“since I have made the transition [becoming vegetarian], I have
gotten stronger and it actually helped me build muscle mass.”
Name: Emilee Peterson
Occupation: GNC, Metro Cop in training
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Age: 29
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 145 lb.
Type of Training: Female Bodybuilding (high-intensity low-rep heavy
weights)
Q: Tell us the story of how/why you decided to go pro as a female
bodybuilder.
I competed in my first show in November of
2012. I placed third. I was happy with that placing. First show
and getting third was amazing for me. I then decided I would hop right
into another prep and try to go for a show in March of 2013.
I ended up hurting my shoulder and needing surgery, and that took me out for
the majority of the year. Around November of 2013, I started back in the
gym, trying to get myself back into the routine of things.
I talked with my coach at the time and decided I would do a back-to-back
show. I would compete in August and November. So he got me
ready. I placed third for the August show in Colorado; I wasn’t happy
about that placing since I was only one who was the most conditioned.
“I didn’t let it get to my head, I still kept the intensity up
and came in fuller and bigger for the November show, where I won the whole
show. I won my class and the overall!”
Now I had the fire in me to compete in a national show!
I picked Pittsburgh in September 2015. I gave that show my everything.
I have never wanted something so bad in my life. I seriously ate, drank, and
breathed that show.
Once it was time for me to head to the stage, I crossed my fingers and just
hoped I wouldn’t pass out.
But then I watched the girls in front of me, and I just let myself go and
had fun.
There was nothing I could do now, I just needed to have fun. I worked hard,
and now it was time to show the judges who I was through my routine. I killed
my routine! They called all of us to the side of the stage, and they started to
call the numbers as the girls left to go receive their trophy.
I couldn’t believe they said my name and said I was a new pro! I placed
second and I couldn’t be happier!!! The girls I competed against looked so amazing. Now Olympia
is my next goal.
Q: What were the steps you took to transition to plant-based
nutrition?
I first wanted to know all the sources of protein I needed to be eating so I wouldn’t lose the muscle I had gained. I found a few
I really liked, like tofu, silk tofu, and sun warrior protein powder; I do have egg white once a day so I
don’t [eat] a lot of tofu in a day.
I really just read everything I could about how vegetarian athletes broke down their diets.
Some were fighters, so that helped me get an idea for when I prep for a show
and I can gauge my off-season diet.
I will have to put my breakfast, since that is my favorite one! One scoop of
raw fit mocha protein powder, 1/2 cup oatmeal
with cinnamon and stevia, and a nice tablespoon of almond butter.
Q: What does your training look like these days?
Right now, since it is my off-season until March, I train heavy low reps, trying to build some muscle so I can come a little
bigger and more well-rounded. I train sometimes seven days a week if I am
feeling good.
“I listen to my body. If I feel tired, I rest. If
I am feeling good, I’ll train.”
Q: Favorite three exercises, and why?
This one is hard. I love all kinds, but I would say dead lifts are a favorite. I can show that girls are
strong too and can pull some serious weight and still look like a girl.
Second would be anything for shoulders. I get a pump so fast, and I loovveee
when my shoulders look like baby pumpkins! Thirdly, I would say incline dumb
bell press. This is a strong point for me, so I like to toss around heavy
weights.
Q: Tell me a story of the mentor who played a key role in building
confidence in yourself.
This is something I still struggle with, to be very honest. When I was
younger, I had a really bad eating disorder. I never thought I looked good
enough for the “hot” guys. I have a great support system that helps me keep a
positive mental state.
I have days where I think I look good and feel great, and then I have days
where I don’t think I look good or have enough muscle. Sad to say, I have more low days
then high days, since it’s hard for me to accept a compliment from someone.
I think they are just trying to be nice. So I still need to work on this
area in my life.
Q: What would your friends/colleagues say you’re really good at?
I would say being dedicated. Once I have something in my head I want, I will
go for it. I’m an all-in or all-out kind of person, no grey area for me.
Q: What is your most meaningful tattoo, and tell us the story behind
it?
I would say my right sleeve. It’s Japanese style art. My grandma was
into Japanese stuff and really got me into it, so it’s a little
dedication to her memory.
