ISSA Performance Nutrition guidelines

[Joshua Naterman]

I originally posted this as a response to another topic, but this is important enough that everyone should see and read it so they finally get functional, effective, and healthy dietary information. The International Sports Science Association has a certification program called "Specialist in Performance Nutrition" which I hold a certificate in. The ISSA is formed by leading experts in various fields of science pertaining to sports and performance, almost all of whom hold at least one Ph.D. This is not some "fitness expert's" newest fad, this is how the body works, plain and simple. This is, to a large extent, old knowledge that is constantly pushed into obscurity to make room for all the diets that are being commercialized, which should be criminal. On with the good stuff!

To find your protein requirements as an athlete, take your total weight and multiply that by your bodyfat %. Take that number away from your bodyweight and you are left with your lean mass. Example: I am 225 lbs at 13%. So, 225*.13=29.25. 225-29.25=195.75 lbs of lean mass. Athletes are going to need around 1 gram of protein per lb of lean mass for recovery purposes. We just plain do a lot of damage and need a lot of raw material to repair it. You gymnasts who are around 150-ish, you're all going to be between 130-140 lbs of lean mass, so you're going to need 130-140 grams of protein. That is really, really easy to get.

Four eggs in the morning is around 25 grams of protein. Four ounces of any meat is between 25 and 30 grams of protein. To get an idea of how much that is, it's around half the size of your palm, same thickness as your palm. Not very much at all. That's 4 oz before cooking, btw. Three servings of that meat and the eggs, for example, or a protein shake, or whatever other source of protein, and you are set for the day. But wait, that's only 100-115 grams of protein! I thought I needed 130-140?! Yea yea. The rest is already in your diet, as a part of the vegetables, fruits, and grains you consume. And that's assuming you aren't drinking milk! So the protein is super, super easy.

Carbs are easy too. Low glycemic carbs most of the time, some sugar for flavor is fine, just not loads of it. Your body can always use a few grams of sugar. But your main focus is going to be eating anything that is very close to its natural state, with a few notable exceptions. Stay away from large helpings of white potatoes, white breads(unless it is whole grain) and enriched pastas. If it says enriched macaroni product, or if the first ingredient is enriched and/or bleached something or other, don't do it. Sweet potatoes and darn near every other vegetable in existence is fine though! Fruits are all fine, though only small helpings of grapes and pineapple on their own, as they don't have all that much fiber and no fat to slow down the sugar absorption. Yea. That's it. Follow those rules and you have almost endless varieties of carbs available.

For your after workout meal, those no-no carbs become yes mama, gimme more, GIMME MOOOOOORE! You want your first meal after your workout to consist of some meat and white, enriched, and/or bleached carbs. This is the only time it is ok to eat them in large quantities, with that meaning more than a third of your total carbs for the meal. They should make up almost all of your carbs for this post workout meal. Every other meal stick with the rules! As a general rule, you are going to want 20-30 grams of protein and 60-80 grams of carbs, maybe a little more. Beyond that you get too much insulin produced and run the risk of storing unnecessary body fat. Why? Insulin is what your body uses to facilitate storage of nutrients in cells. If you have so much sugar(digested carbs) in your blood that you can't use it all and you can't store it all in your active tissues, it's going to go into your fat cells. There's just nowhere else for it to go.

As for the oils, olive oil is to be preferred for moderate temperature cooking, and the meats and veggies will have their own fats that you need as well. Coconut oil, absolutely not. It's often hydrogenated and completely terrible for you. If you get the VIRGIN coconut oil, then it is in fact very good for you, but that is an absolutely VITAL distinction. It does hold up well at high heat, but so does peanut oil, and peanut oil is also very, very good for you. In fact, it has a number of health benefits, including reducing risk of cardiovascular disease by 20% or more. So, olive oil, peanut oil, and VIRGIN coconut oil for sure. As a side note, it doesn't matter whether you use light, regular, or extra virgin olive oil, the fats are all the same. If you are eating a diet with meats in it, between what you use for cooking and what is already in the meats you will be getting the fats you need in the quantities you need them. Congratulations, you are now eating perfectly!

