of bodyfat in the off-season?

Answer: Don’t become an off-season binger! Intelligent bodybuilders always maintain a good off-season diet. They utilize these months to add lean muscle mass and minimize bodyfat. They eat basically the same foods as they would on a pre-contest diet, but in larger quantities and slightly different protein/fat/carbohydrate ratios. When it is time to start a pre-contest diet they have less bodyfat and more muscle mass. For the first two to three weeks, put on one-and-a-half pounds per 100 pounds of body weight each week. During the remainder of the off-season, gain an average of one-half pound of muscle mass per 100 pounds of body weight each week. (As you gain weight, have your bodyfat tested about once a week to be sure you are gaining lean mass and not bodyfat.) Look to the Parrillo Training Manual for more information about off-season training and nutrition.

Quick Tip of the month:

When you make baked chicken or turkey, prepare enough for another meal and you can use the leftovers to make sandwiches or a quick casserole for dinner the next day.

Dominique’s Time Cruncher

Make a big bowl of salad for dinner and take the leftovers to work for lunch the next day. Just remember to take out the portion for tomorrow’s lunch before adding your salad dressing so everything will stay crisp!

CapTri® – The MCT Metabolic Enhancer

Now Available in Plain & Butter Flavors!

With overeating and obesity on the rise, researchers are working hard at finding a “cure,” so it doesn’t surprise me that there’s more good news coming from labs on the power of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) to fight fat.

For background, MCTs are a special class of fatty acids; our MCT oil is CapTri^®. Normal fats and oils contain long-chain fatty acids (LCTs). Compared to these fatty acids, MCTs are much shorter in length. Therefore, they resemble carbohydrates, and act like them in the body, more than fat. As a result, CapTri^® is more easily absorbed, digested, and utilized as energy than conventional fats. This structure accounts for the ability of CapTri^® to stimulate the thermic effect of food and increase body temperature.

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Rut –busting Dumbbell Training!

Dumbell Exercises

Parrillo Procedures to the rescue: John Parrillo is world renown for his nutritional products and procedures. He is equally celebrated for his innovative training tactics. A listing of a few of his more well known training procedures would have to include the infamous 100-repetition forced-rep Belt Squat, Parrillo Fascia Stretching and Fascia Planing techniques; let us not forget the Parrillo Intensity Set, Parrillo Dips or the pump-stretch-flex Parrillo Three-Phase Set. John was the first to insist bodybuilders include aerobics in their training. He was also the first to insist aerobics need to be done intensely as intense aerobics build mitochondria. Let us not forget recent innovations such as the 100-rep “Five Phase” Giant Set. On and on goes his list of unique and innovative training tactics. The Parrillo Genetic Equalizer line of standardized gym equipment, introduced in the 1990s, remains to this day the most innovative take on gym equipment ever devised. John’s patented FxStretch device allows users to self-administer fascial stretching: FxStretch was and remains bold, unique and decades ahead of its time. Even in the often boring world of conventional weight training John continually offers up revolutionary methods utilizing the oldest and plainest of training tools: barbells and dumbbells. One particular training procedure John periodically recommends is a protracted period where dumbbells are used exclusively. On every exercise in the trainee’s progressive resistance regimen, dumbbells and dumbbells alone are used. And not just for chest, shoulder and arm work – this Parrillo approach uses dumbbells for every muscle, including upper, middle and lower back; even thighs, calves and hamstrings. Dumbbell training creates extraordinary muscular stimulation and stresses muscles from a variety of unusual angles. This exclusive use of dumbbells usually lasts for two to four weeks and creates muscle growth past your wildest imaginings: physically stimulating and mentally refreshing.

Even Steven and the Muscle Stabilization factor: If used properly, dumbbells are fantastic muscle-building tools. Dumbbells force each limb to carry its fair share of the total payload and require muscles to perform equally. Dumbbells straighten out symmetrical imbalances and create proportion in disproportional body parts. Most trainees are ignorant of the fact that when they use a barbell or an exercise machine, one arm or one leg pushes or pulls more than 50% of the total payload. Perform a bench press or a row and one arm will push or pull more than the other arm or leg. Perform the identical exercise using a pair of dumbbells and the workload must be split 50-50. If for no other reason, a periodic dose of dumbbell training should be used to acquire symmetry and muscular proportionality. Make that weak muscle carry its fair share of the load and guess what? Those undersized arm, pec, shoulder and back muscles are suddenly shocked into growing. Dumbbells force muscle stabilizers into action. Muscle stabilizers prevent individual dumbbells from travelling outside the prescribed motor pathway. Stabilizers are maximally recruited when the payload is pushed or pulled using dumbbells. Exercise machines eliminate the need for muscle stabilizers to fire whereas dumbbell exercises are the Mack Daddy of muscle stabilizer activation. Dumbbell exercises also trigger something called muscle innervations. When innervations occur, muscles are stimulated to such a degree that neighboring muscles receive benefit. Athletes in rehab use innervations to keep injured muscles strong. If they have pulled or ripped a pectoral muscle, rehab specialists will recommend tricep, arm and upper back exercises to keep the muscles around the injured pec strong. Innervations keep injured muscles relatively strong without actually working the injured muscle. Dumbbells are perfect training tools when used correctly and used consistently.

Dumbbell training for the entire body: Let’s assume you are convinced and have decided to give an all-dumbbell training routine a test ride: how would you set up such a routine? Our training strategy is always based and rooted in the Parrillo Performance resistance training approach and uses the classical Parrillo procedures: the Parrillo procedure for attacking any muscle has three distinct parts. Every time we perform a weight training set, regardless if the ‘implement’ is a barbell, a pair of dumbbells or an exercise machine, the bodybuilder uses the Parrillo Three-Phase Set. The athlete first performs the resistance training set. Immediately they perform a Parrillo Fascia Stretch. Fascia stretching loosens and makes pliable the sheathing that surrounds every muscle. By performing an intense stretch, the constrictive muscle sheathing is stretched and loosened and this allows the targeted muscle more room for expansion. Muscle growth is made easier. The athlete concludes the Three-Phase Set by flexing the target muscle hard and repeatedly. The three phase procedure, pump/stretch/flex, is used on every set of every exercise for the entire workout. If you were training shoulders and performing overhead dumbbell presses, the three-phase procedure would go as follows: rep out with the dumbbells using the appropriate poundage for the appropriate number of reps. After concluding the overhead presses immediately perform a facial shoulder stretch. John likes the skin-the-cat stretch and will have his students hold this intense fascia shoulder stretch for 10-20 seconds. The instant the stretch is completed the third phase of the three-phase set to flex the deltoid muscles hard and flex them repeatedly. You might flex using the “most muscular” crab pose to expand pumped deltoid muscles against newly loosened fascia. Consult the Parrillo Training manual for a complete and comprehensive list of fascia stretches. How would you set up the weekly dumbbell-only training schedule?

The All Dumbbell Training Routine

Monday legs & shoulders

Tuesday chest & triceps

Wednesday back & biceps

Thursday off

Friday repeat Monday

Saturday repeat Tuesday

Sunday repeat Wednesday

Ideally each muscle or muscle group is worked twice a week. You may use the same exercise twice a week or you may use different exercises in each session. Individual sessions are kept relatively short and are extremely intense. Sessions are kept fresh, interesting and innovative by incorporating the pump/stretch/flex procedure. Lower reps and heavier weights are recommended in the first weekly workout. Higher reps are used in the second weekly session. Smart Bomb with a Parrillo 50/50 Plus^™ shake after every workout. Drinking 50/50 Plus^™ actually amplifies workout results. No partial reps please!

Recommended Dumbbell Exercises and Techniques

Legs

Deep squats with dumbbells: Heavy dumbbells are held in each hand at your sides as you squat down. Use a narrow stance and maintain an upright torso. Past a certain point and poundage the grip becomes a problem; holding huge dumbbells as you squat can become unmanageable and top bodybuilders will wear lifting straps as they squat with heavy dumbbells. This makes it possible to continue squatting long past the point where the grip tends to give out. A truly strong man can squat with a pair of 100s (wearing wrist straps) for 4-5 consecutive sets. For maximum muscle stimulation lightly touch each bell to the floor on each rep. Use the narrow squat stance and don’t lock out between reps: stand to a point just shy of lockout; this no-lock technique creates continual thigh tension. Lower with control. Dumbbell squats are terrific thigh blasters. Squat twice a week: in the first weekly session hit 4-5 sets in the 6-8 rep range. In the second weekly squat session perform 4-5 sets with lighter weight and up the reps to 12-15 per set.

Dumbbell Calf raises: Find a stairway and perform single leg calf raises while holding a dumbbell in your ‘off’ hand. If you are doing a right leg calf raise, hold the dumbbell in your left hand. Use your right hand for balance as you go up and down. 4-5 sets of 20-25 reps are recommended in the week’s first calf session. In the second weekly session, lighten the dumbbell and shoot for 4-5 sets of 50+ reps. Go high up on the toe on each rep and really stretch the calves in the bottom position. Alternate legs and alter toe position. One recommended procedure is to perform a dumbbell set for each leg then drop the dumbbell and perform a concluding high rep set of 100+ reps using both legs and with no weight for a burn set. You may super-set squats with calf raises to save time.

