DIY Supplements

Oftentimes, when we get into the world of health and fitness, we can get caught up in all of the jargon.  This is, of course, possible with any subject you speak about.  The difference between other subjects and health and fitness is that this one affects you directly.

I know one aspect of this world that intimidates a lot of people is supplementation.  People can get really confused when they walk into their local vitamin shop and get bombarded with all the possible nutrients they could be taking.

I have had no problem in making a "guinea pig" out of myself.  There aren't many vitamins and nutrients that I wouldn't try, so long as they were reasonable and didn't have any potentially life-altering side effects.  I do this in the spirit of adventure and the quest for truth.  I want to know if something really works or if it's just another gimmick from some company to get your money.

My latest bit of trial and error has been in pre-workout supplementation.  I started out with basic energy-boosters with antioxidants like green tea tablets.  From there, I moved on to thermogenics, which are designed to boost energy and raise the temperature of your muscles for better performance in workouts.  Lately, I've been toying around with nitric oxide boosters.

Nitric oxide is used during workouts as a vasodilator (it causes the veins to get bigger).  Vasodilation during workouts is believed to accelerate muscle growth and increase stamina during workouts.  For me personally, nitric oxide seems to give me a bit of a boost when I am strength training.  I am able to lift more and I don't get exhausted as easily as I do without it.

Initially, I was using a basic supplement recommended to me by a guy in a local GNC store.  It was called N.O. Shotgun and it was a mixture of protein, creatine, nitric oxide boosters, and caffeine (with quite a few other things mixed in).  What I immediately noticed about this supplement was that it wasn't like other drink mixes I was used to.  It couldn't be shaken because that caused everything to turn into foam.  Also, the mixture of so many different ingredients caused it to have an "off" flavor.  Sometimes it was hard to swallow it all down!  I also wasn't a fan of being forced to use creatine every time I lifted weights, as I like to cycle on and off of that supplement.

I used this supplement for about two months during intermittent workouts and had no problems.  However, when I started using it on a regular basis with regular workouts, I noticed that I was getting nausea after my workouts.  I thought that it might have something to do with the flavor of the drink, so I tried switching to a different supplement.

My next trial was on N.O. X-plode.  This was also a powdered drink mix, like the N.O. Shotgun.  This supplement mainly contained nitric oxide boosters and caffeine.  I liked the idea of this supplement better because I knew that I got enough protein from my daily shakes, and I could add or take away creatine as I saw fit.  However, the nausea crept back up with this supplement shortly after taking it, just as it had with the previous one.

After much debate on how to solve this problem of nausea, a friend suggested that I make my own pre-workout supplement.  He reasoned that the ingredients were relatively simple to get;  I actually walked right into a random GNC and walked out with everything I needed.  He told me to survey the forums at Bodybuilding.com and find out what I needed for my supplement.  After some browsing on that site, I found the most common supplements thrown out were L-Arginine, caffeine, BCAA's, and creatine occasionally.  

So far, I have used a combined mixture of GNC Pro Performance Amp Amplified Muscle Igniter 4x - Orange, GNC Pro Performance Rapid Drive BCAA 5000, GNC Pro Performance Rapid Drive Arginine 5000, and GNC Pro Performance Creatine Monohydrate.  The first thing I want to say is that I had a hard time drinking the first mix because, in my opinion the Muscle Igniter 4x tastes terrible.  One review on the GNC website said that one person wouldn't even give it to their enemies.  It was completely my fault for not doing the research on the thermogenic before buying it, because I was only looking for a powder-form thermogenic.  I plan on returning it as soon as possible.

Other than that, I felt great when I used this self-made supplement.  Separately, these supplements can be quite costly, but when looking at things from a long-term goal perspective, it is cheaper to do things this way than paying for those pre-mixed supplements that you have no control over.

As time goes on, I will update my status with the quality of my homemade pre-workout supplements.  For the future, I am hopeful that this turns out to be the thing I've been missing.

-Andy

Primal Blueprint 30 Day Challenge - Day 9

Rounding up the end of day nine of the 30 Day Primal Blueprint Challenge; I am feeling pretty accomplished today!

Currently, I'm sitting at home and drinking a protein shake.  I just finished up a nice workout at the gym and I feel great.  My workout included:

1. Treadmill Warmup - 4 minutes
2. Bench Presses - 25 x 90lbs (plus bar and 1lbs x 2 holders)
3. Planks - 4 x 30 seconds
4. Kettlebell Swings - 16lbs x 2 minutes
5. Lateral Pulls - 25 x 180lbs
6. Double Bell Squats - 25 x 90lbs

This is my second workout of the week, the first being almost identical to this.  As you can see, I'm not going to the gym every other day or every three days like I used to.  However, I am much more active at home than I used to be and my diet has changed slightly.  

Oh, and my weight?  Here's the answer to that:

Current Weight: 341.6 lbs

Weight Lost Since Last Time: 4.4 lbs

Total Weight Lost: 59.1 lbs

New Name, Same Game

One of the biggest complaints about the blog that we've had over the past few months is how long our name is!

