Hey guys,

What are your thoughts on Goji berries and Royal Jelly?
It is claimed that they help the body against the cold and flu and help increase energy levels.

Any truth on these claims? Anybody tried them? if so any results?
Thanks Alban

Personally speaking I would get all my basic nutrition needs met before shelling out for these 'superfoods'. ie fruit veg, salads, essential fats, good quality proteins and unrefined carbs etc etc.

One can spend an awful amount of money on these supplements when they don't really have any scientific data on them, although I'm sure there is some truth in it all. I think it can be a bit hit & miss with quality of the products too.

One inexpensive way to get some great nutrients in to your diet is to eat plenty of sprouted seeds like alfalfa or brocolli sprouts. You can grow your own in a few days and a packet of seeds will give you a lot of sprouts.

You can buy them sprouted pretty cheaply too if you can't be ars@d to grow them or are worried about being labelled a hippy. They can be added to salads and soups sandwhiches etc and are a definite powerful health booster.... don't take my word for it, do some research.

regards
Mark

Yes mate i know but when you train everyday or sometimes twice a day and having a job to do it is almost impossible to get everything you need in your body.
I don't really rely on supplements but the protein shake and glutamine does help a lot and i know it makes a difference because if you don't train hard enough then you won't need it but if you do train hard then you will do, otherwise you will spend the next 2 or 3 days in pain and you don't recover.
Cheers Alban

I have a couple of Night school diplomas in nutrition, but dont claim to be an expert..

however the key is in the word SUPPLEMENT, thats what they do supplement your normal diet as and when certain extra stresses are or have been put on your body and mind..

in times when circumstances mean later nights, no 'fresh' meals (Big Macs and that kind of crap), you supplement (i.e. add extra) of certain nutrients to replace or increase and deficiences.

Extra this that and the other will NOT prevent colds, but can reduce their effects.. However you have to really start taking them BEFORE a cold has caught you

the health food/supplement business is huge and they obviously have to promote their products.

Some 'foods' are nutrient robbers, i.e they use up certain vits/mins in order to be processed, so if your diet is garbage, your nutrient intake is reduced.

Eat your food as near as possible to how nature makes it .. i.e. apples rather than apple pies and so on.. chicken breasts as opposed to.. processed chicken nibbles, or turkey bloody twizzlers and so on, and you wont be far wrong.

if you feel the need for certain extras, be sure what you are ingesting is worth the extra cash

some are good, one or two excellent , most a waste of money...

Nice one Dave.
Thanks for that.
Alban

Alban Balliu wrote:Yes mate i know but when you train everyday or sometimes twice a day and having a job to do it is almost impossible to get everything you need in your body.
I don't really rely on supplements but the protein shake and glutamine does help a lot and i know it makes a difference because if you don't train hard enough then you won't need it but if you do train hard then you will do, otherwise you will spend the next 2 or 3 days in pain and you don't recover.
Cheers Alban

hi alban

all the best for the new year

i was wondering when do you find the best time to take protein/glutamine,before or after work out or morning and night?

thanks
karl

Hi Alban

I'm no expert but I have had trouble with my immune system in the past due to certain medications I have had to take - so I have looked into it.

Most normal/healthy peoples' immune sytems are good enough to fight and or stop most infections - if you get a cold or flu you are mostly just unlucky as there are millions of viruses out there.

If your immune sytem white blood cell count goes dangerously low it's called neutropenia - healthy people don't ever get to this level.

However, a daily vitamin/mineral pill, glucosamine and EPA fish oil have all been shown scientifically to have various health benefits & get enough rest. Overtraining has also been shown to increase the likliehood of viral infection in athletes.

The best way is to search for proper authoratative scientific studies, which can often be found on the internet.

Speak soon mate
Steve

Karl,
thanks mate, wish you the best for the new year too.
I find best taking these two supplements right after training and also another shot of glutamine before i go to bed to help recovery when sleeping.
For me the most important meal of the day is the one after training, so what i do is drink some fruit juice for simple sugars, then i take the protein shake and glutamine and about 20 mins later i eat a meal or a mixture of different dried fruits and mixed nuts a handful of each.
I know some people may say this is not good or not the right way but it works for me.
Remember the golden hour after training, thats the best time to feed your body.

Steve
that's interesting mate in terms of science as i don't really know a lot when it comes to that but what i find is that my central nervous system gets shattered when i train a lot. Especially when you do a lot of power training like olympic lifts and Atp drills. I know rest is very important but most of the time i get this mental drive and i just want to train everyday and when i hit the gym i realize that even though my muscular system is recovered is the CNS that is still shattered and i read somewhere that it can take from 9 to 12 days to fully recover from a really hard power lifting workout and if i keep trying thats when overtraining kicks in and the immune system suffers. Thats why if you want to really train hard and often you need the stuff to help you recover.
Hope it all makes sense.

Alban - if it works for you, and it clearly does!, then keep doing it mate

thanks alban

There are 3-reasons why you would want to take supplements:

1) To build muscle, burn fat and improve health by making up for nutritional deficiencies in diet.

2) To provide nutrients that are under supplied in the body’s cells or not normally available in optimum levels in the diet.

3)Providing nutrients that your body doesn’t necessarily require, but enhances performance and recovery by producing a pharmaceutical or “drug like” effect in the body.

The bottom-line basics are to be taken every day for the rest of your life fall into the first category: multi vitamin & mineral blend, strong anti-oxidents and essential fatty acid blend. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

Joe