Dumbbell Hamstrings: The Romanian deadlift was originally an Olympic lifter assistance exercise. Take a shoulder width stance and stand erect holding two fairly light dumbbells at your sides. Keep the knees unlocked yet flexed. Keep your back arched and lower forward until the dumbbells touch the floor. As you lower, allow the butt to push rearward. The arms are limp, not flexed. When the two bells touch the floor come erect ever so slooowly! Done properly, this exercise is superior to leg curls. The trick is to come erect in super slow fashion using the hamstrings alone to power the raising of the tensed torso. 4-5 sets of 6 reps are recommended in the 1^st session. Kick the reps up to 12-15 in the second weekly hamstring session. Trainees can create a tri-set by alternating dumbbell squats, dumbbell calf raises and Romanian deadlifts.

deltoids

Dumbbell overhead shoulder press: Perhaps the finest single deltoid exercise, overhead presses using dumbbells, has been the premier shoulder exercise for decades. Either alternate arms or push both bells upward simultaneously, your call. Hold the lockout and contract the delts hard. The most common error is the partial rep overhead dumbbell press; the bells are never fully locked out and never fully lowered. Partial repping is a crime. Perform 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps on the heavy day and 4-5 sets of 12-15 reps are recommended on the second light delt day.

Dumbbell deltoid raise: A terrific delt builder if done properly. Most trainees use too much poundage and heave the bells upward; this turns a great delt exercise into a lousy trap exercise. Use a pair of light bells and lift them using shoulder power alone. Don’t lower the bells all the way down and relax between reps: lower ¾ of the way as this maintains continuous delt tension at all times. Raise the bells to ear height and hold the top position before lowering. On the second shoulder day try lateral raises done lying back on a 45-degree incline bench – this creates the ultimate in delt isolation. Perform 4-5 sets of 8-10 reps on day one and 4-5 sets of 15 reps using lay-back laterals on the second shoulder day.

pectorals

Dumbbell flat bench and incline dumbbell bench press: Perhaps the finest single pectoral exercise, be sure and get a big stretch at the bottom of each rep – again don’t fall into the stupid habit of only lowering the dumbbells halfway down and not completely locking out at the top. On the first chest day, push big bells for 4-5 sets staying in the 6-8 rep power-building range. On the second chest day perform dumbbell incline benches using a 45-degree bench. Feel the upper pecs work when doing incline presses. Do not arch backwards while doing incline presses as this turns incline pressing into flat benching. Use higher reps on the inclines; we suggest 4-5 sets in the 10-12 rep range.

Dumbbell flat flye and incline dumbbell flye: The dumbbell flat flye, like the lateral raise, should be performed with light poundage and a full, deep range of motion. The key to maximum pec stimulation is to allow the bells to stretch way down at the bottom of each rep. Try and touch the floor with the bells before commencing the upward lift portion of each rep. Use pec power alone to raise the weight – keep the arms flung wide throughout the set. We recommend 4-5 sets of 10 reps in the flat flye and 4-5 sets of 12-15 reps when using the incline dumbbell flye on the second chest day of the week.

back

Dumbbell rows: Row with two bells simultaneously on the first weekly back training day and perform the single dumbbell row, bracing one leg on an exercise bench, on the second back day. Perform 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps in the double-dumbbell row. Use higher reps and more control on the single arm row on day two. Again 4-5 sets on both days. Kick the reps up to 10-12 per set for the one-armed row. Make sure to pull with the back muscles. Avoid “arm pulling” while rowing; i.e., avoid pulling the weight with the biceps. Use lifting straps if needed on Day I.

Dumbbell power cleans and upright rows: A difficult, slightly dangerous and extremely effective trap, erector and rear deltoid developer. Stand between two dumbbells and pull them to the shoulders as if you were preparing to press them overhead. Lower to the floor and repeat. Make sure to pull the bells straight up. Use a little knee dip to catch the bells on the shoulders. Keep the reps low, no more than 5-6 reps for 4-5 sets. On the second back day, substitute the dumbbell upright row. Stand erect with two dumbbells; pull them in a straight line to chin level. Lower and repeat for 4-5 sets of 8-10 reps.

triceps

Dumbbell overhead tricep extension and tricep kickbacks: These can be done ‘power style’ on the first of two weekly tricep workouts: use a single dumbbell (held vertically) and grasped with two hands. Lower behind the neck and get a big stretch at the bottom. 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps are recommended in this first weekly tricep session. On the second tricep training day, try performing overhead tricep extensions while lying back on a 45-degree bench. Use two light dumbbells and use a slower, more controlled rep speed. You may substitute dumbbell tricep kickbacks on the light day. In both exercises, shoot for 4-5 sets in the 10-12 rep range. On the kickbacks make sure the upper arm stays parallel to the floor and lock fully and completely on each individual rep.

Biceps

Dumbbell curls: Twice a week hit the biceps. Perform 4-5 sets of some type of bicep curl and be sure and mix it up: rotate standing curls, incline, preacher, spider or concentration curls. Pick a curl type you like and be sure to alternate curl types on each of the two bicep days. In the first weekly curl session shoot for 8-10 rep sets using heavier poundage. On the second weekly curl session, go for higher reps, 12-15 reps per set are recommended. Make sure to open the arm completely at the start of every curl rep; and please, no partial reps and no heaved reps

A Bodybuilder Is Born: Generations

Jared was going to hurt himself badly soon if he didn’t stop his slow but steady descent into the Land of Crappy Form. It’s true that he was young enough to bounce right back from all but the most serious catastrophes like full muscle tears or a herniated disk, but tempting fate is never a bright idea. Fate has a sick sense of humor. If you don’t believe that, turn on your TV or check today’s news online. You’ll see that a church roof caved in during Easter service killing 300 parishioners who had just finished raising the money to fix it, or that a whole school full of kids contracted meningitis from sharing the same drinking fountain during Dehydration Awareness Week.

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Heather Bear “Helping others help themselves is my biggest thrill!”

Heather Bear is a compressed ball of intense energy. A fulltime fitness professional with a vibrant physical presence, Heather attracts female clients like a gigantic magnet dropped into a bagful of metal filings. Heather trains women of all ages, shapes and sizes and possessing varying degrees of fitness or unfitness.

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Bulletin #40 – Programmed For Success: Supplementation For Optimal Results

In the last bulletin I presented a generaloverview of the Parrillo Nutrition Program,and this month I want to extend that discus-sion by talking about strategies to maximizeyour results by adding nutritional supple-ments to your diet. People often ask if nutri-tional supplements are necessary.The answer here is based on anindividual’s diet, training intensity and goals.If you are eating a well-balanced diet,supplyling all the nutrients your body needsthrough food, and your level of training ac-tivity is such that you never deplete certainnutrients, you may find that supplements arenot necessary. However, many people,whether they are eating healthy or not, donot receive all the nutrients necessary tosupport intense training and growth. Andthat extends all the way to the bodybuilder,whose nutritional needs far exceed those ofthe average, sedentary person. So supple-ments can be used to prevent deficiencies inthe diet. But there is still another level ofsupplementation. That is, are supplementsrequired to achieve optimal results? Aresupplements needed to reach your ultimatepotential? The answer to this question formost hard-training athletes is yes!Few bodybuilders (if any) make it to anadvanced level without using nutritionalsupplements. They can’t afford not to. Let’sface it, if two men eat the same diet and trainthe same way, but one of them enriches thenutrient density of his diet by adding highquality supplements, which one do you thinkwill get better results?

Parrillo Performance
800-344-3404 

When you’re trainingthat hard and that much, you’re really push-ing your body to it’s limit. The goal in train-ing is to apply a maximum stress, so thatyour body is forced to adapt and grow. Thiskind of training pushes your recovery abil-ity to its limit, and your ability to recover iswhat determines how fast you can grow. Restand nutrition are what your body needs torecover from intense workouts. Supplementsallow you to increase the cellular levels ofnutrients beyond what can be obtained fromwhole foods alone. Supplements are simplyultra-concentrated nutrients, and addingthem to a healthy diet of natural foods in-creases the nutrient density of your diet. Itmakes sense that increasing the amount ofnutrients delivered to your muscles will helpthem recover and grow faster.When I started putting together my for-mulas for supplements, I conducted my ownexperiments with bodybuilders and otherathletes. During this experimentation pro-cess we introduced certain nutrients into theathletes’ diet, then pulled them back out, allthe while noting the action and reaction thishad in their training and physique. This ishow I found out what worked and whatdidn’t in competitive athletes.

