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Here is an article I think you should all check out. It can also be viewed at:
http://www.labrada.com/members/week110b.html
Debunking "Time-Released" Proteins by Lee Labrada
Dear Friend,
When I was a teenager struggling to gain muscle size, I would make myself huge protein drinks and guzzle them down right before I went to sleep. That was 20 years ago. (I’m dating myself, but even if you are younger, stay with me, because you are going to learn something useful that will accelerate your muscle gains and save you from getting ripped off from the latest wave of supplement scams.)
Back then we only had a small handful of protein powders to choose from at the nutrition store. Forget the hundreds of different makes of protein powders that you have available these days. Back then, there was Weider, MLO, and Hoffmann’s. Of course, you’ve heard of Weider, but you say you’ve never heard of Hoffmann’s?
Hoffmann’s made a soy protein supplement back then. Soy protein? You mean the stuff that they put in little old lady’s health-nut smoothies and pet food? Yep. Because money was tight, and I didn’t know any better, I normally purchased the cheapest stuff I could find. I figured that all protein powders were the same. And so the first protein supplement I used was Hoffmann’s soy protein. Now for a little humor…
Soy protein comes in various grades. Nowadays, there are soy protein isolates that are very high in quality, and despite their taboo status in bodybuilding circles, can give milk-based proteins a run for the money. But back then, the soy protein being put in cans and sold for supplementation was “food grade.” Meaning, that the soy protein in that can of Hoffmann’s was the same as the soy protein used to texture soy hot dogs and meat substitutes.
The first time I made a blender drink with my Hoffmann’s soy protein, I made the mistake of letting it sit for about 10 minutes while I talked to a friend on the phone. When I got back to my blender, I happily tilted it up to my mouth, and threw my head back, anticipating my new muscle-building cocktail.
Nothing came out! I shook the blender and tried again. Nothing again. The drink had literally solidified in place, making a thick paste of plaster-like consistency and stickiness that was impossible to get out of the blender without a spoon. Nor agreeable to eat!
OK, I was not about to be stopped. I was determined to get this Hoffmann’s protein in me somehow, and besides, I had just invested a whopping five bucks on the can, and I wasn’t going to let it go to waste. So I mixed up another shake. Except this time, it became a race against time.
No sooner had the blender stopped that I tilted my head back and guzzled the entire contents of the blender (easily a quart) in a race against the clock, lest “the soy bomb” turn into concrete before it reached my stomach. I looked like a frat punk racing his brothers in a beer-drinking contest.
It became a nightly ritual. Every night, I would toss this massive protein drink down, turn off the lights, and hit the sack. When your're 18, nothing bothers your stomach. If I did that now I’d be up all night. But back then, I slept like a baby. The protein drink stuck with me all night, and nourished my muscles. And looking back now, I realize that essentially what I was doing, as luck would have it, was taking advantage of “time released protein.” I say that tongue-in-cheek… stay with me.
Fast forward to today,: Supplement marketers are at their wit’s end to make their protein powders stand out from the competition. So they are devising new ways to dress up an old workhorse. Have you seen the “time released protein” ads? “Build muscle while you sleep.” WOW! What a novel idea. I wonder how we got bigger all these years without time-released protein powder. I guess bodybuilding champions like myself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Haney, and Dorian Yates must have totally missed the boat!
Let’s look at protein digestion for a moment. Protein is digested, or broken down into amino acid chains called peptides in the stomach, then passed on to the small intestine for absorption. So what regulates the rate that protein is absorbed from the gut and into the bloodstream where it can be shuttled to your hungry, waiting muscles?
In laymen’s terms, it's called gastric emptying and gut motility. Gastric emptying is the rate at which the protein-bearing meal leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine and gut motility is the rate at which the meal travels through the small intestine.
Meals that take longer to break down in the stomach result in the chime (digested food) being leaked into the small intestine more slowly. Furthermore, once in the small intestine, some foods travel more slowly than others.
There are some very simple ways to slow down the breakdown and transit times of meals. For starters, there is “food combining.” That simply means eating your protein source, be it a protein shake, a chicken breast, or piece of fish, along with other foods that contain complex carbohydrates, fiber, and essential fats.
