Monday, February 10, 2014
DVDFab 8.2.3.0 Qt (all options) Inclus-Majax31 Patch (Software)
The Bowers Wilkins & P7 offers a sound and impeccable finishes
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Zataz S3E4 TV (decembre2013)
Private clouds: a practical solution for backing up and sharing data
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Zemana AntiLogger 1.9.3.514 incl. Keygen (395 days license) (Software)
Christmas Special: 4 linked these bracelets
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Friday, February 7, 2014
[Power! # 8] and Pan! In the tree!
ASUS Transformer book T100, the first Convertible Windows 8 less than 350 euro
Thursday, February 6, 2014
SpeedyFox 2.06 Build 68 (Freeware)
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 10.2.0 (Freeware)
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Metabolic Damage
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In this BioLayne Video Log we discuss Metabolic Damage. What is it? How does it occur? How can you prevent it? And how can you recover from it if it’s already happened to you?
All these questions are discussed in the video below.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Extremism in Fitness
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One of the most counterproductive and even damaging traits relating to health, fitness and weight loss that so many uninformed people succumb to is the culture of extremism.
Of course, extremism is quite a strong word and no one ever really sees themselves as being an extremist. After all, everyone is just trying to do the best they can to lose weight and get healthy, with the knowledge and the tools they have.
The fact is however, that a significant percentage of health and fitness enthusiasts unknowingly follow extremist thinking, and doing so actually holds them back from progressing as fast as they should, often times to the point of stalling their progress altogether.
So how do you know if you’re affected by extremist thinking?
Well, being an extremist doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re spending four or more hours a day in the gym, seven days a week. Or that you’re only eating chicken breast, sweet potatoes and broccoli each and every day. Although these practices would certainly classify you as an extremist, extremist thinking can be much more subtle than that.
Simply put, extremist thinking is characterized by any or all of the following three beliefs:
If something is good, then more is better.If something is good, then as much as possible is best.If something is bad, then none whatsoever is best.Jeremy Loenneke Tweeted the following 12 excellent examples of extremist thinking today:
“Many people could benefit from lowering carbs a bit” – they take that as carbs are the devil, eliminate them completely.“Saturated fat may not be quite as bad as many first thought” – they take that as I can eat as much saturated fat as i want and be fine.“Most people aren’t negatively affected by consuming higher than recommended sodium intake” – they take that as SALT EVERYTHING.“Some people are lactose intolerant and can’t consume dairy products” – they take that as NO human should EVER consume dairy.“Some people can’t tolerate gluten” – they take that as NO human should EVER consume gluten EVER . . . NEVER.“Dietary fat doesn’t make you fat” – they take that as you can’t get fat from eating too much fat. I think we all see the issue with that.“Some alcohol a day may have health benefits” – they take that as throwing back a six-pack every night.“Higher dietary protein is safe” – they take that as justification for their 400g/day intake.“Blood flow restriction is safe” – they take that as more restriction the better, longer the better, heavier the load the better.“Flexible dieting within your macros is an effective means to contest prep” – they take that to mean cookies and pop tarts all day.“Muscle protein synthesis is maxed out at ~30g/meal” – they take that as meaning the body can only absorb 30g of protein per meal.“Soy protein isn’t the best protein source” – they take that as soy protein should under no circumstances EVER be consumed.Here are a few other typical examples of extremist thinking in health and fitness that we regularly come across when hearing from people:
Fatty foods cause weight gain, therefore if I eat low-fat food I won’t gain weight.Dark chocolate contains healthy minerals and antioxidants, therefore I can eat as much as I like.Exercising in the 8-12 rep range is best for muscle-building, therefore I should never exercise outside of that rep range.I’m sure you get the idea.
To avoid falling into the extremist thinking trap, there’s a word that you need to remember and live by, and that word is “optimal”. Everything has an optimal point, and while that point can vary from individual to individual, it never, ever lies at any extreme – for anyone.
Consider water intake, for example. Water is very good for you, in fact it’s essential for proper functioning of your body and good health. If you were to have too little water intake each day (from what you drink and from your food) you would quickly dehydrate and get sick.
