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Wednesday, December 13, 2023

What Does Pre-Workout Do?

By winobest.com December 13, 2023 IFTTT, Mark's Daily Apple

Pre-workouts are supplements or combinations of supplements, often in powder form, that you take before a workout session in order to improve your performance and boost training adaptations. As fitness culture has exploded and grown by leaps and bounds, so have the available pre-workout products that promise to boost your workout performance.

Some of the things that pre-workouts claim to do:

Improve energy utilization
Increase muscle protein synthesis
Boost the anabolic response
Provide fuel for muscles
Improve performance

But does pre-workout work? Let’s go through some of the most popular and common pre-workout ingredients and see if they actually help as advertised.

Creatine

Creatine helps us store more phosphocreatine in the muscles, which is one of the most potent fast-acting energy systems for high-intensity rapid movement like weight lifting. Taking creatine:

Improves performance in every lift that’s been studied, particularly more complex multi-jointed compound lifts like squats and deadlifts.
Improves strength and muscle gains, even in elderly.
Improves sprint performance.

Creatine works. It improves strength training performance, and it’s one of the few remaining supplements I still take on a daily basis. Creatine is especially important for vegans and vegetarians who aren’t getting any dietary creatine from meat and fish.

L-citrulline

L-citrulline is an amino acid that increases nitric oxide synthesis and improves endothelial function. In short, it improves blood flow. This enhanced blood flow to your heart and muscles:

Improves performance during intense activity.¹
Improves the “pump,” that feeling of your muscles being engorged with fluid and blood. Important subjective feedback that makes lifting more pelasurable. Arnold Schwarzenegger famously compared the feeling of the pump to the feeling of sex. Exercise scientists generally discount the importance of the pump, but I find it correlates strongly with a better workout and improved adaptations.

L-citrulline works. Enhancing blood flow to all areas of your body is great for performance—in all areas, not just the weight room.

Beta-alanine

Beta-alanine is most effective in longer sessions. In bouts of exercise lasting under 60 seconds, it doesn’t seem to help. In bouts of exercise lasting over 60 seconds, beta-alanine begins to show beneficial effects on performance and capacity.²

You know beta-alanine is working when you get the “tingly” feeling in your muscles. It’s not necessarily a pleasant feeling, but it does mean you’re ready to start training and if you have a great session, you’ll learn to appreciate the tingles. Given the overall modest effects of beta-alanine in the literature, I’d wager that the tingles act as a placebo of sorts and provide a psychological signal to your muscles that they’re ready to work hard. That isn’t to discount them.

Caffeine

Caffeine might be the most effective pre-workout supplement in the world. It’s certainly the most ubiquitous. I wrote an entire post about using caffeine before a workout, but here’s the gist of what it can do for you as a pre workout:

Enhances upper body strength in women.³
Improves the desire to workout.⁴
A funny illustration of just how effective a pre-workout caffeine is lies in one study where a combo of ketones/taurine/leucine had no effect on performance unless you added caffeine. Sounded great on paper but boring old caffeine was needed to make it work.⁵

Sodium

Salt is the most important electrolyte in our bodies, and exercise increases our requirements. When you sweat, you’re losing salt. When you’re losing salt, your muscles can’t contract effectively. When your muscles can’t contract, you lose strength and performance.

Instead of waiting for you to sweat all the salt out, get a head start by adding a pinch or two (or three) of salt to your water as a “pre-workout.”

Exogenous ketones

Ketone supplements are a way of having your cake and eating it too. The idea is that you can be on any diet you want, take ketone esters or salts, and get the benefits of ketones without having to follow a strict diet. There is some mixed evidence that exogenous ketones can help top-end endurance training performance, but it’s not clear how helpful they are to the average exerciser. They still have utility for many different health conditions. For more info, read my post on exogenous ketones.

Be careful, though. Some ketone supplements when taken in excess will have you running to the bathroom. It’s hard to perform in the gym when you have to take a bathroom break every half hour.

