What Is Glutamine? Glutamine is one of the 20 naturally occurring essential amino acids found in dietary proteins. It’s found in high levels in dietary meats, eggs, and both whey and casein protein, and is also the most abundant amino acid found in human muscle tissue and plasma. Glutamine in created in the body by breaking down certain non-essential amino acids and then binds with other nitrogen containing molecules, where it then shuttles nitrogen between different tissues in the body so that the body can grow and repair. About 70 percent of the body’s own glutamine production happens in the skeletal muscle where it will then travel to the most prominent sites of glutamine usage such as the small intestine, kidneys, and white blood cells. What Does Glutamine Do? Glutamine’s key role is in regulating protein synthesis and breakdown. Although glutamine does a load of other things as well, such as water transportation, glucose formation, and healthy immune function, but its role in protein synthesis and breakdown is the reason it has been supplemented by weightlifters, bodybuilders, and a large percentage of other athletes. Our kidneys are where a majority of the glutamine in our body is used in order to maintain the body’s proper acid-base balance. As the body’s acid level in the [...]

What is Caffeine and How Does It Work? Caffeine is one of the most consumed natural pharmacologic agents. Whether you’re consuming it through coffee, tea, energy drinks, pre-workout supplements, or even just caffeine pills, caffeine tends to be everywhere. It’s so prevalent that 9 out of 10 men and women consume around 240mg every day. So many people consume and use caffeine that the International Olympic Committee actually removed caffeine from their banned substance list. So what is caffeine, specifically? Caffeine is a natural drug that is classified as a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that can help keep us awake, alert, and keep going when you’re tired or ready to lay down. Caffeine is able to do this because it acts opposite to a CNS depressant that is found in our bodies, adenosine, and both caffeine and adenosine look very similar to each other. Adenosine promotes sleep and slows down nerve activity in our brains, and about every hour or so the levels of adenosine in the brain rise. With caffeine inhibiting adenosines ability to attach to their receptors in the brain, the pituitary gland observes this increased activity and then triggers the adrenal glands to produce epinephrine. This is why we feel more awake, and also why some people can suffer from [...]

With the whole fitness and health field booming in the last couple of years, a lot of new information has come out, which is definitely a good thing, but big words and new information come with that making it a little overwhelming for a good portion of the general public. Ketosis has recently become a new tool to use so people can reach different health and fitness related goals. Specifically, ketosis is a metabolic state where the body’s energy comes from ketone bodies in the blood, instead of being in a state of glycolysis where blood glucose provides the usual energy for us. I’ll get a bit more into detail here in a minute and break down what all of that means. Ketosis is not to be confused with ketoacidosis which is basically an extreme state of ketosis. Ketoacidosis is usually related to type 1 diabetes where the liver breaks down fats and even proteins, as well as prolonged alcoholism. What is Ketosis and what is it used for? “Ketosis is a nutritional process that is characterized by blood serum concentrations of ketone bodies over 0.5mM, with low levels of insulin and blood glucose (Phinney, 2011).” Basically, this just means that there is an elevated level of ketones being produced in the body and [...]

While most people think that sticking to liquor and avoiding beer and sugary mixed drinks will help keep the weight off, this is not quite the case. Research considers the standard alcoholic drink to be around 15 grams of ethyl alcohol, which can be found in 5 ounces of wine, 1 ½ ounces of 40% liquor such as whiskey or vodka, and 12 ounces of beer. With every gram of alcohol comes about 7 calories as well, and with the standard drink being 15 grams of alcohol, every drink comes to around 105 calories. Unless drinking in moderation, alcohol can quickly add up and put someone into a caloric surplus. Along with the calories, alcohol has quite an effect on the thermic and oxidative properties of the human body. Since alcohol cannot be stored like macronutrients, alcohol is quickly broken down into two different by-products that the body deems to be dangerous and wants to get rid of as quickly as possible. Because of this, the body switches from using fats and carbohydrates as its main sources of energy, and starts using alcohol instead. This causes a significant reduction in the burning process of fat, as well as an increase in the conversion of carbohydrates into fats to be stored (Siler et al, 1999). [...]