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  The Basic Nutrients

  As I have shown, digestion and assimilation of food is of utmost importance to the maintenance of a healthy body. If we do not digest and assimilate our food properly, our bodies will not get the maximum nutritional benefits needed for growth, repair, and power. The chemical substances that food provides to the proper functioning of the body are called nutrients. There are six basic classes of nutrients: proteins, lipids (fats), carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water. Each nutrient has a specific function in the body apart from its primary function of providing energy.

  The body is made up of billions of cells and each cell contains all the nutrients it needs to sustain itself. Not all cells need the same nutrient nor do they need the same nutrients in the same proportions. They never use more than they need, however, so what isn’t used and can’t be stored may become toxic if not eliminated from the body within a certain amount of time. An insufficient amount of nutrients in the cells will cause them to stop functioning and die.

  Let me explain what each class of nutrient does for the body and point out important principles of nutrition bodybuilders should know in relation to each class. You will be surprised that what seems to be common practice in bodybuilding circles is in opposition to nutritional principles.

  Protein

  In an average person, about 30 percent of the body’s supply of protein is found in muscle tissue. In bodybuilders, this figure goes up to about 40-50 percent. Usually one gram of protein is required daily for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight. Bodybuilders and other athletes need more, of course, because their muscles are larger. Here is a chart for the normal recommended daily protein intake:

  When you eat more protein, your body does not automatically secrete more HCl to help digest it. Therefore, I recommend that, if you are training to build more muscle and taking in more protein, you should take HCl and digestive enzyme supplements.

  The building blocks of proteins are the amino acids. There are two types of amino acids: essential and nonessential. The nonessential amino acids are synthesized by the body’s glands, and as the name implies, are nothing to worry about as long as the glands function properly. The essential amino acids are not synthesized by the body and must be provided through the food you eat.

  The eight essential amino acids are tryptophane, lysine, methionine, treonine, phenylalaine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Some authorities include histidine and arginine among the essential amino acids although they are synthesized by the body in small amounts.

  The classification of protein is further divided into complete and incomplete proteins. A complete protein is of high biological value, which means that it comes from something living (fish, chicken, mammal), and contains all of the essential amino acids in the right proportions needed by the body. An incomplete protein lacks one or more of the essential amino acids and is of low biological value, which means that it comes from a lower form of life (plants). With the exception of those found in soybeans, all vegetable proteins are incomplete. (Unless soybeans are soaked prior to cooking, however, they are very difficult to digest.)

  One of the problems with a vegetarian diet is knowing how to combine the vegetable proteins into complete proteins. Most of the vegetarians that I have encountered (particularly through my chiropractic practice) have lacked essential amino acids in their diets. This deficiency is more noticeable in women who have been on strict vegetarian diets. After a few years on such a diet, a person will sag from the tip of the nose to the ends of the ankles. Without complete proteins in their diets, vegetarians invariably lose the collagen in their connective tissues that keeps the joints of the body smooth and flexible, and they lose the elastin which makes repairing tissue possible. Such a diet requires a lot of time and knowledge; otherwise it could be harmful to your health.

  Use this list to select the type of protein you should consume:

  • Eggs provide the most complete protein with only 12 percent of its protein not absorbed by the body.

  • Fish is next with an approximate 78 percent absorption level.

  • Dairy products come close behind with 76 percent.

  • Meat is fourth with about 68 percent absorption level.

  • Soybeans, about 48 percent absorption level.

  Because I was raised on a complete diet of natural foods, everything that comes out of a jar, can, or box is artificial and I avoid eating it. I have the same feelings for protein tablets and powder, Protein powder is a dead food. In animal protein, the DNA in the cell, even when the animal is dead, is alive, unbroken. In protein powder, the DNA of the animal source used is broken down during the cooking process that takes place to make the powder. Thus, the powder is of low biological value. I believe that it should be used only for people who are extremely debilitated and cannot digest or absorb natural food, or in countries where the population is starving.

  When I came to America I started taking protein powder drinks because that seemed the thing to do, and for the first time in my life I began to get fat. I could not, at first, imagine where the fat was coming from. I trained and trained, but still had a roll of fat around my waist. So I stopped taking the protein drinks — it was the only thing I was doing differently since coming from Europe — and, as you can probably guess, the fat disappeared and never returned.

  If you insist on going against my sound advice and take protein powder, be sure to mix it with water or milk. Do not use fruit juice. Fruit juice contains, in most cases, highly concentrated sugar and does not combine with protein during digestion. Instead of being digested, the protein will putrify in the colon and harden like stone. The same thing will happen with your protein tablets that have been coated with sugar to taste good.

  If you feel that you are training hard and need more protein, then add one or two small protein meals to your diet program. Anything can be overdone, so experiment with your body and eat what feels right to you. You should have enough energy for training, but should not feel full or bloated. If you feel bloated, you are eating too much, not digesting what you are eating, or eating the wrong food combinations.