So does that mean you should drink ten gallons a day? It is good for you, after all!
Of course not! In fact, if you were to drink too much water, the level of sodium in your body could drop too low. That could then lead to a condition known as hyponatremia, which causes your body to retain too much water. This could cause your cells to swell, which is particularly harmful to your brain and can lead to seizures and even death.
So as with everything else, there’s an optimal point. Too much or too little of anything that’s essential and/or good for you is harmful. This is why extremist thinking never pays – it’s virtually a guarantee that whatever it is that you’re doing, it’s not optimal.
But what about those things that are considered not to be not good for you?
Take sweets and fast foods that are high in unhealthy trans fats, for example. Surely the less you have of these, the better, right? And none at all must surely be optimal?
Well, not necessarily. From a purely nutritional point of view, sure, these types of foods have little to offer and basically represent “empty calories”, as they say. But you must always bear in mind that nothing exists in a vacuum, so what may appear optimal on paper isn’t necessarily so in the real world.
The fact is that we’re not machines. We’re not happy to chug along for our entire lives on exactly the same fuel day in and day out. We need variety and we even need the occasional indulgence. Planning to adhere to a militant eating program, where absolutely nothing but the most natural, nutritionally valuable foods are permitted, is essentially planning to fail.
Sohee Lee of www.soheefit.com said something along the lines of,
“If you can’t see yourself doing what you’re doing now, 6 months from now, a year from now, and 5 years from now, then you need to change what you’re doing.”This is absolutely true. If you can’t see yourself maintaining your current practice for the long term, it means it’s not sustainable – because it’s too extreme. So while you may think it’s optimal for you right now, the reality is it isn’t, because it’s not going to allow you to achieve and maintain your goals.
As Dr. Layne Norton says:
“. . . you simply cannot separate the psychological aspect of eating from the physiological.”So, does this mean it’s OK to gorge yourself on so-called “bad” foods, for psychological reasons? Of course not – that would be extremist thinking at work on the other end of the scale.
The key here is “moderation” – another word to remember and live by.
By exercising moderation, you reap the psychological benefits of allowing some flexibility in your diet to keep yourself happy and satisfied, without any significant physiological downside. This is the key to making your diet sustainable for the long-term. Extremist thinking may sound impressive at first, but it’s rarely, if ever, sustainable in the real world.
So once again, there’s an optimal point somewhere in the middle, even for so-called “bad” foods, and it’s different for everyone. Too little, and you make your life miserable and set yourself up for eating binges. Too much, and you experience physiological drawbacks (poor health and/or weight gain, for example) and feed unhealthy cravings to strengthen them.
You need to find your own personal optimal point and stick to it.
As a rule of thumb, whenever you come across anyone offering health, fitness, and/or weight loss advice who uses superlatives in their sentences such as “always”, “never”, “best”, “worst”, and so on, you need to be extremely wary of what they’re saying. Superlatives are an indicator of extremist thinking, and 99% of the time, of seriously misleading statements.
Always remember that in health and fitness there are no black and white answers, only grey ones, and the truth never lies at the extremes, but always in the middle somewhere.
Chael Sonnen Talks Goals and Motivation
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In the video below MMA fighter and UFC star Chael Sonnen talks about the importance of setting goals to achieve your dreams and not wasting time in pursuing them.
As a child Chael dreamed of being world champion someday. And that vision drives him to this day – not the fame or the money, but just the accomplishment.
He talks about how, if you want to be the best, there’s no time to waste. You have to start on your journey to achieving your goals right now – not tomorrow, not next week, not as part of some resolution, but right away. And you have to pursue them with consistency and drive.
These are some great words of motivation from a world-class elite athlete.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Top 3 Ways to do Dumbbell Pull Overs
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Dumbbell Pull Overs are one of our favorite Lat exercises because they’re easy to coach and we feel they’re very effective at building bigger and stronger lats when used in conjunction with more compound Back-Training exercises.
In addition to using the traditional style Dumbbell Pull Overs, there are a few other Lat Pull Over variations we also utilize in the Performance U training system.