BCAAs

Branch chain amino acids—leucine, isoleucine, and valine—are potent stimulators of mTOR, the pathway of growth, of anabolic recovery, of muscle gain. Most people don’t need BCAA supplements, before a workout or ever, but they can help certain people.

BCAAs are most useful for people engaging in fasted training, because they preserve muscle, stave off muscle loss, and improve mTOR signaling post-workout.⁶ ⁷

BCAAs are also helpful for people abstaining from animal products, as meat, eggs, and dairy are the best sources of them.

Baking soda

Baking soda reduces lactate accumulation and acidity in the muscles, allowing you to train longer and harder without getting as fatigued. Reducing muscle acidity also allows energy transfer to improve and muscles to contract harder. Take it about a half hour before your training or competition and you will enjoy several interesting effects:

Improved time to exhaustion. You can work out longer and harder. One study found that baking soda increased time to exhaustion while cycling by 20-30 seconds.⁸
Improved recovery. Lowering muscle acidity allows your muscles to recover quicker.
Increases rep count. Baking soda has been shown to improve the number of reps a lifter can complete.⁹
For all you runners out there, baking soda may reduce runner’s high by suppressing endorphin release. Those endorphins, it turns out, are a response to acidity.¹⁰
Baking soda definitely works. To minimize GI upset, take in smaller doses throughout the day totaling up to 1-2 teaspoons and avoid taking it close to meals.

Collagen

Though not a classic pre-workout that increases performance acutely, collagen when taken before a workout with 60 mg of vitamin C does improve collagen deposition in connective tissue. It’s more of a pre-workout with a long term goal of building tissue resilience and strength.

Is there a Primal pre-workout?

If I were putting together a pre-workout, here’s what I would do. Actually, here’s what I do:

Fill my bottle with 32 ounces of water. I usually use Mountain Valley Spring water and a stainless steel bottle.
Add a packet of LMNT. This is a great electrolyte supplement providing a gram of sodium plus magnesium malate (which has ergogenic effects) and potassium. Tastes great, works great. Essential for Miami heat.
Add a scoop of creatine. 5 grams, give or take.
Add two scoops of collagen peptides.
Give it a good shake and sip on that in the minutes leading up to the workout and right on through it.

Baking soda would be a good addition here if you can tolerate it. You could add a source of caffeine, but I prefer to just drink coffee. I’ll occasionally add 20 grams of whey isolate powder if I’m doing a particularly hard, energy-intense session and I haven’t eaten. This is a quick and dirty way to supplement BCAAs (which taste horrible).

That’s about it. I don’t like to get into crazy pills and powders—those days are long gone. What about you? Do you take a pre-workout?

References

The post What Does Pre-Workout Do? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

What Are Fermented Foods?

By winobest.com December 08, 2023 IFTTT, Mark's Daily Apple

Overhead shot of colorful fermented preserved vegetables in jars on a wooden table.

Humans are designed to live harmoniously with bugs. I don’t mean mosquitoes and houseflies and bees—although those, too. I mean the microbes that live on and inside us, the ones that help us digest our food, maintain a proper pH, and produce important immune system components, hormones, and neurotransmitters.

Once, we humans would have encountered plenty of microbes on a daily basis because dirt and bacteria-ridden foods were a part of life. Not that this was always a good thing; food-borne illness was a danger to our ancestors just as it is now. Nevertheless, exposure to the unsanitized world meant people came in contact with, and ingested, microbes. To this day, the microbiomes in and on our body play a central role in healthy functioning.

That isn’t to suggest that you should be eating half-rotten food for your health. There are other, better options—like eating fermented foods.

You’re probably at least vaguely aware that fermented foods are good for you, though you might not know exactly why. They feature prominently in virtually all cuisines around the globe; not as much in the U.S. Today, I’m going to encourage you to include fermented foods in your diet if you aren’t already. I’ll also give you some of my favorites to start with.

Let’s dive in.

