I know what you’re thinking. What? Peanut Butter? You mean the stuff everyone tells me to avoid? This guy is crazy!

Consistent with my previous posts, I’m going to debunk another common myth–that you must avoid peanut butter at all costs when dieting. That’s right, peanut butter is a healthy choice and, in my opinion, should be a part of every healthful diet.

Why have health ‘experts’ been telling your to avoid peanut butter for so long? My guess is because of its high fat content. 100g of peanut butter has nearly 600 calories. That makes it one of the most caloric-dense foods in your kitchen. However, consumed in moderation, as with everything else, peanut butter has countless health benefits.

First off, as I wrote about in my post about eggs, fats are not the killer. Sugar is. The fats found in peanut butter can actually lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and have a positive effect on muscle building.

Next, Peanut butter is an excellent source of protein. If you are looking to pump up their low-carb diets, peanut butter will provide you with the extra protein and calories that your body needs to help build muscle and burn fat. If you’re not on a low-cab kick, a slice of 100% whole wheat bread slathered with peanut butter functions as a complete source of essential and non-essential amino acids–the little guys that work to build and repair muscle in your body.

If the aforementioned reasons aren’t strong enough advocates of peanut butter’s health benefits, consider its micronutrients properties. Peanut butter is full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and is even a hearty source of fiber.

Keep in mind that all peanut butters are not created (or ground) equally. Most are highly processed, sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, and have hydrogenated oils. To steer clear of these health hazards, always be sure to buy “natural” peanut butter. These are lowly processed options. As we both know, generally speaking, the less processing, the better.

So, what’s all the fuss about over peanut butter? As an athlete, health nut (no pun intended), and peanut butter lover, it beats me. Just make sure you don’t eat enough to send you over your daily caloric needs.

The next time you’re looking for a healthy and nutrient-packed snack, reach for peanut butter, spread it on thick, and enjoy!

For years there have been misconceptions about eating before bed. Many people often tend to associate meals before bed to fat storage and weight gain. These arguments aren’t entirely incorrect, but I’ll argue that the benefits of a healthy snack before bed does more good than bad to your body.

Sleep is the body’s time to recuperate. Most tissue repair takes place during sleep. Ironically, sleep is usually the longest time we go without eating. The nutrients that we get when eating are essential for tissue repair. Therefore, we shouldn’t deprive our body from nutrients when it needs them the most.

A pre-bedtime snack should consist of almost exclusively protein and fat, but small amounts of healthy, especially low glycemic, carbohydrates may be beneficial.

Lets start with the pre-bedtime killer, carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are almost always a bad idea to eat before bed because they raise insulin levels. Elevated insulin levels can decrease the natural Human Growth Hormone level, which helps burn fat and aids in tissue building. On the contrary, muscle-glycogen levels can rapidly decrease during sleep, which is the muscle’s primary source of quick energy. To help prevent glycogen loss, eating some sort of low-glycemic carbohydrate before bed can be beneficial–vegetables are the best choice. If you are still wary of carbohydrates before made, make sure you eat a balanced breakfast in the morning to help replenish natural glycogen stores.

Protein consists of amino acids, which help repair and grow muscle tissue in the body. The most beneficial type of protein to eat before bed is casein protein because of its unique, slow-digesting properties. Casein protein is found in large amounts in dairy products. Cottage Cheese is often a go-to bedtime snack because it is high in casein protein, contains some fat, and is very low in carbs.

Fat ingestion before bedtime is less of a concern. However, fat will in the slow digestion of the protein throughout the night. I shoot for a moderate amount of fat before bed. 5-10g to be precise.

At the beginning of this article i suggested that arguments about eating before bed will make you fat aren’t entire incorrect, here’s why. You have to always remember that you must maintain a balance between calories consumed and calories burned. Eating before bedtime isn’t a free meal. If you’ve eating your daily alloted amount of calories, I’d suggest you stay away. The reason eating before bedtime has gotten such a bad rap is because it leads to overeating. If you don’t need the extra calories, don’t eat them.

Great bedtime snacks include:

• dairy products or a casein-protein supplement
• healthy fats–almonds, peanuts (butter), and other legumes
• vegetables

Proper bedtime nutrition is an essential part of living a healthy lifestyle because it pumps the body full of nutrients that it needs, when it needs them most–during sleep.

The average adult only uses around 10% of his or her brain. Here are 10 easy ways to uncover your inner Einstein.

