Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Sports, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | (0) Comments
After reading this Q&A over at MSNBC, I wanted to chime in on the whole supplement debate- especially for teenage athletes. The bottom line is that if you are eating a good diet with enough protein (about 1 gram for every 2 pounds of body weight), using protein powders and other supplements is a waste of money. Since most kids don’t eat a good balance diet, you might be tempted to tell them to go ahead and take the supplements, but really you need to educate and encourage them to eat properly instead. Instead of supplements, encourage the people you train or work out with to drink 3 glasses of lowfat milk and eat a couple of large eggs (cooked any way you like) everyday as a natural “supplement”. This is really good high quality protein and it is very, very cheap.
So what supplements do I approve of? First, I think everyone should be taking a high quality multi-vitamin every day and I also encourage people to take an extra 2 grams of vitamin C (in 4 500mg doses) every day.
Finally, don’t discount the sleep factor. You really need extra sleep if you are training hard for a sport or bodybuilding. This may well be the most neglected part of someone’s training routine. The body has to have time to repair and rebuild, so if you are burning the candle at both ends like most people are, you are going to limit your success and potential. All the protein powder in the world can’t make up for lack of rest. Most people need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep every day- and teenagers need it more than adults do. Eat, sleep, be happy!
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