Q: Fun fact most people don’t know about you?
I’m a big kid. I love cartoons; Dragon Ball Z is my favorite.
And I’m absolutely terrified of roller coasters.
Q: What unpopular opinions do you hold?
Being vegetarian would be something a lot of people
I know don’t agree with.
Q: What have you changed your mind about in past 10 years?
“To live in the moment, for we are not guaranteed the
next one.”
I used to stress over everything. But I have learned that you need
to live for now and focus on what you can do right now to better yourself
and your situation.
A
lot of research has been put in this program. Furthermore, a lot of
professional bodybuilders and athletes tried and tested the program, praising
its progressiveness and efficiency.
The
program is about taking control of your own body and health according to your
potential and needs. And worry not; you’ll get plenty of proteins with this
system. It will boost you with energy, and you’ll feel just a strong as any
carnivore would (perhaps even stronger, depending on how much you invest in
your exercise). It avoids vitamins deficiency and provides you with a lot of
proteins, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Instead
of saying things like “I think a plant-based diet is good for athletes and
bodybuilders,” the V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System claims “I know a
plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders, and I have results to
prove it.”
Reverse Your Type 2
Diabetes in Just 28 Days - Type 2 Diabetes Can Detect the Deadliest Type of
Cancer
Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is not fun. But it might
actually save your life.
How?
You see, 14% of people
diagnosed with a specific type of cancer at stage 1 will not survive longer
than 5 years. While 1% of stage 4 sufferers are lucky if they reach that
milestone, according to the American Cancer Society.
The outlook for this specific
type of cancer is so grim because early diagnosis
is rare and the symptoms are nonspecific.
But, scientists from The International Prevention Research
Institute in Lyon have just found out that you might have more
of a fighting chance of catching it early with the help of your diabetes of all things.
This news could potentially
save millions of people’s lives in the future, because pancreatic cancer is one
of the deadliest. At stage 2 it spreads to the lymph nodes, at stage 3 the
blood vessels or the nerves, and at stage 4 it attacks the remote organs.
Researchers studied 368,377
people with type 2 diabetes in Belgium and 456,311 in
Italy. They discovered 25% of the participants went on to be diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer approximately 3 months after their initial diabetes
diagnosis.
This doesn’t necessarily
indicate a causative relationship, but it might lead doctors to be warier of
their type 2 diabetes patients and to watch out
for signs.
Reverse Your Type 2
Diabetes in Just 28 Days - Your Air-Conditioner Can Cure Type 2 Diabetes Better
Than Meds
New cases of type 2 diabetes have skyrocketed in the
last 20–30 years.
And people suffering are
becoming younger and younger.
Most often bad diet and lack
of exercises take the blame for this.
But new research reveals
another cause. One that is much easier to manage than our yummy diet or
stubborn belly jelly.
All it takes is a press of a
button on your air-conditioner (or central heating).
As summarized by a new Dutch
review study, many researchers have revealed over the years that our glucose
metabolism is impaired by warm temperatures and accelerated by mildly cold
temperatures.
The more glucose your body
burns for energy, the less likely it is that high blood glucose will trigger insulin
resistance and set you on the route to type 2 diabetes.
This does not mean that you
have to turn down your indoor heating until you shiver. Mild cold between 17
and 19°C (62 and 66°F) suffices. This is just 2–5°C cooler than the temperature
at which central heating and air-conditioners are most commonly set.
Interestingly, some studies
also show that mild heat increases insulin sensitivity.
Taking advantages of both aspects,
exposure to intermittent mild heat and mild cold for 10 days can increase the
insulin sensitivity of type 2 diabetics by 40 percent.
This is as much as, or even
more than, the best diabetes drugs can offer.
For this reason, the authors
recommend that temperature control in buildings should not be static, but
rather dynamic, with temperatures varying between 15 and 25°C or 59 and 77°F.
Reverse Your Type 2
Diabetes in Just 28 Days - Statins Directly Cause Type 2 Diabetes in 50% of
Users
The American Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention announced in 2014 that 26% of adults use
statins.
