Been seeing a lot of posts lately about people trying to “get shredded”, so I wanted to give my spin on things…

Saw one post where a guy was fasting until 2pm and not really consuming many calories. First and foremost, NEVER do this if you value the muscles you’re busting you ass to develop. Muscles are a metabolically active tissue in that they are capable of converting nutrients into and burning energy. Bottom line: if you don’t give the muscle the energy it needs, it’s gonna get it on its own by breaking down its own tissue.

IMO, the best way to get shredded in the fastest safest way is through careful carb manipulation – operative word being “careful.” Most people think that they just need to cut them out either completely or only eat them before lunch. Although this will work, it will not come without sacrifice to your energy levels.

The concept behind the Atkins diet was using low glycemic foods for insulin regulation. Since insulin’s primary function is to usher excess glucose into the body’s cells, it has the potential to promote the accumulation of body fat. By regulating this hormone, you’re able to disallow the fat cells from taking up any glucose for storage. Here’s a reference on the glycemic index:

http://www.glycemicindex.com/about.php

This doesn’t change the fact that the body’s desired source of energy is glucose. Since glucose will be in short supply by restricting carb intake, the body now has to synthesize glucose from other sources – proteins and fats. This process is called gluconeogenesis – gluco = glucose, neo = new, genesis = making. Because proteins and fatty acids are much more complex molecules, the conversion of these to glucose is a much more elaborate process. As a result, these “energy making processes” yields a thermogenic effect. This is why it is so effective at gearing the body to burn an increased amount of body fat.

The goal here should always be to ensure that optimum fatty acid oxidation occurs without the deamination of muscle proteins. Because proteins are much easier to convert to glucose, they become the primary fuel source when blood glucose levels are low. The best way to ensure that muscle proteins are not used for this is to ingest ample proteins every 2-3 hours. The muscle cells will only catabolize themselves as a last resort. If blood proteins are present in sufficient amounts, this occurrence can be avoided.

On a side note… the one unique characteristic that amino acids have over glucose is that they possess a nitrogen group, or amino group, in the molecular structure. In order for the gluconeogenesis process to begin, the amino groups must first be detached from the molecules. This is called de-amin-ation, which literally translates to the process of removing nitrogen. As a result, the by-product is chemically identical to the bathroom cleaner ammonia. This ammonia is toxic and must be routed to the liver to be degraded into the less toxic form of urea. Urea can then be excreted in the urine by the kidneys. This means that you need to increase the water intake when on this sort of diet to ensure proper removal of waste by-products.

My personal spin on this… I like to begin my day off with a meal that is predominately complex carbs. Because complex carbs contribute to a gradual increase in blood glucose, they do not contribute to a spike in insulin. I try to restrict my simple sugars in every meal and focus on complex carbs as much as possible. By doing so, I am able to maintain healthy energy levels and still have control over the hormone insulin – that bitch don’t move unless I tell her to move! Furthermore, I include a protein source in EVERY meal.

Until about 2 pm, the not much attention is paid to the quantities of these complex carbs, as the goal here is insulin regulation. By 2 o’clock, I have begun to taper my carb intake. Starting at 2, I restrict my carbs to the glucose capacity of the blood stream (20-25g), and I continue to make sure these carbs are complex. Remember: the harder your body has to work to meet its energy demands, the greater the thermogenic effect. A little work has to go into breaking down complex sugar molecules, so a small increase in the metabolic rate is the result. By the end of the day, the last meal will consist of ZERO carbohydrates. This helps ensure two things: 1) no additional carbs are ingested when the metabolism has begun to slow, and 2) any demand for glucose at this time can be meet thru the thermogenically induced gluconeogenesis processes.

In addition to all of this, however, I will ingest a substantial amount of simple sugars along with some fast digesting proteins post workout, whether I exercise in the AM or PM hours.

So, there ya have it: the scientifically geeked-out Dossier version of carb manipulation! ENJOY!!