  Protein and Enzymes. All enzymes are made of protein. To make enzymes, the body must have high quality protein foods. Before food can be utilized by the body, it must go through many changes that are brought about by enzymes. (We don’t have to worry about which comes first, however; we just have to make sure the cycle isn’t broken.) Enzymes are compounds that cause substances to be changed from one form into another. The minute we begin to eat, the enzymes go to work, taking food through the various stages of digestion and of elimination.

  Without proper enzyme function, undigested foods become toxic (poisonous) to the body. For example, the digestion of carbohydrate foods begins in the mouth with the enzymes ptyalin and maltase. These enzymes are secreted by the salivary glands in the mouth — that is why it is important to thoroughly chew carbohydrate foods for proper digestion to take place.

  Protein digestion begins in the stomach with hydrochloric acid (HCl). While HCl is not an enzyme, it provides the necessary medium for the major stomach enzyme, pepsin, to be effective in digesting protein. Some people have made the mistake of grouping HCl with other acids, such as those found in fruits or drugs, and thus, take these acids with their meal. These acids actually inhibit gastric digestion, either by destroying the pepsin or limiting its secretion. That is why I warned you not to mix protein powders with fruit juice; the only fruits that combine with protein are papaya and pineapple (rich in enzymes), apples, and grapes.

  One of the first things to slow down in the body is the production of HCl. It has been estimated that at age 65 we produce 23 percent of the HCl we did at age 18. If you are properly combining food (eating proteins first, carbohydrates later) and still have digestive problems, then I recommend digestive supplements that include HCl.

  The digestion of milk is aided by the enzyme rennin, which is not normally produced in the adult human. That is why bodybuilders w
ho drink large quantities of milk tend to look smooth and fat. I always recommend that my patients eat yogurt in place of drinking milk. Plain, homemade yogurt is very easily digested and assimilated, and is rich in protein and calcium.

  Enzymes are also found in the muscles. I have discovered two enzymes that are important for bodybuilders to know about. Arginese is a protein-digestive enzyme that breaks down protein found in muscles into the waste product urea. Urea is then eliminated from the body through urine; thus excess or worn out amino acids, created when muscles are broken down during heavy weight training, are prevented from contaminating the body. Phosphatase is an enzyme necessary for releasing the mechanical energy of muscles. It combines with the sugars, glucose and fructose, and with oxygen for the release of energy. Then carbon dioxide is carried away from the muscle cells when the energy is released.

  Amino acids are broken down by the enzyme amino acid oxidase in the liver. The liver’s function is to break down worn out or excess amino acids and it can actually convert these into glucose if needed. Most of the protein wastes become urea and are eliminated through the kidneys. If you overeat, you can overload this process and set your digestive and eliminative systems working against you.

  Fats

  Lipids, or fat, makes up the largest food molecule one can eat. One gram of fat contains nine calories, whereas an equal amount of protein or of carbohydrate contains four calories. Fat is emulsified, or split up, by the bile salts from the liver and gallbladder. Digestion is then completed in the small intestine by the enzyme lipase.

  Fat naturally occurs with protein foods and is used by the body as a carrier for the fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K. Following absorption, fat is either oxidized (for energy) or stored in the body. Storage occurs in places you may be familiar with, known as fat deposits, and is present in most tissues. When needed later, fat is metabolized in the liver by bile salts stored in the gallbladder.

  Fat is also necessary for hormone production, and this fact is particularly important for women. Women usually have 25-40 percent of body fat compared to men who have 15-25 percent of body fat. When a woman’s body weight drops too low and her percentage of body fat goes under 10 percent, she usually strop menstruating. We have found this condition very common among female athletes who have come to us as patients. This is only one example of the relation between fat and hormones, but we hope it is dramatic enough to demonstrate the danger of severe dieting and overtraining.

  When fats and protein are eaten together, the fat inhibits the secretion of gastric juice; hence digestion is impaired. So, although they occur together naturally, you are still well advised to trim meats of excess fat, take the skin off of chicken, and avoid heavy sauces or fatty dressings on salads.

  Cholesterol is another substance that is important for hormone production, and acts as a conductor of nerve impulses in the body. Here in America, everyone seems to be afraid of high cholesterol and, therefore, avoids foods that contain cholesterol. Eggs appear to be on this list of “dangerous” foods because they are high in cholesterol. It should be noted, however, that eggs also contain lecithin and this helps break the cholesterol down. Most often, the real causes of high cholesterol levels are stress and refined carbohydrates (refined sugar and white bread are examples). The body is usually capable of regulating its own cholesterol levels and always works to maintain a balance of nutrients.

  People should be more concerned with triglycerides, the amount of fat in the blood. One of the most effective ways of keeping triglyceride levels low is vigorous physical exercise. I highly recommend that everyone have a complete blood study done on an annual basis so triglyceride levels as well as other problems involving nutrition can be monitored and prevented.

  Carbohydrates

  The main function of carbohydrates is to supply energy to the body. Some carbs are converted into glucose to provide immediate energy needs, some are stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles, and the rest are converted to fat and stored as adipose (fat) tissue. The main product of carbohydrate digestion is glucose and the central nervous system is entirely dependent on this glucose for energy.