According to a new study from
the University of Queensland published in the journal Drugs and Aging, almost
half of those statin users will develop type 2 diabetes as direct results of taking
these drugs.
Researchers observed 8,372
participants aged 76 to 82 for 10 years.
They identified those who
were prescribed statins during this ten-year period, and then checked how many
of these were prescribed insulin or other glucose-lowering agents.
Alarmingly, compared with
those who did not take any statins, those on low statin doses were 17% more
likely to develop diabetes.
The higher the statin dose,
the higher the risk – those on the highest doses were more than 50% as likely
to develop diabetes.
Doctors were found to start
patients on low doses and moved them to high doses over time.
This is not the first time
medical scientists have issued this warning. The Queensland study was on women,
but men are equally at risk; evidenced by a Finnish research on middle age men,
published in the journal Diabetologia.
The growing body of evidence
worldwide suggests statins are not a magic bullet for cholesterol. They are dangerous drugs that
exacerbates an already epidemic-level diabetes problem.
This post is from the 3 Steps Diabetes Strategy Program.
It was created by Jodi Knapp from Blue Heron health news thathas been recognized
as one of the top-quality national health information websites.
In this program, Jodi
Knapp shares practical tips and advice on how you can prevent and cure diabetes
naturally. She also dispels myths commonly associated with diabetes, like for
example, diabetes being a lifelong condition. There are also lots of information
going around that is simply not true and she’s here to correct it.
Diabetes is a
disease, and it can be cured. This is just one of the important tips Jodi
reveals in her program. Also, she included several ways in preventing the onset
of disease, choosing the right food to eat, recommended vitamin supplements,
the right time of the day to take the blood sugar and many more.
But the most amazing
thing would have to be her program which only takes 3 simple steps to help you
to control & treat type 2 diabetes. What it does is cure diabetes without
having to rely on expensive drugs, diets that make sufferers crave for even
more food they are not supposed to eat, and exercise programs that make people
feel tired and depressed.
Eliminate Your High
Blood Pressure Starting Today - Not Eating This Food Group Causes High Blood
Pressure
It’s a fact that there are
certain foods that have a positive effect on blood pressure, one in particular.
And it starts with having
healthier gut bacteria.
This led researchers from
Monash University in Australia to conduct what has been described as an
“ingenious” study to learn more about the correlation between this food group
and a healthy blood pressure level.
The findings were published
in the journal Circulation.
The answer lies in fiber…
Researchers performed their
study on mice.
They first gave one group of
mice a high fiber diet and another group a
low-fiber one.
Predictably, the fiber eaters
had lower blood pressure. But, more
importantly, those on the low-fiber diet actually had blood pressure higher than that of an
average mouse.
This suggests that fiber
consumption protects you against developing high blood pressure. It also suggests not
eating enough of it also causes high blood pressure.
When they examined the mice’s
gut bacteria, they found that the two groups had very different types of
bacteria.
To investigate the
relationship between gut bacteria and blood pressure in more depth, they
implanted the gut bacteria of the low and high fiber mice into germ-free mice,
which had been raised in an isolator to prevent them from developing any of
their own gut microbiome.
The germ-free mice that
received bacteria from the fiber-deficient mice developed high blood pressure,
while those who received bacteria from the fiber-consuming mice did not.
But why gut bacteria?
Our gut bacteria help digest
and ferment fiber, the process during which certain metabolites are produced.
These metabolites, according to the authors, activate immune cells that protect
against high blood pressure.
While the recommendation is
to eat approximately 30 grams of fiber per day, researchers estimate the
average Westerner only consumes around 5 grams.
Eliminate Your High
Blood Pressure Starting Today - How A Sunny Day Lowers Your Blood Pressure to
Normal
“Stay out of the sun!” These
are often words we hear from the doctors. “It causes cancer”, are the words
that usually follow next. And we do what they say – because they’re doctors –
and they know best, right?
Maybe not!
A recent study published
in The Journal of the
American Heart Association cautions us otherwise.
Firstly, vitamin D is responsible. When ultraviolet
rays hit your skin, your body converts them into vitamin D. Consequently
vitamin D then lowers blood pressure.