This video display our top 3 ways to do Dumbbell Pull Overs:
The hardest part of the dumbbell pullover (i.e. the point of maximal loading on your lats) is when your arms are parallel to the floor, because this is when the lever arm is the longest. With this physics fact in mind, we change the angle of the torso (as displayed in the video above) to change the point of maximal loading on the lats within the range of motion of the dumbbell pullover exercise. Doing so allows us to get more juice out of this great lats exercise application by adding training variety (to keep things fresh) without completely changing the movement.
Put simply, based on the above:
Inclined Dumbbell pullovers create the greatest stretch on the lats.Flat Dumbbell pullovers also create the point of maximal loading on the when the lats are put on stretch. But, due to the bench angle, the stretch is not as great as when performing this exercise from an incline bench.Decline Dumbbell Pullover’s create a point of maximal loading on your lats further into the range of motion, closer to the lat muscles’ midrange of action.When we want to perform flat dumbbell pullovers, will utilize either the traditional method (pictured below) or we’ll lie the length of the bench (as displayed in the video above). The body position we utilize really depends on the individuals’ personal preference.
When performing flat dumbbell pullovers, regardless of how the body is positioned on the bench; we’ll coach up the client to slightly posteriorly (i.e. backward) tilt their pelvis before starting the exercise. We’ve found doing this helps personal training clients to better maintain the spinal alignment we’re looking for, which is avoiding going into excessive lumbar extension as their arms go overhead. Plus, this also creates an anti-back extension element to the dumbbell pullover exercise, which makes this move a nice way to strengthen the abdominals while also strengthening the lats.
Put simply, we like Dumbbell Pull Overs for some folks and not for others. It depends on the individual. To get into how we determine this (via an assessment) is far beyond the scope of this post.
We’re aware that some trainers aren’t into using Dumbbell Pull Overs (for anyone) for one reason or the another. If we felt they were “generally dangerous”, we would not use them. That said, we don’t get caught up in these trainer vs. trainer debates, as they go nowhere. All we can do is share the exercise application that we uses. If you’re not comfortable using this move (or anything else displayed in my articles and posts) for whatever reason, that’s cools as no one said it’s a “must do” exercise. In fact, NO single exercise makes or breaks a lifting program.”
Anabolic Eating for Your Age
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“Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools.”
- George Chapman (1559-1634)
Much has been written about nutrition in the pages of magazines over the decades. I’m sure many readers who began reading muscle magazines when they were teenagers are now entering their 30’s and 40’s. Countless pages have been devoted to describing nutritional protocols to maximize gaining muscle and losing fat. But I submit to you that we have all been fools, not just the young as George Chapman implies, for we have neglected the fact that there are fundamental metabolic differences between different age groups of people. Despite this fact, hardly any nutritional recommendations for maximizing muscle have taken age into account! In this young fool’s opinion it is time that we all examine optimal anabolic eating for YOUR age addressing each of the macronutrients.
We might as well get the big issue of protein intake out of the way first. I’m not going to waste a bunch of ink explaining why protein is important. If you have ever read MD you know high protein meals increase muscle protein synthesis and increasing muscle protein synthesis over time leads to more muscle. The question is, how does age affect this anabolic response to protein? Research suggests that younger individuals are very sensitive to the anabolic effects of amino acids[1,2,3]. As we age however, we become less sensitive to the anabolic effects of amino acids. Several researchers have shown that comparatively large doses of amino acids are required to maximize the anabolic response in the elderly as opposed to young subjects[1,2,5,6,7,8,9]. It appears the decreased response in the elderly may be explained by a decrease in the muscle cell content and activity of mTOR and p70S6K, two kinases involved in directing protein synthesis[2,5]. In accordance with this research, it has been demonstrated that old subjects require a greater amount of amino acids, specifically leucine, (the amino acid responsible for stimulating protein synthesis) to maximize protein synthesis as opposed to young subjects[7,8,9]. Furthermore, it appears that the decreased anabolic response in the elderly may be due, at least in part, to increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with age. ROS have been shown to decrease mTOR activity and inhibit protein synthesis[10]. There is hope however, as it has been demonstrated that supplementing with a combination of anti-oxidants (rutin, vitamin E, vitamin A, zinc, and selenium) can restore the anabolic effect of a meal to the same level as the young[11]! So make sure you eat plenty of protein high in leucine (like whey) and keep room in that pill box of yours for some anti-oxidants grandpa!
