1. What sweetener/flavors are acceptable? What about Splenda? Stevia? Xylitol? What about natural extracts like Almond, Vanilla, etc.? To what degree are these clean/acceptable?

2. On a 6-meal/day plan, is three protein shakes/smoothies acceptable? We are trying to stay within a budget, and shake is much less costly than another meal.

3. How acceptable is diet soda? Like Diet Mtn Dew for some caffeine and a treat? my husband drinks Pepsi 1 with Splenda.

Hey Rachel. Here we go:

1. Sweeteners are pretty debatable. Stevia would be your best choice, although it is pretty expensive. Splenda is technically calorie free and Xylitol is also, they are both offshoots of sugar and sugar alcohols. To much sugar alcohols can give you... for lack of a better word, Diahrrea. The GI tract is not attuned to digesting such a compound. But in terms of calorie consumption, they are all "free". If you have other health concerns, stick with Stevia.

2. Three shakes is fine. If they are placed in between solid whole meals, they are even better.

3. For health concerns, you gotta try and stay away from Diet Pop. Aspertame is actually pretty toxic stuff and a widely known carcinogen. Is a little gonna kill ya? Probably not, so go ahead and have a few Diet Soda's here and there. But be careful cuz it is easy to consume to much of it if you are not paying attention! I myself Limit Diet Pop to Once a week. Don't worry about caffeine! Caffeine is a great fatty-acid mobilizer. The other concern is the carbonation in the Diet Soda. I don't know the mechanism exactly, so maybe someone can chime in on Carbonation? But I do know that consumption of it plays a role in the decrease of Protein Synthesis. To what degree? I am not sure. Not to the same degree that Alcohol will that is for sure!! That is a quick way to halt muscle building in your body!

Hope this helps!

Use portion control with splenda (if you use it at all, which I don't):
1 cup=approx 100 cals
1 tsp= 4 cals
yes, they call it a 'free' food, but really, it isn't...I found that it made me crave sweets even more. Bottom line, I'd say you're fine if you just sprinkle it hear and there, but don't dump it on everything, it will add up!

NEW QUESTION:

I really struggle drinking straight water. I want to give up Diet Pop, which I am completely in love with. I started with Crystal Lite - but that has aspartame too.

Any suggestions for beverages or how to get the water down?

I usually have 1 cup of jasmine green tea per day too.

Read the entire thread:

http://beverlynutrition.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1696051983/m/1431093964

While stevia is "expensive", the ratio isn't compared to Splenda. Stevia is natural and does help reduce glucose levels about as much as cinnamon. Drop the Crystal Light. Drop! I used to think a little was ok, but ...I forgot. J/K

I'm serious. Don't use it. NOW products probably has the best Stevia. I did not like previous brands, but this sure makes a difference. Squeeze 1/2 a lemon in to 32 oz and 4 drops of Stevia. Get the one with a dropper.

I HATE drinking water and this is your best bet.

As far as Splenda being made from sugar, true. But it is as far from the base as corn is to nitroglycerin.

Wow. What an interesting thread.

It's amazing what the marketers do to get our dollars, twist our minds "Oh it's made from sugar/ Oh it's healthier than those other blue and pink packets"

What about AGAVE syrup? I have all natural agave nector from Puerto Vallarta.

We love Stevia. My DH's parents get on me though because they say we should use Xylitol.

quote:

Xylitol

Hmmm. I would stick to Stevia. Given some of your GI problems, definitely stick to Stevia. Most anything with the itol suffix, you probably would be best to minimize or abstain.

What about AGAVE syrup?

A NEW QUESTION:

I just did my numbers on a fat loss diet..and this is what I got:

2100 cal/day

Protein 50% - 262g
Carbs 20% - 104g
Fat 30% - 70g

Does this seem out of wack?

I am 5'11" 140lbs.

Hi Rachel! Why are you starting so high on calories? At your weight, maybe drop to 1900 as a starting base. You do realize that you can't stay on this 50/20/30 split for too long right?

What you are gonna have to do to keep from going stagnant on this particular diet is add a cheat meal, or, a high carb meal every 4th day in place of your last meal. With the added "cheat" meal, this diet is very effective at fat loss and lean mass retention. Just be careful cuz you are bordering on that catabolic state very closely!