Nothing fancy,just simple trial and error. But by trying dif-ferent combinations of nutrients, we wereable to optimize the formulas for maximumeffect in lean muscle mass.To incorporate supplements into yourdiet, Essential Vitamin Formula™ and Min-eral-Electrolyte Formula™ are the startingpoint. My vitamin and mineral formula is theonly one designed to be taken at each meal.One reason I did it this way is very simple:Since you need the vitamins and minerals toassist and control the molecular processesassociated with metabolizing and synthesiz-ing food, it only makes sense that you pro-vide those vitamins and minerals with thefood you are eating. Makes sense, right?Another reason I did it that way was be-cause the water soluble vitamins (the Bgroup and vitamin C) are excreted from yourbody in your urine within 3-4 hours after youtake them, so levels drop back down again.By taking vitamins with each meal, this pro-vides a more steady and constant bloodlevel. It also ensures you’ll have all the vita-mins around you need to help incorporatedietary protein into new muscle tissue aftereach meal. This makes more sense to me thantaking a huge dose of vitamins every morn-ing and excreting most of them by noon. EachMineral-Electrolyte™ tablet contains 250 mgof calcium per tablet, so that by taking four aday you can meet the RDA for calcium. Ialso fortified my vitamins with large amountsof the anti-oxidants: vitamin C, vitamin E, andbeta-carotene.

These seem to help aid re-covery by neutralizing free radicals (reactiveoxygen species) generated during exercise.Free radicals are reactive molecules contain-ing oxygen, which can damage cells and pro-tein molecules. The anti-oxidant vitamins pre-vent this damage by binding to and neutral-izing the free radicals. Each Parrillo EssentialVitamin tablet has 500 mg vitamin C, 200 IUvitamin E, and 5,000 IU beta-carotene. EachMineral tablet contains 25 mcg chromiumpicolinate to stabilize blood sugar and opti-mize insulin function. Again, it makes moresense to take a small dose of chromium witheach meal instead one big dose once a day.Of course, our Formulas contain a completeand balanced array of all the other vitaminsand minerals your body needs for optimumhealth and maximum gains.The core supplements on the ParrilloNutrition program are vitamins and miner-als, CapTri®, Hi-Protein Powder™, and Pro-Carb™. These are the most important onesfor gaining lean mass. Liver-Amino For-mula™ could probably fit into this group aswell, but is not a major source of calories.Let’s talk about how to incorporate theseinto your diet.CapTri® is a remarkable supplement andshould be at the center of any bodybuilder’ssupplement program, whether you’re tryingto gain lean mass or lose body fat.

Think ofCapTri® as a source of pure energy—calo-ries. The special thing about it is that it’s used immediately by the body as a preferredsource of energy and has almost no ten-dency to be stored as body fat. It’s a way(and probably the only way) you can greatlyincrease your caloric intake without riskinggetting fat. That is, of course, if the rest ofyour diet is good. CapTri® is absorbed bythe body and burned for energy almost in-stantly—faster, in fact, than glucose (1).Since it’s converted into energy so rapidly ithas virtually no tendency to contribute tobody fat stores. Here’s the deal: addingpounds of muscle mass to your body takescalories. You could supply the extra caloriesfrom regular foods, such as complex carbsand lean proteins. And this will work, butthe problem is regular foods are more proneto be stored as fat than CapTri® is. So byincreasing calories from regular food you canadd muscle mass, but you’re more likely toput on fat at the same time. CapTri® itself isnot converted to muscle—that’s not what’shappening. How it works is CapTri® sup-plies the energy your body needs to func-tion and the energy cost required to buildmore muscle. The protein foods that you eatsupply the raw materials (amino acids) thatare used to build new muscle. CapTri®spares the oxidation of amino acids, mean-ing that it blocks the use of proteins as fuel(2).

This helps dietary protein be incorpo-rated into muscle tissue more efficiently, aswell as having an anti-catabolic effect toblock muscle breakdown. The net result ofincreasing calories in this way is more musclemass, without the increase in fat that comesfrom eating an excess of regular food. Whathappens if you eat too much CapTri®? Theexcess energy gets converted to body heatinstead of being stored as fat. Also, excesscalories from CapTri® can be lost as ketonebodies in the urine, something that doesn’thappen with regular food. Start by addingone-half tablespoon of CapTri® directly toyour food at each meal. Every three days,increase your intake by another one-halftablespoon, until you’re gaining weight. In-creasing the amount of CapTri® graduallyhelps avoid an upset stomach, which canoccur because CapTri® is digested so rap-idly. Usually between one and three table-spoons per meal works well for most ath-letes, although some use as much as five orsix.How can a supplement so rich in calo-ries help you lose body fat? Simple. To useCapTri® while dieting replace some of yourcarbohydrate calories with an equivalentamount of calories from CapTri®. CapTri®contributes less to body fat stores than doescarbohydrate, because it’s immediately con-verted to energy without being stored bythe body (1,2). Metabolically speaking, thisis called the thermogenic effect. Every timeyou eat, some of the food energy is con-verted to heat.

The more energy that’s lostas heat, the less there is remaining to bestored as fat. Conventional fats found inregular food are not converted to heat muchat all, and that’s why they contribute to bodyfat stores so much. About 3% of the caloriesin regular fat is lost as heat. About 15% ofthe energy from carbs is converted directlyto heat, and about 20-30% of the energy indietary protein is lost as heat. CapTri® hasthe most profound thermogenic effect of anyfood known, so it’s basically all burned forenergy. You may be wondering, if this stuffis just converted into energy and lost asbody heat, isn’t that a waste? Why not justeat less food? Two reasons. Eating less foodwill help you lose weight, but a significantproportion of it will be muscle mass. Also,decreasing calories slows down your meta-bolic rate, so you burn less calories, whichmeans burning less body fat. The ther-mogenic (heat-producing) effect we justtalked about actually works to increase yourmetabolic rate so you’ll burn fat faster. Plus,as mentioned above, it blocks protein break-down so you won’t lose muscle while you’relosing fat. Of course, not all of the energy inCapTri® is lost as body heat—most of it isused to fuel activity and maintenance of thebody. The point is, the energy from CapTri®is more prone to be used as body heat (en-ergy) than are the calories from regular food,which is why CapTri® is less prone to beretained as body fat than regular food. Add-ing CapTri® to your diet increases the ther-mogenic effect of feeding (TEF), and if you’reproducing more energy, you have a highermetabolic rate.

And if you increase yourmetabolic rate, your body needs more en-ergy, so it burns more body fat. By incorpo-rating CapTri® into your diet, you’re reduc-ing what is called the “food efficiency” ofyour diet, which is the proportion of dietaryenergy available for retention as bodyweight. The CapTri® diet helps you lose fatbecause more of your dietary calories arelost as heat, causing your body to draw onfat stores as fuel. Cutting calories alsocauses your body to draw on it’s fat storesfor fuel, but this approach leads to muscleloss and slows down your metabolic rate,which slows down fat loss. CapTri® shiftsyour metabolism into a fat-burning modewithout cutting calories and slowing yourmetabolism. Many bodybuilders go onCapTri® to lose body fat and are surprisedto find they actually gain muscle at the sametime. The last important reason why CapTri®helps you lose fat is that by substitutingCapTri® for carbs you decrease insulin lev-els. Insulin is released in response to carbo-hydrate feeding and blocks the breakdownof body fat. With CapTri® you can decreasecarbs to lower insulin levels and promotethe use of body fat as fuel without sacrific-ing your energy level and lowering yourmetabolic rate. You can learn more aboutregulating the Glucagon-Insulin ratio by con-sulting the Parrillo Sports Nutrition Guide.In the next bulletin, we’ll talk more aboutthe benefits of supplements in your nutri-tion program.

References

1. Bach AC and Babayan VK. Mediumchain triglycerides: an update. Am. J. Clin.Nutr. 36: 950-962, 1982.

2. Babayan, Medium chain triglyceridesand structured lipids.  Lipids 22: 417-420(1987).

Bulletin #39 – Programmed For Success

Parrillo Performance is proud to bethe only company offering bodybuildersa comprehensive program of nutrition,supplementation, and training optimized toincrease muscle mass and decrease bodyfat. Our program is about results— that’sthe bottom line. It’s unfortunate that somany people work out in the gym and tryto watch what they eat, but just never seemto get the results they’re looking for. Usu-ally it’s because they’ve left out some partof the formula that’s required forsuccess. How many people in thegym where you workout have trulyimpressive physiques? Probably notmany. If you don’t have the bodyyou want or if you’re not makinggood progress, that means you’redoing something wrong. Mostpeople take the approach of tryingthis and trying that, reading musclemagazines and talking to their friendsin the gym, hoping that sooner orlater they’ll find something that willwork.