What Are Fermented Foods Anyway?

Fermentation occurs when microbes—often bacteria, sometimes fungi—on food begin to metabolize, or ferment, carbohydrates in the food. The end product of that metabolism is acid or alcohol. When done in a controlled environment like a vat of cabbage or a wine qvevri, the acid or alcohol builds up. Not only does this help preserve the food, it creates an inhospitable environment for dangerous pathogens that can make people sick.

Some form of fermented food is a standard component of just about every post-agricultural diet.

The earliest sign of wine dates from about 8000 years ago in Georgia (Caucasus, not the state north of Florida). There’s evidence that people were fermenting drinks in Babylon circa 5000 BC, Egypt circa 3150 BC, Mexico circa 2000 BC, and Sudan circa 1500 BC.
Fermented, leavened bread was produced in ancient Egypt, and milk was fermented in early Babylon as well.
Roman soldiers often subsisted on long-fermented sourdough bread, which survived long treks well. (Imagine conquering the known world on a diet of bread—fermentation must be pretty effective stuff.)
The Inuit traditionally wrap whole seabird carcasses in seal pelts and bury them underground to ferment for months, a dish called kiviak or kiviaq.
Fermented dairy is a major aspect of the traditional Masai diet, as is clotted steer’s blood.

Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you have to find a local purveyor of kiviak. There are plenty of ways to incorporate fermented foods that don’t require a seal carcass. But first…

Why Bother Including Fermented Foods in Your Diet?

You can understand why fermentation and other methods of food preservation were so important before the advent of refrigeration, but what about now? You might not appreciate the unique pungency of fermented dishes and condiments if you weren’t raised on the stuff, so is there any reason to make a point of eating fermented foods?

Decidedly yes. Foremost is that the microbes in the food, the ones doing the fermenting, act as probiotics. Consuming foods with living microbes is one of the controllable factors that add up to a healthy gut.¹ The gut’s pivotal role in immunity, mental health, regulating inflammation, and of course digestion should be reason enough to add some sauerkraut to your eggs or down some full-fat yogurt after your workout. On the off chance you aren’t convinced, here’s some more food for thought:

Fermentation can render previously inedible or potentially dangerous foods edible and somewhat nutritious. The lectins, gluten, and phytates in grains, for example, can be greatly reduced by fermentation. I don’t advocate the consumption of bread, but if you’re going to treat yourself to any gluten-y grain-derived food, make it real, long-fermented sourdough.
The fermentation process breaks down the lactose in dairy, thus mitigating a potentially problematic sugar and decreasing the carb content.
Before they’re turned into delicious, rich dark chocolate, cacao beans must first be fermented. This deepens the color and enriches the flavor, but most importantly it destroys the astringent tannins present in raw cacao.

Convinced? In that case, here’s where I’d start.

7 Fermented Foods for Primal Eaters

1. Yogurt

Yogurt has the lowest barrier to entry of all the fermented foods. I’m sure you’ve had yogurt on many occasions. If you’ve only eaten store-bought yogurt, though, you might not have gotten the good stuff.

Yogurt is made by adding cultures of bacterial strains, usually Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, to milk and letting it ferment at warm temperatures for several hours. When you then eat the yogurt, you’re then consuming the live bacteria that have happily multiplied in the yogurt. At least, that’s what you want. Oftentimes, store-bought yogurt has been heated after production to kill any pathogens, but that also kills the live yogurt cultures. Then sugar and other ingredients are added to make it more palatable to the average consumer.

At the very least, look for yogurts that promise live cultures. If you really want to ensure the live probiotic benefits, make your own. It’s surprisingly simple, especially if you have an Instant Pot or slow cooker with a yogurt function. That also allows you to create bespoke yogurt recipes with the specific bacterial strains you want, like Dr. William Davis’s L. reuteri recipe.

