A friend asked me the other day; do you count count calories on intermittent fasting, hence this article.
A lot of the intermittent fasting plans do not come with counting calories as part of the deal. That’s part of the attraction to intermittent fasting (IF) as a weight management tool.
Answer to the question: should I count calories when doing intermittent fasting? Answer: No, you don’t have to.
Is calorie counting during Intermittent Fasting important?
When you count calories, dieting just gets a little more tasking shall we say. My view about calorie counting generally is; it makes you become crazy and obsessive. You agonize over every morsel of food that goes inside your mouth.
You want to know how much calories you have in that morsel of food. It doesn’t matter whether it is fat, carbs or protein. You become quite anal about calories within. Splitting hairs, if you like.
I’m not saying counting calories during intermittent fasting is not important. But what you don’t want to do is; obsess over it and make mountain out of a molehill every time you eat. Simple visual estimation is just as good as trying to be too precise.
In fact, a lot of diets are moving away from calorie counting these days. It’s had its day…
But if you are someone whostill prefers to calorie count, then feel free to do so. There’s no “calorie counting police” watching over you at home. Use those popular apps like MyFitnessPal and similar ones to make your wish come true.
A Sensible Approach Makes More Sense
Weight loss as an endeavour is tasking enough. Adding the mathematical element of counting calories during intermittent fasting just makes it even more tasking.
Some people think you have to count calories on your eating days or eating window. You don’t have to. You can if you want to. It won’t do you any harm to count calories if it gives you further reassurance and confidence.
But for most people doing intermittent fasting, they don’t bother to count calories when they have to eat. They just eat sensibly and avoid over-indulging. You really should not try to compensate for the days or hours you skipped meals.
You won’t be doing yourself any favours. in fact, you would be making nonsense of the idea in the first place. I’d like to think you are serious about weight loss and weight stability, so why ruin it?
If you are doing intermittent fasting and not losing weight, then there’s a good chance you are doing compensatory eating. Compensatory eating is one of the reasons intermittent fasting won’t work for you. Don’t do it and indeed it’s not necessary to do it at all.
By compensatory eating, I am referring to making up for “lost time” in terms of food quantity during your eating window or eating days. It’s pointless consuming 2300 calories in one meal, for instance, just because you skipped a meal or two.
You will be turning the tide against you if you do that. You are supposed to be saving on calories when you do intermittent fasting. Remember, intermittent fasting is a weight loss tool. Use it to your advantage NOT against you.
The only plan that may require you to watch calories is the 5:2 diet. The 5:2 diet or Fast Diet as it is called requires you to consume 20% of your daily calorie requirements for 2 days of the week.
So, if your daily calorie requirement is 2500 Calories, you would have to consume 20% of 2500 on 2 days of the week i.e 500 Calories.
The remaining 5 days require you to eat normally. It is expected you to employ common sense approach and not go overboard with your meals on your full eating days.
The other intermittent fasting IF plans don’t involve calorie counting. Just eat sensibly in your “eating days” or “eating window” and you will be fine. Let’s keep it simple, folks!
Do you get used to intermittent fasting?
I will admit that when you jump straight in to intermittent fasting, it can be a little tricky because it is a new venture that your body is not used to, so your body is likely to protest.
When you first start intermittent fasting, your fasting period can produce side effects like headache, poor concentration, dizziness and of course hunger and a ravenous appetite in anticipation of your eating time.
All of those symptoms are evolutionary. It’s your body revolting and asking for the calories you are denying it. Fear not, those undesirable side effects will go away sooner than you think, so long as you stick with it – the plan that is.
As I write this article, I am currently fasting. I am 18 hours into my fast and I am not feeling it. Because intermittent fasting is something I practise every now and again. My body has become used to it.
I am not losing concentration. If anything, I am quite focused. Hopefully, this is reflected in the quality of this article. So, if you pick up any errors right here, blame it on the fast, okay 🙂 🙂 😛 That’s one of the benefits once you get used to intermittent fasting.
In time your body will get used to the routine of intermittent fasting and you will be surprised at how quickly you’ll adapt. Just give it a week or two and your body will become used to intermittent fasting.
That is why it’s always a good idea to arm yourself with a resource that will guide you on how to get used to intermittent fasting as a way of life.
For instance, Brad Pilon, author and promoter of Eat Stop Eat eases you into intermittent fasting in a gentle way. Even though he professes 24-hour fasting model, he doesn’t expect you to jump in and not eat for 24 hours straightaway.
Brad expects you gently ease your way in by fasting for the number of hours you are comfortable with and you gradually increase the fasting window as you gain more experience.
That way your body will be adjusting itself and be more adaptive to the new eating schedule. That kind of flexibility helps and no calories to count, Yippee!
I totally get your concern about eating carbs and gaining weight.
I have something for you here about not gaining weight despite consuming carbs that you are going to love.
It’s not a 2-minute read by the way because I go deep as to how and why you can lose weight whilst eating the carbs and as usual backed with the scientific evidence.
I love carbs. Yep, I do.
And you love carbs too, right?
Well, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that you can employ to have a carbohydrate load any day of the week safely. These are long term strategies by the way, not some short-term fads.
If you’re non-diabetic, these carb eating plans will help you manage your weight.
If you have prediabetes, these carb eating techniques will help you bring your blood sugar levels down. And even if you are diabetic, you will find these carb eating plans very useful in controlling your blood sugar too.
If eating carbs is right up your street and you are weight-conscious…
You may have been pondering:
How do I eat carbs without gaining weight?
Well, buckle up and read on:
Carbs are everywhere, aren’t they?
Carbohydrates are the most popular foods on the planet. The whole world is awash with carbs and we (me included) can’t get enough of them.
Whilst we are like a bull in a China shop in terms of carbs consumption, it’s probably best to take time out and reassess how we interact with carbohydrate foods.
I am not in any way suggesting that we stop eating carbs altogether. No way!
I have tried that and it doesn’t work. Most dieters try that too and they fail miserably at least in the medium to long term anyway.
Asking people to cut out carbs is a classic example of being out of touch with reality.
But are carbs largely responsible for the obesity crisis we have the world over? Hmm, may be.
How do we get the bull out of the china shop and get him to calm down? That is the question. How do we take control of our carb cravings, rein them in and control our weight at the same time?
What do you do:
Depending on who you listen to, you get all sorts of varied advice regarding carbs and what to do with them.
Some gurus will tell you to cut carbs out altogether. Well, you can try that and see how that works for you.
I can almost guarantee that such an approach will fail. That approach may succeed in the short term but guaranteed to fall off the cliff in the long term. Wanna bet?
Another school of thought is the one preaching the very low carb high fat diet. Now, that is a valid approach that actually works. In my journey to a better health, I had initially gone with the very low carb high fat way of eating strategy.
…but for a short interval.
I did lose weight on it but I was not comfortable eating that way for the rest of my life. I shall be doing an article on why I came off the low carb high fat dietary lifestyle at a later date.
I am not trying to denigrate the low carb high fat diet here. Far from it. It works and it works for thousands of people all over the world but it’s just not my thing.
I’d rather have my carbs and reduce my fat consumption, in particular saturated fat. Regardless of what the evidence might be, scientific or otherwise, I do not think saturated fats are a thing I want to be friendly with.
I will not eliminate saturated fat completely from my diet, but their content will be in the region of 6% of my energy needs. Unsaturated fats are fine. Unsaturated fats are the type of fats you get from olives, avocados, nuts and seeds.