Parrillo Performance
800-344-3404 

The single most valuable ser-vice we offer is our information, andthat’s probably what sets ParrilloPerformance apart more than any-thing else. Parrillo Performancemakes bodybuilders by teachingpeople how to become bodybuilders. Youcan’t get that anywhere else.Pick up any bodybuilding magazineand you’ll find ad after ad promising thata certain supplement will transform yourphysique. A lot of young bodybuilders gettrapped in the mentality of searching forthat magical supplement that will packpounds of muscle onto their bodies. I’lltell you up front it doesn’t work that way.If developing a championship physiquewas as easy as taking supplements you’dsee a lot more impressive physiques in thegym. Sure, supplements can help, and weoffer, without doubt, the most effectivesupplement line on the market.

But still,supplements are only part of the picture.Bodybuilding is hard work—in andout of the gym. Your work in the gym isonly the beginning. What is bodybuildingabout, after all? It’s about taking an ordi-nary body, or even a less-than-averagebody, and turning it into something spe-cial— something beautiful. That isn’t easy.In my business, I’ve been privileged tosee many remarkable transformations, inpeople of all ages. Seeing people makepositive changes in their lives and achievetheir goals is my greatest reward.I do this because I love bodybuildingand I love to see people get results.We’reabout education and information be-cause people need the information to getresults. That’s why I publish this maga-zine I publish this magazine. As you mightimagine, this is a tremendous expense thateats a huge chunk out of my profits, but Iwant to stay in touch with my clients andcontinue to bring them up-to-date scien-tific and practical information. That’s theway I want to do business. I have a sci-entist on staff with a Ph.D. in molecularbiology to help us with research in nutri-tion and metabolism. I sent him to medi-cal school and in a few months we’ll beproud to have an MD on staff. And it’s alldone in the interest of increasing theknowledge of maintaining a healthy hu-man body.Bodybuilding is about mastery. Mas-tery of your body and your life.

It’s aboutdiscipline and self control. It’s using yourmind to control your body, to make itwhat you want it to be. And before youcan use your brain to transform your phy-sique into that of a bodybuilder, your brainhas to know what it’s doing.That’s where I come in. I teachpeople what to do to becomebodybuilders. The sense of mas-tery, of controlling your life andyour destiny, is to me what body-building is really about. (And youthought it was just about liftingweights!) People develop a senseof self-worth or self-esteemwhen they set a goal for them-selves and follow through on it.Bodybuilding is a journey. Yourdestination may be to become atop amateur or professional body-builder. Or a fitness star. Or amodel. Or the best looking guyon the beech. Or just to finallylose that weight and get in thebest shape of your life. Like any journey,you take it a step at a time. You set a goaland then plan out a strategy, or road map,to get you from where you are to whereyou want to be. The Parrillo PerformanceProgram is your road map to bodybuild-ing success.

The beauty of our program is that itis a comprehensive approach, and nodoubt that’s why it works so reliably. Itincludes exact instructions on nutrition,supplementation, weight training, aerobicconditioning, and stretching. The Nutri-tion Program comes with a food scale andinstructions on how to precisely constructeach meal to contain the number of calo-ries and grams of protein, carbohydrate, and fat you need. It includes a food com-position guide listing the nutrient break-down of the foods you should be eating.It contains instructions on how to modifyyour diet throughout the year to gainmuscle or lose fat. It tells you how to carbload and peak for your contest. We pro-vide a Body Stat Kit with skin-fold cali-pers so you can monitor your body com-position. This way you can make sureyou’re gaining muscle and losing fat. Ifthings aren’t going the right way, themanual tells you what changes to make.The Training Manual describes the properexecution of the most effective bodybuild-ing exercises, has suggested routines, andtells you how to stretch each musclegroup. All of this is backed up by our tech-nical services line (513-531-1311) whereyou can call with any questions. We pro-vide a comprehensive line of state of theart supplements to help enrich your diet.

Call us if you have questions about whichones are most appropriate for you.With this comprehensive approach tobodybuilding, we leave no stone unturned.Every element of the program has beentested on top level bodybuilders manytimes over. During the last twenty yearsI’ve done just about every experimentwith training, nutrition, and supplementa-tion you could imagine. The program ispolished and honed—and it works. All ofthe guesswork is removed. It truly is aformula for success.My philosophy basically is that, if youwork hard, you deserve to be rewardedwith results. To achieve a top level body-building physique is not easy. As with anyworthwhile goal, it requires dedication,consistency, and hard work. If you makea commitment to those ideals and put forththe effort, I’ll make the commitment toteach you what to do to become your best.I’m a trainer of competitive bodybuild-ers, and over the years I developed myown line of supplements because I sawin my athletes a need for better products.I was training competitive athletes andexperimenting with nutrients a long timebefore my supplement line came out. I’ma trainer first, and the knowledge of whatto do is much more powerful than anysupplement could ever be.

Parrillo Per-formance is here to teach serious athleteswhat to do to become their best. I’vehelped more than a few bodybuildersmove up to the professional ranks.Over the last few years I’ve writtena lot of articles detailing the science be-hind the program. We’ve talked abouthormones and how to control them withdiet, metabolism of fat, muscle physiol-ogy, exercise physiology, biochemistry ofnutrients, energy metabolism, and othertopics that represent why the program isthe way it is. The practical “how-to” in-formation is spelled out in detail in theNutrition and Training Manuals. What I’dlike to do now is give kind of an overviewof the program that integrates some ofthe technical information with the practi-cal information.The basic premise of the Parrillo Nu-trition Program is that healthy foods arethe foundation of nutrition. This is in starkcontrast to the other companies, whowant you to believe that their product isthe magical key to success. Supplementscan help, but remember that they’re sup-posed to be used to fortify or enhanceyour diet. Supplements cannot redeem abad diet. In other words, a bad diet plussupplements is still a bad diet. Properlyused, supplements can boost the levels ofspecific nutrients beyond what can prac-tically be obtained from whole foodsalone.

So let’s start with the diet. I advo-cate a diet low in fat, medium in protein,and high in complex carbohydrates. Theway to calculate your diet is simple. Re-search has shown that intensely trainingathletes need about one gram of proteinper pound of body weight per day to main-tain nitrogen balance (1). That means theyneed that much protein to unsure theyhave enough to build muscle mass. Thisamounts to about 2.5 times the RDA forprotein, which is based on non-exercis-ing people. For years there was a lot ofcontroversy on this issue, but now it iswell understood that intense exercise train-ing increases a person’s need for protein.During dieting I suggest you increase pro-tein intake to 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight. Here’s why: Some of the proteinyou eat is burned for energy. During ex-treme conditions, such as starvation orprolonged endurance exercise, the proteinin your muscles can even be broken downand used for energy. Any form of calo-ries provided by the diet is said to “spare”protein, meaning that the more caloriesyou have coming into your body the lessprotein it needs to burn (2). When you’redieting to lose weight for a contest youwill be consuming less calories than dur-ing the off season.

This increases thechances your body will use some proteinas fuel. To make up for this you shouldincrease protein intake when you reducecalories.So start with one gram of protein perpound body weight in the off season or1.5 grams pre-contest. The next step isto limit fat to 5% of daily calories. Therest of your calories come from complexcarbohydrates. That’s a pretty simple for-mula. It’s impossible to accurately breakthis down into percentages of caloriesfrom protein, carbohydrate, and fat be-cause the numbers work out to be differ-ent for every one. As an example, a body-builder weighing 200 pounds and con-suming 3,000 calories would consume200 grams of protein, 17 grams of fat,and 510 grams of carbs. This would be27% protein, 68% carbs, and 5% fat.(Remember that protein and carbohydratehave 4 calories per gram and fat has 9calories per gram.) The ratios usually workout to be 25-30% protein, 60-65% carbs,and 5-10% fat for most people. The ba-sic rationale is this: The role of protein inthe body is to support your lean bodymass and to provide the raw materials youneed to build more muscle. So proteinrequirements are determined by bodymass. As your muscle mass increases,your protein requirement increases. Therole of carbohydrate is as a fuel source,so carbohydrates are used to supply thebulk of calories. The carbohydrate re-quirement is determined by daily energy(calorie) needs.

Dietary fat is kept to anabsolute minimum. Study after study hasshown that body fat is more closely de-termined by dietary fat content than bydietary energy content (2-5). In other how much fat is in your diet, and this ismore important than how many caloriesyou eat. Dietary fat has a strong tendencyto be stored as body fat, whereas leanprotein and complex carbohydrates do not(2-5). Excess calories from protein andcarbohydrate tend to be lost as body heatinstead of being stored as fat (2-5). Ex-cess calories from dietary fat are simplyretained as body fat (2-5). Consider this:metabolic studies have shown that yourbody is constantly burning amixture of carbohydrate andfat for energy. At rest, mostof your energy is derivedfrom fat. As activity level in-creases, more carbs arethrown into the furnace. Soyour body burns a certainamount of fat every day asfuel. What would happen ifyour diet supplied less thanthis amount? You will burnbody fat, that’s what.There are several thingsabout the low fat diet thatmake it perfect for body-builders. I’ll get back to that in the future.One of the toughest questions is,“How many calories should I consume?”This is a very individual thing, and is de-termined by your lean body mass, activ-ity level, and genetics. There are severalmathematical formulas you can use toestimate your maintenance requirements,but I’m not going to list them here be-cause they don’t work reliably. The indi-vidual variation is tremendous.

