Whey Protein Supplement

Two more easy ways to increase nutrient absorption are all about the size of your meals and when you eat meals. Small frequent meals help increase your metabolic rate and eating meals within a specific time frame after heavy workouts make a tremendous difference in nutrient absorption.

Ephedra Products

3) EAT SMALL, FREQUENT MEALS
This is incredibly important. Small, frequent meals are easier for your body to digest, absorb and assimilate. They help keep your metabolic rate active (every time you eat, your metabolism picks up to some degree) and minimizes the possibility that fat will be stored.

The mechanical, chemical and enzymatic processes involved in breaking foods down to components small enough to pass through the walls of the intestine are accomplished most efficiently with a smaller quantity of food.

Small meals also help stabilize blood levels of amino acids and sugar, which helps give you more constant energy levels and better appetite regulation (since appetite is largely influenced by blood sugar levels). Consuming food frequently also minimizes catabolic pathways since nutrients are supplied every few hours.

4) TIMING IS EVERYTHING
I define peak performance nutrition as giving your body what it needs when it needs it. The goal is to meet the momentary nutritional demands of your body; otherwise you can end up with deficiencies that can impede the immediate progress stimulated by training. I’ve known bodybuilders who eat lots of carbs and protein, but still end up catabolic simply because they don’t have their meal timing down at all.

Training has an enormous effect on your body’s metabolism and as such stimulates certain very significant events involved in nutrient absorption.

One such window occurs about 30 minutes after training. At this time it is critical that you consume anywhere from 50-100 grains of carbohydrates. Why? Because at this time the body’s major priority is to replenish glycogen (stored carbohydrates) that has been depleted during high-intensity training. This is a result of biochemical pathways stimulated by training. The body sucks up carbs taken in directly after training like a sponge and as a result can replenish carb stores twice normal, twice as fast! If carbs are not taken in, after about 45 minutes these pathways close and the body is likely to start breaking down proteins and converting them to sugars in order to replenish energy reserves.

Don’t miss this opportunity or your training could actually cause muscle breakdown rather than stimulate muscle growth. If you don’t do anything else right nutritionally, at least do this: Take in carbs about 30 minutes after training. Sports drinks are excellent at this time since they require minimal digestion and are easily absorbed.

A similar metabolic phenomenon occurs with protein absorption. Sixty to 90 minutes after training, muscle cells take in amino acids at a rapid rate. If proteins are not consumed to make amino acids available for cellular uptake, than once again lean body mass may be broken down to supply essential amino acids. Consuming 20-40 grams of protein an hour or so after training should help minimize any catabolic processes as well as supply amino acids for tissue repair and growth.

It’s easy to see from the above how someone could be eating the right number of grams of carbs and protein per day but end up being catabolic because he or she doesn’t meet the momentary nutritional demands of the body.

Eating small frequent meals is really not as tough as an adjustment in your daily routine as you might first imagine. It can actually be fun. And, eating shortly after workouts is typically going to satisfy your normal hunger anyway, while allowing the body to breakdown the proteins for the best nutrient absorption.

Author: Rex Grogan
No part of the article Eat Small Frequent Meals To Increase Nutrient Absorption may be duplicated or reproduced without written permission from WheyProteinSupplement.com.