Indeed, unsaturated fats should be welcome into the fold but saturated fats in the diet need to be handled with care. And that’s my opinion and I am sticking to it.
Do you know what? It’s not just my opinion, the heart health organisations do agree with my opinion having looked at and weighed the evidence on saturated fats. Hmm, I can see myself digressing…
Okay, let’s get back on track:
To the topic of how to eat carbs without gaining weight.
In fact, you can eat carbs to lose weight and use carbs for weight maintenance too, would you believe it?
Yes, you can. I do it (consume carbs) every day without any problems…at all.
You don’t need to cut out carbs from your life in order to lose weight.
But how?
Here are 4 ways to eat carbs without fear of gaining weight.
Before I go into the strategies, I would like you know (in brief) why we are doing this.
The reason we employ these strategies is to prevent us from spiking insulin when we consume carbs.
Why…because high levels of insulin lead to fat preservation and reduced fat burning. Insulin is a fat storing hormone.
We need insulin to survive but we don’t need a lot of it.
Now that I have underscored the reason why and you understand it…let’s get to the carb eating strategies:
Cut down on the wrong carbs consumption
Going by what I said earlier on, it should be clear to you that I do not believe that carbs are your enemy. Carbs are actually your friends.
But like everything in life, you’ve got to choose your friends wisely. The same applies to carbs.
Even though we want to welcome carbs into our lives with open arms, we need to choose our carbs carefully. You need to eat the right carbs.
The right carbs are good for you and will help you lose weight and maintain your weight. The wrong carbs will do the exact opposite.
The proponents of the low carb high fat lifestyle have always argued that the national dietary guidelines that advised we eat carbs are wrong.
They also believe the guidelines have been the reason for the obesity crisis in the Western world.
Nope!
Truth be told: the guidelines are actually correct. They might need a little tweak here and there but the guidelines are largely correct. The reason people are getting fatter is because they are eating the wrong carbs.
Eating the wrong carbs is the problem. Not the guidelines!
So, what are the wrong carbs?
The wrong carbs are the highly-refined processed carbs. The more refined a carbohydrate food is, the higher the glycaemic index and also the less the nutritional value of that food.
Carbohydrate processing strips away the bran and some of the germ of the food leaving it exposed and fluffier in texture.
The refined carb might taste better but it is nutritionally inferior to the whole grain and like I said earlier, its ability to spike your insulin level exponentially increases as the glycaemic index shoots through the roof.
Refined or heavily processed carbs lack fibre and micronutrients unless artificially added. Refined carbs are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes too.
See image below which further explains why refined heavily processed carbs are bad for you.
What foods am I talking about?
Here is a list of refined carbs or heavily processed carbs you may want to avoid or at the very least drastically reduce your consumption, if you want to eat carbs and not gain weight:
Bagels
White bread
Dough nuts
Sourdough bread
Refined white rice
Breakfast cereals
Refined white pasta
Pastries
Cakes
Cookies or biscuits
Muffins
Most chocolates especially white chocolates
Candies
High fructose corn syrup
Chips or crisps
Pretzels
Crackers
Sweetened iced tea
Sodas
Instant oatmeal
Pancakes
Waffle mixes
Marshmallows
Cup cakes
French fries
The US Department of Agriculture USDA advises these foods should be eaten at no more than 3-oz per day.
The list is by no means exhaustive but you will be doing your metabolic health a big, big favour by avoiding those refined carbs on that list.
At the very least, consume them minimally. Going by the USDA recommendation, your consumption of them should not exceed 30 – 75 gm a day.
Whole grains are better any time of the day than refined grains. And that’s what you should be seeking in preference to refined grains.
Need some evidence: This study couldn’t have put it better.
“Whole-grain intake is generally inversely associated with BMI; refined grain intake is not. Because overall dietary quality tends to be higher for high-carbohydrate diets, a low-fat dietary strategy with emphasis on fiber-rich carbohydrates, particularly cereal fiber, may be beneficial for health and weight control”
2. The Cheat Technique of Eating Minimally Processed Carbs
I have a friend who swears that eating rice is the only way she can have happiness in her life. She needs to get out more! Don’t you think?
Okay, let’s not be harsh on her.
Life is about being flexible. Whilst the best approach is to eat whole grain carbs, you can still eat selected minimally processed carbs and still get away with it.
By minimally processed carbs, I am not talking about candies and other sweet confectioneries. I am rather talking about foods like white rice.
By the way, there is the brown rice alternative but I realise that a lot of people hate brown rice, mainly because of the texture which I admit can be quite coarse.
Just to be clear minimally processed carbs are different from heavily processed carbs. This bit is about minimally processed carbs like white rice or pasta.
So, how can you eat something like white rice, if you are like my friend and not cause metabolic havoc to your body?
That is the question. And I love a challenge.
Here is what you do:
And I have tested this by way of blood sugar analysis, by the way. So, this isn’t some theory.
First thing is:
You have to reduce the quantity of the minimally processed carb in your plate of food. So, your white rice or white pasta will constitute about 30% of the plate. An example will be 100 gm of white pasta.
Next you make up the rest of the plate with vegetables. A mixture of vegetables will do but a good 60% of the vegetables should be green leafy vegetables or cruciferous vegetables. If you are a meat-loving kind of person, you will need to have a small portion of meat, preferably white meat like chicken. Fish is fine too.
The reason you want a smaller portion of meat is because meat in itself is insulinogenic. You don’t want another food that will trigger the release of high levels of insulin. That’s exactly what we are trying to avoid with this trick.
The idea behind this technique is that the leafy or cruciferous vegetables will slow down the digestive process such that the glucose broken down from the white rice or white pasta is done in a gradually controlled manner.
This prevents a sudden rise of blood sugar and consequent sudden insulin spikes which is what normally happens with these foods. Refer to my diagrammatic explanation above again to understand the principle.
The other day my family and I went out for a restaurant meal and I still wanted to abide by the same principle, if I could. So, I chose Mushroom rice as my entrée.
What I was served was far from what I was expecting. You could count the mushroom pieces in the dish. Pathetic! See image below.
So, what vegetables can we use here to complement our minimally processed carb? Here is a list of vegetables you will need to consider:
We have succeeded in reducing the serving size of our selected minimally-processed carb.
We have succeeded in keeping our blood glucose down on an even keel.
We have succeeded in bringing our insulin level under control – very important for appetite control, cravings control and indeed fat burning instead of fat storage.
There are lots more recipes like that but you get the idea.
3. Eat Carbs high in resistant starch
Eating carbs high in resistant starch can actually assist in your weight loss efforts. Consider resistant starch as a prebiotic. It’s called resistant starch because it’s deliberately difficult for the body to digest.
That is not necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, these foods with resistant starch derive their benefits by virtue of their resistance to digestion.
Resistant starch provides food for the gut bacteria. These bacteria in turn produce short chain fatty acids like butyric acid and propionic acid that have profound effect on both our colon health as well as overall health.
The net result is that eating resistant starch will provide you with benefits such as:
Boosting your immune system
Boosting cellular energy
Improved your mental focus
Boosting metabolism
Aid weight loss by increasing fat burning and appetite regulation
Aid the digestive system by reducing bloating, gas production and relieve constipation.
Combat chronic inflammation
This is one of the best kept secrets of weight loss. All the talk about increasing fibre consumption revolves around this concept of resistant starch.
So, what carbohydrate foods are high in resistant starch?
Carbs high in resistant starch are all around you. You just need to pay special attention to them and incorporate them more into your diet portfolio.