The easi-est and best way to handle this is simplyto start weighing your food and use theFood Composition Guide in the NutritionManual to calculate how many caloriesyou normally consume. Keep a food jour-nal and write down every bite of food youeat. After a week or so, average your dailycalorie intake and this will give you a goodidea of how many calories you need tomaintain your present lean body mass. Youcan adjust this up or down by 300-500calories per day depending on whetheryou want to gain weight or lose weight.Remember that muscle tissue is constantlyburning calories to maintain itself, even atrest. So as your muscle mass increasesyou’ll need to slowly and continually ad-just your calories upward. As your musclemass increases your metabolic rate in-creases, so your calorie requirements in-crease too. I call this “building your me-tabolism.” I introduced this concept sixor seven years ago and it revolutionizedthe way people thought about bodybuild-ing nutrition. Since then it’s caught on inthe popular diet literature too, and nowyou see info-mercials on TV about it.You need to feed your body and sup-ply it with all the nutrients it needs to behealthy—even when you’re dieting to loseweight. Caloric restriction sets off a star-vation response that shuts down your me-tabolism to save fuel. By increasingmuscle mass you can build your metabo-lism so that you constantly burn morecalories. And by restricting dietary fat youcan force your body to burn its own fatfor energy.

There are also some highlytechnical aspects about how various fu-els are metabolized by your body that fac-tor in here. I explained these concepts inmy series about thermogenesis a coupleyears ago. The bottom line is that theParrillo diet increases metabolic rate byfostering muscle growth, as well as bydirect thermogenic effects of the nutrientprofile.So we’ve talked about how manycalories to consume and how to dividethose up among protein, carbohydrate, andfat. The next major concept is how tostructure your meals. Simply put, youshould divide your daily requirements forcalories, protein, carbs, and fat into sixequal portions and eat six small mealsspaced about three hours apart through-out the day. An important part of the dietis its effect on hormone levels, especiallyinsulin, glucagon, and growth hormone.The diet is specifically designed to con-trol these hormone levels to maximizemuscle mass and minimize body fat. Itwon’t work if you eat only protein at onemeal and only carbs at the nextmeal. Each meal must be prop-erly balanced. Also, it’s impor-tant not to eat too many calo-ries in any one meal. Six smallmeals will make you muchleaner and more muscularthan three large ones, evenif you consume the sametotal number of caloriesduring the day.

Too manycalories at one meal will el-evate insulin levels toohigh and will promote fatstorage. Also, musclecan only grow so fast andit does better with a more constant anduniform supply of nutrients instead ofthree big doses. Another important factoris the thermic effect of feeding, or TEF.Every time you eat, your metabolic rateincreases as a result of stimulation of thesympathetic nervous system by nutrientsand by hormones released from the gutafter feeding (2). Frequent, small feedingsincrease TEF and decrease fat storage.The only time to change this is the lastfew weeks before a contest you may wantto decrease carbs in your last meal of theday to promote fat burning at night, butthat’s a small technical point we don’t needto worry about now.Finally we need to talk about whichfoods to eat and which foods to avoid.The best lean protein sources are skinlesschicken breast, skinless turkey breast, eggwhites, and most fish (including tunapacked in water). Carbohydrates are di-vided into two groups: starchy and fi-brous. Good starchy carbs include pota-toes, sweet potatoes, rice, beans (all varieties are okay), lentils, corn, peas,oatmeal, grits, and cream of wheat. Fi-brous carbs are basically any and all freshor frozen vegetables.

Examples are saladgreens, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauli-flower, asparagus, cabbage, eggplant,mushrooms, onions, peppers, tomatoes,carrots, celery, and so on. Each mealshould contain one serving of protein, oneserving of starchy carbohydrate, and onefibrous vegetable, in the appropriate ra-tios. Combining fiber and protein with thestarch slows the rate of glucose releaseso you get a slow, steady insulin release,which helps channel the calories to muscleand not fat. If you combine your foods inthis way you really don’t have to worryabout glycemic index. White potatoeshave a relatively high glycemic indexwhen eaten alone, but when combined ina meal like this the overall glycemic indexof the meal is very low. As far as dietaryfat goes, you don’t have to add any fatsource at all to the diet. Your 5-10% fatcalories will come along naturally with theother foods. You may want to add oneteaspoon to one tablespoon per day of flaxoil to provide essential fatty acids (EFAs),or take an EFA supplement such asevening primrose oil. Fish oil supplements(for the omega-3 fatty acids) are fine too,but you won’t need these if you eat fishseveral times a week.

You’ll notice these are all whole, natu-ral, unprocessed foods. You’ll get muchbetter results eating healthy foods like thisthat you prepare yourself. Part of the com-mitment to this program is the willingnessto fix your own food and take it with youin a cooler where ever you go. At firstthis will be a major chore, especially ifyou’re not used to weighing your foodand calculating its nutrient values. For thefirst month or so this will take more timethan working out. Soon, however, you’lllearn what portions you need and the pro-cess will become second nature. An ex-perienced bodybuilder may even spendless time on food preparation than the av-erage person, and yet construct preciselyengineered meals. It just takes a little prac-tice. The results will make it worthwhile,believe me. You can prepare meals in bulkand put them in Tupperware dishes in thefreezer, so all you have to do in the morn-ing is throw a few bowls in the cooler.To attain the physique of yourdreams, one of the sacrifices you have tomake is to avoid certain foods. I wish Icould say all things are okay in modera-tion, and there are no forbidden foods,but it just isn’t so.

Foods you should avoidare butter, margarine, mayonnaise, saladdressings, oils, shortening, nuts, seeds,peanut butter, jelly and jam, all sweets,desserts, candy, cake, pie, cookies, muf-fins, ice cream, pizza, cheese, hamburger,hot dogs, processed meats and deli meats,olives, avocados, crackers, pretzels, andchips. You should avoid all fast food, junkfood, convenience food, snack food, allfried food, and anything in a vending ma-chine. In general you should not eat inrestaurants. It is possible to get a low fatmeal in a restaurant, but difficult. Youshould avoid refined carbohydrates suchas bread and pasta. You should also avoidfruit and dairy products (including low fatdairy products) because they derive mostof their calories from simple sugars.Bread, pasta, fruit, and dairy products areperfectly healthy foods and they’re greatfor most people, but they just don’t workfor bodybuilders. You’re better off withunrefined, unprocessed, natural, complexcarbohydrates.This sounds like a long list of “don’ts”but you’ll see what they have in commonis they are all either high in fat, sugar, salt,or refined carbohydrates.

These are thingsyou want to avoid to be healthy anyway.Please notice that if you omit fruit anddairy products from your diet you’ll haveto take a vitamin and mineral supplement.These are the only supplements which aretruly required on the Parrillo diet. Pay spe-cial attention to get enough calcium. Youneed 1,000 mg per day, and the typicalone-a-day formulas out there don’t comeclose to that. The Parrillo PerformanceEssential Vitamin and Mineral ElectrolyteFormulas were designed specifically forbodybuilders following this diet. Four tab-lets of the mineral formula per day willmeet your calcium requirement.So that’s a summary of how manyProgrammed For Success: Supplementation For Optimal Results, Part Icalories to eat, how much protein, carbo-hydrate, and fat to eat, how to divide it upinto individual meals, how many meals toeat, which foods to eat, how to combinefoods at each meal, and which foods toavoid. Like I said,  Parrillo Performanceis about information. If you want a cham-pion level physique, I can teach you whatto do to get it. The Nutrition Manual isavailable for those who want more infor-mation and more detailed instructions. Itcomes with a food scale and a food com-position guide, so you can construct mealsprecisely to meet your exact nutrientneeds. It also contains a lot of sample di-ets, with all the calculations already donefor you. Until next month— happy eat-ing!

References

1. Lemon PWR. Protein and AminoAcid Needs of the Strength Athlete. Intl.J. Sport Nutr. 1: 127-145, 1991.

2. Bjorntorp P and Brodoff BN. Obe-sity. J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia,1992.

3. Astrup A. Dietary composition,substrate balances and body fat in sub-jects with a predisposition to obesity. Int.J. Obesity 17: S32-S36, 1993.

4. Swinburn B and Ravussin E. En-ergy balance or fat balance? Am. J. Clin.Nutr. 57: 766S-771S, 1993.

5. Horton TJ, Drougas H, BracheyA, Reed GW, Peters JC, and Hill JO. Fatand carbohydrate overfeeding in humans:different effects on energy storage. Am.J. Clin. Nutr. 62: 19-29, 1995.