2. Kefir

Kefir is similar to yogurt in that it’s a fermented dairy product, but with a couple key differences—the main one being the type of microbes used in the fermentation process. Kefir involves a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, similar to the SCOBY used to make kombucha. The result is a drinkable beverage like thinned-out yogurt that has many times more probiotic strains than yogurt, including the namesake L. kefiri.

That doesn’t mean kefir is better than yogurt necessarily, just different. Studies have shown both can help calm the inflammation associated with IBD and put it in remission.² ³ ⁴ ⁵ Both have potential anti-cancer properties. Both can help eradicate H. pylori infection.⁶ ⁷

You get the picture. Rather than choosing between the two, I’d include both occasionally. Kefir is also incredibly easy to ferment at home, by the way. If you can let a jar of milk sit on your counter overnight, you can make kefir. Can’t do dairy? You can also make kefir from coconut water or plain water with some sugar added for the bacteria and yeast to ferment.

3. Fermented cabbage

This covers all your varieties of sauerkraut, kimchi, and countless other regional dishes made by fermenting the unassuming cruciferous vegetable.

Besides being a delicious hot dog topping, a small 2022 study found that consuming fermented vegetables, including sauerkraut, for just two weeks led to a favorable shift in the composition of the gut microbiome, with more desirable Bacteroides and a corresponding decrease in Prevotella species.⁸ Kimchi, a staple of Korean cuisine, is considered a health superfood, good for everything from the expected gut health benefits to anticancer properties and promoting cardiovascular health.⁹

As with yogurt, if you want the probiotic benefits, you have to buy products that still have the live cultures. Start in the refrigerated section. Anything shelf-stable has been heated, so it will be inert. I’ve lately noticed kraut and kimchi purveyors popping up at local farmer’s markets, as well.

Or, once again, I’ll put in a plug for trying your hand at making sauerkraut. There’s a little art and a fair amount of science to it, but once you get the hang of it, the store-bought varieties will pale in comparison.

4. Natto

Natto, a Japanese form of fermented soybeans, is high in Vitamin K2 (MK-7), which is vital for bone, cardiovascular, and dental health. It’s definitely an acquired taste if it’s not something you grew up with, but it’s worth making the effort.

You might be surprised to hear me say that; most people assume I take a hard anti-soy line. Not so. (Natto so?) Soy doesn’t feature prominently in my diet, but I’m actually a fan of fermented soy products, and I don’t mind the whole beans. Everyone would do well to add some natto to their culinary oeuvre.

5. Apple cider vinegar

I’ve done a deep dive on the health benefits of ACV elsewhere. Most notably, dosing yourself with a couple tablespoons seems to have a rapid effect on blood sugar and insulin sensitivity. Experts think it’s the acetic acid in the vinegar that’s responsible for the observed benefits, not the microbes themselves. Since the microbes are the ones metabolizing sugars into acetic acid, though, let’s give them their due credit.

6. Kombucha

I’ve been a little hard on kombucha in the past, mostly because kombucha went through a period where it was, in my opinion, seriously overhyped as a health tonic. But that’s not kombucha’s fault. Perhaps I was being a tad harsh.

Kombucha does contain acetic acid, the same stuff that is supposed to make apple cider vinegar so good for you. The problem is, it also contains sugar—sometimes a fair amount. Kombucha is made by introducing bacteria and yeast into sugary tea and letting them do their fermentation thing. The longer it ferments, the more sugar will be metabolized, but also the more vinegary it becomes.

Usually, more sugar is added after fermentation to make it more appealing. That sugar is going to offset some of the blood sugar benefits surely, and there aren’t any good human studies pointing to other health benefits associated with drinking kombucha. But hey, if you like it, have at it. Look for low-sugar options, or (I sound like a broken record) make your own.

7. Beet kvass

For a lower-sugar fermented beverage option, what about kvass? Beet kvass, like sauerkraut, is a simple lactofermentation of vegetables in brine. The result is a salty, somewhat vinegary drink that, I won’t lie, isn’t going to be for everyone. I can’t find any research on beet kvass specifically, but it should yield similar benefits as other fermented vegetables.