1. Eat breakfast. A healthy, protein-rich breakfast will fuel your brain and help jump start your daily energy levels.
2. Listen to music during work. Find a genre of music that helps you focus; usually something with few lyrics so you aren’t tempted to sing along. For me it’s Pink Floyd or Jazz.
3. Brainstorm for warmup. It has been proven that the brain works best when ‘warmed up’. Use your imagination or do simple math.
4. Avoid sugar. Although you might benefit from a short burst of energy, sugar promotes ‘brain fog’. Try to stay away from all simple carbohydrates–white breads, pastas, and sweets.
5. Exercise. Exercising has been proven to help improve cognitive function; in some instances in as short as 10 minutes. Put your runner’s high to use.
6. Take a break. Studies show that taking constant breaks during periods of intense study or mental effort are much more beneficial than just one constant period of work.
7. Gingko Biloba. Gingko Biloba has been used throughout Asia for hundreds of years as a way to improve memory.
8. Avoid stress. Stress can dramatically hurt both your brain and your body. ‘Take a load off’ to open your mind.
9. Exercise the brain. Learn new things to keep the brain sharp. Play memory games (crosswords, Sudoko, etc.), ask questions, or read a book. A ‘dormant’ brain is the enemy.
10. Get plenty of sleep.Sleep is vital for every-day function and the repair of tissues. If you are lacking sleep, you will be lacking wit.

I figured I would welcome the weekend with a little humor and a little truth. Here is Jon Sigmarsson, a legendary strongman, performing the deadlift–one of the most beneficial and functional lifts.

The deadlift is one of the greatest mass and strength building lifts because it:

1. It is a compound movement
2. It causes the release of natural “muscle building” hormones into your body
3. It is a functional movement

The deadlift is a compound movement, which means it works many different muscle groups of your body. In fact, the deadlift works just about all of them. The lower body and greater regions of the back are the most effectied by the lift, but you use nearly every other muscle (ie. calves, biceps, forearms,) to control the weight.

Because of its effect on so many muscle groups, the deadlift is one of few exercises that initiates the release of “muscle building” hormones into the body.

Finally, the deadlift is a functional movement. It simulates picking something up from off the ground. How many times a day do you press something out from in front of you similar to the movement of a bench press? How about curl something? Although this seems like a small point, isn’t the purpose of strength training to build stronger, more aesthetically pleasing, and useful muscle?

Unfortunately, the deadlift has been the foot of injury myths for many years. Claims such as damaged or injured backs seem to be the most wide spread. Remember, just like with any other lift, injury can be avoided if proper technique is used! With that said, the deadlift must not be avoided. All of my fitness plans incorporate the deadlift because without it, I would feel like I would have “no reason to be alive”.

Happy and safe lifting!

For years, many people have turned to energy drinks for an added kick to help them get through the day or other stressful situations. Do all the ingredients in energy drinks really work? The answer is very controversial. Many ingredients in energy drinks, such as Taurine, are added because of hype or inconclusive evidence.

Most tests on individual ingredients are funded by energy drink companies and corporations. The tests are extremely controlled and biased for positive results. These tests often return a broad correlation, but very rarely conclusive evidence stating that an ingredient (that isn’t a stimulant,) causes, in the case of energy drinks, an increase in performance.

Using Taurine as another example. There have been TONS of scientific tests run on the effects of Taurine combined with Caffeine. Energy drink companies often claim that Taurine combined with caffeine is the secret combination to enhanced performance. When searching for answers, I could not find one test that was paid for by an unbiased source–all were funded by energy drink companies. After reading more about this combination on webmd.com and other trusted medical websites, which stated that the finding of Taurine combined with Caffeine increasing performance “remains controversial”.

On top of skewed tests, there is no known long-term knowledge about the effects of supplementing with such high amounts of Taurine and similar ingredients. Although Taurine is a naturally occurring amino acid, in the past it was rarely consumed in the quantities that it is today.

In response to the influx of energy drinks on the market, many companies are emerging with new, natural energy supplements. These are marketed as a healthy alternative to energy drinks. These natural energy supplements often include some sort of stimulant, like energy drinks, but replace many controversial ingredients with natural alternatives. They may even be more effective than energy drinks in improving performance.

If biased and inconclusive test results aren’t enough to sway you from reaching for an energy drink next time you feel drowsy, consider their unknown, long-term effects. There are a lot of secrets hiding behind the pretty labels of energy drinks on the market. Don’t let the marketing get the best of you. I’d personally rather be certain about my health, than have to question safety of the unfulfilling jolt of energy provided by an energy drink.

There are multiple ways to naturally increase energy. Stick around, I will cover them in a later post.

Amidst the controversy of infidelity, I wanted to take the time to recognize all that Tiger Woods has done for the game of golf–simply unbelievable.

Eggs have gotten a bad rap for quite a while. Many people have strayed away from them because of their high cholesterol and saturated fat content. On the contrary, I happen to think eggs are one of nature’s superfoods. They are full of vitamins, minerals, and have many other unique properties that help the body maintain its natural processes.

People have been misinformed into believing that dietary cholesterol and saturated fats have a negative effect on blood cholesterol levels. The truth is, dietary cholesterol only has around a 30% net effect on blood cholesterol and most always that effect works in increasing HDL (good cholesterol). Saturated fats are turned into monounsaturated fats by the liver and are used in many beneficial ways. New research even states that increases in saturated fats can aid in muscle growth.

Many people throw out the yolk and eat plain egg whites because of the aforementioned issues. Unfortunately, in doing so they are losing the most nutritious part of the egg. The egg yolk contains about 90% of the eggs nutritional value. It contains just about all of the vitamins and minerals in the egg and shares around 50% of the eggs total amount of protein with the white.