There is a big difference in the speed with which your body digests a couple of spoonfuls of protein powder in water and the same protein powder taken in the context of a complete meal. A complete meal takes you longer to digest. So rule No. 1, for those of you desiring “time released” protein is:
Consume your protein supplement along with food.
For example, you might want to have a baked potato and a teaspoon of flax seed oil along with your protein drink at bedtime. I know what you’re thinking,“Lee, you’re nuts. I’m not going to eat right before bedtime, I’ll get fat.” Nonsense. If you are seriously considering a time-released protein supplement, it’s because you want to gain muscle tissue. And that means weight gain. Calories and complex carbs are your friends if you are trying to gain muscle. They’ll also slow down the rate at which your body breaks down and absorbs protein from the meal.
Another way to get the “time released protein” effect is to choose a protein powder that contains proteins which are known to break down slowly. Whey protein is a poor choice for this purpose. Although whey protein is a very high quality protein and has been given near sainthood status by supplement marketers, it has a distinct weakness. That weakness is the speed with which it is absorbed.
Whey protein is absorbed quickly, which makes it ideal for a post-workout protein drink. But it’s lousy as a meal replacement, or at times you want the protein to “stay with you.”
Let’s digress for a second and look at carbohydrates. You have probably heard the terms “simple carbs” and “complex carbs.” Simple carbs are absorbed quickly and rapidly elevate blood sugar. Your body either has to use the sugar for energy immediately, or it becomes stored as fat. Complex carbs on the other hand are carbohydrates that are broken down and absorbed more slowly, so you have a steady supply of blood sugar that your body can use over time.
The benefit of slower digestion is utility. Your body uses more of the complex carbohydrate for what you want it for, i.e., steady energy. There is less opportunity for fat deposition.
Now let’s get back to whey protein. Think of whey protein as a “simple protein” or one that is absorbed very quickly. It's great if you want a rapid influx of amino peptides, such as right after a workout when you want to jumpstart your recovery. It's bad for the rest of the day, unless you want to be consuming whey protein every hour.
Remember that what your body doesn’t utilize right away, has to be dealt with in other ways. Excess amino acids (such as you would get from consuming more whey protein than you immediately need) are converted to sugar by the liver to use as energy. After your body gets its immediate needs met, having leftover whey amino peptides converted for energy can leave your muscles “naked” or devoid of nitrogen for hours until the next meal. Nitrogen is the essential element provided to your muscle by amino acids.
Ironically, in a Designer Protein ad which is currently running in Muscle & Fitness Magazine, the manufacturer admits that “up to 58 percent of the protein found in regular everyday whey will never reach your muscles.” Wow! That's quite an admission after years of promoting their whey protein as the gold standard of proteins. I wonder if that means that long-time Designer Protein users should demand 58 percent of their money back?
What about the claim that small amounts of glycerine can be used to make a protein powder “time released?” If that were so, then just about every protein bar in existence including Lean Body, Pure Protein, Solid Protein, Designer, et al. could make the same claim. One of these protein bars typically contains several times the amount of glycerine contained in a serving of the newly released Designer Protein powder.
A number of years ago I was approached by a group of scientists that had developed a patented liposomal technology that enabled them to coat protein powders in a manner that would render them “time released.” I passed on the idea. Why?
Two reasons:
One, I reasoned that consumers were smart enough to figure out that instead of spending their money on expensive “time released” protein (if there is such a thing), they could just take more inexpensive standard protein more often. Two, I reasoned that even if protein is coated with liposomes (or anything else for that matter), it needs to come in contact with stomach acid so that the protein molecules can be cleaved into peptides for absorption. In other words, the coated protein will not leave the stomach until the stomach acid has eaten through the liposomal coating and has actually digested the protein into peptides, which defeats the purpose of the protein being coated in the first place.
Back to whey. I don’t have anything against whey, in fact I use it myself after workouts, and my company Labrada Nutrition makes one of the finest whey supplements on the market. But if not whey, then what should you use when you want a “longer acting” protein?
