If you’re reading this page, it’s likely that you’ve seen our claims for PerfectAmino Essential Amino Acids; and that you may have a few questions about them.

The first claim is that not all proteins are equal. That different proteins, once digested and absorbed, provide our bodies with different amounts of usable protein, gram for gram. 

The second claim is that the idea that we receive 4 calories for every gram of protein we consume is a misconception. And that it indicates a broader lack of understanding of what calories are outside of the scientific community, and what they have to do with muscle gain, energy, and body fat. 

We’ll do our best to answer those claims here.

We know about amino acids, hormones, and how different foods affect our ability to build lean muscle, burn fat and stay healthy. 

But if we want to achieve maximum levels of energy, recovery, health and performance, and build the most lean muscle, then we need to go down to the cellular level. 

After all, our bodies are just one big mass of some 100 trillion cells all bonded together. 

How well we're doing is an exact reflection of how well our cells are doing.

Many people think of bodybuilding as just trying to build the biggest muscles we can. And that’s not quite true.

Bodybuilding is about building one’s ideal physique. And, while that includes achieving bigger muscles, it also means achieving balance, symmetry and aesthetics.

But there are those who do try for building the biggest muscles they can, which there is nothing wrong with.

Unfortunately, many of them employ substances which, while helping to achieve their goals faster, and in some cases achieve more than they could naturally, also result in serious health conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, something which is becoming more and more prevalent amongst bodybuilders today.

In this article we’re going to cover the use of steroids and insulin injections, why they're used, how they work, and how these significantly increase the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes down the road.

In this article we're going to cover something that is key to increasing the overall endurance, performance, and recovery ability of an athlete.

But while it's very important for an athlete, or anyone into fitness of any sort — it’s also important for anyone who is just wishing to raise their overall health and energy levels.

This is because, no matter where we're starting from, very high or very low, if we address it, we can significantly raise not just our energy production and performance abilities, but our overall health, across the spectrum, possibly even removing health troubles we thought were: "just they way it is."

It's called VO2 Max. V is for Volume, O2 is for Oxygen, and Max is for Maximum.

VO2 Max literally means the maximum amount, or volume, of oxygen that your cells are currently able to utilize during intense exercise, before you burn out.

Note the word currently.

Because when we raise the maximum amount of oxygen each cell can take in and use, so that they're able to and do use more, we end up raising energy production, performance, endurance, our ability to recover, and possibly even reverse conditions we thought would never go away.

And it's not hard to do.

So let’s dive in.

Most people, when they hit 50, and definitely when they hit 60 or 70, start to lose muscle mass and strength. And most of them think this is just a matter of aging.

But, while aging is definitely a factor here, there is much more going on that is speeding up this process.

I’m 74 years old and I still run in Ironman Triathlons.

I’m strong, I’m lean, and I have more energy than many people half my age. And I’m not alone in this.

So, obviously, age isn’t quite the factor most people think.

But there are key differences between those of us who still keep our muscle and strength, and those of us who don’t. And they’re not genetic.

They’re points that anyone can apply to themselves to start increasing strength and muscle mass again, no matter how old they are.

Most people think of electrolytes as something to take when they’re dehydrated. And this is true.

But there’s much more to it than that.

They allow your nervous system to function, your cells to function, and energy to be created.

When they’re low we can get brain fog, have headaches or back aches or feel exhausted.

They’re even necessary for protein synthesis for recovery and muscle building, and this slows down when we don’t have our electrolytes.

And they’re absolutely vital for hormonal creation and balance.

So let’s take a good look at what electrolytes are and what they actually do in the body. Because they’re very important.

What speeds up the aging process and what can we do about it?

There is something called accelerated aging, where aging happens years or decades before it should. And it’s becoming more and more common.

In this article we’re going to dive into exactly what causes accelerated aging, especially aging in our 30’s, 40’s, 50’s… and even our 20’s.

We’re going to cover exactly what is happening to our cells, what is doing this, how this affects aging, and what we can do to prevent it.

Growth Hormone (GH or HGH) is a key hormone that helps us build muscle and burn fat.

Your muscles are made of cells that have been fused together into muscle fibers. And on the outside of these fibers are things called satellite cells.

When you work out you damage cells in the muscle fibers. To fix this, your body releases Growth Hormone, Growth Factors (other hormones) and Testosterone. These tell the satellite cells to start replicating to both repair and replace damaged cells in the muscle, and also to add more cells, increasing the muscle fibers in size.

In the last article we covered cortisol, a hormone which, among other things, acts to break down our muscle, breaking down the proteins in it into amino acids, which are then converted to energy sources such as sugar.

At the same time, it holds onto body fat and acts to raise body fat levels, while also preventing protein synthesis for new muscle growth.

But it also lowers key muscle building and fat loss hormones, so let’s cover what those are and how to maximize their production and use within the body for best results.

In the last article we covered how many companies selling natural sweeteners such as stevia and monk fruit, knowingly or unknowingly cut their product with artificial sweeteners by 60% or as much as 100%.

They can do this because the only way to tell for sure is to do very extensive chemical testing.

Yet these artificial sweeteners can pose real health risks, from heart trouble to gut trouble.

And they're in about 99% of non-sugar sweetened products today.

But if it takes thorough chemical analytical testing to be absolutely sure it's natural, and you probably don't have access to that, what can you do to know what's real or not?

Well, there are a few ways.

We recently upgraded the sweeteners in our PerfectAmino Powder and PerfectAmino Electrolytes.

And in doing so we found out something quite disturbing.

We already knew some sweeteners labeled “Pure” or “All Natural” were often cut with artificial sweeteners to a degree, and we have always had to watch this.

But what we found out when researching natural sweeteners for our new formulation, and the amount of them that actually aren’t what they say they are, was surprising and somewhat scary.

It turns out, about 99% of so-called natural sweeteners actually contain artificial sweeteners in amounts as much as 60%, 80%… or even 100%.

And we want to make sure you know about this, why it matters, and what to look out for.

The body is a complex contraption, full of very exact systems, and a thousand different factors influencing its overall health and performance in one way or another.

But how do we separate out the important factors that allow us to measure our overall health and spot potential health troubles before they become a real situation?

There is something called Heart Rate Variability, or HRV, and it is a literal measuring stick for our health that we can use to monitor ourselves.

Whether we're into extreme sports and maximum physical performance, or trying to achieve optimal health for a long life, learning what HRV is, and how to use it, puts our health and performance in our hands.

This helps us spot trouble when it’s still a ways away, so we can handle it before it gets out of hand.