Finally, here are some really easy off-hand measurements, literally, for what you need in each meal. This is, by the way, assuming that you are eating every 3 hours or so. If you are not eating that frequently, you are going to need to eat a bit more in each meal that you DO eat. Eating every 3 hours keeps your body lean because it never feels like it needs to store food away for a rainy day. Ok. First, protein servings. This is for meat. The palm of your hand, from where the hand connects to the wrist all the way up to but NOT including the fingers. This size cut of meat, length width and thickness, is what each meal should have. Now for carbs. Make a fist. A lump the size of this fist is the approximate size for the amount of starchy carbs(spaghetti, potatoes(sweet or white), other calorie dense carb sources) you should have in your meal. For veggies, half a cup of some leafy or low-calorie veggie, at least. Most veggies have almost no calories, so you can literally fill up on them and not take in many calories at all! For example, an entire 12 oz can of spinach is not even 130 calories!!! Same with brocolli, a half cup of it isn't even 20 calories. Ridiculous! So, that's the easy way to make sure you are eating balanced meals. Cook the meats and veggies with a little olive oil to make sure you get enough. Fruits are great for snacks and can certainly be included in meals as well. Just keep in mind how many calories you are consuming.

While it is possible to break everything down to individual chemicals and their benefits, that's something that should be saved for the lab. The truth is that your body will get what it needs if you eat your fruits, veggies, grain products, and meats. Everything. A multivitamin will help, as the optimum performance levels of many vitamins and minerals are many times greater than what is needed for good health. If you guys really want it, I will get really detailed and list the Performance Daily Intakes for all the various vitamins and minerals. There is also a more detailed way to find your actual caloric requirements. I will post this as well if someone wants it.

As for supplements, protein powders are nice but 1-2 servings a day is plenty. They're great for a fast breakfast, but they get digested quickly so you're going to need real food around 2 hours after you drink it if you don't want your body to catabolize its muscle. Glutamine powder helps with recovery as does creatine. If you're taking monohydrate, make sure you take it at least an hour apart from the glutamine. They bind to the same receptors in the blood, so if you have large concentrations of both ingested at the same time you will not get the full benefit from either one. The kre-alkalyn is a small enough amount of creatine to not get into competition with glutamine, unless you're taking huge doses of glutamine. Normal doses are 5g. Outside of protein, creatine, and glutamine, there isn't much of anything legal that is going to give you any noticeable(athletically significant) result.

For those who are wondering, pro-hormones are designer steroids. The end. They will say they are not, but they are. They are specifically designed to be converted into steroids in our systems. It's like saying that you didn't kill someone because they died in a car crash, when you know you've cut the brake lines. Sure, you didn't drive the car that killed them, but you set them up. So you killed them. Pro-hormones are not steroids in the bottle, but they become steroids in your body. Therefore they are steroids, designed to circumvent the spirit of the law by skirting the edge of the letter.

[Blairbob]

Thanks, I've wondered what the ISSA Nutrition Performance Cert is like. If you'd like to talk anymore about ISSA or the nutrtion performance cert, I'd love to see a PM since I am considering doing it this month. I've been Pm'ing a trainer on the boards over on CF a lot lately.

Thanks, again.

[Joshua Naterman]

Sure thing! By the end of the weekend I will have a pretty detailed pm for you containing what is involved with the cert and what information is contained in it. That way you can make a good, informed decision about how you spend your money!

[Guest cccp21]

I originally posted this as a response to another topic, but this is important enough that everyone should see and read it so they finally get functional, effective, and healthy dietary information. The International Sports Science Association has a certification program called "Specialist in Performance Nutrition" which I hold a certificate in. The ISSA is formed by leading experts in various fields of science pertaining to sports and performance, almost all of whom hold at least one Ph.D. This is not some "fitness expert's" newest fad, this is how the body works, plain and simple. This is, to a large extent, old knowledge that is constantly pushed into obscurity to make room for all the diets that are being commercialized, which should be criminal. On with the good stuff!

To find your protein requirements as an athlete, take your total weight and multiply that by your bodyfat %. Take that number away from your bodyweight and you are left with your lean mass. Example: I am 225 lbs at 13%. So, 225*.13=29.25. 225-29.25=195.75 lbs of lean mass. Athletes are going to need around 1 gram of protein per lb of lean mass for recovery purposes. We just plain do a lot of damage and need a lot of raw material to repair it. You gymnasts who are around 150-ish, you're all going to be between 130-140 lbs of lean mass, so you're going to need 130-140 grams of protein. That is really, really easy to get.

