Majed Rawashdeh (Fitness Page)

What is creatine? Is it a safe supplement? what are the different forms of creatine?

Creatine is involved in energy metabolism processes primarily in tissues with high energy demand such as skeletal muscle, brain and heart. It is produced endogenously from the three amino acids: glycine, arginine and methionine. The synthesis starts primarily in the kidneys and is completed in the liver. The daily creatine production amounts to approximately 1 to 2 g, of which about 95 % are distributed to the muscle.

In addition, creatine is found mainly in meat, fish and other animal products. Such dietary sources estimated to contribute to a daily intake of about 2g. The total creatine pool is assumed to be 120-140 g, with a daily degradation to creatinine of about 2 g, which is released via the blood to the kidneys and urine.

Creatine monohydrate is the most popular and safest form of creatine supplements. Other creatine forms marketed creatine are claimed to improve physical and chemical properties, bioavailability, effectiveness and safety. While the safety of creatine monohydrate has been well investigated, information on other creatine forms is limited. In some cases, the precise chemical structure of these formulas, could not be clarified (e.g. creatine phosphate/ gluconate).

Safety concerns for some of the creatine forms:
- Creatine taurinate: when there is an additional intake of taurine via energy drinks or energy shots, the total daily taurine intake has to be taken into account for safety considerations.
- Creatine phosphate: gastrointestinal symptoms have been reported after supplementation of more than 750 mg phosphorus per day
- Tricreatine orotate: Significant safety concerns due to tumor-promoting effects of orotic acid
- Creatine ethyl ester: increase in creatinine levels in serum after intake of this creatine form probably due to high conversion of creatine ethyl ester to creatinine in the gastrointestinal tract..!!
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Social media influencers are dishing out false nutrition and weight loss advice 90% of the time!
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Social media influencers are dishing out false nutrition and weight loss advice 90% of the time The blogs of social media influencers are "not credible resources for weight management," researchers said.

You all have seen this image claiming that broccoli has more protein than meat. On that image, they claim that in 100kcal of broccoli there is 10g of protein, while in 100kcal of meat there are 9g of protein and 7g of fat.!

This is a perfect example of a misinterpretation of data:
While it is true that 100kcal of broccoli/meat contain those amounts, what they don’t tell you is that in order to get 100kcal of broccoli (or 10g of protein from broccoli) you need to eat 300g of it (that means a whole broccoli crown!), and in order to consume 100kcal of meat (to get the same amount of protein), you need to eat 30g of it (which is only a third of a steak!).

So, when we are looking at macro-nutrients, we do not look at percentage out of total calories, but at percentage out of the mass of the product. If you are vegans, vegetarians, or you just do not like meat, it is important to keep in mind that if you replace 1 steak with 2-3 whole broccolis, you are still not going to get enough essential amino acids and B12. So make sure you get these nutrients from a different source.

The bottom line is not that broccoli is bad, but rather the contrary. it is a fantastic vegetable and a great source of carbs, fiber, minerals and vitamins, but we cannot compare animal protein to vegetables, as each contains nutrients that the other does not. So just like you cannot compare oranges and apples, you cannot compare broccoli and meat, as they are both essential, and are corner stones in a healthy diet.

When we create a tailored-made meal plan for our clients, we make sure to base it on their personal preferences but we always make sure that these preferences do not lack certain elements of a healthy diet, or some key nutrients. The end goals is to have a healthy diet that is also enjoyable and sustainable.
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The Scientific Breakthrough That Could Cut Calories Out of Our Carbs:

Scientists from Sri Lanka reported that they had developed a simple way to cook rice that could cut the amount of calories by more than half!

By using a specific heating and cooking process (and also a certain rice!), the scientists concluded that if the best rice variety is processed, it might reduce the amount of calories by about 50-60 %; all of which are from the starch content of the rice. Therefore, this method might also decrease (or help us finding a similar way to decrease) the amount of calories from other foods that contain starch.

So, what is starch?
Starch is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. It is the most common carbohydrate in our diet and it is found in high amounts in potatoes, wheat, and rice.

Why is starch important to this process ?
There are two kind of starch. One is digestible and the other is not. Resistant starch, the indigestible kind, is not broken down in the small intestine, where carbohydrates are normally metabolized into glucose and other simple sugars and absorbed into the bloodstream. Since rice contains both types of starch, the researchers hypothesized that if they could transform digestible starch into the indigestible form, they would decrease the amount of actual calories that are available to the body.

What is this method?
The researchers experimented with 38 kinds of rice from Sri Lanka and tried to find a way of cooking it that would increase the amount of indigestible starch.

This is the method that they used:
1) Add a teaspoon of coconut oil to boiling water
2) Add a half a cup of rice
3) Simmer for 40 minutes
4) Refrigerate for 12 hours
5) Eat (you can reheat it as much as you want)
This procedure increased the indigestible starch tenfold!

Do you have to cool the rice ?
Yes! The cooling process is essential because it leads to the formation of hydrogen bonds between the amylose molecules (the soluble part of the starch) outside the rice grains. These bonds turn the starch into the indigestible form. Note that reheating the rice will not affect these...

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How Exercise and Stretching Improves Sleep Deficiency!
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How Exercise and Stretching Improves Sleep Deficiency - % Research suggests that moderate aerobic exercise improves the amount we sleep so it can help with sleep deficiency…

What are the best sources for protein and how do we rank them?

Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) is a method to to estimate protein quality. It assesses whether a food contains the indispensable amino acids and in sufficient quantities, taking into consideration digestibility losses.

Does that help to understand why protein from an egg does not equal to protein from breakfast cereals..?

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The truth, must watch people!!
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5 Natural Ways to Boost Serotonin Levels and Feel Happier Boosting your serotonin levels can have a positive effect on both your mood and energy, among several other positive benefits. And, the good news is, there are several natural methods for boosting your serotonin levels and taking advantage of those benefits.

Upon >24 hr of fasting, humans, rodents, and other mammals enter alternative metabolic phases, which rely less on glucose and more on ketone body-like carbon sources. Both intermittent and periodic fasting result in benefits ranging from the prevention to the enhanced treatment of diseases.

Similarly, time-restricted feeding, in which food consumption is restricted to certain hours of the day, allows the daily fasting period to last 12 hr, thus imparting pleiotropic benefits.

Moreover, time-restricted feeding, which imposes daily cycles of feeding and fasting without caloric reduction, sustains robust diurnal rhythms and can alleviate metabolic diseases. These findings highlight an integrative role of circadian rhythms in physiology and offer a new perspective for treating chronic diseases in which metabolic disruption is a hallmark.

Reference: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6315/1008

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The U.S. government is shutting down a study that was supposed to show if a single drink a day could prevent heart attacks, saying ethical problems with how the research was planned and funded undermine its credibility.
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Health officials to end industry-funded study of alcohol’s possible health benefits The research was supposed to show if a single drink a day could prevent heart attacks​, but critics say ethical problems undermined its credibility