Below is a small list of good carbs for weight loss mainly because they are foods high in resistant starch:
Green bananas
Minimally ripe bananas
Oatmeal
Sweet potatoes
Whole wheat pasta
Pearl barley
Brown rice
Polenta
Triticale (a wheat-rye hybrid)
Triticale is a newer grain that is particularly good for blood sugar control. In fact, triticale is one grain that diabetics should choose if they love their carbs.
as a micronutrient.
Triticale has a high manganese content as a micronutrient. Manganese is important in glucose metabolism in the liver tempering the process of gluconeogenesis. If you aren’t diabetic, even better.
Triticale is effective for weight control and your bowel health because of it’s extremely high fibre content of 19 gm per cup. How cool is that!
Another king of the resistant starch parade is bananas and plantains. Bananas just like plantains have a great deal of resistant starch. The only problem with bananas and plantains is that the resistant starch content diminishes with each passing day as they ripen.
What do I mean by that?
A large green banana (8 inch) for instance has about 21 gm of resistant starch. That same banana when it ripens fully (you know the ripe banana with the brown patches on the skin) has only 7 gm of resistant starch. That amount of resistant is still better than most foods but it is still a lot less compared to the green banana.
The morale of the story is to eat your bananas at the point they are beginning to ripen.
As you know, eating emerald green banana is probably not going to be a pleasant experience. I have actually tried eating emerald green bananas and can confirm doing so can be a little tricky.
It does stick a little bit to your teeth and gums which can be a little unsightly soon after you have finished eating. Of course, brushing your teeth can sort that out. The texture of the unripe banana is sort of wet-crispy which may be off-putting to a lot of people.
The taste of the green banana is not that far off the usual sweetness of a ripe banana. The green banana is just less sweet and that is where the nutritional advantage lies.
Green banana has a lower calorie content than a sweet one.
Here is one way of eating an unripe banana – make a smoothie with it. The green banana smoothie should hide any unpleasantness. Try out that this green banana smoothie recipe. It’s awesome!
As for green plantains, they can be eaten but preferably in the cooked form – boiled, steamed, grilled and baked. In the same vein, green plantains which are usually larger than bananas have twice as much resistant starch at a whopping 48 gm per green plantain.
I have not eaten raw green plantains personally. Could the smoothie route work for green plantains? Maybe.
Actually, the more I think about the green plantain resistant starch, the more tempting the green plantain smoothie gets.
This represents the ultimate cheat pathway to eating carbs and still lose weight or maintain your weight…because a lot of the carbs in green banana and green plantain are indigestible.
Chew on that for a moment (no pun intended).
How much resistant starch to aim for?
Good idea to aim for about 30 gm a day of resistant starch. Preferably more. That’s when the benefits begin to add up.
And wait for it:
Even a simple short 3-day intervention with resistant starch led to:
“increased systemic levels of gut hormones involved in appetite regulation, metabolic control and maintenance of gut barrier function, as well as improved markers of glucose homoeostasis in middle-aged subjects, altogether relevant for the prevention of obesity and the metabolic syndrome”
Simple works every time, folks. It just does.
4. Add Turmeric to your carbs
What sets turmeric apart from a lot of other spices is that it contains an active ingredient called curcumin.
Curcumin has diverse therapeutic benefits inclusive of anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer and effective in weight management.
Curcumin in turmeric seems to have neuroprotective property as it has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. So, using turmeric may protect you from conditions like Parkinson’s disease and new research seems to indicate turmeric may be good for depression.
Curcumin in turmeric has been compared to other spices for anti-inflammatory strength. Curcumin showed its power and potential in the “boxing ring of spices” as seen in the video below:
Not bad for a yellowish powder, huh.
What we want to do however is exploit another property of turmeric – weight management and insulin sensitivity.
A 60-day course of curcumin (turmeric) given to 44 people affected by metabolic syndrome resulted in reduction of body fat, waistline reduction, hip circumference reduction and a drop in body mass index.
The conclusion from that study being that curcumin does have a positive influence on weight management.
One more thing:
For new fat cells to begin life, just like any other new cell in the body, they need to establish a rich blood supply for themselves. Without a decent blood supply, life for that cell is a non-starter.
When the fat cell is established, that rich blood supply must be maintained, otherwise the cell will perish.
Cue curcumin. Curcumin in turmeric has been shown to suppress the formation of that rich network of blood vessels (angiogenesis) that fat cells need to start a new life and grow.
Curcumin was also shown in this study to enhance oxidation of fat and decrease esterification of fatty acids.
Curcumin interacts with proteins in the liver, pancreas, muscle and fat cells modulating metabolic pathways.
With this action of curcumin inside the cell fuel machine, it does the following:
Reverses insulin resistance
Lowers blood sugar
Lowers blood lipid levels
Reduces other inflammatory symptoms associated with obesity and metabolic diseases
On this basis, the study authors recommended curcumin be included as part of a healthy diet, especially as it is safe and cheap.
This means turmeric should be part of your high carb diet plan. Just sprinkle it here and there and let it soak up glucose from the circulation when you consume high carb meals to lose weight.
5. Become a fan of Apple Cider Vinegar
I love apple cider vinegar. Weird, I know.
I love it because it does my body a lot of good.
Apple cider vinegar is a by-product of apples (as if you didn’t know that already). Crushed apples are fermented to form alcohol from the fructose in the apples.
The process doesn’t end there. The alcohol is converted to acetic acid by merely adding bacteria. The acetic acid constitutes the main active agent in apple cider vinegar.
You have probably read about some of the claims of the health benefits of apple cider vinegar. A lot of it is unsubstantiated and we won’t go into that here.
I need to mention one thing though. Please do not use apple cider vinegar to whiten your teethor use it to remove dental plaques.
The only thing that will happen is the apple cider vinegar will facilitate the wearing of your enamel. You will be shaving your teeth away, literally, with time and predisposing you to form cavities. Not what you want. Wrong use, Bad advice!
Now where was I?
Yes, the reason why apple cider vinegar is good for your carb consumption. In particular, stopping you from gaining weight when you dose on your healthy carbs.
That keyword again “healthy carbs”. Never forget that.
If there’s one non-medicinal substance that has been subjected to numerous studies to test its effectiveness for control of blood sugar, it is apple cider vinegar.
The results have generally been consistent. It’s not a myth or some theory.
Apple cider vinegar is good for blood sugar control in healthy individuals, in diabetics and in individuals with pre-diabetes.
And you will be well within your human rights to exploit that.
You can grab a bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar from UK Amazon here.
Apple cider vinegar suppresses body fat. What happens when you expose obese Japanese people of similar body weight, BMI and waist circumference to a 12-week period of vinegar consumption having divided them into 3 groups for a study purpose.
Give one group a daily drink of vinegar containing 30 ml of apple cider vinegar, second group 15 ml and the 3rd group consuming 0 ml for the 12 weeks.
When body weight, BMI, visceral fat area, waist circumference, and serum triglyceride levels are measured after the 12-week period, the vinegar consuming groups had all 5 parameters lower than in the placebo group.
Vinegar is thought to affect the metabolism of glucose both in the liver and in the muscle long after food is consumed.
Any substance that positively influences metabolism of glucose in the liver and muscle is something you must welcome into your life. The liver and muscle cells are paramount locations to burn glucose.
Give people with type 2 diabetes a drink of vinegar at bedtime and check their blood sugar in the morning.
This small study showed that vinegar does reduce fasting blood glucose levels.
