What Happens When You Exercise?

by with No Comment Health

In simple words, exercise is a type of physical stress that we put on our body, which has both short-term and long-term effects.

Short-term effects:

  • Increased blood supply: When you exercise, your working muscles need oxygen and glucose. To deliver these nutrients, more blood will flow to the muscles.
  • Increased heart rate: Your heart needs to beat faster than normal in response to exercise in order to deliver nutrients quickly.
  • Increased muscle temperature: Working muscles need energy, which comes from fat or carbohydrates. When either of these is used for energy, the chemical reaction that takes place produces heat as a waste product.
  • Microtears in muscles: Exercise causes stress on muscles, which can lead to microtears. These are repaired during rest and when you fuel your body with sufficient nutrients & protein

Now these are some short term effects but when you continue to exercise for longer duration, your body will become more efficient at handling these processes and will lead to better functioning of heart, lungs, increased bone density, increased muscular strength and reduce risk of several diseases.

Sounds like an impressive deal. So when are you beginning to exercise.

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THIS HAPPENS to Muscles When You Don’t Workout

by with No Comment fitnessHypertrophyUncategorized

You may have noticed that when you take a few days off from working out, your muscles start to look a little leaner or smaller in size. Right?

To understand whether this is muscle loss or not, let’s go back to basics.

Our muscles are about:-

  • 75% water
  • About 18-20% protein
  • 1-2% carbohydrates in the form of glycogen
  • similar fat percent
  • 1% electrolytes

And a few other things like creatine.

Now, If you pay attention here, you can see that muscles are mostly water, and glycogen is also stored with 3 times the amount of water.

So, when you don’t work out for a few days, the first thing that happens is that the amount of glycogen decreases, which also takes a lot of water with it.

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So, the main reason why your muscles look smaller in the initial few days is water AND GLYCOGEN loss. Yes, if you don’t train for a few weeks or months, then gradually protein breakdown will be higher than protein synthesis resulting in a reduction of net protein, which will cause the muscle fibers to shrink, which is called muscle loss or muscle atrophy.

So the key takeaway here is, nothing will happen to your muscles in a few days to a week or so, in fact, this could be an opportunity for your muscles to recover best during couple of days of rest.

Will Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) increase muscle growth?

by with No Comment HypertrophyUncategorized

Let’s understand this in an oversimplified way. The pH of our muscles is around 7.5 Let’s say you are doing a set of biceps curls, and the pain you feel as you reach the last rep because of lactic acid that builds up in your working muscles.

This lactic acid will lower the muscle pH (approximate 6.5-7 pH) and make it acidic, resulting in muscle fatigue and completion of the set. This is called exercise-induced metabolic acidosis.

Now, what Sodium bicarbonate will do is, it will prevent the muscles from becoming acidic for a while by raising muscle & blood pH, so that muscle fatigue is delayed, hence improving exercise performance. Simply put, you’ll be able to pull a few extra reps.

So, theoretically, the extra reps that come from this delayed fatigue can increase your workout volume, which is a major factor in muscle growth. And this can indirectly support muscle hypertrophy by enhancing exercise performance, however, direct evidence of sodium bicarbonate supplementation on muscle growth is not well established.

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However, it is proven to increase muscle endurance, and there is evidence to support improved exercise performance in certain high-intensity sports such as cycling, running, swimming, rowing etc.

So, with this information, we can conclude that baking soda may or may not work for muscle growth, but the muscle-building basics will definitely work (progressive resistance/weight training + optimal protein + small surplus + rest).

So if you wish to try, combine the muscle-building basics with a serving of sodium bicarbonate to see if it works or not. We will very soon make a video about when and how to consume it.

Essential vs Non Essential Fat

by with No Comment Nutrition

Here’s an interesting thing: even if we don’t eat any fat sources, our body can still make its own fat by using other macronutrients. But this usually doesn’t happen because even if you don’t eat fat in visible form, such as ghee or oil, you still get fat in invisible form from

  • Nuts
  • Seeds
  • Dairy
  • Eggs, etc.

However, some fatty acids are essential, which means you have to get them from your diet. These include omega-3 and omega-6, which are polyunsaturated fats.

