June 18, 2024 5 min read
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.
June 04, 2024 3 min read
Water retention is swelling in some part of the body, usually the feet and ankles, caused by large accumulations of fluid in the spaces between the body’s cells or in the blood vessels.
But it’s a symptom of something, not a condition in its own right.
And, while it can be caused by specific physical conditions of the kidneys, heart or circulatory system, most cases are actually due to lifestyles or diet, and they’re pretty easy to fix.
But there are many things that can cause this, so let’s jump in and see how this all works so you know what to do to help you.
May 28, 2024 6 min read
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.
April 21, 2024 8 min read
We’ve upgraded PerfectAmino by adding nucleotides and nucleosides — the building blocks of nucleic acids: our DNA and RNA.
But we want to make sure you fully understand why we did this and how this works.
Because it was for a very exact reason. And it is very much an upgrade.
We know that the building blocks of protein and collagen are the essential amino acids.
Having all of the essential amino acids, and having each of them in the correct overall ratio, is necessary for complete protein synthesis, as well as protein synthesis without the caloric impact.
However, there is another aspect to this.
While these essential amino acids are the material used to synthesize new protein, the actual building blocks of protein and collagen, if we want perfect protein synthesis then we need to look at the process of synthesizing protein itself: how they are being made.
Because if the process is at all faulty, then even if we have the correct amino acids and correct amounts, we won't necessarily get correctly made proteins.
In fact, we can even have stopped creation of specific proteins. And that can affect us in any number of ways.
April 16, 2024 7 min read
Well done on completing the 30 Day Lean Body/Lean Bulk Challenge!
While you may feel and look different on the outside... on the inside things are even more different.
We’ve balanced hormones and repaired or replaced trillions of cells.
We’ve removed fat not only from our fat cells, but from our organs such as our liver and kidney, where it can make them less efficient or prevent them from doing their job.
We’ve built lean muscle and, depending on where we started, changed our body shape.
We’ve improved digestion and the microbiome, the most important gatekeepers for our overall health.
We’ve improved our body’s energy levels, our endurance, and our body's ability to recover, burn body fat and build lean muscle.
And we've set ourselves up, if we maintain our current lifestyle, to stay lean and continue to add muscle.
And if we have some extra deserts and gain a couple of pounds... we're now much more physically and hormonally set up to lose that very fast, often within a couple of days.
In short… we’ve done a lot!
But what do we do now?
April 14, 2024 7 min read
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.
We need to be able to separate out the important factors that allow us to measure our overall health, performance and recovery ability, and spot potential health troubles before they become a real situation.
And that’s where Heart Rate Variability comes in.
Heart Rate Variability, or HRV, is a literal measuring stick of our current health and how well our body is able to adapt and recover. And it’s something 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.
April 11, 2024 8 min read
When working out, blood flow is very important for both muscle building and fat loss.
It’s how the nutrients, water and oxygen needed for energy creation and muscle creation flow to our cells.
If our blood flow is lower, our cells do not get these nutrients or oxygen fast enough and our energy levels go down during high intensity workouts.
And it slows recovery.
Achieving healthy blood flow then is important for maximum results and maximum overall health.
April 09, 2024 6 min read
We've spoken a lot about hormones on the Lean Body/Lean Bulk Program, but not how toxins affect these.
Testosterone levels have been dropping for decades and the largest lab testing company, Lab Corp, actually lowered that standard of what “acceptable” testosterone levels are.
At the same time, estrogen levels have risen sharply and thyroid has become a growing issue.
Hormonal imbalances are no longer just being deficient in one or another hormone.
There are exact chemicals in the environment, in our food, air, and water, which didn’t exist before.
These chemicals can do several things in the body:
They can block certain hormones from being created.
They can block them from being able to communicate their instructions to a cell or disrupt their normal actions.
Or they can impersonate them entirely, giving our cells the message a hormone normally would, but not when the brain says to.
And while this affects muscle-building and fat loss significantly, its effect goes far beyond.
In this article we cover what's happening and what you can do about it.
April 07, 2024 7 min read
We're entering Week Four of the Lean Body/Lean Bulk Challenge, and I want to add in something that will improve our recovery ability, our performance, our overall energy levels and our metabolism. And it directly affects our overall health.
It’s called VO2 Max. V is for Volume, O2 is for Oxygen, and Max is for Maximum.
VO2 max is literally the maximum amount, or volume, of oxygen that your cells can utilize during intense exercise, before you burn out.
And raising this allows us to raise overall performance, energy, endurance recovery ability and overall health.
And it allows us to push more over time and achieve more.
So let’s dive in.
April 04, 2024 6 min read
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.
And they require a multitude of nutrients and biochemicals, all held in equilibrium, to ensure they can work properly, produce energy, build muscle, and keep our body going.
When these aren't properly balanced we can get headaches, brain fog, low levels of energy, muscle cramps, slower recoveries from workouts, and imbalances in hormones.
But when everything is in place, we have the most powerful you that you can be.
So let’s see how this works.
April 02, 2024 9 min read
Getting good sleep is one of the most important things we can do, not just for muscle building and fat loss but for our mood, energy levels, and overall health.
Sleep is when our body is able to recover and repair cells, a lack of it even affects our aging process, speeding it up internally, as well as visibly causing wrinkles and sagging skin.
During the first few hours of deep sleep is when many hormones, including growth hormone and IGF (major fat-burning hormone) are released.
Getting enough sleep also helps to keep cortisol levels lower and balance estrogen, testosterone, progesterone and thyroid.
So if we want a lean, toned or muscled body, then we need deep sleep every night for full recovery, muscle building, natural fat loss and hormonal balance.
Yet a third of Americans get poor sleep, and those with the worst sleep generally have poor health.
So what causes this and what can we do to not only get better, deeper, more refreshing sleep, but also to reverse the effects of poor sleep?
Let’s dive in and see.
March 28, 2024 6 min read
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, and then converting them energy sources such as sugar and body fat.
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 such as testosterone, growth hormone and IGF (our major fat burning hormone)
So let’s cover what those are and how to maximize their production and use within the body for best results.
From in-depth articles on nutritional benefits to updates on new product launches, stay informed and inspired on your journey to optimal health.