Allow me to introduce you to the much-maligned and bedeviled underdog of milk proteins,: casein. If whey is the “simple” or quickly absorbed protein, then think of casein as the “complex” or slowly absorbed protein.
Casein is digested slowly and forms a gel that travels through your gut slowly. That translates to the amino acids in casein being taken up gradually instead of all at once. That makes it perfect as an ingredient (along with whey and other proteins) for meal replacements. And perfect for consumption right before bedtime, if “time released” protein is what you are after. That brings us to rule No. 2 for “time released protein.”
Choose a protein blend containing casein for your daily protein supplement
Use it for supplementation during the day and at bedtime. Choose whey protein for use after your workout or when quick digestion is important. How about that? Different proteins have different uses and strengths. Surprised?
Now for my shameless plug: a good meal replacement, such as Lean Body® is an excellent choice for daily meal supplementation and for pre-bedtime supplementation. (By the way, in the old days us hardcore bodybuilders just set the alarm clock for the early a.m., woke up, slugged another protein drink if we were hungry, and went back to sleep. It worked great!) Check out Lean Body.
Regardless of what protein brand you prefer, don’t fall for time-released and nighttime proteins. You get REAL time release by combining your protein with food, or choosing proteins that naturally are absorbed more slowly, like casein. And you’ll save money.
By the way, If you are a lady, or have a lady friend that could benefit from some wonderful information that will help her get into great shape, be sure to check out Labrada’s newly revamped Lean Body for Her website at: www.leanbodyforher.com There you will find a new article by registered dietician Susan Bohanon entitled “5 a day.” Learn how to burn fat faster and rev up your metabolism! But wait, ‘cause that’s not all. Later this month, Lean Body for Her.com will feature an article by IFBB Fitness Competitor Jen Cook entitled “Getting the Body You Want, Your Way!” Be sure to bookmark Lean Body for Her.com and tune in regularly for articles about women’s fitness and nutrition concerns, by women in the know!
Now excuse me, I have to check that stuff in my blender…
Until Next Week, I am
Lee Labrada
Your Lean Body Coach™
http://www.labrada.com/members/week110b.html
Debunking "Time-Released" Proteins by Lee Labrada
Dear Friend,
When I was a teenager struggling to gain muscle size, I would make myself huge protein drinks and guzzle them down right before I went to sleep. That was 20 years ago. (I’m dating myself, but even if you are younger, stay with me, because you are going to learn something useful that will accelerate your muscle gains and save you from getting ripped off from the latest wave of supplement scams.)
Back then we only had a small handful of protein powders to choose from at the nutrition store. Forget the hundreds of different makes of protein powders that you have available these days. Back then, there was Weider, MLO, and Hoffmann’s. Of course, you’ve heard of Weider, but you say you’ve never heard of Hoffmann’s?
Hoffmann’s made a soy protein supplement back then. Soy protein? You mean the stuff that they put in little old lady’s health-nut smoothies and pet food? Yep. Because money was tight, and I didn’t know any better, I normally purchased the cheapest stuff I could find. I figured that all protein powders were the same. And so the first protein supplement I used was Hoffmann’s soy protein. Now for a little humor…
Soy protein comes in various grades. Nowadays, there are soy protein isolates that are very high in quality, and despite their taboo status in bodybuilding circles, can give milk-based proteins a run for the money. But back then, the soy protein being put in cans and sold for supplementation was “food grade.” Meaning, that the soy protein in that can of Hoffmann’s was the same as the soy protein used to texture soy hot dogs and meat substitutes.
The first time I made a blender drink with my Hoffmann’s soy protein, I made the mistake of letting it sit for about 10 minutes while I talked to a friend on the phone. When I got back to my blender, I happily tilted it up to my mouth, and threw my head back, anticipating my new muscle-building cocktail.
Nothing came out! I shook the blender and tried again. Nothing again. The drink had literally solidified in place, making a thick paste of plaster-like consistency and stickiness that was impossible to get out of the blender without a spoon. Nor agreeable to eat!