Beet juice also has well-documented effects on blood flow to muscles and the brain, mitochondrial function, and muscle contractility, making it a useful supplement for athletes and, possibly, folks looking to enhance cognitive function.¹⁰ ¹¹

Honorable Mention: Wine

Yes, wine is a fermented beverage, and yes, a fairly robust body of evidence suggests that some wine intake is good for you. I’d stop short of recommending that you pick up a wine habit if you’re not already a drinker, but I know I’ll get questions if I leave it off the list. For what it’s worth, the benefits of wine can mostly be chalked up to the polyphenol content, not any probiotic actions.

How to Add (More) Fermented Foods to Your Diet

The seven foods listed above are ones I’d consider entry-level fermentations (except beet kvass—you get extra credit for trying that one). They’re fairly easy to find and easy to add to Primal meals. The commercialized, store-bought versions generally won’t be as great as the ones Grandma used to make, but isn’t that always the case?

These just scratch the surface of what’s available, though. Once you start to delve into the wonderfully wide world of fermented foods, you’ll discover a virtually limitless array of fermented chutneys and relishes, sauces and condiments, vegetables and legumes, dairy products, and meats, eggs, and seafood.

Picky eaters can always pop probiotic supplements, but they’ll do nothing for gustatory pleasure. I encourage you to branch out if you’re willing. While many of the benefits of fermented foods overlap, each one will offer a little something different, much like the original foodstuffs from whence they come. If you’re someone who likes to travel, why not make it a point to seek out local fermented items? Your tastebuds will thank you. (Or maybe not, but you’ll have memorable meals in any case.)

Let me know: What’s your favorite fermented dish? Are you wild about saltwort? Crazy for curtido? Chime in in the comments.

References

The post What Are Fermented Foods? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

New and Noteworthy: What I Read This Week—Edition 248

By winobest.com December 08, 2023 IFTTT, Mark's Daily Apple

Research of the Week

Forest exposure improves quality of life in cancer patients.

Powerlifting improves strength gains throughout almost all life stages, with strength losses of 0.35% per year occurring only after age 69.

Outdoor training improves function and quality of life in older adults.

High intensity interval training reduces sleep apnea severity.

Blood flow restriction training with a wide cuff improves lower body explosive power.

New Primal Kitchen Podcasts

Primal Kitchen Podcast: Get to Know Your Inner Parts with Richard Schwartz, PhD

Primal Health Coach Radio: Aleks Salkin

Media, Schmedia

Hunter-gatherers built complex forts 8000 years ago.

Whole embryo genome sequencing coming soon.

Interesting Blog Posts

Why many millennials dread being a mom.

Social Notes

A nice chat.

Everything Else

Sarcopenic? More intensity in the weight room helps.

Beets for cognitive function (memory capacity, frontal skills).

Korean basketball players are starting to bank their free throws.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Interesting: Cat ownership and schizophrenia.

Of course: Strength training can reverse sarcopenia regardless of a person’s genetics.

Small study but powerful effect: Lion’s mane mushroom supplement improves cognitive performance and reduces stress in young adults.

Cool paper: Arguing that kids need to be strength training.

Amazing: Whales have vowels and diphthongs.

Question I’m Asking

What do you have planned for the holidays?

Recipe Corner

Nice way to handle steak: pepper steak.
Thai pork stock.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Nov 2 – Dec 8)

7 Exercises to Relieve Knee Pain—How to.
11 Ways to Heal a Wound Fast—What to do.

Comment of the Week

“My schizophrenic partner feels like “a freak in the streets” everytime he exits our apartment, a triumphant and difficult event I now refer to as a “prison break.” We won’t be going on a hut-to-hut adventure in the Rockies anytime soon. But yesterday we went out for coffee together and he actually enjoyed being out in public with his milky americano. Afterwards, he suggested a short walk. Hallelujah! Our physical challenge of the week will likely look tame by Primal standards but we’re going, we’re going for sure.”