Researchers obtained the blood pressure records of 342,457 patients
from 2,178 dialysis centers in the United States.
In addition, they obtained UV
radiation and temperature data for each clinic’s location from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
They then calculated a
monthly average blood pressure, a monthly average UV index
score, and an average monthly temperature. This enabled them to find the
relationships between the variables.
As they expected, they found
that their subjects had 3 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure during the sunny season.
The authors cited previous
studies that proved a 3-mmHg systolic blood pressure reduction could decrease
cardiovascular events by 10 percent.
When they separated
temperature and UV exposure, they found that each contributed to about half of
the overall effect.
So, it isn’t just vitamin D
from UV that lowers blood pressure, it’s also the warm
weather.
Regarding the risk of skin cancer, the authors cited numerous studies
that proved that it was sunburn that caused skin cancer, and not regular
exposure to sunlight.
Eliminate Your High
Blood Pressure Starting Today - This Ancient Natural Approach Drastically
Lowers Blood Pressure
If you’re been diagnosed with
high blood pressure, it’s almost a given
that your doctor has pushed medications on you.
But what if I told you that
there is procedure practiced by doctors in other parts of the world that causes
no side effects? A practice that results in permanent results and is far more
effective than prescription drugs?
This research, which
originated in China, is now available almost everywhere in the world, and it’s
backed up by a study carried out by researchers from Shenzhen Futian Hospital
of TCM.
Acupuncture in Medicine recently published a case study
on a 56-year-old man with high blood pressure of 160/100 mm Hg. He
was treated with medications to bring it down to 150/99 mm Hg. But when
acupuncture was added to the treatment regime, something surprising happened!
The team of Chinese
researchers investigated the effects of real acupuncture versus a placebo
procedure on subjects in a controlled experiment. The results confirmed that
acupuncture is indeed more effective.
They found that acupuncture reduced high blood pressure considerably
and the entire treatment procedure helped protect the heart tissues and reduced
arrhythmia, a condition that causes irregular heartbeats.
In essence, acupuncture helps
fight high blood pressure, works
effectively when combined with medications, reduces the side effects of
medications, and protects body tissues from damage.
This
post is from the High Blood Pressure Exercise Program.It was made by
Christian Goodman Blue Heron health news that has been recognized as one of the
top-quality national health information websites.
This program will
provide you the natural high blood pressure treatments, natural recipes to cook
healthy meals and useful strategies to build a healthy diet with the aim to
help you to maintain, stabilize and get your blood pressure down in minutes
permanently and naturally.
COFFEE’S RISKS AND REWARDS, IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
Coffee is the second most popular drink in
the world, trailing only water and, debatably, tea.
Coffee is among the most consumed — and controversial — beverages in the
world, and certainly many of us use it for a nice little boost for working out.
While coffee should be treated with care and avoided altogether by those who
metabolize it poorly, it also provides health benefits to many people,
especially bodybuilders.
Read on to find out what they are – and how to drink coffee responsibly.
Caffeine, a key component of coffee, is a
controversial compound.
With 90% of North American adults consuming caffeine daily, it is the
world’s most consumed psychoactive drug – and coffee is the delivery method of
choice.
Coffee’s origins
The coffee plant originated in East Africa — according to legend, a goat
herder tried coffee cherries after he noticed his goats acting much more
energetic after nibbling on the coffee bushes.
The earliest evidence of coffee drinking occurred in the 15th century
in Yemen. From Yemen, coffee quickly spread to Egypt and North Africa, and by
the 16th century it was being enjoyed by the rest of the Middle
East, Persia, and Turkey and soon thereafter Italy and the rest of Europe.
Fast forward to today. Coffee is ubiquitous in our culture. Everywhere you
look, there’s a coffee shop on the corner. What effect might our cultural love
of coffee have on our health?
Short answer: Well, we’re not completely sure.
Coffee’s risks
Research on coffee’s safety is mixed, for several reasons:
Metabolism
matters. People vary genetically in how well they can process caffeine and
coffee.
Coffee
interacts with many hormones and neurotransmitters in the body, such as cortisol,
acetylcholine, and insulin. These relationships are complex, and often
depend on timing, amount, and people’s individual makeup.