<20 years old: 0.7-1g/lb bodyweight
21-40 years old: 0.9-1.2g/lb bodyweight
41-65 years old: 1.1-1.4g/lb bodyweight
>65 years old: 1.3-1.5g/lb bodyweight
Carbohydrates are another macronutrient that differentially impact anabolism as people age. The primary way by which carbohydrates influence anabolism is by increasing insulin secretion. Young individuals are very sensitive to the anabolic effects of insulin and in their case carbohydrates alone may be sufficient to increase protein synthesis and also inhibit protein degradation[12]. Recall that Net Muscle Gain = Muscle Protein Synthesis – Muscle Protein Degradation, so insulin is both anabolic and anti-catabolic in young individuals.
In adult subjects, carbohydrates fail to increase protein synthesis when they are consumed alone[13]. Carbohydrates do have a synergistic effect on protein synthesis with amino acids in adults and can induce a greater anabolic response when combined with protein as opposed to consuming protein alone[14]. It also appears that insulin will still inhibit protein degradation in adults, and therefore, is anti-catabolic with the potential to optimize the anabolic effects of amino acids[15]. Though little data is available in the elderly, it is clear that physiological increases in insulin that would be induced by consuming carbohydrates alone will not stimulate muscle protein synthesis[14]. It does appear that co-ingestion of carbohydrates with amino acids does provide a small anabolic advantage over amino acids alone in the elderly, however[14]. Since carbohydrates do not provide the same anabolic advantage to the elderly as they do other age groups and because aging reduces insulin sensitivity it is likely that elderly muscle heads will want to consume less carbohydrates than young or adult individuals[16].
<20 years old: 2.2-3.2g/lb bodyweight
21-40 years old: 1.7-2.7g/lb bodyweight
41-65 years old: 1.2-2.2g/lb bodyweight
>65 years old: 0.7-1.7g/lb bodyweight
Keep in mind these recommendations are for maximizing muscle gain and will need to be adjusted accordingly for individuals wanting to lose bodyfat.
The difference in how dietary fat should be consumed as one ages should largely be influenced by the changes in carbohydrate intake with age. As outlined previously, one should gradually reduce carbohydrate intake throughout their life as they age. Therefore, someone who is younger and still sensitive to the anabolic effects of carbohydrates will be better off consuming lower fat with more carbohydrates, while an elderly individual will want to consume far less carbohydrates and fill in those calories instead with more protein and fat. Fat is a very important macronutrient and it’s important that one never let it fall too low so I never recommend anyone take their fat intake lower than 0.2g/lb of bodyweight, even if they are young and highly sensitive to the anabolic effects of insulin, it is still important to consume sufficient fat.
<20 years old: 0.25-0.4g/lb bodyweight
21-40 years old: 0.35-0.5g/lb bodyweight
41-65 years old: 0.45-0.6g/lb bodyweight
>65 years old: 0.55-0.7g/lb bodyweight
I want you to keep in mind that these are just general recommendations. Optimal macronutrient intake is based on numerous factors and it is always best to experiment to find out what will fit best with your individual metabolism. I do believe that this article will help everyone better understand how age can impact optimal macronutrient profiles and adjustments that can be made to best optimize these macronutrient profiles.