-Keep up the good work.

The post New and Noteworthy: What I Read This Week—Edition 248 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

DRAFT 2023 holiday gift guide

By winobest.com December 05, 2023 IFTTT, Mark's Daily Apple

Top view photo of hands in yellow sweater giving craft paper gift box with twine bow and yellow autumn leaf. It’s the most wonderful time of the year… to find the perfect gifts for friends and loved ones that will bring genuine smiles to their faces. No pressure, of course.

In all seriousness, many of us are torn between wanting to get great gifts for the people in our lives (gift giving is one of the love languages, after all) and not wanting to buy stuff just for the sake of having something to wrap.

The ideas below are aimed at helping everyone on your holiday gift list to live their best Primal lives—get outside, eat great food, use their brain, take care of their body, reduce stress, and generally #LiveAwesome!

* Note, this post may contain affiliate links.

Primal Gift Guide

Gifts for People Who Love the Great Outdoors

To embrace the cold:

Rechargeable hand warmers replace single-use warmers and keep your fingers toasty.
A small portable stove like a JetBoil for a trailside hot chocolate or a warm meal on a cold outing. It’s also a year-round essential for backpacking. Maybe include a few Primal– or keto-friendly prepared meals.
Silk or merino wool long underwear are layering essentials.

For beach days:

Or pool days or lounging in the yard days…

Reef-safe mineral sunscreen. (Learn more about safe sun exposure, then head to the EWG Sunscreen Guide to find a good brand.)
Weatherproof padded blankets are great for kids and adults.
Turkish towels replace bulky traditional beach towels (this brand is women-owned and affordably priced).
A portable chair with cooler does double duty.
Everyone can use a reusable stainless steel water bottle to stay hydrated (this one funds national park projects).

Gifts for Foodies

Replace single-use plastic with stasher bags for leftovers and lunchboxes
Give the gift of safer cookware with cast iron or stainless steel pots and pans.
Chocolate lovers on your list will love trying different chocolates from around the world.
The hottest kitchen accessory of the year is the Ninja Creami ice cream maker. (Yes, you can use it to make Primal-friendly frozen treats!)
You can never go wrong with a Primal Kitchen Gift Card!

Gifts for Coffee Fanatics

Make latte art at home—and keep hot coffee hot—with an electric milk frother.
Pair an inexpensive mini-whisk with Primal Kitchen Collagen Fuel for quick and delicious coffee upgrades.
Make this a holiday to remember with a new espresso machine.

Gifts for Pet Lovers

A light-up leash or collar will keep pooch safe on walks when the days are short.
Pets deserve delicious Primal foods, too. Gift a subscription for a raw pet food delivery service.

Cozy Gifts

Blue light glasses or yellow-tinted book light for evening reading that won’t interfere with sleep.
Audiobook membership for people who like to do crafts or puzzles while they read. (LibroFM supports a local bookstore of your choice!)
Weighted lap blanket.

Experiences and Services

What new skills would your loved one like to learn? What about cooking classes, art classes, or courses on Udemy or Masterclass?
Tickets for concerts, symphony, theater, or a comedy club.
Local, state, and national park passes support public lands and encourage your loved ones to get outdoors.

Gifts for Kids

Get kids moving in Primal ways with equipment that encourages them to jump, hang, crawl, and balance like these apparatuses (these also look cool).
Get kids exploring with a magnifying glass, compass, microscope, or learning kits or science kits.
Get kids in the kitchen with kids’ cookbooks or kid-safe cooking tools.
Basic wooden building blocks and Legos let kids’ imaginations run free.

Primal Splurges

Cold plunge, like this Ice Barrel. (Save $95 with code CHILL95.)
Emulate Mark’s favorite outdoor activities with a stand-up paddle board or fat-tire bike.

What else is on your gift list? Use the comments to call out your favorite brands and small businesses that are worth supporting!

The post DRAFT 2023 holiday gift guide appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.