Bulletin #38 – Carbohydrates: Mega Fuel For Growth And Energy

Last month I explained why the latestdiet craze —the high fat diet—doesn’t makeany sense. It can contribute to heart diseaseand cancer. It deprives your muscles of carbswhich they require for high intensity exer-cise like weight lifting. And if you are eatingextra calories to gain lean body mass, excessfat calories have a very high tendency to bestored as body fat.  Remember, fat cannot beconverted to muscle and it cannot be storedas glycogen. The only thing your body cando with excess calories from conventionalfat is to store them as body fat.The theory behind the high fat diet is touse dietary fat as fuel in place of carbohy-drates. This results in lower insulin levels.Since insulin stimulates fat storage andblocks fat breakdown, this sounds like a goodidea. If we could get around the problemswith the high fat diet, it would be great.  Andwe can with CapTri®! The Parrillo diet is verylow in conventional fat but instead relies ona special fat called CapTri® which has beenspecifically formulated for bodybuilders andanyone trying to minimize body fat stores.The Parrillo diet is a more balanced approach,and I think you’ll agree makes a lot moresense. The first consideration is to meet yourprotein requirement. A good rule of thumbis one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. Divide this equally amongsix meals spread throughout theday.  

Parrillo Performance
800-344-3404 

Next comes CapTri®. Startout with ½ tablespoon per meal,mixed with food, until your sys-tem gets used to it. Work yourway up to one or two table-spoons per meal, depending onyour size and level of caloric in-take (some people eat as muchas five tablespoons per meal). Agood rule of thumb here is to tryto derive 30% of your caloriesfrom CapTri® while limiting con-ventional fat to 5% of calories.You should see and feel a dra-matic effect at this level.  Thenmake up the rest of your caloriesfrom unrefined, complex carbo-hydrates. Avoid simple sugars, fruit, dairyproducts, bread, pasta, and other refinedcarbohydrates. These carbohydrate sourceswill make you fat. I classify carbs into threegroups: simple sugars and refined carbohy-drates (one group), starchy carbs, and fi-brous carbs. Good starchy carbs are pota-toes, sweet potatoes, rice, beans, peas, corn,and oatmeal. Good fibrous carbs are veg-etables like lettuce, spinach, cabbage, greenbeans, and so on. The Parrillo PerformanceNutrition Manual contains an extensive listof good foods to eat along with their nutri-tional content.How does this compare with the highfat diet? There are two big differences. First,the Parrillo diet uses CapTri® instead of con-ventional fat. Whereas regular fat found inconventional food has a very high tendencyto store as body fat, CapTri® does not.CapTri® is a fat with a specially engineeredmolecular structure that causes it to be me-tabolized differently than regular fat (1-7).CapTri® has almost no tendency to store asbody fat (1-7).

Instead, excess calories fromCapTri® are simply released as body heat ina process called thermogenesis (1-7). This isreally a bodybuilder’s dream since it allowsus to substitute fat calories for carbs in or-der to decrease insulin levels, while avoid-ing the pitfalls of regular fats. The secondbig difference is that on the Parrillo diet younever go real low on carbs. The way the dietis structured, you don’t have to. The highfat diet calls for limiting carbs to 5-10% ofcalories so that you can enter a fat-burningstate called ketosis. With the Parrillo diet youcan maintain insulin at low levels and shiftyour metabolism into a fat burning mode, allwhile still consuming 40-60% of your calo-ries from carbohydrates. This works becausecombining protein and fat (CapTri®) and fi-ber at each meal slows the release of carbsinto the bloodstream, resulting in a muchlower insulin level.This approach is far superior to the highfat diet because it supplies the carbs yourbody needs for top performance. If you’veever tried going low on carbs, you know whatI mean. You just don’t have the energy with-out carbs. As I explained last month, weightlifting is a form of anaerobic (without oxygen) exercise.  

This means that your musclesare working so hard and so fast that the en-ergy requirement cannot be met by the aero-bic (with oxygen) energy pathway. The pre-ferred fuel for your muscles to use duringanaerobic exercise is carbohydrate. So doesit make sense for bodybuilders to go reallylow on carbohydrates? I don’t think so.Let’s take a look at some of the otherbenefits of carbohydrates. Everyone knows by now that diets based on severe caloricrestriction fail (8,9). They fail because thebody reduces its level of energy expendi-ture to compensate for the loss of incomingenergy (calories). During very low caloriediets about half the weight which is lost ismuscle. And since muscle is the metabolicengine where a lot of calories are burned, ifyou lose muscle you burn less calories. Thenumber of calories your body burns per hourwhile you are at rest is called your basal(baseline) metabolic rate (BMR). It has beenshown that BMR increases following excessfeeding of a mixed diet (i.e., a normal dietthat contains carbohydrates) but not if onlyexcess conventional fat (LCT) is fed (8). Thismeans that carbohydrates increase yourmetabolic rate more than conventional fatsdo (but not more than CapTri®). How doesthis happen? It turns out that carbohydrateis converted to ATP (energy in the molecu-lar form which is usable by cells) with anoverall efficiency of 75% (8). The other 25%of the calories in the carbs gets released asbody heat in the process. Fat is convertedto ATP with an efficiency of 90% (8).

Thismeans that if you feed your body carbohy-drates instead of fat a higher percentage ofthe calories you eat will be converted to heat,which translates into a higher metabolic rate.The more calories you eat which are lost asbody heat, the less left to store as fat. Insimple terms, this is just saying that eating ahigh carb diet instead of a high fat diet re-sults in a higher metabolic rate, meaning thatyour body burns more calories all the time,even when you’re at rest. These calorieswhich are being burned simply appear asbody heat.Now keep in mind that this does notapply to CapTri®, which is a specially de-signed MCT. CapTri® is a fat, but follows adifferent metabolic pathway from regularfats. It’s a whole other animal. CapTri® in-creases metabolic rate even more than car-bohydrate. It’s jet fuel for muscles.For you biochemists out there whowant to know how carbohydrate feedingstimulates metabolic rate: The thermic effectof food (TEF) is defined as the postprandialincrement in energy expenditure above theresting rate and is expressed as a fraction ofthe energy content of the food consumed(8). A substantial part of the TEF (50-75%) issimply the energy used to digest, transport,and store food (8). This is termed the obliga-tory component of TEF.

Carbohydrate feed-ing is known to stimulate the sympatheticnervous system, and the ensuing catechola-mine-mediated increase in metabolic rate isknown as the facultative component of TEF(8). This effect can be blocked by propanolol(a beta-adrenergic antagonist).From this we can see that body weight,and body composition, depend not only onenergy balance (calories in versus caloriesout) but also on what foods you eat. A per-son eating a high carb diet will naturally burnmore calories than someone eating a highfat diet, because he has a higher metabolicrate. This will make it easier for the personon the high carb diet to stay lean. I think itwas explained very well in Bjorntorp andBrodoff’s classic text  “Obesity” (8) whenthey pointed out that the human body verynarrowly regulates carbohydrate stores butnot fat stores. The body has a limited abilityto store carbohydrate (glycogen). The ad-justment of carbohydrate oxidation to car-bohydrate intake is carefully controlled toresult in stable glycogen reserves under awide range of dietary carbohydrate intakes.This means that if you eat more carbs youburn more carbs, and if you eat less carbsyou burn less carbs.

This is because it is soimportant to maintain blood glucose levelsto allow proper brain function. On the otherhand, body fat stores are not regulated inthis way and your body has an almost limit-less potential to store fat. You can only store400-600 grams of carbs no matter how muchcarbs you eat, but you can store 100 poundsof fat (or more) if you eat enough. Thus, car-bohydrate feeding promotes carbohydrateoxidation (burning) but fat feeding does notpromote fat oxidation (8). On days when ex-cess carbs are consumed carbohydrate oxi-dation is increased, but if excess fat is con-sumed it is simply stored in adipose depots(8). Since 25% of excess calories from carbo-hydrate are wasted as heat, and since glyco-gen stores are generally far from full, an ex-cess carbohydrate load of 500g can be ac-commodated without an increase in body fat(8). This means if you over-eat on the highcarb diet the excess carbs get stored as gly-cogen, but if you over-eat on the high fatdiet the excess fat gets stored as body fat.Excess fat calories are not released as bodyheat, and they cannot be converted to gly-cogen or muscle. Bummer.These arguments show that a meal witha high carbohydrate to fat ratio is more ther-mogenic than a meal with a low ratio. Whilecarbohydrate and protein balance are closelyregulated, fat balance is related by theamount of fat in the diet (8). During over-feeding, weight gain is closely related to fatintake (8).

The body’s inability to regulatefat stores explains why the incidence of obe-sity rises as the fat content of the diet in-creases (8). Is this starting to make the highfat diet sound a little less attractive?Now don’t go crazy on this informationand get the idea you can indiscriminatelyeat all the carbs you want and never get fat.It just isn’t so. After glycogen stores arefull, any more excess carbs get converted tofat and stored as fat. Your body is very goodat converting excess carbs into body fat. Thepoint is that body fat accumulation is lesslikely with the high carb diet than the highfat diet, but it is possible with any diet if youconsistently consume too many calories. I’llreiterate the most important guidelines areto avoid simple sugars and refined carbohy-drates. These generate a greater insulin re-sponse and therefore are a more potent stimu-lus for fat storage. Simple sugars are presentin sweets and desserts (obviously) and arealso found in significant quantities in fruitand dairy products. Pasta and bread aremade from refined carbohydrates (sorry, butthis includes bagels). Also, but sure to mix your carbs with protein at each meal, andinclude a fibrous carb with each starch.These things slow the entry of glucose intothe blood.The down side of carbs, as proponentsof the high fat diet are quick to point out, isthat they induce a big insulin response.