As a crop,
coffee is less like corn or soy, and more like cacao or wine grapes: It’s
typically grown and processed in smaller batches by smaller-scale farmers
and producers. Variations in soil and climate, as well as later roasting
and brewing technique, will change the taste and chemical makeup. It’s
hard to standardize the exact chemical compounds in coffee from batch to
batch.
So it’s hard to say definitively that coffee is “good” or “bad”; “healthy”
or “unhealthy”. Let’s explore this in more depth.
What about my metabolism?
One reason that evidence on the health effects of coffee is so mixed is that
people clear caffeine at different rates. Caffeine is broken down and cleared
by the liver, and our genetic makeup shapes how
quickly and effectively we can do this.
On one
hand, “slow” metabolizers of caffeine don’t process
caffeine effectively. These are people who are adversely affected by
caffeine, get the jitters, and are wired for up to nine hours after
consumption.
Others just
get a boost in energy and alertness for a couple of hours; they are
considered “fast” metabolizers of caffeine.
Research in the emerging field of nutrigenomics shows that about half of us
have the gene variant that makes us “slow” metabolizers, while the other half
enjoy the gene variant that allows them to get away with quad-espressos.
Thus, whether coffee is better or worse for you depends on how well and
quickly you metabolize caffeine.
If you are a slow metabolizer of caffeine and coffee, steer clear (or at
least, reduce your consumption). In your case, coffee can do more harm than
good, and this may explain why high coffee consumption has been associated
with:
non-fatal
myocardial infarction (aka a heart
attack)
On the plus side, low caffeine consumption still seems relatively safe for
most folks, so a few daily cups of tea or squares of dark chocolate shouldn’t
harm you (and in fact, may greatly boost your wellbeing!).
And fortunately, not everyone is adversely affected. For those lucky enough
to be fast metabolizers, there is good news – and lots of it. Fast metabolizers
don’t show the same association between coffee and disease — if you’re a fast
metabolizer, coffee might even improve your
health!
If you’d like to know more about how well you metabolize caffeine, you can
take a quick and easy genetic test through agencies such as 23andme.com or
existencegenetics.com
Coffee and caffeine tend to transiently increase cortisol levels; however,
this depends on several factors, including when you drink coffee, how often you
drink it, and whether you have high blood pressure.
Cortisol is normally high in the morning, so if you drink some coffee at 6
a.m. and 10 a.m., you should be fine, as cortisol is naturally elevated at that
time of day anyway. However, your body may not appreciate coffee as much in the
afternoon or evening, when cortisol normally drops. At that point, consider tea
or something decaffeinated.
Again, there’s individual variation: Habitual consumers of coffee seem to be
less affected by the cortisol bump, while those with hypertension seem to be
more affected.
If cortisol levels are a problem for you, keep your coffee intake to first
thing in the morning, and otherwise consume more tea. (Not only does tea have
less caffeine, it also has other beneficial, calming compounds such as
L-theanine.)
What about pesticides?
Coffee plants are heavily sprayed with pesticides, which pose obvious health
concerns.
Fortunately, the plant’s structure offers some protection. While the outer
“berry” does receive a lot of exposure, it’s the interior bean that is roasted
and used for coffee, and its exposure is far less. In addition, the roasting
process destroys the majority of pesticide residues.
If you’re especially wary of pesticides, choose organically grown coffee.
(Hey, it can’t hurt.) And while you’re at it, look for the Fair Trade label,
which helps insure that family farmers are paid a fair wage for their crops.
What about my insulin sensitivity?
While a high dose of caffeine tends to decrease insulin sensitivity and
glucose tolerance acutely, it doesn’t seem to cause chronic problems. While
those at risk of developing diabetes may want to be cautious, overall
coffee consumption is actually associated with a 35% decreased risk of
developing type II diabetes.
What about my kids?
There’s no clear guideline on when kids can safely consume coffee.
Guidelines on caffeine consumption are based mostly on the size of the child,
rather than their chronological ages.