Four eggs in the morning is around 25 grams of protein. Four ounces of any meat is between 25 and 30 grams of protein. To get an idea of how much that is, it's around half the size of your palm, same thickness as your palm. Not very much at all. That's 4 oz before cooking, btw. Three servings of that meat and the eggs, for example, or a protein shake, or whatever other source of protein, and you are set for the day. But wait, that's only 100-115 grams of protein! I thought I needed 130-140?! Yea yea. The rest is already in your diet, as a part of the vegetables, fruits, and grains you consume. And that's assuming you aren't drinking milk! So the protein is super, super easy.

Carbs are easy too. Low glycemic carbs most of the time, some sugar for flavor is fine, just not loads of it. Your body can always use a few grams of sugar. But your main focus is going to be eating anything that is very close to its natural state, with a few notable exceptions. Stay away from large helpings of white potatoes, white breads(unless it is whole grain) and enriched pastas. If it says enriched macaroni product, or if the first ingredient is enriched and/or bleached something or other, don't do it. Sweet potatoes and darn near every other vegetable in existence is fine though! Fruits are all fine, though only small helpings of grapes and pineapple on their own, as they don't have all that much fiber and no fat to slow down the sugar absorption. Yea. That's it. Follow those rules and you have almost endless varieties of carbs available.

For your after workout meal, those no-no carbs become yes mama, gimme more, GIMME MOOOOOORE! You want your first meal after your workout to consist of some meat and white, enriched, and/or bleached carbs. This is the only time it is ok to eat them in large quantities, with that meaning more than a third of your total carbs for the meal. They should make up almost all of your carbs for this post workout meal. Every other meal stick with the rules! As a general rule, you are going to want 20-30 grams of protein and 60-80 grams of carbs, maybe a little more. Beyond that you get too much insulin produced and run the risk of storing unnecessary body fat. Why? Insulin is what your body uses to facilitate storage of nutrients in cells. If you have so much sugar(digested carbs) in your blood that you can't use it all and you can't store it all in your active tissues, it's going to go into your fat cells. There's just nowhere else for it to go.

As for the oils, olive oil is to be preferred for moderate temperature cooking, and the meats and veggies will have their own fats that you need as well. Coconut oil, absolutely not. It's often hydrogenated and completely terrible for you. If you get the VIRGIN coconut oil, then it is in fact very good for you, but that is an absolutely VITAL distinction. It does hold up well at high heat, but so does peanut oil, and peanut oil is also very, very good for you. In fact, it has a number of health benefits, including reducing risk of cardiovascular disease by 20% or more. So, olive oil, peanut oil, and VIRGIN coconut oil for sure. As a side note, it doesn't matter whether you use light, regular, or extra virgin olive oil, the fats are all the same. If you are eating a diet with meats in it, between what you use for cooking and what is already in the meats you will be getting the fats you need in the quantities you need them. Congratulations, you are now eating perfectly!

Finally, here are some really easy off-hand measurements, literally, for what you need in each meal. This is, by the way, assuming that you are eating every 3 hours or so. If you are not eating that frequently, you are going to need to eat a bit more in each meal that you DO eat. Eating every 3 hours keeps your body lean because it never feels like it needs to store food away for a rainy day. Ok. First, protein servings. This is for meat. The palm of your hand, from where the hand connects to the wrist all the way up to but NOT including the fingers. This size cut of meat, length width and thickness, is what each meal should have. Now for carbs. Make a fist. A lump the size of this fist is the approximate size for the amount of starchy carbs(spaghetti, potatoes(sweet or white), other calorie dense carb sources) you should have in your meal. For veggies, half a cup of some leafy or low-calorie veggie, at least. Most veggies have almost no calories, so you can literally fill up on them and not take in many calories at all! For example, an entire 12 oz can of spinach is not even 130 calories!!! Same with brocolli, a half cup of it isn't even 20 calories. Ridiculous! So, that's the easy way to make sure you are eating balanced meals. Cook the meats and veggies with a little olive oil to make sure you get enough. Fruits are great for snacks and can certainly be included in meals as well. Just keep in mind how many calories you are consuming.