In retrospect, I guess emergencymedicalfatnicians.blogspot.com would be a hard one to remember.  Also, it wasn't one of those names that just rolled off the tongue.  

Don't get us wrong, we're not in this to make any money, but we do want people to know who we are.  After-all, this blog was created to help people as they watch us try to help ourselves.  We want them to see where we make progress and learn from our mistakes.

So, without further ado, we would like to present the new name and shorter URL for the blog:

http://fatnicians.blogspot.com/

Yeah, we know.  It's almost too much change to handle...

Thanks again to all of our faithful readers and supporters for everything you do!

- Andy

Primal Blueprint 30 Day Challenge - End of Week 1

It's the end of the first week!  How did everyone do?

I have been doing decently with it.  I've struggled a couple of times, but I've been doing the best that I've done in a long time on my exercise!  My biggest battle is going to be getting control of my eating habits.

Early to the Party...

Apparently, MDA wasn't ready for the challenge to begin.  That, or I jumped the gun by 12 days!

Click here!

(Their logo for this year certainly is prettier than mine.)

Meal Time! Enchilada on Flaxseed Tortilla

Following a Primal Blueprint/Paleo/Low-Carb lifestyle is great, but sometimes you miss your old friends like bread, chips, corn, and tortilla shells.  I mean, what is a sandwich without bread and what is a taco salad without the tortilla shell?

Some friends of mine pointed out the fact that if I was really hurting for my grainy friends, that I could always look to alternative sources of them like flaxseed, coconut, and almonds to name a few.  When my sister announced that enchiladas were on the docket for dinner, I started to panic a little.  You see, enchilada filling is delicious and it fits in with Primal Blueprint eating, but it's just not the same without the tortilla wrapper.  

I decided that I needed that wrapper, but I wasn't going to settle for anything less than PB standards.  This set me out for my local grocery store.  There, I picked up a couple of bags of milled flaxseed and some baking powder.  I soon returned home and looked to the Internet for the next step.  I was lucky to find this site with a recipe for flaxseed tortillas and bread.

I followed the recipe for the most part, and it turned out decently.  My few critiques are as follows: 

• The flaxseed needs to be ground down even further until it is closer to a powdery consistency.  Left as is will be fine, but if the person eating the tortilla has issues with texture, then this may not be for them.
• The seasoning for the tortilla needs a lot of work.  It was very salty tasting.
• The final product had very little in common with the flour tortillas that come to mind.  It was very thick and brittle, and very similar to a cookie in hardness.  This one definitely wasn't made to wrap around anything.

All of that said, the final product was very filling.

As far as the enchilada filling, it was a very simple recipe.  We used meat from a rotisserie chicken bought at the store, a small 8oz. tub of the Philadelphia Cream Cheese - Santa Fe Blend, and a can of crushed tomato. Mix that together with a half cup of shredded cheddar cheese and put it in (on) your tortilla shell.  Throw some more shredded cheese on top with some enchilada sauce (not in the picture above) and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until the cheese is melted on top!

I hope you guys enjoy this simple recipe.  Leave a comment if you have any suggestions on how to make this better!

Primal Blueprint 30 Day Challenge - Day 5

We're five days into the challenge.  How is everyone doing so far?

I'm finally done working at my old job, so my days spent eating on the road are officially over.  I have had a couple of days of light exercise, including an early morning jog and light strength training yesterday morning.  The weather outside here in Kentucky is close to perfect for getting outside and enjoying the weather.

As far as my diet goes, I've not been behaving the best that I could have.  But one can only eat the same kind of salad so many times in a row before harming themselves starts to look like a viable option.  There might have been a candy bar, a soda, and a piece of pizza.  

The great thing about Primal Blueprint lifestyle is that it's forgiving.  I don't beat myself up for getting off track, I just work harder at getting back on track!

Primal Blueprint 30 Day Challenge

Since my wife passed away, I've not been taking care of myself as well as I should have been.  I started eating crap foods again, I stopped exercising as much, and I started smoking again.  There; it's all laid out on the table now.

I've known for a long time that I couldn't let myself go for long like this, or I would find myself right back in the same situation I was in last October.  I refuse to go back to that size and be an absolutely miserable human being.  It's the last thing I need.

A couple of weeks ago, the idea hit me that I needed to go "hardcore" back into my diet and exercise routine for at least a month and get myself back on track.  Low and behold, Mark Sisson just happened to start up his yearly Primal Blueprint Health Challenge on August the 4th.  I may be a little late to the party, but it's never to late to get yourself healthy.

Starting today, September the 1st of 2011, I am going on the Primal Blueprint 30 Day Challenge.  I'm going to Grock out with my socks out.  I'll be following the exercise routine he provides and the diet as well.  No breads, no pastas, no sugars, no refined, processed, "just like" foods.  

Just like with the No Sweets? No Sweat! Challenge, I'll be posting here regularly with updates about my progress.  I hope that anybody who still reads my blog will jump in with me.  If not, why not just commit to doing something healthier than your used to for the next 30 days?  It can be anything from eating healthier foods, adding (more) exercise to you daily life, or cutting out something that is unhealthy for you.

I'll start with what I've got for the day:  

Current Weight: 346 lbs

Let's get this started!