Paddon-Jones D, Sheffield-Moore M, Zhang XJ, Volpi E, Wolf SE, Aarsland A, Ferrando AA, Wolfe RR. Amino acid ingestion improves muscle protein synthesis in the young and elderly. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2004 Mar;286(3):E321-8.Cuthbertson D, Smith K, Babraj J, Leese G, Waddell T, Atherton P, Wackerhage H, Taylor PM, Rennie MJ. Anabolic signaling deficits underlie amino acid resistance of wasting, aging muscle. FASEB J. 2005 Mar;19(3):422-4.Drummond MJ, Miyazaki M, Dreyer HC, Pennings B, Dhanani S, Volpi E, Esser KA, Rasmussen BB. Expression of growth-related genes in young and old human skeletal muscle following an acute stimulation of protein synthesis. J Appl Physiol. 2008 Sep 11.Welle S, Thornton CA. High-protein meals do not enhance myofibrillar synthesis after resistance exercise in 62- to 75-yr-old men and women. Am J Physiol 1998; 274 (4 Pt 1):E677–E683.Guillet C, Prod’homme M, Balage M, et al. Impaired anabolic response of muscle protein synthesis is associated with S6K1 dysregulation in elderly humans. FASEB J 2004; 18:1586–1587.Katsanos CS, Kobayashi H, Sheffield-Moore M, et al. Aging is associated with diminished accretion of muscle proteins after the ingestion of a small bolus of essential amino acids. Am J Clin Nutr 2005; 82:1065–1073.Katsanos CS, Kobayashi H, Sheffield-Moore M, et al. A high proportion of leucine is required for optimal stimulation of the rate of muscle protein synthesis by essential amino acids in the elderly. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2006; 291:E381–E387.Dardevet D, Sornet C, Bayle G, et al. Postprandial stimulation of muscle protein synthesis in old rats can be restored by a leucine-supplemented meal.J Nutr 2002; 132:95–100.Rieu I, Balage M, Sornet C, et al. Increased availability of leucine with leucine-rich whey proteins improves postprandial muscle protein synthesis in aging rats. Nutrition 2007; 23:323–331.Patel J, McLeod LE, Vries RG, Flynn A, Wang X, Proud CG. Cellular stresses profoundly inhibit protein synthesis and modulate the states of phosphorylation of multiple translation factors. Eur J Biochem. 2002 Jun;269(12):3076-85.Marzani B, Balage M, Vénien A, Astruc T, Papet I, Dardevet D, Mosoni L. Antioxidant supplementation restores defective leucine stimulation of protein synthesis in skeletal muscle from old rats. J Nutr. 2008 Nov;138(11):2205-11.Fujita S, Rasmussen BB, Cadenas JG, Grady JJ, Volpi E. Effect of insulin on human skeletal muscle protein synthesis is modulated by insulin-induced changes in muscle blood flow and amino acid availability. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2006 Oct;291(4):E745-54.Gautsch TA, Anthony JC, Kimball SR, Paul GL, Layman DK, Jefferson LS. Availability of eIF4E regulates skeletal muscle protein synthesis during recovery from exercise. Am J Physiol. 1998 Feb;274(2 Pt 1):C406-14.Volpi E, Mittendorfer B, Rasmussen BB, Wolfe RR. The response of muscle protein anabolism to combined hyperaminoacidemia and glucose-induced hyperinsulinemia is impaired in the elderly. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2000 Dec;85(12):4481-90.Rasmussen BB, Fujita S, Wolfe RR, Mittendorfer B, Roy M, Rowe VL, Volpi E. Insulin resistance of muscle protein metabolism in aging. FASEB J 2006; 20:768–769.Kruszynska YT, Petranyi G, Alberti KG. Decreased insulin sensitivity and muscle enzyme activity in elderly subjects. Eur J Clin Invest. 1988 Oct;18(5):493-8.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Do Not Fear Failure
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In this installment of the BioLayne Video Log Series, I discuss why ‘failure’ is not a destination, but a detour on the road to success.
Many people are paralyzed by fear of failure, so much so that they never even attempt to acknowledge their goals, for fear they will fail at them.
The Lower Body Foundation
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In the two videos below, Bret Contreras, The Glute Guy, demonstrates the 3 basic movements that form the foundation for lower body exercise. These are:
1. The Box Squat
2. The Hip Hinge (or Romanian Deadlift)
3. The Glute Bridge
These movements are absolutely essential to learn properly, to ensure that your form is correct. Doing big lifts with poor form is a recipe for stalling your progress, or worse still, injuring yourself.