While it is possible to break everything down to individual chemicals and their benefits, that's something that should be saved for the lab. The truth is that your body will get what it needs if you eat your fruits, veggies, grain products, and meats. Everything. A multivitamin will help, as the optimum performance levels of many vitamins and minerals are many times greater than what is needed for good health. If you guys really want it, I will get really detailed and list the Performance Daily Intakes for all the various vitamins and minerals. There is also a more detailed way to find your actual caloric requirements. I will post this as well if someone wants it.

As for supplements, protein powders are nice but 1-2 servings a day is plenty. They're great for a fast breakfast, but they get digested quickly so you're going to need real food around 2 hours after you drink it if you don't want your body to catabolize its muscle. Glutamine powder helps with recovery as does creatine. If you're taking monohydrate, make sure you take it at least an hour apart from the glutamine. They bind to the same receptors in the blood, so if you have large concentrations of both ingested at the same time you will not get the full benefit from either one. The kre-alkalyn is a small enough amount of creatine to not get into competition with glutamine, unless you're taking huge doses of glutamine. Normal doses are 5g. Outside of protein, creatine, and glutamine, there isn't much of anything legal that is going to give you any noticeable(athletically significant) result.

For those who are wondering, pro-hormones are designer steroids. The end. They will say they are not, but they are. They are specifically designed to be converted into steroids in our systems. It's like saying that you didn't kill someone because they died in a car crash, when you know you've cut the brake lines. Sure, you didn't drive the car that killed them, but you set them up. So you killed them. Pro-hormones are not steroids in the bottle, but they become steroids in your body. Therefore they are steroids, designed to circumvent the spirit of the law by skirting the edge of the letter.

********* Great post! What about plant sterols? How about Rhaponticum?

Brandon Green

[Joshua Naterman]

It appears that plant sterols are really important to health, as well as bioflavanoids and a host of other nutrients. Roommate is home and needs the computer lol! Later! Eat veggies!

[Guest cccp21]

It appears that plant sterols are really important to health, as well as bioflavanoids and a host of other nutrients. Roommate is home and needs the computer lol! Later! Eat veggies!

Not what i was talking about! talking abou Rhaponticum and Leuza carthimoides(sp?)

about 30-50% as anabolic as steroids but there non hormonal. Works good for joints too

(that's if the stuff has not undergone change).

Brandon Green

[Joshua Naterman]

Years ago I took some stuff with those claims and I got no results from it, and that was with a really good diet and a well thought out workout plan. So, I don't think much of any of that stuff. I don't worry about size anymore, so it's not a big deal to me, but I haven't found or heard of anything that actually works well that isn't a steroid. That includes the prohormones, they're just designer steroids. I hate how these companies try to say they are something else. Turns to steroids in your system, it's steroids. Good marketing though!

[Guest cccp21]

Years ago I took some stuff with those claims and I got no results from it, and that was with a really good diet and a well thought out workout plan. So, I don't think much of any of that stuff. I don't worry about size anymore, so it's not a big deal to me, but I haven't found or heard of anything that actually works well that isn't a steroid. That includes the prohormones, they're just designer steroids. I hate how these companies try to say they are something else. Turns to steroids in your system, it's steroids. Good marketing though!

************* By the way what does glutamine do for you?

Brandon Green

[Joshua Naterman]

That's still being studied, as is most nutrition. But, at present it's believed that glutamine is burned during exercise, and that taking supplementary glutamine will aid recovery by allowing the body to concentrate its resources on synthesizing other compounds. That in turn allows your body to use the amino acids it ingests to build more immune system cells, which strengthens your immune system. There are a number of studies that also suggest that glutamine helps your body replenish its glycogen stores, which is a fancy way to say sugar stored in muscle tissue. That's the basics. That, and glutamine is really hydrophillic, which means water sticks to it. So you want to drink plenty of water when you supplement with glutamine. The water's going to stick to the glutamine no matter what, which can leave less water available for your bodily processes unless you make sure to drink more.

[cccp22]

Years ago I took some stuff with those claims and I got no results from it, and that was with a really good diet and a well thought out workout plan. So, I don't think much of any of that stuff. I don't worry about size anymore, so it's not a big deal to me, but I haven't found or heard of anything that actually works well that isn't a steroid. That includes the prohormones, they're just designer steroids. I hate how these companies try to say they are something else. Turns to steroids in your system, it's steroids. Good marketing though!

********* Just as an update for what it's worth i have tried this Turkesterone 40% HPLC with some significant result in

about 7 days.