Creatine is one of the most studied and used supplements there are, both for lean muscle gain, energy, endurance and recovery, but also for reaction time, cognitive health and focus, affecting the brain, nervous system, heart and much more.

It’s used by athletes for more explosive power: sprinting, heavy lifting and intense exercise.

It allows for greater endurance in training, more reps per set before fatigue sets in, faster recovery between sets or sprints and can help lengthen workouts and exercise time.

It also helps with lean muscle creation, reduced muscle damage and even helps maintain lean muscle during calorie restriction or fasting — without breaking the fast.

And it adds fullness and denseness to our muscles.

But it does more than this. Just as it supports muscle, it also supports the neurons that make up our brain and nervous system, supporting focus, cognition and mental fatigue, and many people take it solely for this.

Due to this it helps with reaction time, memory and exhaustion.

It also helps with aging, helping prevent muscle loss as we get older, supporting bone density and improving overall cellular energy levels, as energy failure is central to nerve degeneration.

And for vegans and vegetarians it’s a must as creatine comes almost exclusively from meats, not plant sources. 

So if we’re not eating meats we have to rely solely on creatine being created inside our body, which happens at lower levels due to lower amounts of amino acids received from plant foods.

This can lead to lower energy levels, less muscle mass, mental fatigue and stress.

As creatine is vegan, vegans and vegetarians supplementing with it can experience some of the most noticeable benefits both in energy and muscle, as well as focus and stress levels.

So that’s what it does and what it affects.

But what is it, how does it work and, most importantly, how can you use it to help you?

In this article we dive into how body fat is created in our body, and how we get rid of it, so you understand what we're doing on this protocol and why.

About 90% of what most of us consider to be body fat is actually made by and from sugar.

But probably not how you think.

And it has a lot more to do with how it affects your hormones (messenger chemicals that tell your body how to use the food you put into it).

Because it’s your hormones that will determine what will ultimately happen with this sugar and whether or not it will be used to make new body fat.

First, let’s break down what actually happens when we consume carbs and what hormones come into play here.

There are two main things driving obesity rates in America today, the exact things which make it easy to gain body fat and hard to lose it: processed sugars… and soy- and corn-based processed foods and meats.

Each of these increase cortisol levels more than almost anything else in our diet, and each for their own reasons.

We’ve already covered processed sugars.

Now let’s cover processed foods.

The use of corn and soy in our diet, and the diets of our cows and chickens, has grown steadily over the last hundred years.

But in the last several decades its use skyrocketed. And this is one of the key factors behind obesity rates in America today.

Today about 80% of what our livestock is fed is soy and corn. And corn and soy are also used as a base for almost all processed foods.

But while they are high in carbohydrates, and that increases body fat creation, they’re also high in something else: Omega 6 fatty acids.

And high omega 6 levels lead to high cortisol levels. And that leads to high body fat creation, high stress levels, poor sleep and recovery, and a host of other physical conditions now prevalent in society today.

Let’s dig in and see how this works.

There’s a lot of talk right now regarding processed foods and seed oils.

Are they bad for us, good for us, don’t make a difference?

Which is it?

In this article we’re going to dive into seed oils.

But before we do, let’s make sure we’re looking at this properly.

We only ever really get into trouble knowing if something is “good” or “bad” if we’re speaking in generalities.

Because the statement “seed oils are bad” isn’t true. But the statement “seed oils are good” is also untrue.

Some seed oils, cooked at very high heat, can be very harmful to us, causing accelerated aging, poor skin, inflammatory responses in the body, low energy and much more.

But others are not only beneficial, they’re absolutely essential.

So if we want to know the truth, we need to ask:

Which seed oil are we talking about?

What does that seed oil do in the body?

Are we talking about imbalances where in one amount it’s bad but another it’s good?

How was the seed oil used: was it raw, lightly cooked or cooked at high temperatures, thus changing it into something else entirely that our body can’t use?

There are some seed oils that help with fat loss, some that prevent fat loss, some that are needed for our cells to work properly and some that destroy our cells.

So instead of speaking in a generality of “are they bad or good,” let’s break this all down and see if we can't get some real answers.

Did you know that whey protein powder spikes insulin levels, building as much body fat as sugar in many cases?

Insulin is the hormone responsible for shuttling sugar (glucose) to our cells.

But, when our cells can’t take any more sugar, then it attaches the glucose to fatty acids to create body fat. This is how body fat is created.

And, while insulin is present in the blood stream, fat loss cannot occur.

Now, normally sugar is what causes insulin to be released. But whey is unique among proteins in that it can cause as much or more insulin to be released than sugar can.

This is one of the biggest reasons that we build so much excess body fat along with muscle when bulking — because we’re also taking whey.

And it’s what causes our cuts to take so long.