Nevertheless, Health Canada recommends:
no more than
45 milligrams a day for kids aged 4 to 6;
62.5
milligrams for kids age 7 to 9;
85 milligrams
for kids age 10 to 12; and
no more than
2.5 milligrams per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight for adolescents 13
and up.
All this means that a 110-pound adolescent should not have more than 125
milligrams of caffeine a day — about one 6-8 oz cup of coffee.
Coffee’s benefits
Caffeine & dehydration
For years, fitness enthusiasts worried that coffee would dehydrate them.
However, a recent review of 10 studies found that consuming up to 550 mg of
caffeine per day (or about five 8-oz cups) does not cause fluid-electrolyte
imbalances in athletes or fitness enthusiasts.
In another review, researchers concluded that consuming caffeine-containing
beverages as part of a normal lifestyle does not lead to fluid losses exceeding
the volume of fluid consumed (intake and output were roughly equal), nor is it
associated with poor hydration status.
Take-home: Don’t drink coffee as your only beverage, and drink
enough water, and you’ll be fine.
Coffee & performance
Let’s be honest — that first morning coffee can transform us from beast to
philosopher (or at least, slightly more awake and nicer beast). Coffee, and
more specifically its caffeine content, provide many noted mental and physical
performance benefits.
Caffeine reduces our rate of perceived exertion, so it doesn’t feel like we’re
working as hard as we actually are. People who regularly drink coffee perform
better on tests of reaction time, verbal memory, and visuo-spatial reasoning.
Another study found that women over the age of 80 performed significantly
better on tests of cognitive function if they had regularly
consumed coffee over the course of their lifetimes.
Take-home: A little bit of coffee/caffeine before important
tasks requiring alertness and energy can be a good thing.
Coffee & Parkinson’s
Parkinson’s disease is a fatal and incurable
brain disease that affects 1 percent to 2 percent of people over 65. Amazingly,
at least six studies have found that regular coffee drinkers are up to
80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s.
Researchers have identified a gene called GRIN2A that appeared to protect
people who drank coffee from developing Parkinson’s. GRIN2A is linked to
glutamate, a compound that is suspected of killing the brain cells that die off
in Parkinson’s patients. Glutamate can be affected by another compound called
adenosine, and coffee interferes with this process.
However: Only about 25% of the population has the gene variant of GRIN2A
that boosts the protective effect of coffee.
Take-home: Coffee may lower Parkinson’s risk, but only in a
small subset of people.
Coffee & Alzheimer’s
Speaking of neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form
of dementia. There is no cure for the disease,
which gets progressively worse over time, and eventually leads to death.
What separates the research on Alzheimer’s from most of the other
information covered in this article is that it derived from directly controlled
trials versus simple observation.
Here, research indicates that people who drink about three cups of coffee a
day show a marked reduction in cognitive impairment compared to
non-drinkers. Once you got up to four or more cups per day, though, the
associated protection disappears.
This protection was not seen with tea or decaf coffee, so the benefit seems
to be from the combination of the caffeine and some of coffee’s bioactive
compounds.
In fact, new research from the University of South Florida found that this
combination boosts blood levels of a critical growth factor called GCSF
(granulocyte colony stimulating factor) that seems to prevent the formation of
Alzheimer’s disease. People with Alzheimer’s disease have less GCSF than the
rest of the population. Increasing GCSF in mice improves their memory.
In the U of South Florida study, the researchers compared the effects of
regular and decaf coffee to those of caffeine alone. In both Alzheimer’s mice
and normal mice, treatment with regular coffee dramatically increased blood
levels of GCSF; neither caffeine alone nor decaf coffee provided this effect.
It recruits
stem cells from bone marrow to enter the brain and remove the harmful
beta-amyloid protein that initiates the disease.
It creates
new connections between brain cells.
It increases
the birth of new neurons in the brain.
As the lead researcher, neuroscientist Dr. Chuanhai Cao, remarked: “Coffee
is inexpensive, readily available, easily gets into the brain, appears to
directly attack the disease process, and has few side-effects for most of us”.
According to the researchers, no other Alzheimer’s therapy being developed
comes close to meeting all these criteria.
Take-home: Coffee seems to contain compounds that may reduce
Alzheimer’s risk; and may also be part of a treatment protocol in the future.
