3) Body Wellness: Electrolytes, Nutrients and Recovery

It's been a couple days, I forget where I left off. I know that we talked about the "ATP cycle" and I started talking about Leucin an Muscle Protein Synthesis. What do we need for ATP? we need water, oxygen and phosphate. This leads to what we use when we activate oour muscles, electrolytes! so after the water looses a phosphate from ATP there is a chemical exchange of sodium and potassium that causes the positive chage hat causes your muscle to funcion. After which Calcium floods the area. Although not an electrolyte magnesium is responsible for the muscle to release tension, which is an integral part of muscle use.I myself have raised my sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium up beyond 200% DV. it just doesn't make sense to me for the body to lack for any one of these whatsoever.

We have water and oxygen, we have protein and electrolytes, but now lets talk about other types of nutrients that are important to ingest carbs, fats and vitamins and minerals. The body has a minimum amount of fat it must have in order to function properly. This number is lower in men than it is in women, but outside of this, fats are a more stable fuel for the body. A regular meal should contain 60% Carbs, 25% Fats and 25% Protein. Although different fats are different like some proteins are different, I'm focusing more on the two types of carbs and what "healthy fats" are. There are "quick carbs" and "slow carbs". Quick carbs or sugars and sugars from fruits while Slow carbs are carbs from rice and vegetable.If consuming quick carbs with fats, the sugar can be brought straight to the muscle to refill depleted glycogen stores. Avacado is a fatty vegetable that signals the body to burn fat, opening the door for glycogen replenishment from nourishment. It also happens to be high in potassium. Vinegar also signals for the body to burn fat, so having other healthy fats in your meal with the avacado or vinegar is ideal.

Healthy fats are also found in nuts, some oils and meat in moderation. Making sure the body has a balance of quick and slow carbs and fats can avoid sugar crashes and provide consistent energy in between meals. It is important to provide the building blocks for muscle protein synthesis, but also important to provide the other electrolytes and fuels necessary to allow proper muscle function and enough energy for muscle recovery. As much as every vitamin and mineral are important another sprecial consideration for high intensity work or excercise and recovery are the B Vitmains B1, 3, 6, 9 and 12. B vitamins are necessary to metabolize carbohydrates, fats, and proteins into energy for contraction and repair. They assist in the repair of muscle fibers post-exercise, reducing recovery time. Improved Performance: Adequate B vitamin intake (specifically B1, B6, B12) has been shown to reduce fatigue and increase time to exhaustion. Adequate levels of B vitamins, particularly B12, help maintain muscle strength, especially in preventing frailty and muscle loss. 

Unlike Protein or Electrolytes, in order to get all the B vitamins you might need, one must diversify their diet as all the different types of B vitamins are spread across just about everything you could consume. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) can be found in pork, sunflower seeds, green peas. Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) can be found milk, yogurt, spinach, mushrooms. Vitamin B3 (Niacin) can be found in poultry, beef, fish, peanuts. Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) can be found in avocado, broccoli, meat. Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) can be found in bananas, potatoes, chickpeas. Vitamin B7 (Biotin) can be found in eggs, almonds, sweet potatoes. Vitamin B9 (Folate) can be found in leafy greens, citrus fruits, beans and Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) can be found in animal products, or fortified nutritional yeast for vegans. 

I myself am really into soy sauce. It is a great salt replacement and pairs well with rice and vinegar. I had a peanut butter sauce once at a vietnamese restaurant, of which the core ingredients are peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar and light corn syrup. This peanut butter sauce is good for dipping and coaing. You can whisk grainulated sugar in warm water instead of light corn syrup. I kind of guess at everything and I'm pretty good at it, so it's hard to say exactly how much of what should go in the mix. My first run at making it myself, it was "the last of the peanut butter" and everything else scaled off of that. To my surprise, vinegar does not liquify peanut butter, it actually makes it stiffer and when I added enough liquid to make it the consistency I was looking for, I was met with a tough surprise. Fortunatley, I was able to salvage it with honey. Since then I have ordered all the proper ingredients and I have yet to ut it together again. Actually, I forgot to get peanut butter last time I was at the store.

Ya know what? I'm going to get some peanut butter tomorrow.

Stay Healthy!

Peace, Love and God Bless,

Craig Lamach