If you’re a beginner to working out, you should practice these movements over and over until they become second nature, and then you can progressively add weight as you feel comfortable. That way you’ll have a pretty good chance of developing excellent form.
Even if you’re already utilizing these movements in your workouts, try running through these bodyweight versions anyhow, just to check that your form really is as good as it should be. You may well find some flaws that you can then work on correcting!
Friday, January 3, 2014
Elements Challenging the Glycemic Index
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To this day, many bodybuilding, health, & fitness enthusiasts stake their entire moral judgment of carbohydrate foods based on their glycemic index (GI). Several confounders challenge its validity and strict application. Becoming blindly enamored with something that may enhance our physiques &/or health is natural, and something we’ve all been guilty of. But alas, the GI data is neither perfect nor consistent, nor is it free of bugs. Consider the following facts, and re-think the dogma surrounding GI, & reassess what you think you know about GI.
The simplistic definition of GI is a food’s ability to raise blood sugar, which almost automatically is regarded in terms of glucose entry into the blood. However, recent eye-opening research by Schenk & colleagues clearly showed that the rate of disappearance of glucose from systemic circulation is an important determinant of GI – not just glucose’s rate of entry into circulation[1]. They found that the lower GI of bran cereal was due to a quicker/sooner surge of insulin sweeping glucose out of circulation – not a slower appearance/entrance of glucose as once assumed. Although strictly speculative at this point, this phenomenon may have possible performance detriment implications (ie, rebound hypoglycemia) in sensitive individuals if meals of this nature are mistimed relative to training.
GI values are determined in an overnight-fasted state using isolated foods. This is not a reflection of real life, where the digestion/absorption of previous meals, as well as the context of the carbohydrate food can drastically alter GI.
The interplay of many variables can either raise or lower GI, and are often difficult to control. Increased acidity, the presence of fiber, fat, and certain protein foods can lower glycemic response. Reduced particle size, greater ripeness, and heat in cooking can raise glycemic response.
Glycemic load (GL), which is the amount of carbohydrate per serving or unit of volume, is not always directly proportional to GI. For example, watermelon has a GI of 72, which is considered high. Low-GI advocates have vilified watermelon without realizing the fact that it has a relatively low glycemic load, approximately 6g carbohydrate per 4oz serving. The same disparity of GI & GL applies to carrots, potatoes, and even sports drinks such as Gatorade.
Lower-GI foods have been associated with greater satiety, but most of this data comes from single-meal experimental designs. Longer-term studies on GI & satiety are conflicting, and not always controlled for energy intake and energy density of the test meal[2]. In the longest study to date on GI & satiety is an ad libitium 30d crossover design where Kiens & Richter observe no difference in amount of consumption[3]. In this metabolic study, a LOWER resistance to insulin was seen in the high-GI group at the end of the trial. GI does not reliably correspond with satiety index (SI). White rice, wheat bread, and potatoes all have high GIs, but rank among the top of the list for delaying the onset of hunger. In fact, Holt’s team found that potatoes had by far the highest SI of all the foods tested[4].
As a classic example of chaos physics, the typical rules that predict GI do not necessarily help in predicting insulin response. Unfortunately for GI-conscious people, insulin is usually what they are trying to control. Despite having a very low GI of 15-36, milk and yogurt have a high insulin index equivalent to that of the high-GI white bread[5]. Baked beans, another low-GI food, have a very high insulin index of 120. Cheese, beef, and fish have II’s that are comparable to many carbohydrate foods.
Coingestion of fat with carbohydrate slows gastric emptying and thus the release of glucose into the blood, ultimately lowering GI. While this is usually true for GI, the degree of insulin response evoked by this combination is determined by the degree of the fat’s saturation. For example, Collier & others observed that butter coingested with potato not only fails to lower postprandial insulinemia, it actually causes a synergistically heightened insulin response, even in healthy subjects[6,7].