Omega-6 is found in most oils, nuts, and seeds. However, there are fewer sources of omega-3, such as fish in animals and

  • Flax
  • Chia
  • Walnuts or
  • Algae oil in plants. 

Omega-3 has an important role, such as:-

  • Reducing cardiovascular risk
  • Improving bone
  • Brain and
  • Vision health and much more.

So, the practical takeaway here is: omega 6, you can manage easily and even though omega 3 is really important for overall health but, before you run to the market to buy omega-3 supplement from the market, first set a good foundation for your overall health with proper nutrition and activity.

Then, you can start incorporating omega-3 into your diet.

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How to choose the best peanut butter?

by with No Comment Nutrition

Before we get to the best peanut butter, let’s understand the basics of peanut butter. Any peanut butter typically contains around 25-30 percent protein, 50 percent fat, 20-22% grams of carbohydrates, and approximately 650 calories.

Peanut butter available in the market mainly falls into three categories:

Firstly, there’s all-natural peanut butter, which contains only one ingredient: peanuts. Then, to enhance the taste, many brands add sugar and salt to peanuts. Sometimes stabilizers and hydrogenated oil are also added for better consistency.

In sugar-added peanut butters, the percentage of peanuts decreases to about 80-85 percent, resulting in lower protein and fat content.

Thirdly, there are flavored peanut butters like chocolate or coconut, where the peanut content decreases, and the added flavor is present. Nutrition-wise, there will be slight differences among them, and the ingredients should be listed in this order on the label.

If you need to avoid a certain type of peanut butter, it’s best to avoid those with hydrogenated oil and why is that we’ll discuss hydrogenated fat in a separate video however, all peanut butters are heavy in calories.

Now that you know something about peanut butters, you can include them in your diet based on your budget, taste, brand preference, and goals.

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How to order protein foods for muscle growth?

by with No Comment fitnessNutrition

If the priority is to maximize muscle growth, then arrange your protein sources in this order, where you first pick high-quality sources. High quality means complete protein sources, and surprisingly, the availability of complete sources is also more than incomplete sources.

So, keeping this approach in mind, first pick eggs. Eggs are the king of the protein world, so whether you’re vegetarian or non-vegetarian, if you eat eggs, grab a few pieces first. Then, if you’re a non-vegetarian, go for

  • Chicken
  • Fish or
  • any other meat.

Chicken and fish are the leanest options in non-vegetarian foods meaning providing less calories per gram of protein. 

And if you’re a vegetarian and don’t eat eggs, then prioritize dairy foods first, including

  • Paneer
  • Cheese
  • Milk
  • Curd
  • Yogurt
  • Skimmed milk powder etc.

Next in line among plant foods will be the soy family, where you have chunks, tofu, tempeh, and so on. After that, consider seitan because of its high protein content, followed by all types of lentils like:

  • kidney beans
  • Chickpeas
  • Gram flour
  • Sattu etc.

Finally, if there’s room left, include nuts and seeds. Whey protein will also be at the top, but discussions about supplements usually come at the end.

Now, follow a top down approach to complete your daily protein intake.

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Olive vs mustard oil

by with No Comment Nutrition

A fat is good for health if it contains a higher amount of unsaturated fat, and both olive oil and mustard oil are almost 85 to 90 percent unsaturated.

Olive oil consists of 75% monounsaturated and 10% polyunsaturated fats

while mustard oil contains 65% monounsaturated and 25% polyunsaturated fat.

Saturated fat is minimal in both. Calorie-wise, both are the same since they are 100% fat. Additionally, both provide good amounts of vitamin E and K.

Moreover, both oils have antioxidant and bad cholesterol-lowering properties, making them heart-healthy. However, mustard oil will provide the same properties at 70% less price than olive oil, but some dishes taste better when cooked with olive oil.

So, if cost is important, opt for mustard oil, but if you enjoy different cuisines, you might need both. It’s worth noting that oils are calorie-dense foods, so whether you choose olive, mustard, or any other plant based oil, most of them are high in unsaturated fat, but they become healthy only when you pay attention to their quantity.

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olive vs olive pomace oil

Olive Oil Vs Olive Pomace Oil

by with No Comment HealthNutrition

Now, when you press olives without applying heat using a machine, you get virgin or extra virgin olive oil. The process of producing olive oil from olives is longer than this however, the important thing to note is that these olives are neither heat treated nor any chemicals are used to extract oil from them.