Thisis why I’ve gone to such pains to structuremy diet the way I have, using only slow-release complex carbohydrates.  If you eatas outlined in the Parrillo Nutrition Manual,you’ll be able to eat a high carb diet whileminimizing insulin response. This is also whymy carbohydrate supplement, Pro-Carb™, isformulated the way it is. It is based onmaltodextrin, a slow release glucose poly-mer with a glycemic index of 22-26. This isjust about as low a glycemic index a carb canhave. Plus I’ve added 4 grams of completeprotein to every serving to further slow glu-cose release. It is sweetened with glycine, anaturally sweet amino acid, instead of sugaror corn syrup. For good glucose and insulincontrol, it’s probably one of the best carbo-hydrates available. It was designed specifi-cally for bodybuilders and athletes, withthese considerations in mind.The truth is I can see the logic of thehigh fat diet and I’ve had great success withit in bodybuilders, the main difference beingI use CapTri® instead of conventional fat.The reasons for this have to do with howCapTri® is metabolized and that it has al-most no tendency to be stored as body fat(1-7). CapTri® is profoundly thermogenic,meaning that it increases metabolic rate andexcess calories from CapTri® are simply lostas body heat instead of being stored as bodyfat (1-7). This is in stark contrast to conven-tional fat found in regular foods, which hasvery little thermogenic potential and has ahigh tendency to store as body fat.

The othermain difference is that I never recommendgoing as low in carbs as the hard-core highfat people do. The high fat diet calls for re-stricting carbs to 5-20% of daily calories,depending on who you read. Once carbs getbelow about 100 grams a day, your bodystarts to break down muscle tissue and usesthe amino acids to make glucose in the liver.Intentionally constructing a diet that resultsin muscle break-down to maintain blood glu-cose never made much sense to me. Losinga pound of fat doesn’t really get you any-where as a bodybuilder if you have to lose apound of muscle at the same time. The otherthing is your muscles require carbs to fuelthe anaerobic activity of lifting weights. Ifyour muscles need carbs, feed ‘em somecarbs. It’s not that complicated.My experience with top bodybuildersover the last twenty years has taught methat the best diet is one which provides oneto one-and-a-half grams of protein per poundof body weight per day, about 30% of calo-ries as CapTri®, and the rest as complexcarbs. (And believe me, I’ve taken them fromthe basement to the Olympia, literally.) Thisusually works out to be around 30% protein,30% CapTri®, and 40% carbs, but the per-centages vary among individuals depend-ing on their protein and calorie requirements.The ratios also change depending onwhether you’re trying to gain muscularweight in the off season or lose fat before acontest. The exact protocols are given in theNutrition Manual.My opinion is you’re better off with ahigh carb diet, with or without CapTri®, thanwith the high fat diet. I think it works betterand an overwhelming body of scientific lit-erature backs me up. Plus, it’s healthier, youfeel better, and you have more energy to train.

References

1. Baba N, Bracco EF, and Hashim SA.Enhanced thermogenesis and diminisheddeposition of fat in response to overfeedingwith diet containing medium chain triglycer-ide. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 35: 678-682, 1982.

2. Geliebter A, Torbay N, Bracco EF,Hashim SA, and Van Itallie TB. Overfeedingwith medium chain triglyceride diet resultsin diminished deposition of fat. Am. J. Clin.Nutr. 37: 1-4, 1983.

3. Hill JO, Peters JC, Yang D, Sharp T,Kaler M, Abumrad N, and Greene HL. Ther-mogenesis in humans during overfeedingwith medium chain triglycerides. Metab. 38:641-648, 1989.

4. Lavau MM and Hashim SA. Effect ofmedium chain triglyceride on lipogenesis andbody fat in the rat. J. Nutr. 108: 613-620, 1978.

5. Seaton TB, Welle SL, Warenko MK,and Campbell RG. Thermic effect of medium-Carbohydrates: Mega Fuel For Growth and Energy, Part IIchain and long-chain triglycerides in man.Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 44: 630-634, 1986.

6. Bach AC and Babayan VK. Mediumchain triglycerides: an update. Am. J. Clin.Nutr. 36: 950-962, 1982.

7. Hill JO, Peters JC, Swift LL, Yang D,Sharp T, Abumrad N, and Greene HL.Changes in blood lipids during six days ofoverfeeding with medium or long chain trig-lycerides. J. Lipid Res. 31: 407-416, 1990.

8. Bjorntorp P, and Brodoff BN. Obe-sity. J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1992.

9. Remington DW, Fisher AG, and Par-ent EA. How to Lower your Fat Thermostat.Vitality House International, Provo, 1983.

Bulletin #37 – Carbohydrates: Mega Fuel For Growth And Energy

Some debate has appeared in thebodybuilding magazines recently aboutwhat’s the best dietary fuel for bodybuild-ers. Some people are advocating the high-fat diet, in which most of the day’s calo-ries are derived from fat while keepingcarbohydrate consumption to a minimum.The rationale for this approach is to avoidcarbohydrates in order to keep insulin lev-els as low as possible, thus promoting useof stored body fat as energy. This is atopic near and dear to my heart, so let’stake a close look at the facts.Let’s begin our analysis with the mostbasic concepts and move to more spe-cific considerations later. What thehigh-carb diet and the high-fat diethave in common is that they bothemphasize consuming adequate pro-tein to maintain positive nitrogenbalance.

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This is the first consider-ation of any bodybuilding diet.Many studies have documentedthat bodybuilders and enduranceathletes need a lot of protein tomake up for the loss of aminoacids which are oxidized asfuel during exercise and torepair muscle tissue which isdamaged during exercise. (See the July‘95 issue of The Parrillo PerformancePress for an extensive reference list.)Most bodybuilders do well on one gramof protein per pound of body weight perday, while others may need as much asone-and-a-half or more.

The primaryfunction of protein in the diet is to supplyamino acids which are used to supportprotein synthesis in the body. This is re-quired to repair muscles that are damagedduring exercise, to support growth of newmuscle tissue, and to allow for proteinturnover, which is the replacement of allsorts of cellular proteins that “wear out”from every day wear and tear.The rest of your daily calorie intakeis to provide energy, and this is where thetwo diets differ. One strategy is to supplymost of this energy in the form of com-plex carbs, while the other approach is tosupply the energy as fat. The truth is thateither approach can be made to work, andthe question is which one works best? Topromote the use of stored body fat asenergy the one crucial requirement whichmust be met is the body must function ina net energy deficit. This means that en-ergy consumed (dietary calories) must beless than the total amount of energy (calo-ries) the body expends. Only when yourbody burns more calories than you con-sume will it draw on stored fat for en-ergy. This is a fine line to walk, however,because if the energy deficit is too greatyou will also draw on stored protein fromskeletal muscle and internal organs forenergy.

This is why it’s important to keepprotein intake high while losing body fat,to minimize these losses. If you are fa-miliar with my program you know that Ido not advocate cutting calories to loseweight, since this slows your metabolicrate and sets into play an adaptive responsethat actually causes your body to hoardfat at the expense of protein (1,2). (Thebiochemistry and endocrinology of thiswere explained in detail in previous is-sues.) A much better way to achieve anenergy deficit is to increase your energyexpenditure by doing more aerobicexercise.You burn fat while doing theaerobics and burn more fat afterwardsbecause your metabolism has increased.So to lose body fat while maintainingmuscle mass we need to consume a dietadequate in protein and deficient in calo-ries (that is, we need to burn more calo-ries than we consume). After meeting theprotein requirement, the rest of the calo-ries can come from carbohydrates, fat,or some combination.  Just so we burnmore calories than we eat, we will losebody fat. So both diets will work, butthat’s not to say they work equally well.I believe that it is best to supply the bulkof dietary energy in the form of com-plex carbohydrates and to keep con-ventional dietary fat to a minimum.

Three general categories of reasonshave lead me in this direction: per-sonal experience with real-life body-builders, general health consider-ations, and the scientific literature.The simple truth is that the vastmajority of bodybuilders stick tothe high-carb approach becausethey have found it works bet-ter for them. Almost all of theprofessionals I’ve trained just seem to dobetter on the high-carb/low-fat diet. Be-lieve me, what matters at this level is re-sults.  If the high-fat diet gave better re-sults, that’s what I would use. But thefact is that in my experience with elite ath-letes the high-carb diet works better.That’s not some fancy technical explana-tion, it’s just the bottom line, plain andsimple.The second reason I favor the lowfat approach is for general reasons of goodhealth. The number one killer of people inthis country is heart disease, which ac-counts for as many deaths as all othercauses of death put together (includingcancer). Coronary artery disease occurswhen cholesterol plaques build up inside the arteries supplying the heart muscle,cutting off some of its blood supply (3).When the heart muscle can’t get enoughoxygen angina (chest pain) occurs.

