***D&S FAQ & Useful Threads: Health, Weight Loss/Gain, & More--READ BEFORE POSTING***

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MikeMartial

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*First Things First: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due:

Sinister designed 99% of this FAQ; A majority of the linked posts are made by Madmick, Sinister and others. I've only re-designed and slightly updated it.

To cut down on the repeat posting of threads we've answered a billion times, King Kabuki came up with this, and I've added and refined a few parts. This combined with the search function should allow for you new posters looking to get your shit together where eating and supplementing is concerned on the right track, and off the bullshit meters of the veteran posters.

****KEEP IN MIND****

The Moderators of this forum are under ZERO obligation to respond to your PM requests for information, or to answer questions. That being said, should you shoot us a well-worded, mature, grammatically correct question, we'll most likely respond, when we can.


Q: Hi, I'm a gnub here and...

A: Slow down there hoss. Watch this:

Posting and you.

Now, after watching that video and understanding the point, I'd also like to direct you to this. It's fairly self-explanatory:

googlemotherfuckerek5.jpg


The tongue-in-cheek meaning of all this? Post smart, and post maturely. Do your homework, because believe you me, you're not getting spoonfed the answers to basic and inane questions here. Come prepared willing to learn and when an answer escapes you, do your best to find it on your own through research available at your fingertips.

Now, onto the FAQ:

Q: Design a Diet Plan for me!!!

A: No. Educate and design one for yourself, using this great thread: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f15/seven-habits-highly-effective-nutrition-317287/
from the FAQ, as well as FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal to log your macro intake. No one here is spoon-feeding you a diet plan. You want that? Then you'll have to pay out-of-pocket, to more than likely some psuedo-knowledagble so-called "authority" on nutrition. Good luck. Empower yourself and LEARN.

Q: Should I take a Multivitamin? If yes, which one?

A: Of course you should; think of it as insurance, even if your diet is optimal. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for. A list of good Multi's can be found here.

Q: Have you guys heard about acai? I was thinking I might start a thread about it.

A: Yeah, don't.

It's nothing special and you can search up just about anything you want to know about it. Unless you have something truly new, original, and interesting, don't make acai threads.

Q: Should I take protein? I always hear about protein. When should I take it? Morning? Afternoon? Night time? What's a good protein? Casein? Whey?

A: Supplementing with protein in the PWO (Post Work Out) window is an effective and convenient way to utilize enhanced insulin sensitivity and re-fuel your body of essential nutrients. Whey protein is generally used PWO, as it is considered "fast acting", or "fast absorbing". Casein, a slow-digesting protein, is generally used at night to prevent catabolism. Read the protein links in below for a plethora of information.

Q: Why is my pee neon yellow!??!

A: Relax, chump. It's from the water-soluble B2 vitamin Riboflavin in your multi; the max you can absorb at one time is 27mg, and the rest you excrete harmlessly.

Q: How do I gain weight:

A: There are a couple of factors to gaining weight. Eat big but eat clean, lots of whole grains, lots of leafy greens, lots of lean protein, simple carbs in moderation. At least 5-7 meals per day. Snack on things like almonds and yogurt, things with good calories and high nutritious value. If your numbers of calories in is greater than your calories out, you should be gaining weight. If you're eating is clean, you should be gaining lean muscle. Lift BIG. Lots of guys think they lift heavy and really haven't scratched the surface of what their body is capable of. Big weight = big muscles. And get AMPLE rest. 7-8 hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep per night, and on your days off at-least have one day where you barely move. Your body needs to heal to grow.

Note: Since the writing of this sticky, new research has come to light. In short, you can gain just fine on fewer meals, provided they are large enough. Your meat needn't be lean. And don't go crazy with the "whole grains": They are there for filler calories, and because carbs can be physiologically useful for weight gain, not because you need grains to be healthy.

--XT


Q: I want to go on the JUICE! Do STEROIDS! Get HA-OOGE! Can I talk about that here?

A: AAS (Anabolic Androgenic Steroids) *can* be talked about, but dosages and/or cycle regimes CANNOT be discussed, nor can places to "obtain" them. This is the policy administration has laid down. Without even getting into the legal ramifications of AAS, for the most part, posters here will either shut you down or direct you elsewhere. All in all, it's not the most welcome topic.