Good luck!

quote:

What you are gonna have to do to keep from going stagnant on this particular diet is add a cheat meal, or, a high carb meal every 4th day in place of your last meal. With the added "cheat" meal, this diet is very effective at fat loss and lean mass retention. Just be careful cuz you are bordering on that catabolic state very closely!

"
Ah, yes. Rachel may go even higher in calories because digestion may only be 75%.

Rachel, try that for three weeks. Make sure you have a carb only meal at the end of every third day or Mon/Thurs, Tues/Fri. BI CARB UP meal does work for fat loss but I really like it as a starting point with higher calories.

LOL! This seems like high calories?!?!?!

I eat on average closer to 3,000 and I maintain just nicely. With 1-2 cheat meals per day.

Does the carb up meal have fat or protein at all?

Does it matter which days I carb up in relation to if I work out that day or the next day?

How long can I bet at this split?

Protein 50% - 262g
Carbs 20% - 104g
Fat 30% - 70g


And after that, where would I move it to? 40/30/30?

NEW QUESTION:

(P.S. You guys are awesome, thank you so much!)

I have a product called John Scott Nitro AMINO ARMOR

Here are the specs:
270 Capsules
Supplement Facts
Serving Size 9Capsules
Servings Per Container 30

Amount Per Serving % DV

Phase I Armor: Muscle Fuel
Vitamin B6 10mg 500%
Niacinamide 10mg 50%
Magnesium (Aspartate) 40mg 2%
Calcium Pyruvate 250mg *

Phase II Armor: BCAA Protection 250mg
L-Leucine *
L-Isoleucine *
L-Valine *

Phase III Armor: Muscle Growth Complex 925mg
L-Alanine
L-Glutamine
L-Glutamic Acid
L-Taurine
L-Histidine
L-Lysine
L-Methionine
L-Phenylalanine
L-Threonine

Phase IV Armor: GH Releasers 500mg
L-Arginine
L-Ornithine

=============================

Depsite most Arginine supplements that have caused me a cold-sore outbreak, this has never done that for me. Maybe because the Arginine/Lysine balance is near equal.

Anyhow, I have this full bottle that is going to expire in a few months (I got it from one of their sales reps because I used to carry it in my store). I know JS Nitro products are huge here in the Valley and a lot of people stand by them (similar to BI).

Question: How can I use this supplement to help my lean muscle gain/fat loss?

Take in between meals? Before/after workouts?

Thanks.

Help please. (read above)

The best way that I can think of is to take 9 caps first thing in the morning before breakfast to shift your metabolism into anabolism, then take 9 caps before your workout.
Basically, use this in a similar manner to the way you would use Muscle Synergy.

quote:

Originally posted by RachelJ:
How long can I bet at this split?

Protein 50% - 262g
Carbs 20% - 104g
Fat 30% - 70g


And after that, where would I move it to? 40/30/30?

Rachel, I would stay on the 50/20/30 diet with carb up meals for about 10-12 weeks. You will WANT to be off of it by then anyways, but the absolute maximum benefit will be around or before the 12 week mark.

After that, you will be leaner for sure, but you may be overly depleated also. At this point you change up your macros to around the 40/40/20 mark! This will keep your leaness and fill out your depleted muscles. You will also gain lean body mass and strength!

Did you say 3000 calories!?????? That is insane for a person your size!? You may be a little tricky to work with. If your metabolism is supercharged like this, you may benefit from a diet that is 30/60/10?

Anyways, try out the 50/20/30 first. You gotta find out what works for you and you certainly can't try EVERYTHING at once.

I know. Crazy huh?

On and off for the past year and a half since I left the nutritional arena, I've been known to eat some pretty awesome amounts of fast food/high caloric-value meals and not gain weight. (It's so awful I know, but lets be real) my husband says I have not just a tapeworm, but multiple. I'm consistently hungry!

But I never gain a lot of weight, now, that's not to say that I dont breakout (acne) on my face or feel a bit puffy and poochey after a few weeks on that horrendous of a diet (2-3+ awful cheats a week)...but the scale never changes.

I'm going to play around with this 50/20/30 split and calculate a menu plan around the ~2000kcal mark and see how it does. If we don't feel good we may switch it up or consult back for details.

I'm a little scared at that low calorie, especially once our workouts ramp up (right now it's just consisting of a lot of walking, as I said before).

But if it gets us to our goals - I'm all for it.

We're cycling off the Diet Pop, I only bought us 1-2 liter for the entire week. I also am scaling back on the crystal lite...