Because, even when we cut calories and cut down on carbs, if we’re still taking high levels of whey, then to a large degree the whey is causing new fat creation.

And, at the same time, it’s also preventing fat loss.

All because of the high levels of insulin it stimulates.

But why is this and how does this work?

Let’s dive in.

There is a lot of debate today about how much protein is too much.

And this includes what causes protein toxicity, something that overloads our kidneys and liver, affecting our overall health, and which can be more severe with those who already have issues with their kidneys, liver and insulin levels.

It’s basically consuming more protein than our body can use at the time.

But that’s a very general description, and doesn’t help us to determine how much is too much, or even tell us how this happens.

Saying: “You’re eating too much protein,” is both too general, but also incorrect.

Too much of which type of protein? Because different proteins, consumed in large amounts, cause different effects.

To understand protein toxicity, what causes it, and ensure we aren’t consuming too much protein, we need to take a step backwards.

Because with anything that doesn’t seem to have a direct answer, there is some missing piece of information.

And in this case it’s a big one: there is no such thing as protein toxicity.

You see, our body doesn’t use the protein we eat.

It uses the building blocks that make up the protein, the amino acids.

And unless we look at these, we don’t actually know what protein toxicity is or what causes it, and we don’t know how much protein is too much.

Because what we’re talking about when we say Protein Toxicity is actually Amino Acid Toxicity.

It doesn’t come from eating too much protein, it comes from eating too much of the wrong kinds of proteins that contain too many of the wrong amino acids.

And that can cause real issues.

Let’s dive in.

Did you know whey powder can cause bloating? Or that it can cause poor digestion and even feed harmful bacteria?

It can. And many people using it don’t realize that some of that extra body fat they may be trying to get rid of isn’t body fat at all, but bloating from the whey they’re taking.

Many people use whey protein powders as an easy way to get in more protein to help them build muscle or just to keep their protein levels high.

In fact, it’s become fairly ingrained in the diets of many body builders and fitness trainers.

But does it help as much as most people think?

The ability to fully digest and absorb protein determines our body's ability to not only burn fat, but to keep it off afterwards.

It also affects our energy levels, hormones, inflammatory response, ability to build lean muscle, and overall health.

Even more, when protein digestion goes, along with it goes the ability to protect ourselves from harmful microorganisms.

Everything hinges on protein digestion.

So, understanding exactly how digestion works, and how to keep or get it working, is very important.

The hardest part of any diet, whether for fat loss, muscle gain or health, is getting over our cravings for sugar and junk food.

There's no question there.

The only real question is how? It can be so hard!

I understand. And in case you feel alone in this struggle — you're not.

It's the hardest part of any diet or lifestyle change, and where most people fall off.

But to know how to fix this we need to know exactly what's causing it.

And one thing I can tell you is not causing it... is you having a "weak will."

That's not it at all.

There are very exact things causing these cravings, and they can turn them on hard.

In today's article I cover exactly what is causing them (all the reasons), why they can be so hard to get over, and exactly how to address them to make the transition as smooth as possible (which is exactly what the Fat Loss Protocol is designed to do).

I think you'll like it.

In this article we want to take you through a day in the life of someone using PerfectAmino and other BodyHealth Products to achieve sustainable fat loss, showing when and how they're taken for best results.

We have the PerfectAmino Usage Guide, which provides a high level description of how to take PerfectAmino depending on your goals, and which covers all the main questions.

But in this article we’re going to dive into the details, along with the proper diet and key actions during the day for the fat loss goal as covered in the Guide To Sustainable Fat Loss.

Perimenopause and Menopause are two parts of a transition a woman goes through when their body comes to the end of its reproductive ability.

It usually occurs sometime in a woman’s 40’s or 50s, but can occur earlier.

Perimenopause is the start of this transition, when her menstrual cycle starts to fluctuate as the amount of eggs she has in her ovaries starts coming to an end.

Then, when she has not had a menstrual cycle in 12 months, we say menopause has begun.

This whole transition is a period of somewhat intense hormonal fluctuations, somewhat different for everyone, that ends with very low production of key hormones, and generally lasts around 7 years. Though it can be as long as 14 years.

During this transition a woman can experience extreme hot flashes and sweats as hormone levels fluctuate erratically, poor sleep, poor mood, brain fog or inability to make decisions, weight gain to one degree or another, headaches, bone loss and muscle loss, reduced libido, low energy and much more.

So understanding exactly what is occurring here, what causes it, what can make it worse and what we can do about it is quite important.

Let’s dive in.

While insulin is in the bloodstream, almost no fat burning can take place.

But something can happen here when our diet is quite high in sugar over a long period of time, keeping our Insulin levels high for longer each day.

The cells build up a resistance to the Insulin. Meaning, when Insulin comes knocking, trying to give the sugar to the cell so it can make energy, the cell says “no” and closes its doors.