Q: Okay okay, I admit I don't eat that clean. But why is clean eating so important? Surely I will get bigger eating pizza and McDonalds, I mean their food is loaded with calories right? And if I had a whole bag of Doritos, that's like a billion calories!! Shouldn't I get bigger?

A: *sigh* You may end up getting fatter. And before you ask no fat does NOT turn into muscle. Fat is fat, muscle is muscle. Completely different molecules that never BECOME each other. And NO you DO NOT want to get fatter, before you say it. You want to put on lean and healthy bodyweight. Getting fatter comes with a laundry-list of health problems. Here, read this: Metabolic Function For Dummies.

Q: Metabolic Advantages!?!?! Surely that's all nonsense. Isn't a calorie just a calorie?

A: NO. And don't you come in here spouting that AHA bullshit. Any organization such as the American Heart Association and their Nutritional Committee that puts their "Heart Healthy" stamp of approval on a box of fucking Lucky Charms is NOT to be trusted. There's a whole world of true information out there, you'd be wise to look into it.

Q: Speaking of bullshit, isn't Ephedra legal again?

A:From wikipedia.org:

The FDA appealed this ruling, and on August 17, 2006 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the FDA's ban of ephedra.[11] As of June 2007, the sale of ephedra-containing dietary supplements remains illegal in the United States due to their health risks.

UPDATE: In Canada, ephedrine HCL is still available in 8mg tablets.
 
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Q: What's all this grass-fed hooplah I keep reading about?

A: Animals eat grass. Yes even chickens. The grass contains omega-3 fatty acids. Since animals became largely and almost entirely grain-fed, the nutritional value of their byproducts has dropped more than half of what it should be. This is true in America, and is a reason you'll see a lot of the regular posters here agreeing that food in America is basically shit unless you're willing to spend money on the real food, because it is expensive.

Here's the breakdown of the terminologies (as it applies to poultry, but the terminology also applies to beef):

Pastured Poultry:
Thousands of small farms in the US and worldwide produce what is called "pastured poultry". To these farmers, pastured poultry means chickens and other poultry raised right on top of living grasses.

This enables the birds to eat all the varied, living grasses, other plants, insects, etc., that they can find. Since chickens also need grain, they cannot be totally grass-fed, according to several experts. In the chicken tractors are grain feeders, and watering devices. Chickens will eat up to 30% of their calories in grass (and that's a LOT of grass), if allowed access to unlimited supplies. Pasturing the poultry assures that they have these supplies of living grass at all times.

A few purists want to reserve the term "grass-fed" for animals raised exclusively, 100%, on grass and nothing else. Now, ruminants, such as cows and sheep, can be raised totally on grass, but by all accounts, poultry cannot.

A few purists say that "pastured poultry" cannot be raised in cages, that pastured poultry means poultry that is free to roam over pasture without physical restrictions. These folks include the addition of grain-based feeds for their "pastured" birds.

But in general usage around the world, "pastured poultry" means chickens raised in chicken tractors that are moved over fresh grass very often, with grain feeders available.

Grass-Fed:
The term grass-fed poultry is a larger group, of which the pastured birds are a sub-set. Grass-fed poultry, among those who are discussing the topic, means birds that are allowed to forage on as much living grasses as they desire, whether in chicken tractors, small coops surrounded by pasture, or the exclusive French "Red Label" birds raised on glamorous par-courses. As long as they get all the grass they want, they qualify to be called "grass-fed." (Experts, please comment below ~ thank you!)

The public, especially in cities but also in the country to a large extent, have no idea how badly the term "free-range" is abused. It is virtually meaningless as a marketing term. One thing must be understood about chickens: they will not walk very far out of their line of sight; they feed on what they see close to them. They won't go around a see-through fence for water. But commercial poultry farmers, I'm told by many sources, have put little doors at the ends of their huge chicken barns, doors that open onto a bare dirt lot, and by doing so, are able to call their product "free-range," whether the chickens ever go outside or not.

Free Range:
"Free range," as used commercially today, simply indicates chickens that are not in cages and do not have a physical barrier between them and the outside of their building. They do not get any living grass. In fact, one prominent health-food-store poultry producer who has slid the advertising words "forage on native grasses" into their advertising, admits to me on the phone that those birds have four square feet of dirt space per bird (2 feet inside, and 2 feet outside), no open range or living grass of any kind. The company cannot find anyone on their premises who can explain to me what "forage on native grasses" means to them. As of this writing, I have not found one company, health-food-store, restaurant or website that sells grass-fed poultry at anything like a fair price (one company will ship, but it comes to $18 per chicken, minimum four birds).