Therefore they are sometimes called cold-pressed.

This is quite good for the heart because of the significant amount of unsaturated fat, where monounsaturated fat is predominant.

Approximate nutrition per 100g olive oil

  • Saturated fat – 15 g
  • Unsaturated fat – 85 g
  • Monounsaturated – 75 g
  • Polyunsaturated fat – 10 g

The cost of virgin olive oil is approximately 1000 rupees per liter or even higher.

Now, after extracting the olive oil, the remaining residue is further refined using solvents to extract any remaining oil, resulting in what is known as refined olive pomace oil. Finally, by adding a bit of virgin olive oil to this refined olive pomace oil, they are ready to be packaged and marketed as olive pomace oil, which is priced around Rs 350-500 rupees per liter.

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Nutritionally, these two oils are the same; the only difference lies in their price and processing. Olive pomace is highly processed but this processing offers one advantage, which is that they become suitable for high-heat cooking.

So, if you want a natural product, go for virgin or extra virgin and if you simply want to create an impression that you use olive oil in front of friends/relatives but don’t have the money, then go for olive pomace oil.

The key point is that both oils are good for the heart. The most crucial aspect about oils/fats is – whatever oil you use whether it’s olive, pomace, mustard or ghee, if you ensure that the quantity is appropriate, and you’re good to go.

Do You Need Probiotics?

by with No Comment HealthNutrition

Should you take probiotics?

Let’s understand this in a simplified way. In your large intestine, there are trillions of bacteria and they have two teams – good and bad bacteria. Both of these teams are constantly trying to outcompete each other. If the good bacteria outnumber the bad ones, your health will be optimal in most cases.

If the bad bacteria dominate, you might experience issues related to digestion and overall health, such as IBS, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, weakened immunity, skin problems, and various diseases, and generally, an overgrowth of bad bacteria can affect your health. 

There are two common causes: the first is an unhealthy lifestyle that involves consuming low-fiber foods, lack of exercise, insufficient water intake, a diet rich in low-nutrient foods, alcohol, and smoking, among other factors. The second is illness or the use of antibiotics. The only solution to defeat these bad bacteria is to increase the population of good bacteria.

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The first way to do this is by including high-fiber foods in your diet. All plant based foods are great sources of fiber such as nuts, seeds, lentils & beans, all whole grains, fruits & vegetables. Make sure you’re getting enough of them. In simple terms, fiber is the food of good bacteria. By consuming fiber-rich foods, you help these bacteria thrive and grow. 

The second method is by consuming probiotic foods. Probiotics are live good bacteria found in foods like curd, yogurt, and fermented foods. Generally, if you combine these two methods with regular exercise and adequate water intake, your gut health will be excellent. 

However, if you’re already dealing with a digestive issue or taking antibiotics, adding a probiotic drink or supplement for a few days can be a good initial step.

The bottom line is that under normal conditions, a good lifestyle with a diet rich in fiber and probiotic foods is sufficient for gut health. But if you’re dealing with a digestive issue or taking antibiotics, starting with a probiotic drink or supplement can be a smart strategy. 

Calisthenics Vs Weight Training For Building Muscle

by with 3 Comments Uncategorized

Now, the primary principle for building muscle is applying continuous resistance or stress to the muscle, and in response to that stress, the muscle grows by becoming stronger and bigger. 

Now, this resistance can come either from external weights like dumbbells, machines, barbells, which is also known as weight training, or from bodyweight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, dips, squats, and more, which is referred to as calisthenics, our body only cares about resistance. 

However, for continuous muscle growth, you need to consistently apply the principle of progressive overload, which means gradually increasing the stress on muscles. In weight training, this can be achieved by increasing the weight, repetitions, or sets, and in calisthenics, you can increase exercise difficulty, reps, and sets.

For example, if you want to do push-ups, start with knee-supported push-ups, then progress to regular push-ups, and gradually increase the level of difficulty from there. Also, 15-20 sets per muscle per week is a good range to work with.

In essence, if you want to build muscle at Home, calisthenics is an easy & fun way to increase your muscle mass and strength without getting bored. Besides, it will also increase your flexibility. The key, as always, is consistency.

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