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Let's face it - the ultimate goal for everyone who works out is to increase lean muscle while reducing body fat. Yet, many people are following diets that limit their muscle building potential and make all of their hard training efforts go to waste. The huge media attention surrounding the "Low-Carb" diet has probably led you to believe that it's the only way you're going to get lean. Unfortunately, you probably found out the hard way that a "Low-Carb" diet isn't giving you the results you want - rather than looking big and hard with full, dense muscles, you often feel small, flat and weak! But that is about to change thanks to a revolutionary new diet program designed to unleash the anabolic effects of food - Macrobolic Nutrition!
The Macrobolic Nutrition 45/35/20 Lean Mass Equation derives its calories from powerful, nutrient-dense, efficient sources in a ratio of 45% carbohydrates, 35% proteins and 20% fats. I'll be as bold to say that it's the only nutrition program available that will allow you to pack on slabs of muscle and stay hard all year round, without drugs, without cardio and without starving yourself.
How Can A Diet Do All Of This?
Make no mistake about it... low-carb diets will hinder your ability to gain muscle, increase strength and maximize performance. They'll burn fat, but at the expense of precious muscle tissue. They will also deplete you of energy. In fact, a recent review on diet and anaerobic exercise (weightlifting) in the Strength and Conditioning Journal concluded that diets containing less than 42% carbohydrates do not meet the energy demands or provide adequate glycogen stores for bodybuilders and their intense workouts.
This is only one of many studies showing that your diet should provide a minimum of 40% carbs. So, it is hard to understand why the low carb fad caught on and even got some positive accolades in fitness publications. Don't get me wrong, you can absolutely lose weight on a low carb diet and perhaps that is why low carb spread like wildfire. But, it is definitely not optimal for bodybuilders and athletes. Why? Because the physical demands that athletes and bodybuilders place on their bodies create a greater need for heavy-duty nutrition that will repair muscle fiber and sustain growth. Low-carb diets do not provide heavy-duty nutrition.
Let me explain. The fundamental principle of a low carb diet is that by restricting the intake of carbs you control two very important hormones that influence fat storage and fat burning, insulin and glucagon. A low carb diet keeps blood sugar levels low and causes a shift in these hormones by lowering the fat storing hormone, insulin, and raising the fat burning hormone glucagon. This shift allows for increased fat burning. However, in the absence of carbs your body reverts to a catabolic process known as gluconeogenesis in an effort to make the necessary blood sugar your body needs not only to perform - but to live.
Gluconeogenesis is a catabolic process in which your body converts amino acids from either food or muscle tissue into blood sugar. This is not an efficient process for the body and can be extremely detrimental, especially for athletes and bodybuilders. As I already pointed out, bodybuilders and people who workout have a much higher need for carbs (a minimium of 40% of their total caloric intake) than the average person. So, if you follow a low carb diet your body will be stuck in gluconeogenesis, a muscle wasting catabolic state.
 Check Out The MHP/Bodybuilding.com Transformation Ad In Muscular Development! Why would any bodybuilder want to jeopardize their hard earned muscle when they can achieve the same degree of fat loss while actually gaining muscle - simply by eating smarter? I have done extensive research on performance nutrition and I have developed a nutrition program, called Macrobolic Nutrition.
This method of diet is backed by all the latest research and I have been using it on a number of world-class athletes for the past few years with amazing results. Macrobolic Nutrition prescribes a 45/35/20 ratio of select sources of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. They key is to eat the right ratio-the right sources-and the right portions of macro-nutrients. If you follow Macrobolic Nutrition guidelines you can lower insulin and raise glucagon for maximum fat burning in a similar fashion to a low carb diet, while actually improving the anabolic process of building muscle and optimizing performance. Forty-five percent of your calories should be from low to medium glycemic carbohydrates (or Slow Carbs) meaning they should be from sources which slowly raise blood sugar as apposed to high glycemic which raise blood sugar quickly. Good examples of slow carbs are sweet potatoes, oatmeal and brown rice.
We all know the importance of protein for muscle building. Macrobolic Nutrition prescribes that 35% of your calories be derived from quality protein sources high in the "critical 5" amino acids: glutamine, arginine and branch chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine). These amino acids are of extreme importance for a bodybuilder, as they'll help give strength, endurance, and recovery to your muscles. The key here is to combine various protein sources-one protein source is simply not enough. Get your protein from sources such as lean meat, chicken, fish, eggs, and low fat dairy. Be sure to take a multi-source protein supplement with a hefty dose of whey, casein and soy. Each protein has a different amino acid content and release rate (absorption rate). Combining high quality sources allows for the best amino acid profile and sustained amino acid delivery to maintain a positive nitrogen balance and create an anabolic environment that stimulates muscle growth.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to avoid fats altogether. While large amounts of saturated fats should be avoided, some fats, specifically essential fatty acids (EFA's) are important to health and performance. Fats play many key roles. They're necessary for the production and formation of hormones, and they help your body absorb calcium and fat-soluble vitamins. From a digestive standpoint, fats slow down gastric emptying and consequently, help prolong nutrient delivery. Twenty percent of your calories should come from the fat contained within your protein sources and from additional sources supplying EFA's such as olive oil, borage oil and flaxseed oil.
