Nutritional Supplements For Recovery From Major Sugary Articles & Resources

Steve Stiefel

NUTTY ADVICE

Q: What role should nuts and seeds play in a bodybuilding diet? Are they fattening or are they a good protein source for bodybuilders?

A: Traditionally, weight-conscious Americans have avoided eating large quantities of nuts and seeds because of their high fat content. But bodybuilders, and anyone who's interested in a healthy diet, should not eliminate nuts and seeds from their grocery lists. You can be a successful bodybuilder and include them in your diet, especially as an easily accessible snack food that will keep the hunger pangs at bay and help you bump up protein levels.

The fats found in most nuts and seeds are predominantly the good kind. They are a great source of good mono-and polyunsaturated fats, which are important to immune system and joint functions, among other things. (Macadamias and cashews, with relatively high percentages of saturated fat, are notable exceptions.) In addition, nuts and seeds offer fiber (which helps keep the digestive system humming), they provide some protein, and they can help you stay on a low-carbohydrate diet.

One-quarter cup of raw sunflower seeds provides 160 calories, no sodium, 14 grams (g) of fat (most of that is mono- and polyunsaturated), 6 g of protein and 4 g of fiber. "Dry roasting" lowers the fat content of the same amount of sunflower seeds to 12 g, with a salt content of about 220 milligrams (mg). "Roasted and salted" usually means the product has been processed in partially hydrogenated oil and, as expected, raises both the calorie count and the bad-fat content. A quarter-cup of roasted and salted sunflower seeds contains 200 calories, more than 200 mg of salt and 17 g total fat.

Here are some suggestions for bodybuilders buying and eating nuts and seeds.

* Nuts and seeds can spell diet disaster when they are coated (coatings include honey glazing, maple sugar and chocolate) or combined with dried fruits, coconut, and chocolate, yogurt or carob chips (as in some types of trail mix). The extras include a high percentage of calories from sugars, and they tend to boost up the fat and carb counts.

* Use flavored nuts or seeds sparingly. Add them by the pinch or spoonful to cooked foods or salads just before serving. (Garlic teriyaki almonds are great on tuna salad.)

* An average handful of most nuts equals about an ounce.

* Dry-roasted or raw nuts or seeds are the better choices if you're watching your total fat intake or sodium.

* If you purchase nuts in bulk, keep some in a jar for immediate use and freeze the rest. They can go rancid when stored at room temperature for long periods.

- Vicki Baker

YOGURT VS. COTTAGE CHEESE

Q: Some bodybuilders eat cottage cheese for its high protein content, but I prefer yogurt. Is this a reasonable substitution?

A: Yogurt is an excellent bodybuilding food, as long as you don't depend on it as a principal source of protein. Many bodybuilders count on cottage cheese because it provides a good hit of protein in a nonmeat form. Yogurt does not deliver quite as much protein. One cup of a popular brand of plain nonfat yogurt has 120 calories, 13 grams (g) of protein and 17 g of carbohydrates. A cup of nonfat cottage cheese contains 160 calories, 30 g of protein and 8 g of carbs. Cottage cheese is obviously superior in terms of providing more protein and fewer carbs, but the simple carbs in sweetened or fruit-added yogurt make it perfect as part of a healthy breakfast or posttraining meal. Plus, yogurt has many other bodybuilder-friendly attributes.

Yogurt has been a staple in many cultures for centuries. It is brimming with healthy bacteria (probiotics) that help keep your gastrointestinal system in balance. (Specifically, it helps restore the good kinds that are wiped out when you take antibiotics.) When buying yogurt, check the label to make sure those bacteria are present; the package should list "L. acidophilus" and/or "live and active cultures." In addition to providing these bacteria, yogurt is high in calcium and is a good source of riboflavin, phosphorus and vitamin [.12].

Yogurt comes in fat-free or low-fat varieties (0 or about 2 g of fat per cup, respectively) and in plain, custard or fruit-flavored versions. Presweetened fruit-on-the-bottom styles tend to have a high sugar content; the fruit resembles sugary jam or preserves more than it does whole fruit. To keep your sugar intake in check, FLEX recommends that you buy plain yogurt, then add either fresh or frozen fruit. If you prefer the convenience of yogurt that comes with fruit and is sweet, try nonfat sugar-free varieties. If you're looking for something really convenient, try the cousin of yogurt, kefir. Like yogurt, kefir is chock full of beneficial bacteria and calcium, but it comes in the form of a fruity creamy drink -- no spoon needed!

As a snack food with reduced calories and sodium, nonfat yogurt definitely trounces nonfat cottage cheese. A cup of nonfat cottage cheese contains more calories and almost five times as much sodium as yogurt does. In addition, nonfat cottage cheese, at best, tends to resemble paste, whereas nonfat yogurt is just as tasty as the low-fat version.

Erin Newman

LOOKING OVER WHAT YOU'VE OVERLOOKED

Q: Basically, I know what I'm supposed to consume in my diet, but I always wonder if I'm doing everything right. What aspects of bodybuilding nutrition might I be inadvertently overlooking?