Foods that should have a low GI due to their high fat content do not always have a low GI. Examples are fries, cookies, croissants, and doughnuts. Incidentally, these foods also have a high insulin index, presumably because their fat is mostly saturated. As of this writing, full-fat ice cream (low GI of appx 37) has not been tested for II, but it’s safe to assume that it probably has disparate GI & II values.
Rasmussen & colleagues observed no increased insulin response with the addition of 40g or 80g olive oil, but saw a significant increase with 50g & 100g butter[8]. Joannic’s team observed a coingestion of carbohydrate with fats of increasing degree of unsaturation having a corresponding decrease in insulin response[9]. A more recent study by Robertson & colleagues compared the effect of MUFA, PUFA, & SFA coingestion with carbohydrate and observed SFA’s superior ability to raise postprandial insulin levels[10].
Coingestion of protein with carbohydrate is often recommended to lower GI. However, this doesn’t necessarily lower insulin response. Carbs combined with protein in solution can pretty reliably raise insulin response synergistically. Gannon & Nutall’s research on type-2 diabetics showed that coingested cottage cheese & glucose raised insulin levels beyond either food separately, indicating a synergistic effect[11]. Van Loon & colleagues saw a similar phenomenon when comparing the insulin effect of various carb-protein/amino acid and carb-only solutions in normal subjects[12]. Those containing free leucine, phenylalanine, & arginine, and the drinks with free leucine, phenylalanine, & wheat protein hydrolysate were followed by the largest insulin response (101% and 103% greater, respectively, than with the carb-only solution). These are only a few examples of many.
A systematic review of human intervention studies comparing the effects of high and low-GI foods or diets arrived at the following results[13]:
In a total of 31 short-term studies, low-GI foods were associated with greater satiety or reduced hunger in 15 studies, whereas reduced satiety or no differences were seen in 16 other studies.Low-GI foods reduced ad libitum food intake in 7 studies, but not in 8 other studies. In 20 longer-term studies (<6 months), weight loss on a low-GI diet was seen in 4 and on a high-GI diet in 2, with no difference recorded in 14 studies.An exhaustive assessment of these human intervention trials found no significant difference in the average weight loss between low & high GI diets. in conclusion, the current body of research evidence does not indicate that low-GI foods are superior to high-GI foods in regard to treating obesity.More recently, Raatz & colleagues conducted a parallel-design, randomized 12-week controlled feeding trial, testing the effect of GI and GL on weight loss[14]. The controlled period was followed by a 24-week “free living” phase, in which subjects were instructed to continue their respective dietary treatments outside of lab-supervised conditions. Manipulation of GI & GL failed to make a dent in both experimental phases. As a result of the 36-week trial, the researchers conclude: “In summary, lowering the glycemic load and glycemic index of weight reduction diets does not provide any added benefit to energy restriction in promoting weight loss in obese subjects.”
GI gives us clues to the behavior of certain foods, but that’s exactly the main point of this article. Clues; mere hints are all we get from our current knowledge of GI. Successful application of GI is most consistent when we use higher GI sources to enhance the speed of postworkout glycogenesis, and that’s about it. Carb foods are better judged on the basis of degree processing, refinement, or alteration/removal of micronutrition — NOT on the basis of GI, or even GL.
This is as good a time as any to crush the folly of what I call “food discrimination”. A prime example of this is cutting out potatoes on the basis of GI. This happens all the time, & the dieter takes pride in thinking he/she is being prudent. Well, the critical thing to realize here is that all food species in nature have unique nutrient profiles. Therefore, unique nutritional benefit can be derived from each species. The natural matrix of plant &/or animal tissue cannot be duplicated in the lab, & hence there are many unidentified beneficial agents in, say, the humble potato. As a matter of trivia, it surpasses bananas in potassium & vitamin C concentration. Not to mention, it provides default hydration, and of course is a great whole-food source of starch. The list goes on & on.
Satiety, micronutrient density, insulin response, & surrounding factors altering glucose kinetics are all much like a roll of the dice in terms of bottom-line certainty & reliability of GI. Like all things in science – especially the deep bubbly cauldron that is applied nutritional science – it ain’t all that simple. All avenues in this area are winding & complex.
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