While the sources of macro-nutrients are critical, it's the composition of a Macrobolic Meal that causes the ideal environment for muscle building, fat burning and performance. When comprising a meal you have to look at the sum of the whole and not its parts. You must consider the consumption of each macro-nutrient. For this exact reason, the 45/35/20 ratio is optimal for any person who works out and is looking to gain muscle. These ratios will create the best biochemical and hormonal response for muscle building and performance. The fat burning part of the equation comes down to the favorable shift in insulin to glucagons ratios, an increased metabolism, the thermic effect of the Macrobolic meal and of course the proper caloric intake.
The premise behind Macrobolic Nutrition is to consume the proper amount of each macro-nutrient for the purpose in which they were intended: carbs to supply glucose for energy, not only the energy for vital body functions but for maximum performance and to prevent catabolic muscle wasting; proteins to supply your body the amino acids it needs to build and repair enzymes, hormones, organs and of course muscle tissue; and fats for the formation of hormones and prostaglandins (anti-inflammation) to fight infection, regulate growth, and assist in digestion. Macrobolic Nutrition prescribes eating 45/35/20 meals throughout the day and then for your last meal you should ideally take a supplement high in protein, low in carbs and with moderate fat. Eating in this regimen will provide the best hormonal profile for maximum muscle building and fat burning. I have formed what I call the Macrobolic Nutrition Check list:
Macrobolic meals are designed to keep your body running optimally for approximately three hours. Here's a checklist as to what you can expect by following the Macrobolic Nutrition program during the day:
After a Macrobolic meal, all of these great things are going on at once and your body is running optimally and efficiently. This is where meal frequency becomes important because a Macrobolic meal is only going to fuel your body for so long.
If your busy schedule doesn't allow for you to eat that often, Macrobolic-MRP and Macrobolic bars are a great way to get the frequent nutrition you need. Nighttime is a different story. You need to keep insulin low and keep nitrogen high during the nighttime fasting hours with a meal high in protein and low in carbs. MHP's Probolic-SR Protein uses a patented technology to sustain the release of amino acids for up to 12 hours to ensure that you maintain a positive nitrogen balance. Let's look at what your body is receiving from Macrobolic Nutrition in our nighttime checklist:
To understand how Macrobolic Nutrition forces your body to burn excess body fat, you have to know a little about BMR, or Basal metabolic rate. BMR, also referred to as resting metabolic rate (RMR), is the amount of calories your body needs to support normal body functions to maintain "life" at total rest.
Basically, it's the calorie level you need to "exist", disregarding the energy you expend on a daily basis due to lifestyle and activities. So how does Macrobolic Nutrition increase BMR? By utilizing a phenomenon called Macrobolic Momentum.
The longer you are on Macrobolic Nutrition, the more efficient your body will become. Muscle is more metabolic than fat, which simply means it takes more calories to maintain muscle than fat. As lean body mass increases, your caloric requirements throughout the day will increase. This means that as Macrobolic Nutrition shifts your body composition to a higher percentage of muscle and a lower percentage of body fat, you will need to feed it more carbohydrates, protein, and fat. I like to call this phenomenon "Macrobolic Momentum." What's happening is your ability to pack on lean muscle accelerates over time if you stay on Macrobolic Nutrition, because your body becomes so metabolically efficient. So, in essence, the bigger and leaner you get... the bigger and leaner you get! You've probably seen this Macrobolic Momentum phenomenon happen firsthand and just never realized it. If you look at the progression of some professional natural bodybuilders, you will see that there was a stage early in their careers where they made some good, steady progress. But then, all of a sudden, they went through a period of explosive growth and extreme leanness. How? Because the accumulation of muscle mass supported by Macrobolic Nutrition makes them more metabolically efficient at building muscle and burning body fat.
By following the Macrobolic Nutrition diet, you too will build muscle while leaning out to achieve your fat loss goals. Being in an anabolic state throughout the day, day after day, is going to allow you to continually pack on muscle mass. And if you monitor your calories correctly, you will continually burn body fat. In fact, as your muscle mass increases, your caloric requirements will increase. It takes additional calories to maintain muscle mass. So, as your muscle mass increases, your BMR and caloric intake also increase. There is no reason why you can't experience this same explosive growth and extreme fat loss as many professional bodybuilders and athletes who are following these Macrobolic Nutrition principles!
 Download the Official Macrobolic Nutrition Handbook Now!
 Download Here (20.0 MB)
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