The study authors recommending that vinegar may be useful in type 2 diabetic individuals who experience the dawn phenomenon.
White bread is one carb we don’t like, right?
There is no stopping vinegar because when experimented with white bread, vinegar seems to have a blood glucose lowering effect on white bread consumption.
Insulin sensitivity is something you should be craving to have any day. Can apple cider vinegar make you more insulin sensitive? Oh, yes, it can.
Cross-over study that recruited both type 2 diabetics and non-diabetics who were nonetheless insulin resistant.
Give them an unhealthy carbohydrate meal consisting of white bagel, orange juice and butter. Serve them 20 gm of apple cider vinegar and what do you get when you measure their insulin sensitivity?
You get as much as 34% increase in insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant individuals and a 19% improvement in insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetics. This is with an unhealthy carb meal.
How cool is that?
Now you see why you should be including apple cider vinegar in your shopping list.
You certainly should include apple cider vinegar in your high carb diet plan. Apple cider vinegar is good for your carb heavy meals.
Apple cider vinegar will help you deal with glycaemic load when you have a carbohydrate heavy meal.
Apple cider vinegar will moderate your starch digestion whilst moderating your blood glucose. I don’t eat a carbohydrate heavy meal without my apple cider vinegar drink to accompany it. It’s regular practice for me
If you want to eat high carb to lose weight, well, I don’t know about you but for me it’s a no-brainer!
So, as you can see, you can eat healthy carbs without gaining weight. You just have to do it right. Employ one or two of these techniques and you can have carbs and still remain skinny…forever!
What are the benefits of eating dark chocolate? Is dark chocolate healthy? Is dark chocolate bad for you?
These are some of the questions that bug a lot of health-conscious people all the time. Millions and millions of people love chocolate. Fewer millions love dark chocolate though. Chocolate to most people is an indulgence and why not.
Why do we love chocolates?
Lots more people love chocolate overall because it is very tasty and the creamy texture gives a vibrancy and joy that is difficult to match. Cool!
And the reason fewer people indulge in dark chocolate is because it’s not as tasty as the non-dark regular chocolate types.
Oh yes, palatability is the difference. A good dark chocolate is nowhere as palatable as say, milk chocolate or chocolate syrup.
Chocolate is made from cacao. Cacao is bitter. Cacao may be bitter but there is some fullness to the bitterness. A kind of bitterness that is welcoming and robust rather than off-putting.
Some people will argue that it is an acquired taste, hence they would rather lean towards the tastier more palatable end of the chocolate spectrum.
What these people don’t realise is that those tastier varieties of chocolate have very little to offer in the way of nutrition. They offer empty calories as opposed to nourishing your body. Mainly because these tastier brands are packed full of sugar, dairy and preservatives.
Dark chocolate on the other hand is different. Not all dark chocolates are wholesome though. Some have been padded with lots of sugar and dairy, thereby altering their nutritional profile.
For instance, the picture below is a dark chocolate but look at the sugar content. It’s got 41.5 gm of sugar per 100 gm of the chocolate bar. That’s a high level of sugar. It’s not the type you want to be eating.
Chocolate manufacturers are keen to make their product appealing to taste buds. How do they go about that? They have to add sugar to cancel out the bitterness of the cacao mass.
What are cocoa solids?
Wondering what constitutes the cocoa solids…
Well, the cocoa solids is the combination of the cocoa mass and cocoa butter.
The cocoa mass is what gives the chocolate its fruity flavour. The cocoa mass is where the bio-active compounds that confer the dark chocolate benefits reside. The cocoa butter on the other hand is what makes the chocolate to melt excellently and seamlessly in your mouth.
This marriage between the cocoa mass and cocoa butter produces the semisweet or the more nuanced bittersweet chocolate aromas that chocoholics have come to love, the world over.
What dark chocolate is healthy?
As you may have noticed in the earlier part of this article, I have emphasized that dark chocolate is healthier than other forms of chocolate. However, not all dark chocolates may be considered healthy like the example above. It all depends on the amount of cocoa solids or cocoa mass specifically in the dark chocolate.
In response to the question; what dark chocolate is healthy, the answer is; the dark chocolate with highest amount of cocoa solids. The higher the cocoa solids in the dark chocolate, the healthier it is.
For the most part, you want to eat the dark chocolate that has a high content of cocoa solids. The cocoa solids represent the amount of cacao in that bar of dark chocolate.
The more cocoa solids you have in the dark chocolate the better. The cocoa solid amount is reflected in the percentage of dark chocolate you see on the pack.
In essence, you should be aiming for at least 70% dark chocolate. Personally, I would recommend you go for 90% dark chocolate or even higher. It might not be as tasty but it will give you more of the benefits I am going to talk about here.
Generally speaking, the higher the cocoa solid content, the less sugar you have in the bar. See image below. It’s 90% dark chocolate but see how much sugar in 100 gm of the chocolate bar – 7.0 gm. Now, we are talking. Compare that to the previous dark chocolate brand.
The bio-active compounds in dark chocolate are in the cocoa solids, NOT in the milk or sugar in your chocolate bar.
The reason I’m saying is this because biochemically speaking, dark chocolate is good for your health but milk chocolate, white chocolate and chocolate syrup are bad for your health.
Let me repeat that, dark chocolate is not bad for your health but you need to eat the right dark chocolate to get the health benefits.
And oh, some supplement companies now make and sell chocolate extracts. It is thought that these chocolate extracts are just as effective as dark chocolate.
That may be true but I would rather have the dark chocolate or cacao powder than pop some chocolate extract pill.
Why is dark chocolate good for your health?
Is dark chocolate good for your health? Well, yes it is. Dark chocolate is actually good and beneficial to our health.
The basis of the advantages or benefits of eating dark chocolate stems from 3 reasons:
A high level of anti-oxidants
Improved blood flow
Supply of brain foods
Dark chocolate is made from cacao which is harvested from a plant called Theobroma cacao. Cacao is one of the best sources of antioxidants out there. The antioxidants in cacao and by extension dark chocolate aren’t exclusive to cacao though.
Green tea for instance has antioxidants but the sheer amount of antioxidants in cacao cannot be matched by any other plant source.
The antioxidants in dark chocolate (as in cacao) are flavanols and polyphenols. The polyphenols are procyanidins and epicatechins.
These flavanols, epicatechins and procyanidins have the potential to increase blood flow throughout the body. Improved blood flow especially to the heart and brain has significant advantages which I will discuss later in this article.
The presence of brain foods like Phenylethylamine, Anandamide and Tryptophan in dark chocolate has implications for nerve function, energy levels, alertness and mood levels. Phenylethylamine (PEA) activity in the brain is one of the most exploited advantages of dark chocolate.
Most of the benefits you get from eating dark chocolate spring from those 3 reasons above.
What are the benefits of eating dark chocolate?
I have already mentioned that dark chocolates aren’t bad for your health, so long as you eat the right ones. So, what kind of benefits can you get from eating dark chocolates
Dark chocolate may prevent premature ageing
We are all going to age. No doubt about that.
But what you don’t want is accelerated aging. The free radical biology theory postulates that Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) is a culpable factor in the ageing process.
As it happens, we produce these ROS also called free radicals inevitably from our respiratory metabolic process. But, these oxygen free radicals aren’t benign. They are toxic to cells causing cellular damage and cellular dysfunction.
The metabolic processes producing these free radicals is an on-going process, not an event. It is thought that the cumulative damage is what partly leads to aging.