A: Good question. The most overlooked aspects of bodybuilding nutrition are not the sport's most crucial aspects: Many bodybuilders understand that they require plenty of protein to build and maintain muscle, and so they attend to that nutritional need. Less obvious facets of bodybuilding nutrition can easily fall by the wayside.

In fact, the best way to improve your bodybuilding diet might be to examine those things that are too often neglected, as you would give priority to training your weakest bodyparts. Here are four areas of bodybuilding nutrition that we believe are frequently overlooked.

* Fiber Bodybuilders don't eat enough fiber. Most protein sources have little fiber in them, and even some bodybuilding carbohydrate foods, such as white rice and potatoes, are not great sources of fiber. Fiber provides bulk for the diet, aids in digestion and ultimately makes it easier for your body to process all the other crucial bodybuilding foods and reap their benefits. Include more yams, oatmeal and even fiber supplements in your diet -- and look for protein drinks that contain a gram or two of fiber. Larger bodybuilders should strive to consume at least 25 grams of fiber a day and preferably 30-40 grams.

* Healthy Fats Lots of Americans eat too many fats, especially the unhealthy kind. At the opposite extreme, many dedicated bodybuilders eat too few fats, especially the healthy variety. Include more avocados, olives, healthy oils such as canola and olive, fatty fish, and nuts and seeds in your diet. These healthy fats help provide you with a sense of satiety, particularly during periods of carbohydrate and calorie restrictions, and they help keep your body, mind, muscles and joints functioning at optimal levels.

* Vegetables As with fiber, vegetables provide your body with more bulk. They also provide vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that are important for bodily functions. Too often, bodybuilders rely on supplements for nutrients when they could derive many of them from whole foods such as vegetables and fruit. Often, bodybuilders get so caught up in supplementing their diets that they don't pay proper attention to the basics. There's no substitute for whole foods such as fruits and vegetables.

* Water Hard-training bodybuilders should drink at least a gallon of water each day. Water provides many benefits, including keeping the system flushed and rehydrated. Water is also often overlooked as an important source of minerals. Emphasize drinking water between meals (not just during them) and while you train.

Assuming you're eating chicken and rice (and a variety of other protein and complex-carb foods), these four are the areas in which you can most readily improve your bodybuilding nutrition. If you're already eating a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight each day, you'll get far more benefit over the long run by making these adjustments in your diet than you would by adding more protein or other supplements.

Steve Stiefel

OLESTRA

Q: What happened to olestra, the zero-calorie fat substitute? Can I use it to make competition dieting a little easier?

A: Olestra (trademarked as Olean) is still around. This prototype fake fat was created about 30 years ago and has been tested extensively since 1980. On January 24, 1996, it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an ingredient safe for use in salty and savory snacks after a nine-year lobbying effort by Procter & Gamble. You can now find olestra in fat-free snack items such as Lay's WOW! potato chips and Doritos WOW! tortilla chips.

Should you eat fat-free snacks with olestra/Olean? I don't see why not -- as long as you avoid these salty items a week before competition to avoid holding water under the skin (due to sodium retention), which will make you look soft. But remember that fat-free potato chips still have a lot more calories per gram than vegetables, chicken breast and other more appropriate contest-prep foods. For example, Lay's WOW! potato chips have calories per gram and Doritos WOW! Nacho Cheesier tortilla chips have calories per gram. That's half as much as regular potato chips, but then again, broccoli has only calories per gram. That's a tenfold difference in favor of broccoli as a superior diet food. Chicken breast, at about calories per gram, is about half as calorically dense as these olestra snacks, and chicken breast is also rich in high-quality protein. If it's a choice between regular chips and the fat-free variety, you're definitely better off with Glean chips. Replacing fat with olestra cuts calo ries considerably as the accompanying table shows.

Interestingly, olestra binds fat-soluble antioxidants (., carotenoids and vitamin E) and reduces their absorption. The effect is seemingly relatively small and Procter & Gamble has added fat-soluble vitamins to make up the difference. A real problem with eating too much olestra is the possibility of a laxative effect, which may be a good thing for some People but could eventually lead to greasy stools and even the occasional accident if you really went overboard. In general, if you put chips in your lunch box every workday as your only indulgence, replacing them with a WOW! snack will save you about 300 calories of fat per week. If you avoid making up those calories by eating other foods, you'd lose a whopping pound of fat every 12 weeks or so. As a result, olestra products would play a fairly small role in your contest-prep armamentarium.

Brian Rowley

PRODUCT FAT GRAMS (*) CALORIES (*)

Lay's WOW! potato chips 0 75
Regular potato chips 10 150
Doritos WOW!
tortilla chips 1 90
Regular tortilla chips 7 140

(*)Per one-ounce serving.

TUNA HELPER AND HERRING AID

Alex Carswell

Q: OK, FLEX keeps saying to eat tuna. But I hate it. However, I can tolerate the tuna packed in oil -- is that a decent alternative for bodybuilders?

