Misc Supps

- BEFORE BED: ZMA 1 serving, GABA 2g, Glycine 5-10g, 5-HTP 200mg, inositol 500mg, vitamin B3 15mg

* Really feel wired add 5-10mg of melatonin.

The "before bed" stack is to promote relaxation, sleep and neural regeneration. When I'm on a low-carb diet I have a really hard time sleeping. And as we know, sleep is necessary for growth and lowering cortisol.

I think that we all know by now the benefits of ZMA on the quality of sleep and recovery, especially in individual deficient in zinc and magnesium; well I'm a sweaty pig so I lose a ton of these minerals every day.

GABA and glycine are inhibitor of the nervous system in that they promote relaxation and have a calming effect. They have also been shown to reduce anxiety and stress. For this reason both products promote restful sleep. GABA has also been shown to promote the release of growth hormone and glycine helps lower cortisol.

5-HTP can help increase the level of serotonin and thus can help fight insomnia, depression and narcolepsy. In other words it will help you relax. As an added benefit it seems to reduce carbohydrates cravings (you get carb cravings when serotonin levels are low since carbs raise serotonin) which is a nice benefit when on a low-carb diet.

Inositol and B3 facilitate the action of GABA via different pathways and thus make the stack a bit more effective.

Creatine, glycine and glutamine also increase intermuscular pressure so does glycerol. In fact, glycerol is used by both pre-contest bodybuilders and endurance athletes to keep the muscles hydrated

FYI: Most sleep aids will put you to sleep faster, but there's a huge difference in the type and quality of sleep you'll get from them.

For example, many sleep aids will knock you out, sure, but while using them you won't get much REM sleep, the "dreaming" and replenishing sleep. (The body naturally cycles through waves of REM and NREM throughout the night.)

So, with most sleeping pills, especially those actually made for colds and pain, you wake up feeling groggy and almost hungover. You slept, but you're not replenished: lack of REM sleep.

As an aside, alcohol also decreases REM, and part of the feeling of a hangover is caused by lack of replenishing sleep, even if you were passed out 10 hours.

So, think quality, replenishing, restorative, healing sleep, not just getting knocked out by something you found in the Wal-Mart pharmacy section.

*The body adapts to energy intake by regulating tissue turnover. Therefore if you eat more, tissues turn over faster and you can replace damaged muscle more quickly with fresh, strong muscle... when eating such high calories (while choosing good foods), your metabolic rate will adapt and you'll be able to eat far more calories than before without gaining much fat.

Dr. Jeff Volek: Latest research regarding carbohydrate restriction and low carb diets.

When you cut carbs, you'll see greater weight loss, improved insulin sensitivity, three times the abdominal fat loss (as shown in a new study by Dr. Volek), and improved vascular function (move over arginine).

If you're insulin resistant, you'll get even better results (compared to non-resistant folks) from carbohydrate restriction in the areas of weight loss and insulin sensitivity.

Ketogenic diets, or a fancy way of saying very low carbohydrate diets, are more effective at increasing good cholesterol (HDL) than any of the current recommendations, such as exercise, smoking cessation, weight loss, or omega-3 supplementation.

If you refuse to restrict your carbs, then you need to at least change the type of carbs you eat. If you're sawing through a French baguette, it's time to focus on legumes, fruits, and vegetables while minimizing those grains and starches.

Dr. Volek shared the results from a recent clinical trial that he oversaw at the University of Connecticut which looked at the effect of low fat vs. low carb dieting with and without weight training. The low carb diet groups lost more weight than the low fat groups. But the low carb diet only group (no weight training) lost over three pounds of muscle, while the low carb diet group that did lift weights lost 1.3 pounds more fat and gained almost a pound of muscle. The bottom line is that weight training is important for the preservation of muscle, even in the presence of an increased protein intake.

Ironically, this session was called "The Carbohydrate Restriction Controversy," but in the end there wasn't a controversy in sight. If you want to lose weight and be healthier, then you need to cut back on your carbs (especially starches).

????? Fenuplex: two capsules, three times a day. Besides restoring insulin sensitivity, Fenuplex will heal the pancreas and cut down on carbohydrate cravings.
Insulinomics: one tablet, three times a day
High Normal Blood Levels Local Fat Storage
Estrogen Triceps & Thigh
Cortisol Abdomen
Insulin Love Handles & Visceral Fat (intra-organ)
Testosterone Upper back