Having an antidote to these oxygen free radicals will therefore slow down the aging process. Antidote to these free radicals are antioxidants. Dark chocolate provides you with ammunition in radical fighting because of its high antioxidant levels.
By virtue of fighting oxidative stress, dark chocolate could be helping to dampen down inflammation in the body which is a bonus in itself.
Hence consumption of dark chocolate could help with premature aging through prevention of cellular damage from these free oxygen radicals.
2. Dark chocolate helps with mood issues – blues and depression
One of the commonest reasons people eat dark chocolate is to alter their mood.
Could be simple blues (low mood) or frank depression. Lots of people see dark chocolate as a natural anti-depressant. But is the perceived thought that dark chocolate is good for depression and anxiety actually true or is it a myth?
Dark chocolate has lots of natural phytochemicals in it. These phytochemicals have profound effects in the brain; but the two phytochemicals in dark chocolate worth mentioning are Phenylethylamine (PEA) and Anandamide.
Anandamide has been labelled the “bliss molecule”.
Anandamide is a fatty neurotransmitter in the brain. This molecule has its name derived from a Sanskrit word, Ananda. Ananda means “joy, happiness, delight”.
Anandamide binds to the same receptor that marijuana binds to in the brain. Once anandamide binds to the marijuana receptor (tetrahydrocannabinol receptor), it triggers a chemical reaction that makes the user “feel high”.
You won’t get the same type of “high” you get with when you smoke marijuana, but your mood will be lifted.
Phenylethylamine (PEA) is the other molecule in dark chocolate worth talking about. Dark chocolate is made from cacao. The process of microbial fermentation of the cacao beans produces the phenylethylamine.
Phenylethylamine has also been labelled the “love drug” because of its potential to produce a feeling of being in love and its ability to arguably act as an aphrodisiac.
Phenylethylamine is the reason people see dark chocolate as an aphrodisiac. But there could be another explanation for dark chocolate stimulating sexual desire. Dark chocolate does cause an increase in blood flow to sexual organs as part of its global effect, for reasons I will explain shortly.
Phenylethylamine (PEA) at moderate levels is proven as a mood elevator. Dark chocolate contains phenylethylamine and it is one of the reason dark chocolate lifts your mood and makes you feel euphoric.
In fact, Phenylethylamine as a substance is now being marketed as a stand-alone supplement and they appear to be claiming 60% success rates in treating clinical depression.
Sometimes phenylethylamine (PEA) extract is used in conjunction with a conventional antidepressant for a synergistic effect for resistant cases of depression.
Whether the amount of phenylethylamine in dark chocolate is high enough to match that in a PEA extract with a view to getting similar anti-depression results, is difficult to say.
Does dark chocolate contain tryptophan?
A friend asked me the other day, if dark chocolate does contain tryptophan. Yes, dark chocolate contains tryptophan. Tryptophan facilitates serotonin production which is a vital neuronal transmitter – another mechanism by which dark chocolate alleviates low mood or frank depression.
If you combine all the activities of these substances in the brain, it is no surprise that some of us will consider dark chocolate as brain food.
3. Dark chocolate may help with Anxiety
Given the fact that dark chocolate is seen as brain food, could it help with anxiety?
A study carried out over a 2-week period using 74% dark chocolate seems to suggest that dark chocolate may ease anxiety.
Participants in the study were given 40 gm of dark chocolate every day for the 2 weeks. The participants were split up into high anxiety group and low anxiety group using validated psychology questionnaires.
The researchers found that the high anxiety group reported feeling less anxious. Further confirmation of their anxiety relief was the fact that this high anxiety group has significantly less stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline during the study period.
The study seems to suggest that the more severe your anxiety problem is, the more you are likely to respond to dark chocolate as a treatment for anxiety.
That dark chocolate may be good for anxiety control is shown in this animal experiment using substances similar to anandamide found in dark chocolate.
Whilst the flavanols and polyphenols in dark chocolate are protecting your nerve cells in the brain from oxidative stress and oxidative damage, these adjoining chemicals like anandamide promote new nerve formation resulting in anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects.
4. Dark chocolate is good for fatigue and concentration
The phenylethylamine in dark chocolate is behaves similar to amphetamines. It is a stimulant. We have also established that anandamide in dark chocolate attaches to the same receptor that cannabis active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) attaches to.
Once attached, it sets off a chain of events that are stimulatory to the brain. With phenylethylamine increasing the speed of transmission between brain cells, it is not surprising that you can fight fatigue and stay alert by eating dark chocolate.
Your concentration level goes up with dark chocolate because, you have all of these chemical activities going on in your brain.
In addition to that, dark chocolate also contains theobromine. Theobromine is a xanthine molecule with a weak stimulatory effect.
The combined effects of theobromine, anandamide and phenylethylamine in dark chocolate eliminates fatigue, giving you high energy whilst boosting your attention and concentration levels at the same time.
5. Dark chocolate good for cognitive performance
As we age, more brain cells become inflamed and degenerate. Our ability to make new neurons (brain cells) also diminish. That’s one explanation as to why we experience cognitive decline as we get older.
So, if you could have a substance that has the potential to reduce the inflammation and promote new brain cell formation (neurogenesis), then of course, you have yourself a winner.
It so happens that the antioxidants in dark chocolate can stem the inflammation and anandamide can help with neurogenesis.
The implication is that dark chocolate may help preserve cognitive abilities; possibly prevent Alzheimer’s disease. As stated above, phenylethylamine is known to increase the speed of communication between nerve cells in the brain. Therefore, when you eat dark chocolate you boost focus plus you have the stimulatory effect of anandamide and theobromine.
This will make you become more alert, but does dark chocolate promote better cognitive function? This is a bit hit or miss. At least according to studies. There are conflicting outcomes from many studies regarding dark chocolate boosting cognitive function.
This study on post menopausal women using different concentrations of cocoa flavanols did not show any improvement in cognitive performance.
This one showed initial promise but the improvement in cognitive function by cocoa flavanols was blunted by exercise meaning exercise was just as effective.
However, I like this study that recruited 90 elderly participants giving them high, medium and low concentrations of cocoa flavanol drinks over an 8-week period.
There was significant improvement in cognitive performance with the cocoa flavanol drink. Something else noticeable in that study was, the higher the concentration of the cocoa drink, the better the cognitive outcome.
Whether the mental assessments tests were too rigorous for study participants in some of the studies that failed to demonstrate cognitive improvements is difficult to say. But there is good grounds to suggest that higher concentrations of dark chocolate may improve memory and cognition.
6. Dark chocolate a good source of magnesium
You need magnesium for a host of functions in the body. You need magnesium for nerve and muscle function.
Magnesium supports your immune system and provides support for bone metabolism too.
Dark chocolate is a rich source of magnesium. Consuming dark chocolate means you will be supporting all of those functions involving magnesium.
If you have muscular tension and feeling stressed out, having a bar of dark chocolate may help ease your tension.
7. Dark chocolate facilitates nitric oxide production and good for blood pressure
One recurring question I get asked is; is dark chocolate good for blood pressure or does dark chocolate lower blood pressure?
Turns out dark chocolate is good for blood pressure support. There are quite a number of studies to support the view that dark chocolate can help with blood pressure control (hypertension).
And you know what; you don’t even need a lot of dark chocolate to start getting the benefits of lower blood pressure. This study was one of the earlier studies that established the link between blood pressure and dark chocolate.