A: Those navigating the bodybuilding-diet waters have always found safe harbor in a can of tuna. Protein-rich, carbohydrate-free and eminently portable, water-packed tuna is also low in fat. Although naively labeled as "approximately servings," a six-ounce can of tuna packed in water (depending on the season of the catch) provides about 180 calories (about 12 from fat), 40 grams (g) of protein and just over 1 g of fat -- none of it saturated. That's fine fare for bodybuilders who like tuna, particularly during maintenance or cutting phases. But it may not be an ideal diet staple for those trying to pack on muscular size or for bodybuilders looking to add healthy fat calories to their diets.

Enter the other tuna -- the one long castigated as the "wrong" tuna: tuna packed in oil. The bad rap stems from the omega-6 fatty acids found in its vegetable oil bath, but let's not get carried away. A six-ounce can of solid white tuna packed in oil offers up 270 calories (about 80 from fat), 40 g of protein and 9 g of fat -- only g saturated. Sure, it's fattier than water-packed, but it's not exactly an onion blossom at .I. Friday's, either.

Still afraid of the sat-fat wolf? Chicken of the Sea has recently introduced tuna packed in a FLEX favorite -- canola oil. This option adds about the same number of calories as vegetable oil, but divides its fat content between monounsaturated and polyunsaturated types, remaining sat-fat free. Although canola-packed tuna has yet to receive wide distribution, it is out there, and you can always ask your local market to order it for you.

Don't even want to think about tuna in the offseason? Consider herring, instead. Sardines, which are entire small herring, or herring steaks -- larger fillets, sometimes called kippers -- offer tunalike portability and protein, as well as considerably more fat for your bulking pleasure. A 100 g serving (about 3 1/2 ounces) of sardines in olive oil provides 230 calories (a whopping 140 from fat), 24 g of protein and 15 g of fat -- 6 g saturated. Packed in soybean oil, you get 1 g less sat-fat, but only 15 g of protein.

One special benefit of herring and sardines is their impressively high content of two essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA. Sardines come in at g per 100 g of a drained portion, and herring registers g per 100 g. A significant percentage (9-11%) of the total fat comes from these sources in herring and sardines.

The beauty of herring steaks is the many available ready-to-eat varieties besides oil-packed, including dill-and-herb sauce, Burgundy sauce, pepper sauce and cream-and-mushroom sauce, to name just a few. Nutritional information will vary depending on the variety you choose, so check the labels, and note that (like tuna) herring does contain some cholesterol. Kippers also contain a few carbs, stemming almost entirely from the sauces in which they're packed.

HONEY, I LOVE YOU

Q: I love honey. How good or bad is it for bodybuilders?

A: At one point, honey was considered the "perfect food." That may have led some people to believe it's an excellent food to include as a large part of their diet. Before doing that, however, it's important to understand what honey contains and how best to incorporate it in a bodybuilding diet.

Like sugar, almost all the calories in honey come from simple carbohydrates, and your body will respond similarly to both foods. Since bodybuilders basically try to avoid sugar, it makes sense that honey should also play a limited role in a bodybuilding diet.

Our advice about honey is that you not add it to your diet in large quantities. However, you may use it to replace simple carbs that you already take in. For instance, if you add sugar to your oatmeal instead of eating it plain, then it's OK to substitute honey. In fact, that may be a good idea. Although honey contains a lot of simple carbs (about 17 grams per tablespoon), it provides benefits that sugar doesn't. Honey has "surprising quantities of antioxidants," Science News Online reports. Antioxidants are "non-nutritive agents that can retard biologically destructive chemical reactions that cause rancidity in foods and that have been linked to many chronic diseases."

Otherwise, it's simply a matter of taste. If you like honey, and you want to include it, do so at the expense of other simple sugars. You'll provide your body with more benefits without adding unwanted calories.

Steve Stiefel

RELATED ARTICLE: Muscle morsels

* The Bush administration has urged the Food and Drug Administration to provide stricter labeling guidelines of fat content on foods. This is significant for a couple of reasons. Number one, "it's the first time the office that oversees federal regulations decided to publicly nudge the people writing such regulations to hurry up," the Associated Press reported on September 18, 2001. Number two, it's clear that even the government has realized what FLEX has been telling you for some time: Fats are not created equal. Of even greater significance, this is a confirmation that, as we've told you, even "bad" fats are not created equal. Saturated fats have taken the brunt of the bad-fat backlash, but trans fats are considered much more harmful. These are the fats found in margarine and other processed -- especially baked -- foods. If implemented, these new labels will inform consumers about the quantity of both trans fats and saturated fats in their foods. That's good news for all people concerned about what they pu t into their bodies.

* Campylobacter is a bacterium that causes food poisoning. Recent research has identified two groups who may be at particular risk from this nasty pest: those who travel to Asia and those who eat cold meat, especially poultry products. An examination of those who have suffered from the condition found that a significant percentage fell into these two categories. Here are a couple of tips for bodybuilders to avoid this situation. Don't eat cold meat that's been in your refrigerator for more than three or four days. Reheat leftover meat to help destroy bacteria.