  What glucose is not immediately used by the central nervous system, is carried to the liver where it is converted to glycogen. The liver then changes it into a simple sugar as the body calls for it. The body can store approximately 350 grams of glycogen. A third of this total is stored in the liver and used for energy in all cellular activity of the body. The other two-thirds of the body’s supply of glycogen is stored in the muscles and is used for muscular energy. It takes 48 hours to restore the full amount of glycogen after two or three hours of very hard training. That is why I don’t recommend training twice a day or training every day, if you are training very hard. The body needs some time to rest and recuperate.

  Glycogen cannot be stored in the nerve tissues. The central nervous system therefore needs replenishment of glucose through the consumption of carbs whether or not your workouts exhaust stored glycogen. That is why I am appalled to see so many people trying out low-carbohydrate diets.

  I have never dieted in my life and am astonished at all the different diets that people try. When I first came to America, every bodybuilder I met was bulking up and then cutting down for contests. I could never understand how someone could let himself get fat and then try to reduce to build muscle. Well, now that bulking-up-and-cutting-down is not so popular, the fashionable thing is a very low- or no-carbohydrate diet.

  I see several problems with this dietary philosophy. First, natural (unrefined) carbohydrates do not make you fat — sugar, a form of refined carbohydrates, makes you fat. Second, as I have already mentioned, the central nervous system becomes irritated when there is not enough glucose to meet its needs. Third, if the body can’t get energy from its store of glycogen, which is primarily supplied by carbs, then it obtains its energy from its store of protein.

  The first problem with cutting carbohydrates from your diet to avoid becoming fat is simply a misunderstanding of their nutritional value. Refined carbohydrates are so concentrated that they overload the system, which can only store so much for energy needs. The rest is converted to fat or eliminated before it becomes toxic. The carbs found in fresh fruit, for example, are not so concentrated and provide just what your body can use.

  Because the nerve tissues of your body cannot store glycogen, which can be converted to the sugar needed for nervous energy by other tissues, you need to eat carbohydrate food on a regular basis to replenish energy for your nervous system. What happens to the bodybuilder on a low-carb diet is that he becomes nervous and irritable and his contest performance is affected. If he carries the diet too far, he can have a dried-up-prune look due to a lack of fat. It is one thing to look defined on stage and another to look wrinkled up.

  The final problem with the low-carb philosophy is the effect it can have on the protein level of the body. A bodybuilder needs protein to build up muscles, and an appropriate level of carbs can spare the protein level from being robbed by the body for energy use. Very simply put, this means that when bodybuilders go on a high-protein, low-carb diet, their bodies are converting the extra protein into energy instead of converting it into muscle tissue.

  Summary. To summarize my discussion of nutrients so far, then, just remember that carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for the body, fats are second, and protein is third. Fats are necessary for hormone production and for carrying fat-soluble vitamins to where they are needed in the body. Protein (as well as minerals and water) is the main structural material of the body.

  Vitamins and Minerals

  Rather than discuss each vitamin and mineral separately, here and now, I will go over the basic needs for them in this chapter and refer you to the Appendix where each vitamin and mineral is discussed. There you will find the body’s use for each vitamin and mineral along with the natural sources (foods) by which you can obtain each.

  Vitamins and minerals are organic food substances that a
re essential for the normal metabolism of other nutrients to promote proper growth and maintenance of health. The most important factor in bodybuilding is muscle growth. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve maximum muscle growth and definition unless you adhere to a super nutritious diet along with proper vitamin and mineral supplements.

  Vitamins and minerals act as catalysts, or help form catalysts, in the body; they are a part of the enzyme system and assist in essential metabolic reactions. Metabolism is the conversion of digested nutrients into building material for living tissue or energy to meet the body’s needs. Metabolism occurs in two general phases that occur simultaneously: anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism involves all the chemical reactions that the nutrients undergo in the construction or building up of body chemicals and tissues, such as blood, enzymes, hormones, glycogen, and others. In other words, anabolism is the building up of protoplasm from the simpler food molecules. Catabolism is the destructive phase of metabolism: the disintegration of protoplasm or the release of potential energy. It takes place in every cell without exception, but the amount varies from one type of tissue or organ to another and according to the body’s demand for energy. Muscles and certain other organs are the most metabolically active structures.

  Now we know that the process of metabolism takes place in each of us; however, it is much more intense in bodybuilders. The breakdown, repair, and growth of tissue is so profound in the bodybuilder that he must supplement his diet with vitamins and minerals for these processes to take place properly.

  Many people think that if they eat a well-balanced diet they will have no need for extra vitamins and minerals. This is not true. First of all, most people, including bodybuilders, know very little about proper nutrition. For example, many bodybuilders eat too much protein and do not balance it out with small amounts of fat and natural carbohydrates. To be healthy, the body must have protein, fats, and carbohydrates. The diet should be simple, and as natural as possible. Second, most of the food in this country is devitalized, having been grown on soil that is depleted of minerals. Third, most processed food contains preservatives, chemicals, and hormones which could be dangerous for our health. For these reasons everyone should supplement their diet with extra nutrients. The bodybuilder, whose metabolic processes are greatly accelerated, must take additional vitamin and mineral supplements.