The sad part is, pastured poultry farmers have to allow their birds to be marketed under the term "free range," because the public heads for that term like iron to a magnet. No other marketing term works as well to sell supposedly healthful birds. The fact is, out in the country, and in smaller cities, with some careful searching, people can undoubtedly find some grass-fed poultry among the birds called "free-range." Almost always, it will be found at local farmers' markets, where the small farmer is allowed to sell a certain minimum number of birds a year.

The term "pastured poultry" makes people think of pasteurization; it's hard to say, confusing, and unsexy. It won't sell a flea. "Grass-fed" is just now catching on, but again, the public is still uninformed of its benefits, in fact of the necessity of switching to this method of feeding poultry. It is an unknown term, requires education, is better than "pastured," but it still isn't as sale-worthy as "free range." "Free range" conjures up a picture of chickens running around a healthy, bustling farmhouse, eating grass and other things to their hearts' content. It is the term of choice.
--->EatWild.com - This is an excellent resource for information and locations on grass fed animal products.

Q: I'm a vegetarian/vegan. I use Soy for my protein, can that equate to enough protein intake per day?

A: While there's no question that animal-based whole foods are a more efficient form of protein, if you're a strict vegetarian for morale reasons, soy may be your only option. Some of the most current (and best, IMO) research as of late has been complied by Berardi et al here, in a well written article. To sum it up via a direct quote from Berardi: "Here's the message...soy was never good or bad. Lots of soy, especially in supplement form, IS bad. A little soy, especially in food, is just fine." If supplementing with soy, a recommneded option could be to rotate through hemp, rice, and soy-based proteins.

Q: I want to try GAKIC, LEUKIC, Nitrous, Esterfied Creatine, Androstein (if I can get it), Steroids, etc., is it going to be worth it?

A: No. Unless you're a professional athlete and are making the money back that you're spending on these things based on your athletic ability. They really aren't worth spending the money on. Paying over $60 for a bottle of anything specifically for vanity purposes and temporary results is just stupid. You'd be better served spending that money on less-costly supplements where the effects are long-term. Like protein, and better food.

Also of note is that where banned supplements are concerned, it's not worth the risk of your freedom for vanity. There are no Pro Athletes doing Prison time over banned supplements. Rather the people in jail over this are people like you and the guy you're going to get them from. Because the Laws passed to dismantle banned supplement use in Pro Sports has severely missed it's mark. It's highly un-wise to play a game in which you've already lost before it begins.

Q: Hey do you have any recipes?

A: There's a recipe thread stuck at the top of the forum. If there's something missing from there, make a thread requesting a specific type of recipe you're looking for. But always check the thread first.

Q: Do I need to cycle or load creatine?

A: Loading versus regular dosing has been proven to be no different in terms of efficacy; in fact, a person may experience more gastric distress and bloating if they load. Cycling came about through the bodybuilding culture of cycling AAS; as far as creatine, there's absolutely no need to cycle. The myth that one's body would "shut down" production if it's being supplemented also came out of the bodybuilding culture. Creatine FAQ and Info

Q: What is the best fat-burner? And will fat-burners kill me? I don't want to have a heart-attack!!

A: Again, "best" is a relative term. Find one that works best for you. It might be a trial-and-error process. To answer your second question, only if you use them stupidly. Problem with stimulants and thermogenesis is that you're creating an artificial boost of your ****bolism. This could have a negative re-bound effect. Kind of like when you're on life support too long and your lungs can no longer breathe on their own. So use them to get where you want to go, then stay there by being disciplined. Caffeine (which is the stimulant in MOST fat-burners, and the ones without stimulants usually don't work), will NOT kill you. Abuse of caffeine however, could lead to heart and blood-pressure problems. If you use a thermogenic, and a particularly strong one, don't drink soda and coffee all day.

Q: What do I sweeten all my food with?