You only need 30 Calories of dark chocolate per day to get the blood pressure lowering benefits according to that study.
So, why does dark chocolate lower blood pressure? Answer: Nitric oxide. Yes, nitric oxide is the sole reason.
Nitric oxide is a substance that was the subject of a Nobel Prize for science in 1998.
Nitric oxide is a potent smooth muscle relaxant, in particular the muscles of the blood vessels.
Abundance of nitric oxide encourages blood to flow smoothly within the vessel. This facilitates a rich supply of oxygen and nutrients to various cells and tissues.
In every study carried out involving either cacao or its derivative, dark chocolate, there was never any circumstance where blood flow wasn’t increased. There was consistency across the board that cacao and dark chocolate improves arterial function by widening the lumen.
This proves the power of cacao and dark chocolate as an agent that is good for circulation and circulatory diseases.
The average flow diameter within the blood vessel was widened by drinking a cacao drink.
What does this mean?
It means you can expect the global blood pressure to be on the low side. Dark chocolate helps lower blood pressure.
This study on 32 sleep-deprived individuals showed a reduction in blood pressure after being fed flavanol-rich dark chocolate.
Incidentally in that study the dark chocolate preserved and restored working memory in these sleep deprived participants.
This meta-analysis of 13 studies concluded that dark chocolate was superior to placebo in lowering blood pressure.
Lower blood pressure obtained from eating dark chocolate has associated benefits.
It means:
Dark chocolate is good for heart health
Dark chocolate is good for circulatory diseases
Dark chocolate is good for stroke prevention
Dark chocolate is good for heart attack prevention
8. Dark chocolate is beneficial to cholesterol
Dark chocolate seems to confer a favourable cholesterol profile based on studies.
This meta-analysis looked at 10 clinical trials involving 320 individuals with study period spanning between 2 and 12 weeks using dark chocolate as the product.
In that meta-analysis, dark chocolate reduced total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) but no significant effect on HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) was seen.
Another study however found that cacao consumption produced a rise in HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) whilst reducing bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol).
The thinking is that the polyphenols antioxidants in the cacao or dark chocolate is responsible for the reduction in bad cholesterol.
A reduction in bad cholesterol is beneficial to the body. This finding supports the view that dark chocolate consumption helps lower your risk of stroke and heart attacks.
9. Dark chocolate may promote insulin sensitivity
We have established that the flavonoids and polyphenols in dark chocolate are useful weapons in the fight against oxidative stress. Oxidative stress has also been implicated in the origin of type 2 diabetes. So, dark chocolate would be a good fit in managing type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.
This review supports the view that the antioxidants in dark chocolate enhance insulin secretion and promote insulin sensitivity in peripheral tissues.
This piece talks about how the behaviour of the cells lining your blood vessels contribute immensely to the chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
If you can fix the malfunctioning of the cells lining the blood vessel wall (endothelium it is called) with flavanols in cacao and dark chocolate, you can see improvement in key markers of metabolic syndrome including insulin sensitivity and blood pressure.
There is more support here for the vessel wall relationship with insulin resistance. Malfunctioning of the endothelium (cells of the blood vessel wall) points to insulin resistance.
Flavonoids in cacao and dark chocolate can lower blood sugar through improved insulin sensitivity by correcting the malfunctioning of the endothelium. That review goes ahead to suggest that cacao or dark chocolate may help halt the progression of type 2 diabetes and overcoming insulin resistance in metabolic syndrome.
At this point I need to give a warning here especially when it comes to blood sugar control of diabetes and prediabetes using dark chocolate.
You have to be careful because a lot of the dark chocolates come pre-loaded with sugar which of course can make your diabetes worse.
In a sense, a dark chocolate that has a lot of sugar in it like the one with 41.5 gm of sugar in a 100-gm dark chocolate bar is the type you must avoid.
That type of dark chocolate would make your diabetic sugar control worse. The benefits of improving insulin sensitivity will be cancelled out by such a heavy sugar content. Always read the label.
Final thought:
As you can tell, dark chocolate is a derivative of cacao, one of natures best gifts to us. We can exploit it to our advantage. There are other health benefits of dark chocolate like skin protection from UV damage, the availability of iron needed for red cell production in the body.
Problem is; chocolate manufacturers who in a desperate attempt to make their product appealing and to compete favourably in the marketplace, will keep upping the sugar content in their dark chocolate products.
The net result is the calorie content of the dark chocolate keeps going up and up. The point is dark chocolate is a calorie-dense food. It is not a product to pig on. You may have to sweat it out in the gym afterwards if you gorge on it in excess.
Be sensible. Read the label. The less the sugar content in your dark chocolate the better. That’s why I would advise going for 90% or higher to actually get these benefits.
BCAA stomach issues? Sounds like trouble, doesn’t it?
BCAA causing diarrhoea. BCAA making you pass loose stool. BCAA causing stomach pains or abdominal pains.
BCAA causing nausea or BCAA actually making you sick. BCCA causing bloating. Amino acids causing stomach upset. BCAAs causing heart burn or acid reflux.
The list is endless. These are the bcaa complaints, I get asked every now and again.
But don’t worry, I will offer you solutions on how to get rid of bcaa stomach issues to help you along. Read on…
The BCAA Stomach Problem Dilemma – To Take or Not To Take
On the face of it, you would think BCAAs are a devilish hand-out, designed to ruin your life. Why on earth would anyone in their right senses take BCAAs, if they are so full of gastro-intestinal side effects.
Well, maybe you shouldn’t take them at all. But you had an objective in mind when you chose to take branched-chain amino acids to boost your fitness and enable you reach your fat loss goals, don’t you?
Hence, you may want to continue taking them. I have always said it and I will say it again. You don’t need to take BCAA supplements at all, ever. Why because these amino acids in BCAA supplements are obtainable from your food.
But the point is BCAAs are a concentrated form of these amino acids and they have been formulated for you to take as a matter of convenience. I suppose you could say, it is easier to ‘pop a pill’ than to eat some chunky steak every day.
After all said and done, I think BCAAs do get a bad rap. They aren’t that bad in terms of gastro-intestinal side effects. Some of it is usually coincidental.
All that is required is a little manipulation on your part to alleviate bcaa stomach upset problems. Starting any supplement can cause system upset. In particular, the stomach as it is the first port of call for your supplement.
Stomach issues are not exclusive to BCAAs.
Some people are more sensitive to these types of issues than others. For the most part, most people will start using BCAA supplements without any problems whatsoever. Others on the other hand, will experience stomach upset problems.
Below are some of the stomach problems people experience whilst using BCAAs.
BCAA acid reflux, heart burn problems
I hear complaints about BCAAs causing acid reflux or heart burn. This bcca stomach acid reflux can be explained by the fact that some of the BCAA supplements contain acidity regulators.
A commonly used acidity regulator is citric acid. For someone who has problems with acidic foods, this could be an issue.
Indeed, if you are a bcaa user who has issues with stomach pains, looking in the direction of the acid regulator added to your supplement would be a good starting point.
BCAA Stomach Issues – diarrhoea, bloating, gas problems
BCAAs causing diarrhoea. This diarrhoea complaint about BCAA seems to be quite common. It would appear that bcaa supplements containing that devilish compound called sucralose as an additive, are the ones generating that problem.
Sucralose is a sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some supplements. The main reason is that the sucralose will mask the natural subtle taste of the bcaa.
Manufacturers love sucralose because it is calorie-free, hence they have no hesitation adding it to these supplements.