Some-times the cholesterol plaques rupture(break), causing a blood clot to form inthe coronary artery. This completely cutsoff blood supply to part of the heart re-sulting in myocardial infarction, or a heartattack. Doctors and nutritionists all sug-gest following a low fat diet to help re-duce blood cholesterol level and preventcoronary artery disease. A diet high in con-ventional fat has also been associated withsome cancers, including breast cancer andcolon cancer (3). Furthermore, doctorsand nutritionists suggest eating a low-fatdiet to help lose weight, because gram forgram fat contains more than twice asmany calories as protein or carbohydrate,so cutting down on fat is the easiest wayto cut down on calories. So from the pointof view of general health concerns, suchas heart disease, cancer, and obesity, eat-ing a low-fat diet seems to be the way togo.Finally, there is quite a body of re-search literature supporting carbohydratesas the preferred energy source for ath-letes (see chapters 2,3, and 7 in reference4). In contrast, I don’t know of any sci-entific studies which have found conven-tional fat to be a superior energy sourcefor athletes.

As you know, weight liftingis an anaerobic activity. That means theenergy is produced without using oxygen.Carbohydrate is the body’s preferred fuelsubstrate which can be broken down toyield energy without reacting with oxy-gen. Here’s what’s going on: Let’s sayyou’re doing a set of bench presses tofailure, and you can get 8 reps with 225pounds but you fail on the ninth rep andyour training partner has to help you rackthe weight. Your pecs are working as hardas they can for about 30 seconds and thenthey give out and can’t do another rep.They fail because they run out of energyand because waste products accumulatewhich inhibit further contraction. Whilethis is happening blood is flowing to themuscle supplying it with nutrients andoxygen. The problem is the blood canonly flow so fast, so there’s a limit to howfast it can supply fuel and oxygen. Fur-thermore, it takes some time for thesechemicals to move from the bloodstreaminto muscle cells.When you go for a walk there’s noproblem supplying oxygen and fuel fastenough to keep up with the demands ofyour leg muscles. This is a low intensityexercise and you can keep it up for hoursbecause the blood flow is adequate to sup-ply the muscles with fuel and oxygen asfast as it’s being used. Weight training,on the other hand, is very intense and themuscles are performing work at the fast-est rate they can.  

This means they areconsuming energy as fast as they can—faster than can be supplied by the blood-stream.  So during a set the muscles relyon fuel already stored inside the cell. Thefirst few seconds are fueled by the phos-phate energy system, ATP and creatinephosphate. After that muscle glycogen isbroken down to pyruvate and then to lac-tic acid without reaction with oxygen. Thisbiochemical pathway is called glycolysis,and is a way for muscles to perform workfaster than would be possible if they hadto wait for oxygen to be delivered by theblood. The glycolytic pathway can sup-ply energy for a minute or two, until en-ergy substrates within the cell are depletedand waste products accumulate.The point of all this is that fat cannotbe readily used as a fuel for lifting weightsbecause fat REQUIRES oxygen to be bro-ken down (3,4). Carbohydrates are es-sentially the only fuel your body can useto lift weights, because it’s the preferredfuel the muscles can break down withoutusing oxygen (4). So right off the batthere’s a pretty good reason why body-builders should eat a high carbohydratediet. How can people on the high fat dietstill manage to lift weights?  Because theyare breaking down protein and the aminoacids are converted to glucose in the liverin a process called gluconeogenesis.

Tome it makes more sense to let dietary pro-tein be used as protein instead of beingconverted to glucose (a simple carbohy-drate) so it can be used as fuel. If yourbody requires carbs to lift weights, thenfeed it carbs. Is that so complicated?So high intensity exercise such as lift-ing weights is fueled almost exclusivelyby carbohydrates, while low intensity ex-ercise like walking or riding the station-ary bike can be fueled by carbs or fat.This is why I recommend aerobic exer-cise for bodybuilders: fat oxidation is bynecessity an aerobic activity, so this makesaerobics the best way to lose body fat. Ifyou’re going to do some aerobic exerciseactivity to burn fat, why supply fat in thediet? Would you rather be burning fat thatyou just ate or stored body fat? It makesmore sense to me to supply dietary en-ergy in the form of carbohydrates, whichcan be used as fuel for weight training,and to burn body fat to fuel my aerobicexercise. Why burn 300 calories worthof fat on the stationary bike and then turnaround and eat 300 calories worth of fatyour next meal? That just puts the sameamount of fat right back into your sys-tem. Keep in mind that fat cannot be con-verted into carbohydrate. (Technicallyspeaking, fatty acids cannot be convertedinto carbohydrate, but the glycerol back-bone can.

This only represents a few per-cent of the calories in a triglyceride mol-ecule however.) So you cannot use fat toreplenish glycogen stores.  Neither canfat be converted to protein. Dietary fatcan do two things in your body: it can be burned for energy or it can be stored asbody fat. So if you want to try the highfat diet just keep in mind that you have toburn off all those fat grams or else storethem in adipose tissue. They can’t end upanywhere else.Besides providing energy substratefor weight training, there are several otheradvantages to supplying the bulk of di-etary energy as carbohydrate instead offat. First is that excess carb calories areused to replenish glycogen stores beforethey are converted to fat. Remember, youcan convert carbs to fat, but not fat tocarbs.  If you’re on the high fat diet andconsume too many calories, the excesswill appear as body fat.  That’s the onlymetabolic fate available to it. On the otherhand, if you consume excess calories onthe high carb diet the excess carbs will beconverted to glycogen and stored in themuscles and liver. If the glycogen storesare filled up and you still have more ex-cess carb calories around, then they willbe converted to fat and stored as adiposetissue. Remember, too many calories fromany source can make you fat.

The silverlining to this black cloud is that convert-ing a carbohydrate molecule into a fat mol-ecule takes some energy. In fact, about25% of the energy in a carbohydrate mol-ecule is spent in the process of digestion,assimilation, transport, and conversion tofat. In contrast, only about 3% of the en-Carbohydrates: Mega Fuel For Growth and Energy, Part Iergy in dietary fat is used to get it fromyour mouth to your waist. Calories fromdietary fat are thus stored as body fatmuch more efficiently than are caloriesfrom carbs. Again, carbs sound like abetter deal to me.What got this debate started was theidea that by lowering carbs we couldlower insulin. Since insulin promotes fatstorage and blocks fat breakdown, thisseems like a good idea. What if I told youhow to keep insulin levels low but stillconsume a high carbohydrate diet?Sounds like the best of both worlds. Thefirst thing to do is to choose only com-plex carbohydrate sources and to avoidsimple sugars. The trick is to combine thefoods you eat at each meal so you get aslow release of carbohydrate into your sys-tem so it won’t be turned into fat. Eachmeal should contain at least one servingof  fibrous vegetables, which are digestedand released into the blood slowly. Also,by combining your carbs with protein andCapTri® you can further slow the releaseof carbs. By proper meal combining, asoutlined in the Parrillo Nutrition Manual,you can eat a diet high in complex carbo-hydrates and low in fat and still keep in-sulin at a steady, low level.  Finally, ourcarbohydrate supplement “Pro-Carb™” isspecially formulated to be slow releasing,based on a complex carbohydrate pow-der called maltodextrin.

We’ve blended 4grams of protein along with 22 grams ofcarbs into each serving, which furtherslows digestion. The product contains nosugar or artificial sweeteners. It is forti-fied with amino acids which are requiredin increased amounts during periods ofrapid growth. Pro-Carb™ is the idealsupplement to supply high quality com-plex carbohydrates in a form that digestsslowly, thus minimizing the tendency tostore as fat. Unlike the other carb drinkson the market, ours contains no sugar.Pro-Carb™ is an excellent way to supplycarbs to fuel your workouts, and worksvery well to replenish glycogen stores af-ter training. Take one or two scoops 30-60 minutes before you train and againimmediately when you finish your work-out, and see your intensity and recoveryability skyrocket. Pro-Carb™ also is anexcellent supplement to add quality calo-ries to your meals when you are trying togain muscular weight.

References

1. Bjorntorp P, and Brodoff BN. Obe-sity. J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia,1992.

2. Remington DW, Fisher AG, andParent EA. How to Lower your Fat Ther-mostat. Vitality House International,Provo, 1983.

3. Linder MC. Nutritional Biochem-istry and Metabolism with Clinical Appli-cations. Elsevier Science Publishing Com-pany, New York, 1991.

4. Wolinsky I and Hickson JF. Nutri-tion in Exercise and Sport. CRC Press,Boca Raton, 1994.

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