OK, I was not about to be stopped. I was determined to get this Hoffmann’s protein in me somehow, and besides, I had just invested a whopping five bucks on the can, and I wasn’t going to let it go to waste. So I mixed up another shake. Except this time, it became a race against time.
No sooner had the blender stopped that I tilted my head back and guzzled the entire contents of the blender (easily a quart) in a race against the clock, lest “the soy bomb” turn into concrete before it reached my stomach. I looked like a frat punk racing his brothers in a beer-drinking contest.
It became a nightly ritual. Every night, I would toss this massive protein drink down, turn off the lights, and hit the sack. When your're 18, nothing bothers your stomach. If I did that now I’d be up all night. But back then, I slept like a baby. The protein drink stuck with me all night, and nourished my muscles. And looking back now, I realize that essentially what I was doing, as luck would have it, was taking advantage of “time released protein.” I say that tongue-in-cheek… stay with me.
Fast forward to today,: Supplement marketers are at their wit’s end to make their protein powders stand out from the competition. So they are devising new ways to dress up an old workhorse. Have you seen the “time released protein” ads? “Build muscle while you sleep.” WOW! What a novel idea. I wonder how we got bigger all these years without time-released protein powder. I guess bodybuilding champions like myself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Haney, and Dorian Yates must have totally missed the boat!
Let’s look at protein digestion for a moment. Protein is digested, or broken down into amino acid chains called peptides in the stomach, then passed on to the small intestine for absorption. So what regulates the rate that protein is absorbed from the gut and into the bloodstream where it can be shuttled to your hungry, waiting muscles?
In laymen’s terms, it's called gastric emptying and gut motility. Gastric emptying is the rate at which the protein-bearing meal leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine and gut motility is the rate at which the meal travels through the small intestine.
Meals that take longer to break down in the stomach result in the chime (digested food) being leaked into the small intestine more slowly. Furthermore, once in the small intestine, some foods travel more slowly than others.
There are some very simple ways to slow down the breakdown and transit times of meals. For starters, there is “food combining.” That simply means eating your protein source, be it a protein shake, a chicken breast, or piece of fish, along with other foods that contain complex carbohydrates, fiber, and essential fats.
There is a big difference in the speed with which your body digests a couple of spoonfuls of protein powder in water and the same protein powder taken in the context of a complete meal. A complete meal takes you longer to digest. So rule No. 1, for those of you desiring “time released” protein is:
Consume your protein supplement along with food.
For example, you might want to have a baked potato and a teaspoon of flax seed oil along with your protein drink at bedtime. I know what you’re thinking,“Lee, you’re nuts. I’m not going to eat right before bedtime, I’ll get fat.” Nonsense. If you are seriously considering a time-released protein supplement, it’s because you want to gain muscle tissue. And that means weight gain. Calories and complex carbs are your friends if you are trying to gain muscle. They’ll also slow down the rate at which your body breaks down and absorbs protein from the meal.
Another way to get the “time released protein” effect is to choose a protein powder that contains proteins which are known to break down slowly. Whey protein is a poor choice for this purpose. Although whey protein is a very high quality protein and has been given near sainthood status by supplement marketers, it has a distinct weakness. That weakness is the speed with which it is absorbed.
Whey protein is absorbed quickly, which makes it ideal for a post-workout protein drink. But it’s lousy as a meal replacement, or at times you want the protein to “stay with you.”
Let’s digress for a second and look at carbohydrates. You have probably heard the terms “simple carbs” and “complex carbs.” Simple carbs are absorbed quickly and rapidly elevate blood sugar. Your body either has to use the sugar for energy immediately, or it becomes stored as fat. Complex carbs on the other hand are carbohydrates that are broken down and absorbed more slowly, so you have a steady supply of blood sugar that your body can use over time.
The benefit of slower digestion is utility. Your body uses more of the complex carbohydrate for what you want it for, i.e., steady energy. There is less opportunity for fat deposition.
Now let’s get back to whey protein. Think of whey protein as a “simple protein” or one that is absorbed very quickly. It's great if you want a rapid influx of amino peptides, such as right after a workout when you want to jumpstart your recovery. It's bad for the rest of the day, unless you want to be consuming whey protein every hour.