However, stomach issues relating to bcaa gas or bloating may be caused by the sucralose ingredient added as part of the bcaa nutraceutical formulation.
A lot of people are intolerant to sucralose. They just don’t know it. Opinion remains divided about the safety of sucralose on human health.
The regulatory authorities seem to give sucralose the thumbs-up in terms of safety in humans, but there are those who firmly believe that the pathway to their safety approval wasn’t as clear as a sunny day.
By the way, aspartame and sucralose aren’t dissimilar. If you have had digestive problems with aspartame previously, then it is almost certain that the sucralose in the bcaa supplement is what is causing the problem.
If you experience headaches whilst using bcaa, the blame lies squarely on the additive, sucralose’s square. Sucralose has been implicated in migraine headache.
If you have migraines when you use bcaa supplement, check the ingredients listed. If sucralose is one of the ingredients listed, then it is most likely the reason for your headache.
There’s a saying that suggests avoiding substances you may have doubts about is not a bad idea. So, if in doubt, AVOID.
Tips to get rid of BCAA stomach issues
It should be clear to you now that a lot of the problems with bcaa supplements is not so much with the active ingredients i.e the amino acids in the supplements. It is usually something to do with the additives.
So here’s how to get rid of bcaa stomach problems
Tip #1
Reduce the dose of the bcaa supplement.
This is particularly important if you have just introduced this supplements to your training regime. Like with anything new, you may have stomach issues using bcaas at the start.
A useful trick is to start small and build up the dosage gradually until you hit the dosage target you have in mind.
There is no rush. Stick with each dose increment for at least a week or even two. Once your body gets used to that dosage, up the dosage some more.
Tip #2
Avoid supplements with Citric acid as acid regulators.
Some people can’t tolerate acidity. You may be one of those people. Not using supplements with added citric acid will help. Avoiding bcaa supplements with citric acid is a useful step especially if you are one of those people with bcaa heart burn or acid reflux problems.
The acid in the bcaa supplement causes stomach irritation which in turn leads to abodominal pain. In some people the citric acid backs up, making the problem worse. Avoid.
Tip #3
Dump bcaa supplements with sucralose.
I am personally not a fan of sucralose only because it causes a lot of gastro-intestinal problems. Sucralose can be a nasty ingredient. It is nasty on its own anyway, so when added to supplements, it compounds the problem.
Diarrhoea is one of the unpleasant side effects of sucralose. If you are having bcaa diarrhoea issues, it is likely sucralose is responsible. The same applies to issues related to bcaa gas or bloating. It is most likely due to sucralose.
It is therefore reasonable to dump (no pun intended) that supplement. Switch to another one that hasn’t got sucralose in it.
Or you can switch to Whey Protein Isolate instead. Get this one here. It’s naturally flavored with Monk fruit extract. Better than sucralose sweetened products.
Tip #4
Add more water.
This tip applies to those people using bcaa powder. If you are having stomach pains and you are using bcaa powder, I will advise you add more water to mix it up before drinking it.
Also, even after mixing; drink your bcaa powder mixture slowly by sipping it as opposed to taking it all in one fell swoop. That gradual sip helps your stomach adjust incrementally.
Tip #5
Take it with food.
This tip is a last resort. If your bcaa stomach cramps persist despite all of the above measures above, then you may wish to take your bcaa with food rather than taking it in an empty stomach.
Obviously, taking bcaa with food is not ideal as it actually defeats the purpose of using it in the first place. But if you are pushed for a further solution, try that and see how you get on.
Tip #6
Change the bcaa brand.
This goes with what I said earlier on. A lot of the stomach and digestive problems with bcaa supplements arise from the additives in them.
The good news is that, different manufacturers use different additives in their supplements. Therefore, if you are having problems with one particular brand, it would make sense to try another brand with a completely different formulation.
For this tip to work, look at the list of ingredients of the new brand you have in mind and make sure the formulation is different from the one you own already.
Tip #7
Stop the bcaa supplementation.
Well, like I said before, you are not under strict instruction to use bcaa supplements mandatorily. You may use them to assist you with your training efforts to lose fat and gain muscle.
However, if the bcaas are becoming a ‘pain in the backside’, then it wouldn’t hurt to stop them altogether.
Tip #8
Switch to whey protein isolate.
Whey protein is a very good substitute for bcaa. The amino acids in bcaa supplements are available in whey protein, so you won’t miss out on your essential amino acids.
The problem with some whey protein powder is that they may contain huge amount of lactose. Some people become lactose intolerant as they get older.
Lactose intolerance may send you back to the same digestive problems like stomach cramps, diarrhoea and bloating which are the same symptoms you may have had with your bcaa in the first place. You don’t want that.
But don’t panic. There’s a solution.
What’s the solution? Whey protein isolate. It’s a purer form of whey protein without the baggage of lactose. How cool is that!
So, if you have bcaa bloating, bcaa stomach cramps, bcaa diarrhoea or loose stool, bcaa making you feel sick or nauseous, you have a nice solution that is more tolerable in the form of whey protein isolate.
Get Whey protein isolate from Amazon UK here and from Amazon.com here. That whey protein isolate has Monk fruit as its sweetener. Much better.
There you are. Problems relating bcaa digestive symptoms can be dealt with easily using the tips above.
Do BCAAs work? This is one question that bothers prospective fat loss enthusiasts. So, what’s the answer to the question? Well, the answer to the question of whether BCAAs work or not is: Yes and No.
I know what you are thinking. You think I am hedging my bets with that answer but I am not. Hear me out.
The issue of bcaa’s effectiveness is actually dependent on what you want from your bcaa use. These supplements are effective for certain functionality and not proven to be effective for other aspects of body sculpturing.
I will therefore approach the question of bcaas working with what we know bcaas work for, followed by what we don’t have concrete bcaa proof for. The information on this page may represent some of the pros of bcaa and why you should take bcaas.
So, do bcaas work?
Let’s talk about what we know bcaas work for first. What I will be talking about here is backed by bcaa research. We will use the results from the bcaa studies to support the view that bcaas actually work for muscle recovery whilst having other uses at the same time.
What we know bcaas work for:
BCAAs make post-workout muscle soreness tolerable.
Muscle soreness is a real ‘pain in the backside’ (no pun intended) for exercise enthusiasts. Of course, the more often you exercise, the less the intensity of the soreness you feel afterwards. This is mainly due to muscle adaptation from frequent workouts. You still feel sore but not as much as your physically inactive neighbour.
And you know that muscle soreness following workout is usually delayed by a day or two, right?
And we have just established that individuals who don’t do much in the way of exercise tend to feel the brunt of the muscle soreness more, right?
You will notice that if you take a long break from regular exercise, the intensity of the delayed muscle soreness will be more compared to when you undertake regular exercise.
If we agree that’s the case, what better bunch of people to use for muscle soreness intensity study than folks who are non-athletic.
Take 12 folks who don’t exercise at all and subject them to squat exercises. Cruel, I know. Give one half of the group bcaa supplements and give the other group dummy supplements and see whose muscles will be sorer on Day 2 and Day 3 after the squat exercises.
In that study, the degree of delayed muscle soreness was much less in the bcaa supplemented group. That’s some proof that bcaa will make you tolerate your exercises days later.
If you have doubts, try it out and see for yourself if you experience less delayed muscle pain days after your workout session when you take bcaa supplements. Compare that to what happens when you don’t take any.
You can easily establish this proof of concept all by yourself. It’s not technical at all.
The way you take your bcaa supplements is also important as seen in this bcaa study.