I know people who eat 6-8 eggs a day, feast on steak, and have some of the lowest LDL ( bad cholesterol) and highest HDL cholesterol levels i have ever seen.

The bottom line:

1. The cholesterol and fat in eggs can only help your fitness and health goals
2. Egg are packed full of vitamins and minerals
3. Egg yolk contains most of an egg’s nutritional value
4. Eggs are one of nature’s most abundant and inexpensive superfoods

Click here for more information.

To get technical, we can refer to the glycemic index. The glycemic index measures the effect of a food on blood sugar levels. The higher the foods rating, the greater effect it has on our blood sugar. Generally, having high blood sugar levels is much harder on our bodies. Clover honey, the popular choice of U.S. consumers, has a glycemic idex rating of 69 and sugar (sucrose) has a glycemic index rating of around 65. That means, per serving, honey has a larger effect on blood sugar than table sugar. Therefore, if the glycemic index is used to rate the healthiness of honey, it is a less healthy than sugar.

There are some advantages to honey. Honey contains vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and has antibacterial properties–sugar has none of these. The antioxidants and antibacterial properties are especially useful in fighting sickness. Honey also has a very rich flavor. You might be able to get away with using less honey than you would sugar, which would mean you consume less calories and have a lower net effect on blood sugar.

In the end it’s necessary to remember that sugar is sugar and that it should be eaten only sparingly. I’ve always loved the flavor of honey, so I tend to opt for honey when I’m craving something sweet. Keep in the back of your head that just because honey is natural, doesn’t give you a reason to reach for it over table sugar.

It’s that time of year again–the snow has piled up, the mercury has hit rock bottom, and the days are short. Just when the winter weather seems to be getting the best of all of us, we receive our annual jolt of adrenaline. That’s right, the 2010 Winter X Games are almost here.

For the past 14 years the X Games have been at the forefront of extreme sport competition. This year is no exception. Hosted in Aspen, Colorado, the 2010 X Games will bring together the 200 best extreme athletes from around the world to compete for the Gold.

The popularity of the 2010 X Games is expected to be record breaking. Don’t miss your chance to spice up this boring time of year and catch the X Games on ESPN from January 28-31.

Winter X Games 14 Home

A whey protein isolate supplement should be in every athlete’s supplement arsenal. Protein is essential for building new muscle tissue and for proper recovery.

I’ll be using Optimum Nutrition’s whey protein isolate for comparison in this review because I had a great experience with it in the past, its pedigree, and because it seems to be the go-to protein for most people.

I was first made aware of Muscle Gauge Nutrition’s whey protein while surfing through a few forums. I had been a user of Optimum Nutrition whey protein for years, but was on the hunt for a solid product that wouldn’t break the bank. Muscle Gauge Nutrition had been the talk of many posts because of its purity, great taste, effectiveness, and most of all because of it’s cost.

Compared to Optimum Nutrition’s, Muscle Gauge Nutrition isolate has fewer calories, NO fat, NO carbs or sugars, and No cholesterol. It also has a few other vitamins and minerals. The amino acid profile of Muscle Gauge Nutrition is just as impressive, if not more impressive than Optimum Nutrition. As a protein isolate supplement, it’s obvious that the amino acid profiles of both supplements will be very similar. There are trace differences in the quantities of amino acids, nothing significant, but if I had to chose one based on quantities it would be Muscle Gauge Nutrition. Again, that’s really a matter of personal opinion.

Muscle Gauge Fitness amino acid profile

Optimum Nutrition amino acid profile

As with any protein, taste is a HUGE purchasing factor. I’d always been very pleased with Optimum Nutrition’s flavors in the past. I was never a fan of their chocolate-flavored blends, but always enjoyed the other flavors. Muscle Gauge Nutrition definitely has the taste category covered. In fact, I prefer the taste of Muscle Gauge Nutrition over Optimum Nutrition. Both companies offer a variety of flavors. Optimum Nutrition may offer a few more than Muscle Gauge Nutrition, but to be honest, I was never really a fan of Optimum Nutrition’s crazy flavors. I’ve always had greater affinity toward the basic flavors and I think Muscle Gauge Nutrition’s basic flavors taste better than those of Optimum Nutrition.

Effectiveness is very difficult to rate when it comes to most supplements, especially proteins. However, since I can’t say taking Muscle Gauge Nutrition over Optimum Nutrition has hindered my fitness results. So, it must be just as effective as Optimum Nutrition whey. With a very similar amino acid profile, I have no reason to think otherwise.

Lastly, price. You can pick up Muscle Gauge Nutrition’s whey isolate for $31.99 for a 5lb. jug and $59.99 for a 10lb. bag. That’s a fraction of the price of Optimum Nutrition’s whey isolate.

I’ve nothing but good things to say about Muscle Gauge Nutrition whey protein isolate. I’ve been using it for the past 6 months and I couldn’t be happier. The bottom line: with Muscle Gauge Nutrition’s whey protein isolate, you’ll see nothing but great results at an exceptional price. Anyone who is on the fence about purchasing it should jump on the bandwagon. It’s easily the best value around.