Remember that what your body doesn’t utilize right away, has to be dealt with in other ways. Excess amino acids (such as you would get from consuming more whey protein than you immediately need) are converted to sugar by the liver to use as energy. After your body gets its immediate needs met, having leftover whey amino peptides converted for energy can leave your muscles “naked” or devoid of nitrogen for hours until the next meal. Nitrogen is the essential element provided to your muscle by amino acids.
Ironically, in a Designer Protein ad which is currently running in Muscle & Fitness Magazine, the manufacturer admits that “up to 58 percent of the protein found in regular everyday whey will never reach your muscles.” Wow! That's quite an admission after years of promoting their whey protein as the gold standard of proteins. I wonder if that means that long-time Designer Protein users should demand 58 percent of their money back?
What about the claim that small amounts of glycerine can be used to make a protein powder “time released?” If that were so, then just about every protein bar in existence including Lean Body, Pure Protein, Solid Protein, Designer, et al. could make the same claim. One of these protein bars typically contains several times the amount of glycerine contained in a serving of the newly released Designer Protein powder.
A number of years ago I was approached by a group of scientists that had developed a patented liposomal technology that enabled them to coat protein powders in a manner that would render them “time released.” I passed on the idea. Why?
Two reasons:
One, I reasoned that consumers were smart enough to figure out that instead of spending their money on expensive “time released” protein (if there is such a thing), they could just take more inexpensive standard protein more often. Two, I reasoned that even if protein is coated with liposomes (or anything else for that matter), it needs to come in contact with stomach acid so that the protein molecules can be cleaved into peptides for absorption. In other words, the coated protein will not leave the stomach until the stomach acid has eaten through the liposomal coating and has actually digested the protein into peptides, which defeats the purpose of the protein being coated in the first place.
Back to whey. I don’t have anything against whey, in fact I use it myself after workouts, and my company Labrada Nutrition makes one of the finest whey supplements on the market. But if not whey, then what should you use when you want a “longer acting” protein?
Allow me to introduce you to the much-maligned and bedeviled underdog of milk proteins,: casein. If whey is the “simple” or quickly absorbed protein, then think of casein as the “complex” or slowly absorbed protein.
Casein is digested slowly and forms a gel that travels through your gut slowly. That translates to the amino acids in casein being taken up gradually instead of all at once. That makes it perfect as an ingredient (along with whey and other proteins) for meal replacements. And perfect for consumption right before bedtime, if “time released” protein is what you are after. That brings us to rule No. 2 for “time released protein.”
Choose a protein blend containing casein for your daily protein supplement
Use it for supplementation during the day and at bedtime. Choose whey protein for use after your workout or when quick digestion is important. How about that? Different proteins have different uses and strengths. Surprised?
Now for my shameless plug: a good meal replacement, such as Lean Body® is an excellent choice for daily meal supplementation and for pre-bedtime supplementation. (By the way, in the old days us hardcore bodybuilders just set the alarm clock for the early a.m., woke up, slugged another protein drink if we were hungry, and went back to sleep. It worked great!) Check out Lean Body.
Regardless of what protein brand you prefer, don’t fall for time-released and nighttime proteins. You get REAL time release by combining your protein with food, or choosing proteins that naturally are absorbed more slowly, like casein. And you’ll save money.
By the way, If you are a lady, or have a lady friend that could benefit from some wonderful information that will help her get into great shape, be sure to check out Labrada’s newly revamped Lean Body for Her website at: www.leanbodyforher.com There you will find a new article by registered dietician Susan Bohanon entitled “5 a day.” Learn how to burn fat faster and rev up your metabolism! But wait, ‘cause that’s not all. Later this month, Lean Body for Her.com will feature an article by IFBB Fitness Competitor Jen Cook entitled “Getting the Body You Want, Your Way!” Be sure to bookmark Lean Body for Her.com and tune in regularly for articles about women’s fitness and nutrition concerns, by women in the know!
Now excuse me, I have to check that stuff in my blender…
Until Next Week, I am
Lee Labrada
Your Lean Body Coach™