While dark chocolate and green tea gather a lot of acclaim for their antioxidant content, coffee actually
outshines them both in this department.
In fact, the antioxidants in coffee may make up as much as 50-70% of the
total antioxidant intake of the average American! (Which is not necessarily a
good thing, because it means that there are a lot of vegetablesnot getting
eaten…)
Despite some general worries about the health effects of coffee, coffee
consumption is associated with an overall decreased risk of cancer. In particular
coffee consumption has been shown to be associated with a lower risk for oral, esophageal, pharyngeal, breast (in post-menopausal women), liver, colon, and aggressive prostate cancer.
When it comes to the prostate, researchers recently found that men who drank
the most coffee (6 or more cups per day) were nearly 60% less likely
to develop advanced prostate cancer than non-coffee drinkers. Other research
has shown that people who regularly consume two or more cups per day may have a
25% decreased risk of colon cancer.
Again, the research is mixed in part because of the variation in response to
coffee.
Take-home: Coffee may lower your cancer risk,
but don’t count on it as your only health strategy. And eat some vegetables
already.
Drinking unfiltered types of coffee can increase your levels of LDL (aka “bad”) cholesterol. But overall the data seems
to indicate that coffee consumption may moderately reduce your risk of dying
from cardiovascular complications.
Take-home: Research is mixed on cardiovascular disease and
coffee.
A recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine showed
that drinking two to three cups of coffee per day was associated with a 10%
decreased risk of death for men at any age, and a 13% decreased risk of death
for women at any age.
In general, coffee drinkers were less likely to die from heart or
respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, injuries, accidents or infections.
(Which makes us wonder… what do they
die of? Espresso steamer mishaps?)
Take-home: Coffee appears to generally lower overall premature
mortality slightly.
Summary and Recommendations
Coffee’s not for everyone. And it’s not a magic bullet. Still, it seems to
have significant health benefits for those who can tolerate it. This includes:
better
athletic and mental performance
possibly
lower rates of some types of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and Type
2 diabetes
Most of the research on coffee is epidemiological. This means studies look
at associations rather than cause and effect. Simply because coffee is associated with
particular risks and benefits doesn’t necessarily mean that coffee causes all
of these risks or benefits.
Just as with all foods (and nutrients for that matter), dosage matters.
While some studies have found large intakes (5-6 cups) to have significant
benefits, other research suggests that drinking that much coffee is
counter-productive.
In general, it appears that drinking some coffee
is good, but more might not be
better, especially if you are a slow metabolizer. For those who are greatly
affected by coffee and caffeine, avoid it altogether or cut down your
consumption.
Want a quick and easy test of your coffee consumption? Ask yourself how you
feel physically, mentally, and emotionally a few hours after you drink some… as
well as if you miss your daily dose.
Also, go black if possible. Pumping your coffee full of cream, sugar, and
other exotic additives reduces any potential health benefits by adding
unnecessary calories and artificial flavours and sweeteners. (And Frappucinos or chocolate
covered coffee beans? C’mon.)
Taking all the data into consideration, it seems that your best bet is about
1-3 cups of coffee (8-24 oz) per day. This will maximize the benefits while
minimizing the risk.
And keep this in mind…while there is positive data on coffee, these
benefits don’t necessarily
include things like energy drinks and caffeine pills. There are many
antioxidants and bioactive compounds in coffee that are interacting with its
caffeine content to provide the benefits. So, unfortunately, Red Bull doesn’t
count.
A
lot of research has been put in this program. Furthermore, a lot of
professional bodybuilders and athletes tried and tested the program, praising
its progressiveness and efficiency.
The
program is about taking control of your own body and health according to your
potential and needs. And worry not; you’ll get plenty of proteins with this
system. It will boost you with energy, and you’ll feel just a strong as any
carnivore would (perhaps even stronger, depending on how much you invest in
your exercise). It avoids vitamins deficiency and provides you with a lot of
proteins, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Instead
of saying things like “I think a plant-based diet is good for athletes and
bodybuilders,” the V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System claims “I know a
plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders, and I have results to
prove it.”