A: Why does your food HAVE to be sweet? Best advice, learn to appreciate how food TASTES. Most condiments are just added sugar, so be mindful of that. Aside from that there are a plethora of both natural sweeteners (like honey and fruit for your oatmeal or protein shakes) and artificial ones like Splenda, Stevia, and Aspartame.
 
Q: ASPARTAME!?!??! What are you insane? I read somewhere that that shit will eat holes in your brain? You must be an idiot!

A: Really. Have a look-see at this: Public Service Announcement!!! Aspartame is...

Q: Will you critique my diet?

A: Only if it is apparent that you actually did your homework first by reading the FAQs, and the relevant threads below.

Q: Oh. Okay. So I've read everything here and I still have some questions...

A: Before you continue, I hope sincerely you truly have read everything here and have not just skimmed. But if you're looking for further good reading, go over all the the threads here:

Seven Habits of Effective Nutrition (This is a MUST READ for all)

Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Myths in Brief-PLEASE READ.

Diet & Supplementation for Strength and Power, based on Berardi's Principles - A great article by Romistrub

***Sherdog Exclusive***Top 3 Performance Supplements, by David Barr

***Sherdog Exclusive***Top 3 Core Supplements For Combat Athletes, by David Barr

***Sherdog Exclusive***Beta Alanine Article, by David Barr

The Definitive Multivitamin Thread<---NEW

The All-Encompassing Vitamin D Thread<---NEW

The Official Recipe Thread

The Sherdogger's Guide To Caffeine<---NEW

Sleep Quality<---NEW

Egg News.

The BCAA Thread
<---NEW

Beta Alanine Discussion Thread

The Sherdogger's Guide To Fish Oil

Ten Oils And How To Use Them

Recommended Nutritional Reading

Weight Cutting.

Protein.

Creatine.

The Magic of Vinegar.

Pre-Workout Formula.

Nootropic Guide.

Custom Protein Shake Recipes.

Custom PWO Formula.

Whey Protein FAQ.

Muscle Milk Info.

Rating the Supplements.

NO2

Voodoo Remedies

Supplement Purchasing

Supplement Wars News

Supplement Brand Reviews

The risks versus benefits of fat/weight loss.

The Feel-good Thread of the Century

Why Cheaper is never better.

The skinny on herbs.

The Official Good Snacks Thread.

YES Veggies at every meal!

The Bulking on a Budget Thread.

And come back to us when you're better educated.

Thanks,
Management

P.S. - To all the veteran posters, if I have forgotten anything here shoot me a PM and I'll add it. This can be a living document that we all contribute to in order to minimize the repetitious threads.
 
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Common Acronyms Found in the Diet and Supplementation Forum


AAS - Anabolic Androgenic Steroids

ALA - Alpha Linolenic Acid, an O3 acid found in vegetable oils, converted (at a poor rate) to EPA and DHA. Acronym also stands for Alpha Lipoic Acid, a supplementary anti-oxidant.

BA - Beta Alanine

BCAA - Branched Chain Amino Acids

CHO - Carbohydrate

CEE - Creatine Ethyl Ester

CM - Creatine Monohydrate

CNS - Central Nervous System

DHA - Docosahexaenoic acid, an omega 3 fatty acid

DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

EAA - Essential Amino Acids

ECA - Ephedrine, Caffeine, and Aspirin. A commonly used thermogenic stack

EFA - Essential Fatty Acids

EPA - Eicosapentaenoic acid, an omega 3 fatty acid

EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil

GI - Glycemic Index; a rating of how rapidly carbohydrates are broken down into glucose

GL - Glycemic Load; a ranking of overall carbohydrate content of a food source.

HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training

HDL - High Density Lipoprotein

LDL - Low Density Lipoprotein

Macros - Macronutrients, generally referring to CHO/PRO/FAT

Micros - Micronutrients, generally referring to vitamins and minerals

MUFA - Monounsaturated Fatty Acid

pH - Power(potential) of hydrogen; a measure of alkalinity/acidity, generally seen on a scale of 1-14, with 7 being neutral

PreWO - Pre(before) Work Out

PeriWO - "During" or "Around" a work out. Generalized term, could be pre/during/post

PNS - Parasympathetic Nervous System. Also the acronym for Peripheral Nervous System

PWO - Post Work Out

PRO - Protein

PUFA - Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid

SFA - Saturated Fatty Acid

SNS - Sympathetic Nervous System
 
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