I am a 46 year old male who likes to work-out. I am trying to add and maintain muscle and would like to know what nutritional supplements you would recommend and what if anything I should eat before working out?

Do you think I should add testosterone to my diet?

I am currently taking your mult-vitamin and the adrenal supplement...

my diet mainly consist of lean meats- fish, chicken and turkey(protein-I do not eat beef or pork) and vegetables and I do juice at least twice a week.

Thank you for your time and I listen to your radio show...it's great!!!

Great question...I am going to answer a part of it on tomorrow Blog.

As far as do you need to be taking testosterone. WhY? Are you a competitive athlete? Do you make a living that way? Are you trying to win a bet?

That being said, I wouldn't. the key to increasing your testosterone levels is by exercising and sleeping. When you do both you release test. and other growth hormones.

But, and this is a very big BUT...if your adrenals are exhasuted and overworked...it will inhibit in the release of all those growth hormones. so continue with the Adrenal Fuel. You might want to have your adrenal glands checked and we can do that for you with the Adrenal STress Profile.

something to think about is that overtraining is a classic sign that your adrenals are being overworked....and a classic sign of overtraining is Lack of Progress or REsults from your workouts.

don't forget to click on the blog to learn more about what to eat when you workout.

Appreciate the question,

Dr. Len

I appreciate you listening and here are some suggestions but let me first say I don't know what type of exercise you do, whether it is aerobic or anaerobic and the intesnity level, which definitely makes a difference as to what you can or should eat before that specific type of workout.

Here are a couple of rules of thumb...

1. If you are doing an intense workout...lift weights...you don't want to eat anything that has protein or fats in it for at least a couple of hours. It takes a few hours for protein and fats to digest, so don't drink a protein drink before you workout, unless you wait a couple of hours.

2. If you are going to do a light aerobic workout, meaning your are doing an aerobic workout

1. If you eat something that has lots of fats and or protein it takes a few hours for it to digest...
2. Fruits digest very rapidly, there
but here are some thoughts.

It recommended not eating any fat if doing an intense workout., It recommended using a 3, 4 or 5 to 1gm carb/protein ratio. Something like 20-26 grams of medium to high glycemic carbs. 5-6 grams of protein (recommened whey). Along with this would be some vitamin 20-60 IU E and 100-250mg C for antiOX protection. The idea is to take advantage of the exercise making the body insulin sensitive, thereby increasing nutrient uptake and glycogen storage and restoration. I've been doing this for a while, comparing it to a protein, fat and carb and have found the above really works extremely well. I have all the energy for my workout and pretty much no stress/cortisol dump post workout.

Would you say that the above is not unusual as an outcome of the formulation mentioned?

Last Edited on 20-May-2008 10:47 AM

Here are a couple of thoughts. Protein and fats both take about the same amount of time to digest...so eating either of them before an intense workout is going to disturb your digestive system and interfere with your absorbtion of all the nutrients.

As far as ratio of carbs to protein to promote absorption...good advise, everyone is different as to what ratio or percentage they can absorb, but using the high glycemic foods is the big question....especially when you talk about the glycemic load of a high fructose corn syrup and maltodextrins, which are commonly used...versus a high glycemic food that brings so many other cofactors to the table like a banana.

As far as whey...its great provided it is NOT in the isolated form (whey protein isolate) because than you are bringing in MSG, which is a neuro toxin, as well as the possible component of food allergies to dairy. I have seen so many of my athletes improve when we took them off of diary and placed them on another protein source that didn't irritate and offend their digestive system...because two steps forward with a good protein AND two steps backwards from the irritation of an offending food allergy doesn't help...it slows down your results.

It does sound like this program fits you and you sound knowledgabel enough to monitor certian things for your specific needs.

Stay fit,

Dr. Len

Maybe that is why I don't see the results I want to see is because I have a protein drink right after...
so is a banana smoothie with a handful of pecans, berries, yogurt, and oj and a little juice (Those are the ingredients in the smoothie.) Are those okay to eat after a run?
Thanks.

If it is going to be an easy run that triggers "Aerobic Metabolism" (search the Blog or get a copy of my book To Burn or Not to Burn, Fat is the Question...to help you better understand what we are talking about) and depending on how long after you have the snack you go run is the Question?

If the intesity is moderate to high.....and probably want something that digests easily and rapidly such as fruit...that you eat....NOT Juiced.

If you are going to consume protein and or fats in that snack...you need to give it a couple of hours otherwise the food will still be in your digestive system when you begin the workout.

And I would definitely try and stay away from juicing your fruits...it sounds good and nourishin, but the more you consume fruit that is blended...the more sugar you throw into your body, which triggers a larger insulin response and insulin as we know triggers your body to store fat...NOT burn fat.

Eat your fruits....don't juicing them. They are better for you.

Dr. Len