Spreading out your bcaa supplementation and the timing when done right can have significant effect on the level of muscle soreness post-exercise.
Will you exercise more consistently if muscle soreness wasn’t a big issue for you? Of course, you will.
Hence, by extension you could argue that bcaa do work for weight loss, assuming (and this a big assumption) you are doing all the right things from the dietary point of view as well.
The BCAA itself will not make you lose weight on their own. It’s what you do with the BCAA that counts.
BCAAs limit muscle damage during exercise
Modern biochemistry gives us the benefit of measuring indicators of muscle damage in the blood. When muscle is damaged during exercise (which it does), you can confirm that by measuring certain enzymes and markers in the blood.
The higher the level of these biological compounds in the blood, the more tissue that was damaged at the time of exercise. Enzymes such as creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase are some of the measurable tissue damage compounds.
Myoglobin and aldolase are other biological markers that are usually raised following muscle damage and they are both measurable too.
Give one group bcaa supplementation for 14 days and the other group no supplementation. Subject them to 2-hour cycling exercise on day 7 of the experiment. What will you find?
The bcaa researchers found that the supplemented group had lower levels of creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase after the exercise routine indicating lesser muscle damage.
In the same BCAA study we talked about earlier, the researchers did the same thing by measuring muscle damage parameters – plasma creatine kinase, aldolase, myoglobin. They also found lower levels in the bcaa supplemented group.
Same thing happened in this ealier talked bcaa research.
The researchers here also found the serum myoglobin concentration was increased by exercise in the placebo but not in the BCAA trial.
All of the findings from these bcaa studies point to the conclusion that bcaa supplements do limit the amount of muscle damage that occurs during exercise routines.
BCAAs provide essential amino acids on demand
It is nice to have something available for you when you want it. Your body cells are no different. You don’t want to starve of your body cells of essential nutrients when they need it.
After all, we now live in a world of instant gratification, don’t we?
Your muscle cells are in particular very needy when it comes to protein needs during exercise especially when you are doing resistance training.
In most of the bcaa research studies that I have mentioned above, the level of the essential amino acids in bcaa supplemented group when measured was always higher than in the placebo group.
This is important because when muscle gets damaged during workouts, you want the essential amino acids to be readily available for replenishment as soon as possible, otherwise there would be a lag phase.
You will lose muscle when there is a lag phase between damage and repair. So, supplementation means the amino acids will be in circulation ready to be soaked up by the muscle cells. Nice!
BCAAs facilitate protein manufacture
The muscle cell is called the myocyte. Inside the myocyte, there is always intense activity. Don’t forget we use our muscles practically every hour of the day. Okay, I admit, we use much less muscle when we are asleep. Even then, you still need your muscles to breathe when you are asleep.
Because of this high metabolic activity going on inside the muscle, there is a high protein turnover. You need amino acids to make protein. Your muscle cells need lots of branched chain amino acids to repair damage, replenish used protein and synthesize new protein.
If no branched chain amino acids (bcaa)are available, then all of those processes culminating in protein manufacture will suffer.
Exercise is one of the greatest inducers of protein breakdown. Oh, yes, when you exercise you oxidise lots of amino acids in your muscle cells. These have to be replaced, buddy.
This BCAA research study confirms the fact that our body’s BCAA requirements are pumped up (pardon the pun) during exercise.
The researchers also concluded that “BCAA supplementation before and after exercise has beneficial effects for decreasing exercise-induced muscle damage and promoting muscle-protein synthesis”.
It is therefore a known fact that bcaas promote protein synthesis in the muscle via the mTOR pathway. This particular feature means bcaas aid muscle recovery whilst carrying very few calories.
BCAAs facilitating muscle recovery also means you can exercise much more consistently. This leads to another suggestion that BCAAs are good for weight loss or more specifically fat loss. I also talk about this on the page I discussed bcaa and keto.
Now let’s talk about what we are not sure of about BCAAs.
Do BCAAs work – What we are uncertain about.
A lot of people who use BCAAs fall into the calorie-restriction group and those undertaking intermittent fasting. Of course, there are several other groups of people who could benefit from using BCAAs, but I will focus my opinion on the larger two groups.
Why, because those in calorie deficit and those people undertaking intermittent fasting have a peculiar problem – muscle loss.
What the BCAA research is not absolutely clear about, at least on a consistent level is that, BCAAs are protective of muscle loss. What we know as I mentioned earlier on is that BCAAs will promote protein manufacture using the mTOR pathway.
The upshot of bcaas facilitating protein synthesis is that bcaa should preserve lean muscle mass and promote fat loss at the same time assuming the individual is combining calorie restriction or intermittent fasting like the 16/8 intermittent fasting, with consistent physical exercise workouts.
Not only are we expecting lean muscle mass protection from the bcaa supplement but we are also expecting easier muscle recovery too.
We want to be greedy. How? We want to lose weight whilst accelerating or at the very least maintain our fitness (means having plenty of muscle to you and I) at the same time.
And why not…
So, what happens when you put the fat loss and lean mass protection to the test?
In that bcaa study, the researchers took 17 resistance-trained dudes who are still in their prime (21 – 28 years of age), split them up into 2 groups. Gave one group bcaa supplements and the other a carbohydrate-based supplement, sport drink basically.
Both groups were calorie-restricted from the diet point of view and the study was allowed to run for 8 weeks.
The result: The bcaa supplemented group lost fat mass and maintained lean mass as well in comparison to the carbohydrate supplemented group that lost lean mass.
Also, the bcaa group could do more squats and more bench press indicating an increase in strength compared to the carbohydrate supplemented group. Tendency to fatigue was greater in the carb supplemented group.
What does this study tell us?
It tells us that if you can preserve lean muscle mass, then you have the potential to preserve skeletal muscle performance too.
Does this translate to bcaas promoting muscle growth?
Not really.
If you look at the research into that aspect of muscle growth, it gets muddy. There are so many variables such as the bcaa supplement dosage, how long the trials run for, timing of supplement administration, pre-trial fitness level, trial intensity, and dietary protocol. These variables make direct comparisons of bcaa studies difficult.
The bcaa studies do not consistently show that bcaa supplementation will result in increases in muscle strength and muscle growth. That’s the scientific truth.
But can you still achieve these outcomes of muscle strength and muscle growth by using bcaas, if you harness the catabolic benefits of bcaas?
Here is the thing:
BCAAs get broken down when taken pre-workout.
Following the metabolism of the bcaa supplement, energy is released. You can harness that energy during your workout. And oh, as a side note there is some bcaa research like this one that suggests leucine, one of the branched-chain amino acid, actually upregulates the oxidation of fats for energy use. That’s the first thing.
Also, the amino acids in bcaa compete with the chemical units that make up 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the brain. High levels of brain 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) lead to an earlier feeling of fatigue during exercise routines.
So, what you want is low levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) during workouts. Having bcaa amino acids available in your circulation will facilitate lower levels of 5-HT.
What does this mean?
Well, if you have been following this article, you will notice I started with the things we know about BCAAs that have been proven, right?
How about you harness those advantages of bcaa and couple those advantages with the energy provision and low 5-hydroxytryptamine benefit. The net result is, you can power your way to muscle growth with your bcaa.
Because you have the potential to push for consistent workout intensity and workout volume in your hands.
It will be your call…
…the potential is there. A direct association between bcaa use and muscle growth may not be positively identifiable but an indirect one is certainly within your grasp.
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Dr. Joe